What’s a health food blog without some quinoa involvement?! Kale is next on the list, I promise… (kidding, carrot cake is naturally next on the list.)

I chose this recipe for quite selfish reasons really. I’ve had quinoa sat at the back of the cupboard for probably about a year… I used to eat couscous all the time and that is SO easy to make. So when I bought quinoa and realised that you actually have to put effort in (in reality, it’s minimal effort), I was put off and just went back to my daily couscous and roast vegetable concoction.

However, Ella Woodward’s recipe looked so good that I decided it was worth the extra effort. Every week I choose at least one recipe that I can put in tubs in the fridge and eat when I’m on the go at uni or at work. So this week, this ‘Easy quinoa with sautéed veggis’ was the base for most of my lunches. Admittedly, I did get a little abuse for eating quinoa, but it was tasty enough that I didn’t mind.

Shopping list: 180g quinoa, 1 lemon, tamari/soy sauce, 2 courgettes, 1 broccoli, olive oil, tahini, salt and pepper.

Deliciously Ella contains some really interesting facts and info about quinoa (page 32). She mentions white, red and black quinoa, however I just used white quinoa for this recipe and I think that’s the most common variety in supermarkets. Quinoa is hailed as the king of superfoods because it’s a source of protein, has a high fibre content, is an anti-inflammatory, as well as containing iron, magnesium, manganese and calcium. So it’s legit basically.

The difference between tamari and soy sauce is that tamari is gluten free. Last year Jenna and I lived with a Chinese guy who left a tonne of soy sauce in the flat, so I used soy sauce in this recipe and it worked just as well.

Kee-nwah time:

1) Place the quinoa in a sieve and rinse with cold water, like you would with rice, until the water runs clear. Then place in a large saucepan with 600ml boiling water, the juice of the lemon, and a tablespoon of tamari/soy sauce.

2) Let the quinoa boil for a minute or two, and then let it simmer for another 10-15 minutes until all of the water has disappeared. In the meantime, chop up the courgettes and broccoli

3) Place the courgette and broccoli in a frying pan with some olive oil, another tablespoon of tamari/soy sauce, and salt and pepper. This is my favourite way to cook broccoli! I like it still crunchy, like in a stir fry.

4) Once the quinoa is cooked, stir the tahini in and the last tablespoon of tamari/soy sauce, mix it with all the veggies, and drizzle with olive oil

The recipe states that it serves two, but it depends on what you serve it with really. I added some homemade houmous, half an avocado and some roast red peppers so the quinoa lasted me three delicious lunches.