{"id":1092,"date":"2010-04-12T21:54:44","date_gmt":"2010-04-13T03:54:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/?p=1092"},"modified":"2010-04-12T21:56:13","modified_gmt":"2010-04-13T03:56:13","slug":"quinoa-with-spinach-and-mushrooms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/?p=1092","title":{"rendered":"Quinoa with Spinach and Mushrooms"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Adapted from this recipe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yum.\u00a0 This was a bit time-consuming because the quinoa, the greens and the mushrooms must all be cooked separately, but it was quite delicious and is healthy, almost in the extreme.\u00a0 Quinoa is a very healthy grain-like vegetable (it is possible to eat the greens, as well, but they are, as of now, uncommon outside of South America) , very high in protein, iron and fiber.\u00a0 It cooks very quickly and easily and has a nutty flavor and fluffy texture when cooked.\u00a0 Its flavor is neutral enough to easily accept the flavor of whatever stocks or seasonings that it is cooked with, so it lends itself to practically unlimited preparations.\u00a0 It is a great, gluten-free substitution for couscous or a healthier alternative to rice.\u00a0 Look for it in the bulk section of your favorite store.\u00a0 It is also getting popular enough that some stores are carrying it boxed, near the couscous and pasta and rice; look for a small, turquoisey-green box and know, in case you have to ask for it, that quinoa is pronounced “keen-wah.”<\/p>\n

I intended to prepare this recipe as-is, but a lack of chard at my “everyday” grocery store, coupled with a whooping cough test (that’s a whole OTHER story) getting in the way of a planned, separate trip to the “gourmet” store to pick some up, caused me to go with an easy and already-on-hand Plan B:\u00a0 spinach.\u00a0 I just subbed a 10 ounce box of fresh baby spinach leaves for the chard and proceeded according to the recipe.\u00a0 I must confess that I am positively dogmatic about mushrooms, so this recipe took me MUCH longer than someone who is less obsessive.\u00a0 I LOVE thoroughly golden-brown mushrooms, so tend to only cook a dozen slices or so at a time, to insure that the mushrooms don’t crowd to much and soften instead of brown.\u00a0 The process is intensively time-consuming, but the pay-off is indescribable.\u00a0 If I ever open a pizza joint (who knows?\u00a0 it could happen!), I will offer super-golden browned mushrooms as a topping option.\u00a0 Too many times, when people cook mushrooms, they are more “steamed” than browned or sauteed.\u00a0 There should NEVER be a collection of liquid in the bottom of the pan.\u00a0 If there is, you’ve added to many to the pan at one time.\u00a0 In my opinion.<\/p>\n

This, in my opinion, is what properly browned mushrooms should look like (NOTE:\u00a0 these are regular-old white, button mushrooms, so properly browned creminis will be even darker than this):<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Note the golden-browned edges.\u00a0 Not a bit of sogginess and NO liquid in the bottom of the bowl.\u00a0 Mmm…somebody get me a fork.<\/p>\n

So, back to the dish…<\/p>\n

We all liked it.\u00a0 It was quite good and something that I would readily eat again.\u00a0 I love cremini mushrooms (which are the immature form of portabellas) and they give the dish a robust meatiness, even though it is completely vegetarian.\u00a0 I used some vegetable stock, instead of water, to cook the quinoa, just to give a bit more flavor.\u00a0 Quite nice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Adapted from this recipe. Yum.\u00a0 This was a bit time-consuming because the quinoa, the greens and the mushrooms must all be cooked separately, but it was quite delicious and is healthy, almost in the extreme.\u00a0 Quinoa is a very healthy grain-like vegetable (it is possible to eat the greens, as well, but they are, as … Continue reading “Quinoa with Spinach and Mushrooms”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,14,15,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entrees","category-side-dishes-starch","category-side-dishes-veggies","category-vegetarian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1092"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1100,"href":"https:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1092\/revisions\/1100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}