Quinoa with Adzuki Beans

I've been in kind of a kitchen rut lately. I've mostly been eating salad, with the occasional treat of Daiya nachos. (Remember, I bought 20 bags of Daiya at a dollar a bag several weeks ago? Yeah, maybe 20 bags was a little ambitious. Thank God it freezes!) So, the last time I went to the grocery store I felt drawn to some of the weirder offerings, particularly ones that didn't blow my budget. I decided on a bag of Garbanzo Bean Flour (weird, right?) and a bag of organic Japanese Adzuki Beans. I'd never heard of these beans, but the label on the bag touted "high fiber!" And those are the magic words for me. The Cancer Project recommends 40 grams of fiber per day to keep your engine running smoothly, so any way I can cram more fiber into my diet, I'm gonna.
I haven't tried the garbanzo bean flour yet, but I cooked up the adzuki beans a couple of days ago, mixed them with some quinoa and spices, sizzled up some veggie bacon for garnish, and the whole family has been eating on this one batch since then! My husband just had a big bowl for lunch. It's the high-protein dish that just keeps on giving. Try it out for yourself!

5 1/2 cups water, separated
1 cup adzuki beans (if you can't find 'em, just sub your bean of choice)
1 cup quinoa (sub brown rice if you're really hurtin')
1 onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, crushed and finely minced
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce 
1 tablespoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt or table salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
4 strips vegan bacon, cooked and cut into small pieces, for garnish (optional)

• Start your beans the day before you actually want to make the dish. You will need to soak them overnight in three cups of water. The next day, drain and rinse the beans, add a fresh 3 cups of water, and set them to cook over medium-high heat. Once they're boiling reduce heat to low and cover. 
• For the quinoa, boil 2 cups of water. Add 1 cup of quinoa. Stir it around, cover and reduce heat. It only take about 20 minutes to cook. Once it's done, just shut off the heat and let it steam up while you finish your beans. 
• While beans and quinoa are simmering, saute onion and garlic in half a cup of water, adding more water if needed to keep them from sticking. When onions are translucent and garlic is soft add them to the beans, stir in well, and re-cover the pot.
• Add all remaining ingredients, except bacon, and stir in well. Re-cover and allow beans to simmer at least an hour, until soft. You will have to do some taste-testing every now and again to see how they're coming along.
• When everything is ready, add the quinoa to the bean pot (or vice versa, depending on which pot is bigger) and stir it all around. I like to sing a little 'stirring song' while I'm doing it.
• Ladle beans into a bowl and top with bacon. It was also fantastic with nutritional yeast sprinkled on top! Green onions might be good too. Hmmmm...
• Makes 8 servings.
• Enjoy!

NUTRITION FACTS* (per serving):
Calories: 142.7 / Total Fat: 1.6g (Saturated Fat: 0g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 0g) / Cholesterol: 0mg / Sodium: 296.4mg / Potassium: 188.9mg / Total Carbohydrate: 24.1g (Dietary Fiber: 4.0g, Sugars: 1.6g) / Protein: 5.6g
*Nutrition Facts calculated without the optional bacon.

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