Yay! A new grain!

I love black beans - and luckily it seems to be one of the more useful and versatile beans. I was in the mood for beans this week, and in a salad mood as well, perhaps as a way of encouraging the warm weather to finally visit. Mother nature - it's spring, it's alright to let the sun out!

A bonus for this recipe is that it uses quinoa, a grain that I've never used before (and don't ask me to pronounce it - I've seen it said that it is keen-wa, but I'm well-known for poor pronunciation, so I'll just skip trying). The recipe is from Moosewood Low Fat Favorites, a cookbook that I've never found an excellent-total repeat recipe from, although I have had some good ones, and the fact that I've made many recipes from it speaks to it as a good cookbook in terms of versatility.

The recipe came together nicely, except for me clumsily knocking off the first round of parsley (which I was substituting for cilantro) off of the counter. Just call me queen klutz. I also decided to be lazy and use canned diced tomatoes + a 1/2 leftover tomato.

I liked this recipe a lot - I have two servings left, and it'll be interesting to see how it does over the next couple days. The quinoa is definitely something I'd like to use more.


* Exported from MasterCook *

Quinoa Black Bean Salad

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 4 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories :

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
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1/3 cup quinoa
1 cup water
1 teaspoon olive oil
4 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons minced scallions
1 1/2 cups canned black beans -- drained
2 cups diced tomatoes
1 cup bell peppers -- diced
2 teaspoons chili peppers -- diced
salt and pepper -- to taste

Rinse the quinoa well in a sieve under cool running water. In a saucepan, bring the water to a boil, add the quinoa, cover, and simmer on low heat, until all the water is absorbed and the quinoa is tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Allow to cool for 15 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine the oil, lime juice, cumin, coriander, cilantro, and scallions. Stir in the beans, tomatoes, bell peppers, and chiles. Add the cooled quinoa, and salt and pepper to taste, and combine thoroughly. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Garnish with lemon or lime wedges.

Source:
"Moosewood Low Fat Favorites"

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Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 178 Calories; 3g Fat (15.5% calories from fat); 8g Protein; 30g Carbohydrate; 8g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 315mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 1/2 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 1 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 1/2 Fat.


Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0