Crazy Ingredient Challenge - Lemongrass and Quinoa

It is time to think outside of the box and use ingredients that you may not think go together or that you may not ever tried before.  This month's ingredients are Lemongrass and Quinoa, two ingredients that I use frequently, although the Lemongrass I usually only use for tea.

Quinoa Oat Cereal

I am not an oatmeal person but I love this recipe.  It is full of goodness, sweetened with maple syrup and dried fruit and an added crunch of nuts.  This recipe is made overnight and heated in the morning, so a quick breakfast.

Crazy Ingredient Challenge - Cranberries and Shallots {Quinoa Kale Salad}

Once again it is time for our Crazy Ingredient Challenge.  I missed last month's challenge as June seemed to be so busy for me... so something had to give.

Quinoa Salad and Sunbutter Dressing

I was given the recipe for the Sunbutter Dressing from a friend and decided to make a Quinoa Salad to go with it.  The dressing makes about 2/3 cup and I only used a small amount for my salad.

Crazy Ingredient Challenge - Cauliflower and Chocolate

I have joined a new group called Crazy Ingredient Challenge.  This group was started up by Jutta from Hungry Little Girl.  This month's challenge was cauliflower and chocolate.  When I first head these two combination I thought.... WHAT???  I am not a big cauliflower fan, I can eat it raw occasionally but not cooked.  So, what was I going to do.  I had been to a Dove Chocolate Tasting Party and bought some Sweet 'N' Spicy Cocoa Rub and also Roasted Chipotle Chocolate Salsa so thought I could use this as my chocolate part of the recipe.  

My first idea was just to use the rub on the cauliflower.  I was BBQing and thought this would be perfect.  I sprinkled some EEVO and the rub on the cauliflower, placed it on the BBQ.  Well, although it wasn't awful, it wasn't so great either... So back to the drawing board I went.

I did some searching for recipes with these two ingredients.  I found lots of chocolate cake recipes with cauliflower... but they didn't interest me.  I found recipes that you make cooked cauliflower and add cocoa.. tried that and didn't really like it.  I am not sure how I even got onto some recipes for Quinoa Bites but I did and I had an Aha moment... I could do quinoa bites with cauliflower and the salsa and the recipe began.

Chocolate Cauliflower Quinoa Bites

Ingredients:

For Bites

1 cup cooked quinoa

1/4 cup cooked wild rice

1 cup cooked mashed cauliflower *(see note)

1/4 cup DCD Roasted Chipotle Chocolate Salsa

1/8 cup diced onions

1 egg

salt and pepper to taste

Parmesan Cheese

For Dip

1/4 cup greek yogurt - I used Chobani yogurt

1 tsp DCD sweet and spicy cocoa rub

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix quinoa, wild rice, cauliflower, salsa, onions, egg, salt and pepper together.  Place in mini muffin tins or drop from small cookie scoop. Sprinkle with a little Parmesan cheese.  Bake for 12 -15 minutes until golden brown.

For dip:  Mix yogurt and cocoa rub.

* Notes:  I cooked my cauliflower and then put it through the food processor. 

Enjoy.

If you would like to join this group, just click on the button and it will take you to the page with the information and instructions you need to join.

Linked to these great parties:  Saturday Dishes