Quinoa salad

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 4 cups of vegetable broth/ marigold reduced salt vegetable bouilon powder
• 1/4 cup 3-6-9 oil
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper  coarsely ground
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 and a 1/2 cups of quinoa
• 1/2 red onion finely diced
• small bunch of fresh parsley (we prefer flat-leaf, but curly works too)
• 2 Lebanese cucumbers cubed
• 2-3 ripe tomatoes cubed

Instructions

Cook quinoa in vegetable broth until it fluffs up, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While quinoa is cooking, whisk together lemon juice, oil, salt and pepper.

Wash the parsley then use a salad spinner or paper towels to thoroughly dry it. Remove all the stems, then grab a handful and roll it up and slice the roll as thinly as possible. Chop the parsley in the opposite direction to the direction you sliced and you should get it pretty evenly chopped.

Add the parsley to a large bowl along with the cubed cucumbers, cubed tomatoes and diced onions. Add the cooled quinoa along with the dressing and toss everything together. 

organic verses non organic

I often get asked if its worth buying organic food over non organic food. I would always have to say yes, organic seasonal locally produced food whenever possible. The benefits of organic foods are often put down to the fact that they nutritionally superior, however many researchers have found that this is not the case. Some researchers have found that organic fruit and vegetable do indeed contains higher levels of nutrients than conventional fruit and vegetables. However in my opinion organic vegetables and fruit are superior not due to better nutrient levels but due to what they are lacking! Organic fruit and vegetables don’t have Pesticides, herbicides or other nastiest. All pesticides have to provide safety data on individual chemicals, but there is no data on the effect of all or any combination of these chemicals.

The most contaminated fruits and vegetables are (Pick organic where ever possible)

FRUIT -apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, raspberries, grapes

VEGETABLES - peppers, celery, green beans, potatoes, spinach, lettuce, cucumber, squashes, pumpkins

Less contaminated fruits and vegetables (growing methods less important)

FRUIT - bannanas, oranges, tangerines, pinapple, grapefruit, melon, watermelon, plums, kiwi, blueberries, mangoes, papaya

VEGETABLES - broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, mushrooms, asparagus, tomatoes, onions, aubergines, peas, radishes, advocadoes

Source 'environmental working group. the full list 43 fruits and veggies' (www.ewg.org)

Breakfast smoothie

Breakfast purple smoothie 200g of fresh of frozen berries strawberries/ blueberries/raspberries

Live probiotic yogurt, if you dont eat yogurt you could put any type of milk ie goats/ cows/ oat/ rice.

A few tablespoons of oats, to keep the variety going you could used ground almonds /pea protein powder/ground mixed seeds

100ml of water

put in a blender and blend until smooth!

drink and enjoy

super salad recipe (serves two)

Super food salad (serves 2) 1 small sweet potatoes cubed,

1 small red onion chopped,

1 red, yellow or orange pepper chopped,

1 small courgette chopped,

2 garlic cloves chopped,

drizzle of olive oil,

200g of cherry tomatoes,

150g of quinoa,

½ cube vegetable stock

2 heaped tbsp. pumpkin seeds

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees,

chopped vegetables and garlic put in a roasting tin and drizzle with olive oil, cook for 35- 40 minutes, add the chopped tomatoes for the last 10 minutes,

They ate cooked with the tomatoes skins slip and the sweet potato is soft when pierced.

Meanwhile place quinoa in a pan and cover with boiling water and stock cube, bring to the boil then reduce and simmer much like cooking rice,

When the quinoa is cooked fluff it up mixed in the roasted vegetables and top with the pumpkin seeds.

Eat and enjoy!!

Super Muesli Recipe

Super food muesli (serves one) Start your day the healthy way!

40g whole rolled porridge oats, 1 tbsp. of ground almonds, 1 tbsp. essential seed mix, ½ small apple grated, 1 tbsp. any berries & ½ tsp. ground cinnamons

Place all ingredients in a bowl and cover with double the amount of boiling water or hot milk. Stir and leave to thicken for a couple of minutes until the oats have soaked up the water and become soft and plump.