The amazingly beautiful fall weather, including this intense blue sky captured this weekend, have given me my recent cooking inspiration. Given the time of year, I had originally wanted to make pumpkin quinoa muffins. But after 4 attempts in the last week I’ve had to admit to myself that the only recipe I’ve perfected has been one for banana quinoa muffins… at least they have pumpkin seeds in them, making them semi-seasonal! Don’t worry, pumpkin muffins will come soon, the recipe just needs to be tweaked a few more times — which means the roommates will be happy with the amount of baked goods I’ll be leaving around the kitchen.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cups uncooked quinoa
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup hemp milk (you can probably switch out for any type of milk; soy, almond, rice, etc.)
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 cup brown rice flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup chopped raw pumpkin seeds

Recipe:

1. Cook quinoa (remember 2 parts water to 1 part quinoa!) and set aside
2. Whisk egg and mix in bananas, milk and melted butter
3. Combine dry ingredients and chopped pumpkin seeds
4. Combine all dry and wet ingredients and stir in cooked quinoa
5. Pour batter into greased 12-cup muffin pan
6. Bake at 375 degrees for 18 minutes

Enjoy!

This is where it all started… the slight obsession with quinoa that is. Earlier this summer I came across a quinoa cake recipe and thought to myself “if I can get this grain into a dessert as well, I’m going to be hooked.” Well, you can guess what happened. The first one was such a success that I ended up making another two for my housemates that week. A lot of versions of the cake were tried out; chocolate chips, crystallized ginger, pecans… the list went on. In fact I have made this cake so many times with so many additions and changes it no longer looks like the original recipe. But after having made this cake for various dinner parties, afternoons with the girls and the obligatory “it’s Friday night and I’m bored… I guess I’ll cook,” I’ve decided that it’s the simple version that I like best.

I’ve been lucky to have a bag of home-grown apples on hand which really can’t be beat. The fruit obviously gives the cake a very moist texture and the buckwheat adds a very dense flavor.  The best thing about this cake is that once you get the basic recipe down, you can pretty much add anything you want, switching up the flavors to fit your mood. Most importantly, remember this: you’re making a cake with an uber-healthy grain!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 cup buckwheat flour
• 1 large apple, peeled and diced (I normally use Fuji or Gala apples)
• 3 eggs
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup turbinado sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• dash of nutmeg or allspice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or switch out for orange extract)

Recipe:

1. Cook quinoa and set aside
2. Mix dry ingredients
3. Whisk butter and eggs together and add to dry mixture
4. Combine all ingredients and tir in apple pieces
5. Bake for 35-45 minutes at 350 F.

Getting fancy:

If you really want to impress your friends, put a glaze on it by mixing powdered sugar and the juice of a lemon…. delicious!