This was our baby-steps recipe. It is easy to make and has familiar tastes and textures. You can eat it as a main dish, side dish, or on tortillas.
The first time we made it, on tortillas, we loaded sour cream, cheese and/or ranch on top. Our kids ate it up without complaint and it was declared a “make again” recipe.
After four or five months, I stopped buying sour cream.
After a couple more months, I stopped buying cheese.
Now we all eat these tacos with lettuce, tomatoes, maybe olives or onions, salsa, but no cheese or sour cream. It is still just as satisfying and well received. It is also good as leftovers. If you make this as tacos and you don’t care how naughty your tortillas are, try buying the uncooked ones and cook them in a hot pan with no oil. Sooooo good. If you do care, try corn tortillas or whole wheat ones, if you can manage to find some that don’t have a million ingredients.
So, here it is, from allrecipes.com, Quinoa and Black Beans
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
- 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa - I buy our quinoa at Costco.
- 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper – I put way less than this because I want Carina and Ollie to be able to eat it easily
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup frozen corn kernels – do use frozen instead of canned for a fresher taste
- 2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Directions
- Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until lightly browned.
- Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with vegetable broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes,
- Stir frozen corn into the saucepan, and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until heated through. Mix in the black beans and cilantro.
Also, I don’t use the oil at the beginning anymore. You can just put a little bit of water in instead.
Oh, and did I mention that this recipe takes around a half hour to cook? I think that is the best part.
