Quinoa 365: The Everyday Superfood

by Patricia Green, Carolyn Hemming

One of the world's healthiest foods, quinoa contains a perfect balance of all eight essential amino acids, and is a great source of protein, making it an increasingly popular food choice for those looking to incorporate 'superfoods' into their everyday diets. Gluten-free, wheat-free, and nutrient-packed, quinoa is ideal for those who are health-conscious, vegetarian, and/or physically active, as well as for those with gluten intolerance, wheat allergies, and other digestive disorders. But that's not all: You can eat quinoa guiltlessly knowing it's free of cholesterol and trans fats. In Quinoa 365 sisters Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming show you how to use this miraculous superfood in all your favourite dishes.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Health, Culinary, Vegetarian

198 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Beverly Atkinson]

I have a copy from the public library. Made a quinoa salad for a group meal last night and the bowl was nearly empty when I left to go home. Having used quinoa a fair amount, I am now interested in including it in a greater variety of recipes -- main dishes, breakfast entrees, and desserts. It looks like I will buy my own copy!

[11-4-12 addition] I made quinoa waffles following the recipe in the book; they are yummy with a delightful light crunch (somewhat like the crunchiness of corn meal waffles). AND I highly recommend the crust-less Tomato Basil Quiche which I made twice. The first time was very successful but my husband and I, plus our daughter-in-law (a foodie) and our 92-year-old neighbor Phylis all suggested reducing the quinoa a wee bit, and adding more seasoning. So, I added minced garlic, another teaspoon or so of chopped fresh basil, used less quinoa and little more chopped fresh tomato. The result was quite a hit for the light lunch menu for a CAbi party a friend and I co-hosted.

[Leona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this cookbook, I learned a lot. Now I use quinoa all the time for cooking and baking.

[Evelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well this was certainly the summer of the quinoa salad in my house! I am a big fan of quinoa and definitely enjoyed cooking from this book the past several months.
Some of the recipes were actually for proteins and vegetables that you just serve over a bed of plain quinoa, but they were delicious! The salmon and asparagus was to die for, also loved the chicken fried quinoa. Several salads were added to my book of favourites as well as the creamy quinoa pudding, so yummy.

[BookBec · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book will be perfect if ... you've just inherited a quinoa farm ... your doctor says you need to eat quinoa at every meal ... you really really really like quinoa. Otherwise, many are standard recipes with a bit of quinoa added in. I marked a few recipes to try, but will be returning this book to the library without needing to renew it or purchase my own copy.

[Sharon Summerfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great cookbook!

[Clivemichael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rather unimaginative, most of the usual offerings with a few 'ethnic' additions.

[Steven Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quinoa is rapidly becoming a favorite part of my menus. It is gluten free (making it friendly food for some of my friends who have gluten problems); it is a great protein source (the part of me that is interested in vegetarian recipes is always on the lookout for such foods); it is easily included in a variety of tasty recipes (one of the problems that I have encountered is that there are also some pretty bland quinoa recipes--why cook if the end result is healthy but not very tasty?). As the book says at the outset (Page 1): "Nutrient-packed quinoa has sparked the interest of the health-conscious, those seeking weight loss and those on high-protein diets." Note the nutrition table on page 2.

Quinoa is easy to prepare (somewhat like rice--water, quinoas, cook for awhile, let stand for a bit), although there are other ways of preparing it as well. A nice (albeit brief) feature of this book is an essay on quinoa and its history (pages 9-10).

Then, the recipes. Different chapters consider: breakfast; appetizers, sides, snacks, and salads; soups and stews; entrees--both meat and vegetarian; treats--such as cookies and muffins; desserts; baby food (I haven't seen too many cookbooks with this entry!).

Some sample recipes.

Ultimate Granola (with ingredients such as oats, almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, uncooked quinoa, sesame seeds, coconut, walnut pieces, maple syrup, vanilla extract, cinnamon, cranberries and raisins). Mix the nuts etc. Combine maple syrup and vanilla. Blend the two components well. Put on a baking dish and bake. Nice, tasty, and simple! Other breakfast dishes to illustrate: Quinoa pancakes; Quinoa hash browns; Light and fluffy eggs.

Appetizers, sides, snacks, and salads. Quinoa tabbouleh; Stuffed mushrooms. Soups and stews: Black bean soup; Leek and potato soup (I love this item, and I collect recipes; this is one of the better ones in my collection); Beef and sweet potato tagine on quinoa. Entrees: Chicken broccoli casserole; Thai cashew chicken and broccoli on quinoa; Chicken fried quinoa; Roasted vegetable tilapia in quinoa; Cheese and spinach frittata (a goof frittata is a simple, delightful pleasure).

Anyhow, the recipes listed are tasty (either from closely examining the recipes or from actual experience). It is possible to combine tasty meals with healthy food!

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite cookbook. Have been using this book for years and it is well-loved.

[Winnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The quinoa is best used in the dessert category. The double chocolate and ginger cookies are very delicious. The quinoa flour makes the cookies very soft and crumbly with a nice texture and flavour. I also tried baking the moist choclate cake, it is wonderful especially with cherries on top. Recipe still tasted good with half the recommended sugar.

I also tried the salmon patties and they were tasty and easy to make. However the patties broke into pieces while I tried to flip them in the oven.

[Margot · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was initially a bit disappointed in this cookbook. I was looking for some recipes where quinoa is an essential ingredient. But, in most of the entrees in this book, quinoa is essentially just a side dish. There are a great many baking recipes in here, using quinoa flour. But most of them call for part quinoa flour and part wheat flour, which means their not gluten free by default. What's the point? Despite its flaws, this cookbook is still a good go-to reference for all things quinoa.

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

seems the best book i could find on cooking quinoa. I just started cooking Quinoa, because I heard it is a "super food". If there are any other good cookbooks with recipes for Quinoa that anyone knows please share with me. I mostly want to make side dishes with Quinoa. This book has recipes to make everything from appetizers to desserts.

[Tess ✨ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried a handful of recipes from this book and they were pretty good. None of them stood out and I haven't made any of them again, which says to me that they were pretty standard. There was good information about quinoa itself, the history and other interesting tidbits; these things turned out to be my favorite part of this book.

[Chantal]

Not new to quinoa but needed some inspiration. This book was it! Loved that there were vegetarian, gluten free and child friendly recipes. Some recipes incorporate quinoa by having you make a meal and put it "on a bed of quinoa". That's cheating... But the other amazing recipes more than make up for the little cheats here and there.

[Juanita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the recipes for adding quinoa are fairly intuitive ( replace regular flour with quinoa flour) but most of the recipes are fairly playful with their use of quinoa. The bocconcini salad recipe is one of the best salads I've ever eaten. If you like quinoa you will like this book.

[Jessie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book for finding other ways to use quinoa. I have added this grain to my diet since becoming gluten intolerant and me and my kids love it! I took about 10-15 recipes from this book. I am excited to try them.

[Johnny · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like quinoa, this is worth a peruse, . Appetizers, salads, meals, even desserts. It's not all vegetarian either, offering a diverse selection. I found the recipes to be quite creative, much more than I could find online.

[Yves · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid basics about Quinoa along with 170 (!!) recipes that so far come out perfect every time. The golden hash browns (potato + Quinoa) was a revealing dish, mainstreaming the use of Quinoa the ingredient. The organization makes this a useful tool to incorporate Quinoa into daily meals.

[Janie]

I love the recipe for Raisin Pudding Breakfast Porridge on page 15. I haven't tried any of the other recipes yet, but I would like to try Blueberry Flax Hot Cereal on page 13 and Baked Apples with Berries on page 177.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. I like quinoa, but apparently not enough to peruse through a quinoa cookbook without going into quinoa overload. However, the apple strudel breakfast cereal sounds delicious and will make it on my breakfast table soon.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've made a couple of things from this--some muffins, a cake, and a stir fry dish. I liked the muffins, but my sister said they tasted "healthy" which is to say not great. The stir fry was yummy--but I preferred it without the quinoa. The cake was interesting, strange consistency.

[Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only copied a few recipes from this book. I would have liked more side dishes. Are people really going to add quinoa to their cookies?

[Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found some easy and tasty recipes in this cookbook but it goes a bit crazy for me on recipes to incorporate quinoa into.

[Marilyn Clay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quinoa is one of my favorite new foods. It can be used at any meal. It will be interesting to work my way through the 170 recipes in this book.

[Casey]

Not as great as I was expecting. Most of the recipes used quinoa flour. I was looking for ways to use quinoa as it is, like pilafs and stuff - which, they did have some of those, but not a ton.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this cookbook, but three-weeks was not long enough to make it through even a small portion of the recipes included. Might have to buy myself a copy, and one for my mother too!

[Kathie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very insightful, and yummy!

[Kaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of great ideas for incorporating quinoa into your diet, many of which can be veganised. I would have liked more pictures - nothing inspires me to cook more than a photo of a mouthwatering dish.

[Corianna]

Loved what/how it was written, thus far...Loved the the feel and the photography...love, Love, LOVE Quinoa...I'm always up for a good new recipe...Will let you know...;)

[Kerri · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the following recipes:
- Quinoa Hummus

[Sara]

good variety of tasty recipes