If Oprah approves, it must be good!

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is a great food for new veg*ns to try. If you haven't frequented natural food stores, you may not have come across it before. It is gluten-free if you have allergies. It contains lysine, making it a complete protein - good news for us VegHeads! It made Oprah's Top 10 Superfoods list, too!

1 cup has:
22 grams or protein
(approx. 50% of RDA) More than a 1/4 lb. Hamburger!
87% of your iron!
10% of your calcium
(peertrainer.com)

There are many other nutrients in this cross between a cereal and a grain, too. It looks similar to sesame seeds. One cup has about 15% of you daily fat and 40% of your carbs, so you may want to adjust your carb intake on days you eat this. (It is worth 3 points).

See the complete nutritional label on nutritiondata.com.

I wanted it to be the next 'food of the week' but there's too much to say, I doubt it would fit in the right column. Here are the nutritional benefits:

Lower Type II Diabetes risk
Eases altitude sickness
Protection against heart disease
High fiber content prevents gallstones
Cardiovascular health
Magnesium and Riboflavin can ease headaches and cause them to occur less.

You can find many recipes featuring quinoa! VegWeb has a great collection!

vegparadise.com suggests raw quinoa in salads, cooking the leaves like spinach, or including it in soups or rice pudding

Pasta Salad Recipe

This is one of my favorite things to make. It is easy and nutritious. I looked at about five or six recipes and combined them into something I'd like because I am picky. I think it's a great combination though.

Ingredients:

1 medium tomato, diced
1 large cucumber, sliced and cut into fourths
3/4 cup green peppers, diced
2 tbsp. chopped onion - most of them call for 1/2 cup or more, but that is too much for me.
3/4 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
2 tbsp. Italian seasoning
1 1/4 cup Wishbone Italian dressing
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (optional) I leave it out and let everyone put their own on.
1 lb. penne or rigatoni pasta

Cook pasta as directed. Rinse with cold water. Add dressing, vegetables, and seasoning. Toss. Refrigerate before serving.

Easy and healthy! If you try it out, let me know how it goes :) .