Strawberry Banana Quinoa Muffins

These were originally going to be just plain ol’ quinoa muffins, but…I discovered a recipe for strawberry banana quinoa muffins and started salivating. I made a bunch of changes to the recipe, mostly by accident, but thankfully everything turned out fine. The original recipe called for only 1/4 cup of quinoa and I didn’t have 1 cup of mashed banana (just the one) or a 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt (Fage!) left…but it all turned out okay! They’ve been taste-tested by several people, most of whom liked it. (One of em’ isn’t a fan of quinoa, so…can’t really help that. :O )

Personally, I could totally eat one of these (with some other stuff) for breakfast, but I’m sticking it in the dessert category because to me, muffins = dessert. Usually.

Strawberry Banana Quinoa Muffins

Ingredients:
-1 cup quinoa
-1 cup whole wheat flour
-1 1/2 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp salt
-1 tsp ground cinnamon
-1/4 cup vegetable oil*
-1/2 cup fat free Greek yogurt
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1 mashed ripe banana (previously frozen)
-1 cup frozen strawberries, diced
*I would use less next time.

Instructions:
1) Preheat oven to 350. Cook quinoa in a rice cooker (roughly 2 cups of water for 1.5 cups of quinoa). (Seriously, this idea is magnificent and so easy, you have no reason to not do it unless you don’t have a rice cooker.)
2) If you don’t have a rice cooker, add the quinoa to a saucepan with 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil + lower the heat to low. Cover and simmer until cooked. In other cases, season it while it’s still warm so it’ll absorb more flavors. Store it, covered, in the fridge and use within 3 days for the best taste. :D
3) Fluff it up with a fork and allow to cool.
4) Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. Then add the cooked quinoa to the flour mixture. Blend well and set aside.
5) In another bowl, combine sugar and oil. Mix in the yogurt, vanilla and mashed banana.
6) Add the strawberries to the flour-quinoa mixture. Stir to combine and add this to the banana-yogurt mixture. Gently stir until just blended. (Do not overmix!)
7) Use a large spoon to divide the mixture into 12 portions. Bake for ~30 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test. Let cool. They can be refrigerated in a sealed ziplock bag or container or freeze them for up to a month!