Quinoa - the perfect breakfast, lunch and dinner food

Wonderful, wonderful quinoa. For those who have celiac difficulties - wheat restrictions - or can't eat carbohydrates of any kind, there are three ingredients that can make it so much easier - almond flour, chia...and quinoa. Quinoa is the perfect food to replace much of what you miss. If I had any suggestion to give people, it would be to make a big bowl of plain quinoa once a week, then you can help yourself any time.

Breakfast
Add blueberries or any fruit, soy/almond/low fat milk and chia (which gives it a pudding-like or oatmeal type texture) and you have a great healthy breakfast cereal that's as quick to make as a bowl of sugar-laden high carb box cereal, or a healthier alternative to sugar-laden instant oatmeal.
Or just add a little cinnamon and a touch of vanilla.
Like eggs? You can also add sauteed vegetables with a touch of cheese to expand beyond scrambled eggs.

Lunch and dinner
Saute onion in a little olive oil, and toss in some quinoa, and you have a great side dish that's a substitute for rice or mashed potatoes.
Other ingredients can make it into a meal by itself - low sodium broth for flavor, tossing in some protein, or adding other sauteed vegetables like mushrooms, carrots, spinach, etc. and maybe some avocado (a very healthy, creamy fat).
Add more broth to those sauteed vegetables and it's a soup.

Easy Carb free low sugar muffins

These are incredibly tasty, and forgiving. I forgot the vanilla once, and they were still great! Pi likes 'em, too!

2 eggs
1/2 cup pumpkin puree/canned pumpkin or applesauce
1/3 cup honey
4 tbl melted butter
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt (although a pinch works for us low-salt people)

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
(and 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice for the pumpkin muffins)

mix above then add...

2 1/2 cups almond flour
Walnuts or raisins as desired

Bake at 325 degrees for 25-30 minutes (depending on your stove)

Gluten free/Low sugar pancakes

You can put the dry ingredients together ahead of time for 'Instant' pancakes - just double the batch. I got this recipe from a friend, who found it on about.com. He said the pancakes with just almond flour were thin and small. Adding the buckwheat (which isn't wheat) thickened it up, while the almond flour made them fluffy.

1 cup buckwheat/almond flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1/2 cup canned pumpkin (or apple sauce/butter) or add bananas or blueberries
2 tbl oil
1/4 cup + warm water and sweetner (honey or agave syrup). Add more water if mixture is too thick.
2 eggs

Cook like pancakes with coconut oil

Drizzle pancakes with maple syrup or honey

Healthy Eating - Breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Don't believe me? Try going all day with no food or water - that's effectively what you do every night.

Breakfast suggestions.
Don't eat eggs because of their bad rap for cholesterol? It turns out that eating cholesterol doesn't increase your cholesterol reading - you don't digest it. What you are giving up is a valuable source of protein which digests more slowly than carbohydrates, and all the B vitamins in eggs. Two eggs are only 170 calories.

Eggs 
Microwave eggs - Add a pinch of cheese and some Herbes de Provence for additional flavor, cook for one and a half minutes. Simple and quick.
Fried eggs - use olive oil to cook eggs, serve over avocado (the yolk will fit neatly where the seed was)
Serve either with sprouted grain bread - avoid whole wheat which will irritate gluten intolerance or celiac disease

Cereal
Most cereals contain wheat, substitute quinoa. Cook the quinoa with almond or soy milk, flavored if you like, but unsweetened. The amount of sugar in sweetened versions of those milks is incredible. You can also use 2% milk. Add fresh fruit - particularly blueberries, which are considered a superfood, but all berries are good. Toss in some chia for additional fiber. Serve a small amount with your eggs for a complete breakfast.
(I cook extra quinoa so I can use as needed. 1 minute in the microwave, add fruit, and breakfast is served.) Stay away from dried fruits like raisins - they contain a lot of sugar.

Smoothies
Greek yogurt, fresh fruit - including bananas - unsweetened almond or soy milk, with chia for fiber.

Coffee
Yes, you can have it! If your doctor hasn't restricted you (I'd hurt mine if they tried *laughing*) there are health benefits to coffee including - protection against Parkinson's disease, type 2 diabetes, and liver disease (my bugaboo), including liver tumors (to which I'm prone). It also seems to help cognitive function (you think more clearly) and decreases the risk of depression.

Juice
Squeeze your own. No added sugar or acid.

How to live healthier, and still eat well

To get healthier, you need to get rid of the salt, sugar, wheat, and fat, while retaining taste. First learn to read labels. Look at the amount of sugar and sodium, but get rid of as much of the prepared food as possible. For example - there's a ad for a well-known brand of french fry that talks about how good it is for you, except there's one detail they don't mention, the serving size. It's three grams or about three french fries. Do you know anyone who only eats three french fries?

All recipes were tested by me.

Want to eliminate the sugar in your diet? Ditch all the soft drinks - even the bottled water (it's frequently flavored or has salt added.). Don't replace it with artificial sweeteners, there's some studies that suggest the artificial sweeteners fool the body and cause you to gain weight.

Watch for Sodium Nitrite, as well, as a reader reminded me. You want as little sodium as possible.

Sweets - Fruit is great for sweets. Berries with greek yogurt and a touch of honey is healthier in so many ways, including for your blood sugar since fresh fruit metabolizes more slowly.

Lemon water is your friend. One half to one whole lemon per glass. 

Fried or breaded chicken - love both but hate cry chicken?

Make your own quinoa flour - just grind half a bag of quinoa to a flour-like consistency.

Or

Make your own breading with coconut flour, flaxseed flour and almond meal.

Add your favorite spices

Use spray olive oil to keep it from sticking.

Cook as you would normally. 

Your chicken will be juicy and tasty.

Eliminate rice/potatoes/wheat/cereal - replace with quinoa. 1/2 cup of quinoa to 1 cup water. For a rice or potato substitute, sautee some onion and garlic and add to quinoa. For a cereal substitute add fruit with a touch of honey/maple syrup/molasses. Not a teaspoon, just a drizzle.