The Cook & The Coach Blog

Simple Homemade Pizza Sauce

6/28/2017

Pizza... everybody loves it! Even those of us that are living a healthier life love to indulge in it. It's actually one reason why I bought the domain, www.healthierpizza.com. Don't try heading over there yet, at this point it is just an idea in my head. The idea came to me because a healthy life shouldn't be one that is absent of pizza.

Upgrading some of the ingredients is the place to start. We have other posts on upgrading the crusts with whole wheat flour or using cauliflower. We have a fun recipe where we eliminate dairy and add some extra veggies with this Thai pizza. We even love the pizza so much we incorporated the flavors into this lentil dish.

With all of these, I had yet to create a delicious and healthier option for one of the most basic components, a good red sauce. Last night while Laura was away, Eli and I decided to make some pizzas. We tried out a new premade gluten free crust from Mikey's. The crust is made from paleo friendly ingredients and was pretty tasty! We topped that with a homemade red sauce that took 2 minutes to mix up then just a little time to simmer on the stove.

Check it out and let us know what you think. If you end up tweaking it feel free to comment below with what you did. This is one thing I'm always playing around with and improving.

Ingredients

1 Can of Organic Tomato Sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dry basil
2 tsp dry oregano
1/2 tsp fennel seed
Salt and Pepper

Directions

Add all the ingredients to a small sauce pan and simmer covered for a minimum of 10 minutes, up to an hour for more flavor.

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Chicken Tortilla Soup

10/10/2016

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I don't know why I don't always have a batch of this soup in our fridge. So good!!! Five years ago I would have laughed at you if you would tell me that soup can be an entire meal. I guess I was used to terrible canned soups or the tiny cup of soup that you get at restaurants. Oh how the times of changed.

Now my view of soup is basically it is liquid salad! Seriously though if you make a good soup it should resemble a salad. So if you don't like to eat salad, I suggest you try soup instead. This version of chicken tortilla soup is loaded up with veggies, quality protein, and of course some amazing chicken stock.

When I make soup I love to make a huge batch because it tastes better the next day! Feel free to scale this recipe up or down but it makes about 6 large bowls of soup. Also as a little bonus here is a how I like to make my chicken stock at home which is super simple.

Homemade Chicken Stock

Ingredients

5-6 pound whole chicken
1/2 pound chicken feet (optional but not really but this is where you get all that amazing gelatenous goodness!)
2 large carrots, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
4-5 garlic cloves, smashed
2 bay leaves
2 tsp dry thyme
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Water

Directions

We use our pressure cooker if you don't have one you could do this in a stock pot or even in a slow cooker. It will just take longer.
Put your chicken and all your vegetables in your cooking vessel along with 2 cups of water. If you using a pressure cooker you will need to cook for approximately 45-60 minutes depending on how big your chicken is. Similar on a stove top and multiple hours in a slow cooker.
After the chicken is cooked, remove it from your pot. You can let it cool or if you are tough feel free to dig right in and start removing the meat from all the bones. Add the bones back into the pot that still has the vegetables in it.
Set your meat aside for later and discard the skin and gristle.
Add the remaining seasonings and ingredients and fill up your pot with water. We have a 6 quart stockpot and this amount of vegetables and spices works well with that amount of liquid.
Pressure cook for 2-3 hours depending on how much time you have. If you are using a stovetop or slow cooker you are looking at more like 24-48 hours.
After cooking, strain it so you are just left with the liquid, store in the fridge for up to a week.

Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe

Ingredients

1 lb of shredded cooked chicken meat
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion
1 green bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
0-3 jalepenos, seeds removed
2 tbsp of minced garlic
4 cups of pureed tomatoes
4 cups chicken stock
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp smoked paprika
Cayenne pepper to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

Garnishes/Toppings

Green Onion
Cilantro
Corn Tortilla Chips
Shredded Cheese
Sour Cream or Greek Yogurt
Hot sauce

Directions

In a large pot add the oil, then add the onion, peppers and garlic and cook over medium heat for 8 minutes or until softened.
Add tomatoes and stock to the pot along with spices and bring to a boil.
Reduce to a low, add the chicken and simmer for minimum of 15 minutes or up to an hour.
Your done, add with some of your favorite toppings and enjoy!

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Pressure Cooker Maple Chicken

5/12/2016

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Our pressure/multi cooker has been a lifesaver while we've been on the road. For convenience I wish I could just say we have an Instant Pot because 90% of the people that own a pressure cooker own an Instant Pot. We just happened to find an incredible deal on a different model, a Fagor. Doesn't exactly have the same ring as Instant Pot, does it. Either way, like I said this piece of equipment has been fantastic for us to make quick one pot meals. If you are an Instant Pot user hopefully it has similar settings and you can translate my Fagor talk to your machine.

If you are all about fast, tasty meals that are easy to clean up I highly recommend you look into getting one of these. With RV living this is perfect, because it means less dishes and dinners that can be made last minute after a day of exploring or swimming in the pool. Win for everyone!

Seriously this recipe maybe takes 20 minutes of active cooking time and 27 minutes of downtime letting the pressure cooker do its job. If you really want to kick up the flavor of this dish, add some chopped bacon, 3-4 pieces worth right away with your chicken. We had bacon for breakfast the day we made this so opted to not have anymore that day.

So easy and so good! Go make it and lets us know what you think.

Ingredients

4 chicken thighs, bone in and skin on
1 medium onion, diced
2 medium carrots, diced
3 garlic cloves, diced
2 cups of brown rice
2 1/2 cups of chicken broth
1 tsp of dried thyme
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 1/2 cups of frozen peas
2 cups of steamed broccoli

Directions

Turn your multi-cooker on to saute and place your chicken thighs in, skin side down. You may need to lower the temp periodically to simmer. The idea is to render out the fat from the chicken skin without burning it. Cook like this for 8 minutes, flip once and cook for another 4 minutes. Remove chicken from the pot leaving the fat behind.
If you aren't on saute setting crank it up and add your onion, carrot and garlic. Cook for 4-5 minutes.
Add remaining ingredients and the chicken, leave the peas out until the end. Put the lid on and cook according to whatever your book says you should do for rice. For me it is the brown rice setting for 27 minutes.
When your timer goes off, release your steam, add your peas and stir those in until they are warmed through.
Add your steamed broccoli for some extra nutrients and you are DONE!!

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Gluten Free Gumbo and New Orleans Food

4/20/2016

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Currently we are in New Orleans. When we travel we like to eat what the locals eat. We avoid chain restaurants and try to find the off the beaten path places to grab some food. A couple places we checked out while we've been here are Blue Line Sandwich Co. We did breakfast here last week and it was really good. Definitely was a local hangout. Cochon was another place we checked out which I believe is in the Uptown area. This place was great, we shared some oysters and their traditional dish and namesake, the Cochon. Both were great!

We also checked out John Besh's restaurant Lüke for breakfast yesterday. A little bit on the spendy side but the food was fantastic. I had the southern breakfast and instead of the grits they gave me some roasted potatoes that were just awesome! Laura had the egg white frittata which was also delicious! We also made a stop at Cafe Du Monde and had some coffee and Laura and Eli had some beignets.

As you can see a big piece of what we like to experience when we travel is FOOD!!! Both of us would rather spend $100 on an awesome dinner, then go to a concert or a show. We don't mind those things but we just love food and experiencing the different preparations and flavors is so fun. This has definitely helped me in the kitchen too. I get to see how dishes are made and assembled. I get to taste different combinations of that I would never have thought of on my own. In the traditional version of gumbo, you make a roux from wheat flour, so I had to modify that a bit and I think it worked pretty well.

My goal with a lot of the food we come across is to find great local ingredients, do a little bit of research on what the base of a dish is, then make it your own! For those of you that follow us on Facebook you might have actually seen me make this entire dish on a Live Broadcast. If you want to watch that you can click HERE, then go the videos section. We've also had a lot of people ask about how they can Live Subscribe and get notified when do our live videos. I finally figured it out! If you click on the image below, it will take you to our page, from their click on the videos section, then then in the upper right hand corner click the arrow then choose Turn On Live Notifications. This works if you are on your desktop. From a phone, go to our page, The Cook and the Coach, the select to Follow Us, not just Like our page, then scroll down a few posts and find our last live broadcast and in the upper right hand corner you should see an option to Live Subscribe.

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So finally the recipe! If you are like me, you probably just skipped to this section! Hope you enjoy this recipe. If you want, you could certainly modify it to your taste, by adding things like shrimp or crawfish. You can also tailor the spice level to what you like and how spicy your andouille is that you buy.

Ingredients

Gumbo Ingredients

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3/4 lb of andouille sausage, chopped
1 pound of chicken, can you use thighs or breast meat
2 medium onions, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 tbsp of butter, we use Kerrygold brand
4 tbsp, gluten free flour blend. If you don't have a preblended mix I would recommend 2 tbsp rice flour and 2 tbsp tapioca starch
3 oz of tomato paste
1 tbsp cajun/creole seasoning, I used Emeril's Essence seasoning mix
2 tsp gumbo file
32 oz or so of chicken stock
1 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Rice - Multi-Cooker Instructions

2 cups brown rice
2 1/2 cups of water

Directions

In a dutch oven over medium heat add your oil and the andouille sausage. Cook until some of the fat starts to come out and it begins to brown.
Remove sausage from the pan using a slotted spoon, trying to get all the sausage drippings in the pan. Then add the chicken and cajun seasoning. Cook for 7-8 minutes until chicken is almost cooked through.
Remove the chicken from the pan leaving as much fat behind in the pan.
Add butter and let it melt. Then add your flour mixture and whisk for minimum of 10 minutes. The longer the better and the more flavor you will get out of it. This is your roux. It should be slightly runny and shouldn't seize up. If it does add more butter or oil of your choice. DON'T WALK AWAY DURING THIS PROCESS. If you do your flour will burn and you have to start over. Trust me it will be worth it.
After you have whisked that sufficiently, add the onion, celery, pepper and garlic. Stir that for 2 minutes.
Add your tomato paste and cook for another minute. At this point it should be getting pretty clumpy.
Slowly pour in your chicken stock about 8 oz at a time and raise your heat to high. You want to get this up to light boil. Your sauce will begin to thicken. Keep adding liquid until you have a fairly thin gravy consistency. You might need less stock or more, there is no perfect amount here.
Once you get it to a boil, reduce your heat to low, add the gumbo file. Also add back in your sausage and chicken. Cover and let simmer for 25-30 minutes.
Meanwhile cook your rice however you prefer, we like using our multi-cooker. You could start this the same time you put the lid on your gumbo or if you have a helper have them start it while you are making the gumbo.

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Hearty Miso Soup

1/28/2016

We have started making an effort to clean out our cupboards and freezer as we prepare to move out of our house and into a 300 sq ft motorhome. That means we will likely be making a lot more soups. I had a coworker/chef once tell me about the concept of "Mustgo Soup." When he was making soup for the day he would look in the cooler and see what was about to go bad and that must go in the soup. I love that about soups in that they can be so versatile and there really aren't that many rules. Just throw it all together with a delicious broth and there you go.

This miso soup was super tasty and a ton of flavor. I will say that I scaled back the amount of miso from what we used, it was a little much in my version. In case you've never used miso it is a fermented soybean paste that you can find at most grocery stores in the refrigerator section. I like to shop at our local Asian grocery store, so they have an entire section of it, super easy to find! This is the kind we bought, Miso Paste. I definitely recommend splurging for organic when it come miso since it comes from soy. It ensures you aren't consuming GMO soy which is what you find in any non-organic soy products for the most part. Another miso trick is because it is a fermented food, meaning it contains live probiotics which are super healthy for your gut, you don't want to add miso to boiling soup otherwise it will kill those probiotics. I've also found it easier to separate out some of your broth and add to the miso paste to make a slurry before adding it back to the soup. It will mix in that much better.

Hope you enjoy this soup.

Ingredients

3 medium carrots, cut into bite size pieces
1 onion, diced
1 1/2 lbs of chicken breast cut into bite size pieces (could sub tofu if you want to be vegetarian)
4 cloves of garlic, diced
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp sesame oil
1 15 oz can of chickpeas, liquid drained and rinsed
1 15 oz can of full fat coconut milk
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp coconut aminos or soy sauce
1/2 of a 1.76 oz package of Wakame seaweed, roughly 1/4 cup when dry
6-8 cups of chicken stock or veggie stock
1/4 cup white miso
Juice of 1 lime

Directions

Add your coconut and sesame oil to large pot or dutch oven over medium heat.
Add in your carrots, onion, and chicken and cook for 5 minutes, then add garlic and cook until chicken is cooked through.
While all of that is cooking soak the Wakame seaweed in 2 cups of water. You'll want to soak this for 5 minutes roughly, you'll be surprised at how much it expands.
Add all the remaining ingredients except the miso and simmer for 15 minutes.
In a small bowl add your miso paste and ladle in about 1-2 cups of liquid from your pot to make a miso slurry. Kill the heat of your burner at this point and add the miso back into the pot. Also add in the lime juice at this point too.
ENJOY!!!

Drunken Zoodles

9/2/2015

Who else loves Thai food??? Yeah I could pretty much eat it everyday. I love the flavor profiles of sweet, salty, sour, and spicy...it's just so good! The noodle dishes are probably my favorite when we go out to Thai restaurants. My go to's are Pad Thai, Pad See Ew, or Pad Kee Mao (Drunken Noodles). Given my new intolerance of gluten, I am a lot more cautious when it comes to ordering food at restaurants. I know most asian noodles are made from rice flour, but I guess I just have trust issues, especially when you add the sauce in on top of that. For example I had no idea soy sauce had wheat flour in it, prior to becoming allergic to it...and most Asian kitchens use soy in everything...so it just makes me a little nervous!

With all of that, I decided to try to recreate a Drunken Noodle dish to ensure that it is 100% gluten free. It's not a perfect representation of the authentic dish but it was pretty tasty.

Ingredients

1 pound of chicken breast cut into 1/4" thick slices
2 cups chopped broccoli
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp chili oil (This isn't 100% necessary)
1 tbsp tapioca starch (corn starch works too)
2 medium zucchini cut into 1/2" wide strips
1 cup rough chopped thai basil, if you can't find thai basil regular will work

The Sauce

1/4 cup Fish Sauce
1/4 cup Coconut Aminos
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp sriracha sauce, can add more or less depending on your spice tolerance

Directions

In a hot wok or large fry pan add the coconut and chili oil until it is moving around the pan freely. Add the chicken, broccoli, and bell pepper. Cook for 4-5 minutes over medium high heat. Add garlic and cook for another minute.
Add the tapioca or corn starch and toss to coat the chicken and veggies evenly.
Add the sauce to the wok and cook for 3-4 minutes until it heats up and begins to thicken.
Add the zoodles to the wok and toss. Cook for 1-2 minutes until they are heated through. If you let them cook too long they will begin to give up their water and you will have a soupy, watery mess of a sauce.
Add your basil, toss and serve!

Download Recipe Card for Drunken Zoodles

Mango Chicken Salad

6/11/2015

I'm a sucker for chicken salad...always have been and always will be!! Needless to say, I've tried a lot of different varieties, but I've never made it or had it with mango before. I've always liked the versions that have grapes in them for that little extra sweetness so when we had a mango leftover on the counter, I figured why not try it out instead. It worked!!! It was delicious and sweet and salty, with a little bite from the red onion. This will definitely get made again.

Not to completely change topics on you, but one thing I hear from people ALOT is how expensive it is to eat healthy. One thing I want to start doing with some of our blog posts is to add a price component and show you guys what it would cost to make some of the dishes that we make. One of the most important things when it comes to shopping on a budget is buying things that are in season. For example mangoes right now are selling for 80-90 cents per mango. Also buying in bulk is important. If you follow us or have been in an accountability group with us, you know that we love Costco. You can get so much great stuff for pretty cheap! Most of this meal came from Costco but you could easily throw it together for roughly the same price buying everything at a regular grocery store.

Here's the breakdown:

Rotissiere Chicken - $4.99
2 Mangos - $1.60
Mayo with Olive Oil - $0.41
1/2 Red Onion - $0.50
1/2 Bunch of Parsley - $0.50
Seasonings - $0.25 maybe

Total Cost: $8.25 or $2.06/serving

That's a better price than anything you will get going through a drive thru and SO much healthier! You could totally eat this on it's own or put it in a Flatout wrap with some spinach and have some veggies on the side you and you have a completely healthy meal for under $4. Also as far as nutrition goes (if you like to watch your macronutrients like I do) each serving will provide you with 381 calories, 19 grams of fat, 19 grams of carbs, 39 grams of protein.

Ingredients

Chicken from a whole rotisserie or boiled chicken, chopped or pulled into bite size pieces
2 Mangos, diced
½ cup diced red onion
½ cup olive oil mayo
¾ cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp garlic powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper

Directions

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well to combine.

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Chicken Roasted in Coconut Milk

3/30/2015

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I found this on Pinterest and made this when Dan was out of town a few years ago but haven't made it since. I've told him about it...and raved about it...but he thought it sounded weird so we never tried it again! UNTIL last night :)

We buy whole chickens at Costco because they're so cost effective and delicious. We then stick them in the freezer to use at a later date. Earlier this week Dan took one out of the freezer and was going to throw it in the crockpot, but then forgot about it...which gave me the perfect opportunity to cook something for him for a change! Plus, it gave me a chance to prove him wrong and show him that this is actually a delicious way to cook chicken. Win-win!

Here's the original recipe: Jamie Oliver's Chicken in Milk

It's pretty simple...but here's what I did:

1. Preheat the oven to 375

2. Season the chicken with salt/pepper. Brown the entire chicken in 3 tbsp of butter & 2 tbsp of coconut oil. Brown one side and then use a tongs to flip it and brown every side

3. Put all these ingredients into the dutch oven with the chicken.

1 can of coconut milk (do 2 cans if you can, I didn't have a second one so I used an additional 1/2 c of almond milk)
1 tbsp lemon juice (didn't have any fresh lemons for the zest)
1 cinnamon stick
2 tbsp of minced garlic
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 tbsp of dried sage

4. Bake for 90 minutes

Wa-lah!!

I also figured I'd throw in this sweet picture...just because.

A boy and his dog. They're so sweet!!

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Lemon and Herb Chicken Breast Medallions with Roasted Sweet Potatoes in a Bourbon Cinnamon Sauce

3/23/2015

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Do you ever have that night where you've been chasing around and crazy from 4:00-8:00 and finally realize that you haven't given dinner a thought yet? Well that situation is how this dish was born. Chicken medallions is just a fancy way of saying I was too lazy thaw chicken breasts so the only way I was going to get them to cook through completely is to chop them up into smaller pieces. The sweet potatoes were an easy side and so was the steamed broccoli. Don't worry the bourbon sauce doesn't taste like bourbon it actually gives it a bit of sweet flavor.

All together this meal took 30 minutes to make from when I pulled the chicken out of the freezer to when we were sitting at the table. Super easy and packed with some good flavor. Hope you enjoy it!!!

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Ingredients

Chicken

2 chicken breasts, cut into 1" slices
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp dried sage or whatever dried herb you have handy
2 tbsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper

Sweet Potatoes

2 medium sweet potatoes chopped 1/2" cubes
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup bourbon
2 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Salt and Pepper

Broccoli

Broccoli that's it!

Directions

If you are throwing this together last minute like I did, the first thing you will want to do is take the chicken breasts out of the freezer and soak in hot water for a couple minutes while you chop sweet potatoes. Also preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
While your chicken is quasi thawing or if it is thawed, start here. Peel and cut your sweet potatoes and transfer to a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake them in the oven for 20 minutes, stirring once at 10 minutes.
Once you get the potatoes going, cut your chicken and begin cooking in a skillet with the coconut oil. Season with salt and pepper and sage.
Cook the chicken approximately 4 minutes on each side. At that point add your lemon juice to the pan and cover and let them cook for another 4 minutes.
For the bourbon sauce, add the bourbon to a small saucepan and bring to a light boil. Simmer for 6-8 minutes until the liquid is reduced to a 1/3 of the original amount.
Add the butter and spices to the saucepan and stir until butter is melted. Once your potatoes are done transfer them to a bowl, pour the sauce on top and stir to evenly coat the potatoes.
Steam the broccoli either in a saucepan or microwave, season and serve. We like a little coconut oil and salt.
Enjoy!!!

Download Recipe Card for Lemon Herb Chicken Medallions

Download Recipe Card for Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Bourbon Cinnamon Sauce

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Chicken and Chickpea Stew, #MakeANewMealMonday

3/16/2015

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So this is our first #MakeANewMealMonday recipe and dinner idea. The idea behind this hashtag is twofold: we want to try some new stuff and have gotten into a rut with food and we hope to help you out with some new meal options too!

So what can you look forward to? Most of the recipes we will post will be healthy, made from scratch meals. Sorry no shortcuts here, we eat real food. A majority of the recipes will likely be dinner type meals that you can scale up or down depending on how many you have to feed. Some meals will be kid/family friendly, some will be a little bit more sophisticated for the adventurous types. I can't promise that all of them will be crazy delicious because they are going to be brand new creations for us too, and sometimes you don't get it quite right the first time.

We will post these recipes on our Facebook Page, The Cook & The Coach on Mondays so feel free to follow us over there. If you want to make sure you get all of these recipes delivered to your inbox just plug your email address into the section below and we will email you once a week with our recipe from that week along with any other blog posts we put out.

This first meal was a bit of a throw together meal but it turned out pretty tasty. This dish had a bit of a Moroccan feel to it. We had a rotisserie chicken in the fridge so it made this pretty easy to throw it together. Depending on who you are cooking for, you can either keep the spice level on the low side or really kick it up.

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
3 cups shredded chicken, white and dark meat
1 15 oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes
½ cup dry quinoa
2 cups chicken broth
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp turmeric
½ tsp cinnamon
Pinch of red chili flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
Cilantro, rough chopped for garnish

Directions

In a large pot or dutch oven, add your olive oil, onions, garlic, celery and red chili flakes and cook until all the vegetables are tender, roughly 10 minutes.
Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a gentle boil.
Cover your pot, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes or until the quinoa is cooked.
Garnish with some cilantro and ENJOY!!!

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