Quinoa with Dried Cranberries and Seeds

Yesterday for a change I decided to cook up some quinoa for breakfast. Last fall when I was at Disney World the hotel had that at breakfast every morning with brown sugar as an option and I really loved it.

So this is how I made it. Pretty easy. I cooked the quinoa which takes about 20 minutes and then I added about a half cup of dried cranberries for sweetness and also a couple tablespoons each of pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds (not salted). Also yesterday I did not add the brown sugar and it seemed to work fine since the cranberries are sweet enough anyway.

This is just a bit of a twist on my regular breakfast of oatmeal with cranberries and seeds but the quinoa has a nuttier taste and is really good for you.

Have you ever tried Quinoa?

Quinoa seems to be a popular superfood lately which is both good and bad. As we all try to eat better sometimes the hype gets way overblown. Anyway Quinoa is a type of grains that is pretty high in protein as well as being a low GI carbohydrate food so for breakfast it will help you stay full for longer than just fruit or something.

Also Quinoa is alkaline forming, this is nice as most people have a pretty acidic diet and the acids in our diet tend to lead to disease and stomach problems. As a grain it is interesting that quinoa does not contain gluten so it is a great option for people with Celiac and other gluten inteolerances

Finally, quinoa can be an issue for people with an Oxalate restricted diet, so if you have a predisposition to getting kidney stones this might not be for you.

Anyway as you can see from the nutritional chart and the picture this quinoa with dried cranberries and seeds is a fantastic looking breakfast and is really good for you too.

Have you tried quinoa before? Do you like it? I know my kids are off and on about it and would rather have rice with dinner instead of quinoa but I really love the stuff.