Amaranth

Amaranth ~ Ancient Grain of the Aztecs 

Recently I have been exploring new sources of protein and superfoods to replace other lower nutrient dense foods, to get as many nutrients as possible per food. Since giving up wheat (gluten) I have gained an interest in gluten free whole grains, and amaranth is one of them that I have recently purchased, after learning about its protein content from the Dr. Oz show. The video above shares most of all it's wonderful nutrients. I will be trying several recipes in the near future, so look out for them:)

Having just had my breakfast smoothie, I was super excised to try something with the amaranth right away after looking up online how people eat it. One of the really interesting things I learned is that amaranth can be popped like popcorn...and tastes like a miniature popcorn too! So I decided to pop some and here is how it turned out...Not all of it popped like videos I saw (which literally popped out of their pans!) but wow it was still delicious! I planed to just taste it and save the rest, but it was so good I kept eating it til my tiny bowl was all empty. Some add alil salt or whatever they usually put in their popcorn for flavor, but really, it is unnecessary, it has so much flavor on its own. It also has this really light crunchy texture that I loved.

 Starts out as a very small hard light yellow seed (I bought these at my local co-op store)

You then heat up a pan (with no oil...I would Not recommend using a Teflon pan like i did! I just couldn't find any other pan at the time). Once the pan is nice and hot, throw the seeds in, and shake constantly. They will then start to pop pop...pretty fun to watch.

Mine didn't all pop, nor did they dance high in the pan (using a different pan might have helped) but regardless the seeds that did not pop tasted soo delicious, light crunchy and toasty flavored:) I was super happy with the results.

Made a wonderful snack:) Some eat this as a cereal...adding a little almond milk and nuts, others eat it plain (as I did) or with popcorn seasoning. You can see the popped seeds....the little white balls. Next time I make this I will be sure to use a metal pan, not a Teflon non-stick pan (that should actually never be heated without anything in it! the pan fumes could kill a small bird)