Quinoa and I seem to have a little thing going on right now. To put it simply, I love it, cannot get enough of it, and would include it in every meal if I could. The fact that it is one of the healthiest foods that a person can eat doesn’t hurt, either. If you have not already jumped on the quinoa bandwagon, get to it!
I am a big fan of pasta, but I also love to try to develop healthier versions of pasta dishes. I thought it would be tasty to try replacing pasta with quinoa in a traditional dinner dish. The result…
Vegetable Quinoa Pasta
Servings: 2
Ingredients
3 cups of quinoa, cooked
vegetable broth
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 yellow onion, diced
1-2 Roma tomatoes, diced
1/2 zucchini, chopped into half-moons
2 cups fresh spinach, roughly chopped
1/2 jar pasta sauce (I like to use a low-sodium Traditional red sauce)
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
black pepper, to taste
nutritional yeast, optional
Directions
1. Cook quinoa according to package directions.
2. While quinoa is cooking, line a medium skillet with a thin layer of vegetable broth. Heat the broth over medium-high heat until very hot.
3. Lower the heat to medium and add garlic, onion, tomatoes, and zucchini. Cook for approximately 10 minutes, or until the vegetables have softened. Add additional vegetable broth, as needed.
4. Stir vegetable mixture, pasta sauce, oregano, Italian seasoning, and black pepper into the cooked quinoa. Heat for approximately 2-3 minutes, or until the pasta sauce is warm.
5. Add spinach and cook an additional 2-3 minutes, or until the spinach has wilted.
6. Top your Vegetable Quinoa Pasta with nutritional yeast, if desired (you could certainly use grated Parmesan cheese, as well).
I served my Vegetable Quinoa Pasta with a side of one of my favorite vegetables…peas!
It’s so colorful and pretty. I don’t know about you, but I definitely eat with my eyes first!
This recipe makes two servings. Therefore, after I ate this for dinner I had one serving left over. Instead of eating the same dish for lunch or dinner the next day, I decided to mix things up and incorporate it into my breakfast.
I reheated the Vegetable Quinoa Pasta and to it I added two scrambled egg whites and half of a chopped avocado. This would also be great topped with a runny sunny-side up egg. On the side I ate fresh blueberries and strawberries.
This made an awesome breakfast. I am a sucker for egg and avocado, and the addition of vegetables and quinoa helped to keep me full all morning long.
So there you have it! Two delicious quinoa dishes in one!
