Quinoa Porcupines

 

One of our mother's favorite meals to make when we were growing up was Porcupines. They consist of ground beef, some spices, and rice.

I decided to change the recipe up a bit by trying quinoa instead of rice.

And then, I had a friend tell me that instead of using tomato soup as the sauce in their house, they used mushroom soup so I really wanted to try that version too.

I ended up doubling the recipe and making one dish with mushroom soup and one dish with tomato soup.

Verdict: I liked the tomato version a little bit better and Sue liked the mushroom.

Maybe our readers can be the tie breakers!

 

 

Quinoa Porcupines

 

Ingredients

1/2 cup quinoa, uncooked

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup onion, finely diced

1 lb lean ground beef

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

salt & pepper

1 cup water

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 can (10 oz) tomato soup (or mushroom soup)

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 325. Lightly spray a medium/large sized casserole dish with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a bowl, mix together quinoa, water, onion, ground beef, onion and garlic powder, salt & pepper until well combined. Using a large cookie scoop (or your hands), roll into 2 inch meatballs.

Place in prepared dish.

 

 

In a small bowl, whisk together 1 cup water, Worcestershire, and soup. Pour over porcupines in dish.

 

 

Cover and bake for approximately 45 minutes. Remove cover and turn heat up to 350. Cook approx 15 minutes longer. (Until meat and quinoa are cooked through.)

 

 

Serve hot.

We like to have ours over egg noodles.

 

 

I really like the texture of these. And the taste. And the nutritional benefit. Pretty much everything about them. The nutritional info isn't too bad. Lots of protein, zinc, vitamins B6, B12, C, niacin, etc..

Calories - 118, Fat - 7.2, Carbs - 7, and Protein - 6.8.

That is per meatball.

And they are a fair size so 2 or 3 is a good serving for dinner.  

I calculated the info using Fitday and the tomato soup. (Although the mushroom soup is not that different.)

These do not take very long to put together either. Maybe 10 minutes of prep and an hour in the oven. Perfect for those days when you are rushed for dinner.

Let us know what you think!

 

Stop by Jam Hands and The Chicken Chick and Ms. enPlace and Six Sister's Stuff for some fun and tasty links!