Red Quinoa with Swiss Chard and Seitan

Okay, back to the healthy stuff. While I was in PA, I made this super easy red quinoa dish for my mom. This particular quinoa has a more earthy flavor than it's white counterpart, but is just as insanely high in proteins, which is great if you don't eat meat. I pair it a lot with coconut milk and curry dishes, but I wanted something a bit lighter this time of year. I sauteed it with some swiss chard (I find that if you finely chop greens like kale, swiss chard and collard greens, they are easier to eat even if they're barely cooked, AND people who don't normally like eating greens will especially like this because you can barely taste it!) I added a yellow pepper for some color and vitamin C, sliced up a package of seitan and added a bit of lemon juice to perk it up. 

Red Quinoa with Swiss Chard and Seitan

1 cup quinoa

1 1/2 cups water

1 pepper (any will do, I had yellow)

1 bunch of swiss chard (finely chopped leaves; save stalks for another recipe)

1 package of seitan

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper

Put quinoa in a medium sized pot and add the water. Cover and let simmer for about 20 minutes or until all of the water is absorbed. Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a saute pan, let it heat up and then add the swiss chard with a pinch of salt. Saute for a couple of minutes and then add the yellow pepper and quinoa. Cook for a couple more minutes to meld the flavors and then sprinkle with a tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice and ground pepper. 

In the picture below, I added the quinoa dish to a split pea soup I had made as well. The flavors went really well together and I'll post the recipe for the soup next time.