Cooking with quinoa

Since my Paula Deen loving, baking crazy sister moved in with us, we've had a lot of muffins, cookies and breads on our hands. My hubby loves it, my hips don't. So tonight we decided to make banana bread with a healthy twist. We whipped up a Quinoa Banana Loaf.

It was a pretty standard banana loaf recipe with cooked quinoa for added texture and nutrients. We also added chopped dark chocolate for a sweet touch.

I've recently enjoyed experimenting with different grains. Mixing it up with barley and chickpeas in chili, lentils as a side dish and cold quinoa salads.

As a wedding gift we received a great cookbook called, Quinoa 365. Who knew you could make more with quinoa than quinoa? Apple-Glazed Pork Chops on Quinoa was a big hit with my sometimes food skeptic husband.

When you love baking, hidden superfoods like grains or blended fruit or vegetables hidden away in a cookie or loaf is a perfect way to enhance a sweet treat. Hopefully, Ms. Deen would approve.