You know ya wanna quinoa.

Quinoa. The holy grain of the giantly popular paleo lifestyle. *Note: never call it a diet to one who follows it. They WILL correct you to the word "lifestyle." Whatever. Let's all just eat and enjoy the stuff, shall we? 

Today I decided to get off the dinner (read: animal protein) cookery, and bake something that can be eaten as breakfast, a snack, or as a light lunch with something like a side salad. IF my recipe works, that is!

As always, I have to put my own spin on it and in this case I did for three reasons: The original calls for stevia, juice and zest from a fresh lemon, and egg whites. I did not have the first 2 and was feeling a bit anxious about wasting yolks (yeah I know, but if you've read previous posts you know this kills me). So let's see what my ingredient list looked like: 

You'll need: 

1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa 

1/2 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon pure honey

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla 

3 whole eggs

1 cup thawed bite size fruit blend

1/4 cup frozen pomegranate seeds

1 /2 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt 

Preheat your oven to 350. Spray a standard-size muffin pan with cooking spray. Now in a medium bowl, combine all ingredients. Nom....look at that ooey gooey honey drip off the spoon...

Let your mix hang out in the bowl for awhile so it can thicken up a bit; I let mine sit about ten minutes while I hung laundry. Happy Susie Homemaker, that's me...*cough-not-quite-cough-cough.*

Ahem.

Here is what I found when I returned to the kitchen. Apparently I am now going to bake a batch of Smurfs.

 Alas, do not fret! I carried on with the plan and scooped even amounts into the pan, filling each cup halfway. Then off to the oven they go for 35 minutes.

This photo was after about 15 minutes of baking. I was expecting this to be a flop as they looked very wet and unhappy still. 

Nooooo! These have to come through! And guess what? 

They did! Oh quinoa. I'll never doubt you again. They weren't even blue anymore after they were done, but a toasty brown and perfectly moist in the middle.  Pleasantly surprised, for sure. 

Three tips: These do not rise like muffins or cupcakes; they're rather small and disc-like so be prepared for that. Also, they are tricky buggers to get out of the pan, so go heavy on the pre-greasing before baking. Lastly I think 3 whole eggs may have been a bit much, so next time I'll try with just 2. 

Now to eat with a wee dollop of Greek yogurt! 

Get cooking, or uh, baking,

Stace. 

Source: www.damyhealth.com