Recipe | Cayenne Chicken and Salsa

I have been becoming rather obsessed with the concept of salsas as sides lately and have been experimenting with many different variations. This recipe includes a very traditional salsa but traditional does not imply it is any less amazing. The cayenne pepper I used in my version of this recipe was incredibly hot so the tomato and avocado act as a delicious cooling agent. 

Ingedients
2 chicken breasts, halved
1 tsp cayenne pepper
4 tsp sea salt
1 cup uncooked quinoa 
2 tomatoes, roughly diced 
1 avocado, roughly diced
1 red onion, roughly diced
1 lime, juiced
1/2 lemon, juiced
sea salt and cracked pepper
sour cream

In a bowl, coat each piece of chicken in 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper and 1 tsp of sea salt. Cook the chicken in a large fry pan with a small coating of vegetable/sunflower/rice bran oil until cooking the whole way through.

Pour the quinoa in a small saucepan and cover with 2 cups of water. Place over a low heat and cover until the water has been absorbed into the quinoa. Take off the heat once cooked. 

Meanwhile, in a bowl, coat the diced red onion in the lemon and line juice and let is soak for 5-10 minutes or until the chicken is almost cooked. Add the remaining tomato and avocado and mix through. Season with salt and pepper.

The chicken and quinoa should be cooked by now. To serve, place a spoonful of quinoa as a bed in the centre of the plate followed by one half chicken breast. Spoon over some of the salsa with a dollop of sour cream on the side. Again, season with salt and pepper to taste. 

Serve and enjoy! Tara and I found this to quite a hot dish so feel free to change the quantities of cayenne pepper you use. I loved the flavour and will probably the use the same amount again and continue to use a lot of sour cream. My preferred brand of sour cream is actually the one by Weight Watchers - it tastes the same has a lot less fat than other brands.  

Erin xx

Recipe | Sustainable Breakfast

It may not be entirely obvious but my diet is incredibly important to me; diet probably isn't the right word either. I like the food that I consume to be the best that it can and not in an overly snobbish way either. I don't see the point in consuming food if I'm not going to enjoy it and if my body isn't going to receive multiple benefits from it. Of course I consume junk food but in the smallest of amounts. A big portion of my days intake is breakfast and I like to stick to the age old phrase: 'eat breakfast like a king.' My dear friend Joanna and I like to joke that we'd rather marry breakfast than any man; we really are pretty obsessed. This is my current breakfast routine.

Ingredients

1 handful of low salt, gluten and wheat free corn flakes

1/2 cup pura veda (a natural blend of buckwheat, sunflower kernels, raisins, sesame seeds, millet, pumpkin seeds, linseed, poppy seeds, chia seeds and amaranth)

2 tbsp of puffed quinoa 

1 banana, sliced

4 - 5 fresh strawberries, sliced

2 tbsp no-fat natural yoghurt

1 tsp honey

This breakfast involves only the most basic of steps: put all the ingredients in a bowl (in that order), mix and enjoy. Feel free to decrease or increase the quantities but I find this to be a fairly large breakfast that gets me through (not hungry) until about 12.30pm when I usually have my lunch at work. I also like to have a glass of Berocca and a cup of green tea with this breakfast as well. For people that don't eat breakfast (I know you exist in the masses) this may seem huge and how could I possibly be that hungry when waking up? I'm not usually hungry but I know I will be if I don't give myself a good head start. These ingredients also offer me a huge amount of nutrition everyday before 7am. 

I highly recommend eating a healthy breakfast like this everyday as an inclusion in a balanced diet. Let me know if you have your own versions as I'm always looking for ways to add and improve on my current combination.

Erin xx

Sweet Potato, Prosciutto and Quinoa Salad

It's been a while since I brought you all a new recipe, and well this isn't new but it's my own variation on what is quickly becoming a very popular grain. Quinoa (pronounced anyway you feel like it) is one of my favourite things to eat. Never having been a big fan of couscous, simply because it's too easy to make a mess, quinoa has filled that gap in my life. It used to be quite expensive and only available at heath food stores but it has made quite a headway in the market in recent years. You caaaan find it in normal grocery stores now but it is more likely to be cheaper, and probably better, from a health food store. It really depends where you live as to what your supermarkets stock. 

Anyway, here is my most recent salad creation with the delicious quinoa. 

Serves 2-3 people for lunch

Ingredients

2/3cup quinoa

1 1/3 cup water

1 lebanese cucumber, finely diced

1 tomato, finely diced

1 red chilli (as hot or mild as you like), chopped roughly with out without seeds

3 shallots, finely chopped

1/2 sweet potato, chopped into bite size pieces and roasted (can be done anytime before)

250g prosciutto, chopped and briefly warmed in a frying pan

Dressing

1/4 cup tahini

juice of one lemon

salt and pepper

water to thin mixture