champagne tastes on a beer budget

Quinoa is a wonderfully versatile (and gluten-free) grain. Here's last night's impromptu riff on it.

I took one cup of quinoa and added two cups of broth, and let that cook down until the quinoa was done (about 15 minutes). While that was going, I diced some bacon and cooked it, and toasted a handful of sliced almonds. When the bacon was done, I removed it from the pan, poured off all but about two tablespoons of the bacon fat (which I save in the fridge), and sauteed a finely chopped shallot in the bacon fat. When the quinoa was done, I added the bacon, shallot, toasted almonds, and a small handful of chopped chives, fresh parsley, and some fresh Thai basil.

On a whim, I jazzed up the final product by adding a fried egg on top and a whole bunch of fresh salsa. Yum.

Cost: bulk quinoa is $3.99 a pound, and for a cup...let's say 60 cents. Roughly half a pound of bacon at $6.99 a pound (I won't scrimp on bacon!), plus 17 cents for the egg, plus maybe 50 cents for everything else, including the salsa. $5.26 total, serves two adults as a main course.