An unexpected coincidence

This evening for dinner, I made my second quinoa pasta. My grandparents  got me a couple boxes of the Ancient Harvest brand when we got together earlier this week. It's my go to brand for my quinoa and like I said in a recent post, I think it's really cool that it comes in pasta form! The funny part is that after I ate the pasta, I saw in my Instagram feed that Lauren Ginger (@laurenginger) from naturallylauren.com made the same pasta for dinner tonight too. What a small world!

Quinoa is a wonderful superfood and I sneak it into a lot of things. It's the meat on my nachos, I like it in salads, and Gardein brand meatballs are actually made using quinoa.

The benefits of quinoa are not just from the culinary standpoint that it's easy to use. There are even more health benefits including but not limited to:

1. Quinoa is a complete protein and is high in protein. Proteins are made from what are called amino acids. There are plenty of amino acids that the body can produce as needed and are not a necessary part of the diet. There are still plenty that are a necessary part of the diet. Amino acids that the body cannot produce on its own and must be obtained in the food we eat are called essential amino acids. The word complete protein refers to a food source that contains all the essential amino acids. Quinoa is a wonderful source of protein because of its high content of complete protein.

2. Quinoa is very high in fiber, higher than other grains. Fiber is an important part of a healthy diet because it keeps your digestive system healthy, lowers cholesterol, and helps prevent spikes and crashes in your blood sugar.

3. Quinoa is a great source of iron and magnesium. Iron is a mineral that keeps your cardiovascular system healthy and it also can strengthen the immune system. Magnesium is a muscle relaxant which makes it a good alternative to taking pain relievers. Magnesium also helps the body better absorb calcium and potassium and helps bone formation. Deficiency of both iron and magnesium is quite common in the United States, especially for women of childbearing age.

The same benefits sought in conventional quinoa are available in quinoa based pastas too because that's what they're made from. This makes quinoa based pasta a great way to sneak superfood into your Italian cuisine.

In conclusion, this is a pasta I highly recommend for my health conscious readers.

Comment your thoughts about this pasta and any other suggestions of things (from Ancient Harvest or any other brand) I should try.

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