Spanish Style Quinoa with The Secret Recipe Club - #Recipe

It's November, and time for another great blog and recipe from The Secret Recipe Club!




So, what's the big secret?

SRC members are assigned a participating blog. They can go through recipes, drool over posts and photos till they find a recipe to try. The "Ta-dah!" reveal is kept secret until today.  Sound like fun? This is the brain-child of Amanda from Amanda’s Cookin’, and you can join up, see the other blogs involved and get all the deets at The Secret Recipe Club blog.

This month I was assigned Vivian's blog Let's Try These. She is also a Stay-at-home Mom and shares my love of cooking, baking and canning. I love browsing recipes and when I say this recipe for  Spanish Style Quinoa , I knew it was "the one". I have 3 well used quinoa recipes and this would be a nice addition to my rotation. I also love that this is a very simple recipe and a great healthy side dish option.

You will need:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil 

1 cup uncooked quinoa 

1 medium onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced 

1 small green bell pepper, chopped

1 (8 ounce) can tomato paste * (I changed this from sauce)

2 1/2 cups water * (I used stock here)

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin 




Chop the onion and green pepper and place them in a pot with oil. I like to add just a pinch of salt to get them to sweat a little.

Cook till just softened and add in the minced garlic to warm through and quinoa to toast. 

 Then I added my paste. Warm it till fragrant then add in the chicken stock (or plain water if you prefer).

 Add the seasoning and then bring the pot up to a boil. Reduce it to a simmer, cover and let it cook for about 30 minutes. The liquid should be absorbed the quinoa will be tender.

Oh, boy did it make the house smell good! 


We enjoyed ours along with a quick quesadilla for a delicious lunch. I packed up and froze the leftover to use later this month when I make enchiladas. Thanks for the recipe Vivian!

...and if you thought that looked good, be sure to check out the Linky full of SRC members and their chosen dishes. The real question is, what will you pin or make first?