Quinoa porridge - higher carb than I thought! page

[chestnutbrown]

Hi

I thought I'd cracked it when finding an alternative to my beloved porridge (oatmeal) for breakfast on cold mornings - quinoa seemed to be a great alternative - high in protein and a seed not a grain, but when I put my recipe into myFitnesspal, a serving came out as 34g carbs! Eeek! That doesn't give me much to play with when trying to stay between 50 and 100g!

Have I got it wrong? Or is quinoa really that carby?

I like to have a warm breakfast when it's cold but don't always have time for eggs etc, I'd cooked up a big batch of quinoa porridge so I could heat up a little every day, but hadn't realised what a chunk it would take out of my carb allowance!

Any suggestions for something better would be gratefully received! Thanks.

[yodiewan]

You're right, quinoa is pretty high in carbs. There are various recipes for "noatmeal" and "nola" (grain-free granola) on paleo/primal blogs. Most of them will be lower in carbs than quinoa, but some rely heavily on nuts or nut flours, so they are best as an occasional treat.

Even better would be to just heat up some letoevers from last night's dinner. Some stew or something is also nice and warming. You could also hard-boil some eggs beforehand and have those, but they are best not reheated. Also, egg bake/ egg casseroles are great. Basically like a frittata, but bigger. Just saute some veggies, mix with eggs, and bake until set. Here is an example: My Favorite Egg "Muffins" - EasyPaleo

They did them as muffins, but I find it easier to use a glass baking dish and just cut it into squares instead of trying to unstick all the little muffins and clean the individual cups.

[YogaBare]

Quinoa is one of those things that I used to eat all the time B.P (before primal), and now I can't stand it. It's so hard to digest!

Can't help you with the carb count, but if you want a warming breakfast you could always have rice pudding. Provided you're okay with rice and dairy

[Dulcimina]

You're right, quinoa is pretty high in carbs. There are various recipes for "noatmeal" and "nola" (grain-free granola) on paleo/primal blogs. Most of them will be lower in carbs than quinoa, but some rely heavily on nuts or nut flours, so they are best as an occasional treat.

I've been making a lot of these noatmeal-type porridges. The base is either riced cauliflower or roasted pumpkin/squash or most recently I;ve been mixing in both. Add milk (coconut milk, almond milk, cream etc). I've added nut butter or tahini. I've also used eggs, either tempering gradually with a little of the hot liquid, or just whisking in the eggs fast so they don't scramble. I add a lot of spices, esp. with the cauliflower porridge, and a little sweetener. It warms up nicely in the microwave.

Could you mix in something like that into your quinoa to cut the carb levels per serving?

[chestnutbrown]

You're right, quinoa is pretty high in carbs. There are various recipes for "noatmeal" and "nola" (grain-free granola) on paleo/primal blogs. Most of them will be lower in carbs than quinoa, but some rely heavily on nuts or nut flours, so they are best as an occasional treat.

Even better would be to just heat up some letoevers from last night's dinner. Some stew or something is also nice and warming. You could also hard-boil some eggs beforehand and have those, but they are best not reheated. Also, egg bake/ egg casseroles are great. Basically like a frittata, but bigger. Just saute some veggies, mix with eggs, and bake until set. Here is an example: My Favorite Egg "Muffins" - EasyPaleo

They did them as muffins, but I find it easier to use a glass baking dish and just cut it into squares instead of trying to unstick all the little muffins and clean the individual cups.

I do like Nola - but like you said, it's more something for an occasional treat, as I found out when I was eating it a lot and not losing weight!

like the look of the muffins - I'm going to cook up a batch! Thanks!

[chestnutbrown]

I've been making a lot of these noatmeal-type porridges. The base is either riced cauliflower or roasted pumpkin/squash or most recently I;ve been mixing in both. Add milk (coconut milk, almond milk, cream etc). I've added nut butter or tahini. I've also used eggs, either tempering gradually with a little of the hot liquid, or just whisking in the eggs fast so they don't scramble. I add a lot of spices, esp. with the cauliflower porridge, and a little sweetener. It warms up nicely in the microwave.

Could you mix in something like that into your quinoa to cut the carb levels per serving?

This sounds good, I'll give that a try too, thanks!

[Sandra in BC]

Hi
but hadn't realised what a chunk it would take out of my carb allowance!

Any suggestions for something better would be gratefully received! Thanks.

Why not calculate a weekly carb allowance, instead of daily? Or take an average of 3 days. I dont' see how an extra 34g or 68g averaged out over the week is going to have a huge impact.

[noodletoy]

yeah, the muffins look cute, but can be a pain to unstick, so i make an "egg-bake-thing" each week and cut and freeze the portions. 12 eggs, 1/2 stick of butter, veggies of choice, usually goat cheese and grated romano cheese in there. since i don't have a microwave, i reheat it on the stove, but it also tastes pretty good cold or room temp.

i separate the yolks and whites. add the cheeses and cooled, melted butter, salt, pepper, dried thyme, smoked paprika, to the yolks. beat with a hand mixer til custardy. then whip the whites into peaks, like for meringue. then i carefully fold the yolk-mixture into the whites, trying to deflate as little as possible. pour 1/2 this mix into a glass baking dish. layer the veggies over this, top with remaining egg-mixture. bake at 300. the air whipped into the eggs makes for a very light finished product.

as much as i love to cook i don't always like starting from scratch, so batch-cooking is key.