Breakfast and Quinoats

For a long time now (since childhood) I've had this horrible relationship with breakfast. I really don’t want to eat in the morning, my stomach feels all weird, and I imagine all food tasting like wet cardboard—but, I am also starving in the morning. So I've never missed a breakfast, but if I'm in charge of making it at 7 am all I can think of is toast (which perpetuates the problem, see?).

Now, I’ve had the fortunate experience of Mr. Wood making breakfast for me every morning for a whole semester while I was student teaching. He is a breakfast connoisseur, 5:45 in the morning he was up like a shot making Dutch babies, french toast with buttermilk dressing, breakfast burritos with chorizo and potatoes, omelets, everything. And it was always good, and I was always satisfied.

We both have to have a solid breakfast or else we don’t make it through the morning hours (cereal leaves our stomachs grumbly and empty, it is a completely after school affair).

So back to me making breakfast. Now that I have more time I get to make breakfast, but being totally opposed to most foods in the morning it is usually pretty odd or boring. I can’t imagine what it will be like when I'm pregnant… Usually Mr. Wood gets an egg on toast and some fruit while I eat yogurt and toast, both have protein and fiber right? But are still bland and leave Mr. Wood empty by 10 o’clock.

So in my attempts to palatable creativity, yesterday we had bean and cheese quesadillas with your choice of hot sauce—great. It was  whole wheat tortilla though.

Today we had Quinoats, which were invented last week in another desperate attempt at a protein/fiber rich breakfast that sticks to your ribs (quinoa has 14 g of protein per 3.5 oz). These will stick to your ribs. I don’t bother making quinoa the morning of. Instead I’ve been supplementing meat dishes with quinoa and then saving some for breakfast the next morning. I prefer red quinoa because of its nutty flavor, but regular works too. Why whole oats? The less processed food is the more nutrients in them. Don’t worry, they are even a littler tastier then the quick.

Here is a photo, that just proves I am not a food blogger, this is real food that we actually ate in real time, no poses, no special natural light (which is not to be found at 7:30 a.m. in a basement apt)

But, these are probably some of the better oats you will have in your life. Forget the microwave kind.

Quinoats

serves 2 very generous (but gov. recommended) servings or 4 child servings

1/2 tbsp butter

1 cup old fashioned oats

2 cups water

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup cooked quinoa

1 tbsp brown sugar

pinch of salt

Melt butter in a saucepan and sauté oats till they smell a bit toasty. Add water, cinnamon, sugar and salt (can substitute some milk for water if you like). Bring to a boil. Once the oats have thickened some add quinoa and continue cooking till oatmeal is thick. Serve with brown sugar on top!