{ just a bite to start the week }

{ raw vegan, gluten-free, great for a party }

A few nights ago a friend of mine hosted her monthly evening business meeting and recruited my assistance on some healthy, easy finger foods with a raw twist.  Although her meetings are in no way about food, Tessa is known for her creativity and unexpected, innovative touches.  She wanted to replace the typical offerings of chicken wings, mozzarella sticks, and vegetable platters with their accompanying ranch dressing swimming pool with something delicious and optimally healthy, yet undetectable by the attendees.

These quinoa bites are a real flavor experience, so much so that your attention is focused on the fun tart-sweet-spicy-nutty contrasts in your mouth.  No boring “health” food here!

But it is commonly known how insanely healthy quinoa is for us.  You may choose to soak and sprout it to keep it all raw, or cook it in the traditional manner.  Either way, quinoa is so loaded with vital nutrients and minerals like complete-protein amino acids, magnesium, riboflavin, and antioxidants, that your body will greatly benefit from this nutritional gold mine.  The true magic comes in the moroccan flavors: tart preserved lemon, sweet zesty sundried tomatoes, spicy minced jalepeno, and a cinnamon-based seasoning blend.

For this Moroccan style quinoa, I simply tossed in finely chopped preserved lemon, sun-dried tomatoes, green onions, jalepeno, fresh mint, cilantro, and pine nuts.  The mixture was given a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, and finished with sea salt.  Finally, I gave it all a liberal seasoning of Sambhar curry powder.  Sambhar curry is a delicious cinnamon based season-all you can find at Whole Foods in the spice isle.  Alternatively, you can mix together your own seasoning blend of ground cinnamon, coriander, cumin, paprika, and chili powder.

With a melon baller, spoon the quinoa mixture into a cucumber cup: a slender English cucumber cut into 3/4″ segments and hollowed out nearly all the way through with a melon baller. Serve to your guests and hear them “mmmm”, “ooooooh”, and “ahhhhhmmm”, as Tessa’s guests did!

<3, JMK