Monday Meal 11: Halloumi and Quinoa salad

When I’m in the Kitchen I like to be creative and you could to. If you just think of how things can go together you can make meals healthy and interesting. Yesterday I came home and I didn’t know what to eat so I looked in the cupboard to see if anything would go together. Now as a personal trainer, I like have a good lunch and dinner. This is where I get a lot of my vitamins and minerals in my body. I thought of vegetables I can cut up small which will go well with a cooked grain. In this instance, I chose quinoa. It’s a great grain with lots of healthy properties.  I also put halloumi on top because I think it tastes great. You could choose to put any meat, fish or alternative protein source on top of your salad.

For you to make every meal you make healthy and balanced. All you have to do is make sure you have vegetables, carbohydrates and a source of protein. My Carbs are Quinoa, my veg was all sorts you will see below and my protein was halloumi.

Ingredients for this salad

Main Salad:

• 7 small tomatoes
• 2 spring onions
• 5 radishes
• 1 red pepper
• 125g of quinoa (if you have any quinoa left over us it the next day)
• 125g Halloumi (each)
• veg stock cube (for taste)
• salt and pepper
• Rocket

Dressing:

• 1 tsp of honey
• 1 tsp of mustard
• 2 tsp of olive oil

How to put the salad together

1. Cut the veg up small and place in a bowl all together.
2. Place 1 tsp of honey, 1 tsp of mustard of choice and 2 tsp of olive oil into a small bowl and mix up well.
3. Put the dressing in with the vegetables to cover them.
4. Boil around 400ml of water. When it comes to the boil add the quinoa and a stock cube. Cook for up to 15 minutes. ( it might take less time, just taste once the water has all disappeared)
5. When cooked let the quinoa cool for for 5 minutes whilst you cook the halloumi.
6. Heat up a frying pan without any oil. Once it’s really hot add the halloumi. Keep the halloumi moving so that it doesn’t burn. Once it’s golden it’s time to take it out the pan.
7. Mix the quinoa in with the vegetables and then add a good portion to a bowl to serve.
8. Add the halloumi to the top and garnish with some wild rocket leaves. I like to have some more rocket on the side to add more vitamins to my meal.

Last Note:

As a personal trainer in Ascot this makes a great lunch for at home or on the road. This also make a great lunch for the office. It will keep you going and is very easy to make the night before you go to work. It has lots of amazing vitamins and minerals to help your body function and it has all the macro nutrients for a balanced meal. If you find nutrition hard, this is one of the easiest meals to make. Give it a go and let me know what you think.