Curry Quinoa

Welp. It's currently 3:30 in the morning and I'm awake. I thought for sure I'd sleep like a baby after a long day at work, my four-mile run and a hearty Curry Quinoa Wrap for dinner. Unfortunately that wasn't the case and waking up in the middle of the night isn't unusual. Ever since getting married I've had a hard time sleeping. I used to be able to conk out as soon as my head hit the pillow and sleep straight through the night. If I sleep through the night now, I seriously squeal "I did it!" when I wake up. I like to believe it will get better, and it has, but I still get these random "wide-awake-at-2-AM-and-I'm-hungry-and-need-a-snack" nights. And since one of my least favorite things is trying to sleep, I've decided to just get up when I feel wide awake and not fight it. Usually after an hour or so, and some food, I'm able to fall back asleep.

I hope it gets better soon, because being awake in the middle of the night can really throw off my schedule. Not to mention I'm exhausted at 9 PM and fighting to stay awake. Good news is I don't have to go into work today and I'm also planning on going to my first ever Yoga class at the gym. I'm excited for some good stretching. Maybe the "Zen" atmosphere will help me sleep through the night tonight.

Enough about my unfortunate sleeping cycle. Let's talk about this easy curried quinoa.

Brett and I are heading out of town for Christmas on Friday, so as is the usual, we're trying to finish off the random food in our fridge. I'm also trying to be better at using all the pantry items I buy, instead of just letting things pile up. This quinoa was perfect for both those goals. Whole wheat wraps, hummus and tahini are a few of the things still left in our fridge so I looked up wrap ideas and came across this curried quinoa wrap recipe from Healthy. Happy. Life. I didn't have all of the ingredients (and obviously didn't want to buy more stuff right before we leave) so I tweaked a few things and simplified it and it turned out great. It's made me excited to experiment more with quinoa and spices.

Curry Quinoa

(Makes 8 Servings)

 Ingredients:

· 3 cups water

· 1/2 cup vegetable broth

· 2 1/3 cup quinoa, unrinsed

· 1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder

· 2 teaspoons sea salt

· 1 1/2 cup frozen peas

· 1/2 cup golden raisins

Directions:

1. Place the water, broth, quinoa, curry powder and salt in a large sauce pan. Stir and bring to a boil.

2. Once boiling, cover the pot and turn the heat down to a simmer.

3. Let the quinoa simmer for 11 minutes.

4. After 11 minutes, turn the heat off and let the quinoa sit for another 10-12 minutes. Don’t take off the lid!

5. Once it’s ready, fluff the quinoa with a fork and stir  in the peas and golden raisins.

I highly recommend putting this quinoa in a large, wheat tortilla with hummus, green onions and a drizzle of tahini. Wrap it up and enjoy a filling, flavorful meal!

 Eat Consciously,

     Faith