Quinoa and Chickpea Salad

If you’ve been following The Shrinking Hubby for a while now, you may have realised how much I LOVE quinoa!  This salad is absolutely delicious on its own, or as an accompaniment to fish, chicken or beef.  Try it with my delicious healthy BBQ Chook!

The first time I made it, I enjoyed the left overs with a tin of tuna for the next couple of days for lunch – it was really good.

This salad was inspired by food blogger Phoodie, but I have tweaked it a little bit to suit our own tastes.

What you need:

1 cup quinoa

zest and juice of 1/2 lemon

1 punnet grape/cherry or roma tomatoes – quartered

1 bunch parsley leaves chopped

1/2 red onion finely diced

1 cucumber diced

1 red capsicum diced

1 cup of pinenuts or slivered almonds (whichever you prefer) – toasted.  (I dry roast them in a pan until they become aromatic)

2 tins organic chickpeas rinsed well and drained

150 – 200 grams of goats cheese or feta (whichever you prefer)

Dressing

Whisk together (or shake in a jar)  juice of 1 lemon, salt and pepper, 1 teaspoon sumac, and olive oil (to taste)

How to pull it together:

Bring 1 cup quinoa, 2 1/2 cups water, zest and juice of 1/2 lemon to a boil and simmer (covered) for about 10-15 minutes or until cooked.  If it gets too dry you may need more water.

In a large mixing bowl, mix the onion, diced capsicum, cucumber, parsley, chickpeas and tomatoes.  Add half the toasted nuts (almonds or pinenuts) and half the cheese (crumbled).

Add the quinoa to the bowl and pour the dressing over and mix well.

Decant into your serving dish and top with remaining nuts and cheese to serve.

With Almonds!

With Pinenuts!

Such a healthy and delicious salad – enjoy!

XX

Alix

Chilli Con Carne with Guacamole

This is such a delicious lunch or dinner – full of fibre and veggies!  It feels naughty with a big dollop of guacamole on top but avocado is so good for you it is actually just a win-win!

Healthy Chilli Con Carne with Guacamole

(serves 4 – or 2 for dinner with 2 meals for the freezer!)

You will need:

Chilli

1 diced Onion

2 diced carrots

1 diced zucchini

2 diced sticks celery

500 grams (1 pound) organic beef mince

1/2 cup tomato paste

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1 tin chickpeas (Drained and rinsed well)

1 tin red kidney beans  (Drained and rinsed well)

1 tin cannellini beans  (Drained and rinsed well)

Spice mix

2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon tumeric

1 teaspoon ground coriander

Chilli flakes to taste

Guacamole

Mix the following together well:

1/2 Avocado

Juice of 1 lime

1 1/2 tablespoons greek yogurt

Salt & Pepper

To make the chilli

1.Cook mince in a large pan until brown.  Drain.

2. In same pan fry up the onion and celery in some garlic infused olive oil (or olive oil and 1-2 crushed garlic cloves)

3. Add the chopped veggies and saute.

4. Add the mince and spices and cook until flavours come together.

5. Add the tomato paste, tomatoes, beans and some salt (to taste) and simmer for 30 minutes with lid on.

Serve in a bowl and top with a dollop of the guacamole.

Enjoy!

X

Alix