Half-baked Wednesday: Quinoa and mango

With trying to eat cleaner and finding ways to save money I had to consider finding some decent vegetarian dishes that the Carnivores in my life will eat. I capitalized it because they are that into their meat! 

This is a quinoa burger that I made, I used a recipe from Dish on Delish. They really were that yellow (grains meet white beans meet carrots, no surprise) and the only reason these two stayed together is that I allowed the bottom to char on them and create a permanent shape. They were served with a pita and yogurt sauce, pretty tasty even if they were UGLY and very much a first attempt at "burgers."

Last week while I was planning the menu I also came across a great deal on mango so I bought a lot. A LOT. Like more than 10. We love mango around here, and the guys would eat dried mango all day every day if I were willing to buy enough. Dried mango is pricey and saturated in sugars. So I bought a dehydrator and set to work to make my own. 

Still working out the kinks regarding how long to leave them drying, how thin to cut, etc. But they don't seem to mind. I dried 10 of the mangoes in two days and two days later all of it's gone! Yep, they ate all of it. Good thing I have some more to dry still...

Half-baked Wednesday: GF blueberry cobbler

More GF baking this week. I finished off the "bisquick" mix I'd made last week, used it for a blueberry cobbler. I still hold that if I'd used a better mix of flours to make the mix last week that it would have turned out better, but it was delish anyway! I made my own pie filling using fresh blueberries and sugar - didn't use a recipe just cooked and smashed a little like when making cranberry sauce during the holidays. This is another delicious recipe, can't wait for the next one! 

slice of GF cobbler that I tested ate

Half-baked Wednesday

I've been taking a bit of a plunge into Gluten Free (GF) baking for a few weeks now so I thought maybe I would share my exploits every Wednesday. To start the GF baking process, a month ago I bought about $40 worth of flours and a $15 cookbook. While my kidlets do get to enjoy the yummy treats part of my purpose is to help my mom to break out of her baking rut...or really, help her rediscover baking from scratch. Huh hello? The woman went to culinary school partly because she loved baking.

This week's baking challenge? I took recipes that used a biscuit mix from that ever famous Betty and not only made my own mix but two yummy treats with 2 cups leftover mix to spare.

My "Bisquick" mix. The recipe said to use whatever flours I wanted and whatever starches I wanted. Not knowing any better I just used what I had on hand from making an all-purpose bread mix in my first project. My flour blend ended up roughly:

1.5 cup white rice flour

2.5 cup brown rice flour

2 cup Garbanzo/Fava flour

and the starches were half Tapioca and half Potato

Next time I will probably try a different blend of the flours but for winging it, the results were tasty!

These are pictures of Lemon Blueberry Muffins. The batter tasted a lot like garbanzo beans and I was really nervous but as they cooked they sweetened up and were a nicely textured muffin. The fresh blueberry probably helped a lot. Another thing I'll have to consider is upping the sugar in this recipe, the store bought mix has a lot more sugar in it than my mix did. 

Squirrel is asking for seconds just looking at the pictures so you know they're tasty regardless!

 

While the oven was still warm I wanted to toss in another "bisquick" recipe. This one is Cheesy Garlic Biscuit. Delicious! I didn't mind the batter flavor as much in this recipe but that may just be because the garbanzo was toned down by all the garlic and butter. I also used Pepperjack cheese instead of the cheddar in the recipe. Yum.

 

Both of these are totally getting repeated in our household, especially if the Grandma is gonna be around. It's nice to know I can make something special/tasty for her now. :)