Sausage-Spinach Quinoa Bowl

I admit that I’m late to the quinoa party. Quinoa recipes are everywhere now and I’d been so curious about this superfood for a while but had never tried it. My grocery store doesn’t carry it so I finally went to another grocery store slightly farther away that always seems to carry whatever it is that my grocery store doesn’t. When the check-out girl saw my bag of quinoa, she asked me if it was good, saying her mom wanted to try it for weight loss. I came home and made a batch just to keep on hand to eat as a side in place of my usual brown rice. Even though brown rice is good for your diet, quinoa is better because it’s a complete protein (meaning it has all of the essential amino acids we need). People say it has a nutty taste but I think it tastes more like corn which isn’t at all what I expected.

I wanted to try a recipe using quinoa in place of rice and since the spinach in my produce drawer was close to going bad and I needed to cook the leftover turkey sausage from the gratin I made earlier this week, the perfect dish to make was Sausage-Spinach Quinoa Bowl. With hot turkey sausage, spinach, and quinoa, this dish came together very quickly since I’d already cooked the quinoa. (Rinse the quinoa thoroughly. Bring one part quinoa, two parts water to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes until the liquid is absorbed.) The spiciness of the turkey sausage pairs terrifically with the bitter spinach and the red pepper flake gives it the slightest hint of kick. The quinoa made for a great substitute for the rice which is exactly what I was hoping it would do. I look forward to making this superfood more in the future!

The ingredients:

Heat olive oil in a large skillet and cook sausage and red pepper over medium-high heat until browned and crumbled.  

Add in garlic and cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. 

Add in spinach and cook 30 seconds or until spinach begins to wilt. 

Stir in prepared rice or quinoa; cook 1 minute or until heated.

Additions:  None

Omissions: 

  • Parmesan cheese

Substitutions:

  • Quinoa

Overall Rating:  Like It

Source:  Cooking Light Magazine

1 Comment

  1. Veronika says:

    Looks great, and I’d not worry about being late – better late than never! Quinoa is generally gorgeous in most meat-veg pairings (my favorite creation so far involved sauteed mushrooms and topinambour slices), and yes, rather good for you in terms of nutrition.

    I love it also because even in a meat-free dish, it provides the protein you need without the bad starches, and fills you up just as well as any pasta or rice would!

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