Broccoli quinoa casserole

I love quinoa. I have been experimenting with it not only for savory dishes like this Broccoli quinoa casserole but for sweet dishes as well.

I have a lot of recipes I want to experiment with using quinoa. I love this ingredient and because it is so versatile, healthy and easy to prepare, it has become one of my ultimate favorite ingredients to cook with.

When I made this  broccoli quinoa casserole I wasn’t to sure that it will come out good. I have never baked the quinoa before so I was a bit skeptical. Luckily it came out just fine. I really hate wasting food.

I think I went a bit over board with the cheese, but like my son says, there is never too much cheese. He truly loves it, and so do I. I think the pesto in this broccoli quinoa casserole was just genius. I love anything with pesto. I had a little bit leftover from making my pizza over the weekend so I figured I throw it in the mix. I mean, it couldn’t hurt right?

The only thing I left out was garlic, which I forgot. You can add some if you like. We love garlic as well so next time I will add it for sure. I cooked my broccoli in the microwave for about 3-4 minutes prior to adding it to the quinoa casserole. Since it will not be baking for too long in the oven I found it to be important to cook it just a tad before. It came out just perfect in the end.

This broccoli quinoa casserole was extremely easy to put together. It came out a bit salty since I added a bit too much salt. Next time I will cut down the amount. I used two teaspoons instead of just one, so make sure you stick with just one teaspoon.

Enjoy!

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Broccoli quinoa casserole

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 5 servings

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
• 4 1/2 cup low-sodium vegetable stock, or water
• 2 tbsp pesto sauce
• 1/2 tsp celtic salt
• 2 tsp arrowroot powder, or cornstarch
• 2 cups fresh organic spinach
• 12 oz skim mozzarella cheese, I used 16oz
• 1/3 cup parmesan cheese
• 12 oz fresh broccoli florets
• 3 green onions, chopped

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400F.

In a 9x13 baking rectangular dish place the quinoa and green onions. On the meantime, place the broccoli in a large bowl and microwave on high for 4-5 minutes. Set aside. My microwave is not  very powerful so this is how long I did it for without the broccoli getting mushy. If you have a powerful microwave you may need just 3 minutes as it will continue to bake in the oven for about 5 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, with a wire whisk, mix the vegetable stock, pesto, arrowroot powder and salt. Heat mixture until boil. You can do this on your stove top or microwave. I used my microwave.

Add the vegetable stock to the quinoa followed by the spinach, parmesan and 3/4 of the mozzarella cheese. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Take the quinoa casserole out of the oven and mix in the broccoli. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the quinoa and broccoli and place back in the oven for 5 minutes or until the cheese has melted. If you like you can add more parmesan cheese over the top as well.

I place my casserole under the broiler for 2-3 minutes to brown the top but this is just optional. Serve while still warm.