Cranberry & chocolate quinoa muffins

I typically eschew muffins at breakfast, because let's face it, most muffins are basically cake, and cake is not a great way to start your day (well, nutritionally speaking). These hearty fiber- and protein-rich muffins, however, will take you through till lunch. The quinoa makes them chewy and dense, like bran muffins but tastier.
The recipe below is very slightly adapted from the one here from Martha Stewart Everyday Food (check out the site for a video of Martha and one of her minions making the muffins); I used dried cranberries instead of raisins, and also added chunks of dark chocolate.

Ingredients
1 cup quinoa, rinsed
1/4 cup vegetable oil, plus more for pan
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
3/4 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 small bar (40g) of dark chocolate
3/4 cup whole milk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

To Make
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium saucepan, bring quinoa and 1 cup water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer; cover and cook until water has been absorbed and quinoa is tender, 11 to 13 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, brush a standard 12-cup muffin pan with oil; dust with flour, tapping out excess.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cranberries and 2 cups cooked quinoa.
5. In a small bowl, whisk together oil, milk, egg, and vanilla. Add milk mixture to flour mixture, and stir just until combined.
6. Crumble chocolate bar into small chunks, stir into batter.
7. Divide batter among prepared muffin cups.
8. Bake until toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool muffins in pan, 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Vegetarian Chili with Chocolate

A hearty, tasty vegetarian dinner! The basic idea: make chili, stir in chocolate at the end. If you have your own favorite chili recipe (and if you do, I'd like to hear about it!), you could try making it and then adding the chocolate for some extra depth.

This particular chili is not at all hot, so if you're one of those masochistic types who likes your food to hurt you, you might want to add some hot peppers or Tabasco or something.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small clove garlic, minced
half an onion, chopped
1 small red pepper, cut into ~1-inch pieces (I used a red pepper because that's what I had, you could use green)
1 16 oz. can whole tomatoes, drained and chopped
1 15 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
3 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 oz dark chocolate (72% cocoa)

To Make
1. Use a large saucepan. Heat the oil over medium heat, then cook the garlic, onion and green pepper until slightly soft, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the tomatoes, chickpeas, kidney beans, broth, cumin, and salt. Bring to a boil over high heat.
3. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes.
4. Break up chocolate into small pieces, then stir into chili until melted.

Enjoy with crusty bread!

Chocolate Brownie Pudding Cake

Joe and I made a delicious gooey chocolately-peanut-buttery cake from this recipe. It's very rich, so good for sharing (and great with vanilla ice cream or coffee). What we did:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
  
• 2 Tbsp cocoa
  
• 2 1/2 cups brownie mix (half of a 21.5oz pkg)
  
• 1 egg
  
• 1/4 cup peanut butter (Smuckers Natural)
  
• 1 tablespoon soft butter

Combine 3/4 cup water, brown sugar, and cocoa in a saucepan. Bring to a boil.

In the meantime, combine the remaining ingredients and 1/4 cup water in a mixing bowl. Mix well with a spoon.

Spread the batter evenly in the bottom of a lightly buttered slow cooker.

Pour boiling mixture over the batter.

Cover and cook on high about 2 hours; turn heat off and let stand for about 30 minutes. Or, carry slow cooker in 30 degree weather a few blocks over to the Secret Santa party where you will serve the cake.

If you make this in a 5-qt slow cooker, it will wind up being about an inch thick.

First Lunch of the Blog

two slices of Bread Alone whole wheat sourdough toast, drizzled w/ extra-virgin olive oil
smoked sardines packed in olive oil (from Trader Joe's)
a cut-up persimmon
a couple squares of dark chocolate


Sardines are one of my favorite foods lately. They're cheap ($1-$2 per can) and full of healthy fat (esp. if you get them in olive oil), protein, and calcium (from those crunchy little bones). And since they're small fish near the bottom of the food chain you don't have to worry so much about mercury. And they are tasty! Well, if you like fish.