quinoa madness

Everyone ready for a little March Madness? I am, I am!

My bracket is filled out, my money is invested, and I’m ready to beat all my fifth graders in our classroom pool.

I’m so just joking. That would be horrible.

Gambling with fifth graders = not a good idea.

But gambling with my co-workers is!

Last year, I won the pool. $100. $100 felt like a million dollars last year when all my money was being dumped into my beautiful home. $100 felt like a million dollars last year when the rest of my money was being dumped into the beautiful wedding I threw in July.

I’ve been thinking about basketball lately – a lot actually. I’ve been thinking that I don’t know a heck of a lot. I do know that putting all my money on a team that has “pretty team colors” or a “cute mascot” is not always the best thing to do. I also know that everyone thinks of the same food when they hear the word basketball.

What? You don’t think of quinoa? That’s just weird.

One thing I did realize today is how basketball doesn’t really have “a food”. Whenever I think of baseball, my mind could list of a zillion foods (read: 10 foods) fans choose from when going to a game.

Basketball? Not so much.

I’m happy to tell you that quinoa is now the official grain of basketball. I’m still getting it patented though – but just you wait.

It’s prefect, don’t you think? Quinoa is round (like a basketball)…

And that’s about all the reasons why it should be the official grain of basketball.

I digress – and I’ll let this recipe do the talking.

Tomato Basil Quinoa with Humnut Sauce (serves 2 main dishes or 4 side dishes)

Quinoa:

• 1 cup quinoa, dry
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup prepared navy beans
• 2 cups chopped broccoli
• 1 tbsp. dried basil (plus a little more to taste)
• 2 tsp. dried parsley
• 2 tsp. garlic powder
• salt and pepper to taste

Humnut Sauce

• 1/4 cup hummus
• 2 tbsp. nutritional yeast
• 1/4 cup water

Directions: Begin by combining your dry quinoa with the vegetable broth, minced garlic, and tomato paste. Bring to a rapid boil and reduce heat to medium. Add your salt, pepper, basil, garlic, and parsley. Simmer for 15-20 minutes until most liquid has been absorbed.  Prepare your broccoli (I used frozen, so I heated it up) and add to the quinoa once it has been cooked. Add your white beans and heat through.

To make the humnut sauce, combine the hummus, water, and nutritional yeast. Stir until smooth and heat on the stovetop until warm.

I need to make a few confessions to get things off my chest.

#1: I never rinse my quinoa. I know I’m supposed to, but I have never figured out a good way to do it without losing some of my basketball grains.

#2: Next time I need to wipe my presentation bowl clean around the edges. Seriously, what was I thinking?

#3: I’m not telling you who I’m thinking is going to take the cake in the March madness tournament. I’m afraid people will stop liking me – and I like friends. A lot.

Just remember I don’t know a thing about basketball. But I do know quinoa. If there was a tournament about quinoa, I’d bet much more than $5.

Question: Do you play into March Madness? OR Are you scratching your head because you don’t know what March Madness is?

Tagged as: gluten free, hunnut sauce, march madness, official basketball food, quinoa, special diet, tomato basil quinoa