eating more veggies made easy! kale with hazelnuts and dried cranberries

NutriSue - kale with hazelnuts and cranberries

I originally intended to make this with chestnuts. I had purchased some beauties and steamed them, but unfortunately could not get the shells off. If anyone has any tips on how to remove the shell from chestnuts, I would really … Continue reading 

super easy salad

I was running late today, just got home from the gym and had 30 minutes to shower, style my hair, get dressed and make this salad before heading to the office. What make this salad super easy for me, is that I stock my fridge with seasonal veggies, so I just pull out a variety that suit me and can whip up a healthy salad in minutes. Today’s variety of veg also included some leftover, cooked spaghetti squash I made on the weekend.
This salad was made from start to finish in about 20 minutes and it took that long because I’ve included the prep and cooking  time for the quinoa. The chopping of the veg, while the quinoa cooked, took about 5 minutes.
I guess what I’m trying to illustrate is that bringing your own nutritious lunch to work is doable, even when you’re pressed for time, if you stock your fridge with the right ingredients. (including leftovers!)

1/2 cup quinoa (cooked as per the package directions)

1 cup raw kale, chopped medium fine

1/2 yellow zucchini, julienned

1/4 a of cooked spaghetti squash

1/4 of a hot red pepper, minced

12 black olives, pits removed

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp olive oil

I prepared this right in my glass storage container, but you can also put all the ingredients into a bowl.

Scrape the ‘spaghetti’ from the squash into the storage container.
Add the garlic, olive oil, zucchini, olives and hot pepper and mix together.
Add the raw kale on top, but don’t mix it in. (this is because you’re going to add the hot quinoa on top of the kale and the heat will ‘cook’ the kale by the time you’re ready to eat your salad)
Add your quinoa on top.
Don’t mix together yet.
Put the lid on your storage container.
When you’re ready to eat your salad, mix everything together.
That’s it.
Told you it was super easy!

super duper quinoa and spelt, blueberry, banana pancakes

These pancakes are packed full of juicy blueberries.

1/2 cup organic quinoa (or 1 cup cooked)

1/2 cup spelt flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup wild blueberries

2  organic bananas, mashed

1/2 cup almond milk

2 tbsp. organic maple syrup

coconut oil for cooking

  1. In small saucepan, bring 1 cup water to a boil. Stir in quinoa. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Cool.
  2. In a bowl, stir together spelt flour, baking powder and cooled quinoa. In small bowl, whisk together mashed bananas, almond milk and maple syrup; whisk into quinoa mixture until combined.
  3. Gently fold in blueberries.
  4. Heat coconut oil in a large frying pan (I recommend a well seasoned, cast iron pan) over low-medium heat. In batches, add batter to pan by generous ¼ cup amounts. Cook for 2 minutes or until bubbles form on surface and edges are golden; turn and cook another 2 minutes.
  5. Serve with additional maple syrup, if desired.
    Yum!