Quinoa Breakfast

Recipe from Savvy Vegetarian
Adapted and husband-tested in Alice’s Kitchen
Makes 1 to 2 servings.

My husband is pretty set in his ways when it comes to breakfast. He loves his Steel Cut Oats in the Crockpot (recipe on this blog) and was reluctant to try this, not because it was quinoa, but because he thought I was trying to put a wrench in his precious morning routine of oatmeal. So, I made this for me and had him taste it to make this an official blog entry. He really liked this because it was very similar to his oatmeal. He said he liked the texture and the fact that it’s nutritious. I thought this was quite delicious and filling. I made a batch of quinoa in advance and stored it in the fridge. The next morning, all I had to do was dip out a cup of the cooked quinoa, add the goodies (nuts, dried fruit, etc….) and heat it a bit on the stove. The original recipe did not call for a banana or stevia. Even though I love our local maple syrup and other sweets, I wanted to try another sweet alternative, so I added a little banana and one packet of stevia for sweetness.

1 cup cooked quinoa** (Directions are at the bottom of this recipe.)
¼ cup nuts (sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, chopped walnuts, almonds)
¼ cup raisins (I used golden raisins because I had them on hand.)
a few slices of banana
¼ cup chopped dried fruit (apricots, dried cranberries, currants, blueberries, chopped figs or dates)
Pinch of salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup almond, hemp or soy milk, flavored or plain (I used unflavored unsweetened almond milk)
1 Tbsp maple syrup, brown rice syrup, agave nectar or one packet of stevia

Combine all ingredients in a two quart saucepan.
Heat on medium-low, stirring, until the quinoa has soaked up the liquid, and the dried fruit has plumped up nicely.
Add more milk if needed until the consistency pleases you.

**Basic Recipe: (Makes 3 cups)
2 cups water
1 cup quinoa

Rinse the quinoa well and drain. Place quinoa and water in a 1½ quart saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook until all of the water is absorbed (about 15 minutes.) You will know that the quinoa is done when all of the grains have turned from white to transparent and the spiral-like germ has separated.