I’ve been intrigued by the chocolate quinoa cakes I’ve seen recently on Pinterest. I mean, adding a sprinkle of quinoa to dark chocolate doesn’t exactly sound delicious - even if it DOES sound healthy.

Not to mention that the cakes are gluten-free; (which is not typically a marker for deliciousness – don’t worry my #GF friends, I come around at the end of this post!)

But these quinoa-chocolate-cake-baking bloggers are adamant that their results are “my favorite cake;” and ‘yummy…even though we dislike sweets!‘ (Huh?!)

So I just had to experiment with a recipe that replaced flour with cooked quinoa – but in baby steps. Instead of going straight to chocolate, I thought the nuttiness of quinoa would deliciously complement brown sugar and cinnamon in what might turn out to be a leaden cake. (Plus I had on my mind the Cinnamon & Sugar Improv Challenge, which is run by Kristen @ Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker.)

The results were shocking: A light, tender-crumbed cake that was super-duper moist and completely delicious. I will never knock a gluten-free cake again! The brown sugar and cinnamon with the blueberries I threw in at the suggestion of my 5-year-old did produce a yummy cake! While we did decipher tiny bits of quinoa (despite pureeing the quinoa for a good 5 minutes,) they were not unlike chewing on tiny soft tapioca pearls.

The kids and I enjoyed the cake as a snack with a glass of iced tea…and we plan to have it again for breakfast tomorrow with a cup of milk and fruit. The recipe contains four eggs and 2 cups of quinoa, thus I estimate it has:

• Nearly 4 grams of protein per serving and about 10 grams of added sugar (Not a ton of sugar for a cake, but next time I’ll use less sugar because it was plenty sweet.)
• For comparison, a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch® cereal has 1 gram of protein and 9 grams of added sugar.

Have you ever made anything sweet with quinoa? Please share!

Enjoy and please check out the other creative Improv takes on Cinnamon & Sugar below:

Teaspoon of Spice - Two food loving dietitians and moms who blog about healthy, easy & tasty recipes.

I recently read a delicious description of the flavor profile of venison: “Full, deep taste that is somewhat akin to a deeply woody, yet berry-like red wine.”

I’ve been seeing more venison dishes on the menus of high-end restaurants – but also more casual places. And just recently, my teen-aged niece noted that venison jerky is a popular snack at her school track meets. Thus (if it’s popular with teens) the day of the deer has arrived; and it’s high time we shared a tasty venison recipe with you.

Venison is a nutritious meat high in iron and B vitamins and very low in fat. For the past couple of autumns, I have been lucky enough to stock my chest freezer with meat since my husband took up the hobby of hunting. Nutritionists suggest to folks that they should “Know where your food comes from” and “Eat local,” it’s kinda cool my husband can tell you exactly the spot in southern Illinois where our venison was harvested.

How do I cook venison? With sauce. Due to it’s lean nature, it’s a dream to sauté deer hamburger because there is no fat to drain away. But the steak and whole cuts of meat should NOT be cooked like this photo; sans-sauce. Braising, wrapped in bacon! and slow cooker recipes are perfect for venison. But meat pies can get all dried up; which is why it was exciting to discover this brilliant recipe on the Domesblissity blog: The meat is stewed in a slow cooker and then popped into an easy free-form pie crust. I adapted the bold Greek oregano and lemon flavors to compliment the tender flavorful meat and I included some spring veggies. It was so good that our dinner guests asked for the recipe. So here it is, Andersons!

Have you ever cooked venison? How do you like to prepare it? Please share some new delicious recipes!

Teaspoon of Spice - Two food loving dietitians and moms who blog about healthy, easy & tasty recipes.

Disclosure: As an Eat Write Retreat registrant, I received samples of California Ripe Olives and a variety of OXO tools (whoot!) With creating and posting this recipe, I am eligible to win prizes via the Amazing Apps Culinary Challenge. All thoughts and opinons are my own – bonus that I’ve long been a fan of olives & OXO!

So, if you stuck around after that long winded disclosure statement (thanks updated FTC guidelines), I’m super excited about this post for several reasons:

1) I am finally getting to attend this year’s Eat Write Retreat in my hometown this year (more disclosure: I’ll be speaking on behalf of Gerolsteiner mineral water.)

2) Attendees were eligible to enter the Amazing Apps Culinary Challenge. We were all mailed a surprise ingredient: for me, California Ripe Olives along with some nifty OXO tools to help in developing an appetizer using assigned food.

3) You know you’re a kitchen nerd when you actually get giddy over a smooth edge can opener and a new strainer (not to mention 3 different kinds of hand graters.) But really, if it’s an OXO tool, it’s bound to be useful, sturdy and reliable in my book.

4) Maybe it’s the Italian blood in me, but I love anything olive (OK, except for those jarred guys stuffed with pimentos) so I was very happy to get this assignment and learn some more olive fun facts like:

• Green ripe olives are not exposed to air so they keep their green color
• California Ripe Olives cure for 7 days
• California produces 95% of all U.S. ripe olives (dang, what doesn’t grow in California?)

So, onto the recipe: I’ve enjoyed watermelon and feta salad before and I figured olives (since they are a fruit!) would be a nice and unique complement. I used fresh mozzarella here to keep it convenient but next time I want to try this one of my favorite summer cheese – ricotta salada – which is like a feta but less tangy. It may be a bit harder to find but it’s worth the search.

I added some mint for additional flavor and color then marinated it all in a simple orange honey vinaigrette.

Next time I’ll probably just skip the fancy toothpick thing and serve it up in a bowl like a fruit salad. I got a feeling, this one is going to be on menu often this summer.

Anyone else attending Eat Write Retreat? Are you an olive fan? Do you have a favorite summertime appetizer to share? Would love to hear from you!

Teaspoon of Spice - Two food loving dietitians and moms who blog about healthy, easy & tasty recipes.

How can you not rush out and cook a recipe with a name like: “Mom, the House Smells Great” Roasted Chicken? That’s the title of this original recipe; it appears on the pages one of my favorite cookbooks, The Moms’ Guide to Meal Makeovers by two dietitian friends, Janice Bissex and Liz Weiss. This cookbook contains 122 recipes (I counted!) and I’ve prepared at least 100 of them. My kids have loved every single recipe. Now, after that glowing endorsement, I have only one issue with the cookbook: No pictures.

But that’s probably a very good thing.

Because if the cookbook photo had looked like the one above, would you have made it?? Seriously! This is not food photography to appear in glossy magazines. And it probably won’t get much Pinterest traffic – except on the fabulous new board by Cooking Light magazine about cooking mishaps called Cooking Mistakes, Solved!.

But, dear readers, this chicken tastes out-of-this-world! It will make your house smell beyond amazing! AND it’s so simple, I can call it fool-proof. It is also flexible: The original calls for extra virgin olive oil – I’ve used plain canola oil. The original lists fresh rosemary and basil – I’ve only every used dried rosemary and oregano. No fresh garlic or lemon? Use garlic from a jar and an orange. Can’t find a 4-5 pound free-range chicken, use a plain supermarket 2-3 pound whole chicken. (A 5-pound chicken serves about six, buy two smaller chickens if serving a crowd.)

Worried your dinner guests will turn up their noses at a roast chicken that’s not browned to perfect golden perfections and has floppy drumsticks? Don’t! When they enter your home steeped in aromas of garlic, orange and rosemary wafting to their noses, they will look forward to every succulent, juicy bite of Rosemary Orange Roasted Chicken.

Do you make roasted chicken? Do you have a good “ugly but delicious” recipe/cooking story to share? We love hearing from you!

Teaspoon of Spice - Two food loving dietitians and moms who blog about healthy, easy & tasty recipes.

There are plenty of reasons to throw a party this weekend: Cinco de Mayo, Kentucky Derby, a good friend’s first communion, my niece’s birthday…or just because it’s FINALLY spring. Any of the following quick, delicious and simple Cinco De Mayo themed recipes would likely make party guests happy to find on a party buffet table…of any theme.

Thanks to Lindsay @ The Lean Green Bean for hosting a different type party…sort-of a pinning/bloghop mash-up that’s pretty brilliant! She calls it a Pin It Party, so check it out for some cool recipe and fitness “pin-able” posts!

Our most pin-worthy recipes for this weekend or any upcoming spring shindig are:

We’re pretty sure this Black Bean and Corn Salsa is our most-pinned recipe on our entire site! The bright colors and the crazy simplicity make folks run to their pantry…knowing that they probably already have all the ingredients on hand!

My kids go crazy for this 7-Layer Taco Dip Plus Tofu. Yes tofu. And even my non-tofu-eating-husband will scoop it up on crisp tortilla chips. We have even been known to eat it for dinner. And since “7 Layer Taco Dip” seems to be one of the more popular appetizer recipe searches, it will likely be scooped up at your next party.

Another super simple appetizer; so simple, in fact that the original recipe for Cantaloupe Gazpacho had three words of instructions: “Chop, combine, enjoy!” I added a few more notes and some suggested ingredients – but you can use any produce on hand to produce this sweet, salty, spicy fruit soup that would be a fun first course served with a cold Pilsner or lime margarita.

Perfect to serve (and keep warm) for a crowd, Deanna’s Margarita Turkey Chili is prepared in a slow cooker. And it contains all the Cinco de Mayo flavors you could desire: Tequila, lime, cilantro and more.

This honey-sweetened, creamy Avocado Vanilla Fruit Dip is perfect as part of an appetizer buffet, for dessert, or for the kids’ after-school-snack. See why Pinterest is buzzing about serving avocados for dessert or in sweet treats.

Are you going to or hosting a Cinco de Mayo or Derby party this weekend? What are you cooking up this weekend?

Teaspoon of Spice - Two food loving dietitians and moms who blog about healthy, easy & tasty recipes.

Disclosure: Vita Coco compensated The Recipe ReDux (co-owned by ReganMillerJones, Inc. and Teaspoon Communications) to sponsor a recipe contest last month. We were not eligible to win prizes associated with the contest. Opinions expressed here are my own.

Last month, Serena and I went a bit cuckoo for coconut water. Through our Recipe ReDux contest sponsored by Vita Coco, we were charged to come up with ways to use unflavored coconut water in cooking. We both had a lot of fun brainstorming and creating recipes like Coconut Ginger Chicken with Green Jasmine Rice , Mango Coconut French Toast Bake and Coconut Ginger Braised Asparagus, so much so, that’s become a new staple in both our pantries.

So, here’s yet another recipe using coconut water and hands-down, is the quickest and easiest of them all. This pudding is a terrific, last minute dessert whether you want to please the kids, dinner guests or just want a hit of chocolate at the end of a meal.

To come up with this recipe, I checked out some vegan, no bake and raw pudding recipes online and I admit, I was skeptical. Could you really get a rich, creamy flavor without using milk or turning on the stove?

Turns out, yes, you can.

For the record, I will never give up my tried & true, cook on the stovetop, milk & chocolate pudding recipe – but this one is certainly a great alternative when I want instant (not from a box) chocolate pudding – and I’m out of milk!

Do you make homemade pudding? Have you ever tried a no bake or raw pudding?

Teaspoon of Spice - Two food loving dietitians and moms who blog about healthy, easy & tasty recipes.

Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post. As a member of Cooking Light’s Bloggers’ Connection, Deanna and I were provided with cookbooks to review and give away, but the thoughts and opinions are my own.

My parents just drove 26 hours in the car from Montana to bring me my favorite granola. But I didn’t have the heart to tell them that my mom’s homemade granola recipe from my childhood is no longer my favorite. This recipe for Molasses Almond Granola is. (Sorry Mom – although we still loved having you visit!)

If that’s any indication of the deliciousness of the other 199 recipes in the MyRecipe’s America’s Favorite Food cookbook, cooking from this book will mix up your ‘favorites list‘! The book contains: Fettuccine Alfredo with Bacon (from Cooking Light so you know you can make it healthfully more than once a year;) Pasta with Asparagus, Pancetta and Pine Nuts (with 60 reviews!) White Bean and Chicken Chili; Pork Chops with Country Gravy; and on and on. These are the 200 “most-tried and best-rated” recipes by the 6 million users of MyRecipes.com.

So it’s not surprising that All-Time Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies was one of America’s favorite foods – although it is decidedly not a Cooking Light recipe – I will be making it pronto. How could you not with a title like that?

It’s because of the fact that MyRecipes recipes are kitchen tested and user-rated so thoroughly that it has become my first stop when I have an ingredient (like asparagus currently) and need a recipe idea. Plus since this is where the Cooking Light recipe box lives, there’s almost always a light version of any recipe I could want to cook.

In this Molasses Almond Granola, I did swap in raisins and dried apricots for the cranberries and currents. (Apricots and raisins are in my mom’s original recipe!) I also added an extra 1/2 cup oats to try to stretch the recipe since granola goes fast around here. (And this granola went extra fast, especially in yogurt parfaits for my kids!)

Win a copy of MyRecipe’s America’s Favorite Food cookbook! 
FOUR lucky readers will win a copy of MyRecipe’s America’s Favorite Food cookbook which features the 200 top-rated recipes from your favorite magazines including Cooking Light, Health, Real Simple, Southern Living and more.

This cookbook is also compatible with the Scan-It/Cook-It app – you download the free app, scan any recipe in the book and voila! You have the recipe, shopping lists, bonus videos and even more recipes at the touch of a finger.

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Teaspoon of Spice - Two food loving dietitians and moms who blog about healthy, easy & tasty recipes.

Oh happy day – the weather is finally getting warmer here in Philly which has me craving warm weather eats which is why I picked a slaw recipe for this month’s Secret Recipe Club reveal.

This month, I got paired with Jamie @ Our Eating Habits – she lives in Calgary (a city on my travel bucket list!) and blogs about all the recipes from cookbooks and blogs she tries out as well as reviews of restaurants she visits with her family. There were some very tempting, crave-worthy recipes I toyed with making like BLT Penne or Bean Burrito Pie but in the end, the Cran-Broccoli Salad won out.

Broccoli salad, brocoli slaw, cole slaw, carrot salad – whatever you call it –  a shredded veggie salad is a must have side at any barbecue, in my humble opinion. Creamy and cool, it’s a great way to get some extra veggies into your day – as long as it’s not loaded down with lots of mayo or oil which is a total bummer because you really can’t taste the true flavor of the ingredients.

Here are the tweaks I made to the original recipe (Jamie got it from an old Ocean Spray recipe flyer):

• Added carrots to broccoli slaw mix
• Used orange peel instead of lemon
• Swapped in golden raisins for the dried cranberries (would be delicious with dried cherries too!)
• Tossed in some sunflower seeds for extra crunch
• Made it vegan by omitting the cheese (this was actually a mistake, I forgot to buy some mozzarella for shredding!)

What’s one of your favorite sides for summertime meals? Do you like slaws – have a favorite recipe to share?
4/25 Update: Comments section finally back on – would love to hear from you!
4/21 Note: I’ve realize for some reason the option to leave comments has disappeared – how frustrating on SRC reveal day! While I’m troubleshooting, if you have any questions or comments, would love to hear from you – my email is ddaly@teaspooncomm.com – thanks for your patience!

Teaspoon of Spice - Two food loving dietitians and moms who blog about healthy, easy & tasty recipes.

On a sweltering summer day as a child, I remember standing knee-deep in a sea of itchy strawberry plants with an empty bucket and my grandfather saying, “You kids are so lucky you get to pick all these beautiful strawberries!” I didn’t believe him. (So why do I now say things to my kids, like, “You kids are so lucky to get to use a fancy vacuum to clean…?” )

Back to Grandpa. He was helping my sisters and I pick strawberries from my dad’s huge patch; but we had done it so many times before and the large expanse of hidden berries was completely overwhelming.

However, the sweet fruit of my childhood labor was a strawberry dessert. Luckily, my mom never made any silly strawberry concoction like spinach strawberry salad (an adult favorite of mine!) Strawberry season was very short on our farm, so we created only desserts: Strawberry shortcake, ice cream sauce, jam and pies. And then, there were those strawberry cupcakes I got one year for my birthday: Light and pink and fluffy and perfectly sweet.

My ReDuxed version of Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes is a lovely seasonal answer to this month’s The Recipe ReDux Cupcake Conundrum – (asking if we thought the cupcake trend was still going strong or if it was time for other hand held desserts to takeover.) Clearly with this recipe, I voted cupcakes are here to stay!

While I used my classic Best Birthday Cake recipe, I decreased the portion size by using only 2-2 ½ tablespoons of batter in each cupcake…and replacing it with a fresh whole strawberry! The cupcake looked nearly full-size. But I won’t fudge the results of the appearance of the baked strawberry inside: It shriveled a bit and got rather mushy – like what happens in a baked strawberry pie. Thus, should you be serving Strawberry Cupcakes at a classy spring bridal shower, you may want to instead add chopped fresh strawberries. My kids, however loved finding a whole strawberry surprise in the center of their cupcake!

Are you a cupcake fan – or do you prefer another hand-held treat?

My kids at cupcake shop in Edwardsville. Apparently cupcakes are still trendy at The Cup, as of last week!

Please check out the other hand-held dessert treats from my fellow Recipe ReDuxers:

Teaspoon of Spice - Two food loving dietitians and moms who blog about healthy, easy & tasty recipes.

This month, I’m excited to be back involved with the  Improv Challenge, which is run by Kristen @ Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker who challenges us food bloggers to come up with creative recipes using a specific food pairing. This month’s theme is a classic duo: bacon & eggs.

My recipe, Broccoli Rabe, Bacon and Eggs Bruschetta, is the ultimate recipe mash-up and here’s how I came up with it.

• I’ve been wanting to do a breakfast bruschetta for awhile.
• One of my favorite meals from my childhood was when my mom made bacon and scrambled eggs for dinner. Now being a mother myself, I realize it was quick, no brainer supper but it felt “exotic” to have breakfast for dinner.
• When I saw Melissa Clark’s post about Pecorino Fried Bread with Broccoli on her new Restaurant Takeaway blog, I knew I had to add broccoli rabe to my toasted bread, too. It’s probably my Italian roots, but sautéed broccoli rabe is one of my very favorite vegetables. My veggie phobic husband thinks I’m nuts when I say it’s as good as candy when cooked just right. (The trick is to boil it first and then sauté it so it’s not too bitter.)

This could be served as an appetizer, eaten for breakfast, lunch, snack or dinner like an open-face sandwich. You could swap in any type of sautéed or roasted vegetable like peppers, zucchini or eggplant.

If you eat meat, how do you like your bacon & eggs? Do you have a favorite vegetable you can’t get enough of?

Teaspoon of Spice - Two food loving dietitians and moms who blog about healthy, easy & tasty recipes.