Fall Recipe: Savory Pumpkin Quinoa

I was introduced to quinoa recently. I have known about this "superfood," but I never actually tried it. What put me off is the amount of time it takes to prepare. I'm not one to regularly cook rice or other foods that take 20+minutes just to absorb water. Unfortunately, with quinoa there is the added step of rinsing before cooking. As I did not have a fine enough strainer, I ended up lining a regular colander with a kitchen towel and using that to rise in.

I had no idea what to do with the quinoa once I had made it (and I made a big batch so I could avoid the "long" cooking process). I added some Indian spices to the first small amount, and that was pretty good, but it was like adding a dry spice to plain rice - it lacked body. So, naturally, I got online and started searching. I had some leftover pure pumpkin from a candy-venture earlier that day so I searched for pumpkin quinoa recipes. What I found was a great hearty, healthy dish full of fall flavors.

Savory Pumpkin Quinoa

The original recipe from The Wannabe Chef can be found by following the above link. Here is my version (close to the original, but with a few tweaks)

1 cup cooked quinoa
1 onion, diced
1/4 cup red bell pepper, diced
1 Tbs olive oil
1 cup pumpkin puree
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp each sage, rosemary, thyme

Heat the oil and add the diced onions and pepper until the onions are translucent and the pepper is cooked through and slightly charred.

Add the pumpkin, salt, herbs and quinoa to the pan. Mix thoroughly and allow everything to heat through.

Serve hot.

This is a great comfort food and it's great the next day. Filling and lasting lunch to take to work on gloomy days, too!