Peruvian Baked Quinoa and Cheese

I found this Peruvian Baked Quinoa and Cheese recipe on the Vegetarian Times website while looking for something else, but I thought it sounded good - I really like quinoa but had never made it in cheesy bake form. I was a little skeptical of the description - 'an alternative to mac-n-cheese' - but I thought I'd give it a shot.

First in the pot: an onion and bell peppers, which gave me a few minutes to rinse the quinoa. Then the quinoa went in with some garlic. Then I put in the water - but this is where it got confusing. The recipe states that the water will (mostly) be absorbed in 3-4 minutes - which is crazy talk. Quinoa is made with a ratio of 2:1 for water:quinoa, and usually takes at least 15 minutes to absorb/cook. I did wait until it was fully cooked, to be on the safe side, just not sure why the recipe was so off?

I did let it sit for a few minutes, but I was still a little worried the eggs would cook when I mixed them into the quinoa with milk and cheese. No need, though, it mixed fine and turned into a wet rice pudding-like substance. I wish I had added more veggies in though - it wasn't very colourful.

While it didn't brown very much on the top - maybe putting extra cheese on top would have helped - it was still quite tasty. Next time I would add more spices and make it a little more Southwestern - jalapenos would work well, since it was similar to corn bread. It's a good recipe for potluck dinners, and even better eating it cold out of the fridge the next day. Seriously.