Revised Muffins...

So I got chopped...by myself! I tried the muffins from the previous post hot out of the oven, and thought they were fine. The next morning, they weren't as good...too much butter and not enough flour.

So I tried again:) Here is my revised version:

Gluten-Free Banana Chocolate Cran-raisin Muffins

Dry:
1 cup gluten-free all purpose flour*
1 cup brown rice flour*
3/4 cup quinoa flakes*
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. xanthan gum (added when cooking with gluten-free all purpose flour to make the dough sticky)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Wet:
1 egg
2 mashed bananas
2 T oil
1/4 cup water

Extras:
handful dried cran-raisins
handful dark chocolate chips
handful almonds

1. Mix dry ingredients and slowly add into wet ingredients.
2. Mix until flour has disappeared and then add extras.
3. Bake in muffin tins at 400 degrees for 12-14 minutes or until done.

* If you don't care about these being gluten-free, instead of gluten-free all purpose flour use white flour, instead of brown rice flour use whole wheat flour, and instead of quinoa flakes use oatmeal (and take out xanthan gum)

(Thanks to a friend for sharing the recipe that inspired this version: http://bellisbabiesmommies.blogspot.com)

Quinoa: My New Favorite Food

Quinoa: (keen-wah)is a tall crop plant, cultivated mainly in Peru, Bolivia, and Chile for its small, ivory-colored seed...


Who knew? I didn't. Over Easter I tried a bread recipe with Quinoa and I wasn't crazy about it, so that spoiled my view of Quinoa for the time.

Then, I was brave enough to try a Quinoa and Arugula Salad at California Pizza Kitchen.

Yum! I was sold and couldn't wait to try to recreate it at home.

I found the recipe online at ksdk.com.

Quinoa and Arugula Salad

1 c pre-cooked quinoa

2 portions arugula

1/2 oz red onions, sliced

1 Tbl sun-dried tomatoes

1/3 c blanched asparagus

1 1/2 fl. oz champagne vinaigrette

2 tsp toasted pine nuts

2 Tbl feta cheese crumbles

1. Toss all ingredients together, except the garnish

2. Evenly distribute feta cheese crumbles over the salad

So I went to Publix and bought Quinoa and Quinoa Flakes. Tyler tried eating gluten-free a few months back and felt great for the week that he did it and so I was excited to find gluten-free recipes. I stumbled on the blog glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com and this delicious recipe, Quinoa with Stir-Fry Vegetables!

http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2009/06/quinoa-with-summer-vegetables.html

I made it tonight for dinner and we all loved it! It's so healthy. You can put whatever vegetables you want and I made the Quinoa with chicken stock to give it more flavor.

I was feeling adventurous in the kitchen (maybe it's because I've watched one too many Chopped episodes on the Food Network) and wanted to bake, so I got out the Quinoa Flakes. Never seen them before, but on the back of the box there was a recipe for Crispy Quinoa Cookies. Well, I didn't want crispy, I wanted soft and goo-ey; and I didn't want cookies, I wanted muffins. So I added a few things, left out a few things, and came up with my own recipe! How fun!

It's definitely not perfected but I wanted to share what I created so you can be adventurous as well and give it a try.

Gluten-Free Banana Cran-raisin Chocolate Quinoa Muffins

Mix:

2 T honey

1/3 c brown sugar

1/2 c melted butter

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 mashed banana

Mix in separate bowl:

3/4 c rice flour (I used brown rice flour; if don't care if it's gluten-free just use regular)

3/4 c quinoa flakes

1 tsp baking powder

handful crasins

handful dark chocolate chips

(nuts would be delicious as well)

1. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix

2. Spray muffin pans with non-stick cooking spray

3. Put spoonfuls of mix into muffin pan

4. Cook at 350 degrees for 20 minutes

(makes 12 muffins)

So I encourage you...be brave! Try new things! Enjoy Quinoa!