My first experience with Quinoa

There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism,and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all. (Ephesians 4: 5-6 NLT)

I was looking for a warm breakfast that does not contain gluten or corn and isn't brown rice. I came up with Quinoa? (Pronounced Ken wa) I had never heard of it until a few months ago when I started my gluten free journey. So, I went to my health food store and bought a half pound or so, just to try it. I read that you could cook it in a microwave rice cooker, so that's what I did. I think it turned out okay, I do think I should have cooked it a little longer. It was a little more crunchy that I would have liked. I also think I should have let it sit for 5 minutes or so and that would have helped. I watched a video and read about it on a couple of blogs, but you just never know until you try it. It doesn't have much flavor. I did put a little cinnamon and some strawberries in it, which helped. I also think some warm coconut or almond milk may have helped. I did find a recipe that I will share at the end of the post that I plan to prepare in the morning.

I am looking for such recipes because I am trying to find out if I have a food intolerance to one or more of the 7 foods that are usually a culprit. They are: gluten/wheat, corn, dairy, eggs, sugar/artificial sweeteners, soy and peanuts. I happen to be reading the book by J. J. Virgin called "The Virgin Diet". You stay off these foods for 21 days then add them back to see which ones you can tolerate. I can't give you a good review yet, but will do so when I finish. I already believe that she has the correct concept about food intolerance and hope that she can shed more light on the subject for me. 

Here's the recipe I promised. It is from "Cooking Quinoa" by Wendy Polisi. I will be modifying it because I am taking the 7 foods away. I will put my modifications in parentheses. I can't wait to try it. When I cook dinner, I will probably mix all of the dry ingredients so I don't have so much prep time in the morning. I will try and remember to post a picture and let you know how it was in my next post. If you try it, please comment and let me know how you like it.

Have a great gluten free day!

Baked Quinoa and Oatmeal

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup quinoa, rinsed

1/2 cup toasted walnuts ( will probably use pecans)

1/3 cup natural sugar or maple syrup (I will use honey or stevia)

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp sea salt

2 cups low fat milk (I will use almond or coconut milk)

1 large egg (I will eliminate the egg)

3 T unsalted butter, melted (I will eliminate butter)

2 tsp vanilla

2 bananas, cut into pieces (Banana's are really sweet and I don't care much for them so I will only use half)

1 1/2 cups mixed berries (Probably strawberries and blueberries)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375 and spray olive oil in your 

pan to prevent sticking.

2. Mix together oats, quinoa, half of walnuts, 

sugar (if using), baking powder, cinnamon and 

salt. (Note: this can be done ahead of time.)

3. In a separate bowl lightly beat egg and add in 

milk, vanilla, maple syrup (if using) and half of the 

slightly cooled butter.

4. Place banana slices on the bottom of the 

prepared pan. Top with 2/3 of the berries and 

cover with oat mixture. Pour wet ingredients over 

and make sure the dry ingredients are covered. 

Top with remaining berries and walnuts.

5. Bake for 40 minutes. Drizzle with remaining 

melted butter and additional maple syrup or sugar 

if desired. 

This recipe was adapted from Super Natural Every 

Day.