Amaranth is so cute.

(click on photo to enlarge it)

I decided to cook up some Amaranth that I had purchased, for reasons I can't remember, and even though I do not like its smell while it is cooking, and I find the taste strangely "smoky", I must say that I was smitten by its cuteness.

Particularly when it's sitting in a spot of sunlight on the kitchen counter.

I just looked up Amaranth on Wikipedia and discovered that in its wild form it is Pigweed. The whole story of Amaranth is pretty fascinating. I will have to find some interesting recipes for it, perhaps like the Mexican one the article mentions, where it is popped and mixed with honey. Not something I want to try, however, without precise instructions!

In the meanwhile I am stirring it to some soup I made yesterday with fresh chopped cabbage, carrots, a bag of frozen shitake mushrooms, chopped garlic, chopped fresh ginger, all cooked in filtered water with a bit of sea salt. To make it more flavorful and even more nutritious, just before serving it I add in some organic yellow brown rice Miso paste and, once it's in the bowl, a tablespoon of that fresh cultured Live Salsa I'm loving so much.

I've felt a resurfacing of the cooking urge lately. In fact I recently bought Super Natural Cooking by  Heidi Swanson, local author and the creator of the excellent online recipe journal 101 Cookbooks. Maybe I should look in there, I bet I'll find something with Amaranth. Do you have a favorite way to use it?