Do It Yourself Ditders: Contemporary Kitchen

This is another one of my go to recipes. The ingredients are basic and almost always on hand and it makes great leftovers. I've used a couple of different recipes for this, but the inspiration for this version is one I found on pinterest, from Southern Plate.

Of course, change number one is to take out the chicken and replace it with black beans. The second change was to use quinoa (pronounced Keen-WAH) instead of rice.

So, we begin by cooking the quinoa. Quinoa is easy to cook, especially if you buy it pre-rinsed. It can be a little pricey to buy in the grocery store, as a small box can run you $5-6. But you can get 4 lbs at Costco for $8 - the best deal I've found so far.

Combine 1 part quinoa and 2 parts water in a pan. Bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and cook for 15 minutes. If there is any water left, drain it.

Return it to the pan and fluff with a fork. Quinoa is a seed, and so when it is cooked it "sprouts". And it has a sort of crunch to it, with a nutty flavor.

In a large bowl, combine the cooked quinoa, cream of chicken soup, sour cream, Ro-tel tomatoes, onion, black beans, seasonings & half of the cheese. The original recipe called for instant rice, hence the need for the liquid (chicken broth) to cook it. Since the quinoa has already been cooked, I omitted it.

Mix all of the ingredients together and pour into a greased baking dish.

Cover with a layer of cheese.

Bake at 350°. The recipe says 30 minutes, but that was to account for cooking the Instant rice. It just needs to cook long enough to get hot and bubbly.

Yummy! This recipe makes a lot for one person (I was eating it for almost 2 weeks for lunch!), but it should freeze well.

Here is the recipe as I made it, but it leaves a lot of room for interpretation. Try adding veggies like corn, and of course you can use chicken if you and your family prefer that.