2 Healthy Quinoa Recipes You Can Make, And Then Share With Your Fitness Pals

Women, eat healthy, and let’s wear our diet on ourselves to share our secret to fitness with others, with some healthy quinoa recipes!

“It was a great run,” I thought. “Cathartic, and almost a release,” I said to myself while packing my stuff after finishing my 45 minutes of run on the treadmill.

Oh boy, I live to run, I think. Paradoxically, my mind finds stillness when I run. For, to run, I have to give my all and I can’t be having any thoughts tampering with my rhythmic  and meditative run. Nothing comes between me and my run until I am done. Everyday I run to break free from the web of thoughts woven across my mind. It is an ablution and washes my soul and heals me, making me whole.

By Jove, I liked her confidence. She truly epitomized what I believe it. If you know something which has changed the way you live your life for the better, you must share it. That’s the spirit of paying forward. And what better way than to wear it? Her t-shirt clearly conveyed her personality. Diet is might – indeed. What you eat is what you become. The woman wore her diet literally on her sleeves.

In her free spirit she reflected her love for life, her passion to redefine what is the norm. She came across as experimental, avante garde and bohemian.

It made me think – I am usually so particular about being ‘equal to the occasion’. So I know when to wear my saree, when it has to be just a simple LBD, when it has to be a celebration of pastels in linen, when I have to wear a geometric patterns egg helmed evening gown for a sundowner, and when I have to wear a Banarasi palazzo.

But when it comes to gym, I don’t care. I wear a loose, grunge dress to the gym, forgetting that fashion and fitness are actually not mutually exclusive, rather they create such a beautiful bonhomie.

Never miss real stories from India's women.

Register Now

So I am ready to break free — are you?

Two healthy quinoa recipes and a beetroot one

Here are a couple of healthy quinoa recipes to share with you guys.

Till about few years ago, thinking of a snack without bread, potato, gram flour and maida was out of question. Evening snacking would mean fried, greasy, cheesy stuff. But not any more. There is so much creativity happening here

These are the days of easy and healthy recipes, which do not require elaborate cooking, and each ingredient used in them adds to the value.

Quinoa — the wondrous super food. A powerhouse of nutrients.  I love quinoa — the most beautiful part of quinoa is that it is so easy to make the Indian way. It is a rich source of protein and it really fills the stomach.

So quinoa has created quite a buzz with health enthusiasts. It is a south American pseudo-grain and is an extremely rich source of protein. It is grainy and nutty. It comes prewashed and I have white quinoa as well as the red one. But we Indians are so used to multiple grains and different cuisines that we have actually made quinoa another addition, seamlessly, easily.

Quinoa dosas

Batter

Soak two serving spoons of quinoa. You can take the white and red quinoa mixed. Add one serving spoon of any dal, preferably moong or urad daal. Wash them well. Soak in water for two hours. Then grind it. Add salt to taste. And your wholesome protein rich batter is ready.

Filling

You can have the quinoa dosa either plain or you can make a filling. Now the filling could have all the healthy vegetables. Take mushrooms, red and yellow bell peppers, zucchini, broccoli and basil leaves. Saute them all together. Add some harissa or  pesto. And fill it in your dosa. Your healthy snack is ready. It can easily substitute for dinner as well.

Quinoa salad

Now the same ingredients as above can be used as a salad.

In this case you don’t add dal to the soaked mixture. You just boil the soaked quinoa in water for 2 minutes. Strain it and immediately run under cold water, and you will see that the quinoa will open up and small, very tender and almost invisible shoots will be seen.

Now take a big bowl. Add the quinoa to it.

Add:

• for crunch, either a handful of kaju tukda or roasted peanuts.
• for density, boiled kabuli chana.
• for natural character and juices: red yellow capsicum, slightly roasted and mushroom and green olives.
• for dressing: honey for sweetness, lemon for sourness, salt and olive oil (you can even add mango molasses).
• for seasoning, either fresh or dry mixed herbs and paprika.

Beet root with feta cheese bites

Beetroot is an amazing vegetable but unfortunately hasn’t got much attention in the past. But now it is really catching up. Extremely rich in iron and easy to make, this is superb for a healthy snack.

Boil the beetroot. One beetroot should give you four bites or maybe five. Keep the boiled beat root in the refrigerator. When it is cold, peel it. And now cut 2 inch thick discs and drizzle some virgin olive oil or maybe flaxseed oil. Put cubes of feta cheese on each piece, and garnish with one verdant green basil leaf each. It is the healthiest snack that is straight from god’s own kitchen. The salty and bitter typical taste of feta cheese mixed with natural sweetness of beetroot makes every bite extremely sumptuous…

Image source: pixabay

Comments