Brought to You By the Letter "A"

I always loved Sesame Street. It was kind of a bummer when my kids didn't really take to it. Then Elmo showed up. Man, am I ever glad my kids didn't take to Sesame Street. That puppet annoys me. It's the voice. But this isn't about that. This is about dinner last night.

It's no secret that hubby and I are trying to eat better. Yes, we eat organic, and blah, blah, blah, but we still have a long way to go to get where we really want to be. Anytime we try to incorporate something new and different into our diet, it gets kind of scary. Specially if it's something we don't know much about. We are exchanging our grains and pastas. We are looking into alternatives for some staples. Enter quinoa.

Quinoa (keen wa) is very flexible and can be used in place of rice and some noodles. Would I make lasagna with it? No. It's not that flexible. One of our favorite things to eat is Japanese sticky rice. Yeah, that is not the healthiest rice ever. But man is it good still warm with soy sauce. See, it doesn't get much better. We're changing that, too. One step at a time. My problem with quinoa is a texture issue. It's small, not quite like couscous but different than rice. It can get kind of mushy. Yeah, I m not a fan of mush. When it cooks, the smell reminds me of when hubby boils peanuts. I like the taste, but the issues are still issues. What to do, what to do? Hide it. Not hide it exactly, but cook it where texture isn't an issue, and hopefully the smell.

Most of my friends either are or are becoming more attuned to their health. One friend, in particular, has really made great strides. At the park one day, K had a quinoa cook book. I need to check it out from the library and see if I can come up with something. I have searched the internet and come up with some ideas. I tweaked an idea of hers to fit our family and an idea was born. K hides it with ground beef. Well, I can do that. And now that I've taken you on that journey, let's take a detour.

We don't have satellite anymore. No more Food Network or Cooking Channel for me. That doesn't mean I haven't seen some great cooking on TV. And lately, the one thing that seems to be cooking is polenta. I've made polenta before and it was good. I made it the mushy way. It's really just cooked cornmeal dressed up fancy. I wanted to try it the crispy way. After you cook it, you chill it until it's firm. Then you cut it into shapes and either bake it or fry it. Since my oven is on the fritz, I crisped it in butter and some olive oil.

Apparently while I was cooking I was a bit distracted. I inadvertently started making a double batch, but I didn't season it like a double batch. And I probably could have cooked it longer the first time. I didn't, and it was a little plain, but it was still good. The big girl helped. I do not have four hands, but I sure needed them. Polenta can be a little time and stirring intensive. My polenta recipe came from Food.com, which is one of my favorite recipe sites. I also found a sweet potato polenta that I am going to try.

I am also admitting that I freaked a little in the grocery store when I was buying cornmeal. I stood there on the baking aisle, looking at a bag of cornmeal, and I needed a moment. I started thinking about corn and how most of it is now a GMO product and I couldn't do it. I couldn't buy the regular cornmeal. I had to go over to the organic section and buy organic cornmeal. It was pricey and a big splurge, but I just couldn't buy the other with a clear conscience. I am such a freak.

Here's what I did with the quinoa. It was really good and even the baby ate it. She even ate the spinach. I never thought I'd see the day.

Quinoa and Beef

1-2 lbs of ground beef
1 cup cooked quinoa
1 small onion, cut up
1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 portabello, diced
2 cups raw baby spinach
basil, oregano, and parsley to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Brown ground beef with onion, garlic, and spices until cooked through. Drain off grease. Add beef back to pan. Add tomatoes and mushrooms. Stir to combine. Add cooked quinoa and 1/3 can of water. Stir to incorporate quinoa and water. Reseason. Let simmer 10 minutes. Add spinach and cover. Lower heat to medium to medium low. Let sit until spinach starts to wilt, about 5 minutes. Remove cover and stir. Serve over crispy polenta. 

This would be good with any ground meat, like chicken or turkey. It would probably be good with ground pork, but we have stopped eating pork. The quinoa clings to the ground beef and, texture wise, doesn't stand out too much. When I cooked my quinoa, I used veggie stock. It flavors the quinoa and cut down on the overwhelming nutty smell. That made it much better. Some of you may be freaking out that I used canned tomatoes. I used organic tomatoes from a company that has uses BPA free lining in their cans. It's ok. I know Big Sis is going to be mad I didn't add amounts to the spices, but I don't measure. I get a couple of good, healthy pinches and sprinkle that over the meat as I cook. I use a couple, stir it in, let it cook. Add some more when it's time to stir the meat. I season every time I move the food in the pan. I think this would also be good if you want to give it a southwest flavor with cumin and cayenne. It would also be good with maybe a curry flavor if you use chicken or turkey. If you don't have spinach, use kale or chard or cabbage or bok choy or whatever leafy green you have. If you have fresh tomatoes, use those. You could chop a medium size tomato or use grape or cherry tomatoes. This is so versatile, you could mix and match everything.   

I have to say that this is probably one of the best things I've made lately. It was so pretty over the polenta. I would have taken a picture, but it was after 7 and my family wasn't waiting. I'm lucky we got through the prayer before they started eating. I would have had seconds, but I quit eating those, too. Next time I might get a bigger first serving. Now, there's a good idea.

Have a great day.