Im always looking for new ways to doll up a bowl of Quinoa. If you’ve never heard of it see above.  Yesterday I hit the Quinoa Quinella when I found this recipe calling for clementines, which are basically rolling in the streets around here.  Combine the orange juice with the sesame, the mint and the nutty goodness of Quinoa and WOW.  Just WOW.  Here’s how from the New Basics cookbook.  I swapped the peanuts for cashews.  Smashing as a side and perfect for lunch.  
 
1 cup cooked Quinoa.  
1/2 cup raisons
1/4 cup sesame oil
3 sliced scallions
1/2 cup roasted peanuts
1/2 cup clementine segments
1 tbspn chopped mint
2 tsp clementine zest

Rinse the hell out of the Quinoa then boil for 10 minutes.  After that the fancy way to cook it is to steam it.  I put mine in the microwave for 7 minutes with a wet paper towel on top.  Toss everything else in and toss. 

If you have any kung fu ‘keen waa’ moves of your own.  Do share.  ​

Chelsea Winter is a NZ superstar and makes a mean Gluten-free ginger & nut slice.  I make it when I'm feeling homesick.  Which is often.  
This is her site and her recipe is below.





​Base
175g butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp golden syrup
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground ginger
1 cup plain gluten-free flour mix, or coconut flour, sifted
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 1/2 cups finely chopped nuts (I used cashews and almonds)

Icing
150g butter
2 1/2 – 3 cups icing sugar, sifted
3 tbsp golden syrup
4 tsp ground ginger

Method

Preheat the oven to 180c conventional (160c fan bake). Line a 32cm x 22cm slice tin with baking paper so it goes up the sides.

Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a large saucepan over a medium heat, stirring gently to combine. Remove from the heat.

Sift the coconut flour, baking powder and ginger into the pan with the buttery mixture. Add the nuts and coconut, and stir to combine. Press the mixture into the prepared tin in an even layer and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave in the tin.

Heat the icing ingredients (start with 2 cups of the icing sugar) in a saucepan (just rinse the one you used for the base), stirring over a medium heat until melted. If the butter isn’t all mixing in nicely, add more icing sugar until you have a nice smooth icing. Pour/spread over the warm slice. Leave in the tin to cool then cut into slices. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week (yeah, good luck with that).

This is a small bite cake.  Fills you up a treat and is really freaking good.  Good fresh out of a cold fridge.  GLUTEN FREE

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​Ingredients
500 grams (18 ounces) of dark chocolate (I used 70%)
1 cup of coconut oil
1/2 cup of maple syrup (could also use honey)
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 eggs

Instructions
Break the chocolate into pieces. Melt the chocolate and coconut oil together over low-medium heat. I was too lazy to use a double boiler method, but I heated it slowly so that I wouldn't burn the chocolate and cause it to separate.
Remove from heat once all of the chocolate has melted.
Stir in the maple syrup and salt.
Beat eggs in one at a time. I used an electric mixer and added the eggs right into the pan that I melted the chocolate in.
Grease a 9" spring form pan and dust with cocoa powder.
Pour batter in and line the outside of the pan with foil.
Place the pan in a water bath that goes half way up the side of the pan.
Bake in a pre-heated 275 F (135 C) oven for 50 minutes.
It will still look a bit shiny and wet in the middle when it comes out of the oven.
Cool at room temperature for one hour and then put it in the fridge for a few more hours before releasing it from the spring form pan.
Garnish or decorate however you like. It would be delicious with some coconut whipped cream.
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