Quinoa Pilaf for Megan's Challange at Tyler Florance Fridays

Every month, one of the hostesses of Tyler Florence Fridays, Megan of My Baking Adventures, offers a special recipe as a challenge. At the end of the month, she posts a special round up for anyone who decided to participate.

This months recipe was Quinoa Pilaf. She made it with preserved lemon rind, tomatoes, artichokes, red onion, olives & currants. Sounds good huh? Well, you'll have to go over there to see it made that way, because I didn't have all those things here- and as you remember I'm have a grocery shopping free summer! What I did have was lots of summer squash & zucchini, so here is the recipe as I made it.

Ingredients
2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup quinoa, rinsed well
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt and pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 each small zucchini & summer squash, chopped small
minced garlic to taste- we like a lot
fresh parsley

Directions
1. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan. Add chopped zucchini, summer squash & garlic. Saute until soft.

2. Add well rinsed quinoa (be sure to rinse as this removes the bitter exterior) and cook, stirring for one minute.

3. Add vegetable broth, bay leaf, turmeric, lemon, salt & pepper. Simmer until broth is absorbed, about 15-20 minutes. Stir in chopped fresh parsley, saving some for garnish.

Resuls

Quinoa is a very filling grain, which is a very good thing (in moderation of course, as I learned the hard way in Disney. For more detail than you probably want to know and my first attempt of cooking quinoa at home, see here). It makes an excellent pilaf. This was quick & easy and had a very nice flavor. I would not add salt the next time as the broth had plenty.

As I said, I used only ingredients I had at home already. Including the quinoa. I had bought the quinoa back in April and it was still good. Another added benefit, you know how some grains quickly get those moths, eugh!

This is my entry for this week's Tyler Florence Friday round up & Megan's challenge to be posted shorty, as July is almost over. :( Head over here to see what everyone else has made & who the big winner of a guest spot on Tyler's blog. YES, Tyler himself!