quinoa and roast beef, cabbage, butternut squash & carrots

I've been rifling through the four most recently published Everyday Food magazines and bookmarking a few interesting recipes. I missed out on a lot of recipes by focusing on cooking through the book most of the 2010 issues really got overlooked.

I decided to cook up some quinoa this weekend. With my batch I first made a Mixed Grain and Herb Salad (from Jan/Feb 2011) which used up some fresh herbs I had left over from last week's dinner (basil & parsley), olive oil and salt and pepper. It was so good and I think I'm liking quinoa better than bulgar wheat. It's an awesome way of using up fresh herbs that might otherwise end up in compost.

I then decided to use the rest in a batch of Quinoa Cakes. This recipe was easy and light (as in - low fat & calorie). But, wow, did these cook fast! So fast that I burned the entire first batch. Once I got the hang of it I popped these out in mere minutes. Since this recipe doesn't call for sugar (only a couple tablespoons of maple syrup) these were delicious with some of the jams I made from the summer which included strawberry/rhubarb, apricot and my mom's black currant.

Overall, quinoa pancakes are a thumbs down. It's like when people try and make cake using whole wheat flour or sugar substitutes - it isn't the same. If you're going to indulge, do it right. And if you subsitute, you better be pretty damn good at it.

One final recipe I tried for the first time was from Everyday Food's November 2010 issue Roast Beef, Cabbage, Squash and Carrots. It worked out great, but tasted too traditional and a little boring. It lasted a couple meals, which was really great, but I doubt I'll make it again.