cinnamon apple quinoa

Don't you love killing multiple birds with one measly stone?

(Man, now that I think about it, that's a pretty vicious expression. Oh well.)

Guess how many I killed...

Three! Three birds! AH AH AH! (That was me channeling ol' Count von Count.)


The Cinnamon Apple Quinoa I made represents three things:
1. It's the first time I've eaten or cooked with quinoa, and I'll go ahead and tell you now--I'm hooked.
2. It's my entry for Homegrown Gourmet #6. For this event, bloggers prepare a dish with local ingredients and write a post about it. Isn't that an awesome idea? The theme this time is breakfast, probably one of my top three favorite meals.
3. I'm also using it as my entry for Weekend Breakfast Blogging. This dish fits in nicely with this month's theme of healthy eats and meets all the criteria: nutritious, well-balanced, healthy, vegetarian, and can be served at breakfast. Check, check, and check.

Where do I begin? I purchased the quinoa at Hannaford in the bulk foods section. I got about 2 pounds of the mother grain for less than $3. Nice.


I prepared it as instructed by Canela y Comino--I rinsed two cups of it repeatedly, boiled it until it absorbed the water in the pot, and then let it steam. It's so pretty when it's cooked, wouldn't you agree?


Warning: Be sure you're static-electricity-free when dealing with uncooked quinoa. I learned this the hard way--when pouring it out, it literally leapt out of the bowl and onto my pants and floor. That wasn't fun. (Hallelujah for Dust Busters.)(Thanks, Little Bro.)

I should also mention that my percent yield was about 80%--I lost a lot of the little grains along the way. I hate to waste anything, but those suckers are small and really hard to round up.

Now, what makes this applicable to the Homegrown Gourmet challenge, you ask? Well, after the quinoa was prepared, fluffed, and properly salted, I added 1 cup of cooked apples. Not just any apples, mind you. Homegrown, gourmet apples. Apples from trees in southwestern VA, hand-picked, peeled, chopped, and cooked by my grandpa. They're his very own personal hybrid--there are no other apples like them. They're special.

I also added two heaping teaspoons of cinnamon, my most favoritest spice.


There we have it--Cinnamon Apple Quinoa. Delicious, nutritious, quick, and easy (except for a little static cling.)


Cinnamon Apple Quinoa
(makes about 5 cups!)
2 cups quinoa
4 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup cooked apples
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Prepare quinoa:
Rinse under cold water until the run-off is clear.
Add to 4 cups of boiling water; add salt.
Reduce heat and let cook until water is absorbed.
Fluff quinoa, replace lid, and let steam for 10-15 minutes.

Add apples and cinnamon and stir to combine.
Eat immediately, because who can wait?