Hearty Vegetable Quinoa Chili - Review

Again, on the quest for good vegetarian meals, I found this recipe on Picky Palate. It looks nothing like it tastes, and that is a good thing. At least for my family. It looks like a vegetable soup, but it really has a taco/chili taste and smell to it, courtesy of the cumin and chili powder. Chili is a good word for it. I kept calling it a "stew", and then was wondering why it smelled like southwestern fare. BECAUSE IT IS A CHILI, KAT!

from pickypalate.com

Quinoa is a little tricky to find. It is a South American member of the grass family (thank you, Wikipedia), and each grain kind of looks like one of those beanbag chair pellets, but with a little more hint of brown. I found it at our local Sprouts. I have also heard they sell packages at Costco, but we don't have one here in good ol' West Texas, so I couldn't tell you for sure. If you check your local "whole foods" store, they should have it. That's where I go to find things that I think only strange, healthy people would eat. Generally, I can find them there. Also, I think you could substitute rice and still have a good flavor. By the way, when you cook Quinoa, it almost looks like it sprouts. Don't be alarmed - I think that's normal. It's a little different, but apparently Quinoa is full of protein, calcium and other good stuff.

We actually had one of my son's friends from school over while I was making it, and more than once he said, "That smells great! What is it?"

One trick. I didn't cook the Quinoa separately. I am lazy. I threw it straight into the pot when the "cooked" Quinoa was supposed to go in. I had read one reviewer who said they did this, and I decided it was a good idea. Especially given all of the chopping required.

I will have to admit that I was a VERY happy person cutting up all of the veggies. They filled up a decent-sized glass cooking bowl. I typically don't like cutting up veggies, but for some reason these were actually enjoyable to do. Lots of pretty colors. And I was happy because I had bought a bunch of veggies a couple of weeks previously and forgotten about them, and I had wondered how in the world I could use them all up quickly. Problem solved.

I was a little nervous about how it would be received by the kids because it has SQUASH (7-year old is not a fan) and TOMATOES (4-year old is not a fan), but all THREE of my children ate it happily. Ha HA! I think it is because it smells so deceptively good. You just want to eat it. Even with little strange sprout-y quinoa floating in it.

Family Rating: ***** (YES! My picky almost 2-year old ATE IT!)
My Rating: *****
Cost: $$ (probably nearer to $5 than to $10 - just depends if you can get your quinoa and veggies on a deal)
Difficulty: Moderate, due to the veggie chopping. No tricky techniques.