Chocolate Quinoa Cake (Includes a quick Ganache Recipe)

Chocolate cake that uses quinoa instead of flour. Amazing!

 I've been playing around with making "healthy" sweets.   Well, healthier anyway.  And I have some friends who are gluten intolerant.  As in, just plain can't eat the stuff. I saw a recipe for chocolate quinoa cake and my interest was piqued.  However, so was my skepticism.  Seriously, could a cooked grain- actually a cooked seed, make a light, moist cake with an actual cake-like texture? Only one way to find out.  I made it. 

It was good.  The texture was a little dense, but not bad and I actually like that anyway.  My family devoured it.  They really didn't know the difference.  It stayed moist for 3 days.  That's how long I managed to hide the last few pieces, 3 days. I expected a weird texture or flavor.  Instead I got a really nice cake that I can make for people who can't eat traditional flour.  I think it's probably a bit healthier too.  Don't get me wrong.  There is sugar in it.  It is a treat, like any cake.  However, it is a treat that is a little better for you without sacrificing flavor.  Because I would rather have a small amount of fantastic, rather than a big amount of only okay.  So to have fantastic that is better for me; bonus!


I am going to direct you to the link that harbors the recipe that I used.  I normally make my own recipes, so I don't often redirect you, but it's not my recipe and I want to be fair.  But please come back and see me again.  I am posting my recipe for Whole Wheat Lemon Yogurt Blueberry Cake soon.  It was divine!

Any way the link is here: Chocolate Quinoa Cake

Oh- by the way, you may notice that my frosting is quite different.  I made a simple ganache by heating 1/2 c. cream (don't let it boil) and adding about 1 and 1/2 cups chocolate chips.  I use a mixture of semi-sweet and dark chocolate.  I stir until melted and let it set up to a pudding like consistency. I make this ahead of time and store it in the fridge.  When I made this cake, I pulled it out and spread it on the warm cake.  Then I added some more chocolate chips and let them melt into the cake a bit.  I spread it out with a knife.  It was a little like eating a layer of fudge on the cake.  Very yummy!

Off Track

The easiest way to get off track for me to be too tired to deal with eating.  If I get too busy or overwork, I tend to not care about what I eat.  I just grab something fast and easy.  I have spent the last 2 days being too busy and too tired to care.  This does not reflect well on my food log-or my sugar log, which is the bigger concern.  I have not checked my sugars regularly in those two days.  Considering how hard I have worked to keep my levels in control the last few months, this seems silly.  Two days can really throw a diabetic or a dieter off track.  I will report what I can here in my food log, but I have a goal to be much more diligent over the next few weeks.  I'm sure that success doesn't mean I never mess up.  It means that I get back on track the minute I realize I am not being diligent enough. :)

This is a blueberry shake.  It is a clam shell of blueberries and a couple cups of ice cream and some milk.  I made enough for the whole family.  Yes, I ate it for lunch.  Ahhhh---  I did say I needed to do better.

I really needed some protein.

And some yogurt covered pretzels where yummy, although not filling.  I did not over do it, I only had a couple.  However, when combined with the day- it wasn't a good choice.

Teaching my son to make a yummy fast meal, so we made BBQ sandwiches in Grands rolls.  I generally start teaching with some easy things like mac and cheese and hamburger helper, etc.  Then when they understand the rules of using the oven and stove and measurements, I move them into cooking from scratch.  He was so proud of these, so even though they are not great food for a diabetic, it was worth it.

a big slice of watermelon. 

Some pork n beans from the can.  I love this stuff.

4-5 Big strawberries. Yum!

a small handful of chocolate chips.  Sometimes you gotta have a fix.

Then since I'd already had the chips, I figured "why not?" on the tootsie roll.  I did give some to my kids.  It felt great to eat it, but 10 min. later, I did not feel great.  In fact I felt sick.  Lesson learned.  1 or 2 of the little tootsie rolls is a much better option.  Save the king size thing for when you're hiking and need a quick pick me up. :)

Back to the Log

So you have probably noticed that I don't log my weekend meals.  I'm just too busy.  Also, I am not a vigilant on the weekends.  I have noticed that the new way of eating is becoming part of me though.  I tend to automatically add fruit and whipped topping to my pancakes instead of syrup. My husband made me a fabulous stir-fry for Mother's Day dinner.  It was great.  It was loaded with veggies and a New York Strip steak.  Since my iron is also low, this turned out to be a great meal for me.  I am automatically reducing my portion sizes. This is becoming a way of life, and that is good.

One big surprise to me is the almond milk.  Ummm. . . I like it better than milk.  I never thought I would say that.  It was nice because I thought I was going to have to "make do" and give up something I liked.  Turns out I like the alternative as well or more.  How often does that happen?  Maybe my tastes are changing.  I don't really care about the reason.  I'm just happy that it's the case. :)

Okay, yesterday's meal log; because you have been waiting on pins and needles, right?

This is a protein shake. I used a product called Attain from Melaluca.  If you have never heard of it, I will do a post about it later today. Done, use protein shake link. Suffice it to say, it was delicious, and kept me full for hours.  It also kept my blood sugars under control.  I am not trying to lose weight, so I made it into a shake with a banana and some Chocolate soy milk.  I'll post the recipe later.

What I used to make my shake. :)

Lunch was whole wheat bread with a small Spanish omelet on top, cottage cheese with mandarin oranges and left-over cole slaw from the other night.

My sugars were really really low in the afternoon yesterday. As in, 72.  That is low.  So I had a mango.  In the past I would have said, fabulous! Now I can have chocolate!  But I wanted the mango. I think it was a lot more satisfying too.

This is what my husband had for dinner.  Ribs, potatoes, and biscuit.  I know there is no green.  He is a grown man, I do not tell him how to eat. lol

This is my dinner.  I had left-over BBQ chicken with 2 Tbl BBQ sauce, over - you guessed it- cabbage.  I also had some potatoes.  I will post the recipe soon.  Done. These are AWESOME and there isn't a spot of butter on them, just olive oil. mmmnnnn.  I did add a little sour cream.  About 1 Tbl. Diabetics can have funny things.  Sour Cream is okay, in moderation, and even helpful to items like potatoes, because the fat slows the sugar absorption.  Weird, huh?

Okay, I only had one.  I shouldn't have had any.  But I did.  My sugar levels 2 hours later were a tiny bit high at 125, but that is high on the acceptable end, so it was fine. Still, I shouldn't have had one.

I do want chocolate milk. But I know it's not always the best choice.  This is 1/2 Soy chocolate milk, and 1/2 almond milk.  Delicious.  I admit, I had another glass of soy chocolate milk, straight- but only 1/2 glass. :) Sugar levels were at 95 this morning - fasting.  So a tiny bit high, but still in the acceptable range.  Tonight, only the 1/2 and 1/2 mixture.

Some days are better than others

 Some days I do really well, and some days. . . well, we all have those days don't we.  I guess the trick is acknowledging what we are really doing to our bodies and accepting the responsibility for it.  So here we go.

So breakfast was whole wheat toast with some melted cheddar cheese.  I actually only ate one of these slices. I probably should have added some fruit, but as we have already discussed, I have a hard time eating breakfast.

So I really wanted some chocolate milk.  It's not the best choice, so I compromised. I filled my glass 1/2 full of chocolate milk, and then. . .

I added regular 1% white milk to the glass to fill it the rest of the way.  Was it as chocolaty as I wanted? No. was it an acceptable alternative that got rid of the craving? Yes.  It's all about moderation.

And then, well, I finished off my kid's pudding.  At least it was sugar-free.  Oh well, the thing is, by photographing it and counting it, I have to own it.  That is a big part of this journey.

I was too tired to make myself a good lunch, so I had the other piece of melted cheese.

And 1/2 a glass of cranberry juice.

Dinner was a chicken and broccoli soup that I invented.  It was delicious, and for a cream soup, it was super low in calories and carbs.  I added some saltine crackers and crystal light.

Bad picture, but this is 1/2 a tuna salad sandwich on whole wheat. Soup can only fill a person up so much.

Really hungry before bed.  2 Tbl peanut butter and a medium apple. Yum!

I had a chocolate craving. A small handful is 70 calories. I did add a few milk chocolate pieces, because in my journey to dark chocolate, I need some that tastes good. lol