chicken, beetroot + pear salad

Serves 4

Poppy cooks…

1. In a small saucepan (or rice cooker), boil
   1.5 cups white quinoa in
   3 cups hot filtered water until the quinoa is cooked, then set aside.
   
   
2. Grill
   500g chicken tenderloins with
   celtic sea salt + cracked black pepper.
   
   
3. On a serving platter or individual plates, layout
   180g baby spinach, roughly sliced topped with quinoa, chicken,
   pear, diced and
   250g "Love Beets" baby beetroot, diced.
   
   
4. Lightly whisk together
   1 tablespoon red wine vinegar and
   1 tablespoon olive oil, and season with 
   pinch of celtic sea salt + crack black pepper. Drizzle dressing over the salad.

In this picture compared to the previous one I tossed the salad and omitted the chicken which I had instead served on the side with my home made herbed mayonnaise.

egg + beetroot open sandwich

Serves 4

Whenever cooking with beetroot, I like to buy "Love Beets" beetroot which is already cooked and peeled into 250g portions. There are no preservatives, just 100% real beetroot, but it saves a lot of time and mess!

This recipe is great for lunch, or you can use smaller squares of toasted bread to make an interesting canapé when entertaining. You can even ditch the bread all together for a straight up salad.

Speaking of gluten free bread, my favourite so far is Lifestyle Bakery's Soft 'n Light Chia + Quinoa Bread - it is packed full of goodness and super tasty. As the name alludes to, it is light and fluffy unlike many other gluten free breads which are either really dense and strangely sweet in an attempt to disguise the bland taste with sweeteners.

Poppy cooks…

1. In a medium bowl, combine
   250g beetroot, cooked, peeled and diced,
   5 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped,
   zest of 1/2 an orange,
   1 teaspoon ground cumin,
   3 tablespoons Norganic mayonnaise,
   1 tablespoons coriander, chopped and
   1/4 teaspoon celtic sea salt.
   
   
2. Serve on toasted
   gluten free bread.

beetroot + apple salad

Serves 2

Poppy cooks…

1. In a bowl combine
   250g beetroot, cooked, peeled and diced,
   granny smith apple, cored and diced,
   1/2 bunch chives, chopped and
   4 tablespoons mayonnaise (such as Norganic).
   
   
2. Garnish with additional chopped chives.

beetroot + potato salad

Serves 4

Poppy cooks...

1. Boil
   500g (approximately 3) royal blue potatoes, peeled and chopped in a pot of filtered water with a pinch of
   celtic sea salt until tender, then allow to cool.
   
   
2. To make dressing, whisk together
   2.5 tablespoons mayonnaise,
   3 sprigs tarragon, finely chopped,
   1 garlic clove, crushed,
   2 teaspoons capers (approximately 9), finely chopped,
   1.5 tablespoons white wine vinegar,
   1.5 tablespoons oil and a pinch of
   celtic sea salt + cracked black pepper; and keep in the fridge until you are ready to serve.
   
   
3. Prepare
   150g radish (approximately 3), finely sliced and
   250g beetroot, cooked, peeled and diced.
   
   
4. To serve, add dressing to potatoes and toss, place in serving bowl, top with radishes and beetroot in layers and garnish with some extra
   tarragon.

Notes
As I have mentioned in previous posts, Love Beets produce pre-cooked and pre-peeled beetroots with no preservatives or added nasties - a great time saver! They are available at most IGAs in the fresh vegetable section.

yoghurt chicken with a broccolini, beetroot + seed salad

Serves 4

Ingredients: chicken

1/4 cup coriander, finely chopped

1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped

garlic clove, crushed

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind

1 cup coconut yoghurt

500g free-range chicken tenderloins

Ingredients: salad

250g broccolini, diagonally cut into 5cm lengths

250g cooked beetroot, chopped

1 tablespoon sunflower seeds

1 tablespoon pepitas

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

gluten-free soy sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil

juice of 1/2 lemon

celtic sea salt + cracked black pepper

small handful chives, chopped

Method

1. Combine chicken ingredients (except the chicken) in a bowl. Add chicken and thoroughly coat in mixture and allow to marinade for as long as you like
2. Blanch broccolini
3. Combine seeds in a bowl and mix together with a dash of soy sauce
4. Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice and seasoning
5. Serve broccolini and beetroot with seeds sprinkled and lemon dressing drizzled on top
6. Grill chicken on both sides until cooked

Notes
You can bulk up this meal with a small bowl of jasmine rice. Any leftovers can be turned into wraps for lunch the next day too!

cumin spiced chicken on a beetroot rice salad

Serves 4

Poppy cooks...

1. Cook
   2.5 cups of jasmine rice.
   
   
   
2. Boil
   300g beetroot.
   
   
   
3. Preheat oven to 180C.
   
   
   
4. Mix together
   4 tablespoons olive oil,
   2 tablespoon ground cumin,
   4 garlic cloves, minced,
   1/2 teaspoon of celtic sea salt + cracked black pepper and
   1kg chicken thigh, diced in a large baking dish and bake for 30 minutes. This can be done up to 24 hours ahead of time to marinade.
   
   
   
5. Once the rice is cooked, stir through
   2 spring onions, diagonally sliced,
   handful coriander, roughly chopped,
   2 mint leaves, roughly chopped and the beetroot, peeled and diced.
   
   
   
6. Make dressing by mixing together
   orange, juice + zest,
   1 tablespoon white wine vinegar,
   2.5 tablespoons olive oil,
   celtic sea salt + cracked black pepper, to taste. Stir through rice salad.
   
   
   
7. Serve salad with chicken on top.