Pinterest Meal: Quinoa

I found this pin for Fluffy Quinoa, which lead me to this blog post by Peas and Crayons. We recently acquired 10lbs of quinoa (thank you swagbucks & amazon.com) and needed some tips on how to cook it. This was my first time, and I found the tips at Peas and Crayons very helpful!
First step- rinse & dry the quinoa. A mesh strainer is helpful here. After rinsing, let the quinoa sit & dry. Rinsing removes some bitterness, & drying it back out is supposed to make it fluffier when cooked.

After its dry, toast it slightly. The recipe says use medium heat for a minute or so. Since I dried the quinoa on a cookie sheet, I popped it in a 300* oven for just a couple minutes. You don't want to brown it, just help finish drying it.
Next, add water (or stock) using a 1 cup quinoa to 1.5 cups of water/stock ratio. At this point I also tossed in some minced garlic. Bring this to a boil, reduce to low, cover & simmer for 12 minutes.
After 12 minutes, fluff with a fork & you're done!
I added some mixed veg at this point, and a little rice wine vinegar. It made a very tasty & filling side dish for our dinner!

Peas and Crayons has several good quinoa recipes listed on her blog, I encourage you to check it out!