Avocado Quinoa Brownies

I've been getting pretty sneaky in kitchen lately, and becoming a expert at hiding nutritious ingredients in the food I prepare.  My kids aren't opposed to the idea of eating healthy foods, but their palates are less refined, their tastes are not always adventurous, and they still turn up their noses at less conventional foods.  If they're looking for a treat, they would choose something refined and sugary over protein and fibre.  If I want them to eat enough of the good stuff, sometimes I have to disguise it.  Our banana, berry, and yogurt smoothies also have spinach and avocado in them.  Most of the muffins I bake include quinoa, flax, and chia.  I hide finely chopped veggies in sauces and stews.  Pureed dates sweeten baked goods instead of sugar.  And they have no idea that the tuna salad in their sandwiches is hiding sardines and avocado.  Most of the time no one notices, the food tastes good, and everyone's happy.  But there have been a few failures along the way.  I'm still struggling with homemade granola bars, and I haven't quite nailed a few cookie recipes I've been working on, but I think I've figured out brownies.

I shared this photo of black bean brownies a while ago.  They were my first attempt at healthifying brownies, and they tasted great, but the texture was terrible and they fell apart as soon as they came out of the pan.  

I haven't abandoned black bean brownies yet, and I have plans to modify the recipe a bit, but in the meantime I made up a batch of avocado quinoa brownies.  And they were amazing, fudgey and chocolatey, just as a brownie should be.

I might increase the amounts next time, or use a smaller pan, as they were a little on the flat side.  There was an ever-so-slight crunch from the quinoa, which I liked and the kids didn't really notice.  Maybe I could cook the quinoa a bit longer.  Other than that, I won't change a thing.  These are really good brownies.

Feeling sneaky?  Or just craving chocolate?  Either way, these are what you need.

Avocado Quinoa Brownies

1 avocado, mashed

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

1/3 cup agave syrup

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup cooked quinoa, cooled

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup cocoa (I used dark cocoa)

1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Prepare an 8x8 pan.  I usually put parchment in the bottom.  Stir together the wet ingredients with the quinoa and brown sugar and combine.  One of my teenagers walked into the room at this point and told me it looked like vomit.  Charming.

Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and cocoa.  I used dark cocoa, which has a slightly bitter taste.  Next time I might try half regular cocoa and half dark cocoa.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well.  Stir in the chocolate chips and pour into prepared pan.  Bake for 20 min, or until toothpick inserted into the centre comes out almost clean.  A completely clean toothpick means overcooked brownies.  Cool in pan.

 Thank you for featuring me!

         

Tweet

Back to School, Busy Night Casseroles, and a Basic White Sauce

It’s September.  The kids are back to school and hockey is back on the calendar.  The weekend before school started I made the mistake of asking the kids to clean their rooms.  I ended up with eleven loads of laundry.  

Someone needs to kick my photo-a-day-arse because I've been missing plenty of photo opportunities despite the charming capture of Laundrygate.  I managed the obligatory back to school photos, four out of six anyway... although I find as the kids get older they get decidedly more scowly.  

I'm getting up earlier to pack lunches, and discovering that it's still dark... which strikes me as the most depressing thing about fall.

I know there's plenty to love about fall, but right now I'm in an end of summer funk.  

As hard as it is to let summer go, it’s time to welcome some structure and routine back into our lives.  A big part of that is dinnertime.  Something nourishing, and on the table shortly after everyone gets home from work and school, yet quick and easy enough for the nights when we’re heading right back out the door.  I’ll often throw together some kind of a casserole, combining meat, veggies, and grain or pasta… making it up as I go along.  Unfortunately, many casserole recipes call for some version of a creamed soup in a can.  I’ve used them in the past, and I’d be lying if I said I’d never use them again (our favourite tuna casserole depends on cream of mushroom soup), but I've come up with a slightly less convenient, healthier option which I have been using more and more often.

I'm sharing it with you, because I know I'm not the only casserole lover out there that wants to kick the canned soup addiction.  It's not exactly a recipe... more a basic framework that's easily modified based on what's in the fridge or cupboard.

It's a super simple, basic white sauce.  I started making this as a pasta topping when the cost of the fresh Alfredo sauce at the grocery store crept past the $10 mark for the two containers needed to feed eight of us.  A simple roux of butter and flour, some milk, seasonings and cheese will give you an amazing multi-purpose sauce.  

Use cream and Parmesan with a dash of nutmeg for a cheesy, creamy Alfredo.  Or Cheddar for homemade macaroni and cheese.   I recently discovered the shaved Parmesan at Costco and I am loving it... I could eat it right out of the container (okay, I DID eat some straight up), it’s that good.

Add generous amounts of basil and garlic, some cooked chicken, steamed broccoli, and cooked rice or quinoa for the casserole that comes in at a close second to our beloved tuna casserole.

This one’s also really good. Lean ground beef and onions scramble fried with Montreal Steak Spice, mix in the white sauce with some steamed green beans, and add a scalloped potato topping.  Or skip the potatoes and combine with pasta.  Delicious either way.

We do a seafood version too.  Sauteed scallops and shrimp are added to the sauce along with a bag of steamed mixed veggies and served over pasta.

The ingredient combinations are limitless, and easy to adapt to personal preferences.  Here's how I whip up an easy, multi-purpose white sauce:

Using your favourite whisk, mix up a basic roux with equal parts melted butter and flour until well combined.  This it not my favourite whisk, it's my second favourite.  My favourite whisk was nowhere to be seen and I later found it in the backyard.  I don't want to know why.  I'm glad my dishwasher has a sanitize setting.

Once the rue is bubbling and golden, slowing pour in milk, whisking constantly while it thickens.  Once you've achieved a nice smooth consistency, add some seasoning.  This is the batch that went into the quinoa, chicken, broccoli concoction so it's heavy on basil, with a dash of Worchestire sauce, some minced garlic and a dash of nutmeg.

And here's my beloved Parmesan.  Once you've seasoned your sauce you can add the cheese.  Your sauce will thicken as the cheese melts, so keep whisking and add milk as needed.  I find myself adding milk frequently throughout the entire process as it has a tendency to keep thickening even as it sits.

Basic White Sauce

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp flour

1 cup milk

dash salt

In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter.  Whisk in flour until smooth and well combined.  Gradually pour in milk, whisking constantly.  Season, add more milk as needed until desired consistency is reached.  That's it!

Linked up here:

Thank you for featuring me!

 

Tweet

Quinoa Love and a Fruity Quinoa Loaf

We're on the quinoa bandwagon.  I bought a bag at Costco, not long ago after reading about how healthy these pearly little grains are.  I had hoped that it would be a nice alternative to rice.  As it happens, quinoa is incredibly nutritious and versatile.  I've discovered it works equally well as a savoury side-dish, a cooked breakfast cereal, and a cold salad ingredient.  As if that wasn't enough to declare quinoa a winner in our house, I was further amazed by what it contributes to baked goods.  I teased you with a photo of this loaf a couple of weeks ago, and today I'm sharing the recipe with you.

As I've become more comfortable in the kitchen, I've also become more adventurous with recipes and ingredient substitutions.  I mean, if we can hide avocados in brownies and spinach in smoothies, what's a bit of quinoa in a loaf?  Turns out some plain cooked quinoa can replace part of the flour in a recipe, not only boosting the nutritional value but also creating a loaf that's moist and dense.

Some of the inspiration behind this loaf was a rather pathetic looking fruit basket.  By the end of the week, most of the fruit was past it's prime... bruised, over-ripe, and blemished.  It was still edible but the kids would have no part of it.  The easy solution was to chop it up and bake something.  Like a Quinoa Banana Yogurt Apple Nectarine Loaf.  Yep, all that needs to be in the name ... there's just so much goodness going on in here :)

Quinoa Banana Yogurt Apple Nectarine Loaf

1 cup cooked quinoa, cooled

2 large, ripe bananas, mashed

½ cup Greek vanilla yogurt

¼ cup vegetable oil

1 egg, room temperature

½ cup brown sugar

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp salt

1 ½ cups chopped fruit – I used apples and nectarine because that’s what I had, but any combination of apples, peaches and pears would be good too.

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Grease a loaf pan.  I like to put a strip of parchment paper in the bottom to help the loaf release easily after it's baked.

Combine the quinoa with the bananas, yogurt, oil, egg and brown sugar in a mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir to combine until just incorporated.
Fold in chopped fruit.  Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for 50-60 min until toothpick inserted into centre of loaf comes out clean.  Transfer to cooling rack and allow to cool before slicing.

 

Thank you for featuring me!

       

Tweet