Travel Often

“I see my path, but I don’t know where it leads. Not knowing where I’m going is what inspires me to travel it.” — Rosalia de Castro

Love Deeply, but Laugh Along the Way

"Happiness is only real when shared." - Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild

View Marriage as an Adventure

"Love is a flower which turns into fruit at marriage." ~Finnish Proverb

Fuel your body with GOOD (It's the only one you get)

He who has health has hope; and he who has hope has everything. - Arabian Proverb

Open your Soul to Motherhood

A Grand Adventure is About to Begin - Winnie the Pooh

A New Kind of Love is Born

Mothers hold their children's hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.

Friday, May 24, 2013

Healthy Breakfast Quinoa

Coconut flavored Breakfast Quinoa (kid tested)

Serves 4
Hands-on time: 10 minute
Total time: 22 Min
Recipe found in Cooking Light (June 2013)
Breakfast Quinoa...beyond good.


I've been terrible with posting recipes. Sorry. Yes, I'm still cooking and have found some AMAZING QUICK, HEALTHY dishes out there. I have a HUGE bin full to prove it. All the recipes sit in there. My goal this weekend is to clean it out and keep the ones I know we all loved, that were under 20 minutes and put them in a binder - 7 recipes per week. Then I plan to create a grocery list and plan out about 2-3 months of recipes and then recycle through. I won't have to plan as much. I won't have to write lists as much. It'll all be THERE and done. And I know we'll be eating healthy, which is very important to me. It's just finding the time to do it. I know I will though.

Anyway, I made this breakfast last Friday morning. For one, our kitchen smelled ridiculously good. For two, this tasted SO SO SO good. For three, Karl AND Jackson absolutely LOVED. LOVED.

I doubled the recipe (BTW). The recipe typed below just didn't seem like enough. Glad I doubled it.

1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
3/4 cup light coconut milk
2 tablespoons water 
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup flaked unsweetened coconut
1 cup sliced strawberries
1 cup sliced banana

Preparation

  1. Preheat oven to 400°.
  2. Place quinoa in a fine sieve, and place the sieve in a large bowl. Cover quinoa with water. Using your hands, rub the grains together for 30 seconds; rinse and drain quinoa. Repeat the procedure twice. Drain well. Combine quinoa, coconut milk, 2 tablespoons water, brown sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally. Stir mixture constantly during the last 2 minutes of cooking.
  3. While quinoa cooks, spread flaked coconut in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake at 400° for 5 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly.
  4. Place about 1/2 cup quinoa mixture in each of 4 bowls. Top each serving with 1/4 cup strawberry slices, 1/4 cup banana slices, and 1 tablespoon toasted coconut. Serve warm.
Karl's reaction: "Babe, you can make this again and again whenever you want."

Jackson's reaction: "ohhhh!"  *mows down*

One of the Reasons I Live in Minnesota

Hello Beautiful Minnesota Spring

Winters are brutal here in Minnesota - VERY dark, VERY cold. But then spring comes... The birds begin singing around 4 a.m. The morning sunshine breaks free through our curtains around 5 a.m. and it still remains pretty light until 10 p.m. The lakes look like glass. The healthy green leaves bursting from trees greet the skies and everything looks like a postcard would. The air smells so clean and fresh. I can't help and be anything but happy. Hello, sunshine warming my face. Ahhh.

A morning spring walk in Minnesota


The most perfect morning for me goes like this: I'm up around 5:30 while everyone else sleeps. Coffee is brewing and I have a healthy breakfast cooking. Windows are cracked. I'm able to shower and get a few things done around the house. Jackson wakes and we snuggle. I feed him, then we head out to explore. I bring my coffee and sip it along our cool, crisp walk, slowing to soak in the things I otherwise let pass me by during the week. We watch the ducks bathe in a few of the ponds down from us, we point at cars, we watch the birdies soar in the sky and then let our energy out by playing at a nearby park. Around and around we go. Up and down. Through tunnels and over bars and under metal frames. Down the slides. Up the slides. And we laugh.

It's perfect. It's what keeps me going. Not every morning is like this working full-time or with all the rain we've been getting, but when these days come, everything feels just about right.