Happy after yoga meal… steamed broccoli & sweet potatoes with a tahini ginger dressing

Ohhhh, do you know these nights when you just feel well inside yourself? For my this happens quite often after a nice yoga class where you unwind, relax your mind and spend 90min just for yourself. As my yoga teacher often says “Right now there’s nothing else to do, nowhere else to go, just be here and enjoy some time with yourself”, (or something similar to that). 

When you come home after, you don’t wanna spoil it with some unhealthy dinner. Your body is actually craving for something which does you good, but also satisfies your tastebuds! So this is one of my most favorite after yoga meals. It’s super easy, quick, alkalizing and soooo yummy! Really close friends of mine might know that when we have this, you might be even tempted to lick your plate afterwards.

What you need…

• Broccoli
• 1 big sweet potatoe
• virgin coconut oil
• good quality salt (I like to use Himalayan salt)
• 2 tablespoons of tahini (sesame paste for those who don’t know it)
• 1 lemon
• 1 dash of best quality olive oil
• some freshly grated ginger
• Optional: crushed hemp seeds (another healthy super food which gives the meal a nice crunch)

What to do….

Break broccoli & chop peeled sweet potato in bite-sized pieces. Prepare some boiling water in a pot, use your steaming basket. Close the lid and steam for about 10min max. In the meantime squeeze the juice of 1 lemon and mix it with the tahini, a dash of olive oil, some water and season with fresh ginger, salt and pepper. That dressing can be varied depending on your taste, some people like more or less ginger, sometimes I add a bit of cumin, too. Crush the hemp seeds in a mortar. Discard the steaming water from the pot, put the veg in a bowl and add some of the coconut oil on top. Close with the lid so the coconut oil can melt over, don’t forget to salt. Mix everything. Put it on a nice plate, drizzle with the dressing and sprinkle with crushed hemp seeds.

Bon appetite 🙂

Crunchy & light quinoa salad with roasted sweet potatoes & oriental flavours :)

Ok, I think the times are over when you had to explain why quinoa is just an awesome grain. So let’s just assume you guys and gals know why. If not – read here for a whole list of awesome advantages. For those of you who already have been in love with quinoa for a while, you know how yummy, healthy, quick and versatile this grain is in our daily cooking. So why not give it a twist, instead of always using it the same way?

As usually I get inspired by looking in my fridge with a hungry belly. Recently I had half of a sweet potatoe left over in the fridge. I normally love them steamed with coconut oil (another really healthy and yummy thing) but this time I wanted more than just veg. So I decided to make a quick, warm quinoa salad and give it an oriental twist. I just read an article on the great benefits of onions and garlic (great against inflammations and for your immune system) so I also roasted them together with the sweet potato cubes, some ground cumin and freshly grated ginger (also both great immune boosters!). In addition I chopped up a cucumber, 2 tomatoes, fresh chives and mixed everything with currants and almond slivers (this is why the salad gets a nice crunchy texture). Then mix everything with cooked quinoa (I like the red and white mix), add the juice of a lemon, salt, pepper and a generous amount of curry powder. It gives a great blend of flavors – totally different to the ordinary quinoa dishes I had before and can be enjoyed warm as well as cold.

Variations:

If you like, you can also add some cheese. I used a bit of  Gbejniet , the maltese special cheese, but also feta would go well. For a vegan version just skip it. This salad would also go lovely as a side with some grilled chicken or a BBQ.