When the days get shorter and the weather cools off, I love to serve dishes that are both hearty and nutritious. This is the perfect dish to warm you on those colder fall and winter nights. The spicy chicken sausage, onions and chard work together to make one tasty dish. Paired with my seasoned quinoa the whole meal is filling and yet healthful at the same time.
Feel free to experiment with the seasonings in the quinoa. Quinoa is basically a blank canvas; not having much flavor of its own. I have found it is easy to add a lot of flavor by adding an array of dried seeds and spices to the quinoa while it cooks. Fresh sliced garlic works well too. It cooks down and basically melts into the final dish while imparting a lot of great flavor. Lemon and orange zest work well too, but make sure you use organically grown fruit so that you are not adding chemicals to your finished dish. I like to use coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, peppercorns (black, green, white or pink), cloves and cinnamon stick, in various combinations to create unique flavors of quinoa that compliment the main dish I’m serving. Try your favorite combinations the next time you cook quinoa.