Northwoodsman Chipotle Quinoa (recipie)

Hey all,

I have a good long post coming about my trip to the Superior National Forest and BWCA in early July. Just waiting on some photos from the others that went and I wilpost a good long write up.

One of the things I wanted to do on the trip was try a few easy to pack and cook reipies.  My intent was to keep it to foods that just required boiled water to make, or not even that if possible.  In the big write up to follow I will include my lunch menu for the 6 days we were there so you can see just what I brought. Now on to the topic.

We had a box of quinoa sitting here at the house that we haven't used yet. In fact we have never tried it before at all. Looking at the package directions it cooks up just like rice for the most part, using a quinoa to water ratio of 1:2.  I figured on one meal, maybe 2 if I liked it so I brought 8 ounces of Quinoa in a ziplok baggie. A suggestionon the box was to cook it with some broth or boullion. I had just the thing, also something new to try, chipotle bouillion cubes from Knorr.  they come in mini cubes so one cube makes a cup of broth, I believe.  Finally to add some protein I intended to match this with a can of Chicken meat in water.

If you can boil water you can make this quick dish.  I boiled up 1 cup (8 oz.) of water to which I added the chipotle cube to get that dissolved and intot he mix.I then added 1/2 cup (4 oz.) of Quinoa. Since I brought out a full cup of Quinoa I just eyeballed the measurement here. I also added the can of chicken mea in water. I just pened and dumped it all in, water and all. I figured more water wouldn't be an issue, and it wasn't. All that was left was to boil it down until the Quinoa absorbed most of the water (just like rice). I didn't time this but it was done in about 10-12 minutes.

Now for the eating! Quinoa to me has a bit more of a brown rice flavor, less refined and a bit more startchy perhaps? The chicken added good protein and taste, who doesn't like chicken? What really got my attention was the chipotle boullion. Wow! What a great smokey, slightly spicy flavor. It wasn't too hot, more of just a hint of heat but the smokiness really came out well in each bite. Definatly going to berepeated in some form or another.

So there it is,a quick meal that can be made on the trail in a canteen cup if needed. If you take the time to prep before hand it will be cooked and eaten in 15 minutes, 20 tops.  And there are plenty of ways to customize this quick dish.  Change out the chicken for what ever protein you choose, like tuna or salmon, whatever.  I thought about next time adding in some dehydrated veggies or even some fresh ones I brought a small bag of baby carrots to eat on the side, thses could have been chopped and added. Anyway, experiment away with it.

Here is the list of ingredients, enough for one meal for one person

1/2 cup Quinoa
1 can (4 oz) Chicken in water
1 Chipotle mini bouillion cube
1 cup Water
* add in any veggies or other spices to taste

Add bouillion cube and water to your pot and boil. Once boiling adding remaining ingredients, turn down heat or move your pot a bit away from heat to finish.Cook until almost all the water has been absorbed, stirring as needed through out cooking. Remove from heat and enjoy.