Sometimes it’s really hard to eat healthy, the food might taste different, the process to create a meal might involve a different method and grocery shopping becomes confusing. I love to find and create yummy tasting foods, that involve classic combinations (peanut butter and chocolate anyone?) so when I stumbled upon this recipe for a Chocolate Peanut Butter Quinoa Breakfast Parfait, I know I was sold.
Quinoa is one of my favourite super foods. I eat quinoa EVERY SINGLE DAY. It is one of the few vegan foods that offers a “complete protein”, meaning that is supplies all the essential amino acids that the body can not make on it’s own. 1 cup of cooked quinoa gives you over 8 grams of protein. Quinoa is also very dense in nutrients, such as Vitamin B6, Vitamin E and potassium, as well as minerals, zinc, calcium, magnesium and iron. The iron content in quinoa gives your body the energy it needs to power through difficult work outs while delivering oxygen to the muscles. Quinoa can also be used as a source of recovery, as the lysine found in quinoa helps to repair and grow muscle tissue.
The great thing about this breakfast parfait is that quinoa isn’t the only super food found in it. The base is a chia seed pudding! The omega-3 content in chia seeds benefits faster recovery, reduced muscle soreness and increased fat burning for athletes. Add one more superfood such as raw cacao (not cocoa powder. CACAO powder.) Exercising increases the formation of free radicals in athletes and the high antioxidants found in raw cacao powder benefit athletes by preventing and repairing free radical damage. Cacao is also filled with magnesium, playing an important role in blood flow and the metabolism of ATP. Cacao has also been shown to improve blood flow to all organs of the body. It is also rich is other nutrients for athletes including potassium and iron.
I love to make a few of these parfaits and keep them in the fridge for a few days. They will sit well for a few days, but I do prefer to eat it when the quinoa is still warm and it melts the peanut butter and chocolate chia pudding. Think peanut butter cup, and then imagine something that tastes better then a peanut butter cup. This is that!
RECIPE
The night before you want to eat this, make the chia seed pudding.
- 4 tablespoons of chia seeds
- 1 scoop of vegan protein powder (OPTIONAL)
- 2 tablespoons of raw cacao powder
- 1 ¼ cup of “milk” (Almond, coconut, rice or other)
Whisk these together well and pour into a mason jar or a bowl to refrigerate overnight.
In the morning, remove the chia seed pudding from the fridge and separate into two bowls or mason jars and create your peanut butter topping in a small separate bowl.
- 3 tablespoons of organic creamy peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon of honey (or sweetener of your choice! Agave nectar or brown rice syrup work well)
- 2-3 tablespoons of water
Mix well and add more peanut butter if it is too liquid-y. Add a scoop on top of each bowl of chia pudding and smooth it out to create a nice topping.
- 1 cup cooked quinoa
Add half a cup of quinoa to the top of the peanut butter in each bowl.
You can then enjoy a delicious warm breakfast that will send your taste buds into heaven or you can set it in the fridge and eat at a later date.
