Before we begin with this post, I want to point out that I am by no means following a meat free lifestyle. However, I do like to eat healthy 80% of the time, and that often means no refined carbs and I’ve started to really enjoy vegetarian dishes for lunch or as a side to our main meal. I whipped up this vegan quinoa dish this past weekend as one of the dishes for Dan’s 30th birthday and it was such a hit, so I know that it wasn’t just me.

Quinoa is such a versatile and ridiculously healthy food, making it an absolute staple in the grocery cupboard. If you aren’t too familiar with this super-grain, it really does pack a (delicious) punch. It is extrememly protein rich, something you wouldn’t expect from a grain, in fact, it contains all 9 essential amino acids. And it’s not only protein that quinoa is full of, there’s a ton of fiber, iron, lysine (essential for tissue growth and repair) and magnesium.

I received quite a few tweets and DMs asking for the recipe for the dish that I came up with, so here it is, a super easy, vegan quinoa dish that I make (almost) every day!

Serves 4 as a main meal or 8 as a side

1 cup quinoa

3 cups boiling water

2 crushed cloves of garlic

few sprigs of thyme

chili flakes

2 punnets of sliced mushrooms (whichever ones that you prefer)

1 cup diced raw broccoli

1 tablespoon coconut or olive oil

salt and pepper

Place a pot on high heat and add the water. Once it starts boiling, add the quinoa and let it come to the boil again. Lower the heat, place a lid on the pot and let it simmer for 15 minutes.

In a pan, melt the coconut/olive oil. Once that has heated up, add the garlic, chili flakes, thyme and mushrooms. Once the mushrooms have cooked through, remove from the heat.

Now that the quinoa has cooked for 15 minutes, remove it from the heat and let it stand for 10 minutes.

Fluff the quinoa up and place in the serving dish, add the mushrooms and lightly mix.

Sprinkle the diced up broccoli over the dish and serve.

You can add different ingredients to this dish to mix it up, which is why I made large bowl at the beginning of the week, and I use it differently each day for lunch. Some of my favourite bits to add are feta, grilled chicken strips, roasted broccoli, serve cold with avo, sundried tomato, the options really are endless.

If you decide to whip this up, please tag me in a picture on social media, especially if you make a fab variation!

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