Pesto Quinoa topped with Garlic Sautéed Spinach

Pesto quinoa topped with garlic sautéed spinach: 

Mmm this was another one of those “what do I have in the kitchen right now?” meals that turned out to be a tasty & nutritious dinner and was very easy to make.

I like to keep a bag of quinoa (buy in bulk at Whole Foods) in the kitchen, since I use it in pretty much everything.  Various seasoning packets are nice to keep on hand as well, like this nomnom pesto mix (or guac mix, taco seasoning, curry…).  Fresh garlic is another fridge staple (can’t have too much garlic!), and spinach leaves for mixing into salad or sautéing.   This was just a 4 ingredient meal, if you don’t count the water, olive oil, salt and pepper!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of quinoa
• Pesto seasoning packet
• Bag of fresh spinach
• Bulb of garlic
• Olive oil
• Salt & pepper

Directions:

1) Cook the quinoa (I like to use a rice cooker)

2) Mix up the pesto sauce, using only a bit of olive oil (you could also add the fat free Cream of Mushroom soup I mentioned in this post)

3) Add the pesto sauce to the cooked quinoa and mix

4) Saute the garlic in the skillet for a minute or so and dump the whole bag of spinach leaves in, mixing it into the olive oil and garlic and adding a sprinkle of salt and pepper; cook for about 1 to 2 minutes

5) Serve the spinach over top of the quinoa, adding salt and pepper to taste