Elena´s Quinoa Smoothie

February 3, 2017 SouthAmerica

Quinoa: Growing up in Peru, we were all familiar with Quinua; in the USA it is spelled “quinoa” maybe due to the pronunciation. Quinua is a seed not a grain as some might think and it has been popularized as a Super Food. Quinua for us meant a good and filling meal that can be prepared in many ways for breakfast, lunch and dinner. My mom even made dessert with it! So we are going to share 10 different recipes we know in different posts, starting with my mom´s quinoa smoothie or ponche de quinua as she calls it, and she always made this for breakfast. Now for this recipe we are using Almond milk for a healthier version.

Elena´s Quinoa Smoothie (serves 1)

quinoa recipes — Elena´s Quinoa Morning Shake

Ingredients:

½ cup cooked quinoa (could be leftover quinoa or prepared a day ahead to speed up the breakfast routine)

1 egg white

1 cup of unsweetened Almond milk (or any other kind of milk you prefer)

¼ tsp. of Vanilla

¼ tsp. of cinnamon and some more to sprinkle on top at the end

1 Tbsp. of maple syrup (or any other sweetener you prefer)

1 Tbsp. of Maca powder (optional)

Preparation

Note: there are two ways to make this smoothie- cold or warm. In Huancayo I usually had it warm because the mornings were always cold, but here it is optional, you could have it either way. The only difference is to make it warm you have to heat up the milk before adding it to the blender. Also if you are using fresh made quinoa, blend the egg white first by itself before adding the other ingredients, this is to prevent cooking the egg white with the hot quinoa.

In a blender, add the egg white and blend on high speed, then add all the other ingredients and blend until foamy. Serve in a mug and sprinkle with some more cinnamon.

We tried another version of the smoothie in which we added 1 cup of fresh blueberries, and it turned out good too. It was a bit thicker but that is easy to fix; you either add water or more almond milk. There are many other variations that one can try so feel free to do so, and leave us a comment if you like.

For more quinoa recipes don´t forget to check our e-book available on Amazon.com