Quinoa for breakfast (a twist on hot cereal)

I am back from our wonderful long trip and ready to start posting eating experiences again.  I will be posting about the food we ate on our trip slowly, but surely, but first, here is a new breakfast (or healthy dessert) recipe that I discovered, and of course, altered a bit.  Quinoa is high in protein for a grain and therefore makes a good breakfast option.

I found the idea for this on allrecipes.com.

1 cup quinoa

2 cups water

2 cups apple juice

1/2 apple- chopped

1/2 pear- chopped

2 tsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. vanilla extract

salt to taste

Rinse quinoa.  Combine quinoa and water in a pan and bring to a boil.  Lower heat and continue cooking covered until all of the water is absorbed (about 15 minutes).  Meanwhile, chop the apple and pear.  When the quinoa is cooked, add apple juice, apples, lemon juice, cinnamon, chopped apples, and chopped pears.  Cook uncovered until it boils down to desired consistency (about 20 minutes).  Add vanilla and serve warm.

(The original recipe called for raisins instead of apples and pears, so feel free to add those if you wish.) 

The taste is yummy and a bit tart.  You can sweeten it if you wish.  You could also add milk or soy milk to make it a bit creamy, but I ate it just plain and it was good.  

Enjoy!