Vegetable Quinoa Fried 'Rice'

Photo by A_Lein/iStock / Getty Images

This nutrient dense quinoa recipe is delicious and a nice change from the traditional fried rice dish.

Ingredients (serves 4)

1 tablespoon of rice bran or peanut oil

3 cups of cooked quinoa (1 cup dried yields 3 cups) colour of choice

6 large eggs

2 garlic cloves

1 medium-large red onion, diced

1 large carrot, diced

1 large red capsicum, diced

1 medium zucchini, diced

1 cup of frozen peas

2 spring onions, finely chopped

2 tablespoons of salt-reduced soy sauce (choose a soy sauce labelled 'gluten free' if you require a gluten free diet) 

2 teaspoons of sesame oil

1/4 cup of roasted almonds, chopped

Method

Cook quinoa and let cool.

Whisk the eggs together in small bowl and set aside.

Heat (rice bran or peanut) oil in a wok over a medium to high heat.

Sautee onion, garlic and carrot for approximately 2 minutes.

Add zucchini, spring onions and capsicum and cook for approximately 2 minutes, continually stirring.

Add cooked quinoa and frozen peas and stir through vegetables.

Make a well in the middle of the quinoa and pour the egg in well. Scramble the egg.

Once the egg is cooked add the almonds, soy sauce and sesame oil and stir altogether.

Nutrition information per serve Energy 1658kJ (394cal), protein 20g, fat 21g, saturated fat 4g, carbohydrate 28g, sugars 5g, fibre 8g, sodium 469mg

Reblogged from Nov 2013

SANTORINI FAVA

Last year while on holidays, my husband and I made a little stop at Santorini, one of the most beautiful Greek Islands.

Santorini blew us away with the most amazing views and fresh Mediterranean eats.

Most of you will know my love for the Mediterranean way of eating, which I spoke about earlier this week on the blog. A love certainly for the many healthy benefits it provides, but also for its fresh, simple nature and a philosophy that encourages people to share, enjoy and celebrate food and family.

One of my favourite Mediterranean dishes was the Santorini specialty called fava. A dish traditionally made with the broad bean, is now made with yellow split peas and is served as an appetitzer (mezi) with crusty bread or as a feature in a share plate.

Fava from a little restaurant that we visited

This simple dish exhibits some of the features of the Mediterranean way of eating that makes it such a healthy eating pattern for us to follow - legumes and olive oil, LOTS OF OLIVE OIL...

After enjoying a few dishes of fava during my stay I was so keen to come home and try to replicate this dish. So here is my interpretation of Santorini fava.

My version of Santorini fava

Ingredients

1 cup of yellow split peas

1 onion, 2/3 finely chopped and 1/3 thinly sliced

2 bay leaves

2 garlic cloves, pressed and chopped roughly

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil + extra to drizzle once serving (don't use the 'light' stuff)

Sea salt to season

Lemon juice

Method

Rinse the yellow split peas.

Add rinsed split peas, garlic, bay leaves and 3 cups of water to a saucepan.

Bring to the boil, and then reduce heat to simmer for approximately 25-35 minutes – or once tender and mushy.

After about 15 minutes of simmering add the 2/3 of chopped onion, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and season with a small amount of sea salt and stir until combined.

When the split peas are tender, remove bay leaves and blend until a smooth mixture forms – you can add some extra water if you would like a runnier texture.

Serve in a bowl, top with a squeeze of lemon  (as much as desired – I like about ½ a lemon), a good drizzle of olive oil and the thinly sliced onion.

You can serve this warm or cold.

In Santorini it is served as an appetiser with crusty bread. You could also use it as a dip or spread for vegetable sticks, wholegrain crisp bread, rice cakes or rice crackers.

Enjoy! 

RICOTTA FILLED BAKED PEARS

I have to admit, I have never loved pears. NEVER! They would have been the last fruit that I chose to eat when I was younger.

I have now learnt to love pears. LOVE!

Not the way that nature intended for us to love them, but a love all the same.

My way is a little more indulgent and involves red wine (think poached pears) or flake chocolate (think sprinkles of flake chocolate over ricotta filled baked pears)....YES this is the recipe that I am going to share.

This recipe is quick to prepare and is a delicious way to get the family to eat a piece of fruit. 

Ingredients (serves 4-8)

4 large firm pears, halved
1 cup of of ricotta cheese
1/2 cup of walnuts, chopped
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon (this is a lot so you can always reduce this quantity to taste)

Serving options - honey, grated dark chocolate, Cadbury flake chocolate

Methods

Preheat the oven to 180° and line a baking tray with baking paper.
Scoop out the seeds of the pears, leaving a small hole that can be stuffed with the ricotta mixture.
Combine the ricotta, walnuts and cinnamon.
Spoon the ricotta mixture into the pear hollows.
Place on the baking tray and bake for 30-40 minutes or until the pears are tender.

You can serve with a sprinkle of cinnamon and a drizzle of honey. If you want to be more indulgent and use this as a dessert, grate dark chocolate or sprinkle flake chocolate over the pear and serve on its own or with a scoop of ice-cream.

I will leave that one up to you!

FISH & SWEET PoTATO CHIPS WITH ITALIAN SLAW

This is a new family friendly recipe to add to your culinary repertoire.  

When I think about family friendly recipes they obviously need to be appealing to the kids. Kids are impressionable and eat with their senses - meaning, make healthy food appealing to their senses and they will consider loving it for life (well...consider). In order to appeal to their senses meals need to:

• look good - be colourful and have different shapes and textures,
• taste good - add simple dressings and herbs and cook with healthy fats to make vegetables taste good,
• smell good - no one likes the smell of boiling vegetables, and
• feel good in their mouth - incorporating different textures and adding a crunch can help with this versus serving soggy vegetables.

Kids also like to touch their food and eat with their hands - think how much they love a Mexican feast!

Getting them involved in the cooking process will also teach them more about food and nutrition and encourage them to try new foods – this recipe is great for that. Kids are often proud of the meals that they prepare and excited to eat it...Hallelujah they just tried 2 new vegetables and ate dinner with the family without a fuss!

I feel like this recipe ticks all of these boxes and more:

• It contains lots of different vitamins, minerals, fibres and antioxidants through the vegetables.
• The simple homemade dressing makes the vegetables taste good and encourages everyone to eat them (without an abundant of additives and preservatives).
• The salad is crunchy and colourful (and may introduce the kids to some new vegetables).
• The sweet potato ‘chips’ provide a healthier alternative to chips and the kids can pick them up and eat them with their hands.
• The fish adds important healthy fats and protein to the whole diet. It can be flaked and served with the salad and a spread of avocado in a soft taco shell as an alternative.
• This is a balanced meal – some protein, healthy fats, a small serve of quality carbs and lots of veg.
• This is a gluten free meal for those requiring a gluten free diet.

Ingredients (serves 4)

4 Pieces of snapper with the skin on (you could also use salmon or any fish you like and are comfortable cooking with)

2 Medium-large sweet potatoes cut into ‘chips’ (leave skin on)

1 Tablespoon of olive oil for the fish + some extra for drizzling on ‘chips’

1 Large carrot, grated

½ Fennel bulb, thinly sliced

¼ Red cabbage, thinly sliced

1 Large kale leaf, thinly sliced

Lemon wedges to serve 

Dressing ingredients

¼ Cup of olive oil

• ½ Teaspoon of dried oregano

• 1/8 Cup of apple cidar vinegar

• 1 Tablespoon of honey

• ½ Tablespoon of Dijon mustard

Methods

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Place sweet potato ‘chips’ on a tray lined with baking paper and drizzle with olive oil, lightly season with salt and place in the oven for approximately 15 minutes or until golden.

Meanwhile, mix dressing ingredients together in a small bowl (one of the kids could do this) and combine the carrot, fennel, cabbage and kale in a larger bowl (one of the kids could do the grating and mixing). Toss the dressing through the salad mix

Season the fish skin with pepper and a little bit of salt – this helps to get it crispy.

Heat the olive oil in a pan over a high heat (this heat is fine for olive oil but you could use rice bran oil as an alternative). Place the fish skin side down and gently press on the fish while it starts to cook with the back of a spatula so it starts to cook evening on the bottom. Cook for approximately 5 minutes then turn the fish, turn the heat down to a medium heat and cook for a further 3-4 minutes or until the fish has cooked through. This will really depend on the size of the fish.

Serve the fish with lemon wedges, sweet potato chips and Italian slaw and enjoy as a family sitting at the table.

Notes

You may need to increase or decrease ingredients depending on the size of your family and their appetites!

Taste the dressing and adjust ingredients to taste

ENJOY!