Quinoa & Pinto Bean Bowl
Quinoa
Quinoa
Quinoa is a versatile food that can be eaten for breakfast with fruit toppings, raw honey, or pumpkin seeds. You can make it savory as with this recipe and add whatever you like to eat—meats, non-dairy cheeses, or goat cheese if you're able to have it—beans and veggies, and mix and match with different sauces and seasonings.
You could create hundreds of different combinations. I eat quinoa as a savory dish more often, but I do have some tasty breakfast options like my Quinoa and Strawberry Apple Breakfast. For more quinoa recipes like this one and many more like Dairy Free Mac and Cheese Sign up to receive my free ebook.
Quinoa could also be substituted for other grains like rice; a nice wild rice could be substituted for the quinoa. I used white quinoa for this recipe, but there are several different varieties of quinoa. There is red, black, and tricolor quinoa as well. All of them have similar nutrition; tricolor quinoa is just a blend of white,red, and black.
Veggies
Veggies are easy to add in; mix and match salad greens like kale or spinach, cucumber, broccoli, carrots, onions, and peppers; add in some sweet potatoes for a nice sweet-savory combo.
What's for dinner tonight? If you want to add some chicken to your quinoa, check out Quinoa with Chicken and Mixed Vegetables, which is completely customizable to the veggies you prefer. I like green veggies like kale, spinach, and green beans; orange veggies like carrots and peppers; and starch vegetables like sweet potatoes. Then I’ll mix in seasonings.
Beans are a great way to get some protein in, though you could also use chickpeas in this recipe as well, which would also be a great option. I tend to stick with a few kinds of beans: white, black, and pinto. I also like kidney beans, but I typically save those for minestrone soup.
There are several other varieties of beans that would go well with this recipe, so feel free to substitute your favorite.
As I have said in previous posts, beans are really easy to make and are really versatile. I only use dry beans, as that cuts the sodium down to nothing, and I don’t have to worry about the chemicals in canned beans.
I can add in my own salt and seasoning to taste. Beans are pretty inexpensive, and you can get the cost down even more by buying them in bulk. With an instant pot and buying beans in bulk, this would be a great protein addition to your meals, especially if you’re vegan and don’t eat any meat sources. I don’t eat a lot of meat myself either, but I do like ground turkey and chicken. I like turkey and chicken sausage as well, and they would go well with my broccoli and tomato pasta recipe that you can find here.
This recipe is easy to mix and match, so feel free to make it your own with different veggies, beans, or kinds of quinoa. This recipe is meant to get healthy ideas flowing. You can have this meal on the table in 30 minutes, so it’s a nice quick weeknight meal for when you just want to sit on the couch and reflect on your day with a nice cup of freshly squeezed juice.
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Gluten & Dairy Free Vegan Quinoa Pinto Bean Bowl
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups quinoa
1/2 cup cooked pinto beans
1/2 cup onion
1 cup carrot
1 cup broccoli
1/2 tsp salt
I use dry pinto beans in my recipes, so I will usually cook a lot of beans at one time in my instant pot. You can find the recipe for that here.
In a small pan, add 2 cups of water and 1 cup of quinoa. Cook on medium-high heat until the water boils, about 5 minutes. Stir once, turn down the heat to low, and place the lid on. Cook until all the water is absorbed, about 15–20 minutes. Check on it once or twice during that time to stir to make sure it is cooking evenly. Fluff with a fork or spoon.
I use frozen veggies, which makes cooking easy. You can use fresh vegetables; you will just have to adjust the cooking time. Throw all the veggies into a skillet and add a small amount of water, 1-2 oz., and put the lid on to cook for about 10 minutes, stirring after about 5 to redistribute the heat. Keep covered until veggies are tender and cooked through, about a total of 12 minutes.
Enjoy
