I might be out of the loop here, but i just discovered QUINOA!

I've been on a semi-low calorie diet, and i've also stopped eating grains, whole or not. I just miss the texture of bread/granola though. And my mom cooked something she had found a while ago, called quinoa. or "keen-wa". I was like "um gross?" lol
But after losing a couple pounds already, from my no grain diet, i decided to try it! It's not a grain, but a seed. It lookes like millet, what you feed birds, when not cooked, but if you heat that thing up in a rice cooker, it's pretty nice! I put some butter and a tiny bit of salt on it, and i could barely taste the difference between it and rice

anyone else eat this stuff? have any recipes that you enjoy with quinoa?
I'm like super excited for this stuff! lol

I have had it -- as you say, it's a seed treated like a psuedo grain in dishes. Like pilaf with nuts and raisins for instance.

I'm content to have it plain on the side like you would rice.

A.

My kids LOVE the stuff. I like it quite a bit too. I like to pan fry it with a tiny bit of oil and then add some garlic and veg and cook it like rice. It's kind of nutty and satisfying .

I have to be careful not to overdo even healthy carbs (like fruit, starchy veggies, whole grains and even psuedograins), so I use an exchange plan to control portion amounts, and try to pick the highest protein/fiber/micronutrient options for my starch exchanges.

Quinoa is one of my favorites (sweet potatoes, the lower calorie winter squashes, wild rice, amaranth, and millet are a few others).

My hubby's a little less adventurous than I am, and even he likes me quinoa pilaf and quinoa "fried rice." It's nice as a breakfast cereal too (sweetened with splenda/stevia/or xylitol and topped with almond milk and cinnamon or vanilla).

My husband does a lot of of our cooking. He made it for me for the first time a few nights ago. He panfried it in with a little bit of olive oil and garlic and parsley. I loved it. It was a great alternative side dish that I would definitely have again.

I just bought some (finally,been on my list for a while now) and have not made it yet. I have been looking around the internet for recipe ideas and will let you know if I try a good one. I am really interested in trying to make it in my rice cooker, so I will probably just make it plain like rice to start out. I have read that not only does it supply a good amt. of protein, but it is a complete protein by itself, so a great bonus!

My daughter loves it - I add in chopped scallions, roasted red peppers, roasted broccoli, and a little feta. I may have to lie and say the peppers are tomatoes, but she eats it anyway

I love quinoa and millet.
DF had issues with gluten and we had to cut out Cuscus, which was very hard as it is the most yummy thing ever and he was tottaly bummed about it. But we discovered that if you cook quinoa and/or millet like rice, it works perfectly as a replacment. It's much better than cuscus as it's a pasta and these are grains/seeds. We use it in everything from soup, to stirfry, to curry veggies.

MMM quinoa is one of my favorites. Love that little crunch.
I like it for breakfast - add some ground flax, or chia seeds or hemp seeds, sliced almonds, unsweetened coconut... A drop of cream of half/half if I'm feeling decadent.

I looooove quinoa. My DH makes it because I am not patient enough to rinse all those little devils in cheese cloth. He always makes too much but that is fine as we eat the leftovers. A little goes a long way, but it is expensive I find. I love the nutty tast and texture. We only eat brown rice, not white, so I prefer it over the brown rice. Brown rice is rather wet.
My DH makes a whole pot with only a tiny bit of butter and it is wonderful. I also use it to make salads like quinoa tabbouleh from Michael Smith's cookbook.
Quinoa is great hot or cold. I wish I had some in the house now.

My life-style change has led to eating no wheat and being careful with other grains, so I use quinoa a lot. My favorite way is too cook it like oatmeal in either water or a water/soy milk blend, and then top it with cinnamon and fruit like blueberries. A little sweetner is nice - I use agave, but choose your favorite.

It's also a great substitute for the bulgar wheat usually used in tabouli salads (finely chopped raw veggies dressed with lemon, mint, olive oil -google for recipes).

And, if you mix it with a little egg, rice flour and parmesean, you can make patties to bake. I thought I would be the only one who liked these, but my kids gobbled them up.

Here's the recipe (you actually put the mixture in muffin tins):

2 cups cooked quinoa
2 large eggs
1 cup shredded carrot
2 stalks green onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbs rice flour
1/2 tsp seasoning salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

Bake in muffin tins at 350 for about 15 minutes. Yum. Great make and take snack, too.

Quinoa was on sale today so I got some and thanks Samantha that recipe looks amazing.

It has no taste, but a really cool texture. So, I like to throw in a bit of chicken boullion and it tastes like seasoned rice. Yum

I love quinoa! And the fact that it's healthy is an added bonus. I much prefer it over rice and pasta actually and you can make it any way you want - sweet or salty or even as a baked good.