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Last week I was talking with a patient and we agreed that cookbook preference is very individual. We really have to find the ones that speak to us, the ones that are written in language that appeals to us, the ones that have recipes we enjoy eating, of course, but also ones that we have the time and skills to cook.

Recently I’ve been relying on search engines to bring me new, good recipes. I’ll do a quick search for certain ingredients or a type of dish I want to make and then scan the ones that come up. I’ve been cooking a long time (I did it professionally for years, prior to becoming an acupuncturist, and I was the go-to pie crust roller of my household at the tender age of 5), so a few seconds looking at a recipe can usually tell me if I’ll like it, and if I have the time to make it.

So I stumbled upon this one.

This amazing recipe comes from the Food 52 Vegan cookbook (a signed copy of which I actually ordered as a result of finding this recipe).

I tagged this post both as “food,” and as “Chinese Medicine.” The first tag is hopefully obvious, the second may leave you thinking, “What the - ?” But in Chinese Medicine, one of the things we stress for many people is that it is very important not to eat too much cold food (unless you have a very Hot condition - in our medicine even food prescriptions are customized to each patient!), and that the longer things are cooked and the soupier they are, the more easily they are absorbed and used by your body. So this recipe fits that bill nicely. It’s great on a cold day, or even a cool rainy day.

I also love it because it contains protein (from the quinoa), healthy fats (from the coconut oil and almonds) and also is quite high in dietary fiber (I’ll write a whole ‘nother blog post ranting about fiber soon, don’t worry).

Because - like many of us - I prefer to keep my cooking time to a minimum aside from the days I really have set aside for it, I make a big batch of this at once, and then refrigerate it. When I’m ready to eat it, I just spoon out how ever many servings I want to heat, add some water (the quinoa keeps absorbing the water as it stands, so you will always have to thin it before re-heating), put it on the stove, covered, on low, and let it heat, stirring occasionally. During the initial cook I’ve toasted enough almonds for the whole batch at once, and kept them in a small glass container on the counter at room temperature. I sprinkle some on after I’ve put the porridge into bowls and am ready to serve it. Note - I make this porridge with about half the amount of maple syrup called for.
Click the following link to see the recipe on Food 52s site, and comment below to let me know how you liked it!

http://food52.com/recipes/19277-toasted-almond-and-coconut-quinoa-porridge