5/7/14

Cheesy Quinoa and Broccoli

Mother's Day is this coming Sunday, and to celebrate I'm posting kid friendly recipes all week. I may be alone in this, but sometimes I have trouble figuring out different healthy(ish) options to serve my toddler, especially easy lunch recipes, and my idea of celebrating mothers is to have five new easy recipe options. Happy Mother's Day!


This is one of my favorite ways to serve quinoa. It is so easy, but tastes so good. I've found that even people who generally don't like quinoa tend to enjoy this dish. How can you go wrong when you cover it with cheese? It is so easy it seems like there must be a catch. Like maybe it isn't as good as I'm proclaiming. Trust me, it is. And trust me, it really is as easy as cooking the quinoa and broccoli and stirring in some cheese. Really. The classic flavors of cheddar and broccoli are perfect with quinoa as the base, and quinoa and broccoli cooked in broth are flavorful and delicious and only need the addition of some melted cheese to complete the meal. What I love about serving this to my daughter is that the cheese holds the quinoa together, making it easier for her to feed herself without thousands of little quinoa seeds ending up on the floor the way they do with most quinoa dishes. (Thousands may be an exaggeration, but it doesn't feel like that when you are sweeping them up.) This makes an easy lunch, dinner, or great side dish. If you've been on the fence about quinoa or have heard the hype but haven't given it a try, this recipe would be a great place to start.




Cheesy Quinoa and Broccoli

Heat Oven To 350 Published 05/07/2014
Cheesy Quinoa and Broccoli

Ingredients

  • 1 cup quinoa, rinsed
  • 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
  • 2 cups chopped fresh broccoli
  • 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
  • salt

Instructions

  1. Add quinoa and 1 3/4 cup broth to a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 10 minutes.
  2. Stir broccoli into quinoa, adding additional 1/4 cup broth if all broth has been absorbed already, and simmer broccoli and quinoa an additional 5-7 minutes or until broth is absorbed and quinoa is tender.
  3. Remove pan from heat and immediately stir in Cheddar cheese. Cover and let sit 2-3 minutes for cheese to melt. Stir melted cheese into quinoa and season with salt. Serve.
Yield: 4 cups
Prep Time:1 mins.
Cook time:20 mins.
Total time: 21 mins.
Recipe Source: adapted from all recipes.com

3 Click For Comments:

I've never had cheesy quinoa, and that needs to change! This looks delicious, and I'd bet my kids would eat that (with a bit of complaining about the broccoli). :) Hope you have a great Mother's Day, Nicole!

That sounds so delicious and so healthy, I just have to make this. And easy. Yes I definitely have to try this.

I agree...everything tastes good when covered with cheese! This sounds really good, and so easy.

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