Are you looking for quinoa cooking ideas? You have come to the right place! Today I want to share a new quinoa recipe for the carnivore’s out there. While a lot of people that cook quinoa are vegetarians, it is now becoming so main stream that many people who enjoy meat are also cooking quinoa. I generally don’t eat much meat, but lately I’ve been dealing with what I believe is anemia, so I have been trying to force myself to eat it a few times a week. (I am hoping to not have to take B12 and Iron supplements because they make me sick.)
I was trying to think of a dish that I would actually eat because I have a bad habit of cooking meat and then just eating the side dish. I came up with this lamb dish and I must say that I really enjoyed it. I will definitely keep it in my rotation of quinoa recipes. If the weather is nice where you are at, you can easily grill the lamb chops outside. It is still over 100 here, so I stuck to cooking inside.
Lamb Chops with Olive Quinoa
1 T Oregano
2 T Olive Oil, best quality
1 tsp black pepper
4 cloves garlic, minced
8 – 4 oz Lamb Loin Chops
½ tsp sea salt
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup quinoa, rinsed
1/8 tsp cayenne
½ cup grape tomatoes, halved
¼ cup chopped pitted kalamata olives
¼ cup roasted red peppers
4 oz feta cheese, crumbled
Directions
- Heat oven to broil
- Combine oregano, olive oil, black pepper and garlic.
- Salt lamb to taste and rub with 1 T olive oil mixture. Place on a pan coated with cooking spray. Broil 4 minutes on each site.
- Heat remaining oil and stir in rinsed quinoa. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until fragrant. Add broth and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 to 18 minutes or until liquid has absorbed. Remove from heat and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Alternatively, you could used your steam cooker or microwave rice cooker and cook for approximately the same amount of time. Stir in tomatoes, olives, red pepper and cheese.
I had some left over quinoa, and the next day I made my balsamic dressing and turned it into a quinoa salad. I let my husband have the left over lamb and for extra protein I tossed in some black beans that I had already cooked to make other black bean recipes. (I never used canned!) I had it with a pita and hummus from my favorite hummus recipe. It kept me full all afternoon, although it could have been the hoodia tea I have been sipping. One thing to keep in mind when you are preparing quinoa is that the quinoa cooking time goes up if you are using red quinoa. I generally cook it at least three minutes longer, although I do recommend keeping an eye on it. (Check out this post for more on how to cook red quinoa.)
As always, I would love to hear from you!
