Quinoa pesto salad

Continuing with this weeks salad theme, here is my go-to packed lunch salad. This is really customisable with whatever veggies or ingredients you have in the fridge. If I have feta, olives, sun dried tomatoes or artichokes, they take it to the next level. Peppers and courgettes are the vegetables I usually use, as they're what we usually have. Spinach works particularly well also, and you can make other additions after its cooked such as tomatoes, avocado or sweetcorn. Basically, just chuck in whatever you have.

I was making this at around 9pm on a Sunday night, so please excuse the awful photographs. It tastes way nicer than my photos would lead you to believe.

It looks much better in real life, I swear!

Quinoa pesto salad

Around 3 portions

Ingredients:

About 200g of quinoa

1 vegetable stock cube (I used Knorr)

1 pepper

1 small/medium courgette

Juice of 1 lemon

1.5 tablespoons your fav pesto (I use coriander as its what we always have in the house)

Method:

1. Rinse the quinoa thoroughly under cold water. Place in a medium saucepan, and cover with cold water (you're meant to measure the water but I usually just guess). Bring to the boil.

2. While waiting for the water to boil, chop the pepper into small strips, and the courgette into thin half moon slices.

3.. Once the quinoa boiling, add the stock cube, pepper and courgette. Turn down to a simmer. 

4. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

5. Once the time is up and all the water is absorbed, check if the quinoa is cooked (taste a bit, it shouldn't be crunchy!) and transfer into a large bowl. Add the lemon juice and pesto, and stir through thoroughly.

6. Eat straight away or leave to fully cool and then refrigerate.

Note:

You may need to add a little extra water during cooking if its becoming dry. Also if the quinoa is cooked but there is still some water left you can drain this off.

Here are some slightly more appetising photos of the same basic recipe, last summer

I love this both hot, or cold. I have it cold for packed lunches as its such a good way to get some vitamins and vegetables in at lunch. Quinoa is also really high in fibre and protein so it keeps me full all afternoon.

Alice tried some of this at lunch and said it was "zesty"!

Bella