Continuing my monthly pledge theme of ‘Get the Glow’ I’ve been loving nutrient dense salads. Before I was pregnant, I was eating huge salads packed with leafy greens, but now I find I need something more substantial and grounding. Enter quinoa! I’m definitely not feeling the meat as much as I used to either, and a lot of my meals are now vegetarian or vegan. Beans, quinoa and as you’ll see with this recipe, soya beans as well, offer more protein helping to keep me full and satisfied.
When I found a jar of La Sacla vegan pesto in my goodie box from Woman and Homes Eating Smart Magazine, I was excited to try it in one of my quinoa salads. Here it adds a great pop of flavour and freshness.
This makes a great lunch box meal as it keeps really well in the fridge for a couple of days. You can also play about with the added veggies, I like to keep it green and fresh, peas and courgette would work well in this too!
- 1/2 cup of dry quinoa
- 1 tin of chickpeas
- 1/2 cup of frozen soya beans (or peas)
- 1/2 cucumber
- 2 tbsp pesto (use vegan pesto to keep it vegan)
- chopped herbs to serve
- Rise the quinoa really well, drain and cover with 1 cup of water. Bring to a simmer and cook until all the liquid has been absorbed. Leave to cool (you can make this warm, but I prefer it cold). Defrost the soya beans. Add all the ingredients to a big bowl and mix well, then serve or keep in the fridge.
- You can easily play about with the veggies in this and serve it on top of some spinach, watercress or rocket if you like.
What kind of foods are making you feel spring like? What meals are you loving for lunches right now?
Yum! This looks really good. I am loving anything that is packed full of greens this spring. Bring on the veggies!
I’m so glad I actually want to eat veggies normally again!
Love the look of this – i am hoping my body will start to handle quinoa soon – its so good! I have been loving my celeriac and apple coleslaw will walnuts for lunch – total yum and super quick. Where do you buy your frozen soy beans?
I get them from Sainsbury’s I think it’s the birds eye brand, they are so convenient! I don’t use them loads, but they are nice occasionally :-)
Is it bad if I say chocolate eggs are making me feel spring-like? ;-)
This looks fab – I’d probably sub the peas or beans for broad beans. I just love them!
Haha not at all, I was feeling that way about mini eggs!
This is exactly the kind of food I’m eating right now. Simple grain/legume based meals with plenty of green- in fact I pretty much ate this exact meal for dinner this evening!
They feel so nourishing don’t they :-)
This looks delicious Laura! Like that it is lunch box friendly too :-)
Thanks Claire, I love lunch box friendly stuff!
That looks delicious- I love quinoa with pesto. I didn’t know Sacla did a vegan pesto- so many of the shop ones aren’t even vegetarian so I tend to stick to the Zest one (also because it tastes gorgeous).
I was excited to see British strawberries in the shop this week so bought a punnet- yum :)
I love the Zest one as well, I usually try and pick it up when I see it. The ingredients list on this one includes tofu which I thought was rather intriguing!
Yum! Love a quinoa salad and I am pleased to hear sacla are making a vegan pesto must check that out!
It is certainly a tasty pesto!
I’m such a fan of pesto. Always an easy choice for me when I go out for dinner and a dish contains peso! Although I can’t say the texture of quinoa has appealed to me before.