Ham and Cheese Quinoa Bites

A couple years ago I went on a kick of making quinoa bites. I was obsessed with the pizza ones for a while, and then moved on to the yummy apple cinnamon bites. Recently, while I was scrolling through my blog posts I had an itch to make them again but wanted to try something new. Enter these amazing bites of heaven. These are SO GOOD I can’t wait to eat them for lunch!

Ham and Cheese Quinoa Bites
Ingredients
-2 cups cooked quinoa
-2 eggs
-2 egg whites
-1/2 cup diced ham
-1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
-1 cup shredded zucchini
-2 TBS parmesan cheese
-salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a bowl, mix together all of the ingredients.
Spray a mini muffin pan. Fill tins all the way full. You should be able to fill all 24 tins.
Put in oven and bake for 20-25 min, or until edges are golden brown. Let sit for 5 minutes before removing from pan.

These are great for snacks or lunches. You can even let them cool all the way and then pack them in freezer safe bags and put them in the freezer for a few months. Great for last minute snacks!

Crockpot Turkey, Spinach and Quinoa Soup

It was so hot outside yesterday! I had this whole meal planned but didn’t want to heat up my apartment any more so I went to the grocery store. I intended on getting one if the roasted chickens that are ready to go but ended up with a roasted turkey instead! We had tons if it left so I decided to make a soup with it in my crockpot overnight. It turned out pretty good and I love that it was ready to pack up for lunches by the time I woke up this morning. The other great thing about this recipe is that you could substitute the turkey for chicken or another meat, and the quinoa for rice or even noodles! Super flexible to fit your family’s tastes.
Crockpot Turkey and Quinoa Soup
Ingredients
8 cups organic, low sodium chicken broth
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
1 medium onion, diced
2 cups shredded chicken or turkey
2/3 cup uncooked quinoa (or rice)
2 cups spinach
1 tsp sage
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Place all ingredients, except for quinoa (or rice) in crockpot. Keep out the quinoa because if you cook it in there the whole time it will break apart and turn in to mush. Cook the quinoa separately and add it the last hour of cooking. Cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 8 hours.
Serve and enjoy!

So easy right?!

Quinoa Fried Rice

Tonight is one of the two nights a week where I work both of my jobs. On these nights I need to bring dinner with me because I go straight from one job to the other and don’t get home until 10pm. Because I have to eat dinner at a gym I’m always thinking if healthy meals I can bring! I think it’d be rude to bring fried chicken for dinner and eat it in front if everyone working out!
So, last night I decided to do something with quinoa and I came up with this “fried rice.” SUPER GOOD!

Quinoa Fried Rice
Ingredients
1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
1/3 bunch of asparagus, cut in 1″ bites
2 carrots, cut in small pieces
1/2 head if broccoli florets
Aminos (my soy sauce replacement)
2 eggs

Directions
Cook quinoa in pan. While quinoa is cooking, put veggies in pan and sauté. When veggies are done add eggs and cook.
When quinoa and veggies are done add quinoa to the veggie/egg mixture. Mix together, add aminos. I never measure the aminos so I just eyeball it. It has a strong taste so you don’t need a lot.
Enjoy!

This was something I just threw together so you can choose your veggies. Next time I’ll add some onion and garlic yum!
What kind if veggies will you use?

 

Apple Cinnamon Quinoa Bites

After the quinoa pizza bites I posted last week came off as a hit with the in-laws last week I decided I was going to try TONS more recipes using quinoa! The funny thing is that these recipes range from things like pizza bites, to recipes using cocoa and other sweet things. Since i tried the pizza kind last time, I decided I’d try a sweeter recipe for my next experiment.

We’ve had somewhat Fall-like weather this week, this type of weather makes me crave things like pumpkin and apple cinnamon. So, enter Apple Cinnamon Quinoa Bites! These are perfect for an on-the-go breakfast or snack. You can keep them in the freezer for up to 2 months in little baggies and just take one out as you head to work. Genius!

Apple Cinnamon Quinoa Bites makes 12 mini bites

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cooked Quinoa
• 1 cup Quick Oats
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
• 3 Tbs Brown Sugar
• 1 Tbs Sugar
• 1 Tbs maple syrup (you could also use honey, or agave… I used agave)
• 1 cup Chopped Apples
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• mini muffin pan

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix together all ingredients in bowl.
3. Place a spoonful of the mixture in to each muffin cup, lightly press down to compact the mixture.
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
5.  Let cool and enjoy!

How to Cook Quinoa

Quinoa is my new favorite food, no doubt about it. Since I have been using it a lot more lately I wanted to make sure people knew how to cook it the proper way. Cooking quinoa is very similar to cooking rice.

When quinoa is cooked it quadruples in volume. So, if you want to make 1 cup of cooked quinoa, you need 1/4 cup of uncooked quinoa. 2 cups of cooked quinoa is 1/2 cup uncooked… so on and so forth.

When cooking the quinoa you want a 2:1 ratio of water to quinoa. So if you’re using 1/4 cup uncooked quinoa you want 1/2 cup of water.

Place the water and the quinoa in a pan and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, cover the pot, set on low and cook for 20 minutes. DO NOT OPEN the lid!!

Once the 20 minutes is done, your quinoa should be perfectly cooked!

Quinoa Pizza Bites

This weekend, Kevin and I are going camping with his parents, brother and his brother’s girlfriend. We were tasked with bringing some sort of snack/food item. Since his brother was already bringing a dessert I thought maybe I should bring something that would fill us up if we needed something quickly.

Yes, I am that person that brings healthy snacks camping. I’m actually the person that brings healthy snacks everywhere…. I actually brought my own vegetable kabobs to grill to a friend’s house. I’ve just found that if you want to make sure you stay on track with your diet… bring your own food!

Insert quinoa pizza bites. These were something that didn’t need to be cooked at the campsite, had many good nutritional things about it, and just seemed really yummy! Who doesn’t like pizza things?

I’m actually very pleasantly surprised on how these turned out. They would be great to bring to work for daytime snacks… even lunch! You can also add many different “toppings” to suit your taste. Hopefully people like them when I bring them camping!

Quinoa Pizza Bites  makes 24 bites

Ingredients:

• 1 cup uncooked quinoa
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped turkey pepperoni (or sausage, or no meat and replace with another veggie!)
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 c fresh, chopped basil
• 1/2 cup diced cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp oregano
• pizza sauce for dipping

Directions:

• First, cook the quinoa. Place the 1 cup quinoa and 2 cups water in a pan and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer, cover, and cook for 20 minutes.
• Preheat over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit while quinoa is cooking.

Chop up all ingredients and put in mixing bowl, add quinoa when it’s done. and mix.

• Distribute the mixture in to a greased, mini muffin pan. Fill each cup up to the top and press down gently to compact the mixture.

• Bake for 20 minutes, I like to see a little crisp on the edges.
• Serve with sauce for dipping!

Black Bean, Spinach, Quinoa Burritos

After making the black bean and spinach enchiladas a few months ago, I’ve been craving that mixture again. This week, I decided to try a somewhat similiar recipe but for a burrito! My favorite part about this is that you can really add in any veggies you want, AND you can freeze them! They will last up to 3 months in the freezer! All you have to do is take them out of the tinfoil and heat until cooked through 🙂 I love healthy, convenient meals!

I took the picture before it was rolled so you could see the inside 🙂

Black Bean, Spinach, Quinoa Burritos

Ingredients:

• 1 cup quinoa, uncooked
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 bell pepper, chopped (I used yellow)
• 1 tomatillo, chopped
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 can black beans
• 1/2 cup low sodium vegetable broth
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2.5 cups chopped spinach
• 8 10-inch tortillas (I used a corn/flour tortilla, you could also use wheat!)
• cheese, sour cream, salsa for toppings

Directions:

• Heat oven to 400° F. Cook the quinoa according to the package directions.
• Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the pepper, tomatillo, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the chili powder and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the beans, broth, and garlic and simmer, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid has been absorbed, 2 to 4 minutes more. Fold in the spinach.
• Dividing evenly, top the tortillas with the quinoa (about ½ cup each), bean mixture (about ½ cup each), and Cheddar (about ⅓ cup each). Roll up into burritos; wrap each in heavy-duty foil and place on a baking sheet.
• Bake the burritos until warmed through, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve with the salsa, sour cream, and sliced avocado.

Chicken Quinoa Vegetable Soup

I tend to make a large batch of soup just about every week for Kevin and I to have for lunches, or on nights where I don’t feel like cooking. This week I decided to make this soup that I found on Pinterest. It’s very good and hearty!

Chicken Quinoa Vegetable Soup

Makes 4-5 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 T EVOO
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 2 large carrots, diced
• 1 cup sweet peppers, diced
• 1 small zucchini, diced (I didn’t have zucchini but used peas)
• 32 oz chicken broth
• 1 tomato, diced
• 3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, diced in to 1 inch pieces
• 1.5 cups cooked quinoa
• 2 chicken breasts, shredded
• 1 T dijon mustard
• 1/2 T hot sauce
• salt/pepper to taste

Directions:

• Heat oil in large pot. Saute celery, carrots, peppers, onion, and zucchini until soft. 
• Stir in chicken broth, potatoes, and tomatoes. Increase heat to high until broth starts to boil. Reduce to medium high and cook for about 10 minutes, or until potatoes are cooked through.
• Add chicken, quinoa, hot sauce, mustard, salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low and let cook for 10 minutes.
• Serve and enjoy!