Quinoa Banana Muffins

You Will Need:

1/4 cup white quinoa
1/2 cup water
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
1 cup of chocolate chips

Method
Preheat oven to 400. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.
-Bring quinoa and water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Cover, reduce to a simmer and cook for `10 minutes. Turn off heat and leave the covered saucepan on the burner for another 15 minutes. Fluff with fork and allow to cool.
-Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
-mix together banana’s, brown sugar, vegetalbe oil, sour cream, and egg until smooth. (I blended the banana’s with a hand blender which made the muffins really smooth!)
-slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet. when it is mixed and smooth add the chocolate chips.
-pour into muffin tins and bake for approximately 25 minutes.

The muffins will be a lot moister than typical banana muffins because of the quinoa so don’t be alarmed. Also, I mixed the chocolate in when the quinoa was still a little warm which turned the muffins chocolaty brown!

Hope you enjoy!

Quinoa!

Recently I've been doing a lot of research into the ancient grain Quinoa. My friend Jay has been trying Quinoa and when he asked me for advice I figured I had no choice but to start cooking with it and learning more about it!

Here's what I've learned:

• Quinoa is an ancient grain from the Mayans. Due to malnutrition Quinoa was a coveted food because of its high level of proteins and adaptability when cooking. It has been said that duing the Mayan Era Quinoa was traded for gold and used as currency!
• Quinoa is considered a "super food" because of its nutritional qualities. It is extremely high in Protein which means that 1 serving of Quinoa is going to keep you full and help eliminate empty calorie snacking!
• Quinoa is one of the most versatile grains! It can be boiled, it can sprout, and can be eaten like rice, or oatmeal, or something inbetween.
  
• There are three types of Quinoa, each of which have their own unique flavours and qualities.
  

White Quinoa

• This is the most common type of quinoa. Sometimes referred to as "Gold Quinoa" this version is light in flavour and works best in dishes that already have a lot of flavour. Gold Quinoa is great for oatmeals, and in baking.

Red Quinoa

• Red Quinoa is the second type of Quinoa. This type has a lot more flavour and is very fragrant. This type of quinoa is very adaptable but works best in a main dish because of its bolder flavour!

Black Quinoa

• Black Quinoa is the darkest type of Quinoa available! This type is incredible flavourful and has strong smokey fragrances. Black Quinoa is best used in a main dish where strong flavours are already present.
  

Quinoa ends up becoming a great budget friendly food! It almost triples in size when cooked (more than rice!) which means that typically a serving of Quinoa (regardless of the kind) ends up costing less than $0.50. My next few blogs will be going through my journey with this super grain as I feel it is something that needs to be shared!

Here is where and how you can find Quinoa!

• Quinoa can be found in the organic section at most grocery stores. It can be hard to find anything other than white quinoa.
• Any natural stores or organic grocery stores will stock all forms of Quinoa. I would recommend trying Whole Foods or Roots Naturals!
  

Soup Strategies

Have you ever heard the saying, "Cheap as Borscht?". Well I've found a product that will make borscht even cheaper!

Today while I was at my local Italian Market I found a new type of broth that I tried. Instead of a carton of diluted broth this product is a small jar of bouillon, similar to bouillon cubes but its all natural, has pieces of chicken and less salt. The product sells for around $8.00 which makes over 31 cups of broth (keep in mind most broths sell for about $4.50 per 2 cups). I loved the taste of this broth and also loved how user friendly it is. The mixture measures 1 tsp per cup of water and can be kept in the fridge until you need it again.

This is the brand that I used:
http://www.superiortouch.com/retail/products/better-than-bouillon

Check it out and let me know if its as budget friendly and tasty and I found it!

Fishy Fishy Fishy Fish

Like fish? Hate the cost? My local grocery store, Sobeys, has a great product out and you should look for it in your local shop. Sobeys has a brand of Canadian flash frozen seafood and fish products. Most of these products are sold at and incredibly reduced price, not because of the quality or expiration date but because of their popularity.

Tonight for supper with my dad, and sister we had salmon, roasted yams, roasted red peppers, brown rice pilaf and sliced cucumbers. The whole meal cost under $10!

The salmon packages come individually at $1/piece. You can cook them thawed or frozen, or steam them in the microwave in the package they come with. For supper we prepared the salmon in a teriyaki-soy marinade with garlic, red peppers, yams and some herbs including oregano. We baked everything in the oven for about 20 minutes and voila, we had an incredible meal.

Look for this at your grocery store! Its a great find!

Dead Banana Day

Do you celebrate dead banana day like me? Every time I grocery shop I tend to buy a bundle of banana's, partly because of the price and partly because of the routine of getting banana's weekly from childhood. Interestingly enough, I don't really like raw banana's.

Given your cupboard is stocked with flour, sugar etc making a loaf of banana bread is cost effective, healthy and super tasty. I've put together a basic recipe. Below I've also added some interesting ingredients to add some spice and additional flavour to the bread!


Ingredients:

3 Bananas
4 oz. Butter (room temperature)
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
1.5 cups Sifted Flour
1 tsp. Baking Soda (or Dry Yeast)
2 Eggs
Pinch of Salt
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract (optional)
Additional Flour and Butter for baking dish

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 375°F
1. Using a wooden spoon, work the sugar and butter in a bowl until smooth.
2. Add the eggs, one at a time, and stir until the batter is completely smooth.
3. In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Then, slowly incorporate the flour into the batter. Stir until smooth, you may want to use your hands to knead the dough so that bumps do not appear.
4. In another bowl, mush bananas completely with a fork. Add vanilla extract if you want and stir.
5. Slowly incorporate the bananas into the dough and stir well until smooth.
6. Butter and flour your baking dish. Pour the batter into the dish and put in the oven for about 55 minutes. The banana bread recipe is cooked when the tip of a knife comes out clean and dry.
7. Let cool off for about ten minutes and then remove from baking dish. You can serve this warm or room temperature.
Voilà!

Variations:
For super moist cake try one of these ideas:
* keep some liquid on hand. I usually use milk but orange juice tastes great as well!
* if your batter is still pretty stiff, add in jam. Apricot is ideal because it doesn't change the flavor of the bread but if you want to alter the taste try strawberry jam!

To add some bite:
*Chocolate chips are classic but what about nuts? I really like adding in walnuts, almonds or pecans! Make sure to only add about 1/2 a cup.
*Dried cranberries are a great addition and add some sour bite to the bread with works really well with the sweetness from the bananas
*Citrus zest cooks down, adds colour as well as adds a fresh flavour. Don't worry, you don't get major bites of citrus.

To add something different and creative:
*what about Peanut Butter? Melt about 1/2-1 cup of peanut butter. The taste is subtle but resembles a good Peanut Butter and Banana sandwich!
*add some other fruit in it. I've added everything from berries to apples. Again, the end result is sublte but it adds tons of moisture to the bread and a natural sweetness!

Home Made Curry!

Curry is delicious but can be daunting to make. Today I created a simple but wonderful curry dish. All together it will serve an army, and the dish itself only cost about $1.00 per serving!

You will need:
1 can of coconut milk
2-3 tbsp of curry
1.5 tsp of cumin
1 tbsp pepper (cracked)
salt to taste
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp garlic powder
6-8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, or the equivalent in another cut of chicken
1 white onion diced
1 green pepper diced
1 red pepper diced
1 cup baby carrots

Method
In a bowl whisk together the coconut milk and all of the spices. Taste to see if it is spicy enough. *remember the mixture will taste stronger in the bowl as no vegetables or meat have been added*
Put the coconut milk mixture, vegetables and chicken in a large pot and simmer on medium.
Simmer until chicken is cooked through and the milk has reduced about an inch.

Serve with rice


Notes:
- this recipe was spicy, so if you don't like spicy food as much i would recommed reducing the curry, and cayenne by about 1/4
- cooking chicken in coconut milk makes the meat incredibly tender! It also makes the chicken taste incredible. Although coconut milk is more expensive it is worth it every once in a while.
- curries taste great with many different additions. Why don't you try adding diced potatoes, mushrooms, or fresh tomatoes!

5 Star Pasta!

I was at the grocery store the other day with a mad craving for pasta, but I didn't want plain Jane pasta with tomato sauce. Instead I created an incredible crab pasta bake. The dish served atleast 4 with each portion costing less than $3.

You will need
1.5-2 cups of uncooked pasta shells (or other pasta, not spaghetti though)
1 package of "mock" crab, usually pollock
1 bottle of Alfredo sauce
1 green pepper, cubed
1 red pepper, cubed
1 med white onion, diced
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
parmesean cheese

Method
1.Par cook your pasta. You want your pasta to be just before aldente.
2. while the pasta is cooking saute the peppers, onions and garlic in a sauce pan
3. when the vegetables are soft add alfredo sauce to the vegetables,
4. after sauce is heated, add in the crab, mix
5. when the pasta is par cooked put it in the bottom of a glass baking dish, pour sauce over top and stir in
6. add parmesean cheese to the top
7. bake in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes. broil the dish for the final 5-10 minutes to brown the cheese.


This dish could easily be substituted with any protein, just make sure if you are using raw meat to cook it through before putting in the oven.