I’ve recently started cooking a few cups of quinoa to keep in my refrigerator for use in salads, etc., throughout the week. It’s an easy way to make a salad more filling and add protein – plus it soaks up all the dressing at the bottom. Yum.

Quinoa holds up better if made a little dry – instead of a 2:1 ratio of water to grain per the instructions, I’ll usually use 3.5 cups of water with 2 cups of grain.

In addition to salads, this recipe below is an excellent way to use quinoa. It’s similar to a stir fry but different enough to be a new trick up your sleeve. Most of all, you have to love the flavor complexity and nutritional credentials this dish packs into just one bowl.

I found the original recipe online, here’s my adaptation:

Ingredients

• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed
• 2 cups broccoli or broccolini florets
• 1 onion, diced
• 4-5 garlic cloves, minced
• .5 cups whole raw almonds
• 2 cups cooked quinoa
• 3 tbsp grape seed oil
• 2 tbsp Bragg Liquid Aminos
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 tsp Sriracha

Instructions

1. Mix the Bragg’s, sesame oil and Sriracha into a dressing and pour over the quinoa. Toss in a large bowl and set aside.
2. In a small sauce pan over medium heat, cook the sweet potato cubes in enough water to barely cover. Check regularly, remove from heat and drain when they begin to soften. Maybe 10 minutes.
3. In a large nonstick pan over medium heat, sauté the onions, garlic and almonds in grape seed oil for 5 minutes. Add the broccoli and partially-cooked sweet potatoes and sauté all for another 5 minutes. Don’t overcook – you want the broccoli to stay vibrant green and the sweet potatoes to keep their shape.
4. Transfer vegetables into bowl with flavored quinoa and toss all ingredients together.