Here are some I typed out from my weight-loss eating plan of last year: The instructions on the bag say to add one part quinoa to two parts water. When water boils add seasalt, turn down heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Delicious mixed with vegetables or in a salad. QUINOA, BEAN & VEGETABLE CHILI Serves 8 3/4 cup + 1 TBSP (160 grams) quinoa, rinsed and drained 2 cups (500 ml) water 1/4 teasp seasalt 2 TBSP olive oil 1 leek, white & light green parts only, chopped 3 cloves garlic, crushed 3 sticks celery, chopped 1 each red and green pepper, cored and chopped 1 large carrot, chopped 1 large fresh red chili, seeded and finely chopped 1 teasp chili powder or to taste 2 teasp dried oregano 1 teasp cocoa powder 1 teasp ground cumin 1 teasp paprika 1/2 teasp ground cinnamon 1/2 teasp each sea salt and ground black pepper 1 - 400 gram (or 1 lb) tin red kidney beans, rinsed and drained 1 - 400 gram (or 1 lb) tin pinto or borlotti beans, rinsed and drained 4 - 400 gram ( or 3 1/2 lbs total) tinned chopped tomatoes 4 spring onions, chopped 2/3 cup light soured cream or crème fraîche (4 1/2 fl oz) 1. Roast the quinoa in a nonstick frying pan over a medium heat for 5 minutes or until fragrant and beginning to pop. In a small saucepan, bring the water to the boil. Add the salt and roasted quinoa, then cover and simmer over a medium heat for 15 - 20 minutes or until the water has been absorbed. Remove from the heat and stir. Cover and set aside. 2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat.Cook the leeks and garlic for 5 minutes, or until softened. Stir in the celery, red and green peppers,carrot, fresh chili, chili powder, oregano, cocoa, cumin, paprika, cinnamon and seasoning. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring often. 3. Stir in the beans and tomatoes, simmer, stirring occasionally for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Stir in the quinoa and spring onion and cook for 2 minutes or until heated through. Garnish each serving with a dollop of sour cream. *************************************************************************** CURRIED QUINOA SALAD Serves 6 3/4 cup + 1 TBSP (160 grams) quinoa, rinsed and drained 1/2 cup (100 ml) olive oil 1 large shallot or medium onion, chopped 1 teasp mild or medium curry powder 2 TBSP lemon juice 1 teasp Dijon mustard 1/2 teasp sea salt 1/4 teasp freshly ground black pepper 1 small carrot, finely chopped 1/2 a red pepper, finely chopped 1/4 cup (1 3/4 oz or 50 grams) dried apricots, chopped 1/4 cup (1 3/4 oz or 50 grams) unsalted cashews, toasted & chopped 2 TBSP chopped spring onion 1 TBSP chopped fresh parsley 1. Over a medium heat, and using a deep-sided frying pan, roast the quinoa for 5 minutes or until fragrant and beginning to pop. Put 2 cups (500 ml) of water and a pinch of salt into a small saucepan and bring it to the boil. Add the roasted quinoa; cover and simmer over a medium heat for 15 - 20 minutes or until the water has been absorbed. Scrape the quinoa into a large bowl and let it cool. 2. Meanwhile, heat 1 TBSP oil in a nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat; cook the shallot for 3 minutes or until softened. Stir in the curry powder and cook, stirring, for another 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside. 3. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, salt and pepper and pour it over the quinoa. Add the carrot, red pepper, apricots, cashews, spring onion and parsley and gently incorporate with a fork. Storage: This can be covered and chilled for up to 3 days. *************************************************************************************** TURKEY - QUINOA LOAF Serves 6 1/2 cup (85 grams) quinoa, rinsed and drained 9 oz minced turkey (250 grams) 1 apple, peeled and grated 1 onion, finely chopped 3 spring onions, chopped 1 clove garlic, finely chopped 2 TBSP finely chopped fresh sage 1 teasp Worcestershire sauce 1 teasp sea salt 1/2 teasp freshly ground black pepper 1/4 teasp ground allspice 1/4 teasp ground cloves 1. In a frying pan over a medium heat, toast the quinoa for 5 minutes or until fragrant and beginning to pop, In a small saucepan, bring 1 cup of water (250ml) with a pinch of salt to the boil. Add the toasted quinoa, then cover and simmer over a medium heat for 15 - 20 minutes or until the water has been absorbed. Set aside. 2. Preheat the oven to 350F (177C). In a large bowl, mix together the turkey, apple, onion, spring onion, garlic, sage, Worcestershire sauce, seasoning and spices. Add the quinoa and mix in thoroughly. 3. Pack the mixture into a nonstick 2 lb (1 kg) loaf tin. Bake for 1 hour or until a meat thermometer registers 158F (70C) when inserted in the centre of the meatloaf. Serve with Cranberry & Orange Sauce (see below). Muffin Loaf Option: Place the mixture into 12 deep bun tins or muffin cups and bake for about 30 minutes or until a meat thermometer registers 158F (70C) when inserted in the centre of the muffin ******************************************************************************* CRANBERRY & ORANGE SAUCE 1 2/3 cup (9 oz or 250 grams) fresh or frozen cranberries 1/3 cup (2 oz or 50 grams) dried cranberries 3 TBSP sugar or sugar substitute 4 TBSP fresh orange juice 2 TBSP Grand Marnier or any orange-flavoured liqueur (optional) 1 TBSP frozen orange juice concentrate 1 TBSP grated orange zest 1/2 teasp cinnamon 1. In a saucepan, combine the cranberries, dried cranberries, sugar, orange juice, Grand Marnier, orange juice concentrate, orange zest and cinnamon. Bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes or until the cranberries burst and the sauce is thickened. Makes about 10 oz (300 grams). ************************************************************************************ Source: All recipes from Rick Gallop's GI Diet Cookbook SharonCb

Lemon Chicken with Olives (Real Simple) 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin 2 teaspoons lemon zest, plus 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice kosher salt and pepper 1 1/2 pounds chicken cutlets 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 shallots, thinly sliced 1 cup pitted green olives 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped 1/2 cup dry white wine (such as Sauvignon Blanc) Mix the flour, cumin, lemon zest, and 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper on a flat plate. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and dredge in the mixture. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken in 2 batches until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate. Wipe out the skillet and return to medium heat. Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil. Add the shallots and cook until soft, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the olives, parsley, lemon juice, and wine and bring to a boil. Return the chicken to the pan, nestling it in the olives and shallots. Reduce heat to low and cook, covered, until the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Divide among plates.

I agree with everyone else- don't toss your quinoa! I tend to use it savory- and like a lot of others, cook it like rice before adding other stuff. Quinoa can be even easier than rice to cook too since you can stir it while it's cooking. A favorite around here is to use it as a stuffing for squash. Cook it on it's own and add some cooked up ground sausage or hamburger or even canned beans (dry kind not green kind), corn, and herbs and seasonings- and stuff winter squash with it. This is also great for stuffing peppers and tomatoes too. Or mixed with asparagus, mushrooms, and fresh tomatoes to stuff summer squash- or stuffing green peppers or tomatoes. A mexican style flavored quinoa is a great replacement for spanish rice as a side or wrapped into tortillias too. And there's tons of sides and salads that can be made with it. Or as a couscous replacement- anything that uses couscous you can use cooked quinoa instead.

I have grown Tatume here a couple of times. While it outcompetes squash bugs, the squash vine borers still can kill it in a year when they are really bad. I don't grow it any more because we liked the flavor/texture of Seminole harvested young (baseball to softball-sized) better than Tatume. It is a huge space hog too, and because I already grow 6-10 kinds of C. moschatas most years, the last thing I need is a space hog that isn't as tasty as they are. Bon, I couldn't help noticing how many of my favorite Texas horticulturalists (Sam Cotner, Malcom Beck, Howard Garrett) were in Howard Garrett's story about Malcom's pumpkin. (Mr. Garrett and Mr. Beck write extensively on organic gardening and all their books are excellent, and Mr. Cotner wrote THE book on growing Vegetables in Texas. I've worn out 3 copies of it and am on my 4th.) Jay White, by the way, writes regularly for Texas Gardener magazine (as does Greg Grant) and their articles and columns are the first ones I read when a new magazine arrives. It is a well-known and well-understood phenomenon that healthy plants grown in healthy soil are more disease tolerant and more pest tolerant than less healthy plants. When pests relentlessly attack plants, I try to figure out what it is about those specific plants that make them less healthy and, therefore, more alluring to pests and to diseases. Sometimes it is obvious to me because the plants under attack are growing in less healthy soil. Sometimes it is something much more subtle---like cool-season plants that are beginning to be subjected to hotter temperatures than they like. Howard Garrett makes a convincing argument for us to grow our brassicas in the fall only in this part of the country because they have less pests since they are less stressed in cooler conditions---and I believe he is right about that. And, there are some pests, like grasshoppers, that relentlessly attack everything still green in the hot summer months, whether the plants are healthy and happy are not. So, for every "rule" that we observe, their is an exception, and I find grasshoppers to be one of the exceptions to the rule that healthy plants in healthy soil are not attacked by pests and diseases. I grew up eating yellow summer squash for as far back as I can remember and nothing I've ever grown as a more pest-tolerant substitute for it is 100% acceptable. When I want yellow squash, I simply want yellow squash---nothing else will do. So, in order to have it, I just grow it in low tunnel rows under row cover and hand-pollinate it. I feel like I don't have to settle for less in my own garden, and growing Tatume instead of the yellow squash I really want is, indeed, settling for less. You'll never know how you feel about Tatume until you grow it yourself. I just wasn't crazy about the flavor and didn't find it to be a really heavy producer either. To be fair to Tatume, it never will look like a heavy producer when it is grown adjacent to Seminole because Seminole outproduces it (and everything else) every single time. There is a reason Seminole is a perennial fave in our garden----it is beaten everything else for about 15 years now, and that track record is hard to break. It has been around forever....I can remember it being on seed racks in Texas when I was a child, although I think then it likely was sold as Calabacita, because that is the name that pops into my head every time I see a packet of the seeds. For squash vine borer tolerance or resistance, as George noted, C. moschatas will win every time and, for me, the C. agyrospermas like White Cushaw, Green-Striped Cushaw and Orange-Striped Cushaw are in second place. Tatume might come in third, or actually, a distant fourth behind every kind of yellow summer squash that exists when grown under row cover. YMMV. You can grow any squash or pumpkin you want if only you'll grow them under summerweight row cover, tulle netting, mosquito netting, etc. and hand-pollinate. Does it take longer and a bit more effort? Sure it does, but it is worth it to avoid the heartbreak of losing plants to the dastardly SVBs. Dawn