If you’re bored by gardening stuff, feel free to skip past the next picture… So I’ve been ignoring my garden. It’s been wet enough here that it hasn’t needed watering. I think we’ve only watered it once this year. And I’ve gone out to weed it a few times but I’ve been eaten alive by mosquitoes so I’ve given up even though I’m sure it could use it. Just the other day I went to go survey the damage and see how awful everything is doing and I was quite surprised. My garden is actually OK! I was so surprised to see my tomato plants dark green and growing, plus most of them have a ton of their pretty little yellow flowers. I was incredibly excited because I had been picturing yellow leaves and not much growth. My cabbages and squash are growing much better than I thought they would be and my peas(which were attacked by something) are finally making their way up my trellis. I was excited to see my potatoes have not rotted in the ground and are growing well. I’ve forgotten to plant my beets(still!) but I still have plenty of time to grow just enough for me because I’m the only one in the house that likes loves them. Things are quite a bit slower this year, but I’m still happy to see that things are growing.
I went out to take pictures the other day but then realized they’re all pretty boring when all the gardens I see on different blogs are much further ahead. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time to work on my photography once I starting getting some yummy home grown produce to work with though 😀
Funny how before I started this blog I collected recipes from all over and now I have recipes with no idea where they came from. After a little searching I found where the original of this recipe came from, thank goodness. I did change a few things, and I always heap my spices when I measure them out because I love the flavors in this so if you usually add more spices feel free to do the same. I also make veggie burgers out of the leftovers so I’ll hopefully post that tomorrow 🙂
Quinoa Chickpea Pilaf
Ingredients
- 1 large onion chopped
- 3 large cloves garlic minced or pressed through a garlic press
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 2-3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 3/4 cup quinoa rinsed
- 2 cups chickpeas or one can drained and rinsed
- 1/2 cup water or veggie stock
- A squeeze of lemon juice
Instructions
- In a medium sized pot heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and saute till the onion softens before adding the garlic and cooking for a couple more minutes. Add all the spices and stir well and continue to cook until fragrant. Add the tomato paste and mix well before adding the quinoa, chickpeas and water. Mix again and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to simmer the quinoa mixture and cover with a lid. Cook for 20 minutes then shut off the heat and leave covered for 5-10 minutes before serving. I like to serve this with a small squeeze of lemon over top or just a pinch more salt and some herbs chopped and sprinkled over top.
Notes
Comments & Reviews
Tammi Kibler @ How Do You Cook Quinoa? says
I love quinoa and chickpeas! I will have to give this a try. I bet the burgers you make from the leftovers are delicious.
Maryea @ Happy Healthy Mama says
I like reading about your garden. I dream of the day when I can have one!
I have an adapted version of this recipe on my blog, too. We gave good taste in recipes.:-)
Jess@Healthy Exposures says
This is my mom’s favorite thing I’ve ever made – well, the exact book version, anyways! If I ever offer to make dinner, she always says “the wormy dish!” (she thinks quinoa looks like worms.) and i’ve gotta say – it’s one of my faves, too!
hah, my garden is a mess, too! we start out all gung-ho about it, and then weeds creep up and it’s just outta control 😛
Heidi @ Food Doodles says
Awesome! I actually don’t have the cookbook but considering how much I love this recipe I really should. I know exactly what your mom means about quinoa 😀
Me too! By the end of the summer it’ll be all weedy. I’m glad to know I’m not the only one like that. I put down some landscaping fabric around some things so it doesn’t get completely taken over, but we’ll see how that goes 😛
Ari@ThE DiVa DiSh says
I really love this because My little baby could eat this too 🙂 She loves quinoa, and it’s such a good grain for you!