Dixie's Quinoa Recipe

• From 1993-1997 I lived in Golden, CO in a cooperative house called The Owl House. I moved there when I was pregnant with Keara, she was born in Denver. I had many different roommates who went through that house, several really great ones! Really it was, so far, my favorite and most cooperatively functioning household I have ever lived in.
  
• At one point in the Owl House we had 6 adults living there, Keara was a baby and another couple had a daughter who was 6 months older than Keara. Then there was another married couple who had no children yet then(they have 4 now!). Everyone worked 9-5 jobs except me and the other mom, we stayed home with the babies.
  
• My favorite part was the way we shared meals(other than just the great people I lived with!). Every adult picked one cooking night per week and that was your washing dishes day too. Also we each pitched in $20/per week for groceries and that was it. Everyone was vegetarian so it worked great.
  
• Basically for $20 a week we got a gourmet, balanced dinner every night and only had to wash dishes and think about 'what's for dinner?' once a week! We had some guidelines for making it a healthy meal that were so easy I often still go by them today. Since being vegetarian everyone says it is so hard to get enough protein THIS IS NOT TRUE, actually all you need to do is eat dark colored vegetables, whole grains and beans, seeds or nuts throughout the day and the combination of them makes complete protein!! Anyways, we made those our guidelines for our dinners and really it was so easy. For example lets say someone made rice and vegetables for dinner. All they need to do is make sure there is a dark colored veggie(carrots, spinach, yams, beets, kale, squash etc..) in it, brown rice is a whole grain and then for the bean, seed or nut you could at the very least just sprinkle on some seeds or nuts at the end(or add tofu, beans or tempeh etc to the dinner)..
  
• I always keep some sorts of raw nuts and seeds in my refrigerator to sprinkle on at the end if needed. It's amazing how much more complete your food tastes just adding a few seeds at the end!
  
• Try sprinkling on a few sesame seeds or cashews on your salad then serve it with a slice of whole grain bread for complete protein. Also if your salad dressing has nut butter or tahini in it that also would complete your protein. There are many simple ways to do this I wish everyone knew so I wouldn't have to hear ever again 'oh you're vegetarian, how do you ever get enough protein??' I'm so tired of hearing this over and over and over, like eating a steak is the only way or something...(sorry meat eaters but it does get a little annoying explaining my simple and easy diet over and over and over....) oh also I get alot of 'so what you just eat salad then?' this is so funny for a vegetarian to hear because there are so many things to eat out there. Yes I eat salads and it should be my main food(I would be so healthy then) but there is so much more...
• Ok so when I lived in CO I met a girl named Dixie and she introduced me to eating Quinoa(pronounced Keen-wah). This recipe is the first Quinoa dish I've ever eaten and since then I have made this same dish possibly hundreds of times. It is my favorite grain and I have even named my dog after it! I'm posting a picture of my dog also, speaking of Quinoa!!
• This simple recipe is a hit every time and you can easily make it ahead and chill it and bring it to a potluck! Everyone likes it and it is a complete meal, and protein, in itself!
• Let me know if you try it, it's a good one!!