Orange And Herb Quinoa

I’ve gotten into a practice—a good practice—where I make a big batch of quinoa over the weekend using this method to heat and serve throughout the week. It saves me a lot of time and dramatically increases my options for meals when I don’t really have the patience to cook or turn on the oven.

I usually cook the quinoa in just water(as opposed to veg stock) because I’m never quite sure what I’m going to use it for. Sometimes I like it dressed up in Asian flavors like in this fried quinoa recipe and other times with more Western ingredients like this recipe, which I could just as easily see served with roasted chicken and mashed potatoes. It’s an easy way to dress up leftovers so that it doesn’t taste anything like it started as.

Orange and Herb Quinoa

Prep time: 5 minutes(longer if you aren’t using leftover quinoa)

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 4 servings):

• 2 cups cooked quinoa(or 1 cup uncooked quinoa and 2 cups water)
• Juice from 1/2 an orange(2-3 Tablespoons)
• Zest from 1/2 an orange
• 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon herbs de Provence(or any other seasoning blend)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tablespoons sugar(optional)

Method:

1. If using uncooked quinoa, bring to a boil over the stove with the 2 cups of water and cover with a lid until the water’s been absorbed and the quinoa shows that it’s cooked like above.
2. Mix the cooked quinoa with all of the other ingredients thoroughly. Adjust the taste by adding more salt or sugar.
3. Serve cold or heat up briefly in the microwave or oven for a warm side dish.

Shown with kale, tempeh cooked in soy sauce, and black olives.