Meatless Monday: Travel Easy Quinoa

Today's Meatless Monday recipe comes from Sister Barefoot, who introduced me to meatless mondays (as a vegetarian, every day is meatless, but I really love the idea and I try to be really supportive of my sister and other people who enjoy meatless Mondays.) Sister Barefoot has gotten much better at cooking from her first post-college days, in which everything she made was out of a box. (It was all delicious - she knows all the right boxes. There is nothing wrong with out-of-the-box eating - it's a pretty cheap, healthy, and easy way to eat without eating out all the time. Just watch the sodium.)
We went to Bonaire for a week, which means that some things can be found in grocery stores and some things can't be. We were diving up to 3 dives a day, and after that, you kinda want to just come home and sit and relax, not get all dressed up (meaning brush your hair) and go out on the town. We went on one trip where we went out to dinner every night, and it got pretty expensive. I'm also simply not a big fan of restaurant dining. We had three meals out while we were there, one featuring local Bonairian goat cheese, and cooked the rest of the time. It worked really well for us, because we are a "slow travel" type of family. If that's not your game, that's totally cool - but this meal was so good, I will totally make it at home.
Ingredients (feeds 5 hungry divers w/ some leftovers, or 8-10 normal people):

• 2 cups quinoa (brought from home)
  
• 1 can tomato paste (purchased at Cultimara Supermarket)
  
• Water
• 1/2 package frozen peas (probably about 1-2 cups. (purchased from Cultimara Supermarket)
  
• Optional: 1 pkg canned chicken (brought from home. If you don't like canned chicken, this is the best way to eat it.)
  
• Salt & Pepper

Procedure:

1. Rinse quinoa. If in a foreign land, use paper towels. If at home, use brand new quinoa friendly strainer you got for Christmas!!!!
   
2. Add tomato paste and water to pot. You want to add enough water that there is approx. 2 cups of liquid.
   
3. Add quinoa and seasonings. Cook for approximately 20-30 minutes, until delicious. If adding canned chicken, add after 15-20 minutes.
   
4. Add frozen peas. Cook for an additional 5 minutes, until peas are hot.
   

This meal was delicious, and made great leftovers, warm or cold.