If you see a publication titled Gourmet COMFORT at the check out counter of your grocer, don’t hesitate to get it.  You won’t be disappointed!  You may remember me mentioning this exact issue in my post about mac & cheese called Comfort.  Lately, in fact, many of the items I have been cooking have come from this particular magazine.

All the 112 yummy recipes have one thing in common.  You guessed it – classic comfort food when you are hankering for some edible love.  In the Morning Comfort chapter, I came across a recipe for Cinnamon-Scented Breakfast Quinoa.  Yes, you read correctly.  Breakfast quinoa (keen-wa).  I didn’t believe it either until I made it.  The suggested garnishes: milk, brown sugar or maple syrup and perhaps a few walnut halves sprinkled on top.

The recipe calls for red quinoa or a mix of red, white and black.  It just so happens, Trader Joes has a bag of all three colors perfectly mixed.  I prepared my quinoa as the directions say with water, but I’ve been researching and you can make it with a variety of liquids – chicken or vegetable stock for savory dishes, or coconut milk for another breakfast version.  The next time I try the recipe, I’d like to try cooking it with Vanilla Almond Milk and see what happens.  I believe one of the Top Chef Texas cheftestants won a challenge by making her quinoa with a red chorizo stock.

To me this recipe is a new take on healthy oatmeal.  Quinoa is also high in protein and the great thing is, it tends to absorb the flavors put with it, so you don’t even know you are eating something relatively good for you.  The Incas thought quinoa to be sacred and called it “the mother of all grains”.  It’s also high in calcium, phosphorus, and iron.

A cinnamon stick helps to give this dish its cinnamon scent.  Having a husband that adores vanilla, I wonder what a vanilla bean would do for flavor.  I followed the suggestions and added a bit of (almond) milk, brown sugar and some honey glazed walnuts to my breakfast bowl.  Wow, this was a really tasty breakfast!  I’m sure one could dress it up however you wish.  Fresh fruit, perhaps yogurt, whatever your taste buds desire, I’m sure quinoa could handle it.

I find it so interesting, something that has been around for as long as quinoa is now considered a “trendy” food.  Well the nice that is you don’t have to wait for your next trip to Machu Picchu, you can enjoy quinoa now.

Bon Appétit!

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Cinnamon-Scented-Breakfast-Quinoa-366130