Guest Post | Fruit & Nut Quinoa Salad

Today I have a guest post from fellow vegetarian and all round lovely lady, Liz from I Spy Plum Pie. Liz is a Melbourne based blogger who writes about all things ethical and sustainable. She always has lots of delicious vegetarian recipes to share so I asked her to do a guest post for me.

I never used to use nuts in my cooking very often – I just wasn’t a huge fan and so avoided them unless they were an integral part of something I was making. Now, I throw nuts in pretty anything I can, and it is rare for me to make a salad that doesn’t involve at least one type of nut, I just love the crunch factor. Just don’t try and make me eat peanut butter, it’s not happening.

When Hannah asked if I’d like to share a recipe with her readers I decided to make the nuttiest, fruitiest quinoa salad I could come up with – so here’s the recipe!

Ingredients List:

1 cup quinoa

1/2 cup almonds

1/2 cup walnuts

1/3 cup pistachios 

1/2 cup dried apricots

1/2 cup dried cranberries

large handful basil leaves

large handful mint leaves

feta cheese

juice of half a lemon

2 tbs olive oil

Steps:

1. Rinse quinoa then cook as per packet directions

2. Roughly cut all the nuts

3. Dry roast the nuts until fragrant, then leave to cool

4. Chop the apricot into small pieces

5. Roughly chop the mint and tear the basil leaves

6. Once quinoa is cooked, leave to cool slightly

7. Mix the lemon juice and olive oil in a jar with salt and pepper

8. Mix the fruit and nuts through the quinoa, followed by the herbs, feta and then drizzle through the lemon juice

9. Enjoy!

Recipe | Breakfast Burritos

Mexican food and breakfast are two of my favourite things, so if I'm given the chance to combine them I'm definitely gonna go for it. I made these breakfasts burritos two weekends in a row in an attempt to use up some of the fresh food in the fridge before we went away. You can basically use any veggies you like but here's how I did it. (Makes two burritos).

Ingredients:

1 onion

2 tomatoes

Handful of mushrooms

2 tbs red capsicum

4 eggs

2 small red chillis diced (I used jalapenos the first time and I think I prefer those)

Sprinkling of onion powder, garlic powder, cumin and paprika (I used taco seasoning the first time which was awesome)

Olive oil

Handful of grated cheese

Baby spinach leaves

Tortilla wraps

Sour cream and avocado to serve

Steps:

1. Dice all your vegetables.

2. Fry together in olive oil until soft.

3. Sprinkle on the seasonings and mix through.

4. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl until combined.

5. Pour the eggs into the fry pan with the vegetables and scramble it all together until cooked. It doesn't look too pretty but trust me, it tastes great.

6. Serve on tortilla wraps with sour cream, mashed avocado and spinach leaves. Top with cheese!

A very easy and tasty weekend breakfast (or any day, really)!

Recipe | Moroccan Lentil Burgers

I made these burgers for Mum, Dad and Ben the other night and they were excellent. I've been buying the Celebrate Health lentils for a while but hadn't made any of their recipes until now. I love these because they are already seasoned. They also have a Mediterranean flavour as well as other products such as Quinoa, recipe bases (sauces) and stock. You can buy them at Coles in the health food section. This recipe makes about 8 patties so there was enough for me to take a burger to work the next day (hence the last photo with strange background) - bonus!

Ingredients:

1 packet Celebrate Health Moroccan Lentils (or plain lentils cooked with moroccan seasoning)

1 sweet potato, peeled, cooked and mashed

2 spring onions, finely chopped (I used some red onion instead)

1 egg

1/4 cup bread crumbs

1/2 cup bread crumbs (for crumbing)

Vegetable oil for frying

Hummus, salads and bread rolls - whatever takes your fancy. I also added sweet chilli sauce to my burger.

Directions:

Cook lentils as per packet directions and the sweet potato. Set both aside to cool. Mix the lentils, mashed sweet potato, onion, egg and 1/4 cup bread crumbs until well combined. Divide mixture into about 8 patties, roll and dust with the remaining bread crumbs until lightly coated. Heat oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat and fry patties until golden brown. Serve warm with salad, hummus and anything else you like on a bread roll.

Ben's Secret Spicy Salsa Recipe

I mentioned in my last post that Ben and I have perfected the way we cook vegetarian burritos. Ben's not a vegetarian but he loves these burritos. The salsa was all his doing and is so much better than any store-bought salsa I've tried. We LOVE Mexican food. We eat it once a week, sometimes twice. No matter what we always have this salsa. It's a chunky salsa but you could probably blend the tomatoes and onions in a food processor if you wanted it to be more dip-like. I'm giving rough measurements as it really depends how spicy or garlicky you want it. 

The bean mixture is just two cans of red kidney beans, 3 tablespoons seasoning (you can use packet taco seasoning or make your own using a combination of different spices, such as this, which is better for you) and all the liquid from the cans. Mix seasoning through and boil until most of the liquid has gone. It looks pretty foul but tastes awesome. This will make about 6 burritos (no we're not pigs, we always have leftovers! ha).

We serve ours with homemade guacamole (avocado, lime juice, salt + pepper), lettuce, cheese and sour cream.

Salsa ingredients:

3 - 4 tomatoes

1 small red onion

1 lime, juiced

2 - 3 teaspoons crushed garlic

2 - 3 tablespoons pickled jalapeno peppers

Fresh or dry coriander (optional - we ran out this time but it's fine without)

Method:

Finely dice the tomatoes, onions and jalapenos. Combine in bowl. Add garlic, lime juice and coriander. Mix well and you're done!

So easy and so tasty. Let me know if you try it :)