Oriental quinoa

    Quinoa, queen of the pantry! So light, nutritious and versatile. You can make a meal with it, a salad, veggie balls or even a dessert! The recipe below can serve both as a meal or a side dish. You can have it warm or even cold. And, as I was enjoying it for lunch today, I thought it would work great with some toasted walnuts. But I wasn't going to interrupt myself from eating in order to look for the walnuts...toast them...then chop them up... I mean, I could not resist being away from my food for such a long period of time. So, I didn't. But I will next time. Or, if you do, let me know how it goes!

   Ingredients (serves 4-6 as a meal)

- 1 cup quinoa, boiled according to instructions on the packaging

- 1 large onion, minced

- 3 different color peppers (if possible)/8 small peppers, diced

- 3 garlic cloves, smashed and minced

- 1 small can chick peas, drained and rinced

- 1 Tablespoon tomato paste

- 4 tomatoes, diced/ 1 can (500 ml) diced tomatoes

- 1 Tablespoon pomegranate molasses

- 2 teaspoons cumin

- 1 small bunch parsley, chopped

- a few fresh mint sprigs/ 1 Tablespoon dry mint

- salt and pepper

- extra virgin olive oil

   Heat 2 Tablespoon evoo and sauté the onions with the garlic until they start to turn golden. Add the peppers and, stirring often, cook until the peppers soften. Add the cumin and the tomato paste and cook for a minute or two, stirring constantly. Add the diced tomatoes, the pomegranate molasses,chick peas, salt and pepper and cook 3-4 minutes more, depending on how much water the diced tomatoes contain. Remove from heat, add the parsley, mint, salt and pepper and a drizzle of evoo. Garnish with extra parsley and perhaps another drizzle of evoo. Enjoy!