Once available only in select natural food stores, quinoa -- a high-protein grain found in South America, and an original staple in the Incan diet -- has been taking the U.S. by storm. It’s showing up on cooking shows and in food magazines as a healthy alternative to pasta and a healthy way to up your protein intake.

The ancient Incans fed quinoa to their warriors to help sustain them in battle. Nowadays, quinoa is used in the battle of the bulge, because it’s protein rich (with nine amino acids), high in fiber, and mineral rich with lots of iron and magnesium. Try these tres healthy and yummy recipes to get the most of this sabroso superfood!

DESAYUNO: CINNAMON-RAISIN QUINOA

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole or low-fat milk
  
• 1 cup quinoa, rinsed
  
• 3 tablespoons light-brown sugar, plus more for serving
  
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus more for serving
• 1 cup raisins

Directions: Start by bringing milk to a boil in a small saucepan. Add quinoa and return to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, until three-quarters of the milk has been absorbed, about 15 minutes. Stir in sugar and cinnamon. Cook, covered, until almost all the milk has been absorbed, about 8 minutes. Stir in raisins (you can also try dried blueberries or another dried fruit) and cook for 30 seconds. Serve with additional milk, sugar, cinnamon, and blueberries as desired.

ALMUERZO: QUINOA NIÇOISE SALAD

Ingredients:

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 potatoes, peeled
• 1 bunch green beans
• 3 eggs, hard-boiled, chopped
• Olives, pitted
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions
Rinse quinoa, then add to a saucepan with 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and cook, covered, for about 15 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes once it’s done cooking. In the meantime, boil the potatoes until they’re soft. Quickly sautee the green beans until they’re al dente. Mix quinoa and potatoes, green beans and eggs together, then add olives, salt, pepper and olive oil to taste.

Senar: Quinoa with Black Beans and Avocado

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup quinoa, rinsed
  
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 1 large white onion
  
• 10 medium button mushrooms, diced
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 tablespoons lime juice (or more to taste)
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved  
• 2 small avocados, peeled and diced           
• Salt, to taste

Instructions: 
Cook quinoa per the instructions in the Niçoise Salad, above. In a saucepan, sauté onions and mushrooms in the olive oil. Add fluffed quinoa and black beans. Add lime juice and stir in sliced cherry tomatoes and avocado, and add salt to taste.

Pregnancy cravings are no joke. But try being a pregnant Latina foodie. That’s what 27-year-old Venezolana-Italiana Melissa Berthier experienced last year. Since her Mexican-Lebanese esposo, Alfonso, no longer was an executive at Mexicana airlines who could lavish her with dulces from Latin America, what could a food-obsessed couple do to satisfy mami-to-be’s authentic cravings?

It took about nine months, but on the same day their daughter Sabrina was born, another entity was birthed: Mister Gallo, the mascot for LatinBag.com, the new parents’ e-commerce site that would launch a few weeks later in October 2010. The Berthiers had tapped into a nostalgia market for authentic comidas Latinas. So, they now offer to bag the groceries from your homeland for you, with customers as far away as South Korea and Australia.

The Bethesda, Md., couple balances fulfilling orders daily between day jobs: Melissa works for Metro in Washington, D.C., and Alfonso owns a distribution company. LatinBag is a work in progress -- from shipping and tracking, to storage and inventory. Now raising a growing toddler, Melissa concedes, “There is no such thing as spare time.” But her job provides stability and health insurance, as they’d like to have another child. Eventually, however, they’d like to devote themselves full-time to LatinBag and expand their inventory. “I’d love to sell authentic Oaxaca cheese,” says Melissa. “But it’s a matter of storing it properly.” So for now, LatinBag stocks an assortment of dry and canned goods, as well as pan dulce, café, candy, spices and more goodies to satisfy those cravings -- whether you’re pregnant or not.

Want to enjoy the holiday season to the fullest? Start with the seven easy steps and get into the holiday spirit.

1. Bake homemade cookies for coworkers. Whether they are shaped into Christmas trees or piñatas, cookies are a time-tested way to spread cheer.

2. Watch holiday flicks. Rent an old Christmas movie -- maybe even a Spanish-language classic your familia loves -- and watch with a loved one. It’s a heartwarming way to ignite a wintry romance.

3. Host a Christmas comadrazo. Invite your closest comadres over for hot Mexican chocolate and other Latin treats. Read one of the 36 options from Noche Buena: Hispanic American Christmas Stories.

4. Volunteer. In the busiest of months, sharing your time with others keeps the true meaning of the season alive. Visit the elderly at a nursing home, chop onions at a shelter or watch your neighbor’s kids while they finish Christmas shopping.

5. Take a time-out. Go for a massage, a spa treatment or a new haircut instead of another round at the stores, and you’ll replenish your sense of winter joy.

6. Decorate your home. Remember visiting Santa’s workshop at the mall’s North Pole? Wrap your living room or dining room chairs in festive ribbons and colorful Latin-American-style ornaments. Blow up old pictures of your family celebrating la Navidad in their native country and use the photos as decorations. For an extra dose of fun, copy your mother’s sequin mini-dress or bouffant hairdo and text her a picture. You’ll both be sure to get a great laugh!

7. Have Old-Fashioned Fun. Go ice-skating with your loved one and hold hands. Or join a group of Christmas carolers. A better idea is to start your own caroling group and to include classic and contemporary holiday tunes in Spanish in the repertoire.

Photo Credit: @iStockphoto.com/kate_sept2004

Growing up in poverty in Puerto Rico, Dr. Aida Giachello, who has a doctorate in medical sociology, witnessed the health conditions that kept Latinos from moving ahead: diabetes, asthma, obesity and lack of insurance. But years later, while doing social research at Northwestern University, Giachello learned that the barriers getting in the way of success went far beyond health concerns. “Issues of low education, poverty, poor housing, unemployment, racism and sexism were rampant,” says Giachello. But few knew how to remedy the social ills.

Wanting to gather accurate information, Giachello founded the Midwest Latino Health Research, Training and Policy Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1993. “I searched for new facts that would help us understand the Latino reality and then tried to do something about it,” she says. “Only the collective work of Latinos could begin to change their negative image in the U.S.”

As the center’s director, Giachello worked closely with ordinary people in the community. She sat in on meetings with middle-aged immigrants, where they were advised on everything from blood sugar management and exercise goals to how many tortillas to eat per day.

Over time, she developed innovative models to educate people in the prevention and management of chronic diseases, many of which have been adopted internationally. She also trains Latino and other minority researchers and health workers in the U.S. and Latin America. This way, “community leaders and organizations can advocate effectively for their health and social well-being,” says Giachello.

Giachello is using her research findings to bring about policies that would end the disproportionate ills Latinos have endured. “There is so much talent, and few have the opportunities to maximize their potential.”

Let’s face it: Unless your mezcla is part Pequot, Canarsee or Wampanoag, the tales of Puritan pilgrim settlers may not resonate. What we can relate to, however, is food and familia.

Still, if you think about it, some of the staple ingredients on a Thanksgiving menu -- corn, potatoes, calabazas -- are all inherently Latin. And the spices -- cinnamon, paprika, cilantro, vanilla and chiles -- all add distinctive sabor. Carolina Buia, co-author of the book Latin Chic, shares some quick tips on how to spice up your Thanksgiving feast, Latin-style.

Decorations
Fill you home with giant Mexican paper flowers, which you can pick up at most craft stores. They don’t just add a pop of festive color; they’re also reusable and will stay beautiful all year long. Use a plain white tablecloth with colorful runners. Check Etsy.com for beautifully handcrafted ideas.

Meal
For the turkey, first brine the pavochón, then add an adobo rub or salsa valentina, a Mexican hot sauce. For a stuffing with mofongo-style dressing, add some green plaintains, garlic, salchicha and nuts to your recipe. Instead of mashed potatoes, serve boiled yucca with garlic mojo sauce. Or, go the rice route with some arroz con gandules and sofrito.

Dessert
Whip up a tres leches cake, which is very festive and kid-approved. Or, substitute a creamy flan de calabazas for pumpkin pie.

Beverages

• Kid-friendly: Make a batch of tropical batidas of either guava, piña or passion fruit. Or, serve Jarritos instead of soda. These yummy Mexican sodas are made with real sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup.
• Adult beverages: “Latin eggnog,” “coquito” and “ponche crema” are all different names for the same deliciously wicked rum drink. Buia recommends that you serve high-quality rum after dinner.

Kid Activities
Let them celebrate and get their ya-yas out by whacking a piñata that’s filled with Spanish dulces. LatinBag.com sells authentic sweets to cater to all your nostalgic Latin cravings. LatinBag’s Luchador piñata is particularly awesome.

China
Don’t worry about having everything matchy-matchy. If you’re having a large party but don’t have enough plates, places like HomeGoods have plain white everyday dishware for only $1.50 per plate. They’re nicer-looking than plastic or paper, and you can reuse them for the next fiesta!