Strawberries & Cream Breakfast Quinoa

5 from 2 votes

Strawberries & Cream Breakfast Quinoa

This quick and easy, sweet & creamy quinoa "oatmeal" makes for an excellent alternative to oatmeal that is packed with nutrients and high in fiber and protein to keep you fueled up all morning long.

Prep Time5 mins

Cook Time20 mins

Total Time50 mins

Servings: servings

Calories: 219kcal

Ingredients

For Quinoa:

129 g white quinoa (thoroughly rinsed in a fine mesh strainer under cold water for ~3 minutes. Make sure it's fully rinsed or else it will taste bitter when it's done cooking)
1+3/4 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk (I use Silk brand)
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract (it really should be pure, not imitation vanilla)
1/4 tsp.+1/8 tsp. cardamom
1/8 tsp. salt (I use pink rose himalayan salt, which is lower sodium and less intense than regular. If using regular, you will want to use a bit less so the oatmeal doesn't end up tasting salty)

For Strawberry Sauce:

10 oz strawberries (washed, stems removed, cut into fairly small chunks)
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract (it really should be pure, not imitation vanilla)
1 tsp. cornstarch (optional, if you want to thicken the sauce a bit)
2-3 drops red food coloring (optional - this will give it a bit more red color. I used it for mine)

For Blended Cottage Cheese (Cream):

120 g lactose free lowfat cottage cheese (I use Lactaid brand)
2 Tbsp. unsweetened vanilla almond milk (optional, not included in nutritional information below)

Instructions

For Quinoa:

Place the quinoa and milk in a medium-sized sauce pan and heat over medium-high heat until the mixture starts to boil.
When the mixture starts to boil, cover the pan, reduce heat to low/medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes. (during the quinoa cooking time, make the strawberry sauce and blended cottage cheese)
Uncover, add the vanilla extract, cardamom and salt and quickly stir to incorporate them into the quinoa, then cover and continue simmering for another ~8 minutes, until the milk has absorbed and quinoa has reached the desired consistency (if for some reason it's not soft enough for you when the milk evaporates, add in a bit more milk and continue cooking a few more minutes). When done to your liking, remove from heat, uncover and stir/fluff up the quinoa.

For Strawberry Sauce:

While the quinoa cooks, make the strawberry sauce. Place the cut-up strawberries, sugar and vanilla in a small saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat, stirring frequently (almost constantly) for ~8-10 minutes, using your utensil to press down on some (but not all) of the strawberries to mash them. You want strawberry chunks left at the end in your sauce, as the bites of strawberry in the oatmeal are what makes it sweet and gives it the extra flavor.
If you'd like to thicken the sauce a bit, turn heat down to simmer, dissolve 1 tsp. cornstarch in 1 Tbsp. water and add slowly while continuing to stir until the sauce reaches your desired consistency (repeat this step if needed, but keep in mind the more cornstarch you add the less sweet the sauce will be).
When the sauce has thickened to your liking, remove from heat and add in the food coloring (if using) and mix to fully incorporate it. Set aside and make the blended cottage cheese.

For Blended Cottage Cheese:

Place cottage cheese and milk (if using) into a narrow, deep container (just wide enough to fit your immersion blender). *Note: It is difficult to make this small of a quantity, because the immersion blender has to be immersed in the cottage cheese for it to work right. I usually just blend up an entire 16oz container of cottage cheese to have on hand. The blended cottage cheese can be used to make cream soups or sauces (in lieu of heavy cream or milk, making it much creamier without all the fat) or in place of sour cream or whatever else you might think of to use it for (so it shouldn't go to waste if you make more).*
Using an immersion blender (see notes section below as to why you absolutely should use an immersion blender for this), blend until there are no chunks left and the mixture is completely smooth and creamy (for me, this meant stopping once to scrape the sides of the container as well as the end of the immersion blender).

For Serving:

Weigh out the final products of the quinoa and the strawberry sauce. Weigh out and place 1/4 of the quinoa in each bowl, then 1/4 of the strawberry sauce and stir together until swirled. Then drizzle or plop on up to 30g worth of the blended cottage cheese and swirl in.
Note: Nutritional information below is based on using 30g of the blended cottage cheese.

Notes

I tried this using 3 methods: Regular Blender (I have a heavy duty Kitchenaid), Food Processor and Immersion Blender (my is Calphalon). The blender and food processor took much longer and involved many more stops for scraping down the sides than the immersion blender did. Plus, when done you can't get every bit out of the blender/food processor. I felt much less was wasted when using the immersion blender (and it just worked best overall). If you don't already have an immersion blender, I can't stress enough how wonderful they are and how much your life in the kitchen will improve if you get one! Just make sure to get a high quality brand, like Calphalon or Kitchenaid. They work for not only this, but for making perfectly smooth mashed potatoes, pureeing vegetables (or making homemade baby food), making cream soups/bisques and so much more. I got mine as a wedding gift and it has been an amazing tool to have.

For IBS/GERD:

There is quite a bit of sugar in this from the strawberry sauce. It shouldn't be a problem so long as you watch your intake of sugar the rest of the day on the days you eat this. (even plain yogurt has about the same amount of sugar in it, so relatively speaking it's not that bad). If you know sugar is a problem for you, though, simply use less of the strawberry sauce in your oatmeal (though if doing this, I would also use a bit less cream. Otherwise it will taste a bit bland). Please note, the nutritional information below is based on using the full 1/4 of the strawberry sauce and 30g of the blended cottage cheese per serving.

[nutrition-label]*Information above is based on using the full 1/4 of the strawberry sauce and 30g of the blended cottage cheese per serving.*
*Information above is based on the specific brands/types of ingredients I used (as one example, pink himalayan sea salt is lower sodium than regular salt). Values vary if using any other brands/types of ingredients.*
*The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.*
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Nutrition