Friday, May 20, 2011

Quinoa breakfast pilaf

Breakfast: Quinoa breakfast pilaf

Lunch: Couscous salad with balsamic vinegar and banana bread at work, woo!

Dinner: Egg fried rice with veggies stir fried in chili black bean sauce


Yes, I have successfully integrated the amazing quinoa (that's quite a good name for a magician, eh?) into all three of my meals now, and this one might just be my favourite.

Quinoa is actually a pseudocereal, and is actually closer to spinach than to grains. Like spinach, it has a high iron content (great for us veggies) and has a very balanced amino acid content, making it a complete protein. You've probably heard the odd militant carnivore tell you that as a vegetarian, you cannot get enough protein in your diet. This is wrong on many levels; the average human actually exceeds their necessary protein intake by about 100%, and the focus should be on getting a whole protein rather than buckets full of whey protein or stacks of beef.

Quinoa contains a portion of each of the 9 essential amino acids, making it a whole protein, so this breakfast is not only light, delicious and easy to make, it's seriously good for you too.

You'll need
(Feeds 2)
1 cup quinoa
1 1/4 cups vanilla soy milk / almond milk
blueberries
1 banana
cinnamon
honey

Method:
Soak quinoa for 15 minutes in water
Drain and rinse thoroughly
Simmer in your chosen milk for 30 minutes
Stir in the blueberries
Stir in the banana and fluff with a fork
Serve with a drizzle of honey and a sprinkle of cinnamon

This is much different to the textures of many cereals so it might take you a few bites to get into it, but after that, you'll be hooked. I definitely am!

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