Quinoa Flakes

I love hot cereal but my used-to-be-favorite is right out (cream of wheat) and oats are usually iffy for cross contamination. Then I was reading my new cookbook - Quinoa the Everyday Superfood and it mentioned quinoa flakes and how they can be used like oatmeal and even added to cookies or other recipes.

I picked up a bag of quinoa flakes when I stopped by a local health food store and tried them out.

Visually they look a lot like instant oatmeal as well. The scent was a bit nuttier but not at all off-putting.

I cooked a simple bowl of hot cereal:

1/3 cup quinoa flakes

1 cup vanilla almond milk

I stirred it thoroughly and microwaved it on high for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. When I took it out, I stirred it thoroughly again.

The smell was a bit more reminiscent of pollenta or grits, a bit on the "corn" side but, again, not at all off-putting. The taste, even with the vanilla almond milk, was quite bland. I added 1/4 tsp salt, 3 Tbsp maple syrup and 1 Tbsp of butter and really liked the sweet result.

I plan to experiment more and see what I can do with the flakes. I wonder if I can make a more cheesy/savory grits type of treatment with different additives.

I made a place for these in my pantry.