Cinnamon Pecan Breakfast Quinoa Bowl

The temps are dropping here in St. Louis right along with the brightly colored leaves. The brisk, fresh air scented with the first use of fireplaces in the city drives me to comfort foods, so I've been looking for new recipes that can adapt to the healthier versions.

I noticed a bag of quinoa in my pantry when I did the fall cleanout that needed to be used, so I cooked the whole bag and put it in one of my leftover containers in the fridge and went off to look for some new recipes with it. I happened on a recipe for Cinnamon Toast Breakfast Quinoa over on cookieandkate.com which is one of my favorite cooking blogs and decided to give it a try with a few modifications to suit my new eating regime. With very few modifications, here's the end result.

Cinnamon Pecan Breakfast Quinoa Bowl: 448 calories
Ingredients:

1 cup cooked quinoa
2 tablespoons of chopped pecans
1 teaspoon coconut oil
2 dates, finely chopped
Liberal amounts of Cinnamon to taste
Dash of Nutmeg
Dash of salt
1 tablespoon maple syrup

Directions:

Prepare quinoa. This recipe uses 1 cup of cooked quinoa but make as much as you think you'll need. I  make a large batch and then use it over a week, but it also freezes well in containers or ziplocs. If cooking quinoa drives you crazy like it always has me, Kate has a really great tutorial on her site. The only thing that I would add, is that I have found my nut  milk bag works the best for rinsing quinoa since none of my mesh strainers are fine enough to prevent the tiny grains from slipping through.




Toast 2 Tablespoons of chopped pecans in a dry skillet over medium low. Watch them carefully as they burn quickly. I suppose you could use other types of nuts if pecans aren't your favorite, but I find they add a special flavor to the dish.

Add 1 teaspoon of coconut oil to the pan and stir till nuts are fragrant, 20-30 seconds.

 Finely chop 2 dates and add to the nut mixture. I use kitchen scissors to chop dates. It seems to work better than a knife because they don't stick to the scissors.

Stir the date/nut mixture briefly until the dates are warm and softened, around a minute.

Add the quinoa, sprinkle liberally with cinnamon, a touch of nutmeg, and salt and stir well to combine. Stir in 1 tablespoon of maple syrup and heat just till warm throughout.

The quantities on this recipe are easily adjustable. I've made it with 1-1/2 cups quinoa on mornings when I want a bigger breakfast without adjusting any other quantities. If you used 2 cups quinoa then you would need to double the oil, nuts, dates, and spices. If you like it sweeter you can increase the maple syrup, but it really doesn't take much at all to make it pretty sweet, especially with the dates.

You can serve this as is, with milk, or with yogurt. It's a really nice way to fill the house with warm, fall spices!