Caramelized Banana Coconut Quinoa

Wow, the title of this one sounds fancy! It is actually really easy, nutritious and as a bonus makes your house smell just divine! The only difficult part is holding back the urge to take the hot caramelized bananas for yourself and pair them with some vanilla ice cream - and I don't even like bananas :) 

Quinoa is a wheat free grain that is kind of like a small little pearl and has a little "pop" when you bite it. It is almost like couscous, but a little "crunchier". It is a good alternative to oatmeal or rice to fill the whole grain requirement of your little one's diet.

1 cup water

1 13.5 oz can of whole fat coconut milk

1 cup quinoa

3 large bananas - overripe is good

2 tbls. butter, softened

A few dashes of cinnamon

1 tbls. vanilla flavored agave nectar (if you have plain just add in a little vanilla when you mash the bananas)

First, turn on your broiler and let it preheat while you start the quinoa. Add the water and 1 cup of coconut milk to a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Add in the quinoa, give it a stir and let it come back up to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.

Now start on your bananas. Peel them and slice them in half lengthwise. Place them into a baking dish (I used a bread pan) and give them a good smear of butter and sprinkle them with a little cinnamon. Lastly, drizzle them with the agave nectar. Now place them under the broiler on an oven rack about 6 inches from the heat.

 

Heat them for about 15 minutes, watching them closely to make sure they don't get to brown. You want them to get a nice caramely brown color. The will start smelling really, really good when they get close to being done. They should look a little something like this...

Really, if you are a banana person, I dare you not to break out the vanilla ice cream right now. Maybe it is not a bad idea to add a 4th banana into the mix so that you can eat one ;)

Let your bananas cool down a bit, by this time your quinoa should be just about done and look like this...

The liquid should be absorbed and there should be a noticeable little white crescent shape on the grains.

Now mash your bananas with a fork and add them into the quinoa and mix them all together. As the mixture starts to cool it will get thicker, so I added the rest of the coconut milk, a little at a time to reach the right consistency. 

Now, if your little one is good with rice and small pasta, you can serve this as is. It has almost a crunchy texture. Since little A has not had it before I went ahead and pureed half of it in the food processor and then mixed it back together with the un-pureed half to ease him into it. If you have a younger baby I would recommend starting out by pureeing the whole thing.

By the way, this freezes just fine - the bananas get a little darker, but taste the same :)