Pumpkin Curry Quinoa

Curry.

I've tasted curry once or twice in my entire life.  Have I ever made it?

Of course not.

Curry is not something commonly included in dinner in the middle of rural Iowa where hamburgers and corn on the cob rules the kitchen table.  And I'm ok with that.

Fresh Iowa sweet corn is delicious.  A more delicious food was never created.  Ever.  And it tastes even better if you walk across the farm, head into the cornfield, find that perfect ear of sweet corn all by yourself, admire it, and bring it back to the house to have Mom cook for you to eat.

And if you happen to eat 10 more ears after that one, that's perfectly acceptable.  I won't tell.

Anyways, where was I going with this?

Curry.

 Pumpkin Curry over Pumpkin Spice Quinoa, actually.  I realize that it doesn't look that appetizing.  Curry was never meant to be pretty, I'm fairly certain.

 But since I have happy memories of eating this for dinner yesterday, I know how delicious this stuff is, despite it's appearance.

 I found a couple different recipes on Pinterest during my lunch break yesterday and spent the rest of the work day dreaming up ways to combine them all into my own little pumpkin-ified creation.

Pumpkin Curry Quinoa


Makes 2 servings quinoa (1/2 c) and chicken (4 oz), 6 servings curry (1/2 c)


Calories: 100 cal per serving quinoa, 32 cal per serving curry


Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa, cooked with almond milk*

1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree, divided

pinch cinnamon

pinch nutmeg

pinch ginger

pinch cloves

pinch stevia

1 tbsp sugar free maple syrup

1/2 red onion, diced

2 tsp minced garlic

1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk

1/2 cup vegetable stock

2 heaping tsp curry powder

1/2 lb chicken breast, baked

*cook quinoa according to instructions on package, but rather than using only water, use half water and half almond or coconut milk

Saute onions and garlic in a sauce pan for 3 minutes.  Reduce heat to low and add vegetable stock, milk, curry powder, and 1 1/2 cups pumpkin.  Mix well; simmer 8-10 minutes.  

Meanwhile, mix remaining pumpkin with quinoa.  Add spices, stevia and syrup; stir until combined.  

Cut chicken into pieces.  Serve quinoa and chicken covered with curry on a bed of spinach; season with salt and pepper as desired.  Top with pecans, almonds, or bananas.  

 This stuff is so deliciously awesome.  I was impressed with myself.  So was Wilberforce.  The slightly spicy curry with the sweet quinoa = heaven.  And the pumpkin spice quinoa is super-filling, so it'd be a tasty breakfast by itself with some bananas on top...maybe a little maple syrup drizzled and a sprinkle of cinnamon?

 Wilberforce still maintains that the Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti is his favorite meal we've made, but this curry jumped to the front of the line for me.  No question.

I thought curry would be really complicated to make, but it's extremely easy.  The whole meal took me ten minutes of actual kitchen time to throw together.  Wilberforce baked the chicken when he got home from work - he's the meat man of the house.  I can't bake a slab of meat to save my life, but put Wilberforce in charge of it and you're guaranteed to end up with a perfectly cooked, moist and tasty chicken/beef/fish/pork/pig's feet.

I lied.

We've never had pig's feet.

I just threw up a little bit.

Happy Tuesday!