Quinoa, (keen-wa) the versatile grain

I decided to make my own food for 5 days of cabin camping this summer.  I wanted to try to come up with menus that I could prepare quickly that would be healthy.  I learned about this grain called quinoa, high in protein and lightweight.  Its' blandness lends well to being adaptable to just about any flavor.  Available from the health food store, it can be breakfast, lunch, or dinner, depending on what you put with it.

I used vegetables from my garden which I had washed and bagged ahead of time, nuts, dried fruit (some of it I dried myself at home)  and spices to flavor the quinoa.  We really never got tired of it. I cooked for my husband and myself and gave out a lot of samples to other campers.

Quinoa is cooked with twice as much water as grain.  It takes about 20 to 30 minutes.  I used 1 C. quinoa for a meal for both of us, which was plenty.  The greens I added at the end of the cooking time.  I just turned off the heat and added them, and put the lid back on.

Spices added to lunch and dinner were used interchangably--mainly just cumin, dried basil, and curry since I was travelling lightly.  Redmond salt was also added sparingly.  I brought along a small chopping board and a pocket knife which I used to chop the vegetables.  Rugged, huh!

Here are my menus.

Monday:  (Breakfast was at home.)
                Lunch:  quinoa with almonds, kale, onions, fresh basil, and fresh tomato
                Dinner:  quinoa with carrots, walnuts, spiced with curry.
                Snacks:  dried bananas with peanuts; orange; apple

Tuesday:  Breakfast:  quinoa with raisins, pecans, nutmeg (grated fresh), honeybutter, and cinnamon
                Lunch:  quinoa with beet greens, onions, basil, and fresh tomato
                Dinner:  quinoa with pizza sauce (canned, homemade), green beans I canned last summer, cumin as a spice, and peanuts
                Snacks:  dried blueberries with almonds; apple; orange

Wednesday:  Breakfast:  quinoa with apple, pecans, grated natural coconut, cinnamon, and honeybutter
                     Lunch:  quinoa with green onions, almonds, and broccoli raab, curry and cumin
                     Dinner:  quinoa with green beans, carrots, walnuts, fresh tomato, basil as a spice
                     Snacks:  dried banans with peanuts; apple; orange

Thursday:  Breakfast:  Quinoa with banana and peanuts, honeybutter, and freshly grated nutmeg
                 Lunch:  quinoa with celery (chopped fine), nutritional yeast, ground flax seeds, almonds, raisins
                 Dinner:  quinoa with garbanzo beans, green onion, and pizza sauce
                 Snacks:  raisins and pecans, apple, orange

Friday:  Breakfast:  quinoa with dried blueberrys, almonds, and honeybutter
             Lunch:  quinoa with walnuts, beet greens, ground flaxseed, and nutritional yeast
             Dinner:  quinoa with coconut, green onions, carrots, and pecans
             Snacks:  peanuts and dried bananas, orange, apple

Saturday:  Breakfast:  applesauce and granola bars (no time to cook!)