With trying to eat healthier, we are trying to broaden our diet. One thing we tried recently was quinoa (pronounced, at least by us, sorta as KEEN-wa). It’s a type of grain, which is good to expand into since nearly every grain we eat is wheat. Wheat is great and all, but it’s not the only grain in town.

Diana tried a black bean/salsa/quinoa recipe that even all of the kids loved, and we’ll definitely be adding it into the rotation to have again soon. Great stuff!

A few quick facts about quinoa for those who haven’t heard of it:

• It is very high in proteins.
• In fact, with soy, it is one of the only complete proteins among plants (i.e. it has all of the essential amino acids our body can’t make), and is therefore great for vegetarians. Otherwise vegetarians need to combine, say rice and beans, in order to get complete protein.
• Also high in fiber, magnesium, and iron.
• It is easy to prepare. You can cook it just like rice, for example.
• Easy to digest and, according to Wikipedia, NASA is even considering it for long duration missions.
• When your cat chews open a bag in the middle of the night, it makes a mess that you would not believe. The grains are so small that it is impossible for any broom known to get them all. Plus, being so small they don’t even stick to bare feet, but sort of embed into your skin and need to be picked out.
• Quinoa originates from South America.

3 of these facts, I learned recently from our weight loss class. 3 more I learned from Wikipedia. And one I had the joy of learning this morning. Any one guess which?

• life
• weight loss