As I mentioned earlier today I had been hopes for this dinner creation I had thought up. I had been wanting to try quinoa with cooked apples for a while after I found a recipe using it. Unfortunately I did not follow that recipe at all and ended up pretty disappointed with my dinner.
Step 1: I rinsed 1/2 cup quinoa and added it to 1 cup of water, brought to a boil, then let simmer for 15 minutes
Step 2: Peel and slice 1 apple, 1 sweet potato, and 1 pear
Step 3: Heat 1-2 Tablespoons of olive oil in large pan. Add Sweet Potato cubes then add apple and pear (I added them 5 minutes later, this was not long enough for the sweet potatoes to cook so I recommend waiting for at least 10)
Step 4: Add a few shakes of cinnamon and a touch of vanilla to roasting apples, pear and sweet potatoes. (I didn’t measure this but I needed to do more, or add this straight to the quinoa)
Step 5: Take roasting fruit/potato and put on top of quinoa. Add a little maple syrup on top
Now this wasn’t a disastrous meal by any means. I still ate it. It just wasn’t nearly as flavorful as I wanted it to be and my sweet potatoes were under cooked so that is never good.
So please..assess..try and make it on your own with your own touches and let me know how to improve it! I feel like I have the basics of a good recipe this just needs something more.
Any suggestions?
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Maybe baking the sweet potato in the oven would help? I think it really brings out the flavor, looks like it could have good potential!
For sure am going to have to bake them next time..thanks~!
I’m so sorry that it wasn’t as good as you hoped! Maybe you could roast the sweet potatoes. 🙂 Maybe you could cook the Quinoa in some apple juice. 🙂
oooh apple juice that sounds delicious!
I’m a little afraid of quinoa. I’d love to see your favorite recipe for it sometime!
I’m really new to it! Right now the only thing I’ve found is just putting marinara sauce or pesto sauce over it and adding some spinach..kinda like replacing a pasta?
oh no! The sweet potatoes being undercooked probably made all the difference. Try roasting them – it takes a long time, but it allows the natural sugars to caramelize and the flavor is 100x better!
Yes I feel like they were the main issue, I will try next time!
I’ve been wanting to make quinoa for a while but still haven’t! I think maybe if you roasted the sweet potatoes and fruit in the oven instead of in a pan on the stove…this brings out the flavors more. And I’d roast the potatoes for at least 30 minutes, and add lots of cinnamon and maybe some nutmeg and ginger, too!
good ideas! I will have to try that next time
ah im sorry i hate when that happens! usually when i boil grains in veggie stock it tastes SO MUCH better!
It seems like it would be so simple- but yeah, I can only do sweet potatoes roasted because I screw them up every other way…
Yes I need to do that..I just don’t have the patience to wait that long!