Peanut Butter Quinoa Puff Bars

 

Have you ever been up late at night, getting ready for bed and then it hits you. You don’t have a thing in the cupboard for the kid’s school lunch boxes tomorrow except for a sandwich and a piece of fruit? Well, that happened to me the other week. I was extremely tired and I thought I’d make the lunches the next morning and then I remembered I hadn’t baked that week and didn’t have a thing for them at all. This old woman’s cupboard was definitely bare. I did manage to make these Peanut Butter Quinoa Puff Bars.

 

 

Other than the usual baking supplies, I didn’t have much in the cupboard at all except for this box of Orgran Gluten Free Quinoa Puffs. The kids have been devouring both them and the Quinoa Flakes for breakfast and I thought about using the puffs in a Rice Krispie type bar. I also had a cheeky packet of Reece’s Peanut Butter chips in the cupboard (they jumped into my shopping trolley all by themselves, I swear). Using a recipe similar to how I would make a rice krispie bar (or LCMs as we call them here in Australia), I came up with these Peanut Butter Bars.

 

 

(Heaven only knows what I did what my kids did to my camera. The last 20 or so photos were practically black so I won’t bother hurting your eyes with these shocking photos.) As you can (sort of) see, the quinoa puffs are very similar to rice krispies but with a few exceptions. Orgran Quinoa Puffs are gluten free, wheat free, egg free, dairy free, yeast free and suitable for vegans. They are low in sugar and fat and are made with wholegrains.

Quinoa is a nutritional wonder that has a naturally high level of protein and was a staple food of the ancient Incas and Aztecs. It is also known to have one of the best sources of high biological complete protein in the plant kingdom that is exceptionally well suited to human nutritional needs.

 

With the exception of the peanut butter chips, the only other ingredients I added to these bars were half a cup of honey and half a cup of peanut butter. You could use any kind of nut butter to make these bars. I swear my eyes were half shut when I made these. I left them in the fridge to set that night and they were ready in the morning for the lunch boxes.

 

 

My stepson, who chose to remain anonymous, enjoyed them just with milk for breakfast but you could use the ‘puffs’ as you would rice krispies in any recipe or the ‘flakes’ as you would in recipes that call for corn flakes. A refreshing and healthy change for yours or your children’s breakfast cereal options.

 

Peanut Butter Quinoa Puff Bars

 

• 2 cups Orgran Quinoa Puffs
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup peanut butter (any nut butter will work)
• 1/2 cup Reece’s Peanut Butter Chips (optional)

 

 

1. In a saucepan, mix honey and peanut butter and heat over a medium heat until honey is boiling and boil for 1 minute.
2. Add to the quinoa puffs in a bowl and stir well.
3. Pour mixture into a 12″x12″ baking pan lined with baking paper and before set, press peanut butter chips into mixture.
4. Allow to set in refrigerator for a couple hours and cut in squares to serve.

 

 

Optional:

You could add any sort of nuts or dried fruits to this mix or top with a variety of toppings like different flavoured chocolate chips, a drizzle of icing or sprinkles.

 

 

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. I was gifted a box of both Orgran Quinoa Puffs and Quinoa Flakes. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

 

Overnight quinoa flakes with raspberries & honey

I can honestly say I’ve got a thing for quinoa. I could take or leave cooked oats for breakfast and its not something I usually cook. I don’t mind making them overnight, that is, when you soak them in milk plus other ingredients and they have softened, ready to eat in the morning. I thought I’d apply the same method to quinoa flakes.

It was really delicious. I also had fresh raspberries, another ingredient I don’t normally have a lot of. I’ve only ever really eaten fresh strawberries. Fresh raspberries are a relatively new thing to me. They’ve nearly always been available frozen or canned but hardly fresh. I had this punnet of raspberries earmarked for chocolate and raspberry brownies but the fresh bright berries were calling my name asking to be eaten fresh. I chopped some and mixed through the quinoa and then topped with a couple whole berries. A drizzle of honey to finish and I was ready to go. You could warm through in a saucepan or zap in the microwave if you prefer them warm.

If  you like oats done this way, you’ll love quinoa flakes too. I’m looking forward to trying them with other berries, banana and walnuts, peaches and almonds, prunes, apples and cinnamon and the list goes on.

Overnight Quinoa Flakes with Raspberries & Honey

• half cup of quinoa flakes
• 1 cup of milk
• raspberries
• honey to serve

1. Add milk to quinoa flakes and stir well.
2. Chop some raspberries and add to the quinoa mixture.
3. Put in an airtight container in the fridge the night before they’ll be eaten.
4. Top with more fresh raspberries and drizzle with honey to serve.

Serves 1.

For more oat recipes, click here.

Moroccan Sweet Potato & Quinoa Patties

I could’ve gone either way in using up my sweet potatoes. I’ve been known to cook and puree them and use them in cakes and muffins just so the ‘fussy one’ gets some vegetables into her. I’ve also found that they had a natural sweetness and the cake is very moist. But I needed something for dinner last night and felt like making these Sweet Potato & Quinoa patties with Moroccan flavourings.

You could use just about anything with this mashed sweet potato. I had 2 stalks of broccollini from dinner the night before and I diced them finely and added them to the mix. Its just a matter of adding the seasoning and an egg then adding a light crumb coating, shallow frying (or oven bake if you like) and you’re done.

Moroccan Sweet Potato & Quinoa Patties

• 2 medium (or 1 large) sweet potato, boiled and mashed
• 1/2 cup quinoa flakes
• leftover vegetables, diced finely
• 1 egg, beaten
• Moroccan seasoning
• fresh coriander (or in a tube)
• panko breadcrumbs
• oil for frying

1. Mix mashed sweet potato, quinoa flakes, leftover vegetables, seasoning, fresh coriander and beaten egg. (If mixture is too ‘wet’, add extra quinoa flakes.)
2. Form into patties and coat lightly with breadcrumbs.
3. Shallow fry until golden (or alternatively spray with oil and bake in the oven).

I served my patties with a simple salad of baby spinach leaves, Roma egg tomatoes and a vinaigrette of olive oil, lemon juice and coriander. I have some leftover for the freezer which I’ll use for a quick lunch on a burger with lots of salad.

Avocado, cherry tomato, quinoa & bean salad

If you follow me on Pinterest, you’ll know I pin a lot of recipes. I don’t make a lot of them but every now and again a recipe pops up and that’s all I can think of. I’d been pinning a lot of quinoa recipes but this one just looked so delicious (probably more so than my photo) from thediva-dish.com. I’ve made a few quinoa salads and there really is not much taste to quinoa but with the addition of lemon zest in this recipe, it was really delicious.

There was a large amount so I had it for lunch and dinner. Its one of those ‘throw anything in’ kind of recipes that I love. What made it so delicious was the mix of spinach, coriander, lemon juice, dijon mustard and quinoa that coated each salad ingredient. I’ll be making this one again for sure. Good on its own or as a side.

Avocado, Cherry Tomato, Quinoa & Bean Salad

• 1/2 cup dry quinoa
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 1 can cannellini beans (drained and rinsed)
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes cut in half
• 1 avocado diced
• 1 block

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  frozen spinach (or fresh which has been steamed and rinsed under cool water

• 1/4 onion, diced
• 2 small cloves garlic, crushed

Dressing:

• Juice and zest of 1 lemon
• 1/2 bunch chopped coriander (or 2 tbs coriander in a tube)
• 2 tsp dijon mustard
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• dash of salt and pepper

1. Soak the quinoa in a pot in the vegetable stock for about 15 minutes. After that, turn on the heat to medium high and let the quinoa come to a boil. Once it boils, reduce heat to medium/low and let quinoa simmer. Stir every so often, and cook quinoa for about 20-25 minutes just until the liquid absorbs. You don’t want it completely dried out, so when there is just a TINY amount of liquid left in the pot, remove it from heat and put a lid on it. Set it aside, and make the rest of the salad.
2. Combine avocado, cherry tomatoes, cannellini beans, onion, spinach and garlic.
3. Make dressing. Add quinoa to salad and pour over dressing. Mix to combine.
4. Allow to stand before serving to allow flavours to combine.

 

Carrot Quinoa Cakes

 

 

My dear bloggy friend, Marilyn of 4 You With Love from Ohio in the US is having a blogiversary today and to help her celebrate, I’m guest posting over at her blog. I’ve always got to take cake to a party and you can’t go past these Carrot Quinoa Cakes with Cream Cheese frosting.

 

Thanks for having me Marilyn!