Spiced Quinoa Millet Hot Cereal

I'm obsessed. This breakfast became an instant second to my favorite breakfast - baked oatmeal, and may even at some point be tied in first place. And it's SO. Simple. Period.

When I read the lovely Angharad's post on her warm spiced breakfast quinoa last month, it was on my mind until I made it for myself. (If you aren't familiar with her blog, Eating for England, you really should be.) I love quinoa and I love millet, but had never put the two of them together. And before this, I'd only eaten whole quinoa in savory dishes and salads.

But after reading Angharad's description of the cereal, I thought perhaps - maybe, just maybe - I might have a hot cereal I could not only manage to eat but also actually love. You see, I love baked oatmeal and oats that aren't slimy (aka bake the slime out). I love grits (grew up eating them with salt and a pool of butter) but only if they aren't sweet. I can't stand mushy, slimy or clumpy hot cereals. Or cold. I don't even eat my cold cereal with milk because it will get soggy and mushy.

I have no idea how or when I developed such a picky attitude toward breakfast cereals, and I've tried hard not to let my kids on to this lest they become my copycats, but I can't help it. It's who I am. I watch my family eat their hot cereals and wish I could join them in that comfort food.

And now I can.

Because this hot cereal is not slimy. It's not clumpy. It's not mushy. It has crunch. It has comfort. It's delicious. And it's alkaline. (If you omit the yogurt.)

As I stated in my juice post last month, I'm trying to eat more alkaline lately. I'm not giving up all acidic foods, but I'm trying to make sure I'm balancing them out with plenty of greens and alkaline foods.

This recipe is basically the same as Angharad's mentioned above, but I don't add add extra water or milk in mine because of my breakfast cereal issues. Add them if you want. It is so easy to make. I like to make it in the evening and then refrigerate it in an airtight container (after cool - if it's still hot I just stick the pot in the fridge til morning). Scoop some into a bowl, warm it up and spice (or not) and sweeten as desired directly in the bowl. You're done.

I like to flavor mine with a little ground ginger and cinnamon with some maple syrup (like she suggests in her recipe), then sometimes top it with a little vanilla yogurt. It's also fantastic with no spices and just maple syrup.

The flavor combinations in this cereal are limitless. For these photos, I added baked apple slices with a little vanilla yogurt and cinnamon sprinkles. Try it with bananas. Berries and cream. Go tropical with some pineapple and coconut, maybe some macadamia nuts. Try pecans. Almonds. Make it savory. Take this cereal to whatever flavor you want, just make it.

Healthy, alkaline, filling. High in protein, fiber, iron and more. You can't lose!

Projected cook time: 20-25 minutes; Projected prep time: Under 5 minutes
(Printable Recipe)

1 cup whole quinoa (it's easier if you get a brand like Bob's Red Mill that pre-rinses the bitter off)
1 cup millet
4 1/2 cups water
Pinch of kosher salt or sea salt
Spices, as desired (see above for suggestions)
Maple syrup or preferred sweetener, sweeten to taste (two spoonfuls is usually sufficient with the maple syrup)
Yogurt (optional)
Butter, if desired

Rinse grains off first if you don't have a brand that pre-rinsed the quinoa. Place quinoa, millet, water and salt in saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer, stirring occasionally, until most of the water is absorbed (takes about 20-25 minutes).

Serve hot or let cool in pan and then place in an airtight container and refrigerate until use. Spice, sweeten and fruit it up as desired (see suggestions in paragraph above recipe).

Enjoy!

And I'll also share my photo of beauty I found here in this post. I loved the color of this dove against the white bark of the tree:

Why I'm sharing this: http://mamameglutenfree.blogspot.com/2012/02/beauty-in-eye-of-beholder.html

Morning Green Juice & Using Your MIXER As a Juicer

This. Is. Good. Stuff.

I've been drinking a lot of this green goodness lately. And can I let you in on a little secret? I'm using my KitchenAid mixer and attachments for juicing. 

Yes, I've turned my mixer into a masticating juicer. I have NO more room in my kitchen for another countertop appliance, so I figured out a way to successfully use a current counter-top appliance in place of an additional juicer. I may at some point pull out my mother's gigantic Champion juicer or even invest in a more compact quality juicer, but for now I'm happy with this setup. I'll tell you how to make it below.

I actually took a hiatus from juicing last week because I had surgical biopsy to rule out some things. I'm so THANKFUL to report that the biopsies were benign and the health issues I've been experiencing have nothing to do with a very scary diagnosis. (Thank you to those of you who were praying for me and keeping me in your thoughts.) It was a little stressful for a while, thinking it could be. I'm getting back to drinking this green juice this week now that I'm recovering, if moving a little slower.

If you read this blog with regularity, you've noticed that I've been missing for a few weeks. You've also noticed that things slowed down the last few months, and that I've mentioned health issues in a post or two. What I'm experiencing could still be attributed to the recurring and chronic active Epstein Barr virus (mono) I've been diagnosed with - the dreaded illness of my late teens coming back to bite me from getting too run down and stressed. It could also have been triggered by something we haven't figured out yet, but regardless, I'm greening it up these days.

I'm NOT giving up my beloved sweets, eggs and other acidic foods at this point but I AM making greens first and everything else step in line behind them, thank you very much. I already, like many of you, eat better than the average American. Probably even better than the above-average American. BUT I've been reading a lot lately about alkaline and acidic foods and realized that while I was eating well, I wasn't eating more alkaline than acidic on most days.

On a friend's recommendation, I picked up a copy of Crazy Sexy Diet. While I don't enjoy the profanity liberally lacing the pages of this book (I read a plethora of crime and legal thrillers that might contain such words, but my kids know adult books on my nightstand are off-limits - I like, however, to be able to keep a reference and cookbook out and not have to keep it out of my reading children's reach), I have learned quite a bit on the alkaline diet. I've also been enjoying the Alkaline Sisters blog.

I've been reading how disease has a harder time living in an alkaline body, and started thinking that making my diet more alkaline combined with more rest and new ways to refocus my stress might be key to getting over all of this and back to normal. It might be a slow process, but at least it will be a process in the right direction.

So, in the mornings I'm trying to drink fresh-squeezed lemon in warm water first thing. Then, trying to drink only juice until lunch. For lunch, I'm eating a huge amazing salad. Then I'll eat anything I want for supper as long as I include some greens. I'm also sprouting my own sprouts and adding them to everything. The family is loving it, and I'm not being sarcastic. It's wonderful! (I'll tackle sprouts in another post.) If I get hungry between meals, I let myself snack on some raw almonds or other alkaline snack, and perhaps a bite or two of very dark chocolate. 

If I "cheat," I don't sweat it because I don't consider it cheating, and I don't consider this a diet. I'm just making sure I get more than enough of my greens in most of my days - and it's really easy to do if you juice them or make a smoothie in the morning and have a huge salad at lunch. Even if you only did this once a week, which would be beyond easy, you'd be better off than not doing it all!

My morning green juice recipe is inspired by a couple of juice recipes that Kris Carr gives in Crazy Sexy Diet, but I've done my own thing with this to create a juice that is delightfully refreshing to my taste. Before this, my idea of "green" juice was juiced fruit with a bit of spinach and/or kale. Other than some lemon, there's no fruit in this juice and it's delicious! I've found that for me, lemon is key in making a true "green" juice delicious to me. It gives a great tang that I love.

Projected prep time: 5-10 minutes; Projected juicing time: 10-15 minutes, depending on your juicer (some are faster)

This recipe will give you about 9 ounces of juice using the mixer juicing method.

(Printable Recipe)

1 organic cucumber (organic so you can keep the peel on - peel it if it's not)

2 handfuls fresh spinach

2 stalks kale

1 small carrot (scrubbed & peeled if necessary)

Half of a whole lemon - peel, seeds and all

Cut cucumber, carrot and lemon into smaller pieces. It's not necessary to chop the spinach or kale.

Place pieces into feeding tube a few at a time and continue feeding until everything is turned into pulp or juice. If necessary, feed the pulp back through a few times to extract even more juice. 

Pour and/or strain juice into glass and enjoy!

If you are using the KitchenAid mixer method, you'll need the food grinder attachment and the fruit & vegetable strainer attachment. I already had the food grinder so only needed to buy the fruit & vegetable strainer. I noticed that they are sold together, but I priced them and it's cheaper to buy them separately. I had been eyeing this setup and wondering about juicing with it for a while. I noticed that some people wrote that they were using it to juice in reviews - even for juicing grasses - so I figured I'd give it a try. It works!

Again, like I said above, at some point I may pull out the Champion juicer I'm currently storing for my mom or invest in a smaller quality juicer but for now this works for me. It may take a little longer this way, but it's worth it for me to not have another counter-top appliance taking up space I don't have to spare.

Position a bowl to collect juice beneath the spout of the fruit & vegetable strainer attachment piece and another bowl to catch the pulp.

You'll be pushing the vegetables or fruit into this tube at the top:

The pulp first dropping into the bowl will be large and there is plenty of juice left in it.

Run it through again.

Run it once or twice more, and you'll hardly have any left:

Now, you'll see a finer pulp coming out of the sleeve at the top, where the auger is pushing it through:

A little of this will probably fall into the juice bowl, but you can easily strain it out with something like this strainer as you pour it into your glass. If you see a large amount falling into the bowl, grab it and put it on the tray to feed through the tube. When you are finished juicing the larger pulp, scrape this finer pulp off and place it in the tube to juice it. You'll get A LOT of juice out of this.

One more tip: I'm not sure how clearly I can explain this without you trying it yourself, but you'll notice that the auger doesn't reach all the way to the back of the tube until vegetable pieces are pushing the spring back. If you start out making sure that the pieces fall directly on the auger and give it a chance to push the spring all the way back behind the tube, then start to put more pieces in (don't jam the tube, though) then the pieces will be pushed forward and won't get stuck behind. Even if they do get stuck behind, it's not a huge deal and they'll find their way out. Just a little something I learned.

Now you're finished! For cleaning, I find that a metal cake tester or kabob stick is useful to push into the tip of the auger, which will have a little veggie pulp stuck in there. I also love the Avent bottle brush to clean out every nook and cranny and scrub the little holes. I have an older model of this brush, but I'm assuming this newer one is just as good.

Drink up that goodness!

Do you juice? What are your favorite vegetables to juice? I'm just getting started - I've been experimenting with several flavor combinations and plan to share more juice recipes from time to time. What juicer do you use? I'm curious to see if any of you with other juicers will get a different volume from this same recipe. Please let me know!