Food for a Good Cause :: Quinoa Muffins

This weekend I volunteered with Pet Project Rescue at the first No-Kill Walk for Animals.  The walk was around Lake Como in St. Paul and participants walked to benefit a local animal rescue of their choice.  I helped out at the Pet Project Rescue booth giving out information and trying not to screw things up.  The weather was NOT going to be good -- rainy and cold -- so the night before I thought I'd bake up a little snack for the fellow volunteers who joined me at 8am!

Oz - a PPR foster pup -- braving the weather with his stylish rain jacket!

Papi enjoying his bone on his muddy blanket!

I found this recipe on Big Girls Small Kitchen and adapted it to meet my refrigerator contents.  The quinoa adds a healthy punch and an amazing texture to these otherwise normal muffins.  I also threw in some raisins for a chewy and sweet kick.  I tripled this recipe to make 24 muffins, but this original recipe makes about 8.

Ingredients

1/4 cup canola oil*

1/2 cup sugar, minus 2 tbls
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 egg
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup cooked quinoa
1/2 cup raisins

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, combine the oil, sugar, vanilla, almond extract, and egg.  Beat or whisk until the mixture is smooth and slightly thickened.  Add the milk and mix again.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.  Pour this over the wet ingredients and stir together.  Add the quinoa and raisins and stir to combine.

Divide the batter evenly among 8 muffin cups.  Fill the remaining cups with water to protect your pans.  Bake for about 20 minutes.  Eat and enjoy!

*Food Tip: For a richer, denser muffin, substitute all or some of the oil with apple sauce.  And while any neutral oil will work with this recipe, canola oil is rich in Vitamin E and has the lowest amount of saturated fat among all of the cooking oils.  Bonus!

Food Philanthropy

I am a volunteer with a non-profit animal rescue in the Twin Cities called Pet Project Rescue.  If you know me, you've seen my obsessive facebook posts about this organization!  But it's awesome, and I'm so glad that I got involved with them.  Plus, they were the fab people who saved my kitty Drizzle before I adopted him.  Loves it!

Drizzle!

Last night Pet Project Rescue hosted its annual fundraiser with the support of Summit brewery.  It was crowded, crazy, and completely awesome.  But, for purposes of this blog, I was so impressed by the number of restaurants that donated food for snacking and gift certificates for the event's silent auction.  These places were so supportive of Pet Project Rescue and its mission -- I was floored by the outpouring of support.  So I thought I'd give a little shout out to the places that donated the AMAZING snacks for the fundraiser!!  Thank you to: Pizza Luce, Q-Cumbers, The Liffey, Crave, Sarah from Sassy Lu Salon, Chipotle, A Piece of Cake, and Confectionery Cake Shop.  And a huge thank you to the tons of other businesses who donated gift certificates to Pet Project Rescue!  (A special shout out to Cafe Twenty Eight, the breakfast spot for me and my college friends!)  Here are some pictures of the tasty treats!



veggies, fruit, and hummus with pita chips



holy awesome cake decoration!



food from crave -- i only wish i would have been able to try some!