I like to take Dr. Oz with a grain of, um, quinoa. But I have to admit, he sucks me in.

Grabbed O magazine last nite at the grocery store because the cover touted Dr. Oz’s 2-Day Wonder Cleanse. I figured I’d need a “cleanse” this weekend…after I ate the warm apple crisp I’d just made (topped with ice cream). Hey, it was an icy-cold blustery Friday night in Milwaukee. Just call me Moping in Milwaukee.

So I began this a.m. with Oz’s quinoa, ginger, nutmeg, prune, rice milk porridge. No prunes in the house, but I did have dried cranberries. Look and taste better, but I’m sure prunes are better for purging—I mean cleansing. No rice milk either. Does anyone really drink that stuff?

Even tho I had a cartload of groceries last nite, I now have to do a grocery run for the pineapple, kale, cabbage, fennel and other ingredients on the Oz list for the next two days. The recipes make a soup, a smoothie, a snack drink (pineapple-kale) and that quinoa porridge. Oh, and there’s dandelion tea, which is supposed to be a diuretic. (I may skip that tea. Water is a diuretic if you drink as much as you should daily. (Plus I think I’ll need my mint-chocolate tea to get me through the weekend of  slurping cabbage-fennel soup and other slurries for two days.)

Wish me luck. Will let you know if I feel cleansed in 48 hours. Spring cleaning will have a whole new meaning for me.

Slosh. Slosh.

Here’s my version of the breakfast recipe:

HRK’s Breakfast Quinoa

Put  1/4 cup red quinoa and 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan. Add two or three good shakes of cinnamon. Grate some fresh ginger into the pan (or add three or four shakes of ground ginger). Bring to boil, then lower heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until most of the water is gone. Then add 1/4 cup nonfat milk (or almond milk or rice milk…ugh) and a handful of dried cranberries or snipped dried apricots. (Dr. Oz prefers prunes. Not me.) Simmer for 5 or 10 minutes more.

Quinoa is actually an amazing little grain, with an amino acid profile that puts it on the top of most good-for-you lists. Lot of fiber, too. I prefer my quinoa loaded up with vegetables in a salad or side dish. But, Dr. Oz says eat it for breakfast. So here I go.

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