I love to try new recipes and thanks to this blog, I rarely ever want to make the same thing twice. Only the really awesome or the really good/easy recipes get to be repeats.
I have always been afraid of falling into that deep dark place where meals are on a two week rotation. You know the drill…the same 14 dishes over and over and over again.
My husband and I grew up with similar meal rotations and because of that we each have meals that we would just assume never eat again. He hates spaghetti. I hate any form of hamburger helper.
It is no surprise that I love to try new things and I have been impatiently wanting to try quinoa…but I kept putting it off not knowing how it would be received by C.J. However, when I found this recipe for bruschetta quinoa casserole, I came to the conclusion that this recipe might be a good first quinoa experience.
I absolutely LOVED it! It was easy, the ingredients are fresh, and it tasted amazing. C.J. ate it…but we are going to test out some more quinoa recipes. I say that it is a good start!
If you have tried quinoa, what are some good recipes? If you haven’t ever had quinoa, this recipe is a must try!
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups cooked quinoa (about 1 cup of uncooked quinoa)
- 1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, one minced and one halved
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella, divided
- 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt, divided
- Ground black pepper to taste
- Handful fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
- Balsamic vinegar (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C) and place a rack in the middle.
- Rub a 8×8 baking dish with the halved garlic pieces and coat with one tablespoon of olive oil. Set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and saute’ for 5 minutes, until translucent. Add ½ teaspoon of salt and garlic and saute’ for one further minute, until everything is fragrant.
- Stir in tomato sauce and heat to a gentle simmer, this takes just a couple of minutes. Remove from the heat and carefully take a taste, and adjust with seasoning.
- Stir in Parmesan cheese and set aside.
- In a dry non-stick pan over medium-high heat, toast quinoa with red pepper flakes, oregano and a pinch of black pepper for 2 minutes. Set aside.
- In a large bowl combine toasted quinoa, tomato sauce, half of the mozzarella, half of the cherry tomatoes, half of the basil leaves and ½ teaspoon of salt.
- Transfer quinoa mixtures to the baking dish, top with remaining cherry tomatoes and mozzarella cheese.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes and then turn on the broiler and broil for 2 minutes until cheese is bubbly. - Remove from the oven, let sit for 5 minutes, sprinkle with remaining basil, lightly drizzle with balsamic vinegar and serve.
Enjoy!
