salsa-cooked quinoa with tofu and garlic spinach sauce

needed to use: a bowl of too-watery-to-actually-dip-chips-into homemade tomatillo salsa

well....it was slim pickin’s this night (as you can perhaps guess from the text above!).  our farm delivery was coming in the morning so i hadn’t bulked our produce back up.  no matter, i am not swayed.  i had the idea to cook some sort of grain in the salsa, so i went with quinoa (as opposed to a wild rice mix).  quinoa is a 1:2 ratio of grain to water, so i measured 2 cups of the salsa and still had a bit left, so i downsized the container and put it back in the fridge.  (downsizing is just fun, no matter what it’s pertaining to ;)

i wasn’t sure if the quinoa would cook properly in a liquid thicker than water, but i was prepared to add some extra H2O if necessary.  i brought it to a boil and then brought it down to low heat with the lid on to retain as much liquid as possible.

we had two carrots, an onion, some baby spinach, and half a block of tofu.  (we also had celery and jalapeno peppers, but i opted out of those.)  i sliced the carrots and put them in with the cooking quinoa (saved me an extra pan) and started an onion sauteing in a medium frying pan with a little butter.  i crumbled (aka smooshed and tore) the tofu in with the onion and added some bragg’s, both for a little color and flavor.  

i almost burned the quinoa, as it’s very quiet about turning sticky and black at the bottom of the pan while the top looks deliciously light and fluffy.  two good things to do in that moment of discovery: turn of the pan and douse it with a little water.  not enough to drown it, but just enough for the hot dry grains to have a drink.

i sat down and read for a few minutes while everything cooled a bit, then abruptly announced that i had an idea and walked back to the kitchen, ignoring will’s inquiry as to what it was.  (i like to keep him guessing a little....it’s part of the fun :)  

i took the remainder of the salsa back out of the fridge and put it in the blender, along with a few good handfuls of spinach (that appeared to get the unintentionally boot from this meal and still lay quiet and hopeful on the counter) and a minced clove of garlic.

perfect.  bright green things are really fun.  i put down a layer of the spicy quinoa and carrots, followed by the tofu and onions and a generous drizzling of green garlic salsa stuff.

salsa-cooked quinoa with tofu and garlic spinach sauce

despite the fact that will was not sure what he was eating at first he gave it a verbal “thumbs up” and nod of approval.  

approximate price: $5