Try A New Recipe: Hearty Ham Quinoa Muffins

Okay, this one isn't 'try a new recipe', I invented an entirely new recipe.  It definitely needs some tweaking, they were a little mushy in the inside.  Aside from that, if I can improve the mushy texture they would be great in a lunch beside a bowl of soup or salad or as a snack.  This was an experiment in creating a hearty muffin recipe, and an attempt at using quinoa in baking.  I wanted to use quinoa and oats because they would add a lot of fiber, protein and nutrients.  I looked at some hearty muffins recipes and some recipes that used quinoa and threw caution to the wind and winged it taking some ideas from these recipes (that I have no idea if they were good to start with).  Some things I would experiment with in the future is reducing the quinoa to 1 1/2 cups, possibly adding a second egg, and not adding the milk until the end and reduce or eliminate the milk to get a thicker batter.  Oat flour doesn't give very much lift so these muffins really don't rise much above the level of the batter you put into the muffin tin.  I might add in some black pepper to the seasoning as well.

Hearty Ham Quinoa Muffins

(This is my original recipe that I need to tweak as stated above.)

• 1 1/2 cups oat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp garlic
• 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
• 2 cups cooked quinoa
• 1/4 cup greek yoghurt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/2 cup finely diced onion
• 1/2 cup finely diced ham
• 1 cup finely diced pepper
• 1 cup shredded carrot

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a small bowl mix the oat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, garlic and Italian seasoning.  Set aside.

In a mixing bowl,on medium speed beat the Greek yoghurt, milk, egg, and oil.  Add the quinoa and mix well.  Next add the dry ingredients and mix until combined.  On low speed or by hand fold in the onion, ham, pepper and carrot.

Spoon the batter into muffin tins (greased or lined with muffin liners) filling them all the way to the top.  Bake for 40 minutes.  Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes before removing them from the muffin pan and transfer them to a wire rack to continue cooling.