Quinoa Salad with Feta Cheese and Avocado

Schlagwörter

Avocado, Chickpeas, Chili, Feta, lemon, pulses, quinoa, Recipe, refreshing, salad, sunflower seeds, vegetarian, wholesome

Last week I wrote about how much I liked the sound of the M&S Quinoa Salad with Feta and Avocado. I had actually written down everything it said on the ingredients list, but (surprise surprise) I lost it, so what I made today was slightly different to the M&S salad, but I liked it nevertheless.
One of the main differences is, that I had a chili-coriander dressing rather than a mint* one, and since I’m not the biggest fan of mint, I think it was for the better.

I am very pleased with the result and will definitely make it again. Here is the recipe:

1) Rinse 1 cup of Quinoa with lots of hot water

2) Heat 3 cups of good quality vegetable stock in a saucepan and mix it with 1 tablespoon of honey and 1 tablespoon of olive oil

3) Mix in the Quinoa and let it simmer for 20mins (Stir it every now and again)

4) Meanwhile, chop up some coriander (the more the better… and here you can’t use the thyme excuse! Coriander is not nearly as annoying to pick as thyme!) and 1 red chili

5) Put the coriander and the chili into a salad bowl, grate in the zest of 1 lemon (please do check that you can use the zest!) and squeeze in the juice of half that lemon

6) Mix with 3-4 heaped tablespoons of yoghurt and spice with some curry powder, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and if your chili isn’t that spicy (like mine) some Tabasco.

7) If you’re happy with the dressing, put in 1 tin of chickpeas, 1/2 a jar of marinated Feta Cheese, 2 chopped up Avocados, 3 tablespoons of sunflower seeds  and 1/4 of a peeled cucumber, that you cut into little cubes.

8) When the 20 mins for the quinoa are over, take it off the heat and get rid off any excess liquid

9) Let it cool for a couple of minutes before you mix it with all the other things in the salad bowl

Voilà another delicious salad that’s actually good for you and that keeps you fuller for longer. Enjoy!

Love,
Johanna

*in case you’re a cool kid and also call cool things mint: In this case I mean the original meaning, the herby one

Marks&Spencer Super Wholefood Salad with Blueberries&Mango

Schlagwörter

basil, Blueberry, Dressing, lemon, mango, Marks&Spencer, salad, Wholefood

I just had a really really delicious salad from Marks&Spencer, it’s called Super Wholefood Salad with Blueberries & Mango and it comes with a lemon and basil oil dressing. It sounds super healthy (and it is) but it’s also seriously good, especially in summer.

On the package it says “Tempting flavours from around the world, go on treat yourself”, turns out, it really is a treat and is also full of good ingredients. Here’s a list of some to get you a better idea:

- Quinoa

- Cucumber

- Chickpeas

- Sprouted Peas

- Raisins

- Cranberries

- Pumpkin and Sunflower Seeds

Healthy right? They all go together really well and make for a perfect lunch. It fills you, but only has 260 calories, that’s as much as a chocolate bar!!! (I obviously don’t suggest to replace a chocolate bar with this (even though it genuinely tastes sooo good) what I mean is, if you have this for lunch, you can have a chocolate bar for dessert and still eat 500 calories!)

I might try to make this one day, but only if it’s for many people, because I’m not sure, if the effort is really worth it for one portion (it would cost a little fortune in ingredients, whilst buying a single portion is only 2.50 GBP), but I did see another salad in store which was quinoa with feta and avocado with a mint-crème fraiche dressing which I might give a go soon.

If you see this, get over it looking too healthy and give it a try, I’m almost 100% sure you won’t regret it!

Have a nice day

Johanna

RECIPE: Couscous Salad “Ratatouille”

Schlagwörter

aubergine, chargrilled, courgette, Couscous, healthy, ratatouille, salad, summer lunch, Thyme, Tomato, vegetable

I was going to make a post about the restaurant we went to yesterday, but since I just had the most delicious salad for lunch, I thought I should share this first.
You’re probably getting annoyed: two couscous recipes in one week, but trust me, this one’s a gooden! I never used to like couscous, because it’s often really bland. The one I tried however was full of flavour and really nice for a light, healthy lunch.  Well that’s what I had it for, but I think it makes for a good salad to bring to a bbq you’re invited to, too.

I came up with this, because I love Ratatouille but since that’s a more  wintery dish, I thought I’d combine it with couscous. I know that Ratatouille is usually made by cooking different vegetables together over hours, but I prefer slicing different vegetables into thin slices and chargrilling them before combining with a herby tomato sauce.

Here is how this one works:

1) Mix 300ml of good vegetable stock with 1 tablespoon of honey and 2 tablespoons of olive oil

2) Bring to the boil, then pour over about 200g of couscous and let it do its work

3) Wash and cut 1 Courgette and 1 Aubergine into thin slices. I know you probably don’t need to anymore, but I still do it because it works and because I like the hint of saltiness it leaves on the aubergine: Put some salt on the aubergine slices to get some liquid (and therefore bitterness) out, then when they look a bit sweaty take some kitchen roll to dry them.

4) Cut up 1 red pepper

5) Mix the vegetable with a bit of olive oil

6) Chargrill the vegetable in a griddle pan. I like to do this one vegetable at a time, because they’re likely to need to be turned at the same time etc. You’ll need a bit of patience with the aubergine, but it’s definitely worth it. The aubergine slices need to be lovely and crispy

7) When all the vegetable is chargrilled, put it all together, sprinkle with salt and icing sugar and cut it into smaller pieces

8) Before you put the veg into the couscous, mix in about 3 tablespoons of tomato sauce (I used M&S margherita pizza sauce, but I think most tomato-ey things would work), some dry thyme and a bit of salt and pepper

9) Once that’s mixed, put in the vegetable which finishes the ratatouille couscous salad. I had it with a buttered sesame bagel, but as I said before, I think it would be nice as a side dish as well. If you want to make it more indulgent add some feta cheese!

Enjoy