As a thank you to a handful of friends who were so supportive during the stress of my renovations, I wanted to organise a brunch to show my appreciation of their generosity, kindness, patience and friendship.

When I asked about any dietary requirements one of my guests let me know about her restrictions. My plan was to make/organise a few things separate and just for her, but then I thought why not we all just eat DF, GF and EF?!

When entertaining, I like to keep things as simple as possible. I don’t see the point of having people around if you’re just going to slave in the kitchen followed by all the cleaning up. So I wanted a recipe that I could make ahead and serve once my friends arrived.

I know lots of people love my traditional Bircher Muesli recipe as well as my Spiced Quinoa Porridge, so why not amalgamate the two ideas and create a Quinoa Bircher Muesli that ticks all the boxes!

It’s absolutely delicious served with My Favourite Homemade Granola (just replace the oats for quinoa flakes or extra coconut flakes for GF) with fresh or poached pears, a dollop of coconut yoghurt and a drizzle of raw honey. Or, with a mix of pistachios and pecans, fig, pomegranate and/or berries and a drizzle of date syrup. Yum!

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Quinoa Bircher Muesli

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 2

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 1 cup white quinoa rinse very well to remove bitter saponins
• 2 cups water
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or ground vanilla bean powder
• 1 tablespoon raw honey
• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice approximately juice from 1 small orange
• 1 apple grated
• 1/2 cup coconut yoghurt use dairy yoghurt if not dairy free

Instructions

• Place quinoa, water, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and vanilla in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer. Gently simmer without lid, stirring occasionally, for 12-15 minutes until liquid is absorbed.
• Remove from heat and cover and let sit for 5 minutes. Stir through honey.
• Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool for 5-8 minutes.
• Add the apple, orange juice, yoghurt and stir to combine
• Pop into the fridge overnight then serve with poached or fresh fruit, granola or nuts and seeds, some extra yoghurt and a drizzle of your sweetener of your choice if you like.

This quinoa porridge is choc-a-block full of goodness with just about all the ingredients containing powerhouse immune-boosting properties such as protein and zinc, iron and fibre, Vitamin C, lauric acid and so much more. And it’s gluten-free!!

The recipe makes enough for breakfast for two days. I just stash leftovers in the fridge and add more water to heat it up the next day. It’s so grounding and filling I can often skip lunch and just settle for an early dinner instead!

Just a little note to please try to buy your quinoa from Australia if you can, as there’s a sustainability problem in Peru, they can no longer afford to buy their own quinoa : (

Many of the ingredients in this recipe can be sourced from my one-stop-favourite, organic wholefoods online store, The Wholefood Collective. They go to great lengths to ensure everything they source is amazing quality, they stock all my favorite products and I don’t even have to leave the house! Oh and the cherry on the cake is they donate profits to improve food security for vulnerable Aussies.

Here are some of the ingredients you’ll need:

White quinoa
Coconut Oil
Salt
Coconut Milk 
Dried Figs
Medjool dates
Cinnamon Powder
Cardamom Powder
Nuts & Seeds
Coconut flakes

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Spiced Quinoa Porridge

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 2

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 1 cup quinoa
• pinch sea salt
• 1 tablespoon yoghurt or whey
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 1/2 teaspoon mixed spices like cardamom nutmeg, cloves
• 1.5 cups water
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 2 - 2.5 cups coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons orange blossom water optional
• 1 teaspoon vanilla powder or extract
• 1/4 cup chopped Turkish figs and Medjool dates
• Sprinkle of cinnamon and cardamom
• 1/2 cup mix of nuts and coconut flakes raw or roasted (I love pistachios with this dish)

Instructions

• Soak the quinoa overnight in warm filtered water, a pinch of sea salt and a tablespoon of yogurt. Rinse very well in the morning. This is to release all the bitter saponins and make the quinoa more nutritious and digestible.
• Warm the coconut oil in the saucepan, add the quinoa and mixed spices and toss for a couple of minutes.
• Add in the water and cinnamon sticks.
• Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer, with lid on for approx 10 minutes.
• Add the coconut milk and orange blossom water, vanilla, dates and figs. Stir through and simmer on a very low heat for 5 minutes.
• Serve with a sprinkling of cinnamon powder and the nut and coconut flake mix.
• Enjoy!

If you’re looking for more recipe inspiration, take a look at my new recipe ebook which is getting rave reviews, Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes.

It’s packed with 40 delicious nut-free, refined sugar free sweet and savoury recipes which have all been kid-tested and approved!

If you make this recipe please do take photos and send them to me.

If you share them on instagram, remember to tag me @brendajanschek. Otherwise feel free to pm me your photos via Facebook. I get a total kick out of seeing you bring my recipes to life.

Other  recipes you might like are Pimped Up Oat Porridge and Breakfast Rice Porridge.

Kim is a trusted friend who loves to unearth and share her favourite recipes with me. Like me, she’s a busy mum who is passionate about home-cooking and discovering tasty ways to get more goodness into her family.

We have her to thank for discovering and sharing the heavenly Slow Cooked Lamb Shank & Barley Soup with Lemon Gremolata a couple of months ago. It’s now one of my family’s faves, and if not one of yours, then you’re nuts! (allergy free, of course). We love the recipes she unearths and think your family  will too.

Over to you Kim……

I have a confession, I am a bit anti some food for no logical reason. Quinoa is one of them. Obviously my first issue with the grain (technically a seed) is how you say it versus how it is written. Why is it pronounced “keeeeen-waaaaah” rather than “kwin-oh-ah” ? Maybe not a reason for me to exclude it from my cooking repertoire, but I do. Well, I have until last night when I decided to tackle it again.

A few months ago when I was following Brenda’s health coaching program I did, begrudingly feed the family kwin-oh-ah porridge which we all agreed was quite edible as we went back for seconds. It was actually really nice (there, I said it). However, the packet of grain stayed relegated to the back of the cupboard.

Last night I decided to go crazy and make a kwin-oh-ah frittata. I knew my kids wouldn’t like it, I knew I wouldn’t like it but I threw caution to the wind and made it anyway. I think I mainly did it so I could use up the rest of the packet and then never buy it again. Here is the problem – we all liked it. I think I may have to come around to saying keeeen-waaaah and promote it up the ranks in the pantry. Maybe not in front of the pearl barely but I think it can go neck and neck with chick peas for the moment.

Many of the ingredients in this recipe can be sourced from my one-stop-favourite, organic wholefoods online store, The Wholefood Collective. They go to great lengths to ensure everything they source is amazing quality, they stock all my favorite products and I don’t even have to leave the house! Oh and the cherry on the cake is they donate profits to improve food security for vulnerable Aussies.

Here are some of the ingredients you’ll need:

White quinoa
Olive oil
Milk

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Pancetta, Spinach and Leek Fritatta

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 55 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes

Servings 6

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 100 g white quinoa throughly rinsed
• 250 ml 1 cup water
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 100 g pancetta finely chopped
• 1 large leek thinly sliced
• 1 garlic clove crushed
• 200 g baby spinach leaves
• 8 eggs
• 185 ml 3/4 cup milk
• 25 g 1/3 cup finely grated parmesan
• 75 g goat's cheese crumbled
• 1 tbs chopped fresh chives
• Rocket leaves to serve

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease and line a 20 x 30cm rectangular baking dish. Add the quinoa and water to a saucepan. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 12 minutes or until the water is absorbed. Set aside to cool slightly.
• Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the pancetta and leek and stir for 5 minutes or until golden. Add the garlic and stir for 1 minute or until aromatic. Set aside to cool slightly.
• Place spinach in large heatproof bowl and cover with boiling water. Set aside for 30seconds. Drain and refresh under cold running water. Drain, squeezing out any excess water. Coarsley chop the spinach.
• Whisk the eggs and milk in a large bowl. Stir in the quinoa, leek mixture and spinach and parmesan. Pour the mixture into the prepared dish. Top with the goats cheese and chives. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the frittata is golden and set. Serve with rocket leaves.

Notes

This recipe was found over at Good Taste Magazine, the June 2013 edition.

Thank you to Kim Brill – mum of two, wife of one and fellow food lover who adopts a 70/30 rule to good health.