Perfectly Cooked Quinoa with Roasted Vegetables

Quinoa pronounced keen - wah.

A must for all healthy contemporary diets, quinoa is a protein-packed grain that cooks quickly and is a wonderful canvas for all sorts of add-ins and dressings.  Annoyed with pot after pot of water or overcooked quinoa, I finally stumbled across a method that is sure to make perfect quinoa every time.  The secret is always use a less-than-two-to-one ratio of water to quinoa and tuck paper towel between the pot and the lid while the quinoa is resting.

This mixed pot of quinoa and roast veggies is the perfect warm summer salad to share with friends, or  make a batch up on a Sunday and use for lunches throughout the week.

So this is how it's done:

First choose your veggies, I used:

- Zucchini
- Capsicum
- Beetroot
- Sweet Potato
- Coconut oil
- Dried Oregano
- Dried Thyme

Peel and roughly chop your veggies into cubes.  Spread them out evenly on a baking tray, scatter a little of the herbs over them, and drizzle a little oil over the top.  Place veggies into a 180 degree C oven for around 20-30mins.

While this is cooking make the quinoa, this is how it's done:

1 Cup Quinoa
1 & 3/4 Cup Water
Coarse Sea Salt

Rinse the quinoa thoroughly in a fine-mesh strainer (although this may sound like an unnecessary step, it really makes a huge difference in flavour, since quinoa's natural coating tastes like soap).

Place it in a pot set over high heat with the water and a big pinch of salt.  Bring the quinoa to a boil, lower the heat, cover the pot, and cook until all the liquid is absorbed and the quinoa's germs look like lots of little spirals, 12 to 15 minutes.  Turn the heat off, place a dry paper towel between the pot and the lid, and let the quinoa sit for at least 5 minutes before giving it a fluff with a fork.

Enjoy, the most lightest fluffiest quinoa you've ever made.  Let me know how it goes for you in the comments below.

If you love cooking healthy treats for all your friends and family, and you live in a close vicinity to Brisbane, come along to my Pot Luck Instameet in the Park next Saturday the 15th Febuary.  Check out the details in my post found here.  Ash and I would love to meet you there!

Nicole

xx

Beet Green Juice

Good morning, gorgeous!

What better way to start you day than with a glass full of fresh fruit and vegetables.  This is what I woke up with this morning and it was so delicious.  This combination of power-house foods and flavours is sure to wake you up and give you the kick-start you need to go play in the park, or swim in the ocean or kite surf.  Hey, it's summer - and having fun requires lots of health energy!

The stars of this mornings juice are kale and a beetroot.

Beetroots have a cleansing effect on the liver and can be used to treat liver maladies, kidney stones, and disorders of the gallbladder, stomach and intestines.  Beets also aid digestion and the lymphatic system.

Kale packs more nutritional punch per calorie than almost any other food on the planet.  It is loaded with vitamin K, an essential vitamin for preventing bone fractures, postmenopausal bone loss, calcification of your arteries and has even been shown to protect against liver and prostate cancer.  It is also a very good source of vitamin A, C, B6, manganese, dietary finer, calcium, copper and potassium.  This combination of vitamins and minerals makes kale a health superstar, for real.

You'll need a juicer to make this one.

Ingredients

1 Apple - Cored, cut in half

1 Pear - Cored, cut in half

1 Beetroot - Ends off, cut in half

1 Bunch Kale, ends off

1 Cucumber, ends off, cut in half

Put through your juicer and enjoy with ice!

Remember to by organic where possible.

Nicole

xx