Quinoa for Breakfast

Breakfast is probably my favorite meal of the day. Well, apart from lunch and dinner. And snacks. Perhaps it's easier to just say I love all meals, but I'm a firm believer in breakfast.

Usually I make oatmeal on the stove top, using almond milk, cinnamon, vanilla or whatever else I find that looks good. I've used canned pumpkin, cocoa, peppermint extract and even Baileys in my oatmeal. Since I eat it almost every day I need to mix it up sometimes to stop it being boring.

The thought of using a grain other than oats for my breakfast has crossed my mind more than once. There are plenty of grains out there you can sub for oats, like millet, amaranth or quinoa. Since I recently went on a quinoa shopping spree (it was on sale!) I decided to experiment with breakfast quinoa to see if it was something worthy of making again. It was.

It looks a little weird because I used tricolor quinoa, but let me tell you, it was delicious and filling -- exactly what I'm looking for in a breakfast food. You could mix it with anything; I used chia seeds, ground flax, bananas, coconut and raisins. Because the chia and flax absorb liquid I added about another 1/4 cup of milk to the quinoa to stop it drying out. I'm trying to eat less sugar so I didn't use sweetener but it would be delicious with a touch of honey or maple syrup. Once you have the basic recipe down, you can mix and match with whatever toppings you want -- that's the beauty of the breakfast grain!

Breakfast Quinoa


1/4 cup quinoa
1/2 cup milk (I used unsweetened vanilla almond)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla

Mix ingredients well in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until the quinoa has absorbed all the liquid. Add toppings and more milk if you like, and enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Yep, that's what happened for breakfast last Sunday. I meant to post about it sooner but we had an open house and my camera was locked in our safe. This week, I was too lazy busy to retrieve it, hence the seriously late posting of the awesome recipe.

Mixin' it up...

Anyway, I'd bought some chocolate almond milk because it was on sale and because it is awesome, and had been eating it with my Lucky Charms. Ben's response: "What are you, five???" Well yes, but I have to admit that I was getting a little bored of using the milk that way. I made hot chocolate with Bailey's a couple of times but it seemed like the milk carton was bottomless. Enter chocolate chip pancakes, please.

Eat me!

I used a basic whole wheat pancake recipe from Skinny Taste and built upon it using my own kind of chocolately magic. With the addition of chocolate chips, this was one recipe I'd gladly make again. We ate the pancakes with homemade applesauce I'd made in the crockpot earlier in the week and it was utterly magical.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes


2 cups whole wheat flour
4 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup applesauce (can use 2 eggs)
2 cups + 2 tbsp chocolate almond milk (can use regular chocolate milk)
2 tsp vanilla
4 tbsp chocolate chips

Mix flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and sugar together in a large bowl. Add applesauce, milk, vanilla and chocolate chips, and stir until just combined.

Heat a nonstick skillet over a medium heat. Spray some oil into the skillet and pour in 1/4 cup pancake batter. When batter starts to bubble, flip and cook the other side until golden. Repeat with the rest of the batter. Top with maple syrup, fresh fruit or applesauce. Enjoy!

Makes approx. 7-8 pancakes.

Spaghetti Squash Saturday

It's Saturday, and I had big plans. Get up, go for a run, make lunch, go out to buy canning supplies, make dinner, drink wine and veg. Well, I ran 4 miles after a hearty breakfast of Lucky Charms and a banana, made potato and onion soup in the crock pot for lunch, got my canning supplies, made dinner, and now I'm sitting down with a big glass of white. Mission accomplished.

I was out for longer than I'd planned, since I had a $20 coupon for DSW and spent way too much time dithering over whether or not to buy boots I didn't need just because I had the money. I decided on no, and was about to leave when I came across the slipper section. So I am now the proud owner of some seriously comfy Dr. Scholls, complete with faux fur, for the delicious price of $5. Needless to say, once I'd done the Kroger run on the way home and unpacked my groceries, I was famished.

The only produce left from my last veggie box was a spaghetti squash. When I've had one previously, I've made "spaghetti" and meatballs, or stuffed spaghetti squash with black beans and yummy spices. This time, I wanted to try something different. I came across a recipe for Moroccan spiced spaghetti squash and thought it sounded like a winner. We served it with cous cous cooked in veggie broth, and ate the entire squash between the two of us! The recipe says it serves 4, but I figured since my squash was smaller than average and we both ran today, we deserved a large dinner. It was seriously yummy, definitely a meal to repeat.

I heart spaghetti squash

While I was waiting for the squash to bake, I used up some papaya that had been sitting in my fridge for a week by making some papaya coconut muffins.

Deliciousness

All in all, an awesome Saturday. Sunday's mission: go for a run, eat leftover soup for lunch, make bread, make chutney and can it, drink wine.

Moroccan Spiced Spaghetti Squash


Recipe from Eat Drink Better

1 spaghetti squash
5 tablespoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
3 tablespoons golden raisins or sultanas
Half a 15-oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Preheat oven to 400 F. Cut squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds using a spoon. Brush 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over the inside of the squash, then place face down in a baking dish and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the squash is tender.

Heat remaining oil in a skillet, then add the garlic and saute until fragrant. Add spices, salt, raisins and chickpeas, stir to coat and heat until warm, then remove from the heat.

Remove squash from oven when done, and rake a fork over the flesh, separating the strands as you go. Toss the squash with the olive oil mixture and serve over cous cous.

Serves 4 as a side dish, or 2 hungry hippos.

Papaya Coconut Muffins


Adapted from Skinny Taste

1 cup papaya puree
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup coconut flakes
1/4 cup pumpkin puree (or 1 large egg, beaten)
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp melted vegan spread (can use butter or marg)

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Toss papaya in a blender and blend until smooth. Add a small amount of water, if necessary to get the papaya moving.

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and coconut.

Combine egg or pumpkin, melted butter or spread, vanilla and papaya puree in a medium bowl. Add to the dry mixture and stir until just blended.

Using a teaspoon, divide batter between 12 muffin liners. Bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Adventures With Oatmeal

I've always had an aversion to oatmeal. My first job was cleaning up the breakfast plates at an old people's home, and I'd come home covered in caked porridge and feeling truly disgusting. My hubby is a huge oatmeal fan, and I'd tried it in the past purely because it's just so damn good for you! But I couldn't get past the texture and the general ickiness of the whole thing.

This all changed this week when I decided enough was enough. I work outside and it's getting cold, so cereal is no longer going to cut it for me. I wondered if the reason I hated Ben's oatmeal (besides the texture) was because it's prepackaged and pre-flavored. I had a container of regular Quaker old fashioned oats in my cupboard so I decided to put them to good use.

With some yummy seasonings and the addition of a cut up banana and my homemade pumpkin butter, I managed to transform the usual icky oatmeal into something I could stomach. And I have to say, not only was it yummy, it kept me full up until lunch. Post-oatmeal, I ran 3 miles and STILL wasn't hungry. Success!

Yummiest Oatmeal


1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1 cup vanilla flavored almond milk
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 banana, cut up
2 tbsp. pumpkin butter

Pour almond milk into a small saucepan and heat until boiling.

Add oats and cinnamon and cook for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Take oats off the heat and cover with a lid for an additional 2-3 minutes, allowing the oatmeal to thicken.

Serve in a cereal bowl with cut-up banana pieces and pumpkin butter. Makes 1 serving.

Pumpkins, Pumpkins Everywhere!

Since embracing a healthier lifestyle, I've signed up for a fortnightly fruit and veggie box from Green Bean Delivery. Last week I received my first ever pie pumpkin. I was way more excited than a person should be when faced with a pumpkin, but I'd been wanting to try cooking with fresh pumpkin since summer.

I cut my pumpkin in half, scooped out the insides and laid each half face-down in a 9x13 casserole dish. I added 1/4 inch of water and baked at 350 Fahrenheit for 45 minutes. Once done, I scooped out the yummy, pumpkinny flesh into a bowl and started creating!

Saturday night I made pumpkin risotto with a recipe adapted from my favorite healthy food blog, Skinny Taste. Sunday morning I made pumpkin spices pancakes with pumpkin butter (recipes also from Skinny Taste). Monday night I still had a cup of pumpkin puree left, so I doctored a recipe to make pumpkin and currant muffins. I made 12, but froze most of them by wrapping each one in cling film and putting them in a large Tupperware container. They can either defrost at room temperature, or in a low-temp oven until thawed.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins with Currants


1 cup pumpkin puree (use canned for quickness if you like)
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups currants, raisins, sultanas, or any other dried fruit
1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp melted butter or margarine

Preheat oven to 325 (165 Celcius)

Mix flour, sugar, salt and baking soda together in a large bowl.

Combine pumpkin puree, egg white, butter and vanilla in a medium bowl and mix well.

Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture and stir until blended. Add currants and mix well.

Divide batter between 12 lined muffin tins and make for 25 minutes. You'll know the muffins are ready when a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean.

(Original recipe from Skinny Taste)