How to Get Kids to Eat Quinoa

I told my kids when they were little that quinoa is “baby pasta.” It’s how pasta starts out before it grows up!

It was a little stretch of the truth to get them to embrace a food that is a healthy alternative to processed pasta that has little nutritional value. These days they’re old enough to realize it’s not a pasta, but they love the flavor and texture, so it doesn’t matter.

Why quinoa? According this article in Forbes, quinoa has 7 benefits:

1. It’s a protein-rich food – it’s one of the most protein-rich foods we can et.
2. It’s has almost twice as much fiber as other grains.
3. It has iron.
4. It has lysine.
5. It’s rich in magnesium.
6. It’s high in Riboflavin.
7. It has a high content of manganese.

But wait! There’s more. Quinoa is also gluten free, has all eight essential amino acids (which is unheard of in any other food), is easy to cook and mixes well with a lot of different flavor profiles – from Mexican and Greek to Italian and Asian.

Even if you’re introducing quinoa for the first time and you can’t fool your kids into thinking it’s “baby pasta,” try it as a replacement to pasta or rice a few times and encourage them to taste it. It’s mild in flavor and has a good texture to it.

Looking for ways to prepare quinoa? I compiled a few good recipes here. Some are more adventurous in effort and flavor, but all will give you a great way to prepare it.

I also use quinoa to make “rice pudding” with almond or coconut milk, stevia cinnamon and crushed walnuts.

That’s how I get my kids to eat quinoa.

How about you? Any suggestions or recipes?