Making Gluten Free Quinoa Flour in the NutriBullet

Quinoa flour is perhaps the best gluten free flour alternative there is. Quinoa contains more nutrients and protein than its wheat counterpart, plus it lacks gluten. The only problem with quinoa flour is the high price per bag of the stuff, quinoa flour costs twice as much as quinoa on Amazon.com.

So how do we get quinoa flour without paying an arm and a leg?

With the NutriBullet, we can make quinoa flour at home to save massive amounts of money. First though, we will need quinoa before we can begin making our own flour. Head off to your local health food store if they sell quinoa at a good price, Amazon sells truRoots Organic Quinoa for a great price.

If you are using the classic NutriBullet, attach the milling blade for this job. If using the NutriBullet 900, you can use the regular blending blades for this milling job.

Rinse your quinoa off just to be safe. Most quinoa is pre-washed before being sold, but it is best to rinse the quinoa to remove as much of the earthy flavor from the quinoa as possible. We want to make a flour flavor that is mostly basic, not grassy and earthy.

Once your quinoa is rinsed off and dry, put as much as you can into the NutriBullet blender, but leave a small amount of space. Begin pulsing the blender and repeat this process until the quinoa is finely blended. This will take quite a bit of time. DO NOT RUN THE BLENDER CONTINUOUSLY.  If you attempt to mill the mix in one big blender, you will burn your NutriBullet out. Shake the NutriBullet container a bit if there are problems with the blending process.

When you finish blending the batch of quinoa you have turned into flour, it is time to roast the flour. Follow these steps:

• Preheat your oven to 230°F. 
• Get a baking pan and lay a piece of aluminum foil or parchment paper over the pan. Spread the quinoa flour over the sheet.
• Insert the quinoa flour into the oven. Leave to roast for 3 hours. You will smell a grassy smell that reminds one of the scent of burning marijuana :)
•  After 3 hours, remove the sheet from the oven. Siphon your flour into plastic baggies that can be stored in the fridge or freezer depending on how long your storage needs are. If you leave it in the cabinet at room temperature, the four could go bad.

Quinoa flour can be used as a direct white flour substitute. The taste difference between the two is quite minor. Quinoa flour tastes slightly nutty and has a sweet overtone. Great for a whole host of baking needs, but I prefer it mainly for the sweeter things.

I love quinoa, it is a beautiful plant that possesses a ton of qualities that rice, oats, and wheat lack. In nature, the diversity of colors in quinoa amaze me. Someday I would like to grow a rainbow assortment of quinoa in my own backyard.

To read my review of the NutriBullet 900 S Blender, feel free to click this link:  http://www.vegankitchenappliances.com/2014/01/nutribullet-pro-900-series-review.html

By Mat McNeile

Fat Free Vegan Hummus in the NutriBullet

My first non-blender recipe released on this site. When I make hummus, I like to keep it pretty simple. However, the most important thing when it comes to hummus is keeping it fat free. Especially when it comes to olive oil, there is absolutely no point to adding it to a hummus. The olive oil is simply empty calories. I choose to not add tahini when making hummus because tahini too is just extra calories and not completely needed when making hummus. Many may think tahini is needed to get the hummus creamy, but I have found that pressure cooking your own chick peas makes the chick peas incredibly soft. Check out my review on the Instant Pot in order to find out about my favorite pressure cooker.

You will need:

•  2 cups of pressure cooked Chickpeas, or 1 can of Chickpeas,
•  1 Clove of Garlic (Cook it with chickpeas, or use prechopped from the store),
• Juice of 1 Lemon,
• Water till the 1/3rd mark of the NutriBullet,
• (Optional) I like roasted red peppers mixed in as well, but a spicy chile powder works well too.

Blend until smooth and no chickpea chunks are left. If your blender starts stalling due to the mixture being too thick, add small amounts of water and keep blending. You will know when the hummus is just the right consistency once it turns that rich yellowish creamy color.

Feel free to taste throughout blending process to tweak recipe to your own tastes.

Once satisfied with the favor and consistency, throw the hummus into the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour to chill the hummus down and let the flavors fully mix. Enjoy with your favorite snacks. My personal go to's are baby carrots, bell pepper slices, and corn tortillas for mini-wraps.

The NutriBullet is great for making hummus as it is quick and easy to blend when using this device. Cleanup is so simple too with the NutriBullet. I hate having to scoop out hummus with my hand basically when using a Vitamix to make hummus or any kind of bean dip. With the NutiBullet blender I can easily get all of the dish out without having to worry about a huge haste come cleanup time.

By Mat McNeile

The Purple Berries Smoothie for NutriBullet

Yep, misspelled smoothie.

Today's smoothie recipe will be for an antioxidant packed tasty treat. I hope everyone enjoys the picture, it was my attempt to get creative with the drawing.

You will Need:

• 2 Bananas. I like to use one frozen and one non frozen.
• Handful of strawberries. Frozen works if that is all you have, I prefer fresh.
• Equivalent of a handful of frozen cherries. This will make your smoothie a nice dark color.
• 2 Handfuls of Blueberries. Feel free to put in your favorite berry. Frozen works too.
• Fill with water or soy milk to a third of blending container. I am really liking the Soyajoy, so I choose soy milk for most smoothies now.
• Add ice only if you did not add a frozen banana and/or frozen berries. Only put in a few cubes.

Blend for 15 seconds.

Enjoy

By Mat McNeile

The Spicy Ginger NutriBullet Smoothie

Man, I see people all the time talking about making ginger smoothies. I do not know about you, but I always like drinking creamy sweet smoothies, no matter if they are green smoothies. Occasionally I will want to add ginger to my smoothies because ginger is an amazing healing herb. However, when some recipes just say "throw in some ginger" I begin to question the recipe. After enough experiences of adding too much ginger to a smoothie and ending up with a spicy iced drink, I needed to perfect the recipe.

Spicy Ginger NutriBullet Smoothie

• 1 Banana unfrozen, and 1 frozen Banana
• Handful of Strawberries. Do not worry about the proportions here.
• Shaved ginger. Use a cheese grater if you have one and are confident with using it. I never grew up using one, and somewhat fear the possibility of hurting myself on a traditional metal one. Instead, I use the OXO Good Grips Grater so that I can grate the ginger directly over the blender. A handheld zester works well to with ginger, it will be more work though.
• When it comes to the amount of shaved ginger, I like it to be very conservative. Some people really enjoy spicy smoothies, I am not one of those people. Ginger is an ingredient used in a wide variety of my cooking, so I find even minimal additions to it spread across multiple uses a day yields great results. With t hat in mind, I would recommend maybe 5-10 full shredding motions with the ginger.
• Milled Flax Seed. The presence of fat will help to calm down any spice, along with making the smoothie healthier for you to consume due to Flax Seeds being a great source of Omega-3 Fatty Oils. Milled Flax seeds are nearly identical to the health benefit found in Chia Seeds, but they cost only a fraction of the price at Amazon: Hodgson Mill Milled Flax Seed, 12-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 8).
• Water to the 1/3rd mark of the NutriBullet blender container.
• Ice Cubes. About 4 or 5 ice cubes will do the trick.
• (Optional): I like adding Vitamineral Earth to these smoothies. Vitamineral Earth has a spicy flavor to it as well. I see no reason to not add a health boost to any smoothie I drink. Read my review of Vitamineral Earth.

BLEND For 15-30 Seconds

ENJOY

Interested in the NutriBullet. Check out my review of the latest model: NutriBullet Pro 900 S.

By Mat McNeile

NutriBullet Strawberry Banana Smoothie

The greatest smoothie recipe of all time goes vegan. Nobody will decline a strawberry banana smoothie.

You will need:

• 2 1/2 Bananas (Eat the other half)
• Frozen strawberries. Fill about as many as you can into the blender after the bananas are in.
• Pour in chia seeds (or flax seeds). You will not need a ton, a half tablespoon will be plenty.
• Add water to till the water level reaches about 1/3rd of the NutriBullet.

Blend for 15-30 seconds.

You can always add greens to the smoothie in order to kick it up to a higher nutritious level.  I really enjoy Vitamineral Earth with this recipe.

Feel free to read my NutriBullet Pro 900 S review in order to find out about this great blender.

By Mat McNeile.

NutriBullet Recipe - Quick Green Smoothie

Classic go to recipe for anyone who loves green smoothies. It is quick, easy, and tasty. Make this in your NutriBullet 900 S every morning for noticeably better health.

You Will Need:

• 2 Ripe Bananas
• Hand full of your favorite leafy greens
• Hand full of your favorite berries
• A few ice cubes
• Water to fill the NutriBullet up to about 1/3rd of the blender's size.

Blend for 15-30 seconds and enjoy.

If you want your smoothie thicker and icier, use frozen bananas, but be sure to ad a little more water in order to get everything to blend. 

Also, feel free to add Vitamineral Green and/or Vitamineral Earth to get a super boost of added nutrients. 

By Mat McNeile