Peaceful Easter 2015...

I trust everyone had a lovely Easter weekend. Mine was relaxed and uneventful. The week of Easter I came down suddenly with a horrible flu that had me in bed for three days. It took me quite by surprise since I’m rarely sick and haven’t had the flu since I was about 12 years old. In the past ten years I’ve only vomited twice, once due to excess of alcohol, and once due to nervousness, and so it took me some time to recover. Though I was mostly better by the time Easter came around I chose to stay home rather then celebrate with my husband’s family. I felt I needed a little more recovery time and so I enjoyed the afternoon reading in the sun, and made a nice, but small dinner for the two of us to enjoy when he returned from his family’s party.

You know how much I love to go ‘all-out’ for holidays but since I’d been sick - and my appetite hadn’t returned at all yet - I wasn’t in the mood for preparing a grand dinner. Instead I pulled out my copy of “Vegan Holiday Kitchen” by Nava Atlas and chose a few simple dishes to make for dinner.

Moroccan Vegetable Soup

The first thing that caught my eye in the book was the Moroccan Vegetable Soup with Matzo Balls  Technically it’s from the Passover Chapter not the Easter Chapter but close enough I reasoned, and besides what better food to eat after being sick then a warm comforting bowl of soup? This particular soup contained leeks, potatoes, carrot, celery, turnip, tomatoes, cumin, turmeric, dill, parsley, and of course matzo balls which I made separately. The soup was also suppose to have mushrooms but for some reason the thought of mushrooms turned my stomach, and so I left them out.

Matzo Balls 

Moroccan Vegetable Soup with Matzo Balls 

I really enjoyed this soup and it was so easy to prepare. I loved the combination of flavors and it was a really hearty meal, but If I’m being honest I like Nava’s traditional Matzo Ball Soup better. I made that last year for Passover and it went over like gangbusters.

Moroccan Flavored Tofu with Apricots and Olives 

Quinoa 

For our main meal I made the Moroccan-Flavored Tofu with Apricots and Olives from the Rosh Hashanah Chapter. Since I made Moroccan soup I thought I’d keep the North African theme, and besides this sounded so good. Tofu with olives and apricots, I loved the idea of a sweet, salty, tart dish. The dish uses pre-baked marinated tofu, and so I picked up some Italian-style Baked Tofu from the store. Under normal circumstances I probably would have just baked my own tofu but since I was still recovering I was happy for the short-cut in prep time. In addition to green olives and apricots the dish also had onion, green onion, garlic, broth, ginger, cumin, cinnamon, lemon juice, agave, slivered almonds and parsley. Nava suggests in the book to serve this over Quinoa which I did. Just a simple pot of boiled quinoa seasoned with salt, pepper, and parsley. Man was this dish fantastic, I can easily see making this regularly.

Moroccan Flavored Tofu over Quinoa
with Moroccan Carrots 

For a side dish I went with the simple Moroccan Carrots also from the Passover Chapter. These were super simple saute carrots cooked in oil, garlic, lemon, parsley, chives, salt and pepper. I left off the sliced almonds, but loved the touch of lemon zest added to this dish. These carrots were beyond perfect, I only wish I’d had a bigger appetite so I could have eaten more.

Moroccan Carrots 

For dessert I actually picked a recipe from the Easter Chapter and went with the very simple - but super delicious - Strawberry Snack Cake. This is basically a vanilla cake with a strawberry topping. You make the topping by cooking strawberries with sugar and water and cornstarch until it’s thick then pour it over the cake. Unfortunately my topping didn’t want to stay put and it kind of dripped and spread out all over the plate but the cake was nonetheless delicious. I especially loved the idea of it because it was light and fluffy, the perfect dessert for an early Spring day.

Strawberry Snack Cake 

So that was our Easter. Perfectly peaceful and though I didn’t eat much, what I did eat I enjoyed. It was my first real meal for the entire week, as I’d previously only been able to keep down some watermelon and toast.

I hope everyone else had a great holiday and if you haven’t tried out any recipes from “Vegan Holiday Kitchen” you should give it a look, so far everything I’ve made out of this book has been fantastic!

Super Easy Superfood Oatmeal...

Quinoa for breakfast is nothing new. In fact, combining quinoa and oats for a delicious protein rich breakfast isn’t new either, but it is new to me. As quinoa continues to grow in popularity here in the United States I continue to come across new and interesting uses for it. Of course, I never have time to try all the recipes I see, or even half of them, and when it comes to breakfast food I’m usually at a disadvantage anyway since I’m not much of a morning eater anyway. Which is why I normally opt for a fruit or green smoothie.

Of course, there are those rare days when I wake up with breakfast on my mind, and today was one of those days. Normally when I crave breakfast it’s something carby, or decadent. It’s always something that requires work and effort and it’s very seldom wholesome. Today was different, maybe it’s the cool autumnal weather, or the fact that I’ve been feeling less then ideal lately, but I woke up craving oats. Actually, that’s a lie, I’ve been craving oats for days now actually but I’ve just been to lazy to make them. Since I woke up extremely early this morning for no apparent reason, and have the day off I decided that if I wanted oatmeal then there was no time like the present.

The original idea was just to make a basic pot of oatmeal that would be large enough to last me through the weekend, but as I was standing in front of my pantry I thought “why not try that whole quinoa breakfast thing?” So I decided to add some quinoa to my oats. Then I started thinking about what else might be good. I had a single apple sitting in my fruit basket, and that always tastes great in oatmeal, I have bags of random Superfood burning holes in my pantry shelves and so why not add them too for a super nutrient dense, antioxidant rich breakfast? See how it is? Once you get started down a certain path you can’t stop, and I ended up with one of the most enjoyable bowls of oatmeal ever. The goji and mulberries really added a nice element to the oatmeal, a subtly sweet and complex blend of flavors. Even my husband who is no fan of oatmeal, but reluctantly agreed to try it, loved it!

The beauty of this oatmeal is you can literally do whatever you want with it. There are so many things you can add in, so many variations, an endless amount of options to keep you interested. This morning I chose to add the blueberries, cherries, flaxseeds, sunflower seeds, maple syrup, pomegranate molasses, and unsweetened almond milk to my bowl and it was divine. My husband meanwhile chose blueberries, cherries, flaxseeds, chia seeds, raisins, maple syrup, pomegranate molasses and vanilla almond milk.

However you choose to eat it, I hope you enjoy it!

Super Easy Superfood Oatmeal 

1 ½ C Steel Cut Oats
½ C Quinoa
5 C Water
1 Granny Smith Apple Peeled and cubed
4 Tbsp Goji Berries
4 Tbsp White Mullberries

Optional Add Ins per Serving 

2 Tbsp Fresh or Frozen Blueberries, Raspberries, or Blackberries
8 Fresh or Frozen Whole Pitted Cherries
2 Tbsp Ground Flaxseed
1 Tbsp Raw Sunflower Seeds
1 Tbsp Hemp Seeds
1 Tbsp Chia Seeds
1-2 Tbsp Raisins
1-2 Tbsp Walnuts
Sliced Banana
½ - 1 Tbsp Maple Syrup
½ - 1 Tbsp Pomegranate Molasses
Almond, Coconut or other favorite non-dairy milk

- Combine the Oats, Quinoa and Water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Once boiling reduce heat and let simmer on the stove for 40-60 minutes, stirring occasionally until the oats have thickened and are tender.

- Ten minutes before the end of cooking add in the peeled chopped apple and stir to combine.

- Five minutes before the end of cooking add in the Goji and White Mullberries and stir to combine.

- Remove the cooked oatmeal from the heat, and spoon out individual servings. Top each serving with desired add-ins.

*** Note - To ensure this is Gluten-Free use GF oats. *** 

Vegan Mofo #8 - Mark’s Mediterranean Pistachio-Crusted Tofu & Saffron Quinoa Pilaf ...

Vegan Mofo #8 - Mark’s Mediterranean Pistachio-Crusted Tofu & Saffron Quinoa Pilaf 

The Region - The Mediterranean
The Book -The 30 Minute Vegan’s Taste of Europe
The Author - Mark Reinfeld
The Recipe - Mediterranean Pistachio-Crusted Tofu & Saffron Quinoa Pilaf
Page # 229-231
Difficulty - Easy
Duration - Roughly 45 minutes

This is another fusion-style recipe but it was just so good I needed to share it. I’ve actually been dying to make this recipe ever since I got Mark Reinfeld’s “30 Minute Vegan’s Taste of Europe” but I never seem to get around to it, or I never have the ingredients, or it’s never the right time. It also doesn’t help that my husband hates nuts, so it’s never a recipe I’m able to squeeze into the repertoire. But Mofo is all about trying new things, branching out, and new experiences so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to make this dish, fusion or not.

Close up of the tofu, sorry for the blur-factor 

Apparently Mark Reinfeld won Vegan.com’s “Recipe fo the Year” award in 2011with this dish, and after trying it myself I have no trouble in seeing why. This dish is bursting with unique Mediterranean flavor, and whilst it was cooking it filled my kitchen with the most mouth-watering scents. This may not exactly be ‘traditional’ Greek-food, but my kitchen certainly smelled like a Greek restaurant. I mean I was instantly transported back in time to every Greek establishment I’ve ever eaten in, and every Greek take-out box I ever ate out of growing up. Delicious, delicious, delicious - no lie.

Now, there are several steps to this dish. Not only do you have to make the Pistachio encrusted tofu, but you also have to make the marinated Mediterranean vegetables and for the full effect a batch of Saffron Quinoa Pilaf. I highly recommend going all out and making the full meal here, because it’s so worth it, even if it takes a little longer then the 30 minutes it’s suppose to. Even despite all the steps you need to take this dish comes together relatively easily, so you don’t feel too overwhelmed. My only complaint - and this is a complaint with the entire book in general - is that some of the instructions are not very specific. The recipe for example doesn’t say whether or no the tofu should be pressed, and so I pressed it just because. I recommend this. After pressing the tofu you slice it into four cutlets, and marinate it in a mix of soy sauce, olive oil, and water. I marinated it for longer then specified. Since it doesn’t take long to bake I decided to let the tofu marinate while I was chopping up everything else. I think this was a good idea and would recommend doing the same.

Once your tofu has marinated you bake it for 10 minutes. Then you slather it in a mixture of tahini, soy sauce, and lemon juice. Then press on the crust which is made of toasted pistachios, parsley, oregano, thyme, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper and bake it until golden.

Close up of the marinated veggies

Meanwhile you make the marinated vegetables which is just a nice cold salad of artichoke, tomato, arugula, kalamata olives, green onions, fennel, capers, basil, oregano, thyme, lemon zest and a simple oil vinegar dressing, with salt, pepper and garlic. Since I didn’t have fennel I just used thinly sliced red onion and it worked out beautifully.

Close up of the Saffron Quinoa Pilaf 

Next you make your Quinoa Pilaf which is super easy and yet super delicious. All it is, is quinoa, vegetable stock, saffron threads, salt, green onions, lemon juice, lemon zest, and parsley.  Super simple and yet amazing.

I love how all these different flavors and textures work together. You get the bitter tahini, on soft tofu and the crunch and pizzaz of toasted pistachios. Mix that with cool, oil and vinegar raw veggies, and creamy, lemony, delicately spiced quinoa. It’s a match made by the best kind of kitchen magic, and I urge you to make this recipe. If you don’t have the book, I can tell you everything I’ve made from it thus far has been a total winner.

Black Quinoa, Arugula Bowl with Chickpeas and Capers

Need something quick and easy to throw together for either dinner or lunch that tastes great and has a lot of nutrition? This is the dish for you. Last weekend I needed to make something to take with me for lunch at work, but didn’t have a lot of time - or ingredients for that matter -  to prepare anything. So I took a look around the kitchen hoping for inspiration. I had onions and garlic of course - always a good base I thought to myself, - and I had a ton of arugula. - Now we’re getting somewhere! Quite often when I need a meal in a pinch I make some variation of sauteed greens, onions, and garlic and throw a can of beans into the mix. It’s quick, easy and delicious and very, very satisfying. On this particular day however I was looking for something a little more - well, creative and filling. That’s when I opened up the pantry and found a solitary can of crushed tomatoes, chickpeas and a big ‘ole bag of black quinoa. Perfect!

So I grabbed up all this stuff, dumped it onto my kitchen counter and without thinking too much about it employed my twin brother E’s favorite method of cooking. Which is “Throw some stuff in a pot and see what happens.” Well, what happened was magic. Seriously this is such a simple dish and yet ti’s so filling, satisfying and bursting with flavor. I love the flavor of arugula, love it’s bitterness, and the capers add a really neat element to the overall dish. I also love that this is a plate of all wholesome whole foods ingredients so you can eat it, and not feel guilty because you know you’re nourishing your body in the right way. I strongly recommend the black quinoa, it’s delicious and I love it! It’s really my favorite type. However if you don’t have any, or can’t find any you can always sub in Regular quinoa, or red quinoa. The contrast won’t be quite the same but it’ll still taste fantastic! The best part is you can throw this together in under 25 minutes, how awesome is that?

Black Quinoa, Arugula Bowl with Chickpeas and Capers

1 C Black Quinoa
2 C Water
1 tsp Olive Oil
10 Cloves Garlic minced
1 Large Red Onion diced
1 tsp Chili Powder
½ tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1 14 oz Can Crushed Tomatoes with Basil
4 Cups Arugula
15 oz Can Chickpeas Drained
Sea Salt and Black Pepper to taste
2-3 Tbsp Capers
2-3 Tbsp Liquid from Capers

- Add Quinoa and water to a medium sized saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes then lower to a simmer. Simmer until all the water has been absorbed roughly 15-20 minutes.

- Meanwhile minced the garlic and dice the onions. Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat and once hot add in the onions. Saute for 3-4 minutes until starting to become fragrant and a little soft. Lower the heat to medium and add the garlic, chili powder and red pepper flakes. Saute for another 3 minutes. The onions should be tender but still a little crisp.

- Add in the crushed tomatoes and lower heat to medium-low. Stir to combine with the onions and garlic and then add in the arugula. Stir until arugula has been worked into the tomato mixture and has wilted. About 3-5 minutes. If the quinoa hasn’t finished cooking by this time lower the heat to the lowest possible setting and let sit.

- Add in the cooked quinoa, the chickpeas, capers, caper liquid, and salt and pepper to taste. Taste for flavor and adjust seasoning as needed. Then spoon into large bowls and enjoy!

PS: If you don’t have crushed tomatoes with basil you can just use any crushed tomatoes and add in an additional 1-2 tsp of dried basil. Also this is a perfectly filling and delicious meal on it’s own but for a bit more substance you can serve it with some lightly roasted squash as I did. I used Acorn squash. To roast squash cut into slices, sprinkle with olive oil, sea salt, black pepper, and basil and roast at 425'F for roughly 30 minutes.

Vegan Mofo #19 - Celine & Tamasin’s Protein Happy Quinoa Wraps...

Vegan Mofo #19 - Celine & Tamasin’s Protein Happy Quinoa Wraps 
The Book - Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day!
The Author - Celine Steen & Tamasin Noyes
The Recipe - Protein Happy Quinoa Wraps
Page # 74
Difficulty - Easy
Duration - Roughly 20 minutes.

I absolutely love these wraps! They’re incredible, seriously. They’re super simple and so full of flavor, I could probably eat one of these every day and be very, very happy. Again my favorite thing about them is their emphasis on wholesome ingredients, all of which are pantry-staples for me. I also like that it’s a super quick meal. The most time consuming thing about it is cooking the quinoa but even that doesn’t take long. To make it even simpler you can always cook up a big batch of quinoa in advance along with preparing the spread in advance and then you have quick and simple lunches to throw together all week.

I also really liked the combination of flavors here. The spread is made from sun-dried tomatoes, olive oil, kalamata olives, capers and red pepper flakes. While the filling is made from combining cooked quinoa with white beans, golden raisins - I used regular - apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, red pepper flakes, red onion, garlic, sea salt and black pepper, parsley, basil and roasted pepitas though I just used raw pumpkin seeds because that’s all I had. To serve you slice up some red bell pepper and cucumber really thin and layer it along with the filling into a whole wheat tortilla. Wrap it up and enjoy!

These are super filling too but not in a way that makes you feel weighed down. You can eat two of these and still not feel ‘stuffed.’ It’s the perfect late afternoon lunch. You could also opt out of using a tortilla and instead serve the quinoa and spread over a bed of mixed greens, it would be equally as tasty as a salad. Or you could eat the quinoa filling as is, it’s that good just on it’s own. Trust me! You need to make these, I know I’ll be making this a definite go-to lunch for work days.

Ancient Inca Tri-Quinoa Stew...

Yesterday was a relatively chilly day, it was also a rather busy day for me, coming at the end of a busy weekend. I wanted something warming, and hearty for dinner that wouldn’t take all that much effort or time on my part, and I wanted to incorporate Quinoa. I’ve been really craving this delicious little grain over the past few days, and as I never seem to eat enough of it, I really wanted to make a dish that would showcase it prominently.

For those of you unfamiliar with Quinoa (pronounced Keen-wah) it is a grain like crop, hailing from the Andean region of Ecuador, Bolivia, Columbia and Peru, where it was domesticated for human consumption roughly 4000 years ago. Quinoa is a very nutrient dense food, containing all the essential amino acids, which makes it a complete protein! It’s also a good source of fiber, calcium, phosphorus and iron. The Incas held this crop as sacred and referred to it as the "Mother of all Grains" and is it any wonder? A 100g serving of Quinoa contains 7g of fiber, 14g of protein, 35% Iron, 55% Magnesium, 65% phosphorus, 33% Zinc, and many B Vitamins as well as Vitamin E. Amazing! Quinoa was also called the "Gold of the Incas" because they recognized and utilized it’s value. Inca warriors would often sit down to a big dish of Quinoa just before battle because they believed this grain made them strong and powerful.

What I really love about quinoa - aside from it’s delicious flavor of course - is it’s versatility. You can use it in any way that you’d traditionally use rice, barley, cous cous or other grains. I’ve seen people make Greek Dolmas with Quinoa, and it’s becoming more and more popular to make sushi with it as well. You can steam or stir-fry veggies to spoon over top of it, use it in stew, soup or chili, toss it into salads or even eat it as a breakfast porridge instead of oatmeal as the Inca did. Quinoa is also very quick to cook, in roughly 20 minutes you can have a big steaming pot of it ready to go. Personally I like to cook mine in low-sodium vegetable broth - as I do with rice and cous cous - but water is totally fine too. So if you haven’t tried quinoa you absolutely must, and if you have tried it an liked it you should try to make it a staple in your diet for it’s wonderful health benefits! Just make sure you rinse your Quinoa first to remove any bitter residue.

As for this stew, I wanted something with a South American flair that would compliment the Quinoa’s region or origin, but at the same time I wanted a stew that was lightly seasoned. Too often our food is overly spiced and so the natural flavors don’t get the chance to truly shine through. In this dish I wanted to be able to taste the nuttiness of the Quinoa, the sweetness of the corn, the tanginess of lime and the acidity of the tomatoes. However if you want the stew to be a little more spicy or a little more sweet or a little more tart feel free to adjust the seasonings to suit your preference, oh and while I’ve listed the avocado as being optional I definitely recommend it. It pairs so beautifully with the stew and lends a wonderful mouth feel to have creamy raw avocado mixed in with your hot grainy stew. Although a dollop or two of guacamole would probably be just as good if you’d prefer.

Okay, before I get to it let me just say that I know this is going to look like a lot of ingredients but trust me when I say this dish is actually really simple and comes together very easy. You hardly have to do any chopping and most of the cook time is spent with you just sitting around waiting for the stew to finish simmering. There Is so much you can do in that downtime. Shower, read, check your e-mail you name it. It’s the perfect after work dinner. Throw everything in a pot and go!

Ancient Inca Tri-Quinoa Stew

1/4 C Vegetable Broth
2 Tbsp Lime Juice
10 Garlic Cloves Minced
1 Large Red Onion
1 Orange Bell Pepper
6-10 Baby Bella Mushrooms chopped
½ C White Quinoa
½ C Black Quinoa
½ C Red Quinoa
3 ½ C Vegetable Broth
1 ½ C Corn Kernels
1 15 oz Can Black Beans
1 28oz Can Fire Roasted Tomatoes
3 tsp Chili Powder
3 tsp Ground Cumin
2 Tbsp Dried Oregano
1/8 tsp White Pepper
1/4-1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika
Black Pepper to taste
3-4Tbsp Lime Juice
2 Tbsp Agave Nectar
1 Bunch Cilantro minced
Sliced Avocado (Optional but highly recommended)

- Pour quarter cup of vegetable broth and 2 tbsp of lime juice into a soup pot. Add minced garlic, onion, and bell pepper and saute on medium until veggies are soft and translucent. About 5-7 minutes, sprinkle with black pepper to taste, add in mushrooms and saute another 3-4 minutes.

- Add all quinoa to the pot along with the fire roasted tomatoes and remaining 3 ½ C vegetable broth, bring to a boil. Let boil for five minutes then reduce heat and let simmer for 35 minutes.

- Add in Corn kernels, black beans, chili powder, cumin, oregano, white pepper, and smoked paprika and let simmer another 15-20 minutes.

- By now Quinoa should be fully cooked and expanded and the amount of liquid in the pot should have decreased some. If this is not the case then let simmer an additional ten minutes. Otherwise add in Cilantro, the last 3 tbsp of lime juice, and agave nectar. Stir to combine, simmer for 5 minutes and then serve.

- Garnish with half a sliced avocado per bowl, and serve with a side salad or a hunk of cornbread. I decided to serve mine with cornbread. The basic recipe for which I got from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s book "The Joy of Vegan Baking" However I added in a 1/3 C of minced cilantro and 2 Tbsp of minced Jalapeno for a little Latin kick.

***Note: I realize not all of you may have access to so many different types of Quinoa, so if you don’t, don’t fret. It’s perfectly all right to use whatever kind you have and I don’t think the flavor of the stew will suffer for it. Although Black Quinoa is my absolute favorite so if you can find it I highly recommend you grab some! Also you can use any bell pepper you have, I would have used red but orange was the only kind I had at the time.***

Vegan Mofo #12 - Colleen’s Quinoa Blue Cornbread...

Vegan Mofo #12 - Colleen’s Quinoa Blue Cornbread

The Book - "Color Me Vegan
The Author - Colleen Patrick-Goudreau
The Recipe - Quinoa Blue Cornbread
Page # 185
Difficulty - Easy
Duration - Roughly 45 minutes

I do have a couple more salads up my sleeve, but lets take a break from that shall we? And enjoy something special and spectacular. Quinoa Blue Cornbread. Did you get that? BLUE cornbread! I didn’t even care what was in it, the minute I saw blue cornbread I HAD to make it. It was just too weird not to! Kidding aside it really was one of the first recipes to jump out at me when I was flipping through "Color Me Vegan" for the first time. There really aren’t a lot of ‘blue’ foods out there if you think about it, which is a shame because blue is such a pretty color.

As strange as it might seem upon first glance this is a pretty great recipe. Though I may be bias because I absolutely love blueberries, and I’ve always loved cornbread. Who could pass up a fresh piping hot square of cornbread with a nice bowl of chili? My mom always made the best cornbread, and I’d eat a ton of it when she made it. After I got married I don’t think I ever ate cornbread. My husband you see is not a fan, he’s never liked it. Most of the cornbread he grew up eating came from a box and though I tried to convince him that my homemade cornbread would be different it was always a ‘no go’ Then because I was dying to try Isa’s "Fresh Corn and Scallion Cornbread" recipe I made it, told him it was polenta and he loved it. Afterwards I revealed that it was actually a cornbread recipe and ever since then he’s come around. So I was very, very excited to try this. The only problem was I couldn’t find blue cornmeal anywhere. I’d tried Whole Foods, my local grocery, specialty grocery, and ethnic groceries in my area and nowhere did I find blue cornmeal. Sadly I had to put this cornbread experiment on hold, though every time I flipped through "Color Me Vegan" I considered just going ahead and making this bread with regular cornmeal. Glad I waited though.

Over the summer on a trip out of town I happened upon a very small shop selling spices, speciality chocolate, speciality teas, and a few speciality dry goods. Among those dry goods I found Beluga Lentils (Another thing I hadn’t been able to find near me) and lo and behold blue cornmeal! I hadn’t even been looking for it, and then bam! It was right there in my face. I was so excited I almost wanted to come home early and make the cornbread right away. (I didn’t of course)

I have to say I’m really glad I waited for the blue cornmeal, it makes such a dazzling presentation, and just seems to go better with the blueberries. Interestingly a few weeks ago while in a market I don’t usually frequent I found a large bag of blue cornmeal, so I won’t have to go out of town the next time I need some, yay!

Everything about this recipe is interesting, everything is a surprise. I never would have thought ot use quinoa in a cornbread recipe, neither would I ever have thought that blueberries and corn actually pair pretty damn well together, but there you have it. Somehow it works, and it works harmoniously, as if it were meant to be. Every bite into a piece of this bread is like a party for your tastebuds. There are so many things going on and all of them are magic. Even my former cornbread hating husband loved it!

I did however find this cornbread to be very moist and therefore take longer to cook before the center was done. I don’t know if that’s because of the liquid from the frozen blueberries or simply because I added to much almond milk. Either way next time I’ll keep a better eye on it. The moistness did not hinder the taste in anyway though, and as for alterations I only did one thing differently. Colleen says to use either 1 cup of blueberries or 1 cup of corn kernels in the bread. Rather then do that I used a half cup of each, and it was brilliant. I really suggest that.

PS: Again sorry for the lack of pictures and the questionable quality. I was in a hurry to eat!!!