Slow Cooker Sunday

I was looking around at different blogs, and saw a few slow cooker recipes that looked interesting. One of the recipes was made with quinoa. I have had quinoa before, just never made it myself. I decided to try some quinoa with ground turkey, mushrooms, carrots, black beans and fresh rosemary for dinner.

I browned the ground turkey on the stove in a little bit of chicken broth and added a little bit of salt and pepper. Then, I added everything to the slow cooker (lined with a slow cooker liner) and put it on low for 6-8 hours.

I used 2 cups of quinoa with about 6 cups of chicken broth. The carrots also soaked up some of the broth. You can really add however much of each ingredient that you want. I used one can of rinsed black beans, two carrots sliced thin with a mandolin slicer, and probably 1-1.5 cups of mushrooms.

 

I wouldn’t recommend, based on this experience, leaving it overnight to cook. It really probably only needs 4-6 hours to cook. I ended up overcooking my quinoa slightly, but it still tasted great! I would also recommend adding more mushrooms. I am a huge fan of this concept, though, because it was so easy to make and is so healthy!

I also saw quinoa being used as a breakfast food with fruits and maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. There is a Banana Bread Quinoa recipe that I still really want to try that I found on a blog called The Realistic Nutritionist.

For this breakfast, I decided to use apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, chia seeds, and almond milk. I just used ratios of liquid to quinoa similar to those in the Banana Bread Quinoa recipe above, and let it cook overnight.

I would also recommend 4-6 hours for this recipe, as I did slightly overcook the quinoa here, as well. Despite cooking for to long, both recipes turned out well. It is especially okay for this recipe since the texture reminded me of oatmeal.

Slow cookers are so awesome! Slow cooker liners are just as awesome, because they make cleanup SO much easier! (I only used a liner in the big one because it is such a pain to clean due to its size.)

I love the concept of using quinoa in the slow cooker! It is a great vehicle to use as a base because of its nutritional value and great versatility. I am going to try different combinations of ingredients with quinoa for both breakfast and lunch/dinner in the near future. I also read a recipe for slow cooker risotto. I already bought my Arborio rice for this one!

What is your favorite thing to make in the crockpot?

Have you made oatmeal or breakfast foods in one?

What are you having for dinner tonight?

Happy Trails!

Stacey