Quinoa Salad and Zojirushi Umami Micom Rice Cooker Giveaway

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healthy quinoa salad

I have a few things to share with you:

1)  An easy and very healthy quinoa salad recipe!

2)  A very exciting giveaway from Zojirushi!

3)  I’m going to camp!

This weekend I will be heading to the mountains to attend CampBlogaway (a “Boot camp for Food and Recipe Bloggers”) and Zojirushi is sponsoring me!!   I’m one lucky girl!!  Zojirushi is a well known and respected Japanese company.  They offer a wide variety of quality products such as rice cookers, water boilers, bread machines, and vacuum bottles.  We have been using Zojirushi for years and love it.  The rice cooker is dependable and always makes a perfect pot of fluffy rice and I’m a big fan of the Water Boiler and Warmer. In fact that’s what I asked for my birthday about 7 years ago and the same one still sits in my kitchen ready to dispense hot water for tea or hot cocoa.

We were very excited to try out the new Zojirush Umami Micom Rice Cooker.   This is the newest addition to their rice cooker family and it’s a great appliance to have in every kitchen.  It’s stylish, sleek, compact and the Micom Fuzzy technology makes cooking in it fool proof.  Here’s all the settings it can do:  white, umami, mixed, sushi, porridge, sweet, brown, GABA brown, rinse-free and quick cook rice.  There’s also a slow cook feature!  Seriously….a rice cooker that can also slow cook? I’m amazed at all this little rice cooker can do!  Derrick loves using the umami rice setting which really does enhance the flavor of the rice.  Umami is the 5th basic taste:  savoriness and I often wonder what took so long to recognize this crucial 5th taste!  I like preparing porridge in the Umami rice cooker – it’s a quick and easy one pot meal.  We’re so thrilled that one of our readers will be a lucky winner of a new Zojirushi Umami Micom Rice Cooker, retailed at $273.  Good luck!!

zojirushi umami micom rice cooker

In the meantime, I want to share with you a recipe that I’ve made numerous times in this trusty rice cooker…quinoa salad.

Have you heard of quinoa?  It looks like a grain but not really a grain.  It’s actually more closely related to beets and spinach.  Am I confusing you yet?  Anyhow the point is it’s really good for you.  Quinoa is high in protein, fiber, magnesium and iron.   It’s also gluten free and the texture is very similar to rice or couscous.

I’ve been experimenting with quinoa and have only prepared it in my rice cooker and I love it.  There’s no pot to watch or timer to set.  I rinse the quinoa, put in my rice cooker, add water and then prep my other ingredients while it’s cooking.  It couldn’t have been any easier.  This salad is packed with good for you ingredients and is a healthy addition to any meal or it can stand on it’s own as a meal itself.  This salad is light and refreshing.  The salty feta cheese is balanced with the sweet peas, juicy tomatoes and slightly tart dried cranberries.  The cucumbers add some crunch to the salad.   I like my quinoa on the al dente side and cooking it on quick cook gives me just the right texture every time.

quinoa salad collage

Look at how fluffy the quinoa turned out and the vegetables are so fresh and bright!

 

 

Quinoa Salad

Prep:  10 mins  Cook time:  30   Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

½ C quinoa

2/3 C water

½ C fresh or frozen (thawed) peas

½ C cucumbers, quartered and then sliced

½ C dried cranberries

½ C cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced in half  (I used mini Heirloom tomatoes – but those aren’t always easy to find)

¼ C crumbled feta cheese

Vinaigrette ingredients:

2 Tbs olive oil

1 Tbs red wine vinegar

1 tsp lemon zest

1 Tbs lemon juice

½ tsp sea salt

1 Tbs finely chopped shallots

black pepper to taste

Directions:

  • Put quinoa in a fine mesh sieve and rinse under cold running water for a few seconds.
  • Put quinoa into the rice cooker and add water.  Cook on Quick Cook.
  • While the quinoa is cooking (about 30 minutes), prep the other ingredients.
  • Whisk all of the vinaigrette ingredients together in a small bowl.  Add a couple of grinds of fresh black pepper to taste.
  • Once quinoa is done cooking, use the “rice scooper” to fluff the quinoa.  Put the quinoa into a large bowl and let cool for about 5 minutes.  Add the peas, cucumbers, cranberries, and feta.  Pour vinaigrette over salad,  toss and serve immediate or you can refrigerate and eat it cold or at room temperature.

 Enjoy!!

 

 

quinoa salad

Here’s how to enter the giveaway for the Zojirushi Umami Micom Rice Cooker (5.5 C)

Leave a comment telling us what is your favorite rice dish.

Bonus entries:

  1. Check out the Zojirushi website and tell us what specific product you would like to add to your kitchen.
  2. Join Kitchen Runway on Facebook
  3. Follow Kitchen Runway on Twitter
  4. Tweet this giveaway on Twitter: “I just entered to win a Zojirushi Umami Rice Cooker from @kitchenrunway. You can enter here: http://tinyurl.com/3v84lbs”

That’s 5 entries into the giveaway. If you already do one of the above, it will count as an extra entry (just leave a comment below to let us know). Remember to post a separate comment for each entry.

The Details:

Thank you everyone for participating in the giveaway!  I loved seeing all of your favorite rice dishes!  They all made me hungry!  A big CONGRATULATIONS to Cathy Reuter!!  We hope you enjoy your beautiful rice cooker and can’t wait to hear about your delicious jasmine rice and quinoa dishes!

This giveaway is open to US residents only. (sorry international readers…) The giveaway will end on Monday, May 9th, 2011 at 11:59pm PST. The winner will be randomly drawn and will be notified by email. If the winner does not claim their prize within 48 hours, another winner will be chosen and the prize will be forfeited.

Disclaimer: This giveaway is provided to you by Zojirushi. The views and opinions expressed on Kitchen Runway are my own and based upon my personal experiences with Zojirushi. I was given the product  free of charge; however, I was not monetarily compensated for a positive review or giveaway.

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129 comments

  2. The Cilantropist says:

    Quyen this giveaway is fantastic!!! And I love your quinoa dish but my favorite rice dish is to make jasmine rice, and add soy sauce, seaweed flakes, some sesame oil (a tiny bit of sugar) and top with avocado..mmm… I want it now!

  6. knitstamatic says:

    I have been considering a rice cooker for some time now and actually was looking at the Neuro Fuzzy Rice Cooker & Warmer but I think I’m now favoring the umami micom.

  10. knitstamatic says:

    Favorite rice dish is difficult because I consider rice comfort food and enjoy it in so many different ways, though I do have a tendency toward curry rice dishes.

  11. Kelsey says:

    Favorite rice dish is plain and simple: short grain brown rice with miso paste, wakame, and shitake mushrooms. 🙂 great giveaway.. bonus entries to follow!

  15. Amanda Thompson says:

    I think the Home Bakery Mini Breadmaker is super cute and I would love to add it to my kitchen. 🙂

  18. Kari says:

    And I would love to try the new Eco-Cooker from Zojirushi… we are a crock pot loving family!

  22. Cathy Reuter says:

    I just tweeted…. “I just entered to win a Zojirushi Umami Rice Cooker from @kitchenrunway. 🙂

  23. Cathy Reuter says:

    I went a little backwards…. I am not sure of my favorite rice dish…. I love jasmine rice. I definitely want to try the Quinoa rice. It looks FAB!

  26. Mama J says:

    This looks amazing. I love quinoa and I didn’t know you could cook it in a rice cooker. I may have to break down and get one. 🙂

  27. Cathy Reuter says:

    Hi. I can’t believe I won. (and then left you hanging because my computer wasn’t working) THANK YOU!!!!

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