quinoa muffins

Last night I made Martha's quinoa muffins. Before I tell you how they came out, let's talk about quinoa. Quinoa (keen-wah) is a complete protein in that it includes all nine essential amino acids. It is also a good source of magnesium, iron, copper and phosphorus and may be beneficial to people with migraines, diabetes and atherosclerosis. Full list of health benefits here. Now imagine my shock when the boyfriend couldn't find it at our local Ralph's! And they say California is green and health conscious... Of course, I was able to get my quinoa at another local grocery store.

I love finding ways to cook or bake healthy foods in new/interesting ways so, of course, I bookmarked this recipe when I came across it. Before I list my rants and raves about the quinoa muffins, let me explain how I changed the recipe: I omitted the raisins, substituted milk for almond milk and I cooked the quinoa as per the packets instructions, not Martha's (for some reason that's what I thought she meant). And now, my thoughts:

Rants:

• The muffins didn't rise very much
• The muffins came out very moist (not in a good way), almost as if they weren't fully cooked (they were!)

Raves:

• The muffins went perfectly with my new sweet potato butter
• I ate one of these puppies at 11 AM today and it held me over for a surprisingly long time till I ate lunch at 2:30 PM

I even added some Trader Joe's dark chocolate covered pomegranate seeds to the last three.



The pomegranate seeds were a wonderful addition! At first they tasted like chocolate chip muffins but the chocolateyness (not a real word) slowly gives way to a tart fruitiness (a real word) and the actual seeds add a good crunch!

P.S. Matt and I did not go to the gym BUT I did go for a 3.62 mile run (yay, me!) after work followed by a fresh juice of 3 carrots, 1 apple, 1/2 lemon, 1/2 orange and a small piece of ginger. Lesson learned: When juicing ginger, a little goes a LONG way!