What's for Dinner Wednesday - Quinoa Corn Chowder

I wish that Seattle was a city that could be depended on weather wise, but that is a pipe dream. This has been a beautiful week but I know the cold wet days will continue to break up te sunshine and I am fully prepared with little beauties such as this recipe. I wish I could give credit where it's due but my friend Amanda sent this recipe to me and I am not 100% sure if she made it up or found it somewhere. If it's yours please let me know and I will gladly give you credit because it's delicious.

This is a filling, tasty and healthy dinner. I know the boiled egg garnish sounds weird, trust me, I KNOW but it works. No pictures of this one, but I promise you will not be disappointed if you try it.

Enjoy!!

Quinoa Corn Chowder

Ingredients

- 3/4 Cup quinoa
- 7 Cups water - I used half water half chicken broth to give it a bit more flavour
- 2 red potatoes diced (medium sized) - I used 3 because I had an extra!
- 3-4 ears fresh corn, kernels sliced off - You can use canned or frozen so I am told but it certainly does not taste as good, the fresh corn made this so delicious
- 1 jalepeno finely chopped (keep seeds in for more heat) - I did not keep the seeds in and it gave it enough kick for me :)
- 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons ground Cumin
- 3 handfuls of baby spinach
- 2-3 scallions chopped
- cilantro chopped
- good quality feta cheese -  I am not a feta far so I omitted this but it still tasted great.
- 2 -3 hard boiled eggs (take the eggs before you start cooking so they can get to room temperature before you hard boil them). - I did one egg per person. Again, I know it sounds weird but it totally works with this meal.

Directions

1. Put quinoa in 7 cups water and cook for 10 minutes on medium/high heat. After 10 minutes, strain quinoa and reserve water in a separate bowl

2. Finely chop garlic and jalapeno and saute in some olive oil until garlic is slightly golden.

3. Add cumin and release the aroma for about 10 seconds

4. Add diced potatoes and combine with garlic/jalapeno/cumin. Add salt and pepper

5. Add reserved water and bring to a boil

6. Add quinoa and corn and cook at a simmer for 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender

7. Add spinach and let it wilt into the mixture

8. Dice feta into small cubes and add to taste. Add scallions.

9. Add more salt to taste

9. Garnish with cilantro and cut up hard boiled egg




To hard boil eggs:

- Have eggs at room temperature
- put in pot and cover eggs completely with cold water with an additional inch of water over them
- Don't cover pot. Put it on high heat. Just as the water comes to a rolling boil, remove pot from heat and cover.
- Let pot sit for 15 minutes exactly
- Transfer eggs to a bowl with ice and water. Cool and remove shells.