Quiona

I've decided today to make quinoa flour,   I love the grain so much I thought I'd be able to add more of it into my diet if I ground some up into a flour.  This morning I washed the grains and dried them as much as possible then put them in the oven on the lowest heat so they dried quicker.  Next after they cooled down I put them in the food processor and ran it until they reached a flour consistency.  You need to store it in an air tight container and put in the fridge.  It has a high fat content so it wont last too long. 

I think I'll make the family quinoa pancakes for breakfast!!! I'm so excited to try them!  

I had a quick look online and couldn't find a recipe that had the ingredients I had on hand so I just took some tips from each recipe and made my own.


Ingredients

1/2 cup quinoa flour
1/2 cup oat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1tsp baking powder
1tsp salt
1tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs or 4 egg whites
1/2 cup of soy milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
 Cooking spray 

In one bowl combine the dry ingredients and in the other mix the vanilla extract, eggs, soy milk and melted butter
Add the wet ingredients to the dry. 
Heat a skillet on a medium heat and spray with cooking oil. cook just like you would normal pancakes



These were so good and delicious the whole family ate them all so fast I forgot to take a photo!!!!
I'm going to try adding pumpkin to them next time.  I also want to try making them with Almond milk or butter milk.  I only had soy milk on hand, but they still tasted really good!  I'm so glad I made my own quinoa flour, toasting it first in the oven gave them a wonderful nutty flavour. 

Quinoa chili

I found this recipe today and I just had to try it!!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
• 3 cups water or bean cooking liquid
• 1 1/2 cup cooked kidney beans (1 can, drained and rinsed)
• 1 1/2 cup cooked black beans (1 can, drained and rinsed)
• 1 cup unsalted tomato sauce OR: 1/4 cup unsalted tomato paste + 3/4 cup water
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 celery stalk, diced
• 1 Tbsp (2 - 3 cloves) minced garlic
• 2 Tbsp minced jalapeño pepper
• 1/2 green bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced

• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 2 tsp gr coriander
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp dried basil leaf
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme leaf
• 1/2 tsp dried marjoram leaf
• 1/8 - 1/4 tsp chipotle pepper powder
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 Tbsp light molasses
• Soy sauce
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• Fresh ground black pepper to taste

1. Soak the quinoa 15 minutes
2. Rinse 3 times, then drain into a colander
3. If using canned beans, drain into a colander and rinse well
4. Peel & mince the garlic and jalapeño pepper
5. Dice the onion
6. Wash and trim the celery, slice lengthwise, then crosswise to dice
7. Seed and dice the red and green pepper
8. Heat the oil on medium-high in a dutch oven or large sauce pan
9. Fry the garlic, jalapeno, onion and celery until soft (about 5 minutes)
10. Add the peppers and fry 5 minutes
11. Add the spices and herbs, stir 2 minutes
12. Add the beans, water or bean liquid, molasses, tomato sauce, and quinoa
13. Bring to boil, cover, and simmer 20 minutes or until quinoa is cooked
14. Stir in Braggs or soy sauce, and pepper. Adjust seasonings
15. Serve garnished with cilantro
16. Optional: Add a dollop of dairy or non-dairy sour cream to each bowl

It was so delicious!!  The first bite was a bit weird as the consistency is much sloppier than normal chili.   The flavour is just so good especially with some sharp cheese on top.  I can't wait to eat it again!   Now I'm in search of more quinoa recipes .....

Hummus

I LOVE HUMMUS!!!

Its so easy to make and you can add it to all sorts of meals.  It can be a dip, stick it in a sandwich, add it to salad...

• 2 cups canned garbanzo beans, drained
• 1/3 cup tahini
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cloves garlic, halved
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 
  
• Just shove everything in a blender or food processor, blend until you reach the consistency you prefer.
• 
  
• I like mine quite plain and boring but you can add crushed red pepper, paprika, the list is endless! 

So happy!

I've been so busy this past couple of weeks.  I had my first Math test last week which I've been studying my butt off for!  I'm not very good in test situations, my mind goes completely blank.  So I've been trying really hard to get my homework finished on time and to get 100% on all the quizzes at home.  I found out the results yesterday for the test we did.  I got 84% right,  I'm happy with that score, I wish I did better but really that's good for me! So overall my Math so far is 95%!!!! whoop whoop!! I hope I can keep it up!

Today I had my first Sociology test.  I was freaking out as this Math class takes up a lot of my time, I struggle with Math so I can spend hours practicing.  I was stupid and left studying for Sociology until the last minute.  I've had an awful headache the past few days, so reading a text book was hard but it was well worth it.  I feel quietly confident about the test.  The first part was 45 multiple choice questions worth 90 points and then an essay question worth 10.  I felt like the multiple choice questions were easy except for 2 that I was unsure of.  The thing I'm annoyed about was the essay question.  I answered it but if I had given myself more time to study and practice I'm sure I would of written more but I'm not going to beat myself up about it.  In the future I'm going to read the chapter before class and then take notes.  The good thing about Sociology is that I really enjoy the class, I'm finding it so interesting.  I think it helps that I have lived in a few different countries.  Japan is such a contrast to England and America.    Sociology makes me look at the world differently, I'm a people watcher so maybe that's why I'm enjoying it.

I have a lot to work on, its hard going to college and running a house too.  I just want to pick up and shake the kids that stroll into college like they just can't be bothered.  They don't do the homework, never have anything ready for the class and spend most of the lesson texting their friends or falling asleep.  They don't know how lucky they are,  they'll end up like me doing it again when they are older while trying to juggle everything else at the same time.  

Bread!!!!!!

Ok so I've been making bread now for just over a week!  I love it, the only problem I have, is that I need a bread cutter.  My poor girls are going to school with oddly shaped sandwiches! So at the moment I have to make two loaves a week.   I'd rather that then buy bread full of additives and preservatives.  I think once I'm able to cut it properly I'll be able to make once loaf last longer!   I've been making the Rustic Italian  loaf as its basically white bread, which I dislike but I'm going to have to gradually introduce whole wheat bread to the girls.

So this is how my first loaf of bread turned out!

I also made Garlic, Herb and Cheese Knots with my girls, aren't they cute?   So delicious!!!

Khan Academy Saved My Life

Ok well not literally but it saved me from going insane with my math problems!!!  

I was doing great in math up until this week when we had to do percent and mixture problems.  I just sat in class reading and re-reading the problems over and over again but for some reason my head couldn't comprehend them.  I heard about Khan academy on the news the other week so I thought I'd give it a go.  I am so glad I did!  I watched two videos and voila, it finally clicked!! 

khan academy

Theres over 2400 videos to choose from!!  You can read all about it here http://www.khanacademy.org/about  Anyone can use this site, students, teachers and even parents!   

Cutting out meat

We have survived a week without eating meat!!!!  Yipppeeee!!!  I'm not going to lie, its been hard.  I made tacos the other night and it took a lot for me to stop myself from grabbing a spoon and shoving a load of ground beef in my mouth! 

My new obsession is lentils,  did you know one cup of lentils contains 35% of our daily protein requirement?  They are also loaded with fiber, contain important minerals such as iron, phosphorus, potassium and magnesium.  Lentils contain a lot of vitamin B which helps maintain a healthy nervous system, lowers bad cholesterol and increases energy levels. One serving of lentils, about one cup, contains only one gram of fat and about 200 calories.  So with this in mind I'm going to try and add lentils to my diet as much a possible!!  Yay for lentils!!