Quinoa is hip.  My supermarket, which is far from a healthfood store or anything particularly familiar to, say, a suburban shopper, now has at least four brands of it, all organic.  Hidden away is a Goya version for a third of the cost.

I’ve taken to making like a cup of the stuff at some point in the week (add a bouillon cube to the water to offset that metallic’y taste it sometimes gets) and using it as a salad or taco ingredient.  It should keep for the better part of the week in an air-tight container in the fridge.   The other night, used it to make a badass tabbouleh variant that took about fifteen minutes to prepare and was super filling.

• Chop one bunch of parsley, including the more supple portions of some of the stems.
• Mix it in a bowl with half-a-cup of the quinoa.
• Add two teaspoons of capers.
• Make a dressing of the juice from 2 lemons, olive oil to taste, a tablespoon of the caper brine, a shake of garlic powder, some fresh ground pepper, and a dash of chili powder.
• Mix and eat

Paired with a slice of quality bread and some slices of tomato and cheese, this made an awesome meal that didn’t take, as is so often the case with me, half an evening to prepare.