May 22, 2016

Guilt-free BBQ recipes

Get your flip flops ready – summer is almost here! If you haven’t had your first BBQ of the season yet, it’s only a matter of time, so we spoke to London Nutritionist Angelique Panagos about the healthy food you can make when the time comes…

Spring Quinoa and Pomegranate Salad

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
1 cube organic vegetable stock
15 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 stalk celery chopped
1 red pepper diced
1 pomegranate
1 cup chickpeas (canned)
6 spring onions chopped
Juice of 1 lemon
Olive oil
Sea Salt
Black Pepper

Method

1. Add your quinoa to a saucepan with a cup of water and the stock cube and bring to the boil over a high heat. Reduce to a medium heat, cover and simmer for approximately 10-15mins until the water has been absorbed and the quinoa is soft and fluffy.
2. Lightly stir and fluff the quinoa with a fork and set aside to cool in a large salad bowl.
3. Soak the chickpeas and allow to soften in boiling water for 5-10mins. Drain and add to the salad bowl.
4. Add cherry tomatoes, celery, red pepper and spring onions to the salad bowl.
5. Open the pomegranate and scoop the fruit out into the salad bowl.
6. In a small jar or bottle with a lid add 2tbs Olive oil, the lemon juice, sea salt and cracked black pepper and shake well to combine.
7. Drizzle the dressing over and toss the salad well. Serve and enjoy!

Avocado salsa

Ingredients

8 salad tomatoes
2 orange, yellow or red peppers
1 large avocado or 2 medium avocados
4 – 5 sprigs of coriander
1 large Onion
1 cucumber
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp olive oil

Method

1. Wash, clean and dice all the above salad vegetables and place in a mixing bowl.
2. Wash coriander, remove leaves, cut finely and add to diced salad vegetables, add diced avocado.
3. Add olive oil, salt and pepper to taste and toss lightly.

Homemade Rooibos iced tea

Ingredients
2x Tea Bags Rooibos tea
1x Lemon
500ml Boiling water
250ml Cold water
2 cups of crushed ice or ice cubes
Small Handful of fresh mint leaves
Coconut nectar or xylitol to sweeten to taste

Method

1. Place the 2 teabags in a 1 litre glass jug and add 500mls of boiling water.
2. Allow the tea to steep for 15-20mins, stirring regularly.
3. Slice half of the lemon along the width into thin slices.
4. Squeeze the other half of the lemon.
5. Add the juice to the tea and water, stir and continue allowing it to steep
6. If necessary use Xylitol or coconut nectar to sweeten the tea to taste.
7. Remove both tea bags.
8. Add a handful of fresh mint leaves.
9. Add the 250mls of cold water and stir.
10. Add the two cups of ice.

Fresh salsa dip

Ingredients (serves four)

5 fresh tomatoes
½ bunch coriander
3 tbs lemon juice
1 red onion
Pinch himalayan sea salt

Optional
Fresh chilli to taste
2 cloves garlic chopped

Method

1. Add all ingredients into your blender or mixer and pulse until the ingredients are chunky but not smooth

Options
Use crackers or vegetable crudités for dipping or simply fill sheets or nori with some prawns (selenium, protein etc) and sprouted alfalfa seasoned with a little tamari and rice vinegar.

Stephanie Bolton

@StephanieBolton