How to Cook Quinoa

For those of you wondering what my method for cooking quinoa is I found it on the Internet. I found that I had to cut back on the ratio of quinoa to water as 1 cup of uncooked quinoa yields 3 cups cooked and as a single person I do not need that much cooked quinoa. So I cut the amounts in half and used 1/2 cup quinoa and 1 cup of chicken stock. Always use chicken stock instead of water for savory quinoa dishes as it results in much tastier dishes. I also add a bay leaf as I find this adds a nice savory flavor and I love bay. If you don't you could substitute with any fresh or dried herbs.

How To Cook Quinoa
Found on The Kitchn Website

Ingredients
1/2 cup Quinoa (any variety — white or golden, red, or black)
Olive oil
1 cup Chicken Stock (I use 1 cup of boiling water with an OXO chicken bouillon package)
1 Bay Leaf

Instructions
1. Measure out 1/2 cup quinoa and 1 cup chicken stock.
2. Place the quinoa in a fine-mesh strainer and rinse thoroughly with cool water. Rub and swish the quinoa with your hand while rinsing, and rinse for at least 2 minutes under the running water. Drain. If your strainer is a little to big and the dry quinoa tends to fall through, soak the quinoa for a few minutes to plump it up and then it should be fine to rinse in the strainer. Or if you do not have a fine mesh strainer you can use a cheesecloth lined colander.
3. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in the saucepan over medium-high heat and add the drained quinoa. Cook, stirring, for about 1 minute, letting the water evaporate.
4. Add in the chicken stock and bay leaf and bring to a rolling boil.
5. Lower heat  to the lowest setting and cook covered for 15 minutes.
6. After 15 minutes turn off the heat and remove the pot from the burner. Let stand for 5 minutes covered.
7. After 5 minutes remove the lid, remove the bay leaf, fluff the quinoa gently with a fork, and serve. (You should see tiny spirals (the germ) separating from and curling around the quinoa seeds.)

Tonight's Dinner: Part Two - Quinoa Cakes

What to do with the leftover overcooked quinoa?

I came home from work and needed dinner fast. All I had in the fridge was the overcooked quinoa from the dinner earlier. You know, the one that looked like mashed potatoes. I decided to try something that my mother used to do when we were kids and turn the quinoa into cakes. My mom used to make potato cakes with leftover mashed potatoes that I looked forward to as a kid as they were an excuse for ketchup. Since the overcooked quinoa was like mashed potatoes I wondered if it would work the same as cakes.

These were so wonderful that since then I have actually made fresh quinoa to make these for dinner several times. If you use fresh quinoa instead of leftovers cool the quinoa before you mix in the eggs and cheese so you don't end up with cooked eggs and melted cheese before you get these crispy.

1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa

(I cook my quinoa in chicken stock instead of water for extra flavor in the quinoa)

1 lg egg

1/4 - 1/3 cup gluten free cornflake crumbs

Grated extra old cheddar cheese (to taste) or other favor cheese

2 Tbsp chopped chives (or green onions if you want more onion taste)

Freshly ground pepper

Breading mix:

1/3 - 1/2 cup gluten free cornflake crumbs

2 heaping TBSP of parmesan cheese

Pinch of italian herbs

Freshly ground pepper

Mix all ingredients for the cakes together adding more crumbs if the mix is too sticky and not firm enough to hold its shape. If mix is too dry and crumbly mash the quinoa and pat more firmly into cake shape. Divide the mix into 4 quarters and shape each quarter into a cake. Mix breading mixture together and place cake in crumbs coating all sides, including edges, and pressing into cake shape. Heat frying pan on med high with 1/4 inch of vegetable oil in bottom of pan until oil is hot. Depending on the size of your frying pan cook in batches of 2, frying until golden brown on both sides approximately 3-4 minutes per side. These can stick to the pan so do not try and flip them until they have developed their crust and your flipper can slide under them easily. Serve immediately.

Ketchup is a nice condiment, but if you like spicy try cocktail sauce (you know the one that shrimp is dipped in). It gives a nice spicy taste to the cakes.

I made them again today to go with my meat and I used goat cheese instead of the cheddar. I used a 2" slice off the fresh goat cheese log and crumbled it with my fingers into the quinoa mixture. It added a nice tangy cheese taste and melts into soft cheese bites in the cake. I used the cocktail sauce as my condiment and it went wonderfully with the goat cheese.

For my Paleo friends quinoa is not a grain but is actually a seed and is most closely related to beets and spinach so is totally safe for both gluten free and Paleo diets. You could substitute ground almonds for the crumbs inside the cakes and use finely chopped pecans for the outside crust.

The Ultimate Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookie

Friday (March 1) was National Peanut Butter Lovers Day and I decided to celebrate the day by making peanut butter cookies.

The first time I was craving peanut butter cookies after going gluten free I was very surprised when I checked out recipes to find a popular brand already had a recipe on the market that was naturally gluten free. It was also written right on the jar of Kraft Peanut Butter. This is a super simple recipe that is naturally gluten free, provided the peanut butter you use is gluten free. Make sure you read the label and that all ingredients are gluten free. A lot of peanut butter, especially the reduced fat ones, have added icing sugar which is not always gluten free.

I decided to make it simple and get natural or peanut only peanut butter and I have never looked back. No extra sugar added and there is so much more true peanut flavour to the natural peanut butter. It makes these cookies less sweet and more of a true peanut butter cookie. Cutting back on the amount of sugar already in the peanut butter justifies adding honey roasted peanuts to the cookies for extra crunch. These are very decadent cookies, so they only get made for special occasions, like National Peanut Butter Lovers Day and when I am craving peanut butter cookies. Also using brown sugar instead of white adds more flavour to the cookies instead of just sweet.

1 cup natural or peanut only peanut butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 lg egg

1 cup finely chopped honey roasted peanuts

Mix all ingredients together. Using a tablespoon make 3/4 - 1 inch balls and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Using a fork press the balls down making the classic peanut butter fork tine lines in the cookie. For extra crunch, sprinkle raw sugar on top of cookie, but this is completely optional.

Bake in preheated 325 degree oven for 15 minutes rotating baking sheet half way through. Remove from oven and let cookies cool on baking sheet for 5 - 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. For soft, chewy cookies, cookies should not be browned around the edges before removing from oven. Cookies are very soft straight out of the oven so they must cool on pan and be careful when moving to wire rack.