Easy Easter Quinoa Casserole

I was really curious to try this dish because quinoa is so easy and healthy. It's a grain that looks like couscous when it's cooked. I made this for Easter and every meatatarian ate some and said they liked it. That's a pretty big deal!!! It is retardedly simple to cook (easier than minute rice).

Try out this casserole for sure. It's got spinach, mushroom, cheese and quinoa. So yummy!

Les Ingredients:

2 cups uncooked quinoa
2 frozen packages of spinach
7-8 button mushrooms (or cremini)
2 1/2 cups of monterrey or white cheddar
1/2 onion
4-5 cloves garlic
Oregano
Olive oil (extra virgin, always!)
S&P

Setting out the packages of spinach to thaw in the beginning is a good idea.

Rinse the quinoa in a strainer, move to a large pot and add 4 cups of water plus a sprinkling of salt. Let that go over medium high heat until the quinoa is chewy and transparent. It will begin to sprout as it cooks which is really neat. Thaw the spinach by running cool water over it while it's in a strainer with very fine mesh. You can squeeze the water out with the back of a spoon.

In a pan toss in the onion and garlic, diced. Let that go over medium heat until everything is transparent, slightly browned and most fragrant. Toss in the mushrooms, sliced. Keep that all moving in the pan. You can break apart the mushrooms in the pan so that they cook faster and make more bite-sized chunks. Toss some S&P and oregano in to add flavor. Stir stir stir and then taste. Decide whether or not it needs more spice. Too much oregano can be overpowering and you can always add more later.

When the mushrooms, onion and garlic are cooked and spiced correctly add to the quinoa. If the quinoa finished before the mushrooms and has dried out a little add a little water, put over low heat and stir. Add the spinach and reseason. Because spinach has so much water content it takes a little more than you'd think to season it correctly. Be modest and season in increments. With the quinoa, mushrooms, onions, garlic and spinach in the pot together over low heat add 1 1/2 cups (approximately) of the cheese into it and stir to melt.

Grease a baking dish with olive oil or butter, add the casserole mixture, top with the rest of the cheese and bake at 350 degrees until the cheese is melty and wonderful. Serve hot!!! This is so good. Even the meat lovers wanted this one. It was a wonderful first time experience with quinoa and has me coming back for more.

I'm definitely going to post more quinoa dishes because it is so effing easy.

TIP: Quinoa can be found in the bulk aisle of whole foods and is pretty cheap. You can use red or white quinoa. I used white the first time I made this.