Quinoa Choc Chip Cookies.

A couple of weeks ago I had the most delicious Quinoa Choc Chip Cookie at my favourite cafe Anonymous. Ever since then I have been searching the internet for a recipe to try. I found one here and tried it out this morning (I did alter it slightly, my version is below). My cookies are a lot finer than the one I had at Anonymous, but just as delicious!
The cookies are by no means healthy, but if you are after a good gluten free choc chip biscuit give this recipe a try.

Quinoa Choc Chip Cookies
1 1/4 cup quinoa flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1 egg
115g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup choc chips (I only had chocolate buddies, so I roughly chopped them)

Preheat the oven to 180º c.
In a medium bowl mix together the flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl combine the egg and cooled, melted butter. Add sugar and vanilla and mix well. Add the wet mixture to the flour and mix to combine. Stir in the choc chips. Chill the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes (this will make the dough easy to work with).
Roll teaspoons of the dough into balls and place on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Flatten the cookies slightly with your fingers or the back of a spoon. The dough should make about 24 cookies.
Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until golden.

Chickpea Salad: an old favourite.

A little while ago a bought a carton of chickpea tins from Costco. At the time I had a million recipe ideas in mind, but the reality of so many tins was overwhelming. I made hummus, curry and even salt and vinegar chickpeas (which were awesome) but I still had tins left.
Then I remembered this quick chickpea salad. I hadn't made it for years, but now it's back as a regular lunch time favourite.
The recipe isn't an exact thing, you will get a feel for how you like it. So don't be scared to experiment a bit.

Chickpea Salad
1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed.
A good drizzle of Olive Oil
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar (feel free to add more or less if you want)
A few sun dried tomatoes cut into strips
A quarter of a block of feta cheese (again feel free to use more or less), chopped or crumbled.
A handful of parsley, finely chopped. You can also use basil in the summer months.
Black pepper to taste

Put the chickpeas in a mixing bowl and add the oil and balsamic vinegar, mix to combine. Add the feta, sun dried tomatoes and herbs and toss to combine. Add a small amount of ground black pepper. Serve on a bed of lettuce. Enjoy!

Whirlwind weeks.

Sometimes I feel like I'm running to catch up with my life. The weeks seem to vanish before my eyes. We have achieved a lot in the last month, but it has gone very quickly.
The impending birth of our daughter seems to be hurtling towards us. I'm looking forward to it, but I feel like we still have so much to do. We have been a lot more relaxed about things this time around, maybe a little too relaxed. I suppose we have the important things under control – some clothes for the baby, a car seat and a cradle. What more could we need?
Our days have been filled with renovating, fallen trees, the occasional exciting delivery and general chaos. I'm sure things will get even more hectic before they settle down.