Quinoa Hash and Roasted Brussel Sprouts

My new favorite kitchen item is, without a doubt, my HUGE iron skillet. Everything seems to cook up better in it AND it adds a little bit of iron to everyting I make with it! Tonight I was craving quinoa, and I wanted to make something new and different with it in my handy new kitchen tool, so I hunted around vegweb and stumbled upon nutty quinoa hash:

The only things I changed about the recipe were that I tossed in yellow bell pepper for the green (I really just don't like the overwhelming flavor of green. The sweetness of red, yellow, and orange are more subtle to me) and I used 3 Tbs of organic raw almond butter instead of the peanut (generally, we always have almond and cashew and sesame butter on hand but not often peanut). I was thinking of chopping up some almonds and throwing them in as well, but decided against it at the last minute. My seasoning of choice was about 1&3/4 tsp Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning.

I have to admit, upon first putting it all together, I (like someone else on vegweb's comments) felt that the nut butter addition to the quinoa made the quinoa a little too mushy. It kind of became this sticky big clump. I also wondered if maybe there was just too much quinoa going on for the dish. but after tasting it (and taking the time to really combine the veggies with the quinoa/almond butter mixture with a spatula), I found it to be perfect, just as it was. the potato, onion, celery, zucchini, corn, and yellow pepper all made an appearance on my pallette, blanketed in the subtle nutty taste of the quinoa. it was wonderful!
Itopped it with a roasted portabello cap and served it with a side of VwaV's roasted garlicky brussel sprouts. (this recipe, after first trying it, convinced me immediately that brussel sprouts were indeed a veggie that i'd been missing out on all this time!!!!)

I also learned today, in reading Becoming Vegan: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Plant Based Diet (a book I've been soaking up for the last couple months since my switch from vegetarianism...it's so amazingly full of great nutrition info!) that it's wise to combine foods high in vitamin C (like brussel sprouts!) to help aid in the absorption of iron in iron rich foods (like quinoa!).