keen on quinoa

Happy winter break to everyone! I'm so excited to be off for a week, and besides a bit of SAT studying, I have very few things to do. Which leaves me a lot of time to spend in the kitchen! I also have my sisters Jenna and Suzanne home on their winter break from school, so I have 2 more sources of recipes to choose from!

For lunch today I wanted to make a new quinoa recipe, so Suzanne suggested a something she and Jenna tried up at school. It turned out really good! It's another Asian themed quinoa; this time with broccoli and water chestnuts. Suzanne found the recipe on Pintrest here but we changed it up a bit for lunch today.

This was a great lunch recipe since quinoa is such a power-food (packed with protein, fiber, and more). The broccoli as an extra source of fiber, and what I didn't know is that water chestnuts are a good source of calcium and potassium.

Here's what you'll need:
1 cup uncooked quinoa
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 tbsp olive oil
2 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 cup broccoli 
small can water chestnuts

for the dressing:
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tsp soy sauce

1. Heat sesame oil and olive oil in a saucepan on medium heat. Add in garlic and quinoa and stir to coat. Toast for 3-4 minutes.

2. Add in chicken stock and increase heat to high. Bring quinoa to a boil.

3. Reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook for 15 minutes, until quinoa is fluffy.

4. Meanwhile, mix ingredients for dressing.

5. Blanch broccoli by heating water in another pot, then adding the broccoli for a few minutes. Then turn off heat.

6. Add broccoli and water chestnuts and dressing to quinoa. Enjoy!

Resource: http://www.livestrong.com/article/412433-health-benefits-of-water-chestnuts/