It’s Secret Recipe Club Reveal Day! In the Secret Recipe Club, each participating blogger is assigned a blog from another participating blogger and secretly searches their site for something to recreate. The accompanying blog post then goes live on reveal day! So while I was immersed in my assigned blog, someone else was picking through mine! I’m so excited to be part of this group, to see what on my blog peaks other’s interests and to stumble upon new blogs and new recipes.

I almost didn’t participate this month. My husband has been gone for a month. Not gone gone, just on the other side of the country thanks to a 5 week course for work. We’re in the final stretch and will be reunited Friday! It’s been a long 4.5 weeks so far, but with visits from the boys’ aunt and grandmothers we’ve been making it through.

Cooking has been very minimal around here, limiting my culinary output to things I know the boys will eat. Aka cheese. We’ve been living off of cheese. Grilled cheese sandwiches, quesadillas, nachos, and pizzas – all good means for “hiding” protein into their diets.

I knew signing up for SRC this month would force me to cook something other than waffles and sweets. I’m glad I did, too, because this month I was assigned The Gluten-Free Foodsmith written by Tina Marie. Tina Marie made the switch to gluten-free living after discovering it made a huge impact in restoring her to health following an illness. Tina Marie made the best of her gluten-free lifestyle and has developed an impressive arsenal of delicious recipes that everyone can enjoy!

Limiting my search of her blog to recipes I knew my kids would actually help me eat and that were healthy wasn’t too difficult! Apple Pineapple Muffins were going to be the winner until I found Warm Plum and Blueberry Quinoa Salad. Also added to my possibility list were: Pecan Walnut Chicken Salad (but I haven’t introduced nuts to Treat yet), Black Bean Salsa Wraps, and Lentil Chili Stew.

I had to make some adjustments to Tina Marie’s recipe due to dietary restrictions. I had to substitute agave for honey due to Treat being under one. I used butter instead of coconut oil because I’m allergic to coconut. And used regular cow’s milk instead of almond milk because I haven’t tested a nut allergy with Treat yet and was/am too anxious and nervous about doing so while I’m parenting solo. Obviously, I left the raw almonds out, too. Sounds like a lot, but it’s really not.

We loved this quinoa! I even made it again with strawberries when my mother-in-law was visiting. It was her first introduction to quinoa and she quite enjoyed it, too. What I love best is that it doesn’t take any longer than making oatmeal in the morning and is arguably healthier! Quinoa has almost double the amount of protein as oats do.

Treat loved the change in his breakfast from Greek yogurt to this quinoa. Firecracker, who does enjoy the seed, wasn’t as interested and simply picked out all of the fruit. I guess for him quinoa is supposed to stay savory. I enjoyed the sweet take to it and will continue explore its sweeter applications – I know Tina Maria had a couple cookie recipes on her blog using the seed!

Breakfast Quinoa

Ingredients:

• 1/2 C uncooked quinoa
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp agave
• 1 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp real maple syrup
• 1 plum, pitted and chopped
• 1/4 C blueberries (I used frozen)

Steps:

1. Cook quinoa according to package instructions.
2. Add butter, agave, milk, cinnamon, and syrup to the cooked quinoa. Stir in the plum and blueberries. Keep over low heat until butter is melted, quinoa is evenly coated, and fruit is warmed through.

*This recipe is modified from Tina Maria at http://glutenfreefoodsmith.com/2015/05/warm-plum-and-blueberry-quinoa-salad/*

To see the other bloggers who participated in The Secret Recipe Club this month click here: