Finally, a forecast of snow in this strangely springlike winter. In the fondest hopes of getting snowed in, my friend and I invited a gaggle of friends over for a “snowed-in” party.

Cue Saturday evening: no snow, no food planned and the two of us blowing through the kitchen like a tornado, ripping open cabinets, scouring the fridge and scavenging in the pantry. What did we come up with? 

• 1 box quinoa
• 1 pound mostly-defrosted chicken
• Beans
• Feta cheese
• Tomatoes
• 1 red onion
• Whole wheat bread crumbs (bonus leftover from a meat loaf craving!)
• Artichoke hearts
• A jar of olives
• Greek yogurt
• Sriracha—never without the stuff!

Theme change: Snowed-in party becomes Quinoa Fest 2012? I think so!

I turned to the trusty Whole Grains Council website for a chicken recipe and found something even the pickiest of chicken wing and pizza eating 20-somethings would love: Quinoa Crusted Chicken Fingers. After cooking up the entire box of quinoa (you can never have enough of the stuff!), I spread out a layer on a piece of tin foil and sprinkled it with whole wheat bread crumbs, then put two eggs whites in a bowl, as called for by the recipe.

Now to season the chicken – and here’s where the fun began! Although the recipe called for salt, pepper, and cumin, we took it a step further… sprinkling the chicken with curry, garlic, and chili powder before dipping it into the egg whites, rolling it in the quinoa-bread crumb mix, and finally putting it in a skillet with hot oil.

Needless to say, this chicken had a kick! To make it even zestier, I mixed up a sriracha aioli, mixing the hot sauce with minced garlic and Greek yogurt. The sriracha picked up the hot spices while the greek yogurt cooled everything down with its tart, yet creamy flavor.

What did we do with the rest of our impromptu ingredients, you ask? Well a quinoa salad bar, of course!  Instead of mixing up a big salad myself (this friend doesn’t like olives, that one doesn’t like red onion, the pickiness goes on and on) I decided to make little bowls of salad mix-ins and let people make their own salads. It was a regular quinoa free for all!

Quinoa Fest 2012 was most definitely a hit (despite the lack of snow) and the group is already gearing up for the next Whole Grains Extravaganza! Farro-fest, perhaps? Or maybe Millet-mania? The possibilities are endless!  (Mallory)