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| Recipe of the week... ... Sesame-Honey Baked Feta, with Quinoa Salad |
Time taken: Half an hour.
Serves: 2 super filing, super healthy, super tasty portions.
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Hi readers,
How are you all today, lovely people? Are you having a good
start to the week? Or is there a ‘Why Does It Always Rain on Me’ situation
going on? It is Monday, after all, the world wouldn’t blame you for feeling
potentially a little bluesy. Where did the weekend go?? It’s buggered off
AGAIN.
Fear not – this is easily solvable, though! I’m thinking
bubble bath? Long overdue. Comedy film seen a million times previously? Check.
A little living room floor yoga while you watch? Can’t go amiss. Healthy
snacks? Wiiiine, as it is grape-based? Yeahhhhh why not! Although – safety warning
– I do advocate yoga prior to the wine as it is safer when you can balance
somewhat. Will leave it up to you.
Anyways, readers, I hope all is well or soon to be well,
when you make it home from work. You’ve smashed Monday – high five! Four more
days to fly by then – by golly – it’s going to be the weekend again! Gone with
the alarms and the traffic and unnecessary bad vibes in your inbox. Which,
quite frankly, I feel we all can do without.
May I recommend, as weapons to help you wage war on the week
ahead, some new music albums that have recently been released? Now I don’t know
if these are going to all be good, readers, but I’ve just downloaded to give
them a listen and I’m hoping there might be some gems within…
1.
Daughter – Music from Before the Storm
2.
Bruno Major – A Song for Every Moon
3.
Joel Baker – Bag of Dreams (Mix Tape)
4.
Newton Faulkner – Hit the Ground Running
5.
PVRIS – All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of
Hell
What do you think? Let me know if you’re listening to any of
these albums, readers, or recommend me any music you’re enjoying lately! I’d be
really grateful for some new tunes.
On a foodier note – this past week, readers, I’ve been pondering the concept of having a desired relationship with food. This is
something I suppose I haven’t thought about before and I wonder whether it’s
something other people think about.
If I were to describe my desired relationship with food, I
guess it would be something along the lines of… thinking less about food.
Trusting that I’m eating well overall and not worrying about each choice I make
when it comes to each thing I eat. Spending less time planning what I’ll eat
and setting rules about what foods are allowed. 100% enjoying treat foods, with
no guilt and no plans to make up for them or burn them off.
One day I may eat this way. Maybe, maybe not. How do you
think you’d like to eat, readers? Mulling over the idea of a desired
relationship with food made me wonder… is the way you eat, the way you’d like
to eat? Do most people eat the way they’d like to eat? Or do they eat
differently? I wonder how many people, if asked, would say the way they eat is
the way they’d like to eat? What stops us all from being able to say that?
It’s good food for thought, I think. Like – if you think
about your perfect relationship with food. And, then, how you would have to
change yours currently to achieve that. How you would feel if you made the
change, versus how you would feel if you never did? … then what’s stopping
anyone?
Obviously, things are stopping lots of people. Like budget
maybe, if people would like to be topping their rump steaks with truffles.
Maybe lifestyle – if people are too busy to or time poor to prepare the kinds
of food they’d like to be eating. Or maybe eating with other people – who
wouldn’t choose the same foods as you – leads to compromise when cooking.
Whatever the chaos going on… I think if you could make a
change to make things better with food, then you should. As there are many
years of food eating ahead (hopefully). And improving one aspect of your life –
like food – could unexpectedly lead to an improvement in another area of your
life, too. Fitness? Energy levels? Cheffing skills?
Give this a think – you may just surprise yourself with some
fresh thoughts on food, readers. And I’ll stop rattling now! Here’s a recipe
for you, which may just make your week and possibly even your September – BIG
claim. This is the second Gousto dish I’ve taken on, readers, with much success
– a Sesame-Honey Baked Feta, with Quinoa
Salad. Here’s the recipe in just 10 simple steps…
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Recipe: Sesame-Honey
Baked Feta, with Quinoa Salad
1.
Open a window, pour yourself a drink and set
some music playing. Sing and dance, if the mood takes you, as you get all your
ingredients out onto the counter. Heat the oven to 200C.
2.
Find a pan with a matching lid and add the
quinoa, along with 250ml cold water. Bring to the boil over a high heat and
then, once boiling, reduce the heat to low and leave cooking for 20 minutes.
3.
While your quinoa cooks, halve a block of feta
lengthways and add the two squares of feta to an oiled baking tray. Drizzle
with honey and sprinkle with both the toasted and black sesame seeds.
ChefBeHere Top
Tip: You’re aiming for two wide, thin squares of cheese (as opposed to two
thicker rectangles if you halved your block of cheese the other way – you get
me?).
4.
Carefully transport your baking try into the
oven and leave the feta to bake for 20 mins. Set about peeling and finely
chopping (or grating) your clove of garlic. Slice the radishes finely. Trim,
then slice the spring onions finely.
5.
Once your quinoa has cooked (all the water has
absorbed and the quinoa is tender), remove from the heat and leave to cool in
its pan. Turn the hob off.
6.
Add the chopped garlic to a mixing bowl with a big
drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cut your lemon in half and
juice into the bowl – this is your lemon and garlic dressing.
ChefBeHere Top
Tip: Watch for any seeds from your lemon falling into the bowl – try to fish
them back out if they do.
7.
Once the feta has browned, remove it from the
oven and switch the oven off. Leave your cheese to cool slightly for 5 minutes
– this is your baked honey & sesame feta.
8.
Meanwhile, wash the fresh rocket and pat it dry.
Add the rocket to the lemon & garlic dressing, along with the cooled quinoa
and sliced radish.
9.
Give everything in the bowl a good mix together
– this is your quinoa salad – and then divide equally between two dinner plates
to serve.
10. Top
each plateful of salad with a square of baked feta and garnish the dish with
your sliced spring onion… then tuck in!
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| Preeeetty damn fine looking food! |
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In the words of Gousto…
“This simple, summery quinoa bowl has wholesome written all over it.
Nutty rocket, fresh radishes and nourishing quinoa are tumbled through a lemon
dressing and topped with a creamy slab of feta, baked in honey and black and
white sesame seeds. *In the unlikely event of leftovers, it’ll keep perfectly
for tomorrow’s lunch!*”
What do you think, readers? Are the pics tempting you to
give this recipe a try? Does this look like the kind of dish you might enjoy?
Are you game for seeds and quinoa and Greek cheese?? In the mood for something
light and summery?
 |
| @stephynow |
I highly recommend, readers. Even I – not normally the biggest
advocate of quinoa – enjoyed this meal very much. Lots of flavours and textures
all mixing together, and not too healthy
in my mind with the amount of cheese involved. A warm plateful of food with
lots of goodness and plenty of exciting ingredients I wouldn’t normally buy,
let along put together in one meal.
Hats off to the guys at Gousto – I’ve had another great meal
and smugly took my leftovers into work for lunch the next day, to parade in
front of my colleagues (sarnies sadly paling in comparison… not that’s it’s a
competition). If this sounds like the
kind of food for you then do give this recipe a try, readers, and let me know
how you get on in the kitchen. Success?
Bake safely,
Hayley
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An informative footer
I’d like to note, the above is part of a series of posts
that I’m currently having fun writing, while undertaking a fresh start with
food. Food bloggers can’t admit they got bored with food, you say? Well, I beg
to differ! In August 2017, I made two wonderful decisions; I signed up for
Gousto – a food delivery company who send recipes and ingredients in the post –
and I began a health & wellness program to transform my food habits, with
Rachel of re:Wellbeing. In this blog post, and others like it, I share one of
the wonderful recipe that I’m taking on, and an idea that I’m exploring as part
of this fresh start.
If you would like to find out more about Gousto, please
visit https://www.gousto.co.uk/
(I have a sneaky
discount code! If you’re new to Gousto, then click HERE for 50% off your first
2 boxes and I’ll get a discount too for referring you… so errrrybody wins)
And, if you would like to learn more about re:Wellbeing,
then visit https://www.rewellbeing.com/
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