In honor of American Heart Month, I created a healthy and delicious dish that the entire family will love! This Southwest Quinoa is filled with sweet peppers, poblano peppers and black beans for a hearty and delicious side dish or meatless main dish.
Southwest Quinoa
You know how I love a recipe challenge! Today I'm putting Smart Balance Original Buttery Spread up against I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! Original Spread to see which my family would prefer.
My Mom is always encouraging me to eat healthier, especially when the topic of how many pounds of butter I have cooked up on any particular day comes up, and I know she's right. However, I have to admit the last time I bought butter spread, I was not impressed.
Before starting this test, the first thing I did was grab 2 spoons and did a little taste test. I thought Smart Balance tasted more like butter and The I Can't Believe It's Not Butter had a bit of an after taste.
I decided to try a couple of recipes for a good test. I made two batches of each recipe using the different butter spreads. First I made the Southwest Quinoa, which is my new favorite side dish and then I made my classic Skillet Cornbread.
I used the butter spreads to fry the peppers and onions for the Southwest Quinoa. Once again I felt the Smart Balance was more similar in flavor to butter.
For the cornbread the difference was a little more stark. The cornbread made with Smart Balance tasted amazingly like my Skillet Cornbread. The cornbread made with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter was more crumbly and didn't have quite as much flavor.
So all in all, Smart Balance was the overall favorite at our house. I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was to cook with and also with the taste.
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Southwest Quinoa
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons Smart Balance Original Spread
- 1 poblano pepper, seeded and diced
- ½ cup green onions
- ⅓ cup diced sweet peppers
- 3 cups cooked quinoa
- 1 15 oz can seasoned black beans
- diced tomatoes and cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- Add Smart Balance to a skillet and place over medium- high heat and add poblano, sweet peppers and onions. Cook, stirring often until vegetables soften. Add quinoa and black beans to the skillet and stir to combine. Continue to cook until heated through. Garnish with tomatoes and cilantro.