Nourishing Pumpkin, Quinoa, Walnut and Raisin Salad

So… if you’ve scrolled through my Instagram feed you’ve probably seen a fair few “deconstructed salad bowls”. They are my staple during the week for school lunches and easy dinners. They are perfect because I just throw in a bowl a whole variety of mis-matched plant-based ingredients that I find in the kitchen and they always seem to taste incredible!

It is about time I give to you all a salad recipe, with hopefully many, many more to come. After all, these “nourishment bowls” do take up a majority of my diet! So I thought I’d share with you this one, a filling, wintery yet refreshing salad full of paprika roasted pumpkin, fluffy quinoa, crunchy capsicum, cherry tomatoes, fennel, spring onion, fresh green rocket and walnuts with the occasional chew of a sweet raisin.

All these beautiful, fresh and bright ingredients make a super delicious, unexpected combination. The pumpkin and the quinoa make this dish perfectly suitable as a lunch or dinner on its own (as I often eat it) or as a beautiful side salad to accompany something else. Feel free to switch up any of the ingredients in this recipe if you don’t happen to have them on hand. Any fresh, raw vegetables could replace the capsicum and fennel: whatever’s to your liking! It is almost impossible to taste bad when all the ingredients are that good.

Now, why not go and make your next meal a simple and nutritious one. A meal your body (and tastebuds) will thank you for?! Enjoy lovelies xx

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INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup raw quinoa, rinsed and cooked according to packet directions (or find out how here)
• 1/2 medium sized butternut pumpkin, peeled and chopped into rough 2cm cubes
• 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tsp paprika
• pinch of himalayan salt
• 2 spring onions, finely chopped
• 1/2 red capsicum, finely chopped
• 1/2 small fennel bulb, finely chopped
• 1/3 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 3/4 cup rocket, roughly chopped
• 1/3 cup raisins/sultanas

METHOD:

1. Preheat oven to 200ºC. Place pumpkin cubes, olive oil, paprika and salt into baking dish/tray and toss. Bake in oven for 30-40 minutes, or until just golden and cooked through. Remove and set aside to cool whilst you chop up the rest of the ingredients.
2. Simple – just assemble and toss! Put all of those lovely chopped ingredients in your favourite big serving bowl and toss around!
3. You can make a simple dressing by drizzling with apple cider vinegar or lemon juice and olive oil.

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Quinoa Sushi

Sushi. It’s taking over our world! Personally, I love it. But… the store bought stuff is almost always high in fat, processed ingredients and salt. So what I LOVE to do is make my own! It is really simple. You can put your favourite flavour combinations inside, plus… you know that everything going in it is good for you. This is why I load mine with fresh, raw vegetables and the superfood rightfully claiming new-found fame: quinoa!

Quinoa is amazing. If you haven’t tried it yet, perhaps because you are one of those who cannot pronounce it (it’s keen-wah people!), well… you just must. It is fluffy, flavoursome, has an incredibly light, chewy texture, plus… it is completely packed with health benefits. It’s naturally gluten free. It is super high in fibre. It’s loaded with protein, containing all of the essential amino acids. It’s low GI. It boasts amazing minerals such as magnesium, potassium and zinc. It’s high in antioxidants. AND… you can replace it for rice in just about anything! Now, I don’t have a problem with rice (my diet incorporates lots of brown rice). But to me, white rice is quite flavourless and unsatisfying. I much prefer a brown grain that tastes nutty and delicious, whilst nourishing my body to the max!

Just follow this very basic recipe below to get you started, but really you can chop and change the filling ingredients as much as you like! I’m just a sucker for veggies. Some of my other favourite fillings to include are avocado, pumpkin and tofu. Just put in your favourites and you can’t really go wrong!

Now, the slightly tricky part of the otherwise easy recipe… rolling your sushi. It just takes practice. All you need is a little bamboo rolling mat (stocked in most supermarkets in the Asian section). If you have absolutely no idea what you’re doing, watch a YouTube video! My tips are to make sure you’re ingredients are evenly spaced and when rolling it up: take your time making sure it’s a tight roll. Really squeeze it all together! Once you are finished rolling, dip your finger in water and run it along the edge of the seaweed where it meets the roll. It simply glues it all together.

Cut it up with a sharp, wet knife. Serve with sesame seeds, tamari sauce (salt-reduced soy sauce: much better for you!) and wasabi if you can handle it… I most definitely cannot. Enjoy this colourful, healthy meal for lunch, a snack or dinner, completely guilt-free!

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INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup quinoa (you can use white, black, red or a variety)
• Pinch pink himalayan sea salt
• 1 tbsp coconut vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
• Nori (seaweed) paper
• A mixture of vegetables (I used 1 carrot (julienned), 1/2 red capsicum (julienned), handful bean sprouts and some chopped red cabbage)
• Tamari sauce and sesame seeds to serve

METHOD

1. Rinse the quinoa thoroughly using a colander. It can sometimes taste bitter if not rinsed properly.
2. Place in saucepan with 1 cup of water and season with a pinch of himalayan sea salt.
3. Bring to boil uncovered. Once boiling, reduce to simmer, cover and cook on low for around 15 minutes or until all the water is absorbed.
4. Take off the heat, stir and fluff it up with a fork whilst adding the vinegar.
5. Leave to cool whilst you prepare and cut up your vegetables for the filling.
6. You are ready to assemble! Lay a nori sheet on top of your bamboo roller. Place about 4 heaped spoonfuls of quinoa along the length of the nori sheet and flatten with spoon. Lay out vegetables over the top and use your best rolling skills to create a tight, neat sushi roll! Seal the edge with a little water as glue.
7. Use a wet knife to chop up into 2-3 cm chunks. Serve with tamari, sesame seeds and pickled ginger or wasabi if you like!

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Dukkah Vegetable Soup

You may be wondering about that title. Well, let me tell you it’s pretty hard to find a basic soup recipe that doesn’t contain stock of some kind. So… on my recent weekend away (click Weekend away: Reconnecting for blog post), stuck only with some basics, I was super keen for a big batch of homemade veggie soup! Only to find that the veggie stock powder mum brought had milk powder in it (… I don’t… just… how?!?). I had to adapt. This soup ended up so incredibly flavoursome plus being loaded with so many nourishing veggies. Food for the soul.

So you may be wondering what took the place of the added flavour for this soup. I used dukkah! Dukkah is a mixture of herbs, toasted nuts, seeds and spices originating from Egypt. My family loves it and usually eat it the traditional way: dipping bread into olive oil and then coating with the delicious dukkah. You can usually find it at most supermarkets or any place that sells gourmet breads and cheeses. Well… this was all I had so I tossed a pile of it in with the water and veggies and left the pot do it’s magic. The result was incredible! Looking at the ingredients on the back of vegetable stock usually consists of lots of preservatives, flavours and salts. Using dukkah as a replacement in this recipe has greatly increased it’s health factor! Dukkah is made from a small amount of familiar, wholesome and natural ingredients. Now, doesn’t that sound better!

Using dukkah to flavour this dish not only added an amazing nutty flavour, full of warmth and gentle spices, but the ground nuts (the type I used contained ground toasted almonds) helped to thicken up the soup! I don’t know about you, but I like my soup to be of a thicker consistency rather than just vegetables floating in broth. Dukkah is really a solution to perfect soup! (If you can’t seem to source dukkah, there are plenty of simple recipes out there to make your own, just Google it! Here is a Traditional Egyptian Dukkah Recipe if you need!)

Paired with your favourite organic bread, this veggie-full dish will satisfy you one hundred percent. Vegetables are the ultimate food if you ask me. Loaded with so many nutrients you wouldn’t believe it, a million ways to eat, plus… they taste incredible! This recipe makes a huge pot of veggie soup… for me that’s the only way to do it! It means you’ll have leftovers for days (trust me you’ll want them). Just store air-tight in the fridge or freezer.

Make sure to snuggle down under some blankets, cradle your bowl with both hands, deeply inhale the heavenly scented warmth and dig in that spoon and bread.

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Serves 8 – 10

INGREDIENTS

• 1 standard size bunch of asparagus
• 2 brown onions, peeled
• 1/2 large red capsicum/pepper
• 1/2 butternut pumpkin, peeled
• 1 sweet potato, peeled
• 1/3 white cabbage
• 5cm piece of ginger, left whole and scored with knife
• 1 turnip, washed,
• 1 swede, washed
• 1/2 cauliflower head, washed
• Approx. 20 green beans, washed and ends cut off
• 1 can of organic kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 80g dukkah (any type works, depends on what flavours of herbs, nuts and spices you like) – If you can’t source this normal vegetable stock will do
• 2 tbsp Himalayan salt
• Approx. 3.5 litres of water

METHOD

1. Chop all of the vegetables (apart from the ginger) into 1-2cm rough chunks.
2. Toss into a large pot with the large piece of ginger, kidney beans, dukkah, salt and water. Use enough water so that the top of the vegetables are covered by about 1cm.
3. Bring to the boil over heat.
4. Cover and reduce heat to medium. Simmer for around 25 minutes or until all the vegetables are cooked through.
5. If it is lacking in flavour at all, add in some more dukkah.
6. Serve warm with your favourite organic, fresh bread (I used a freshly baked, super dense, organic rye and sunflower loaf).

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