In-Laws Approved Quinoa with Tomato Cream Sauce

My husband Ben loves bread, pasta, and rice. Who doesn’t? In my efforts to make healthy meals with more whole grains and protein, I thought of quinoa. Quinoa has been produced for thousands of years in South America, and was a major crop of the Incas.

Only in the last few years has quinoa become popular amongst health foodies. You can read about the 11 proven health benefits here.  Interestingly, it’s classified as a whole grain although it’s not actually a grain. The part we eat is the seed!

If you aren’t keen on reading long health articles, here’s a quick summary explaining why you should eat quinoa:

“Quinoa is naturally gluten-free and contains iron, B-vitamins, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium,calcium, vitamin E, and fiber. It is one of only a few plant foods that are considered a complete protein, containing all nine essential amino acids”(Medical News Today).

Anyways, I knew that in order for Ben to get on board with quinoa, I had to make it taste really good. By itself it’s bland. With some heavy whipping cream on hand (which makes everything fantastic), and a can of tomato sauce, I came up with something that Ben loves and his parents like (I think).

Ben’s parents came to visit us in Texas for Labor Day Weekend, and we’ve had too much fun introducing them to restaurants we love, serving everything from Mongolian stir-fry to kolache. However, when I announced that I would be making a quinoa dish for dinner, they were uneasy. It turns out they had made it at home and weren’t impressed. It could be that they ate it plain. I’ll also note that it must be rinsed before cooking in order to remove the bitter coating (natural pesticide!) it produces to keep bugs away. Quinoa keeps getting cooler. 

They gave it another shot and were pleasantly surprised. Ben’s Dad said, “It tastes like chili.” I never found out if that was a compliment, but I’m claiming it as one! I don’t have a photo because we ate it all, but I’ll add one soon.

Yield: 4 servings

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup rinsed quinoa
• 2 cups water (to cook quinoa)
• 1 pound ground beef

For the tomato sauce mixture:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon dried basil leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon butter

INSTRUCTIONS

For the quinoa and ground beef:

1. Start cooking your 1 cup of quinoa with 2 cups water, following the directions on the package, either by boiling it or cooking it in a rice-cooker (I do the latter).
2. While it’s cooking, cook the ground beef in a large pan on medium heat until browned. Remove the beef to a medium bowl and set aside.

For the tomato sauce mixture:

1. Use the same pan (or a smaller saucepan if you prefer) to saute onion and garlic in olive oil over medium-low heat. Stir frequently to keep the garlic from burning.
2. Add the spices (tomatoes, basil, sugar, oregano, salt and pepper). Bring to boil and continue to boil 5 minutes.
3. Remove from heat; stir in whipping cream and butter. Reduce heat and simmer 5 more minutes.
4. Stir in the browned beef and quinoa until well combined. Serve alongside caesar salad!

NOTES

For the sauce, I modified a tomato cream sauce from allrecipes.com. If you don’t have plain tomato sauce on hand, you can use pizza sauce (what I used the first time I made it) or spaghetti sauce, and simply omit from the recipe any spices already listed on the can.

Feel free to substitute ground turkey or another meat for the ground beef, or omit the meat altogether to make it vegetarian-friendly.