Pasta (Part 2) -- Quinoa Pasta

I found this new quinoa pasta at Bristol Farms last week and decided to try it out.

Admittedly, I was very skeptical.  The pasta is bright (borderline highlighter) yellow and I have never eaten quinoa in my life, but anything has to be better than that brown rice pasta I tried last week, right?

Education corner:

Quinoa (pronounced “keen-wa”) is a seed originally grown in South and Central America, with some of the crop now grown in Canada. Quinoa has a high protein value... It is also an above average source of vitamins and minerals. Quinoa is free of gluten and is a good source of fiber.  (www.naturespath.org)
Hm... okay...



Pasta prep:  Nothing new here, like any other box of dry pasta -- bring water to a boil, put in noodles, wait for the water to boil again, stir and cook for 5-6 minutes, tada! 

A few differences:  This pasta is very sticky, so next time I will definitely follow the directions and add some oil to the water and stir thoroughly after dropping the noodles into the water (oops -- almost created one giant, box sized, pasta noodle).  In addition, the water gets very milky and the noodles need a little extra rinsing once they are done.

LUNCH! 

A review of the quinoa pasta
-Price:  $2.39! Woot! 
-Convenience:  As simple as any other box of dried pasta -- excellent!    
-Taste:  I thought it smelled a little different, but the taste was right on.  Ate it all up with the eggplant marinara I made earlier. 
-Texture:  Unlike the rice noodles the week before, this pasta was nice and al dente, just the way I like it!  

-Overall:  ^.^  ^.^  ^.^  ^.^  ^.^
(5 out of 5 happy Asian smiles) -- this pasta was soooooo much better than the brown rice pasta.  Hm... I think I'll make some meatballs next to go with this meal.