Me and my trendy grains again

If you were reading a couple of weeks ago, you know that a colleague commented on my quinoa at lunch and chuckled at my “trendy grains”. Quinoa, please? So last week! 😉 This past week’s grain and superfood has been  amaranth. Amaranth is gluten free, a high quality source of protein, provides about 60% of your RDA of iron in one serving and is high in lysine, an amino acid that most grains lack. For more information on amaranth’s nutritional value, you can follow this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaranth_grain

Photo of amaranth, found in Google Images.

Amaranth needs to be cooked for 20-25 minutes, and after that, it makes an excellent breakfast, lunch, and dinner as many grains do. It comes in the form of tiny little pearls that are about half the size of quinoa grains and ends up a bit chewy when cooked. I haven’t tried cooking it longer as I don’t like mushy grains, but I am sure that you could! I have eaten it several different ways which I have included below:

Breakfast
½ cup of amaranth cooked in a mix of water and vanilla almond milk then mixed with a tsp of organic maple syrup and a hefty sprinkling of cinnamon, topped with apple crisp or pumpkin puree

Lunch Amaranth salad: ½ cup of amaranth cooked in water, then mixed with chopped cucumbers, tomatoes, thinly sliced red onion, red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, and chunks of feta cheese

Dinner
A coconut curry with amaranth, of course! ½ cup of amaranth cooked in water, then mixed with 1/3 cup coconut milk, ½ tsp curry paste, and topped with sautéed sweet potatoes, butternut squash, onions, and peppers

Have you tried amaranth? Now that I have a big bag of it, do you have any ideas on preparing it?

This is a crazy week for me, so I am keeping it short tonight so that I can do some work and start on a few fun posts I am working on and finally finish booking things for our trip to CA. Last night we booked a place we were eyeing for our last trip. Timber Cove Inn on the Sonoma coast. It looks absolutely gorgeous, and I can not wait to unwind there after spending a couple of days in San Francisco with many of you!

Speaking of CA, I am taking two trips there in November and will need guest posters. Spread the word! Posts can be on anything from travel to food to wine to fitness. . . I am open to suggestions!