Quinoa and soy sauce.. who knew!

Here is another tasty and nutritious Quinoa recipe!
It is really easy to make and is full of flavor. Between the Quinoa and Sesame seeds in this dish, you're sure to get a sufficient about of protein and calcium.

Depending on  how many people you're cooking for, the amount of Quiona varies. I usually go for 100g per person.
This recipe includes Quinoa, Sweet Potatoe, Pepper, Chilli, Garlic, Soy Sauce, Seeds, Salt and Veg stock/Bouillon, parsley.

This recipe serves around 2 people, depending on how hungry you are! You can add as much and as little veg as you like.

1. Start by chopping your peppers and sweet potatoes. Chop them into relatively small strips, so you don't have to spend ages cooking them. Also add chopped garlic and chilli and olive oil. Sprinkle with a little bit of dried basil.

2. Just before you put your veg into the oven, throw some seeds onto a tray and sprinkle with soy sauce. And then throw them all into the oven. Cook seeds for aprox 10mins and veg...until done!

3. Now for the Quinoa. Put 200g of Quinoa into a pot and boil 200ml of water. ( 200g =200ml water, 300g + 300ml water..etc)

How to successfully cook Quinoa: Add the boiling water to the Quinoa, put the lid on (important you do), bring to boil and simmer for 15 mins.
Still keeping the lid on, after 15 mins of simmering, turn the hob off and allow it to steam for another 15 mins. And Voila, light and fluffy Quinoa!

4. When Veg is done and Quinoa is done, mix it all together with the toasted seeds.
Chop a spoonful of 2 of parsley and throw that in there too.
Add salt to taste.
Add a couple splashings on Soy Sauce. 

The final product!

 The toasted seeds in soy sauce. Cook some extra and eat as a snack!

Blazing Salads Cooking Demo

I've posted about Blazing Salads before, of course! Everything tastes great in there. For those who haven't heard about Blazing Salads, it is a Vegetarian /Vegan deli on Drury St, Dublin.
They have a seriously amazing vegan salad bar which contains a variety of different salads and toppings. You fill up a box with as much or as little as you want of the different salads. There is also hot food and soups which change daily, cakes, burgers, pizza and more!

Anyway, I got the opportunity to attend a Blazing Salads's cookery demonstration at the Dalkey Book Festival given by founders Pamela and Lorraine. They gave a very humble demonstation to a small crowd, provided great recipes, tips and most importantly, let everybody try the goods! They made a roasted vegetable quinoa salad and chocolate nut bars. The quinoa tasted amazing so I gave it a go this morning! They also gave great instructions for successfully cooking quinoa, see blow!

How to properly cook Quinoa:

I had never properly known how to cook quinoa before. Pamela and Lorraine gave a reliable method which works every time.This was great news for me because I like many people end up with wet and soggy quinoa!
It's equal parts quinoa to water. So 250g quinoa to 250ml water etc.

Cooking  Quinoa successfully: 1. Put the Quinoa in the pan along with boiling water salt and  vegetable stock (optional).
2. Put the lid on the pot and leave it on (this is very important). Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes. The trick is to leave the lid on as you are going to be steaming it.
3. After 15 minutes of simmering just leave it to rest.

I find that to make sure it doesn't stick to the pan or get too compressed, pick the pot up and shake the quinoa around the pot while holding the lid on.

Roasted vegetable and Quinoa 
salad:

250g Quinoa
250ml Water
1 Aubergine
1 Courgette
1 Pepper
2 cloves Garlic
2 table spoons of chopped parsley
Basil leaves
Dried Basil
Salt
Olive Oil
1 tin of tomatoes

Cooking the Quinoa:
1. Put the Quinoa in the pan along with boiling water salt and  vegetable stock (optional).
2. Put the lid on the pot and leave it on (this is very important). Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes. The trick is to leave the lid on as you are going to be steaming it.
3. After 15 minutes of simmering just leave it to rest.

While the quinoa is cooking prepare the veg. Chop the Aubergine, Courgette, Pepper into small chunks. Put the veg on a roasting pan along with the chopped garlic and olive oil. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and dried basil on top. Roast for about 20 minutes. Take the vegetables out and pour the tinned tomatoes over the veg and bake for a further 15 mins until soft.

Add the chopped parsley, basil to the quiona along with a few swigs of olive oil. Add salt to taste. When the veg has cooled, add it to the quiona. So yum and easy!

Toasted seeds

In the demo they talked about how great seeds are. I already knew this and always add them to my salads and hummous for extra nutrition. Sesame seeds in particular are very high in calcium. They introduced me to a delish new way to eat them, toasted with soya sauce! I always just eat mine raw but these cooked ones tasted amazing. Seeds are readily available and you can get packs like this in the whole foods section in Tesco. 

Anyway, if you simply pop them in the oven for about 5-10 mins and then pop some soy sauce on them, delish!

Really easy, Really quick, Kind of healthy cookies..

These cookies are an adaption of the vegan choc chip cookies I posted about before.
I call these chocolatey, oaty, raisiny, peanut buttery and coconuty cookies. They basically have a load of yummy ingredients in it.
They are slightly dangerously easy and quick to make though. I've found myself twice this week wiping up a batch for myself..

Anyway, here is a recipe and I highly recommend it.
I don't have exact measurements for most of the ingredients as it's really down to your own taste. Everything is optional in the recipe really!

200g Plain Flour
Cocoa powder..as much as you want! Depends of how much you like chocolate
spoonful of Cinnamon
Desiccant coconut..as much as you want! I just use a good sprinkling
Oats.. I use a good handful or 2
Raisins..as much as you want! The more the better, I find.
Chocolate chips (optional)
-
120ml Vegetable oil
100ish grams Sugar (I use a mix of caster and soft brown sugar) Anything goes!
60ml Water

Peanut Butter (couple spoonfuls)

Bowl 1 
Combine the flour, cocoa, cinnamon, Oats, Raisins, Chocolate in a bowl (The first half of the ingredients)
Bowl 2
Combine the oil, sugar and water together until well mixed.


Add the wet to the dry ingredients and mix together. Then just roll out little balls and flatten them down onto a baking tray!

Bake for aprox 10 mins!
And voila!