Zucchini Blossom Quinoa

Summer is my favorite season because that’s when the garden starts bumpin’ with fresh flowers and tasty veggies – you just can’t beat the taste and joy of running out the backdoor to snap a few leaves and fresh veggies for your brunch.

Today the zucchinis where alive with the sound of tons of fresh blossoms. You’re only supposed to pick the males and leave the females that turn into future full sized zucchinis, so I took about ten from the patch along with two whopping zucchinis, then I nabbed some fresh rainbow swiss chard leaves (the easiest plant to grow by the way) and about ten of the white string beans that have just begun to grow in.

After a bit of chopping I threw everything in a pot with some quinoa and viola a beautiful summer garden special. It’s such a healthy, easy dish to make for yourself or a friends – the only thing is that you need to get your hands on some blossoms. Because they are so delicate, it’s difficult to come by them in the store. So here it is, yet another reason to plant a garden. I hope you do because the rewards are endless. 🙂

Ingredients

1 Zucchini chopped

1 Handful of white beans

5 Zucchini Blossoms (or however many you can get your hands on) chopped

Chicken or veggie broth or bullion

Salt and Pepper

2 Cups of Quinoa

1 TBSP Olive Oil (or high quality grass fed butter)

1 Garlic Clove

1 Handful of chopped swiss chard

Nutritional Yeast

Directions

In a cast iron pan, put the oil and garlic chopped finely and warm the oil. Once it is warmed up add in the zucchinis and beans and let them saute for a few minutes. Then toss in the flowers giving them a good stir for a minute then set the mixture aside and cook the quinoa. In a separate pan (you can reuse the same skillet if you put the veggies in your serving bowl) add your quinoa to some broth or water and a bullion that you enjoy the flavor of, covering the quinoa thoroughly maybe an inch above the quinoa line. Cover and let it cook for 15 – 20 mins stirring occasionally. Test the quinoa so it is soft and palatable. Once it is, add all the veggies and stir it together with a little olive oil.

Serve it with fresh olive oil on top and cheese or nutritional yeast or fresh lemon juice and basil – how you like to season it is up to you. I like to switch it up day by day to make it feel like a completely new dish. Feel free to get creative adding mushrooms and eggplant if you like that sort of thing.

Have you ever tried zucchini blossoms? Let us know in the comments below!