Leftover Quinoa Part 1 - Mexican Casserole

On of the perks of my small job is getting to bring home leftovers.  Recently that included quinoa which is not one of our family staples.

We reheated it one night as a side dish but none of the kids went for it.  Then I saw a friend asking on Facebook for new quinoa recipes and was inspired by one of her friends' ideas to cook it up for the protein in tacos. 

I cooked up 1/2 pound of hamburger, added a can of tomato sauce, and mixed in the cooked quinoa.  I estimate that it was 2 quinoa:1 ground beef.   I spiced it with taco seasoning for soft tacos but it looked more like quinoa than ground beef so I decided to put it into a casserole for visual appeal.

I put some tomato sauce in the bottom of a glass casserole dish and put a layer of corn tortillas on it.  Then I scooped half the quinoa/beef mixture in and topped with shredded cheddar/jack cheese.  I repeated tortillas, meat mixture, and cheese and baked at 350 for 20 minutes.  I forgot to take a picture, of course until much later.

Here is the last piece and the quinoa is completely camouflaged.  What a great way to stretch meat and get a great alternate protein into our meals!  I'll definitely be doing the ground beef/quinoa combo again.

Katie