Today, I’m doing a guest post for Kimberly over at Badger Girl Learns To Cook! Kimberly has a weekly feature called Healthy Blogger Thursdays and I was fortunate enough to be invited! I’m really happy to be a part of such a wonderful network of food bloggers. We truly support each other and get introduced to new bloggers regularly. Check out Kimberly’s blog and follow her culinary journey focusing on clean eating and using whole foods in her diet. You’ll also be introduced to such amazing health conscious bloggers that inspire with wonderful recipes, health tips, and other health related topics.
Todays recipe is just so simple. I’m going to call it healthy because my favourite superfood is included and you probably wouldn’t even know. I rave about Quinoa all the time because of its wonderful benefits and versatility. I adapted this recipe from Donna Hay’s cookbook “Fast, Fresh, Simple”. The original title is “Standby Brownies” since cocoa powder is used instead of melting chocolate. Please visit Kimberly’s blog for the full recipe and my very first guest post 🙂
Quinoa Brownies
Sometimes you just really need a chocolate fix. I do, all the time! Quinoa Brownies certainly hit the spot ~ especially with a glass of really cold Almond Milk.
Quinoa Brownies
I just love Kimberly’s “can-do” attitude towards eliminating processed foods and learning how to cook! It’s both refreshing and inspiring! Thank you Kimberly for including me as part of your Healthy Blogger Series!
Good Monday morning to you all! Ready for another #MuffinMonday? I hope so – because today’s recipe is nothing short of tasty simplicity!
Our recipe is by Down Home With The Neelys from Food Network. I’m always looking at ways to bake with cornmeal. Yes, I’m quite fond of it. I was more than happy when I saw the ingredients. I was wondering what I could do to make this one different. I was tempted to leave it just as it is, actually. I’ll probably follow the original recipe at some point. But I decided to use up some Gruyère cheese that I had to see how well it would incorporate into the recipe. As fate would have it….it turned out FABULOUS! I liked the sweet and salty combination.I think next time, I’ll take hubby’s advice and cut the cheese into cubes instead of shredding. Perhaps it will be interesting to bite into chunks of melted cheese. We’ll see!!! Something tells me he enjoys #MuffinMonday just as much as I do.
For now, I just want to let you all know, that this muffin is perfect with a cup of coffee….especially on a Monday morning after a super busy weekend.
Cornmeal Muffins sweetened with honey, extra flavour with Gruyère cheese
Author: Lyn, adapted from Down Home With The Neelys
Recipe type: Muffins
Ingredients
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup 2% milk
2 large eggs
½ stick butter, melted
¼ cup honey
1 Cup Shredded Gruyère cheese
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400F
Into a large bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
In a medium-sized bowl, combine milk, eggs, butter, and honey
Add the wet to the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed
Place muffin paper liners in a 12-cup muffin tin.
Evenly divide mixture into the muffin cups
Bake for 15 minutes until golden.
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Yes, this is exactly how I had it. The kids were waiting patiently for me to finish taking pictures. They even offered to help because I was “taking sooooo long.” They were very kind this time. Probably due to the absence of chocolate chips.
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Honey Cornbread Gruyère Muffins
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And there you have it! A perfectly moist and cheesy muffin to start your week! A little bit of sweet, and a little bit of savoury all bundled up in a muffin.
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Honey Cornbread Gruyère Muffins
Happy Monday and have a spectacular week!!
Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street. A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop in a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week. Check out Muffin 101 here.
Its Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada and my family and I are having a great time celebrating family, birthdays and friendships. We have so much to be thankful for!
Earlier this week while I was preparing for the weekend meals, I picked up some pumpkin…without knowing what I was going to make with it. I came across this recipe and I was sold! I don’t make soup very often but I surprised myself with this one. It was simple, awesome and perfect for #SundaySupper. This weeks #SundaySupper theme is All Things Orange, showcasing some wonderful Autumn recipes from some of our fabulous food bloggers. Look out for a wonderful selection of recipes using ingredients like pumpkin, sweet potatoes and butternut squash, to name a few. I’m so excited to see all the wonderful creations! This is my first season actually cooking with pumpkin so I know I’m going to be inspired. This is truly my favourite season!
This weeks host is Pam from The Meltaways! As always, please be sure you join us on Twitter throughout the day for #SundaySupper. We’ll be meeting up at 7:00 pm EST for our weekly #SundaySupper live chat where we’ll talk about our favourite recipes featuring our favourite fall colour. All you have to do is follow the #SundaySupper hashtag, or you can follow us through TweetChat. We’d also love to feature your recipes on our #SundaySupper Pinterest board and share them with all of our followers, too.
I hope my Mother is reading this post. She will be pleasantly surprised to know that I actually cut up and roasted pumpkin. *gasp* Ok so I didn’t do all the work. I bought a piece of pumpkin weighing about a kilogram. I removed the skin, chopped it into cubes, then roasted it. Originally, I was going to use the canned pumpkin puree but I really wanted to cook with the real thing. It may have taken me a few minutes longer to prepare, but I believe it was worth it. The flavour says it all!
3 Cups Pumpkin Puree (I chose to roast 1Kg/2LB of pumpkin)
1 Cup coconut milk
Salt & Pepper to taste
Instructions
In a rimmed baking sheet, add diced pumpkin and sprinkle with olive oil
Roast for 40 minutes in a 375F oven
In a medium saucepan, heat oil on medium high heat
Add onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes
Add spices and cook for about a minute, stirring until combined
Add broth and pumpkin, combine using an immersion blender until a smooth consistency is achieved (about a minute)
Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for about 10-15 minutes
Stir in coconut milk and season with salt and pepper
Remove from heat. Serve with warm, buttered crusty bread
Notes
Recipe adapted from The Best Of Clean Eating 2, Page 93
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I picked up this piece of pumpkin at the Asian supermarket. It happened to be labelled “Jamaican Pumpkin” so that I would pick it up. I prefer buying pumpkin pre-cut anyway. Less chance of me wasting it. This portion was just right for what I needed it for.
Jamaican Pumpkin
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I liked the simplicity of this recipe. I loved the use of coconut oil as well as coconut milk. This soup is just bursting with goodness. I really missed the presence of chicken or even yellow yams and dumplings in my soup. Perhaps that addition will be made after my next visit to the Asian supermarket.
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Roasted Pumpkin & Coconut Soup
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This could be the perfect appetizer for an Autumn dinner, and a great choice for entertaining.
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Roasted Pumpkin & Coconut Soup
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A warm crusty bread, like Ciabatta is a lovely compliment to this soup.
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Roasted Pumpkin & Coconut Soup with Ciabatta Bread
Here we are again, another #SundaySupper. Can you believe that September is over already? Where does the time go!? Soon enough, we’ll be Thanksgiving, Trick-Or-Treat-ing, Tree decorating then Mistletoe-ing 🙂 I really do enjoy the fall season ~ the beautiful colours, the food, and the change in fashion. There’s just so much to appreciate.
Back in May, I shared a recipe by Cristina Ferrare for #SundaySupper. The recipe was called Fall Off The Bone Chicken and my family enjoyed every bite. The theme for that Sunday, was to prepare a recipe from Cristina’s cookbook called Big Bowl Of Love. I really enjoy her recipes and there were a few that I wanted to try. This recipe fits very well with todays #SundaySupper theme which is “Meals with five ingredients or less”. Our fabulous host is Amber of Mama’s Blissful Bites! We will be sharing recipes all day, but please do join us during our #SundaySupper Twitter chat at 7pm EST. Join the fun and share your favourite recipes and get meal ideas and inspiration while you’re at it! Whether you’re on a budget, want to use up some pantry items, or just need to whip up something quickly~ you’ll have a wonderful list of ideas to consider from our lineup this week!
1 tube polenta, removed from casing, cut into ½-inch slices, and patted dry with paper towels
Approximately ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Cooking spray
1 cup Garlic & Herb Tomato Sauce (Or a tomato sauce of your choice)
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Pinch of salt
1 cup baby spinach (a generous handful)
Instructions
Brush both sides of the polenta cakes with the olive oil, and set aside.
On a hot griddle pan, place the polenta slices in one layer on the pan
Grill for 10-12 minutes on each side or until both sides are golden and have grill marks
Remove the slices from the grill and let cool on a baking rack
In a small saucepan, add tomato sauce and bring to a gentle boil
Add the spinach and stir until combined and warmed through
Just before you are ready to serve, preheat the oven to 350°F
Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray
Arrange the grilled polenta cakes on the baking sheet
Place a heaping tablespoon of the tomato sauce with spinach on each slice, then add a pinch of parmesan cheese on top
Bake for about 15 minutes
Garnish with fresh parsley, salt & pepper to taste
Serve and enjoy
Notes
Adapted from - Page(s): 55-55, Cristina Ferrare's Big Bowl of Love (Delight Family and Friends with More than 150 Simple, Fabulous Recipes) by Cristina Ferrare
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This recipe is really simple and easy – my favourite kind. I was interested in this recipe because I have always made polenta from scratch. This would be the first time that I would be buying ready-made polenta. It certainly was easier! I won’t make this a habit but at least I’ll be able to compare and know the difference. All I really needed was polenta, tomato sauce, spinach and parmesan cheese. I think this makes a great appetizer, side dish or a very tasty snack!
Happy #MuffinMonday! I’m happy to join in this week with such a tasty muffin to kick off the season. Today’s recipe comes from  a book called Celebrating Quick Breads and Pastries. As always, I’ve put my own little twist on it, partially because I didn’t have a specific ingredient. I ran out of brown sugar. Which is no biggie, I mean you work around these things, right? What I chose to replace it with was quite interesting. I used Coconut Sugar. I swear, I could eat this thing with a spoon until my tummy hurt. Thankfully, I did not. These muffins were an excellent choice and it allowed me to bake with pumpkin for the first time EVER. I kid you not. I ended up using a can that I had stashed away in my pantry. I had planned on using it for something but I  guess whatever that “thing” was, never happened. Everything happens for a reason and THIS my dear friends, is one great tasting muffin!
A pumpkin infused muffin with orange juice and raisins
Author: Lyn, adapted from Celebrating Quick Breads & Pastries
Recipe type: Muffin
Ingredients
1¾ Cups Unbleached Flour
1½ Tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
½ Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Baking Soda
½ Tsp Baking Powder
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
½ Cup Coconut Sugar (Or Brown Sugar)
2 Eggs
⅓ Cup Vegetable Oil
1 Cup Canned Pumpkin
⅓ Cup Freshly squeezed Orange Juice
1 Tsp Orange Zest
1 Cup Raisins
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F
Line 2 muffin pans with paper liners (16 muffin liners)
In a small bowl, add flour, pumpkin pie spice, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Combine.
In a large bowl, add granulated sugar, coconut sugar, eggs and oil. Combine.
To the sugar mixture, add pumpkin, orange juice, orange zest and raisins. Combine.
Add the dry ingredients into the wet. Combine well.
Spoon batter into muffin liners, about ⅔ full
Bake for 22 minutes or until a tooth pick once inserted, comes out clean
Remove from pan and allow to cool on a cooling rack
Notes
This recipe yielded 16 Muffins
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Orange Pumpkin Raisin Muffins
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Although I used Coconut Sugar, there was no real taste/hint of coconut. It provides a unique type of sweetness that surely enhanced the flavour of these moist and tasty muffins.
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Great muffins for the season!
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Seriously guys…don’t you want one or three?
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Orange Pumpkin Raisin Muffins
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Happy Monday and have a spectacular week!!
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Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street. A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop in a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week. Check out Muffin 101 here.
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