Something New for Breakfast

Having food allergies can make you do some weird things. Or maybe I should spin that in a more positive light and say having food allergies has made me more adventurous! I walked into the kitchen at work a few months ago and overheard one of my coworkers telling another coworker that “Jenny eats weird food.” It made me laugh out loud. I guess I have kind of gotten used to eating some things that might seem weird to other people. In general though, I don’t think my food is that weird. Do you?

I was officially weird this week though. I went to Whole Foods last week to buy some sucanot (probably qualifies as a “weird” food, but it’s awesome – if you don’t know what it is, ask…) and got preoccupied with reading the nutrition labels on some of the grains in the bulk section (could also probably qualify as “weird” behavior). I am familiar with all the different kinds of rice and quinoa. However, I have never explored the realms of kamut, barley, buckwheat, amaranth, etc.

I was caught by the nutrition label for the amaranth… It outshines even my beloved quinoa! Get this… These tiny little seed grains pack (approximately) twice the calcium level of cow’s milk (nearly 30% of your daily need), nearly 40% of your daily iron needs, almost 8 grams of fiber and 14 grams of protein along with a nice string of amino acids. I wondered why I have never heard about eating Amaranth if it is so healthy and concluded that it must taste disgusting.

Except, it doesn’t. It’s actually awesome! I bought about 2 cups at Whole Foods and played around with it for breakfast last week. It has a grain to water ratio of 1:3 when you cook it. The seeds are really tiny, close to the size of poppy seeds, and they cook up into something similar to the consistency of Malt-O-Meal or Cream of Wheat – perfect for hot breakfast cereal. Here is what I tried out:

Wednesday breakfast: Cooked 1/3 cup Amaranth in 1 cup chicken broth. Topped with some sautéed yellow bell pepper, red onion, turkey sausage and a scrambled egg. YUM!

Thursday breakfast: Cooked 1/3 cup Amaranth in 1 cup of liquid consisting of ½ water and ½ apple juice. Cut up ½ an apple and added it to the cooking liquid. Topped with some brown sugar and toasted pecans. Turned out pretty good. The apple flavors were really nice, but it was too sweet. Next time I will cook it in the juice, but leave out the extra sugar.

Friday breakfast: Cooked 1/3 cup Amaranth in 1 cup of water. Before cooking, added in about ½ tsp orange zest, a couple shakes of cinnamon, a splash of almond extract and about 1 tsp of brown sugar. Topped with raw pecans. YUM! YUM! YUM! This one was perfect and might become a breakfast staple!

Future ideas… My only other idea at the moment would be to try cooking it in part water, part light coconut milk and then topping it off with some toasted coconut and slivered almonds!

Proudly,
Your weird eater, Jenny