One 12-oz bag is 7 servings. 1/4 cup is 1 serving. So, the half-cup-dry recipe makes 2 servings. 1 serving provides 170 kcal, 16%DV fiber, 5g protein, a little calcium and 15%DV iron.
Quinoa husks contain a natural insect repellent compound called saponin. I described the Pereg "Alla' Italian" mix as carroty - not in a bad way, just not particularly Italian-flavor. Now I'm thinking a saponin hint may be what brought out the carrot flavor. Other reviewers have described quinoa's flavor as "grassy" (as a euphemism for "bitter"), relating to saponin traces. Oh, and no sand in the TrūRoots product.
In my first pass I noted that this 12-oz bag cost $6, i.e. 85 cents a serving, or $1.70 for about as much quinoa as I would eat as part of a meal. Doing the math, a meal's worth (2 servings) is only ~10g protein. The whole $6 bag, at 35g protein, is significantly less than a day's supply of protein for even a sedentary average male. I'm still open to sourcing bulk quinoa, but it has to be pre-washed.
Its main advantage over true grains seems to be that it's gluten-free; you get about as much protein per dry half-cup from 4 slices of whole-wheat bread, or an equivalent volume of whole-grain brown rice. It is by no stretch of the imagination a protein staple candidate and even less a superfood. Beans have much more protein by weight, e.g. a cup of cooked lentils packs 18g protein.
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I got heartily bored of chickpeas with my last rice/beans mix. Or maybe it's the combination that I got bored of; I could probably eat chickpeas straight from the can, now that I think about it. But whatever, I already jumped the gun on buying up an assortment of dry beans: Pubilx chickpeas, Diana black beans, Conchita great northern and Iberia pinto beans, because that's what was the best value by weight for each different type. I was a little surprised Goya wasn't competitive. And just realized I forgot lentils... d'oh