When I first looked at my eating I knew I had to reconsider my carbohydrate intake. My heart sort of sunk, I absolutely love eating rice and pasta! Then I found Quinoa - it has double to protein of rice, is Low-GI and gluten free. Sure, it is not that low in carbs, but it certainly beats eating a similar amount of cooked white rice.
Quinoa is a seed, but you cook it like a grain and use it in the same way you would rice or cous cous. It produces delicious results without having to try very hard!
Quinoa is available at health food stores and is quite expensive - don't let that put you off as it doubles in size when cooked. I have also seen it creeping into supermarkets recently so this will mean prices will fall as volumes increase.
Here is a simple side dish I cook often to accompany meat (particularly bbq chicken, although tonight I am eating it alongside some grilled salmon).
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup organic quinoa
1 cup of water
1 dessert spoon olive oil
1 tsp minced garlic
1 small fennel bulb, sliced
Juice of half a lemon
Rind of half a lemon, finely grated
Handful of parsley
Salt & pepper
Serves 2
METHOD
1. Cook quinoa in a large pan of boiling water for 12 minutes or until tender.
2. Toss quinoa with olive oil, garlic, fennel, parsley, lemon juice and rind. Season.
NUMBERS (Serving Size, 50g - when cooked, this will serve 2 people as a side)
Protein: 5.95g
Fat: 2.4g
Carbohydrate: 34g
