If you recall a previous post where I talked about Columbus’s Beer Family’s First Potluck, then you will remember that my contribution to the event was Cheddar Chipotle Puffs.

Cheddar Chipotle Puffs that were paired with Rogue Chipotle Ale.  Cleverness!

To briefly recap, the idea behind the party was to pair a craft beer with a food item that you made.  I really wanted to bring a Rogue beer since it fit the criteria of a craft beer and it’s also easy for me to get my hands on.  Then I had to decide what to pair it with.  Once I knew that I was going to use the Chipotle Ale then a dish utilizing chipotles was the obvious choice.

I didn’t want the chipotles to be too overpowering though.  They can really bring the heat and I wanted to keep the heat level moderate enough…

The idea of taking quinoa and creating a crunchy snack isn’t a new one.  However this is my take on the concept of “Quinola” which is like the second cousin twice removed and added back of the granola family.

This is the concept that made me fall in love with quinoa and realize that there’s more this little grain then just being regulated to standard side dish status.

Do you ever think that foods aspire to be the main dish? The star of the show?  Or is that just me?

Just me?  Okay then.

Quinola is super easy to make and put together.  It does take a while to bake and that’s the longest part of this recipe.

Andrea’s Quinola

• 1C Uncooked Quinola
• 2C Water
• 1C Soymilk
• 2TBSP Maple Syrup
• 1/3C Peanut Butter (the good kind!)
• 1tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2tsp Ground cinnamon

In a medium sauce pan add the water and bring to a boil.  Add the quinoa and cook until it’s…

Naturally when I started playing around with quinoa, I immediately went the dessert route.  ”Hey I bet I could make cookies.  How awesome would that be? Protein powered cookies!”

This was actually my first baking experiment with quinoa.  I wanted something that sort of reminded me of fall, cozy times, and early sunsets.

These cookies totally deliver and are actually one of the few cookies that get better with time!

Andrea’s Quinoa Spice Cookies

• 1.5C Cooked Quinoa
• 1C Whole Wheat Pastry Flour + 4 TBSP
• 2tsp Cinnamon
• 1/2tsp Allspice
• 1/2tsp Ground Clove
• 1/2tsp Baking Powder
• 1/4tsp Baking Soda
• 2TBSP Sugar
• 2TBSP Ground Flax
• 1/2C Dried Cranberries
• 1/2C Crushed/chopped Walnuts
• 1C Soymilk
• 2TBSP Molasses
• 2tsp Vanilla Extract

Preheat oven at 350 degrees.  In medium sized mixing bowl, combine soymilk, vanilla, and molasses.  Whisk until combined, set aside.  In a large mixing bowl combine all remaining ingredients.  Mix until everything is combined.  The flour will start to coat the quinoa.  Add in the liquid mixture to the quinoa mixture…

I used to buy Irish Soda Bread at Whole Foods all the time when they had it out.  It was fantastic! It was also the first time I had tasted it before.  Irish Soda Bread wasn’t something I grew up with nor heard of until I saw it at Whole Foods.  I guess I just didn’t run around in circles where it was mentioned.

At some point I think Whole Foods might have changed their recipe because I don’t care for their version anymore.  Something about it just tastes off and I can’t quite put my finger on it.  I never really thought about soda bread again after that until I came across Happy Herbivore’s recipe for Irish Soda Bread.

It was her recipe where I learned that one could curdle non-dairy milk with a little bit of acid, either lemon juice or apple-cider vinegar.  Did you…

This is a concept that I came up with a few years ago when it dawned on me that “pesto” can be made using a variety of ingredients.  I always have spinach on hand and (at the time) occasionally had sundried tomatoes on hand.  I decided to mix the two to see what would happen.

When I originally made this, I did add in some grated parm but left out the nuts.  This turned into an amazing spread and dip.  We instantly fell in love with the smooth spinach and the sweet chewiness of the sundried tomatoes.  The concept is super easy and can be adjusted to fit your tastes!

I never measure when I make this recipe, so this is more of a concept type post than an actual recipe with measurements.

Andrea’s Spinach and Sundried Tomato Dip

• Fresh baby spinach
• Sundried tomatoes (marinated or unmarinated, it’s up to you)
• 1…

Last month for Scott’s birthday we discussed what sort of special dessert/snacky thing he wanted.  A lot of ideas were tossed around and he finally decided on Cinnamon Vanilla Cupcakes.

Those were his exact words.

Dude.  I don’t even know where he pulled that from! But in this house, whatever my hunny wants is what he’s going to get.

I poured over some websites and several of my favorite cookbooks and came up with a game plan.

This is how I work. I review several recipes to get an idea of how something is done and then I make my own version.

I fully expect that everyone else operates this way as well.  In my head no one follows a recipe exactly, we are all just a bunch of Kitchen Rogues blazing a path with a chef’s knife in one hand and a kitchen blow torch in the other.

Or something like that.

Andrea’s Cinnamon…

The first time I had vegan chocolate pudding was when I picked up a small container of it from Whole Foods.  I read the ingredient list which was not scary nor was it long, so I dumped into the cart.  It did use silken tofu as a base and while I don’t really dig on tofu, I decided to be open-minded and give it a try.

From that point we were hooked and would purchase it on occasion when making a Whole Foods trip.  However, like most things at Whole Foods, their pudding was overpriced and on the small side (sorry WF but you know it’s true).  I decided to look into making my own.  I checked a few recipes online just to get a basic idea of what is needed, reviewed the ingredient list of the Whole Foods version and started experimenting.

What I am…

I have come across a snack mix that is typically referred to as Puppy Chow.  It is a snack mix that is covered with tons of powdered sugar and is typically seen during the holiday season.  Has it made an appearance near you?

I have never eaten this snack mix before.  First of all it’s covered in powdered sugar which means it’s gonna be major sweet.  And secondly, it’s called Puppy Chow for frack’s sake.  I’m not eating that.  At the risk of sounding totally snotty, I don’t even feed my dog kibble, you think I’m gonna touch something that is named after some crappy dog food?

Fat chance.

I don’t know what prompted me to look into this snack mix a bit further but I did and realized that it’s pretty easy to make.

I decided to come up with my…

I love granola and am pretty sure that I have always loved it.  I was never much into the chewy granola bars, I loved the crunchy more sturdy ones.  I always felt oh so healthy when eating granola.  It’s oats and nuts and sometimes fruit!  How can that be bad?

I also always purchased granola because for some reason I had it in my head that it was hard to make.  Eventually I started realizing how much money I was spending on granola because granola is flipping expensive!  I also became aware of how much sugar was in the granola.  I’m not a big sugar person anyway and when I realized just how much sugar is in manufactured granola, I sort of silently freaked out. I personally don’t want or need that much sugar in my life.

It was at this point that I started making my own granola.  It was a rocky start that resulted in plenty of burnt batches.  Lesson…

Not that long ago I had a hankering for some chocolate zucchini bread.  Or at least I assumed this was the case, as I had never actually had chocolate zucchini bread.

Zucchini bread, yes.  But it was always the same way, spicy and more along the lines of like a carrot cake, spice cake kind of taste.  Lots of cinnamon, clove, and allspice in the mix.

That wasn’t exactly what I envisioned.  I wanted a dense chocolate quick bread with some zucchini in it.  I started looking around for recipes to see what I could find.  There were loads out there!

But they all had tons of sugar, white flour, and a load of eggs in them.

This is where my knack to never follow a recipe comes in handy.  I looked at the recipes to get an idea of the basic ingredients and then I created my own chocolate…