Alright, I'm on-side

I had quinoa the first time in Peru over 3 years ago - maybe it was the grain-y texture or the flavours with which it was prepared by our porters on the Inca Trail but whatever it was, I was not a fan.

But, I thought I'd give it another chance since I need to add some variety to my clean eating diet.  Much as I enjoy my roasted sweet potato bean salad, it was certain to get old day in and day out as a healthy snack in lieu of my apple in the afternoon.*

So, I spent some time last night on my go-to site for recipes, Epicurious and made this one, Quinoa and Black Bean Salad, tonight.  I tweaked it a bit, skipping the jalepenos and the cumin (eww!) altogether, added lime zest to the dressing and replaced the green peppers with red.  And let me tell you, it was yummy!  I'm now converted to quinoa and am so glad because it's so good for you.

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wa) though technically not a grain, has been touted a supergrain because it's high in fiber, a good source of iron, an unusually high protein source for a plant food and has all eight of the essential amino acids.  Pretty awesome right? 

Anyway, I'm rather pleased with myself for coming around on quinoa, just as I came around on couscous.  Before I went to Morocco, I thought I didn't like couscous either but I gave it another chance and it did not disappoint - unlike asparagus.  Asparagus has failed me each time I've given it a go to change my mind and I've since decided that it's dead to me. That's right, asparagus, you're dead to me!

I have my eye on Quinoa 365, a very well reviewed cookbook filled with quinoa recipes but I'm going to give some of my saved recipes a try before committing to the purchase.

* I'm trying to cut fruits and dairy from my diet - at least during the week.  I had a chat with my trainer about my progress and while I'm getting stronger every day, I'm not seeing the obvious changes in my body like I did in the early days.  We've figured out the training side of the equation so the other side is my diet, hence the effort to cut fructose and lactose from my diet.