Quinoa Breakfast Style, 7 Ways

I used to love cereal. Like full on obsession. You know how I posted that I loved October? Well cereal was right underneath there. I lived on this stuff when I was going to university and living on campus. We had the typical horrible cafeteria food, that always looked questionable and inedible. But luckily there was a wall of cereal to choose from, it was like a mecca of choices. If I can recall, there was Golden Grahams, Corn Pops, Rice Crispies, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Frosted Flakes, Lucky Charms, Mini Wheats, Honey Combs, and probably 12 others that I cannot think of. I was always thankful for this 'wall of awesomeness' because without it I would have starved!! If you were to ask anyone of my friends from Rez, I am sure they would say that the cereal wall was one of the best things (next to cross track fries) about eating there. Most of the time you would see me carrying out 2-3 bowls of cereal for each meal, plus sneaking ziplock bags full of Golden Grahams for study snacks.

Quinoa with Apples and Cinnamon

Lately, I have been doing a lot of thinking about the food that I eat and what is in it. Right now there are tons of commercials trying to tell you that their products are low fat, no fat, high fiber, high protein, no sugar, no additives, no preservatives ect,  like McDonalds, Activa, and Cheerios. They can all be quite confusing because what do you focus on? For me, I am starting to really focus on simplicity! Simplicity is your best friend when trying to make healthy, wise choices. How could you go wrong with a fresh fruit salad for breakfast, or a lettuce wrap full of fresh veggies for lunch? When you really think about it, the less ingredients, the better. 

I really like the saying, if you can't pronounce the ingredients, its not good for you. I have posted a picture of the ingredients in Cheerios, one of the most popular cereals out there. And two of the ingredients listed are trisodium phosphate and tocopherols .... I have no idea what these are. I know, I could probably Google it, but WHY am I Googling ingredients in my food! That is ridiculous and a bit disturbing. Think of the some of the food that you eat on a regular basis and the possible mystery ingredients that you are possibly consuming.

So with this thought of eating Simply, I came up with a great breakfast dish that I know you will love. It's gluten free, vegan and can be catered to anyone’s taste. It's Quinoa for Breakfast! Yes, quinoa for breakfast, you heard me correctly. I love quinoa, for any meal and for breakfast I think it's a great substitute for oatmeal. It is high in fiber and protein, contains calcium, and it's a seed (not a grain like oatmeal), which makes is easier for your body to digest. It is also very easy to prepare, its a 2 cups of water to 1 cup of quinoa and it only takes about 15 mins to cook. I find that one cup of uncooked quinoa makes about 3.5 cups of cooked quinoa, so that around 3 serving sizes (well that depends on how hungry you are, I can eat the whole fricken pot sometimes!)

Yummy quinoa breakfast!

Basically you treat Quinoa like oatmeal, you can put any type of toppings on in that you like. My absolute favourite is the blended quinoa with coconut milk and bananas. After you blend it, it has the exact texture of oatmeal and if you are a cream of wheat fan, add a little more liquid and blend it longer until you get a silky smooth texture. Also, if coconut milk isn't your thing you could use almond milk, or rice milk!

I have listed 7 of my favourites that I really enjoy and I hope you do too!

Blended quinoa with coconut milk and bananas.

Blended Quinoa with Coconut Milk and Bananas

1 cup of hot, cooked quinoa

1/4 cup of coconut milk (or any milk of choice)

1 medium banana

Put quinoa, milk and half of the banana in the blender, and blend until desired consistency. Cut up the rest of the banana and serve on top!

Dessert Breakfast - Chocolately Quinoa with Bananas

1 cup of hot, cooked quinoa

1/4 cup of chocolate almond milk

1 medium banana

Put quinoa, milk and half of the banana in the blender, and blend until desired consistency. Cut up the rest of the banana and serve on top!

Other ideas

Quinoa with diced apples and cinnamon

Quinoa with frozen blueberries and almonds - I like to leave the berries frozen!!

Quinoa with walnuts and cinnamon

Quinoa with peaches and maple syrup

Quinoa with almonds and dates

****You could also blend any of the other 5 with milk before adding the toppings****

Thanks for reading!!!
xoxo - N