Quinoa

Quinoa is a grain. A very healthy grain native to South America. Quinoa is a complete protein! (very good for those of us who don't eat meat) There are so many health benefits of quinoa, but I won't list them all here. If you're interested, see this link.

So with all the benefits of quinoa, I purchased a box at Sprouts and decided to fix some for dinner as a side dish.

Here is what quinoa looks like before you cook it:
Pretty normal grainish looking.

Then you cook it. It cooks quickly, even faster than rice. But it turns out looking like this:
I nearly dropped the pan on the floor when I took the lid off. This is the scariest looking food I've ever seen. These white icky things come out of each grain and for some reason its creepy looking. Does anyone agree? I mean, this picture doesn't portray the actual scariness. Brooke, you would have been terrified because its all these little things with little white swirlies popping out. Esshshhh. Gave me the heebie jeebies. I love it for the nutritional value, and I did manage a bite or two. It tastes pretty good. Unfortunatley, I just can't eat something this scary looking. But if any of you are brave enough and are looking for a gluten free grain, quinoa's a good one.