Baked Mini Quinoa Bites

This great little appetizer is a great way to empty your fridge. You can personalize this with any spices, herbs, or vegetables you have on hand but this is a great base recipe to start with. And here is an interesting fact for your Saturday.... in 1/2 cup of quinoa there is 30% of your daily value of iron! So anemics and iron-lacking vegetarians rejoice (and make this recipe) !!!

Baked Mini Quinoa Bites

1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa - cooked in chicken or vegetable broth

3/4 cup cheddar cheese, grated

7-8 baby carrots or 2 regular carrots

2 cloves garlic

2 green onions

1/2 red bell pepper

1/2 cup parsley

2 eggs

1 tablespoon grainy mustard

1 tablespoon flour

1/2 teaspoon red curry powder

1/2 teaspoon pepper

butter or cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

You can either chop by hand or use a food processor. Today I used my mini food processor because I was making something mini. Not really. I used it because the large one is harder to get out :)

Place carrots, bell pepper, garlic cloves, parsley and green onions in food processor and pulse until finely chopped. 

Place into a large bowl and add egg, flour, cooked quinoa, and cheddar cheese. Stir to combine and then add mustard, curry powder, and pepper. Mix well. 

Grease mini muffin tins (or a regular sized muffin tin). Fill all the way to the top and cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes. The top should be just crispy and the cheese melted through. 

Serve with your favorite dipping sauce. I mixed low-fat sour cream with my favorite spices!