Quinoa is special! At least I think so. I was raised on quinoa, although at the time I didn’t even know it! An American by birth, I grew up in the land-locked country of Bolivia, high in the Andes Mountains. My family was living in Bolivia while my father was on assignment as a petroleum economist for the United Nations. I was a teenager at the time and not into cooking. How I wish I could go back now and explore the many healthful foods we ate!

Peruvian Quinoa Stew
(Serves 4)

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is native to Bolivia and Peru. It looks like a grain and cooks like a grain so it is commonly referred to as a grain. Botanically speaking, however, it is actually a seed of a leafy plant related to spinach. This special grain has nearly twice the protein of “real” cereal grains with fewer carbohydrates and some healthy fat! Unlike cereal grains it is a “complete” protein. That means it has all the essential amino acids present that your body needs to build lean tissue such as muscle.

Quinoa Paella
(Serves 6)

Nutritional Analysis
Calories: 240; Fat: 6.6 g; Saturated Fat: 0.7 g; Carbs: 36.3 g;
Fiber: 6.7 g; Protein: 9.1 g

Quinoa is a good source of potassium, iron, copper, manganese, and magnesium. It is also a source of many vitamins including niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, folic acid, B6, and Vitamin E. In addition, quinoa is gluten free.

The seeds of Quinoa are covered with a bitter tasting coating of saponins that act as a natural repellant to birds and insects. However, you have no need to worry. When quinoa is prepared for sale in the market place, the bitter saponins are removed. It’s still a good idea to rinse quinoa before cooking. Because quinoa does not have any gluten it is an excellent choice to include in the diet of anyone with gluten sensitivity.

Quinoa cooks up faster than rice. One part uncooked quinoa will yield 4 times that amount cooked. It can be used in salads, soups, stews, egg dishes such as quiche or frittata, and desserts. I’ve also found it makes a great hot cereal for breakfast along with some dried fruit, nuts, and fresh or frozen berries.

Warm and Nutty Cinnamon Quinoa Recipe
(Serves 4)

If you like nutty, chewy and nutritious, you’ll want to go make a bowl of this appealing breakfast cereal as soon as you can! It’s one of what may be hundreds of scrumptious recipes posted on the 101 Cookbooks blog. Do exercise caution however! Many of the recipes, although enticing, are not low calorie or necessarily healthy by any means!

Nutritional Analysis
Calories: 314; Fat: 10.4 g; Saturated Fat: 0.9 g; Carbs: 47.5 g; Fiber: 7.8 g; Protein: 8.9 g

Quinoa Turkey Burgers with Easy Guacamole
(Serves 4)

When preparing this recipe/meal make sure you purchase extra lean ground turkey 99% fat free or you will have a good deal more saturated fat and cholesterol along with the accompanying unnecessary calories. Omitting the avocado would also reduce the calories but then you would forgo a good source of unsaturated healthy fat and other important nutrients avocado has to offer such as vitamin K, dietary fiber, vitamin B6, vitamin C, folic acid, and copper.

Nutritional Analysis
Calories: 332; Fat: 11.7 g; Saturated Fat: 1.5 g; Carbs: 36.4 g; Fiber: 6.3 g; Protein: 20.9 g

[UPDATE: I've now made the burgers. They are good but I believe they would be better with less quinoa and more ground turkey. So the next time I make these I plan on including only half of the quinoa. That reduces the calorie count per burger to only 246 calories with the avocado/guacamole topping. Bun not included.]

With half the quinoa:

Calories: 246; Fat: 10.2g; Saturated Fat: 1.5 g; Carbs: 21.4 g; Fiber: 4.8 g; Protein: 18.4 g

Butternut Squash and Quinoa Frittata
(Serves 4)

What a great idea to add squash and quinoa to a frittata! I have lots of butternut squash ready for cooking from my garden. This recipe seems to be quick and easy to prepare. I can’t wait to try it!

Nutritional Analysis
Calories: 287; Fat: 12.3g; Saturated Fat: 4 g; Carbs: 30 g; Fiber: 4g; Protein: 16 g

Zucchini and Corn Taco Seasoned Salad
(4 servings)

This recipe calls for making homemade taco seasoning. To save some time, a packaged mix should work just as well. It also calls for using a cheese called cotija. Not being familiar with this cheese I did a little research. From what I have learned it is evidently similar to Parmesan cheese with respect to taste but looks to me like feta cheese. I would imagine either Parmesan or feta would make a suitable substitute for the cotija.

Nutritional Analysis
Calories: 304; Fat: 8.1 g; Saturated Fat: 1.5 g; Carbs: 49.4 g; Fiber: 7.1 g; Protein: 10.1 g

Hope these five healthy low calorie quinoa recipes will get you started on cooking with quinoa. I plan on making the Quinoa Turkey Burgers and the Butternut Squash and Quinoa Frittata this week. I’ll be making the others as well as soon as I can! How about you?

Did you know that pumpkins are actually one kind of winter squash? Makes sense but I had never made that connection. In addition to pumpkins, there are actually hundreds of different winter squashes including Acorn squashes, Butternut squashes, Delicata squashes, English pumpkins, Hubbard squashes, Kobocha squashes, and Onion squashes.

In the United States pumpkins are used most often to make pies and other desserts.  Given that pumpkins are a member of the squash family, pumpkins could be subsituted in most winter squash recipes and sweet potatoe recipes.  Pumpkins are packed with good nutrition–fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin E, selenium, zinc, and more. Eating pumpkin and other winter squashes is a wise choice.

If we look to other parts of the world we can find some creative ideas for cooking with pumpkins. Evidently, in Latin America cooks use pumpkins in casseroles. In Russia pumpkins are combined with fruits and meats. In northern Africa pumpkins are included in a wide variety of recipes.

To boost the nutritional value of the foods you eat, here’s a few tips I found for including pumpkins in your cooking more often:

• Cook pumpkin with hot peppers, tomatoes, and corn; then combine with cooked pinto beans for a Mexican style pumpkin dish.
• Use pureed (or canned) pumpkin, rather than flour, to thicken gravy
• Add pureed (or canned) pumpkin, to mashed potatoes
• Cook leftover pumpkin chunks or pumpkin puree with broth and finely chopped stewed vegetables such as onions, tomatoes, and celery. Add some lowfat plain or vanilla yogurt (rather than cream) to make a lower calorie cream soup.

(Modified from the original source: "The Victory Garden Cookbook" by Marian Morash. Knopf. New York, 1982)

Another way you might incorporate pumpkin in your diet is with smoothies. Here’s a recipe I found for a delicious sounding mango pumpkin smoothie:

Mango Pumpkin Smoothie

Serves 2

1 cup mango juice or juice blend
1 cup nonfat vanilla yogurt
1/3 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin
1 ripe mango, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
4 ice cubes

Place all infredients in a blender and puree until smooth. Serve immediately.

(Source: "Pumpkin: A Super Food for All 12 months of the Year," by DeeDee Stovel)

Some things to keep in mind when making smoothies:

When choosing juice look for those with 100 percent fruit juice. The same goes for buying juice blends. A mixture of fruit juices is fine as long as it is 100 percent fruit juice and not a blend of juice with sugar water.

Something else to keep in mind is the calorie count. Smoothies can be an excellent choice for good nutrition but can be high in calories. I’ve taken the time to calculate the calories in the Mango Pumpkin Smoothie and the calorie count per serving need not be too bad if you choose your ingredients carefully.

The fruit juice is a significant source of calories but do watch the calories from the yogurt also. Yogurt can pack more calories than you might think. Keep in mind that lowfat or nonfat does not necessarily mean low in calories. Read the labels!

Also, recent research suggests that the calories from beverages, including smoothies, may not register with our bodies in the same way as solid foods. So when we drink beverages we may not compensate for the calories consumed in our total daily intake. This can easily lead to consuming extra calories and unwanted pounds.

For whatever reason, soups seem to register as a solid food rather than a beverage. That’s good news but I am skeptical about soups and smoothies being perceived differently. I’ll be looking for what we learn from continued research.

My suggestion? Enjoy healthy smoothies on occasion for great nutrition but do keep in mind your total calorie intake for the day if you are needing to watch your weight.

Nutrition Facts for:

Mango Pumpkin Smoothie
   
Amount Per Serving:

Calories    198
Total Fat    0.5g
      Saturated Fat    0.2g
Cholesterol    2mg
Sodium    49mg
Carbohydrate    47.7g
      Dietary Fiber    3.8g
      Sugars    39.5g
Protein    3.5g
Vitamin A 159%   
Vitamin C 101%
Calcium    14%   
Iron 7%

Would you like to learn more about pumpkins? Here’s I great resource I found from the University of Illinois Extension Service (http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/pumpkins/).

Please note that pumpkins are actually a fruit in the botanical sense. But when it comes to cooking pumpkins are considered to be a vegetable.