Lent is over, guys. It is finally over!

Well, I say finally. That wouldn’t really be accurate, for I must admit that I wasn’t particularly relieved when I woke up on Easter morning.

I’ll admit to having been a “bad” girl on Easter day, though. I really over indulged in all things sweet… And I did have this HUGE bowl of cereal for breakfast.

But all in all, things went good. I didn’t go overly nuts… and now, things are back to normal for this girl.

Don’t worry, I’ll fill you in on all the details soon. Sorry I don’t have a recap ready for you just yet. I’m really bad at planning these things. Like I’m really bad at coming up with “Holiday themed recipes” ahead of time. I always think about it when it’s already way too late.

Sorry about that.  I guess I’ll have to wisen up for the future. I’ll work on that, promise!

And I WILL have a Lent recap to share with you soon.

I swear!

Now, during Lent, I got this major craving for a nice bowl of warm oatmeal, which would happen to be one of my favorite week-end breakfasts, ESPECIALLY during the colder months.

I find there’s just something so comforting about oatmeal.

But while being off grains, indulging in this gooey delicacy was not an option for me. Still, I had to find a way to work around this little obstacle. I had to find an alternative. 

I looked in my cupboards for non grains that could be made into a nice bowl of creamy, warm cereal. Of course, quinoa was the obvious choice. 

I thought that quinoa alone, however, might be a little boring, so I decided to also add a little bit of amaranth. I am so totally in love with this tiny little seed, I just have to add it to warm cereal as often as I possibly can. And I thought that it would pair up absolutely beautifully with quinoa,  not only visually, but also in texture.

As far as I am concerned, these two are a perfect match! They both have this “explosive” nature, this super sexy translucence, and this adorable, irresistible “minuteness”. 

I think that this bowl of warm cereal ended up being even better than the oatmeal I’d been craving. It certainly was creamy yet chewy, gooey and definitely comforting!

Now I was in the mood for peaches and cream, but of course, you can feel free to use any fruit that you have readily available. Blueberry, raspberry, apple, mango, orange, dates, pears, banana, strawberry, fresh figs… those would all be brilliant options.

As well, you could use just about any variety of nut for a little bit of a bite and flavor accent: walnuts, hazelnuts, Brazil nuts, chestnuts, pistachio, almonds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, or hummmm…. peanut butter!

Oh my… I think I could eat this every day for the next 6 months…

And I don’t think that I’d be having the same combination twice.

I get the feeling that this will even be dinner some night this week.

I just gave myself needs…

Oh, it’s so hard to be a foodie sometimes!

CREAMY PEACHES AND COCONUT QUINOA CEREAL
[Grain Free, Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free]

INGREDIENTS
(Serves 1 extremely hungry human being or 2 more modest appetites)

  • ½ cup quinoa
  • ¼ cup amaranth
  • 1 cup young coconut water
  • 1 cup + ½ cup almond milk
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut
  • 1 peach, peeled and cut into 1″ chunks (save a few slices to garnish, if desired)
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1 scoop (35g) vanilla flavored whey protein
  • 2 tbsp young coconut water
DIRECTIONS
  1. In a fine mesh sieve, rinse quinoa under running water until it no longer “foams” and water runs clear.
  2. Transfer to a medium saucepan. Add amaranth, young coconut water, 1 cup almond milk and salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, then lower heat, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally until all the liquid has evaporated, about 10-12 minutes.
  3. Remove from heat. Add coconut, peach, and vanilla extract. Cover and let sit for about 5 minutes.
  4. Meanwhile, dilute whey protein in 2 tbsp coconut water. Stir that into warm cereal and transfer to serving bowl(s).
  5. Garnish with coconut cream or fat free Greek plain yogurt, peach slices and toasted coconut shavings, if desired.