Forget the rice; these quinoa burritos are delicious – Hold the Meat

Looking for another use for quinoa? How about as a rice substitute? In this edition of Hold the Meat, Kona makes vegetarian burritos with quinoa instead of rice.

Ever since I was introduced to quinoa through the fantastic zucchini quinoa dish, I’ve been looking for more ways to incorporate it. Deb’s pesto quinoa recipe is quite good as well, but I came to a (rather late) realization recently: The quinoa doesn’t have to be the main event. Luke suggested a burrito night, so I decided to try quinoa in it instead of rice.

Luke thought this sounded disgusting, so he wanted no part of it. I, however, thought it was a brilliant idea. I love rice, but that’s my problem: I love rice. I can’t stop eating it. Any time we get Chinese food, I can’t stop until I’m on the couch, clutching my expanding stomach and moaning, “Why did you let me eat all that?” I ignore the answer of, “Because you’re an adult who should know better,” and search around for any food that I missed.

So having quinoa in place of the rice should solve my biggest problem. The rice won’t expand in my stomach, and instead of the zero nutritional value of white rice, I’ll get some extra protein from the quinoa. It’s a win-win, right? Luke certainly didn’t think so, but he was totally wrong.

I made my burrito: quinoa, black beans, avocado, lettuce, tomato, cheese, sour cream and salsa, and it was delicious. Sure, not as good as Chipotle, but nothing is. It was, however, the best burrito I’ve ever made at home. And, yes, I may have had two, but I didn’t end up writhing around on the couch, so I consider it a success.