Simple Saturday: Quinoa

I've been afraid of quinoa for quite awhile.

I tried making couscous a few times and totally failed getting good flavors into it. And I (wrongly) assumed that I would fail at quinoa, too.

But I finally got up the courage when I found a recipe for really fresh, delicious-looking quinoa with lime juice, garlic and cilantro. And then I saw another recipe with black beans.

And this cilantro and black bean quinoa is a happy marriage of all of those southwestern flavors.

I was really amazed at how easy, tasty and filling the quinoa turned out to be.

If you're already a quinoa master, please share your recipes with me! And if not, go buy some and try it out with this easy recipe.

Here's how you make it:
1. Rinse 3/4 cup of quinoa and pour the rinsed quinoa and 1 1/2 cups of water in a saucepan.

2. Bring it to a boil and turn down the heat to simmer for 15 minutes or until the quinoa has soaked up all of the liquid.

3. In your serving bowl, mix together 1 clove of garlic (minced), the juice of a small lime (about 2 tbs.), a few pinches of cumin (about 1/4 tsp.), some black beans, lots of cilantro and sliced radish (optional, for crunch) and mix in the quinoa. Add salt and pepper and adjust seasonings to taste.

4. Serve warm!