THE TRICKY CHEF

I am not going to call myself the Sneaky Chef because I would not want to copy anyone. Although that is certainly where my inspiration came from. Thank you Missy Chase Lepine. I think you have some great ideas. Don't get me wrong I still think it is important for children to eat recognizable vegetables but hey it doesnt hurt to sneak a little nutrition in here and there. Okay I know I said sneak but trick just didnt work in that sentence.

I made red quinoa the other night. My five year old would not touch it. Mind you she has actually eaten quinoa (the white variety) before, smothered in butter and loved it. Afterall it was smothered in butter. Like the lady says, "A spoonful of sugar..."

So here I was with a ton of red quinoa and nowhere to put all the leftovers in my fridge. I went to my books and to the web but to no avail. I could not find a recipe that was going to suit my needs. Well if you cant find it, make it up.Enter chocolate. I figured hey if I just add some essential ingredients I will have the making of a cake. And indeed I did. Chocolate Cake, alias for Quinoa Chocolate Cake, is nearly all gone. My five year old is begging for it.

Quinoa Chocolate Cake

2 cups cooked red quinoa
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup milk
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray the pan that you will use. Combine dry ingredients. In another bowl combine quinoa and wet ingredients. Mix wet into dry. Depending on your pan, baking times vary. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top.

I had a mini loaf baking pan, along with 3 mini cake pans. I put them in seperately. The mini loaf baking pan took about 25 minutes.