Reclaiming My Territory

For someone whose favorite meal is breakfast, my posts have been pretty lacking in the breakfast department recently. Don't worry, I have not been skipping breakfast -- in fact, I eat breakfast every single day. It's just that for the past few months, I have been in an oatmeal rut, but the deeper I get into summer and Texas weather, the less I've been craving my old pal, oatmeal. As should be expected from Ruby Red, I have even charted new territory in my morning meals.



The first breakfast I revisted this summer was waffles, but with a twist: I've never before tried the Ginger Pear Waffles from Vegan with a Vengeance. This week I took the recipe for a test drive but made a few variations that resulted in Ginger Nectarine Waffles with Crystallized Ginger.



I took Isa's suggestion of adding finely chopped crystallized ginger to the waffle batter. I think peaches and nectarines are so much more flavorful than pears, and I've always liked ginger and peaches today, so I added half of a chopped nectarine to my single-serve waffle (I fractioned the recipe to 1/4 of the original). I also successfully replaced all the fruit juice in the recipe with soymilk, because I don't drink juice and didn't have any in the fridge. These are my favorite waffles yet, aside from Veganomicon's Chocolate Chip Brownie Waffles, which are decadent to the extreme. I topped the waffles with a half teaspoon of Earth Balance -- just a dab adds a world of flavor -- and powdered sugar and nectarine wedges.

I made my first wafflewich, too, with a plain old waffle recipe from The Garden of Vegan. I actually undershot the liquid in the recipe by a 1/4 cup -- oops! -- but the waffle still came out. Magical! I filled the wafflewich with freshly ground natural PB and bananas. I have been seeing a lot of wafflewich posts and was feeling left out, and now that I've had my fun I'll go back to eating waffles normally. Breakfast is gone so quickly when you eat your waffles like a sandwich, all stacked in double, and I like to savor my waffles.



Carob Chip Waffles, topped with toasted hazelnuts. The hazelnuts got really soft and perfect.



As for the new territory part, I bought Ani's Raw Food Kitchen only yesterday and I've already made two meals from it. One of these meals was her Crepe Kream Stack: one of her Coconut Breakfast Cakes topped with Cacao Pudding, dried shredded coconut, and fresh mangoes. It was really good!





One thing worth mentioning about raw food is that sometimes it looks really little, especially when you're working with nuts and dried fruit. Larabars are an example of this. You may look at a raw meal and think, "There's no way that will fill me up!" but eyes can definitely be bigger than the stomach. The cakes are really nutrient dense and are primarily made of ground flaxseed, but they are sweetened with your choice of maple syrup or agave. I added a few things to the recipe, and the pudding on top contains carob, cocoa, hazelnuts, almonds, and half a medjool date. The pudding part wasn't totally raw because I don't have raw carob or cacao on hand -- yet. It was really refreshing to try something totally new for breakfast, and I ate Ani's creation with my itty bitty spork to pace myself and not gobble up my itty bitty breakfast in three bites.



I have a recipe for you too: Ruby Red Quinoa Porridge. The "ruby red" part just refers to the raspberries in it -- they're like summery little rubies! I only made this once because I wasn't in the mood for a hot breakfast at all for the next week and I ran out of raspberries. I bet you could make it the night before and refrigerate it to have a cold, thick porridge the next morning. I just haven't been in the mood for anything oatmealy or porridgey lately.


Ruby Red Quinoa Porridge



Serves 1 hungry belly (mine, haha) or 2 littler bellies


1/3 cup dry quinoa
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup light or unsweetened chocolate non-dairy milk
2 tablespoons raw hazelnuts, chopped in half
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 cup raspberries
1/2 teaspoon crystallized ginger chips, finely chopped
Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
1 to 1-1/2 tablespoons maple syrup (totally optional, but I've had a sweet tooth lately)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Rinse 1/3 cup dry quinoa in a fine mesh strainer thoroughly (2 to 3 minutes) to remove the bitterness. Combine with 2/3 cup water and 1 teaspoon cinnamon (or to taste) in a small-medium pot over the stove. Bring to a boil, cover, and turn to low, allowing the mixture to simmer 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove the lid and add 1 cup chocolate non-dairy milk. Heat slightly over medium until mixture begins to bubble, then turn heat down to medium. Stir occasionally while the mixture thickens and condenses.

Meanwhile, gather 2 tablespoons raw hazelnuts and chop each hazelnut in half. Toast in a dry skillet on medium high, until hazelnuts are browned and fragrant. Set aside for later.

When quinoa has absorbed a large amount of soymilk (wait until it reaches the thickness and consistency you desire), place 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch in a 1 tablespoon measure, then fill measuring spoon the remainder of the way with cold water. Stir until cornstarch is dissolved and add to the quinoa, stirring to incorporate. Bring the heat up to medium high to let the cornstarch do its work, until the contents of the pot bubble energetically. Turn heat down to medium again and stir. Add 1/2 cup raspberries and 1/2 teaspoon chopped crystallized ginger. Heat through and remove from stove.

Pour the quinoa porridge into a bowl. Add some freshly grated nutmeg to taste, maple syrup to taste (I used 1 tablespoon), and 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (not the nasty imitation stuff). Stir to incorporate and sprinkle the top of the porridge with your toasted hazelnuts. Admire the beauty before stirring again, then enjoy leisurely. Yum! I eat it with an extra small spoon so I can enjoy it as long as possible.