did Michael Jackson eat quinoa - a healthy (and affordable) food that doesn't suck?

April 23, 10:23 PMNY Wellness ExaminerRoger Ziegler

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Surprisingly this healthy quinoa crap tastes really good

Not as far as I know.

I'm as skeptical as they come when it comes to health food claims. I've been burned so many times by claims of "incredible" and "fantastic" health foods only to find out they taste like Elmer's paste or the box they came in, that I was ready to dismissquinoa out of hand.   

Here was the "wonder food from the Incas" being touted and tooted this way and that, I figured how could it possibly be any good.

Well, dear reader, shows you how life still has a few curves left in her for ol' Rog. My mother, a world famous health food nut, was cooking Sunday dinner on Saturday night recently for my wife, daughter and my father.

She ran out of rice and up went the war whoops of complaint and disappointment from all of us. "Not to worry" my mother exclaimed, "I got this thing from Whole Foods - 'queen-uh-wah, quni-o, this!" she said triumphantly whipping out and raising a box of quinoa (keen-wha). More sighs, but what could this tough crowd do?

I volunteered to cook it, maybe I could save this dish with some fancy fixin's as it was guaranteed to taste like crap. '

It couldn't be easier to make. You boil it and drain it and eat it. To me it looked like a larger cousin of couscous, so I figured she could hold some ingredients. I sauteed chopped garlic and onion in olive oil with a little salt and pepper in a side skillet and stirred it into the quinoa a few minutes before it was done. Not so much that the garlic and onion would absorb the water, but enough time for the ingredients to get to know each other.

I hope for the best. I held my nose. I ate. And It was GOOD. Really good. And not just because of the other stuff I added. It was smooth and light tasting, with a mellow little sweetness. The garlic, oil and onion combo balanced it nicely to be sure, but you can use your imagination when adding stuff here. It is a bit like couscous, but with bigger grains.

A surprise hit, we all shockingly enjoyed. Tastes good and apparently it really is healthy for you. It's a keeper.

Here's a link to a Purdue University study: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1993/v2-222.html

Check out the 'nutritional value' part.