Apple quinoa breakfast bowl.

I woke up this morning wanting to make myself a real breakfast, and I couldn't find any bread. So I moved on to my next idea, which was a bowl of some kind of grain, and after a brief Pinterest scan I found something I wanted to try. I found this recipe and modified it slightly to use the ingredients I had.

Total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa
2 cups unsweetened almond milk
¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
¼ teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
2 medium apples, shredded

Instructions:
1. Put the almond milk, quinoa, and applesauce in a saucepan and bring to a rolling boil. Then reduce the heat to a simmer and let cook until the quinoa has absorbed the liquid, which should be somewhere between 15-20 minutes.
2. Add the spices, vanilla, and salt. Mix well. I also added my shredded apples, although the original recipe instructs you to add them later as a topping. But I found that this helped to absorb some of my excess liquid, and worked really well.
3. Serve. I topped my bowls with a drizzle of honey and sprinkle of hazelnuts from the family farm, and let me tell you, that was a good addition.

Tips:
I used some apples that had been lying around and getting kind of soft, so I shredded them with a food processor rather than by hand. I was also surprised to find how sweet this was (and I'm a sucker for sweets). Making it again, I might actually hold off on the honey until I try a couple bites and see if it needs additional sweetness.

Overall, this was a two thumbs up. I've made my share of Pinterest recipes that weren't overly successful, but this was a really good one, especially for someone with a sweet tooth who's trying to fool their body into being healthy.

 Original recipe via Love and Zest.