Mexican Quinoa with Butternut Squash

Oh hey there.

Today I had some veggies that I needed to use, and I decided to invent a recipe. It turned out pretty delicious, so I wanted to remember it! I figured that I'd type out the recipe here so that it would be easy to refer back to when I want to make this again in the future. I'm not a pro cook or anything. I just enjoy cooking and eating good food.

Ingredients

Quinoa
Half of a medium butternut squash
Bell pepper (Any color should be fine; mine was both red and green, and I got it from the farmer's market)
Anaheim pepper
Half an onion
2-3 small roma tomatoes
Coconut oil
Salt
Pepper
Cumin
Garlic Salt
Oregano
Water


Instructions

1. Cut up the butternut squash into approximately 1-inch cubes. I wasn't super precise with the size and shape, but I didn't want them too small or too big. Kind of bite size was what I was going for.
2. Dice the onion. I wanted the flavor of the onion more than the texture, so I diced.
3. Dice half of the anaheim pepper.
4. Cut the bell pepper into slightly larger pieces. I feel like these ended up being about the same length and width as the squash, just not the same depth since peppers are obviously not that big.
5. Put coconut oil into a large frying pan. I think I maybe put in about a tablespoon, but I'm really not sure.
6. Start cooking the quinoa in a separate saucepan according to the instructions. I used the suggestion on the bag of how much to make, which was 2 serving sizes, or 1/2 cup quinoa and 1 cup of water. 
7. Add the onion, peppers, and squash to the frying pan and start sauteeing over medium-high heat.
8. Add some salt, pepper, garlic salt, and cumin as desired. (I have no clue how much I used.)
9. While everything is cooking, take a minute to cut the tomatoes and mix and crush them with a little bit of water in a bowl. 
10. Add a little bit of oregano to the bowl with the tomatoes. (Is it weird to have oregano with cumin? The oregano flavor didn't stand out too much, but I liked having it in there. Other spices could easily be used instead though.)
11. Once the quinoa is almost done, turn off the heat. 
12. Add the tomato mixture to the frying pan and turn down the heat.
13. After a minute, stir in the quinoa. 
14. Add spices as desired.
15. Cook until you think things are good! And voila! Mexican quinoa! It reminded me of Mexican rice, but I'm not actually a big fan of Mexican rice, but I liked this a lot. I feel like you could easily substitute whatever you want into this--add more veggies, use different spices, etc. 

Like I said, I'm not a pro cook, and I'm just typing this out for my own benefit for future reference. But if anyone makes this, and it turns out terribly or wonderfully, let me know!