Tag Archives for healthy-living

Quinoa Black Beans Salad

This year, winter lasted forever, spring just settled in with sun-rain-rain-sun-rain-hot-cold-hot-cold-cold-cold and summer might last for a month! But that’s ok as the shorter it is, the more we will cherish it, right? =)

Spring and summer mean less cravings for comfy food, at least in my case, and more determination to stick to healthy diets. And also, we bought a healthy meal plan this week which tells us what to eat every day at every meal. This makes it sooo easy as we don’t need to think so hard about what to cook every day. Being organized and having a plan for the whole week with easy to prepare dishes is all it takes to eat healthier. It’s easy to say “let’s just eat out” when you are starving after work, and have nothing in the fridge and no idea what to cook!

So today I made a simple and quick salad using boiled quinoa, black beans, corn and zucchini.

Quinoa is known to be a superfood, filled with protein, various vitamins and minerals and the seeds look so pretty, but I don’t consume it enough. I think I still have the pack that I bought a year ago… I just forgot about it, until lately when I told myself repeatedly that I’m going to use it more in my recipes.

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So here it goes!

Ingredients

  • 1 cup cooked quinoa
  • 1 cup cooked corn
  • 1 cup chopped zucchini
  • 1/2 cup black beans rinsed from can
  • 1 green onion, chopped
  • 1 jalapeno, chopped
  • 1/8 cup cilantro, chopped
  • Freshly squeezed lime to taste

Instructions

  • Boil water and cook the quinoa for 20 minutes or until you see the grains uncoil and they are soft.
  • Combine all ingredients with the cooked quinoa and mix.
  • Squeeze lime on top as desired
  • Salt and pepper and other spices (I used a bit of cayenne pepper, paprika and a little bit of tumeric) to taste!

Enjoy!

Healthy Delicious Smoothies

After my Hiphop and Gym sessions, I’m usually quite hungry. While waiting for supper to be cooked,  I like to make a refreshing and delicious smoothie, which usually takes 5 minutes!

Here are 2 of my favourite smoothies for this month: The strawberry mango smoothie and the berries smoothie

1. The Strawberry Mango Smoothie

Ingredients: Frozen mango, frozen strawberries, banana, peach low-fat yoghurt, skim milk.

2. The Berries Smoothie

Ingredients: Blueberries, strawberries, blackberry yoghurt, skim milk

Directions: Place everything in the blender. Cover and blend until the mixture is smooth. Serve immediately.

Consuming Raw Fruits (and vegetables) in a smoothie regularly will do several things for you:
  • Save you money and time
  • Ensure you are properly hydrated and satisfy your thirst & hunger
  • Provide you with the full spectrum of nature’s bio-available vitamins, nutrients, and antioxidants
  • Give you plenty of natural fiber to ensure excellent digestion
  • Help empower your immune system to protect you from illness