Weekend Things Part 1: Macaroon Quinoa Parfait

On Friday morning we were up early making quinoa yogurt parfaits.  These are easy to make, as the quinoa can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge.  You can use any type of yogurt, and any toppings; use your imagination and see what delicious combos you can come up with! 

Macaroon Quinoa Parfait

(Makes two parfaits)

- 1/2 cup quinoa (rinsed)
- 1/2 cup light coconut milk (canned)
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 tsp salt
- approx. 1.5 cups vanilla Greek yogurt
- 1/3 cup toasted coconut (line baking sheet with parchment, bake @ 300 until golden - watch!)
- 1/4 cup cacao nibs (or chopped dark chocolate if you want it sweeter or don't have cacao)

Put the quinoa, coconut milk, water, and salt in a small pot.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low (or move to another burner that you've heated to low), cover, and cook 15 minutes until the liquid has absorbed.  Cool the quinoa.  Layer the quinoa, followed by vanilla yogurt, a sprinkle of toasted coconut and cacao, then repeat ...

Later on in the day we made a batch of granola, which we would use in Saturday's breakfast.

We also made a bunch of perogies, including our specialty with a mashed potato/beet mixture, dill, and goat cheese.

And something new ... bacon double cheeseburger perogies!

We fried onions and bacon in jalapeno olive oil until the bacon was cooked.  We then added extra lean ground beef, and cooked that until done.  Meanwhile we mashed a few potatoes with both cheddar and grana padano cheeses.  We combined the meat mixture with the potato mixture, and stuffed the perogies.

And then we cooked some of them up for dinner ...

Topped with sour cream, sriracha and parsley:

Between these eats and the Cougar burgers from Rock Creek, our Friday was pretty tasty.

How was your weekend?  What did you do?  Did you do any cooking this weekend?  Have you ever had quinoa for breakfast?