Cheesy Sausage, Broccoli, and Quinoa Casserole

We have made these numerous times and like to try substitutions. For the latest batch, I decreased the amount of quinoa to 2 1/2 cups (cooked), Omitted the onions and garlic as I cannot digest them. Added 2-3 cups of chopped spinach along with the carrots.

Made the topping with toasted quinoa flakes in lieu of breadcrumbs. Due to the added moisture from the spinach, added 15 minutes to the cooking time.

The end result was delicious.

Made this dish with chicken breast cut in bite sized chunks, added red bell pepper, more onions, lots more garlic. Will add cheese to sauce next time, maybe. First time making any Quinoa. Love the recipe

Thanks to ElizabethMN, I used spicy sausage and I'm so glad I did.  This takes some work but the finished product is worth it.  Next time I will definitely splurge for some special sharp cheddar.  My broccoli came out a bit under cooked; will steam it 5 minutes next time.

I made this exactly as the recipe called for with one exception - use of "hot"Italian instead of "sweet" Italian sausage. I found this dish to be surprisingly good. The further I got into the recipe the more anxious I got about it being a bland dish (and that I would have TWO casseroles of it!). A few things: 1)  It isn't cheesy. I wouldn't add more cheese, but I would revise the name of the dish to avoid disappointing those I am serving it to. :) 2) Speaking of cheese, I used Trader Joe's unexpected cheddar. The flavor in was enough cheese to carry the dish. Did I want more cheese? Heavens yes! But then I wouldn't be cooking light. If I used a pre-shredded or otherwise less flavorful cheddar I would have been disapointed. 3) I used my local butcher's fresh made hot Italian sausage. It was "Minnesota hot" (i.e., not hot), but I would not make this with sweet sausage - I fear it would be too bland. 4) This is comfort food - this is no show piece. But it would suffice for a carry in (again - assuming you get high quality cheddar and sausage)5) I'm not a quina sort of gal - I prefer rice, but it was great in this dish. I didn't long for higher calorie rice while eating it. 6) Editing is getting a little sloppy at CL. In step 4, add the flour etc to the Dutch oven, not the pan. 7) Next time I make it (it will be a while since there are two pans of this stuff!) I will do the following:          a) add another 2 cups of chopped florets or  rough chop all the broccoli (to get more broccoli in those 6 cups).          b) shred or dice the carrots (again to get more veggies in the half cup)

Yummy! My husband and I liked this recipe! I liked the combo of veggies, sausage and quinoa. As another review suggested, Iadded shredded cheese to the sauce. Loved that I could freeze half for later.

Loved the flavor of this!  Th first time I made it, I followed the recipe exactly.  The cheese and breadcrumb mixture didn't add anything but a crunchy topping.  The second time I made it, I cooked the broccoli with the onions and carrots, and substituted kielbasa for ground sausage.  Added 8 oz of shredded cheese to the milk/stock mixture, then combined everything to bake.  I left the breadcrumb topping off.  This made it basically a yummy version of mac and cheese using quinoa instead of pasta.  Would definitely make it again this way.

Used 2/3 the cooked quinoa, doubled the cheese and used applegate links, which didn't have skins, so I used chunks of sausage instead.  That probably took some fat out that was added by the extra cheddar.  Will use the sparkrecipes nutrition calculator for nutrition info.  It was relatively easy - just have all the ingredients set to go initially.  I also wouldn't cook it with the ground pepper, but add it later.

The entire family enjoyed this dish. My only change was to use 1% milk as I did not want to make a separate trip to the store for the whole milk. My only other comment would be that it is not very cheesy. I might add a bit more next time.

Excellent one dish recipe...only comment is that I reduced the amount of quinoa...it was too much.  Loved it.