Mar 25 2013

Dutch Apple Breakfast Quinoa

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So the other day I posed a very simple question on Facebook..

“What type of recipes would you like to see on the website? Side Dishes? Quinoa? Risotto?..” and so forth. Well there was an overwhelming response for quinoa. See I’m semi-new to the quinoa love game (about 2, maybe 3 years I guess). Since I have an intolerance to rice (even though I love it) I needed to find a substitute for it in my diet. Well low and behold I find these little beauties. It was love at first bite. Well that, after I figured out how to make it. See it’s kinda-sorta like rice but not really. The liquid-to-grain ratio is slightly different and the cooking time is a tad shorter. Plus I’ve had ZERO success making this in a rice steamer. Trust me, it does NOT turn out pretty. But once I got the hang of it, it ROCKED! It’s so easily adaptable to so many dishes from sweet to savory or just as a plain side dish. Thing is, cooked in stock it’s anything but plain.

This morning while Mr. Fantabulous was off in la-la land, drooling on his pillow (lol he’s gonna KILL ME for saying that!) I decided to make a healthy breakfast for moi since he would have a heavier “MAN” breakfast later. I decided to forgo oatmeal but instead go with using quinoa. Normally when I make quinoa I use straight stock but since this was for breakfast I didn’t want to use chicken stock *gag* and I didn’t want to go straight water so I opted for a mix between water and milk. Since I wanted to add some dried fruit it in, I wanted to incorporate them into the cooking process to plump up (cranberries and raisins) and then to also break down (the apples). After 12 minutes or so, when I lifted that lid I was met with the most intoxicating smell EVER! Like I was half tempted to just stick my finger in the mix and dab a little behind my ears. However knowing my luck, I’d do that, walk out side and get attacked by some quinoa craving bear or raccoon. No wait, my luck, it would be a skunk. Yeah, definitely a skunk! I have that kind of luck!

Well I did prepare enough for the two of us but somehow the second one kinda-sorta-fell into my tummy after the first one disappeared. I’m blaming it on the cat/dog/neighbor/cable guy/aliens or really big creepy bug as to it’s disappearance *wink*.

With this, this is almost too good to be deemed breakfast food as for me it was borderline dessert. But wait… dessert for breakfast??? BONUS!!! Winner winner chicken dinner! Wait…. why are chicken dinners winners? What about pasta? Steak? Fish? These are the things I dwell on… LOL

But this….

Yeah, this is something I’m DEFINITELY going to be dwelling on… as I shovel it in my mouth!

When it first one done I left the top nekkid and went off of what I had in the pot – apples, cinnamon, raisins and cranberries. THAT was amazing on it’s own. I mean LOOK at those chunks of apples and those fat little raisins and cranberries! I WISH we had Smell-o-internet as the smells of the cooked fruits paired with the cinnamon and brown sugar… dear LORD have mercy!

But for photo sake, I decide to adorn the top with a little bit of cooked apples. Literally I took some cubed apples, cooked them down with a little bit of brown sugar and cinnamon. I mean LOOK how gorgeous she is!!! And people don’t even get me started on how amazing the flavor was!