Quinoa Porridge

Quinoa Porridge has pretty much been my go to breakfast meal since I was introduced to the amazing grain about a year ago at The Natural Gourmet Institute. For those of you who didn't know, it also happens to be where I attend culinary school. It's also the dopest culinary school ever btw.... I'm learning how to burn just as I would at any other culinary school, but the difference is that I'm learning how to cook healthy foods in a gourmet fashion. Health supportive food that tastes good???? Yep.

Anyway, quinoa was one of the "grains" that I was introduced to back in the beginning of the program. I put grain in quotations, because it's actually a seed that is cooked like a grain. It can be eaten in savory meals and cooked like rice ( I like to do quinoa stir-frys) or in sweeter meals like porridge. Regardless of how it's eaten, it's full of protein, amino acids, calcium, phosphorus, and iron. But most importantly it's delicious, and requires like 6 ingredients, most of which you already have in your kitchen. So for that recipe... here it goes..

Steph Kang's seriously simple Quinoa porridge

Makes 4, 1/2 cup servings of quinoa.

1 cup of quinoa

1 tsp of cinnamon

2 cups of water

A pinch of salt

To taste:

Vanilla extract ( 1/4 tsp per bowl of quinoa)

Coconut milk or almond milk or rice milk (1/4 cup)

Butter ( 1 pat) ( can be omitted or substituted for coconut oil)

Pure Maple Syrup (1 teaspoon)



Procedure:

1. Combine quinoa and cinnamon into a small pot over low/medium heat and stir until you smell the cinnamon and quinoa being toasted (about 3 minutes).

2. Add water and salt.

3. Bring quinoa, water, and salt mixture to a boil, once at a boil reduce heat and simmer covered for about 20 minutes. The quinoa is done once the seeds/ grains are tender.

4. Portion out a 1/2 cup of quinoa into a bowl and add your "To taste" ingredients, well to taste haha.

5. Enjoy!!!

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OK - A future Chef's ( who happens to work and go to school and has a social life) tip:

I add my "to taste" ingredients once I'm ready to eat because I'm a busy woman and I don't always have time to cook up quinoa. I portion out what I want for breakfast and season in the bowl because later that night it's very likely that I'll be coming home ravenous and use that same quinoa to stir fry with kale, garlic, corn and sweet potatoes.

The next morning I'll use what's left over from the previous night to make quinoa porridge again, but this time with blueberries and apples. I always try to think in advance and have food ready for the next meal so that I don't make too many crazy, impulsive food choices.

Quinoa Porridge to go:

Let me know if you have any questions.


Happy Eating :-)

Stephanie

The "Hows" behind my trip.

I’ve been back for about 2 weeks and it amazes me how quickly one can return back to “normal” life whatever that is. Before I ‘m once again inundated with work and school I want to share with you all exactly how I managed to make it work in hopes that a few of you all will consider taking that trip.

Without a doubt, I'm a rich woman in my mind, but in reality it really didn't take much money to go traipsing around the country. What it really took was a few really good friends, a desire for a little bit of adventure, an insatiable appetite and a Amtrak Rail pass. All of this was funded by my income tax return btw. I figured that I could either pay off a mere portion of my credit card bill or gather memories that I would cherish for the rest of my life. I chose the latter.

The idea of taking this trip was heavily influenced by my brother. After graduating from college in May, he decided to chase his own dream and visit Seattle. There he stayed in a youth hostel, made friends and then took the 20+ hour train ride to San Francisco. He had a blast and I was intrigued.

For $429 you can take 8 train rides anywhere in the country within 15 days. Check out the details here. I'd been plugging away at work and in culinary school for over a year and to say that I needed a little bit of excitement in my life would have been a gross understatement. I was ready to go!!!!

The route I chose to take was from NY -> DC ->Charlotte -> Atlanta -> New Orleans -> Memphis ->Chicago -> San Antonio -> Austin -> Los Angeles -> San Francisco then I flew home. I rode the train by myself, but I knew someone in each city that I visited. In the cities where my friends had families I stayed in hostels and hotels, so in total I spent $312 on housing. $150 of the $312 was spent at Le Pavilion in New Orleans where I HAD to have the Hot Coco and PB and J sandwich, so my housing costs could have been a lot lower if I weren't such a foodie.

My flight back to NY was about $120 on sale and I actually flew from LA to San Fran for $98 because by then my rail pass ran out and after over 120 hours on the train... I had had enough :-) In a good way.

I'd be lying if I didn't mention that I was a bit nervous right before I started, but I planned in advance that I would move outside of my comfort zone whenever possible, and to really observe and experience all that I could within the time frame that I had. As my brother once told me "Safe has no wonderful memories", I ran with that and made sure to rack up my share of wonderful memories :-)

Burn Update

My forehead healed beautifully ( THANK GOD!!!!). Because I didn't and still don't have health insurance, I opted to go the natural route and consulted my father about treating the burn: Here's what he prescribed.
Day 1: Aloe vera gel ( straight from the plant)

Day 2: The blisters started to ooze a bit of pus so he had me put Golden Seal powder on it. Once the infection went way I went back to Aloe Vera Gel for a little while.

Day 3 - 12: I put therapeutic grade lavender oil on the wound. I used Young Living's lavender oil, you can find it on my Dad's website.

Day 12- 14: I used Raw Honey to continue the healing process ( It's full of active enzymes)

Here's my Dad's website... check it out> http://essentialtohealth.com/onlinestores.html