Super Food

Quinoa

Just what is this weird grain with too many vowels and why should you be eating it?

The Incans considered it a sacred "mother grain" while the UN calls it a "super crop" because it's so healthy. But just what is this weird grain with too many vowels (say it: KEEN-wah)?
Cooked, it keeps a slightly crunchy consistency and has a slightly nutty flavor.
Although it acts like a grain, quinoa is actually a seed, small and often light yellow. Cultivated in the Andes for more than 5,000 years, quinoa boasts a stellar nutritional profile: "Quinoa is a great food that more and more people are discovering," says Ruth Frechman, RD, a Burbank-based spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. "It's a whole grain that's also has enough essential amino acids to make it a complete protein." It's also packed with minerals, higher than most grains in calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and potassium as well as containing copper, zinc, and iron.
For you, that means it's heart-healthy versatile dish. Add it to your diet if you're working out because it's a "high-energy, relatively low-calorie food," adds Frechman. "It's also a great recovery food because it contains both carbs and protein."
You'll find quinoa with the pasta and rice in health food store and most supermarkets. With any recipe, be sure to rinse quinoa before cooking with it to remove any of the seeds' bitter coating. Boil it like rice, with two cups of water or stock for every cup of uncooked quinoa.
Try these simple ideas to get cooking with quinoa:

Better Than Rice
Use it pretty much any place you'd use rice, like in soups or as a side dish. You'll get more bang for your nutritional buck, too, since one cup contains five grams of fiber and eight grams of protein, compared with three and a half grams of fiber and five grams of protein for brown rice.
Oatmeal Alternative
Mix cooked quinoa with honey, dried fruit, and nuts. You can also add some agave nectar and almond milk.