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Author:
Franco Salzillo
Quinoa is a Latin American grain, and it’s all the craze right now — really. Everyone’s talking about it, and for a good reason. It’s a great source of fiber, good fats and protein. For people looking for plant-based proteins or just an extra dose of the compounds to build up muscle, quinoa is ideal.
And the nicest thing about quinoa is that it’s not dissimilar to rice. You need to cook it just like rice, and then you must flavor it with meat, veggies, herbs and spices. Quinoa on its own doesn’t taste like much, but that’s actually good; it means the grain has many uses.
Yes, quinoa is mainly enjoyed at lunch or dinner, but you’ll be happy to know you can enjoy a bowl of quinoa in the morning instead of your regular Cheerios. Here’s how to build a pretty breakfast quinoa bowl.
First things first. Putting together a quinoa bowl takes five minutes or fewer, if you already have cooked quinoa. If you don’t, you must cook it first, which will add ten more minutes to the recipe. Don’t worry, cooking quinoa is just a matter of rinsing and boiling it. It’s no biggie.
Once cooked, this recipe is as easy as throwing all the ingredients together. This recipe calls for quinoa (if cooked, even better,) almond milk or your favorite milk, vanilla extract, cinnamon powder and your favorite fruit — I use bananas and blueberries but follow your heart with this one.
You must also sweeten the quinoa, and for that, you can use honey, regular sugar or any low-carb sweetener. Think of quinoa as oats — you definitely need to sweeten them a bit.
The best part of this quick meal is that it has it all. Protein in the milk and quinoa itself, carbs in the fruit, dietary fiber and many vitamins and minerals, so you need not add anything else to the meal nutrition-wise.
And since you can top it with different types of fruit and even crushed nuts and granola, you can make this healthy morning alternative as filling and hearty as you want.
Rinse the quinoa in water. In a saucepan, cook the quinoa with 1 1/2 cups of water, stirring regularly until soft but not mushy.
Drain the quinoa and cool it down to room temperature.
Serve the quinoa with almond milk, flavor with cinnamon and vanilla and top with your favorite fruit.
