Wheat-Free Orange Quinoa Muffins

Adapted from The Golden Door Cooks Light and Easy by Michel Stroot
(Gibbs Smith, 2003).

Many a muffin can be blamed for diet sabotage, but muffins from the
renowned spa, the Golden Door, are light and lovely and rely on pureed
fruits instead of butter and oil. This Golden Door recipe for orange
quinoa muffins uses quinoa, oats and cornmeal to replace flour, making
them not only super moist but also an excellent source of protein and
other nutrients. When the Golden Door spa opened in 1958, they set the
standard for fresh, colorful, flavorful "spa food." These muffins are no
exception. And although they don't have wheat flour, they aren't
gluten-free because the oats contain glutenif you want to make them
gluten-free, just double the quinoa and drop the oats.

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
3/4 cup cooked quinoa
1 1/4 cup cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
4 oranges
1 large ripe banana
1/3 cup apple juice
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar (or one of Care2's recommended
natural sweeteners).
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 egg
2 egg whites
2/3 cup chopped pitted dates

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin with vegetable oil
and set aside. In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, process the
rolled oats into a fine flour. Add it to the cooked quinoa and mix in the
cornmeal, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Grate the oranges to make 2
teaspoons zest. Peel the remaining oranges and separate the segments of
all 4 oranges. Remove all the pith. Cut the outer membrane from the orange
segments. Chop 3/4 cup of the orange segments and place into a large bowl.
In food processor, process the banana with apple juice, brown sugar,
honey, oil, egg and egg whites. Pour into the bowl with orange segments.
Stir in the dates and orange zest and mix well. Pour the banana-orange
batter into the dry ingredients and mix until well blended. Pour the
batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling them about 2/3 full. Bake
for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the tops of the muffins are golden brown
and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Turn onto a wire
rack; serve warm or let cool.

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