Date, Coconut & Pecan Quinoa Muffins

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Date, Coconut & Pecan Quinoa Muffins

Now let’s get one thing straight; when it comes to muffins, I hardly discriminate.  I like ’em all, from dense and cakey to light and delicate, most every muffin has its time and place in my world.  But, if you’re going to press me for my favorite weekday version, it is, without a doubt, the humble quinoa muffin.

Why, you ask.  Why some dowdy quinoa muffin when I could be biting into a fluffy blueberry-buttermilk beauty?  It’s like choosing some mousey brunette over a blonde bombshell pageant queen.

Because quinoa muffins have got substance, integrity, loyalty.  They’ll coax you out of bed with the promise of deep, nutty-grainy deliciousness and fuel you all through the first half of the day.  They’re not going to merely flirt with you in the morning only to flake out on you halfway to lunch.

If you’ve been coming around here since the beginning, you probably already know about my affection for quinoa muffins.  I’ve been known to hide squash and apples in them.  This time around, I’m thinking quinoa muffin meets granola with big chunks of dates, copious coconut curls, and plenty of pecans.

Coconut, Date & Pecan Quinoa Muffins [Read more…]

Cauliflower & Quinoa Salad with Mustard Greens

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I’m going to be perfectly upfront with you about this salad; it’s part of a bigger strategy.

You see I take my December eating pretty seriously.  Christmas cookies, cheese balls, and cocktail wienies are all on the horizon and I know I won’t be able to enjoy them in all their glory if I still feel guilty about the excessive eating of Thanksgiving week.  So I’m going to eat lots of hearty, nutritious salads for the next week or two.  Don’t worry, they’ll be delicious enough that I’ll enjoy the ride.

Today: a zippy quinoa salad with heaps of mustard greens, chickpeas, plenty of roasted cauliflower, and capers.  It’s a great make-on-Monday salad to pack in your lunchbox or have available for those I’m-so-starving-I-could-eat-a-whole-jar-of-peanut-butter-even-though-I-probably-shouldn’t moments.

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Black Lentil & Sweet Potato Bread Salad

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Beluga Lenti & Yam Panzanella Salad

It’s so easy to make a big, fresh salad in summer and call it dinner.  I’ll slice up a tomato and a couple cukes and I’m good to go.

Then winter happens and my thoughts turn from fresh and crisp toward melty, gooey, roasted, toasted, tender, warm, and comforting.  What happened to my salads?  What happened to my waistline?

Enter, a winter riff on the Panzanella salad: black lentil, sweet potato, and bread salad.  It’s a perfect solution.  It is full of healthy things- legumes, whole grain bread, frisee, and vitamin-packed sweet potatoes.  Totally nutritious and satisfying but with the same comfort factor as Thanksgiving stuffing.

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Chicken & Olive Meatballs in Consommé

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I’ve been accused of only posting decadent diet-busting recipes on my site.  Harsh…I know cream cheese streusel coffee cakes, pork-on-pork roasts, and nutella cream filling aren’t for everyday eating.  They’re treats.  Believe me, I’m eating plenty of really boring healthy meals between those posts.

Here’s a recipe that proves I’m not a total glutton and that simple, healthy foods can be blog-worthy.  It is a chicken consommé with baked chicken-olive meatballs and strands of Swiss chard.  Perfect; I’m calling it consommé so it sounds all French and elegant, it’ll be healthy because there’s a bunch of barely wilted chard in it, satisfying enough for dinner because there will be half a dozen meatballs bobbing around in each bowl.

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Autumn Harvest Quinoa Muffins

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I’ll admit it.  On occasion, after eating what is essentially dessert for breakfast five days straight, I feel a tiny twinge of guilt.

But what’s a girl to do?  A girl’s gotta eat.  And this girl has got to bake!

Solution: a healthy, hearty, grainy, good-for-your-body muffin.  No delicate, dainty muffin here.  This is a muffin that wakes up, steps into steel-toed boots, fastens its toolbelt, and gets to work.  And it works hard.  It’s going to get you out of bed, out the door, and carry you all the way through ’til lunch.  This muffin is not going to flake out on you.  How many other muffins can you count on to do the same?

Building blocks:  quinoa (it’s a super-food, you know), squash, apples, raisins, nuts.

That’s grated butternut squash, not cheddar cheese.  Hmm…cheddar might not be a bad idea…next time.

Combine dry ingredients, brown a bit of butter, whisk egg with buttermilk, toss the quinoa and other tasty touches together in a bowl.

butternut squash, golden, raisins, pecans, apple, brown butter, cinnamon

Bring it all together.  Into a muffin tin and into your oven.

butternut squash, quinoa, muffin, golden raisins, pecans, nuts, apples, cinnamon, hearty, healthy, whole grain, whole-wheat

Golden & toasty, a little crunchy, a lot healthy, super satisfying.  I call middle-right, you can have top-left.

squash, apple, raisin, quinoa, muffin, fall, hearty, healthy

You are going to love these wholesome, nutty muffins.  They’re so good you might not even want to go back to your more decadent breakfasts next week.  You may even make another batch, try another variation, other whole grains, different secret vegetal add-ins.

healthy, whole grain, squash, apple, pecan, raisins

Or maybe you’ll rediscover the jar of nutella.

5.0 from 1 reviews
Autumn Harvest Quinoa Muffins
 
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These muffins are wholesome, flavorful, and moist with just enough crunch. Customize them with your nuts and favorite dried fruits.
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Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 1½ c. All Purpose Flour
  • 1 c. Whole Wheat Flour
  • 1 tsp. Baking Soda
  • 1 tsp. Baking Powder
  • ½ tsp. Salt
  • 1 tsp. Cinnamon
  • ½ c. Dark Brown Sugar
  • 1½ c. Buttermilk
  • 1 Egg
  • ¼ c. Unsalted Butter, melted and browned
  • 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
  • 1 c. Cooked Quinoa
  • 1 c. Grated Apple (1 medium apple)
  • ½ c. Grated Butternut Squash
  • ½ c. Golden Raisins
  • ½ c. Pecans, chopped
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375°. Butter or spray a 12 cup muffin tin.
  2. Combine flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, brown sugar, and cinnamon in large bowl. Mix well.
  3. In medium bowl, whisk together egg, buttermilk, browned butter, and vanilla.
  4. In another medium bowl, combine quinoa, apple, squash, raisins, and pecans.
  5. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until just combined.
  6. Fold quinoa mixture into muffin batter and scoop into prepared muffin cups.
  7. Bake until golden and tester comes out clean, about 30 minutes.