I apologize for the lack of posts, we are beyond overwhelmed over here. As I type this, we are supposed to be leaving for Brooklyn in about 12 hours and we still have mountains and mountains of work to do. We haven’t even yet begun packing up our work (this is a process we usually start two or three days before we are departing). While Mark is printing, I am working on a big project for a client that is due today, and the files are HUGE. So, I figured as long as I am sitting here waiting for the files to save, I would write this post, finally.

I planned ahead for this trip and decided I would pack up some fresh and healthy goodies to eat both on the road and while we are at the festival grounds on Saturday and Sunday. One of the things I wanted to make, after seeing a similar recipe that my friend, April, had posted on Facebook, were these quinoa rhubarb muffins. I figured these would be easy to pack up in a small cooler, along with some fresh local yogurt from White Cow Dairy and some almonds. These were very yummy, the rhubarb definitely could have been a bit riper and sweeter, but I just bought what they had at the farmers market. The little sprinkle of pure cane sugar right out of the oven really gave it a nice touch at the end. I had meant to use quinoa flakes instead of the buckwheat cereal, and I had sworn I had some, but alas what I thought was quinoa flakes was cream of buckwheat cereal, so I just tried that out. It worked perfectly. You could add all sorts of goodies to this recipe, bananas, nuts, fruit, etc. I can’t wait to make these again.

Quinoa Rhubarb Muffins
makes 12 muffins

2-3 cups of chopped fresh rhubarb
1 tablespoon of coconut oil
3/4 cup fresh orange juice
2 organic free-range farm eggs, whisked
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup organic cream of buckwheat cereal or organic quinoa flakes
1/2 cup organic quinoa flour
pinch of salt
cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
organic pure cane sugar

Preheat your oven to 400° F

In a large bowl, mix together the coconut oil, orange juice, eggs, vanilla and honey until combined. In the large bowl from your mixer (or another large bowl) mix the buckwheat cereal, quinoa flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mix until the batter is combined. Add the chopped rhubarb and stir by hand until incorporated throughout.

Spoon the batter into paper lined muffin tins and bake in the center of your oven for 20 minutes. The muffins should be firm to the touch and a tooth pick inserted should come out clean. Sprinkle each muffin lightly with cane sugar as soon as you remove them from the oven. Cool the muffins briefly in the pan, then remove them from the pan and allow them to finish cooling or serve warm. These were delicious warm, with a small bit of local strawberry preserves, from the farmers market, spread on top.

Wrap any leftover muffins, or bag and freeze them and reheat briefly in the microwave to thaw. Enjoy.