Quarrels and Quinoa

I hate being broke (especially around the holidays, can I get an Amen). More than being broke I hate arguing with my husband about being broke. A national survey released in February of this year stated 37 percent of couples fight about money. No surprise to me.

But it’s not like I’m purchasing the newest juicy jumpsuit or a acquiring the D&G purse, (although it is very pretty).

I am practical in my spending. The bulk of the money goes to food and kitchen gadgets.

Awhile ago we bickered about the amount of money I spend on produce and springform pans (my fetish). Silly, right?

The details of the argument isn’t as important as that fact that it is like detoxing it brings up past issues and hurts and such, totally unrelated to the disagreement at hand.

In our case, the quarrel really was about me not doing the laundry often enough or him not putting the toilet seat down again. I forget which.

To resolve the issues, I promised to do laundry once in awhile; he guaranteed the lid will descend after his potty sessions. The making up was very nice and I received a gift to get over the hurt feelings.

“It’s quinoa”

“Keen-who,” I asked?

“Q-U-I-N-O-A. It’s a grain,” he explained.

And not just any grain. Once considered "the gold of the Incas," quinoa (pronounced keen-wa) is an amino acid-rich seed that has a slightly crunchy texture and a somewhat nutty flavor when sprouted.

Speaking of sprouting. It takes these tiny guys 6-8 hours to sprout, sometimes less. You can’t beat that.

Sprouting quinoa:
1. Wash 1 cup quinoa with water very thoroughly to get rid of an unpleasant-tasting saponin on the seed coat.

2. Soak 2-4 hours in a jar.

3. Drain. Rinse well with water before sprouting 6-8 hours.*

The strong flavor of the quinoa can be unpleasant. To counteract this I soak mine in a mixture of 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar and 1/4 cup Nama Shoyu.

yields approximately 1 -1/2-2 cups sprouted quinoa

*This time can vary. I sprouted quinoa on four separate occasions and they all sprouted at different times. Once a batch sprouted while it was still soaking.

They remind me of a bulgur or rice. Once rice came to mind an Asian creation wasn’t far behind.

After scanning the frig and silently praying to the GE appliance for some usable ingredients, it delivered: mushrooms, broccoli, red onion and walnuts. Score!

Searching the refrigerator is a huge step for me, usually I just write a list and go to the store, but, we just argued about being broke so that wasn’t an option.

I decided to marinate the ingredients separately in their own special sauces to create more of a vegetable bowl, but this dish also lends itself well to a stir-fry.

So from being broke, to fighting about it, to detoxing, to laundry, to making up, to a grain worth its weight in gold, to scanning the frig, to a vegetable bowl gift for my husband to say I’m sorry. Here we are. Enjoy!

Vegetable Bowl with Quinoa

BROCCOLI MIXTURE
3 cups broccoli
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon raw agave nectar

MUSHROOM MIXTURE

4 cups sliced mushrooms

¼ cup Nama Shoyu

½ cup apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoon olive oil

RED ONION MIXTURE
½ red onion, sliced into thin strips
½ lime, juiced
1 teaspoon sea salt

WALNUT MIXTURE
1 cup soaked walnuts
2 tablespoons raw agave nectar
¼ teaspoon sea salt

4 cups sprouted quinoa
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
½ tablespoon Nama Shoyu

1 BROCCOLI MIXTURE: Marinate the broccoli in the apple cider vinegar, raw agave nectar, sea salt and red pepper flakes for 2-3 hours or until broccoli breaks down a bit.

2 MUSHROOM MIXTURE: Place ingredients in bowl and marinate in for 2 hours.

3 RED ONION MIXTURE: Marinate the onions in the lime juice and sea salt for an hour.

4 WALNUT MIXTURE: Marinate the walnuts in the raw agave nectar and sea salt for an hour.

5 Toss quinoa with apple cider vinegar, Nama Shoyu and sea salt until well coated.


Servings: 4