Quinoa Herb Muffins

Based on herbed rice muffins that are somewhere else on this blog, these quinoa-stuffed muffins are great with soup. I am not fond of quinoa flour, but I love quinoa itself, so when I wanted herbed rice muffins but had no brown rice cooked, the best idea seemed to be to cook up some quinoa and swap it into the recipe.

1/2 cup quinoa, cooked in 1 cup water until tender and water is absorbed, then cooled a bit

3/4 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup amaranth flour
1/2 cup potato starch flour
1/4 cup tapioca starch flour
1/4 cup flaxseed meal
1 tsp xanthan gum
4 tso baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp each dried basil, marjoram, and oregano
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

3 tbsp olive oil
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup (generous!) freshly, finely grated Parmesan cheese

Grease 12 muffin tins.

In a medium bowl, whisk flours and starches, flaxseed meal, xanthan gum, baking powder, salt, herbs, and cheese.

In a large bowl, combine quinoa (making sure it's cool enough to not cook the eggs), oil, eggs, milk, and cheese. Whisk until well combined.

Stir into dry ingredients, just to mix.

Fill prepared muffin tins about 3/4 full. Bake muffins at 400F for 20 to 25 minutes.

Anna's Chicken Noodle Soup

I've been relying lately on my stand-by recipes, no time for trying new baking. But here's my one-and-a-half-year-old's favourite chicken noodle soup. We make our own low-sodium chicken broth on a regular basis, but bought would probably be just fine. When the recipe says "diced" this means small enough for a toddler to angle onto a spoon -- but too small for a toddler to choke on at all. Think about just bigger than 1/4" or just smaller than 1/2" dice.

2 oz. brown rice spaghetti (approx. 1 cup cooked spaghetti)

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Break spaghetti into short lengths and cook for nine minutes, until not quite done.

Meanwhile, in another pot, heat
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 to 3/4 cup (or 1/2 a 398 mL can) plain tomato sauce
1 tsp dried basil

Add
1 large leek, whites and light greens only, diced
1 medium carrot, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
and cook until beginning to get tender.

Add
1/2 cup mushrooms, diced
and cook until all vegetables are just tender.

Stir in
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup cooked chicken, diced, or cooked and drained ground beef (optional)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
and the drained noodles.

Heat until piping hot and noodles are al dente.

Cool enough to serve to a toddler.