Spring Quinoa Salad
Fresh, zingy, quinoa salad. Healthy, filling, and nutritious, it’s packed with protein, fibre, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates - perfect on its own as a quick lunch or with fish or meat for supper!
Serves 4-6
30 mins total time
Ingredients
200g of quinoa
1 low salt vegetable stock cube
150g of frozen broad beans
150g of garden peas
A good handful of sugar snaps, thinly sliced
4 radishes cut into chunks
A bunch dill, chopped
A few sprigs of mint
4 spring onions, thinly chopped
50g of sunflower seeds
2 avocados, chopped into chunks
FOR THE DRESSING
100ml of extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 2 limes
A squeeze honey / 1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp of ground cumin
Salt and pepper
Method:
In a pan, boil some water and cook the quinoa according to the packet instructions with salt and pepper and the veg stock cube. Drain and place in a bowl.
Whisk all the dressing ingredients together and pour over the quinoa and combine.
Boil some water in a little pan and add the peas, simmer for 30 seconds then remove (keeping the water boiling) and refresh in cold water. Add to the quinoa bowl.
Add the broad beans to the boiling water, cook for 3 minutes, remove from the pan, and refresh in cold water and add to the quinoa bowl.
Add the sugar snaps, radishes, dill, mint, spring onions, and sunflower seeds, and gently mix everything together.
To finish, either dish up in a serving bowl and scatter the avocado over if serving as a side salad. Or separate into individual plates/bowls and divide the avocado between them, carefully mix.
Looking for some nutrition advice to feel better this Spring? Abigail share her expert wellbeing advice.
Longer days, warmer weather and fresh starts all mark the start of spring, but it is also a very busy time for a lot of companies. These 4 behaviour tips below will help make you feel better in your day-to-day life and set you up with strong foundations for a successful spring!
MOVEMENT: move for your mind
NUTRITION: watch your salt intake
REST: work on a consistent sleep routine
STRESS MANAGEMENT: set boundaries
Move for your mind
Our brain uses an extensive amount of energy, so working at tasks without giving yourself a break will result in cognitive fatigue, making tasks harder and our efficiency depletes.
Although you may feel you don’t have time, a little time out will result in you being more efficient when you get back to your desk, getting more done than if you powered on through.
Movement combined with fresh air will make you feel better physically as well as mentally. If you’ve been working on a difficult task, you might find you’ve come up with a solution by the time you’ve returned to your desk, so try going just for a 15-minute walk, and if possible, increase to 30 minutes once this habit has been formed.
2nd week of March = Salt Awareness Week
Consuming too much salt can increase our blood pressure. The body only requires 1g of salt a day and the recommended maximum daily intake for an adult is 6g, yet the current average UK intake is 8.1g.
Look at the traffic light figure for salt per 100g on food packaging, you can work out if the food product contains a high (more than 1.5g of salt), medium (between 0.3g -1.5g of salt) or low (0.3g or less of salt) amount of salt.
Think about the extras you may commonly add to a meal such as cheese, spreads, and sauces as all of these will contribute to your daily intake of salt.
Try to season food with herbs, spices, and pepper, or choose lower salt options in the supermarket.
19th March = World Sleep Day
Many people don’t realise that sleep can affect both your physical and mental health and therefore has a massive impact on your waking life. The amount of sleep we need varies throughout our lifetime. The National Sleep Foundation guidelines advise that healthy adults require on average 7-9 hours. Routines are key in life and sleep is no different. Getting into a regular bedtime routine will support healthy sleep habits.
Stick to a regular routine of going to bed and waking up at the same time
Avoid alcohol or caffeine too late in the day
Limit screen time before bed
Limit distractions
Set your room up to sleep in, e.g., make sure it’s comfortable, not too hot, or cold and free of noise
Take part in regular physical activity
Setting Boundaries - the deluge of modern email has come at the expense of leisure and quality time, and too much of it erodes our ability to do high-quality work. Prioritizing and setting boundaries with work emails can help us reduce the digital clutter.
Set limits e.g., not checking your work email in the evenings between 6-9 p.m. so you can focus on other things.
Communicate clearly e.g., if you don’t want your team members to contact you at all hours, tell them exactly when you will be available for work conversations, or if you don’t wish to be contacted on holiday, make sure to clearly outline what constitutes an urgent matter in an automated email response to Increase transparency.
Lead by example. If you’re answering emails late in the evenings and all day on weekends, you’re telling your colleagues that you expect the same from them.