Season's Last Local Peach, and What I Did With It

You've read here about Quinoa Soup, and about NASA's consideration of quinoa.

Here are two more things you can do with quinoa.

One of them tastes like pizza. The other is crumbly, peachy, and sweet, like cobbler.

Mark made the first one this afternoon.

You know how to cook rice, right? Two parts water, one part rice, a dash of salt, bring to a boil on the stovetop, reduce heat and simmer until it's done. To cook quinoa, do the same thing and simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Before cooking, rinse the quinoa grains with cool water and drain.

For the above quinoa pilaf, add to the quinoa and water on the stove some diced onion, chopped broccoli, and mushroom. Add the vegetables at the beginning, bring them to a boil right along with the grain, simmer everything together.

When it's done, the quinoa is soft and translucent and you can see the white curl of the germ along the outside of the grain. The water should all be absorbed. If there is excess and you don't want it, it can be drained.

While the dish is hot, add diced tomatoes and stir them in. The hot pilaf will heat them and give them the taste of stewed tomatoes.

Season with oregano, basil would be great (we don't have any), salt, and some raw chopped onions, sprinkle with oil and vinegar. With the hot tomatoes, onion and oregano, the finished, seasoned dish has a taste similar to pizza or spaghetti. (Damn, basil would be perfect!) Could serve with garlic toast.

I had a little of that this afternoon, but I was full from a plate of potatoes, okra & tomatoes, and green beans, and just had a taste of the pilaf so I could report on it. Thanks to Mark for being patient while I photographed his food before he ate it. I'm looking forward to trying this one myself.

Now, here's something I did with quinoa later in the evening. It was so dreamy I can't believe I made it myself at my house.

I started by cooking some quinoa for cereal, planning to have it with molasses and brown sugar (which I finally bought). Two parts water, one part quinoa, bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer for 10-15 minutes or until grain is translucent and soft and you can see the germ along the outside.

Remove from heat and mix in about a tablespoon of molasses (10% of your "recommended" daily calcium, iron, and vitamin A). Add cinnamon and stir it in.

Then I had an idea.

I diced the last peach of the season. Left over from last Saturday, and the peach lady said then that that was the last week they would be bringing peaches. I ate several slivers of it raw and heated the rest in oil. Poured it over the hot quinoa cereal and sprinkled with flax seed and brown sugar.




This dish tastes like peach cobbler. I didn't stir in the brown sugar, just sprinkled it on top and left it in clumps of crystals along with the flax seed, much like a crumbly cobbler topping.

There may be frozen peaches or peaches from a grocery store later, but this is likely the last local peach of the season.

That's the way to do it.