Breakfast Quinoa
I get a lot of feedback about Food Junta asking for more breakfast recipes. “More breakfast recipes!” they demand. “But, Kevin has an entire series called ‘Breakfast Briefs,’” I protest. “More breakfast recipes!” they demand again.
Apparently, most of us really don’t know what to do with ourselves at breakfast. My main problem, I find, is that I’m not very hungry at breakfast itself, but I still need to eat enough (or something hearty enough) that my stomach won’t start rumbling in the middle of my Freud/Marx/Nietzsche lecture. Other problems: portability, quickness, variety. The first, portability, is not going to be solved in today’s post. (See this muffin for that.) This breakfast quinoa addresses the other two quite nicely, though.
It’s time, I think, to think of breakfast a new way. Anything you eat, you can eat for breakfast, after all. (See Mark Bittman waxing poetic about his celery-oatmeal breakfast.) I wouldn’t go so far as sesame oil in my oatmeal, but I did want to shake up the old routine. Oatmeal just gets so…mushy.
I’ve been cooking a lot of quinoa lately, and I thought it might make a good stand-in. This is still certainly on the conservative side of breakfast: I made it sweet (not savory) and cooked it with milk (soy milk, in my case) to make it a little creamier. I did throw in some TJ’s sweet and spicy pecans, which I enthusiastically recommend — they added just the right little zing. But normal nuts would be fine, too (or a pinch of cayenne?). This takes a little longer to cook the first go-round than oatmeal, but the pleasantest surprise here was that it will keep in the fridge and you can re-warm it the next day, and the next even. Just add a little more milk, and microwave for 1-2 minutes. And ta-da, breakfast again. So quick and so different! So fresh and so clean, clean.
Breakfast Quinoa
Makes enough for 3 breakfast servings, I’d say
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa, rinsed (you want to rinse it to get rid of the slightly bitter taste)
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup milk or soy milk
- small handful dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, chopped apricot, etc)
- small handful toasted nuts (pecans, walnuts, almonds, etc)
- cinnamon, to taste
- optional: honey, to drizzle over
- optional: cayenne, to taste
1. Combine quinoa with milk and water in a medium-sized pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer; cover and simmer for about 15 minutes (or until most of the liquid is absorbed). Take off heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes.
2. Stir in your goodies and spices.
3. Drizzle honey (or other sweetener) over individual servings.
To reheat: Spoon one serving into a bowl. Add a little bit of milk (just enough to get everything a little moist again). Microwave for 1-2 minutes.
Why is it that I get hungrier earlier on the days that I do eat breakfast? Answer me that.
yummy, this looks great!!! GIVE ME MORE BREAKFAST RECIPES!!!
only half kidding.