Very quickly….I had a root canal done this morning. My endodontist is awesome, I didn’t feel a thing. I was numb for a few hours and didn’t want to eat anything for fear it would dribble out the corner of my mouth. (And by the way, take care of your teeth…address any temporalmandibular joint syndrome, and/or get a night guard, before you kill the nerves of your molars).

My tooth might be very tender for a few days so I wanted something soft to eat today. Like ice cream. But that would have required that I leave the house. And the couch. So instead, I googled some ingredients I had in the house: quinoa flakes, oatmeal, pumpkin purée, maple syrup, cashew milk. And a recipe popped up for this maple pecan quinoa. 

Soooooo….if I had ice cream on hand today, I totally would have gone for it. I don’t want to come off like I battled through a poor food choice impulse like a beast. Lol. I’m just fortunate that the combination of being tired and having healthy ingredients in the cupboard worked in my favor today. 

I do feel better, my energy is better than if I had ice cream. Good food = good fuel. 

I can’t find the link to the recipe. But this is what I remember:

Makes 1 serving. 

1 1/4 cup cashew or almond milk, unsweetened 

1/3 cup quinoa flakes

1/3 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Maple syrup

Chopped pecans 

Combine milk, quinoa, and pumpkin in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, turn down heat and simmer for 90 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat and add spice and maple syrup to taste. Top with pecans. 

My 11-year old enjoyed it. It was like comfort food. Not comfort like ice cream brings, but it was an excellent healthy alternative that ended up being very good for me.