Mushroom Leek Quinoa

I follow Gwyneth Paltrow's advice when it comes to cooking quinoa:

Rinse the quinoa thoroughly and place it in a pot set over high heat with the water and a pinch of salt. Bring the quinoa to a boil, lower the heat, cover the pot, and cook until all the liquid is absorbed and the quinoa's germs and looks like lots of little spirals, 12 to 15 minutes. Turn the heat off, place a dry paper towel (I use kitchen roll) between the pot and the lid, and let the quinoa sit for at least 5 minutes before giving it a fluff with a fork.

Instead of a pinch of salt I use vegetable stock to give it a bit of flavour. I fried the mushroom and leek in a little coconut oil then just added them together. Boom. It was super tasty. Better warm than hot by a long shot though.

Broccoli and Carrot Soup

Soups are awesome for healthy eating. Puréed vegetables. And they're PERFECT in winter. I think people think soups are harder than they are. They're possibly the simplest thing ever!



You will need:
1 head of broccoli
4 large carrots
1 leek (don't use the end leafy bits though, white or light green stalk bit)
1 vegetable stock cube

Chop off the brocolli florets, chop up the carrots, chop up leek, keep it chunky, carrots/leek about 2cm wide. Throw them in a saucepan, cover veg in water, add your stock cube, bring to the boil. Once boiling, cover and let it simmer. After 15 mins check it, if you pierce a carrot with a knife, lift it out of the water and it falls off, then it's ready. Drain the stock, but keep it! Use a blender to blend up the vegetables, adding stock bit by bit until you get a consistency you're happy with.

Season to taste. I always add black pepper. :-)

I bought a big jar from Wilkinsons, making this the easiest work lunch ever! This recipe will make you a pretty big batch but I figure, since it's essentially only veg, I can have a huge bowl of it! So this made two servings for me.

Got a tip to make soups more entertaining? Share! Don't be selfish.