QUIZ: chenopod or karate sound effect?

So the nerd in me likes to (push her glasses up on the bridge of her nose and) learn about the origin of the food she's eating.

• Did you know eggplants, avocados, and tomatoes are classified botanically as berries?  
• Did you know that coconut water can be used as an emergency substitute for blood plasma?
• Did you know that quinoa (keen-WAH) is, in fact, a semi-grain (also known as a chenopod) and NOT a karate noise? 

"KeenWAH!!!"  Ok, so maybe it's both. 

Now that you're dazzled by my astonishing raw data and that adorable image is seared in your brain, let's move on to the real reason you're all here: a kickass new recipe (karate pun?  No?  Ok.) 

The ingredient du jour?  Quinoa!  I hadn't cooked quinoa before I tried this recipe, but I cook in my Crock pot quite often, and this week I let those two kitchen kids hold hands on the counter for a few hours while mommy got drunk.  The recipe: Roasted Red Pepper Quinoa Chili

Disclaimer: as M said, we take after our mother when we follow a recipe...in that we DON'T.  I mean, at least we come by it honest... 

This recipe uses a Dutch oven...which I don't have.  So, I used my Crock pot instead; I even googled "tips for converting Dutch oven recipes to a Crock pot," and there is a surprising amount of data returned for that search. In the end, I determined that every 30 minutes in a Dutch oven on medium-high heat is equal to about an hour in the Crock pot, and I set out to quonquer some quinoa (see what I did there?  No?  Ok.) 

I started by roasting a couple of red bell peppers and serrano peppers.  I'd never roasted peppers before, but it's SO easy and it made my house smell SO Mediterranean and festive.  After replacing the words "Dutch oven" with "Crock pot" throughout the entire recipe, I decided to sautée the chopped zucchini, onions, and garlic in the Crock pot.  Caveat: even on high, folks, the Crock pot does not reach high enough temperatures to heat oil to sauté chopped veggies.  You have been warned.  

Still, the rest of the recipe went off without a hitch: the veggies (sautéed elsewhere) mixed with the roasted peppers in the Crock pot, plus some kidney beans and some quinoa (well rinsed, otherwise it can taste soapy or bitter), plus cumin, chili powder (which I didn't have so I replaced it in equal measure with cayenne pepper, which I have been sweating out of my system for the past few meals), and some good ole S&P made this aromatic mixture bubble up in the pot in no time. 

And then some time. 

And then what felt like a LOT of time. 

When cooking quinoa, you know it's done when the germ curls out of the seed like a wee fern.  When cooking quinoa in a Dutch oven, this process (according to the recipe) will take place in about 20 minutes. 

In a Crock pot, this process took almost 2 hours.  

Not a big deal; it's a slow cooker, it was up front about that from the get-go in this relationship; still, I was thrown for a loop because I wanted chili and I wanted it NOW.  

In the end, though, I got a heaping pot full of delicious vegetarian chili, which I ate by itself, on salads, with pasta, over rice, and my personal favorite, with a big ole slab of vegetarian STEAK.

Now, go forth and eat!