Quinoa Spice Cookies

Posted on April 18, 2010 by Andrea

Naturally when I started playing around with quinoa, I immediately went the dessert route. ”Hey I bet I could make cookies. How awesome would that be? Protein powered cookies!”

This was actually my first baking experiment with quinoa. I wanted something that sort of reminded me of fall, cozy times, and early sunsets.

These cookies totally deliver and are actually one of the few cookies that get better with time!

Andrea’s Quinoa Spice Cookies

1.5C Cooked Quinoa

1C Whole Wheat Pastry Flour + 4 TBSP

2tsp Cinnamon

1/2tsp Allspice

1/2tsp Ground Clove

1/2tsp Baking Powder

1/4tsp Baking Soda

2TBSP Sugar

2TBSP Ground Flax

1/2C Dried Cranberries

1/2C Crushed/chopped Walnuts

1C Soymilk

2TBSP Molasses

2tsp Vanilla Extract

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. In medium sized mixing bowl, combine soymilk, vanilla, and molasses. Whisk until combined, set aside. In a large mixing bowl combine all remaining ingredients. Mix until everything is combined. The flour will start to coat the quinoa. Add in the liquid mixture to the quinoa mixture slowly. Stir until everything is combined. If the mixture seems thick and like you might need more liquid, add a splash more of soymilk.

Quinoa Pancakes

Posted on April 12, 2010 by Andrea

For those of you that read Mama Pea’s blog, you got a sneak peak of these babies last month.

I had a bit of leftover quinoa that I needed to use up and wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do with it. Seeing as how it was Sunday and Sunday Breakfast time, I decided, what the heck, and tried making pancakes out of it.

I was really pleased with the way these turned out! Healthy pancakes with added protein punch? I’ll take it!

Andrea’s Quinoa Pancakes:

1 1/2C Cooked Quinoa

1C Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

½ tsp Baking powder

1tsp Ground cinnamon

1TBSP Maple Syrup

1 1/4C Soymilk

2TBSP Wheat Bran

2TBSP Ground Flax

2tsp Vanilla Extract

In a small mixing bowl combine the soymilk, vanilla extract, and maple syrup. In a large mixing bowl, combine all other ingredients. Gently add the liquid mixture to the quinoa mixture. Stir just until everything is combined.

Heat a griddle over medium heat. Brush with light olive oil and drop pancake mixture by the spoonful onto the griddle. Amount is up to you and what size pancakes you want to make. Cook for about 4 minutes on one side or until the middle starts to pop with air bubbles. Gently flip and allow to finish cooking on the other side. About another 3 minutes or so.

Cranberry Irish Soda Bread

Posted on March 24, 2010 by Andrea

I used to buy Irish Soda Bread at Whole Foods all the time when they had it out. It was fantastic! It was also the first time I had tasted it before. Irish Soda Bread wasn’t something I grew up with nor heard of until I saw it at Whole Foods. I guess I just didn’t run around in circles where it was mentioned.

At some point I think Whole Foods might have changed their recipe because I don’t care for their version anymore. Something about it just tastes off and I can’t quite put my finger on it. I never really thought about soda bread again after that until I came across Happy Herbivore’s recipe for Irish Soda Bread.

It was her recipe where I learned that one could curdle non-dairy milk with a little bit of acid, either lemon juice or apple-cider vinegar. Did you know that? I didn’t so I was excited to learn something new!

Spinach and Sundried Tomato Dip

Posted on March 22, 2010 by Andrea

This is a concept that I came up with a few years ago when it dawned on me that “pesto” can be made using a variety of ingredients. I always have spinach on hand and (at the time) occasionally had sundried tomatoes on hand. I decided to mix the two to see what would happen.

When I originally made this, I did add in some grated parm but left out the nuts. This turned into an amazing spread and dip. We instantly fell in love with the smooth spinach and the sweet chewiness of the sundried tomatoes. The concept is super easy and can be adjusted to fit your tastes!

I never measure when I make this recipe, so this is more of a concept type post than an actual recipe with measurements.

Andrea’s Spinach and Sundried Tomato Dip

Fresh baby spinach

Sundried tomatoes (marinated or unmarinated, it’s up to you)

1 garlic clove

Olive oil

Cinnamon Vanilla Cupcakes

Posted on March 8, 2010 by Andrea

Last month for Scott’s birthday we discussed what sort of special dessert/snacky thing he wanted. A lot of ideas were tossed around and he finally decided on Cinnamon Vanilla Cupcakes.

Those were his exact words.

Dude. I don’t even know where he pulled that from! But in this house, whatever my hunny wants is what he’s going to get.

I poured over some websites and several of my favorite cookbooks and came up with a game plan.

This is how I work. I review several recipes to get an idea of how something is done and then I make my own version.

I fully expect that everyone else operates this way as well. In my head no one follows a recipe exactly, we are all just a bunch of Kitchen Rogues blazing a path with a chef’s knife in one hand and a kitchen blow torch in the other.

Or something like that.

Andrea’s Cinnamon Vanilla Cupcakes

Read more on Cinnamon Vanilla Cupcakes…

Spelt Pizza Dough

Posted on March 7, 2010 by Andrea

Pizza!! I don’t know why it took me so long to finally post my dough recipe but here we are, woo!

Scott and I started Pizza Thursday I think in early 2009. We love pizza and we decided that if we have it every week then we would be more open to playing with toppings and sauces.

Also because we have had trouble finding pizza we like in Columbus. I know everybody has places they like but some of them are a little too far for us to travel for pickup for a Thursday night.

In order to satisfy our love for pizza we had to make our own. I originally started out buying pizza dough from Whole Foods which was fine but it wasn’t awesome. Plus it was pricey. Yes it was still cheaper than buying a pizza out but if I made my own crust, I could save us loads of cash.

I searched around for dough recipes and started playing around with what I found.

Coleslaw

Posted on February 13, 2010 by Andrea

I love coleslaw and I’m also extremely picky about my coleslaw. I like it sweet and tart with just a hint of some heat at the end.

While I don’t mind mayo, I don’t want it swimming in mayo. Really soupy coleslaw is gross. I like coleslaw to have just a touch of dressing giving flavor to the veggies but not crushing them so they lose their crunch.

Speaking of crunch, I want to crunch and chew my way through coleslaw, not slurp it up.

Coleslaw needs to have some onion background. Not overpowering but it needs to be present. Coleslaw is also more than just cabbage, it can be a great opportunity to introduce some new veggies to the scene!

Now even though I don’t mind mayo, I have started making my coleslaw without. One reason being is that I want to be able to make slaw for my vegan friends and friends who have dairy allergies. Also because I want a slaw that can sit out at a party or BBQ without a time constraint and one that doesn’t strike fear into the very heart of my guests if it has been sitting out.

Peanut Butter and Banana Pancakes

Posted on February 8, 2010 by Andrea

Naturally since I got a brand spanking new fantastic waffle maker for Christmas, I have been in the mood for nothing but pancakes.

Figures.

Pancakes are in big rotation here at the HQ as a Sunday Breakfast staple. I love coming up with new creations and flavor combos. This newest pancake has the awesome combo of bananas and peanut butter!

Andrea’s Peanut Butter and Banana Pancakes

1C Spelt Flour

1C Unbleached All Purpose Flour

1tsp Baking Powder

1TBSP Ground Flax

2tsp Cinnamon

2 Bananas

1 3/4C Soymilk

1/4C All Natural Peanut Butter

2tsp Vanilla Extract

Olive oil for cooking

In a large mixing bowl combine the flours, baking powder, flax, and cinnamon. Stir with a whisk to combine and aerate the flours. In a medium sized mixing bowl combine soymilk and banana. Mash the banana with a masher until totally demolished. Add in the peanut butter and vanilla, whisk till combined. Gently pour the liquid mixture in with the flour mixture, stir with mixing spoon to combine. Will need to add the liquid mixture a bit at a time.

Vegan Chocolate Pudding

Posted on January 8, 2010 by Andrea

The first time I had vegan chocolate pudding was when I picked up a small container of it from Whole Foods. I read the ingredient list which was not scary nor was it long, so I dumped into the cart. It did use silken tofu as a base and while I don’t really dig on tofu, I decided to be open-minded and give it a try.

From that point we were hooked and would purchase it on occasion when making a Whole Foods trip. However, like most things at Whole Foods, their pudding was overpriced and on the small side (sorry WF but you know it’s true). I decided to look into making my own. I checked a few recipes online just to get a basic idea of what is needed, reviewed the ingredient list of the Whole Foods version and started experimenting.

What I am currently doing takes no more than like five minutes prep time and uses only four ingredients. It’s still a work in progress but so far it’s damn tasty and when your husband begs you to make him some Vegan Chocolate Pudding, it’s safe to assume you are on the right track.