Breakfast Quinoa with Peanut Butter and Bananas

Breakfast reached new heights at Shel's Kitchen on Wednesday morning. For some time now I've been toying with the idea of making an oatmeal-like breakfast quinoa, and after picking up a giant bag of quinoa last week at Costco it finally came to fruition. My husband loves oatmeal, but truth be told, it's probably one of my least favorite breakfast foods. So I replaced the traditional oats with quinoa for a delicious compromise. Then I went a little bit “Elvis” and threw in some banana and peanut butter (in case you didn’t know, Elvis Presley loved peanut butter and banana sandwiches). I added honey for a sweet binder and toasted almonds for a rich, nutty, crunchy texture.

The recipe is simple: cook up some quinoa in the milk of your choice (I used vanilla almond milk), add sliced bananas, a dollop of peanut butter, a sprinkling of toasted almonds and a drizzle of honey and you have a breakfast fit for a king. I can see your hips shaking already.

Breakfast Quinoa with Peanut Butter and Bananas

1/3 c. quinoa
2/3 c. milk of your choice (I used vanilla almond milk - if you don't use vanilla almond milk I would recommend adding a splash of vanilla extract to the quinoa at the end of cooking for flavor)
1 medium banana, sliced
2 T. natural peanut butter
2 T. sliced almonds, toasted
2 t. honey

Place the quinoa and milk in a small saucepan, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and allow to cook until the quinoa has absorbed all the milk and is tender, about 12-15 minutes. Divide the quinoa among two bowls then top each bowl with half of the banana, 1 T. peanut butter, 1 T. almonds and 1 t. honey. Serve immediately!

2 servings (340 calories each serving) according to my calculator on loseit.com