There’s been a welcome fall chill in the air recently, and it seems that summer may soon be coming to an end, but my cravings for Mexican food certainly are not. This summer, more than ever, I have been dreaming of the tangy, spicy cuisine day and night, and seem to have an undying hankering for Micheladas. Instead of eating out at my favorite neighborhood spot the other night, I decided to take on this craving and cook a healthy meal in the form of my take on Mexican quinoa.

After much googling and stumbling upon extremely varied recipes, I settled on making up my own. I knew I wanted some tang, some spice and of course, some cilantro. Inspired by the recent tomatillo salsa that I whipped up, I headed straight to my local market where Mexican food is in abundance and picked up some tomatillos, a yellow pepper, a white onion and some cilantro. I happened to have small amounts of three different types of quinoa left over in my cabinets, so I combined the red, black and white protein packed grains and the blend made for a visually festive meal. When it was ready to serve, I topped it off with a dollop of Greek Yogurt mixed with lime juice. While it was no carne asada taco, my dinner turned out to be just what I needed to curb the evening’s craving, and a bit healthier to boot. Here’s how to make it…

Serves 3-4
3 cups quinoa of your choice
3 cups vegetable broth
2 cups water
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 medium tomatillos chopped (remove husks and wash well)
1 white onion chopped
1 yellow pepper chopped
3 cloves of garlic chopped
1 lime
1 tsp paprika
1 cup fresh cilantro chopped
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Bring quinoa, vegetable broth and water to boil in a medium pot. Reduce heat and let summer for about 15 minutes or until all of the liquid is absorbed and quinoa is cooked. about 5 minutes before it is finished, stir in chili poder and cayenne pepper.

While the quinoa is cooking, Add onions to a heated pan with olive oil. Stir for a minute or two and add tomatillos and peppers and garlic. Cover and let cook over medium heat for a few more minutes. Add juice of 1 lime, paprika and a generous sprinkle of salt and peper. This will be done cooking when tomatillos are soft and have a tangy flavor. When quinoa is finished cooking, add the onions, tomatillo and yellow pepper mixture into the quinoa an mix together. Add cilantro and mix together.