Spanish Style Quinoa

This lovely little recipe was actually discovered by accident.

{the way I assume lots of great recipes are created}

We were invited over to a friends house for tacos the other day, and I needed to bring a rice dish of some sort.

If you don't have rice, and don't feel like going to the store, a rice dish isn't gonna happen.

But,

I did have quinoa,

{are you catching the drift this stuff is my fav?}

and most of the fixin's for a Spanish rice dish,

so away with it I went!

I chopped up some onion, garlic, bell pepper, corn {raw} and tomatoes.

Sauteed them in about 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and added in a little over 1 cup of quinoa.

Add in an 8 oz can of tomato juice and 1 1/2 cups of water, plus some spices and let simmer together for about 30 minutes and you're done!

Spanish style quinoa!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 1/4 cup uncooked quinoa

1 medium onion {chopped}

1 ear of corn {cut from the cob, but raw}

3 cloves garlic {minced}

1green bell pepper {chopped}

1 8 oz can tomato juice

1 1/2 cups water

1 1/4 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Salt

Directions:

Heat the vegetable oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Stir in the quinoa, onion, corn, garlic, and green pepper. Cook and stir 5 to 10 minutes until the onion is tender, and the quinoa has lightly toasted. Stir in the tomato juice and water, then season with the chili powder, cumin and salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low.Cover and simmer until the quinoa is tender, and the liquid is absorbed {right around 30 minutes}.

Again, I love how the ingredients are versatile and you can definitely adjust the level of spice and flavor!

This is also a perfect filling for burritos, stuffed bell peppers, or to eat all by itself :)