You want a healthier rice substitute?

I've got a GREAT ONE FOR YOU!!!

It's called QUINOA (pronounced keeenwa)

I use this all the time.

I cook it (I buy the one that is pre-washed and pre-rinsed). Just follow instructions. Takes no time at all.

You can do with it EXACTLY WHAT YOU'D DO WITH RICE.

I, however, SPROUT IT!!!

I sprout everything I can get my hands on. Then I lightly stir-fry (not the Quinoa, doesn't need to be stir-fried).

So I just put all my sprouts in a bowl, (I sprout lentils, beans, legumes, whatever), I sautee them for one minute,

Then I throw everything in a bowl, grate some carrots, add some Quinoa (sprouted, or some that I've cooked up already),

add some breadcrumbs, some onions, some eggs,

Make a mixture. Make some patties.

cook them like you would cook hamburgers.

I spray the pan with no -stick, and sometimes put some canola oil. They get all crispy.

Believe me, if you want a healthy FAST thing to make. (You can make up a whole batch that you can use for many days).

So for instance, make a batch on Sunday, and your whole family will be eating healthy all week.

And if you want to get creative, (The quinoa has protein and so do my sprouts), but if you don't have any of this and just want to use plain old left over veggies, then add a can of tuna, and mish up the whole thing, and you'll have tuna patties.

Today I made tuna croquettes for Alan. Same as patties, only shaped differently.

I said "why not add my sprouts, my quinoa, etc, to the tuna.

So I put everything in the bowl, added the bread crumbs, the eggs, (I use egg subsitute or egg whites), added the onion, made the mixture, shaped them into croquettes and I cooked them up in the pan.

My husband will have this with his spaghetti tonight. it's his favorite dish.

What do I put on top of the tuna croquettes? A dash of honey.

See, we eat mainly vegetarian in this house, so we need to find protein sources.

The quinoa has protein, the tuna has protein, the sprouts HAVE LOTS OF PROTEIN.

We are in protein heaven.

P.S. these pattie things that I make are SO delicious, believe me.

Get your kids involved in making them. They'll learn how to operate in the kitchen and it will be good for them to learn this as they grow up.