Quinoa, while still considered a niche food, is becoming increasingly more popular throughout North America.  It’s nutritional properties are incredible, it’s easy to cook and can be incorporated into so many of your favorite dishes.  It’s gluten free and is an excellent protein source, so it’s suitable for all types of diets, including vegan, vegetarian, meat eating, weight loss, and high protein diets.

Some of the nutrients you’ll find in quinoa are:

Riboflavin, calcium, vitamin e, iron, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, folic acid, and beta carotene.  One cup of uncooked white quinoa has a whopping 24 grams of protein, 12grams of dietary fibre, only 8mg of sodium, and 626 calories.

Quinoa is also a complete protein that provides you with all the essential amino acids necessary for human growth and development.

I’m incorporating quinoa into our new healthy eating plan and tested a new recipe on my husband and 11 year old daughter today.  They are both picky eaters and very critical of new things that I cook, so this was a real test.  I’m happy to say that I passed the test and they both loved the quinoa raisin muffins

The recipe was from MarthaStewart.com but I changed it up a bit as I don’t like to use white flour (I should mention that I’m no Martha Stewart). I also think that next time, I would reduce the sugar to 1/2 cup because I found the applesauce added extra sweetness.

This is the original recipe with my adaptations in brackets.

1 cup uncooked white quinoa

1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used 1/2 cup of applesauce instead)

2 cups all-purpose flour (I used 100% whole wheat)

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup raisins

3/4 cup whole milk (I used skim)

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350ºc.  In a meduim saucepan combine the quinoa with 2 cups of water.  Bring to boil and then cover and simmer for 10 to 13 minutes, until the water is absorbed.

Prepare your muffin tin with vegetable oil and dust with flour.  In a medium bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, raisins and 2 cups of cooked quinoa.  Save any leftover quinoa for another use.

In a small bowl whisk together oil, milk, egg, and vanilla.  Add to the dry mixture and stir until combined.  Make sure not to overmix as the muffins will become to heavy (and rubbery).   Bake muffins for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Store in airtight container for up to 5 days.

This is great afternoon snack as it’s packed with protein and fiber.

Enjoy!