Quinoa with Green Beans and Red Peppers

In organizing my pantry, I found a nice box of quinoa from Trader Joe's.  I have never made quinoa before but I have definitely eaten plenty of it - courtesy of the Whole Foods' Food Bar.  Oh yeah.  I cooked the quinoa according to the box's instructions, which was quite simple.  It directed me to treat quinoa like I would with rice.  Since I made chicken broth in my previous posts, I just used that to cook my quinoa.  

I added hand shredded chicken meat, diced bell peppers, candied sliced raw almonds and sauteed green beans with candied garlic.  I also grated a ton (a 1/2 cup) of parmesan cheese into the quinoa for a nice subtle salty and creamy flavor.  So, go easy with the salt as well.  I prefer to season as I serve instead of seasoning the entire bowl of quinoa before serving.  

I topped mine with some sliced scallion greens just because... it makes it tastier and prettier.  

These grains are tiny. 

1 cup of quinoa, 2 cups of broth.  Easy? Easy.  I cooked it covered.  It took about 10 minutes on low heat. 

These are some beautifully poached chicken thighs if I can say so myself...

Hand shredded then chopped for smaller bites. 

Two diced red peppers. 

Candied raw almonds.  To candy: add some oil about 1 T, heat it up, sprinkle some sugar about two pinches, heat it up, then throw it 1/4 of sliced almonds.  Stir often and cook until the almonds are coated and sticky.  I don't like to have them super sweet so add more oil/sugar depending on your candied preference. 

Heating up the garlic with some sugar and thyme.  I needed some herbs in there.  I don't wait until the garlic are brown because the green beans take a year and half to cook.  So don't worry, the garlic with brown as the green books cook with it. 

I love the texture of crisp cooked green beans and candied almonds.  Delicioso. 

Put all the ingredients into a large mixing bowl. 

Then mix. Mix. 

Then admire and devour.