Mexican Quinoa Bake Recipe

Mexican Quinoa Bake Recipe

Yes - it's as good as it sounds.  Thank you to Healthy Bitch Daily for sharing this recipe on June 29th.  I pinned it and vowed to try it soon.  Tonight was the night - I had pretty much all of the ingredients on hand.  Sweet!  I love when that happens.

Here's how I made it - you know me, I tweak everything!

• 1 cup cooked quinoa
• 1 can no-salt fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 1 cup organic frozen corn
• 1/4 small red onion, diced
• 3 small spring onion bulbs, diced
• 1 can no-salt black beans
• 1 medium sweet potato, shredded
• 1T Trader Joe's taco seasoning (it's SPICY!)
• 1 tsp granulated garlic
• 1.5 tsp dried cilantro
• 1 cup non-dairy "cheese", divided (I used almond based "cheddar")

Preheat oven to 400.  Since I already had the quinoa cooked, I sauteed the onions in a little bit of coconut oil and added the frozen corn to thaw a bit.  Once the onions were translucent, I added those and the corn to a large mixing bowl with the cooked quinoa, shredded sweet potato, beans, spices & herbs and 1/2 cup of the cheese substitute.

I oiled a baking dish (I think it's 9x6) and added the mixture, then topped that with the remaining cheese substitute.  Bake at 400 degrees for approximately 35 minutes, until bubbling.  I love that the almond based "cheese" got crispy instead of melted.  It gave the bake a really nice crunch on top!

You know it's a good meal when my husband has seconds!

I served this with mixed greens (a combination of mustard greens, chard from my garden, and a mystery green from my CSA) which I sauteed in coconut oil and then added a few drops of Bragg's Liquid Aminos.  I also mashed some avocado which was a welcome addition with the Mexican flavors - and it helped to cool the spice from the quinoa bake.  I loved it so much I had seconds too!  I'm really glad there's leftovers for tomorrow!

And, now for the pictures!

After adding everything to the mixing bowl

Before putting it into the oven

After coming out of the oven

The whole plate - Mexican Quinoa Bake, mashed avocado & sauteed mixed greens

The Mexican Quinoa Bake - front & center!