superfood salad

It is always this time of year that I feel that I need to get myself healthy. So after a few salads like this I feel like I am back on track.

 There is only goodness in this salad.

1 serve quinoa
grated carrot
grated beetroot
edamame beans
mixed toasted nuts (tasti make a nut fusion blend which I toast in a dry pan with sea salt)
finely chopped red onion
finely chopped currants

It doesn't really need more than a squeeze of lemon juice because it is quite balanced in flavour, but I did add a little bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegrette.

 To make the quinoa you will need twice as much liquid to quinoa.
For a one serve I use 1/4 cup of quinoa to 1/2 cup liquid and in this  case I used beef stock (because there was a small amount in my freezer).  You can you chicken stock, miso broth, water and soy sauce, anything as long as it is a little bit tasty.

Firstly you need to wash the quinoa in plenty of water as it has some bad stuff on it that needs to come off.  I rinse and strain 3 times.

Put the quinoa and the stock together in a pot and bring to the boil and then turn down the heat to the lowest setting and let it simmer away for about 10 minutes.
At this point you need to keep on checking it so it doesn't dry out and burn.
You may need to add more liquid before it has cooked through properly.  I boil the jug and add small amount as I need to.  Taste it for doneness and stir it around for even cooking.  It should still have a bite to it, you don't want it to become mush.  It takes me usually about 20mins total.  At the end I turn off the heat and put a lid to just get it right.

This photo the quinoa is nearly done but not quite.

I decided that feta cheese was needed just to add some badness.

Roast carrot and yam salad with broccoli and avocado

Unfortunately the yam loses its brilliant colour when it is roasted.  Still tastes good though.
Use tons of carrots as they shrink to nothing once they are roasted.  I think  I used about 7 medium sized carrots.  10 yams, 4 small red onions and 1 whole bulb of garlic.  Toss with a generous amount of olive oil and sea salt and pepper and roast at 180 C for about 40 mins or until they look golden.  Turn them over a couple of times for even cooking.  Let the vegetables cool.
Meanwhile chop up broccoli and steam and let cool.
Chop up an avocado.
Make some quinoa. Thats if you can be bothered.  About 1/4 cup.  It tells you how to cook it on the superfood salad post.
Make some balsamic vinegar vinaigrette.
Toss all the ingredients together.
We had this salad with roast chicken drumsticks.  I also poured some of the meat juices on the veggies as well.  I liked it, the kids only ate the carrots.  They thought the quinoa looked like octopus suckers.