Apple and Quinoa Salad/Cereal

My neighbor, Sue Klayman, turned me on to this recipe. It was in the January issue of 417 Magazine as the winner in MaMa Jean's Keep it Clean Recipe Contest. To be considered "clean," a recipe had to be made with food that's as natural and healthy as possible - and no chemicals, preservatives or highly processed ingredients.

Sue made it and brought me a sample to try last week. I absolutely loved it. I told Matt about it and asked him if he wanted me to save him some to try, and he said, "Eh, no thanks." So, I ate it all myself.

On Friday I made a batch, and he popped in the kitchen to analyze everything that was going in it. He still turned up his nose. But, then he tried it. And. He. Loved. It. We ate the whole batch that afternoon, so I made another on Saturday. We sent some home with Matt's dad to try, and he liked it, too! In the magazine it's called "Quinoa Salad," - pronounced "keen-wa" - but, I really don't think that's a very good name for it. It's more like an apple-quinoa cereal... or granola? It's sort of breakfast-y (except for the celery, which really just adds some crunch and not too much taste), but, you can certainly eat it for breakfast or lunch or just for a snack. Here's the recipe. (I tweaked it a bit - for example, the original recipe says to boil the quinoa in half water/half apple juice, but, we didn't have any apple juice, and it's loaded with sugar anyway, so I just used water. It also called for vanilla-flavored yogurt, but I used plain, nonfat yogurt and added a little honey to sweeten it.) Tryyyyy it. You'll liiiiiike it.

1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Dash nutmeg
1/4 cup red quinoa, rinsed
1/4 cup yellow quinoa, rinsed
2 medium-large apples, diced
1 tablespoon orange juice, to coat apples
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup toasted walnuts, roughly chopped
1/4 cup celery, diced
1/2 cup non-fat plain yogurt
Honey, to sweeten yogurt to taste

Boil quinoa, cinnamon and nutmeg in water until all the liquid is absorbed. Transfer quinoa to a large mixing bowl, cover and refrigerate until chilled. Then add apples, cranberries, walnuts and celery, stirring well. Mix yogurt and honey in a small bowl, then fold into apple and quinoa mixture. Serve immediately or refrigerate for later.

*Quinoa is an ancient seed that has recently become popular again. It's considered a complete protein - it contains all nine of the essential amino acids that the human body needs. If you live around here, you won't be able to find quinoa in the local grocery store; however, it is available at the Truck Patch in Mountain Home, Ark., and at Jean's Healthway in Ava.