WIAW - Triple grain breakfast

Welcome to What-I-Ate-Wednesday
It's been a while since I posted for WIAW. Life seems to be somewhat back in a regular routine now so with that comes a WIAW post. 
Wednesdays for me mean a packed lunch to take into work.
Today's Bento box style lunch:

 Green salad with bean salad and rice salad. Not more leftover from Christmas - just made again since then!!!

I have the wonderful blessing of my husband making our Wedensday evening meal.
Today was a taco plate with brown rice, red quinoa, black bean mix, veggie mix, carrot and lettuce:

I had pre-made my breakfast so that my morning routine was somewhat quicker.
And in the Summertime I definitely prefer oats to be cold instead of warm.

TRIPLE GRAIN BREAKFAST

3 Tablespoons quinoa flakes

3 Tablespoons Rye flakes

1/4 cup oats

1/2 mango

1 passionfruit

1/2 cup water

Put all ingredients into a bowl. Cover and keep in the fridge overnight.

Question of the day:
Have you experimented with soaked oats?

Christmas meal and using leftovers

Sorry I didn't post this sooner after Christmas. I have been enjoying spending time with my family whilst we are on a break from work and school! 

I guess I feel like this post isn't really about a traditional 'Christmas meal' as such, but more about using up leftovers - regardless of what they are left-over from! Its about finding different ways to use what you have, instead of just reheating it and eating it.... again!

And also to share a few salad recipes that I love, which are quick & easy to make when large family gatherings require a variety of dishes! 

Let me start by sharing a picture of our Christmas dinner table:

As I saw it all sitting there it truly felt wonderful! Such healthy food! I love being able to host eating occasions and Christmas is no exception to the rule!

A huge range of salads always makes me smile!

I have mentioned before that I'm a huge fan of this couscous salad from PCRM.
It's really delicious and seems to be like equally by omni's and herbies.
 
 





 


A garden salad never goes astray! I love to add fresh basil leaves from our garden and I love the added colour that a red onion gives. 

I really enjoy making a rice salad too. 
I'm a big brown rice fan so I enjoy turning it into a sweet salad.

Here's how:
Simply combine
2 packets microwave brown rice
2 chopped spring onions
1/2 cup currants
1/2 cup seed mix (pumpkin & sunflowers seeds and pine nuts) 
2 teaspoons dried cumin
1 teaspoon  dried coriander
juice of one orange

Serve with the zest from the orange.
 

We made veggie kebabs for the BBQ which worked out way better than I was expecting! I enjoyed them even with the tomato!!! The veggies cooked really well and they were very tasty, even without oil or any dressing/marinade.
Corn pieces on the BBQ always work out exceptionally well too.





















There were quite a few kebab sticks leftover.
So I just used a fork to remove the vegetable pieces and warmed them in the microwave. Added them to leftover garden salad along with some dressing I had made to be a 'leftovers lunch'.

 Another PCRM recipe that I regularly make is this three bean salad (I just use whatever canned beans I have on hand, picture shows butter beans and a four bean mix).

The leftovers from the bean salad turned into a pasta meal for our family.

I just boiled some pasta and added the salad along with 1/2 cup tomato paste.

Super simple meal but totally delicious!

I also made my carrot salad recipe, just with the added addition of a grated apple too. This salad is quite sweet which makes it great for getting children used to enjoying some salads.

Leftovers also make wonderful carrot cake simply by combining wholemeal self-raising flour, a flax egg and some soymilk to the salad!!! ;-)

I made 3 kilograms of spiced wedges!
Clearly I over-catered when it provided our family with a whole other meal. Though, I'm grateful for that really! We LOVE potato nachos!
Our toppings were the leftover carrot, peas and corn mix with refried beans and salsa!

Super easy and tasty meal :-)

This brings me to the last salad I'm sharing today.
Mexican salad. One of my favourites lately. 
Lettuce, red kidney beans, tomatoes, capsicum, corn, spring onion and avocado. Topped off with home-made tofu sour cream.

It makes a great fresh burrito filling!

Particularly nice on warm days when a heated filling isn't necessary.

I can't finish this post without mentioning dessert of course!
Chocolate coconut whipped cream with dark chocolate shavings.
Everyone loves this and its so super quick & easy to make.
A few cans of coconut cream left in the fridge overnight. Scoop out the top thickened layer being careful not to add the water below. Whip the cream using beaters. I add Your Inspiration at Home chocolate powder but cocoa powder works too.

I was so very very pleased with how well my trifle worked out.
I made a basic vanilla cake (like this cake minus the cocoa), whole and blended raspberries, made soymilk custard and assembled them in layers. Topped with fresh berries to make a delicious vegan trifle :-)
Everyone agreed it was super yummy!
 
And I don't think you need to know how to use up leftover dessert! You just EAT IT! ;-)

Question of the day:
Do you enjoy eating leftovers? Do you re-purpose them or just reheat and serve how it originally was? 

A lunchbox favourite.

Also nice as accompaniment to wraps or tacos, as it has a mexican flavour about it.

Corn Salad

1 large tin of corn, drained
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1/2 red capsicum, chopped finely
1/2 green capsicum, chopped finely
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, sliced
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon paprika


In a large bowl combine corn,  onion, capsicum, and sun-dried tomatoes. In a little dish whisk together the vinegars, lime juice, garlic, cumin, coriander, and paprika. Pour over the corn mixture & toss gently til well mixed.

The base for this recipe comes from the nutritionmd website, I have adjusted it to suit my personal taste.

Delicious Salads

Here's a few of my favourite salads.
Both of these salads are also gluten free.


Brown Rice Salad with Currants

1 1/2 cups brown rice
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/3 cup pine nuts
120g currants
5 shallots (ends trimmed)
1 tablespoon ground cumin
3 tablespoons orange juice
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
parsley to decorate

Cook rice according to packet directions. Then drain & rinse under cold water.
Place pine nuts, sunflower seeds and cumin on a baking tray and roast at 180C until you can begin to smell them - approx 10 mins. Shake tray during cooking to move nuts & seeds around.
Place rice, seed & nut mix, currants & shallots into a large bowl. Stir.
Whisk together in a small jar the orange juice & olive oil.
Pour over rice mixture & stir.
Use parsley or other green herb to garnish.
Can be serve room temperature or cooled.


(picture far left)

Bean Salad
This makes a small amount (what is shown in centre) to make a larger amount simply use 4 tins of whichever beans you choose, and triple the other ingredients!
So easy!

Mix together:

•  four bean mix tin 
• 1/2 small tin of corn
• 1/4 chopped green capsicum
• 1/4 chopped red/spanish onion. 

In a small jar whisk:

• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• pinch of oregano, marjoram, garlic flakes & black pepper

Pour dressing over bean mix. Decorate with parsley or coriander.
For best results chill before serving to allow flavours of dressing to be absorbed.