So, here’s an Asian style Quinoa recipe that is healthy, low in fat and darn delicious too.

For this recipe, I use chicken breast meat which is lean, low fat and high in protein. Here are the basic ingredients you may need, brown mushrooms, carrots, chicken and quinoa.

You will need to season the chicken for a few hours first. Then you heat up the pan or wok, stir fry some garlic, then add the carrots, mushrooms and quinoa.

Stir fry till its fragrant and you can add the chicken pieces.You will need to add some water too since the quinoa needs water to really cook, much like cooking rice.

So, here’s the recipe proper:

Stir-Fried Quinoa Mushroom Chicken Recipe

Ingredients

1 pc (about 350g) chicken breast meat, sliced

1 tbs light soya sauce or 1 tsp sea salt

2 carrots, cut into chunks

1/2 cup Quinoa (I used black Quinoa)

15 – 20 pcs brown mushrooms, sliced

3 pods garlic, diced

1 cup water

Instructions

1. Season the chicken with the soya sauce/ salt for at least 30 minutes.

2.Heat up the frying pan or wok with about 1 tbsp of cooking oil. Then lower the heat to medium low.

3. Sautee the garlic till fragrant then add the carrots, mushrooms and quinoa.

4. Stir-fry for a minute or so, add the chicken and stir for another minute or so.

5. Add the water and cover the pan. Let the mixture simmer over low heat for about 5 minutes. Remember to stir it occasionally.

6. Bring it to a boil and add more water if it is drying up but not too much. Add salt to season and you are done!

You can eat this dish served with some fresh salad or you can eat is as a side dish to your rice or potatoes.

Cooking Quinoa is very easy, all you need is some water for it to fully cook and you can add it to quite a lot of different dishes. I have more of these recipes and I will be sharing it pretty soon.

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Now, lets get on to this recipe. I have this packet of black quinoa and thought I’d come up with some recipes to cook it. Like I said, quinoa is very versatile, so I used it to cook a broth-based soup that’s healthy, wholesome and darn good too! So, if you are vegetarian and would like some chicken soup without the chicken, quinoa soup is the way to go!

Instead of using chicken or any kinds of meat, the quinoa broth-based soup can be cooked with carrots and mixed beans.

I used the organic 7-color beans to cook with the quinoa.

It is pretty easy to cook this broth based soup. You can even use a slow cooker/ crock pot to cook it.

Here’s the recipe:

Mixed Beans Quinoa Soup Recipe

Ingredients

1/2 cup quinoa

1/2 cup mixed beans

1 tbs dried wolfberries

4 dried dates

2 large carrots, cut into chunks

2 – 3 pods garlic, peeled and halved

2 – 3 cups water

salt to taste

Instructions

1. Heat up the water in a pot.

2. Dump everything into the boiling water.

3. Cover and simmer over low fire for up to an hour or until the quinoa is cooked and the beans softened.

4. Add salt to your own taste.

For slow cooker / crock pot, you only need to pour in the water and dump all the ingredients in. Then set it at low and leave it to cook overnight. Tomorrow morning, you will have a wholesome, healthy, vegetarian Quinoa soup!

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About the Author: Shaun Connell is a writer who publishes many “how-to” guides on cooking, easy desserts and other topics.

For a wonderful surprise dessert after a great meal, try this cherry cobbler recipe for a great old-fashioned fresh cherry cobbler. Cherry cobbler doesn’t have to wait for a special occasion it is good for any time. Cherry cobbler has been around for a long time and is always a welcome dessert. Cobblers were first made back in the 1850s and have remained a family favorite.

If you want to make a tasty piece of history for your family try this recipe. It makes the perfect ending to any meal.

Fresh Cherry Cobbler Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 4 cups pitted fresh tart cherries
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons shortening
• 1/2 cup milk

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400°. Blend 1 1/4 cups sugar, cornstarch, cherries, and almond extract in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils.

Continue to boil and stir for 1 minute after the mixture comes to a boil. Pour fruit mixture into an ungreased 2-quart casserole. You want to use an ungreased pan because you don’t want the cherry cobbler to be greasy. Place in oven while preparing dough so that it continues to thicken and stays hot.

In a mixing bowl, measure flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, baking powder, and salt. Then add shortening and milk. You will want to cut shortening in several times to work the shortening into the dry mixture.

Then stir until dough forms a ball. Drop dough in about 6 spoonfuls onto hot fruit. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until topping is golden brown.

Serve warm with cream, if desired, or cool slightly and serve with vanilla ice cream.

Then set back and take in all the compliments on what a wonderful cherry cobbler you made. Everyone loves fresh, homemade food and this cobbler is going to be a big hit. Be warned though, everyone is going to want your recipe and don’t be surprised if you are asked to bake it for the next bake sale.

You can’t buy a delicious cobbler like this in the store. Not only is it fresh and taste wonderful, it is baked and served with love and you just can’t beat that.

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The great thing about cooking this salsa style dish is that it is very versatile and can be eaten as it is or with rice, salad, bread, even spaghetti! It is pretty simple to make too. First, you will need…

carrots, tomatoes, celery, onions, potatoes, bell pepper (capsicum), ketchup, balsamic vinegar, ready-made pasta sauce and

quinoa. I used red quinoa because it’s what I have. You can use pearl quinoa (the white quinoa) or black quinoa, whichever one you like. The cooking method for all types of quinoa is the same. After chopping up all the vegetables into chunks…

You will need to heat up a pot with some olive oil. First, you sautè the onions for a short while and then you add the carrots, tomatoes, capsicum, tomatoes.

After you stir it around for a minute or so, you add the potatoes, celery, sauces and water. Also add a sprinkle of dried mixed herbs for extra flavours. The quinoa is the last one to go in, after adding all the other stuffs. Then, you just leave it to simmer over low fire for close to two hours. If you don’t have the time, just dump all ingredients into the crock pot or slow cooker and leave it to simmer on low overnight. It will be ready the next day! And that’s it. Easy and so darn good, you may want to make it again and again!

So, here’s the recipe:

Wholesome Healthy Quinoa Salsa Stew

Ingredients

3 large carrots, cut into chunks

4 large tomatoes, diced

3 large onions, chopped

2 large potatoes, cut into chunks

3 stalks of celery, diced

1 – 2 capsicum (bell peppers), cut into chunks

1/2 cup red quinoa

5 tbsp pasta sauce

4 tbsp ketchup

1 tsp dried mixed herbs

1 – 2 cups of water (depending on how thick / watery you want it to be)

palm-sized chicken breast, skin removed and sliced thinly or minced. (if you want to add chicken or you can leave it out if you want a vegetarian one)

Instructions

1. Heat up a large pot with some olive oil.

2. Sautè the onions and then add the carrots, capsicum and tomatoes. Stir for a minute or so.

3. Add in the rest of the vegetables (potatoes and celery) and then stir in the sauces.

4. Add water and pour in the uncooked quinoa. Stir to mix the ingredients around.

5. Turn the heat up to medium and let it boil. Add the herbs, then add the minced chicken (or sliced chicken, whichever you like).

6. Turn down the heat to low and leave it to simmer for up to 2 hours. Remember to check on it and stir often to make sure it doesn’t burn.

7. If you are using the crock pot / slow cooker, then you can skip the sauteeing part. Instead, just dump everything in, add the sauces and water and leave it to cook on slow.

Special note: Water is important so you must not leave it out and it is important to add more as quinoa absorbs a lot of water and it needs a lot of water to cook. Here’s how to cook quinoa.

This quinoa recipe is great to go with any food. If you are cutting down on calories, you can eat this as it is with salad as I also like to call this recipe an all-in-one meal which contains vegetables, protein (quinoa is very high in protein) and healthy carbs (potatoes).

If you simply must have rice…

or if you prefer bread…

It is pack full of nutrients from all the vegetables and quinoa so it is not only low in fat (especially if you cook it without the chicken), it is very wholesome and best of all, so good you won’t even feel as if you are eating diet food!

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These are great with coffee, milo, hot chocolate, milk or just as it is! The great things about these cookies are that it’s easy to bake, use very few ingredients and it’s vegetarian!

You first beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Then you add in plain flour and use your hands to mix it in and knead into a smooth dough.

Then you roll it into a log / sausage shape. Place on a sheet of grease proof paper and sprinkle some brown sugar on the paper. Roll the dough over the sugar. Alternatively, you can use icing sugar, cinnamon powder, ground almonds, chopped peanuts or anything you fancy. You can then shape the log into squarish shape or even triangular, up to you.

Then you wrap it up and put it into the fridge to chill till firm. That should be about 30 minutes or so. In fact, you can make this and then keep it in the fridge till you are free to bake it.

Once the dough is firm, remove from fridge, and cut it into thick slices. Then, you can decorate it with chocolate chips, sugared hearts or leave it plain. Bake it for about 20 minutes at 160°C or till it turns brown at the edges. Remove from oven, leave to cool and then keep in air tight container. Keeps well for a week or so.

When I bake it, I shaped it into triangular shape and then after cutting it, I decorated it with sugared hearts. So pretty and nice to serve to guests. Or..

Use chocolate chips to press into the slices before baking and it will turn out just as nice. See?

The best thing about these cookies is that you can also add other ingredients like chocolate chips, chopped nuts, chopped dried fruits, raisins and various flavouring to jazz it up if you don’t want it to be too plain.

Here’s the recipe:

Crunchy Butter Cookies (vegetarian)

Ingredients

1/2 cup superfine sugar (or brown sugar if you like)

3/4 cup butter, softened and diced

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 1/2 cup plain flour

Instructions

1. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the vanilla essence.

2. Add the flour and knead into a smooth dough. If you don’t want it to be too plain, you can add chocolate chips or chopped nuts or chopped dates or candied cherries or grated lemon rind or ground cinnamon or almond essence, whatever you fancy.

3.Then roll it into a sausage shape. You can either pat the sides to make it a square log or a triangular log.

4. Sprinkle some brown sugar on a greaseproof paper and then roll the dough over it. Wrap up the dough and refrigerate it till firm (about 30 mins).

5. Remove from fridge, cut into thick slices. You can also decorate the slices with sugared hearts or chocolate chips.

6. Preheat oven to 160°C and bake the cookies for about 20 mins or until it browned  at the edges.

If you want it to be less sweet, you can also reduce the amount of sugar to 1/4 cup or use molasses for a healthier option.

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Imagine my delight when I found a low fat brownie recipe. OMG. I can be on a diet and still eat brownies. It is a life saver, I tell you. Now, this recipe may be low fat, it is not exactly healthy either. It still has sugar and flour and calories. So, do enjoy it but don’t sit right down and eat the whole pan of brownies no matter how tempting it is and no matter how long you’ve been on a diet. Trust me. It is damn tempting but will-power, please. If you finish it in one go, then there won’t be any left tomorrow, right? So, here it is. Just salivate over it.

The low fat chocolate brownies are low fat but the topping is not. It is very simple to make. Really.

Just sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder into the mixing bowl.

We need two eggs.

I used brown sugar instead of white sugar.

Then, add the yogurt, vegetable oil, vanilla and eggs (lightly beaten) to the flour and sugar mixture. Stir till very well mixed.

Pour the mixture into a prepared pan for baking. After about 20 minutes….

You get this!

Here’s the recipe proper:

Very Low Fat Brownies Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

4 tbsp cocoa powder

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup plain yogurt (I used blueberry yogurt)

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line the baking pan with baking paper.

2. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder into the mixing bowl. Add in the sugar.

3. Then mix in the yogurt, eggs, vanilla and vegetable oil. Combine well.

4. Pour the mixture into the baking pan and bake for about 20 minutes.

5. Leave in the pan to cool.

Now, for the icing / topping. It is NOT low fat but damn good. If you are really on a diet, don’t use this!

Rich Peanut Butter Chocolate Icing

Ingredients

6 tbsp dark chocolate, broken into small pieces

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp low fat milk

3 tbsp peanut butter

3 tbsp icing sugar

Instructions

1. Melt the dark chocolate and butter in the microwave for about a minute.

2. Stir and mix the dark chocolate and butter. Add the peanut butter, milk and sugar.

3. Combine well and you will get a smooth, chocolate paste.

4. Scoop onto the brownies and serve.

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It contains dates, almonds, rolled oats and chocolate chips, that’s why it doesn’t need that much sugar.

The actual recipe used chopped pecans and since I don’t have that, I substituted with almonds. All you really need to do is to beat the butter, sugar and egg together and then stir in the rolled oats, seeded dates, almonds and choc chips.

Then scoop spoonfuls of the batter onto the baking tray and bake. You will get these…

Here is the recipe:

Fruit and Nut Choc Chip Cookie Recipe

Ingredients

125g butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 1/2 cup self-raising flour (or use plain flour and add 1 tsp baking powder)

1/4 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup chopped seeded dates

1/2 cup chopped, toasted almonds (or pecans)

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Beat butter, sugar and egg until smooth.

2. Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly.

3. Roll batter into small balls and place on greased baking sheet. Flatten it slightly with a floured fork.

4. Bake in preheated oven at 180°C for about 15 minutes.

5. Stand for 5 mins before placing on wire rack to cool.

The cookies contain very little sugar compared to other cookie recipes BUT it is still quite sweet because of the dates and the chocolate chips. The rolled oats definitely added some texture to it and the toasted nuts gave it the extra crunch.

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I baked this cake quite a while bake and did not have the opportunity to bake it again. But still, recipes and pictures don’t grow stale, right?

It is rather easy to make and with quite few ingredients too. Preparation time takes about 20 minutes or so and baking time is about 45 minutes. The results are well worth it. After baking this, you won’t want to eat store-bought butter cakes anymore!

You will need to beat the butter and sugar together until light and creamy. As shown here, I used brown sugar because it is healthier and I like the taste better than white sugar.

You will need to add eggs, vanilla essence and milk too.

Just add the egg one at a time and beat thoroughly. Then add the vanilla essence and fold in the flour, alternating with the milk. Then its ready to bake! Here’s the recipe proper:

Simple Rich Butter Cake Recipe

Ingredients

200g butter

1 cup sugar (caster or brown, up to you)

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla essence

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup milk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line cake tin.

2. Beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy.

3. Add in the egg one at a time as you continue beating.

4. Add in the vanilla essence and mix thoroughly.

5. Fold in the flour and milk alternately.

6. Pour batter into prepared cake tin and bake for about 45 minutes or until cake is done.

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Anyway, the recipe isn’t my own. I found it here. It was actually a recipe for chocolate cookies with vanilla-cream filling. That’s what Oreos are. And the results are…

Homemade Oreos

Okay, so, they don’t look anything like the original Oreos but heck, these are homemade without any machines to shape it and put the logo on it. Still, the taste is absolutely spectacular…if I may say so myself. Ahem.

The steps to making it are pretty easy too.

First, you need to mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar together.

Then, you add the butter and the egg and continue mixing.

No need for elbow power. Just use the hand-mixer or stand-mixer or food processor to continue mixing the ingredients until you get this..

Then, you spoon out blobs of the dough and pat it into round shapes on the baking sheet like this:

Of course, the sizes are a bit uneven but that’s messy me. You can be as precise as you want using a cookie cutter or your very precise hands. Me? I don’t bother. After all, they are ending up in my stomach anyway. Who cares if they are not perfectly round shapes,eh?

Then, you pop these darlings into the oven to bake for about 10 minutes or so.

They are good to eat as it is without the vanilla cream filling. So, if you are not into cream fillings. You can just stop here. Okay, here’s the recipe for the chocolate cookies.

Homemade Oreos Cookies Recipe (Chocolate Cookies Recipe)

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 large egg

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 190 °C (or 375°F)

2. Mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl using a mixer.

3. Add in the butter and then the egg while still using the mixer to mix it all together until you get a sticky dough.

4. Using a spoon, scoop up the dough and place on a baking sheet, about 2 inches apart (so that there’s room for it to spread) and flatten the dough using your hands.

5. Pop into the oven and bake for 9 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Easy, right?

Now, on to the vanilla cream filling which are even easier to make.

Then, using the mixer (again), beat it all together until real creamy like this:

And your vanilla cream filling is ready to be sandwiched! All you need to do is to add a dollop of it to the cookies and sandwich ‘em.

So, you then get these!

I know, I know, the shapes are uneven and they are not perfectly round. But heck, like I said, they are going to the stomach, who cares what they look like? What’s important is what they taste like!

Anyway, here’s the recipe for the vanilla cream filling:

Vanilla Cream Filling Recipe

Ingredients

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

2 cups sifted icing sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla essence

Instructions

1. Place the butter and shortening in the mixing bowl.

2. Using a mixer, beat in the sugar and vanilla.

3. Beat for about 3 mins until the mixture is light and fluffy.

4. Take a spoon and start helping yourself to the yummy sweet cream since there’s lots to go around (heheh..that is if you are into eating the cream from sandwich cookies)

After this, just simply start sandwiching your cookies with teaspoon blobs of the cream and pressing the cookies together. The cream is very light and fluffy in the beginning but will firm up later.

Now, didn’t I say it’s pretty easy to make your very own Oreos at home? Just don’t blame me when you can’t fit into your clothes. I can’t fit into my old clothes either.

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Ice cream sundae

All you need are some plain vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice cream. For the garnishing, you need chocolate sauce, marshmallow, chocolate chips and plain butter cake (or cheese cake, if you prefer). Just scoop the ice cream onto the dish, dribble on the chocolate sauce, sprinkle the chocolate chips on top and then add the marshmallows and the cake (broken into smaller pieces).

This really hits the spot on a hot afternoon. Or any time of the day. Definitely NOT a diet food. Heh.

Homemade Oreos

Do you know you can make your very own Oreos? Not the exact ones but close enough. I tried making them and let me tell you, it’s really worth the trouble. At least you know what’s in them.

Rich butter cake

I love the smooth, rich taste of butter cake too and the best part is that it’s pretty easy to make too.

What’s missing are some cherries and nuts but since I don’t have that on hand, it will have to do as it is.

Rich butter cookies

Butter cookies are also another simple recipe you can make and enjoy. Once you’ve made your own, you won’t want to buy those manufactured ones EVER. Amazingly, these cookies only need flour, sugar and butter. Easy. I use chocolate chips as decoration.

That’s it for this post. I will be posting up the recipes for the homemade oreos, butter cake and butter cookies pretty soon. Just remember to check back here.

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