This super easy mediterranean sun-dried tomato quinoa dish is my knew addiction. It’s so versatile, easy and nourisging – you’re going to love it!

[Ad for a super amazing workshop in Hamburg] Before I continue with my small series of „30 minute and under“-dishes, I have a small announcement to make. I am giving a speech at the BetterYou Workshop this Sunday in Hamburg. There are still some final tickets left, so there is a 50 % Mother’s Day special going on until the end of tonight. Simply use the code MAMAISTDIEBESTE at the Eventbrite check-out. In the workshop I will talk about my food philosophy, my take on a balanced diet and what drives my passion for healthy eating. I will also give some advice on healthy eating with a busy lifestyle. We will also cook a three-course meal together and have time to talk and mingle afterwards. I look forward to seeing many of you there! [End of ad]

Now on to this sensationally easy sun-dried quinoa dish. I don’t know why it has taken me so long to realize that it’s genius to cook your quinoa with some flavor-adding ingredients such as sun-dried tomatoes! It’s really a genius move that I will definitely be using in the near future a couple of times. Also, the non-greasy dry sun-dried tomatoes become so delicious and soft when cooked with the quinoa. Definitely one oft he many reasons why I love this dish.

The whole dish is made with only six ingredients: red onion, paprika powder, tomato puree, sun-dried tomatoes, quinoa, and optionally vegetable stock paste or sea salt. That’s it. Of course you can make it even better by adding pine nuts, fresh basil, olives and rocket to make it even more Mediterranean-style.

The best thing about this quinoa is that it really is so versatile. I have made it a couple of times by itself for lunch, but you can also eat it with roasted vegetables, or turn it into a salad with rocket. You can even use it as a base for a delicious Buddha bowl. There are endless possibilities.
If you live in Germany, then you can also get your local quinoa now as some local farmers are successfully harvesting quinoa in northern Germany – super exciting I think!

Quinoa is one of my favorite pseudo-grains and my preferred plant-based protein source. Quinoa not only contains all the essential amino acids, it also contains the amino acid L-Tryptophan, which aids in the production of the happiness-hormone serotonin. How amazing is that! I guess it’s safe to say that quinoa really does make you happy on a bio-molecular level! So cool!

I am sure you’ll love this super quick and delicious quinoa version just as much as I do! I look forward to seeing your creations online, so tag me on social media, if you want me to see your creations or use the hashtag #heavenlynnhealthy.

Guten Appetit!

The post Super quick mediterranean sun-dried tomato quinoa – 30-minute recipes appeared first on Heavenlynn Healthy.

I have really been craving raw, nutritious salads recently. I know it’s February, but somehow I am so ready for spring, colorful foods and sunshine. That’s why this salad is bright, raw and comes with a delicious and creamy almond butter dressing.

Before I lived in the United States, I had no idea that you could eat broccoli raw. I always associated broccoli with watery, bland side vegetables so I was never a big fan. Eating broccoli raw has changed my perception of the green cabbage drastically. I have become a real fan and will never boil my broccoli ever again.

Though this salad may seem boring at first glance, it’s actually pretty amazing and so delicious. If you take a closer look you’ll see that although it only contains three main ingredients, these three ingredients are huge health boosters. Broccoli contains more vitamin C than any other cabbage, quinoa is one of the best plant-based protein sources out there and almonds are not only rich in proteins, too, they also contain viral fatty acids. Furthermore, almonds are a real beauty food due to their high vitamin E content, which is said to give us the beauty glow, aka glowing skin, hair and nails.

So basically this salad is not only prepared in no time, it’s also just what you need in stressful times. No excuses, people!

If you don’t have almond butter in stock, worry not! I make my own almond butter, so it’s my preferred choice of nut butter. But you could also use peanut, cashew or sunflower butter as well as tahini as a substitute. You could also leave it out, if you have neither avaiable in your cupboard. Then your dressing won’t be as creamy as it can be, but still delicious. It’s really up to you.

So what are you waiting for? Go to the store, buy the fresh ingredients and get cooking!

Enjoy!

Have you tried this recipe? Then take a photo and share it on social media using #heavenlynnhealthy.

The post Raw broccoli quinoa power salad appeared first on Heavenlynn Healthy.

Amazingly delicious vietnamese banh mi bowl with the most amazing vegan meatballs!

For those of you unfamiliar with the term banh mi, it is a vietnamese baguette traditionally filled with pork, cilantro, pickled carrots, cucumber and a bit of lettuce and mayo. When I first tried banh mi at an authentic vietnamese food truck in Houston, Texas (yes, I do get the irony in my words) – I thought it was the most delicious thing I had ever eaten. However, I can indeed say that my taste experience was traditional as I went there with one of my colleagues who was born and raised in Vietnam. 

Nico, my vietnamese colleague, also introduced me to Pho (which is actually not pronounced with an “o” but rather with a long “a” at the end (yes, you’re welcome), and that very sweet vietnamese coffee made from sweet milk. During me six-months-internship, I learned so much more about Vietnam because Nico and I shared an office, and we taught each other to say things in Vietnamese and German. Apparently I am really bad at Vietnamese, because he would just laugh every time I pronounced something. Yes, apparently Vietnamese people are even more straight-forward than Germans are.

So, when I had a banh mi at the Amsterdam Foodhallen again last December, I knew I wanted to make a recipe out of it for the blog. Of course I wanted it to be healthy, but still delicious, which was not that easy given all the rather unhealthy ingredients such as mayo and pork that you find in the traditional dish. So as my boyfriend and I are totally addicted to “bliss bowls” (basically a fancy name for salad bowls of random ingredients mixed with a delicious dressing), I knew that I would simply turn it into a banh mi bowl.

However, I still needed something to make it a bit fancier by adding some kind of meat-substitute and tofu wasn’t an option here. I am usually not a big fan of meat-substitutes, and I never buy them, but I do think that every salad needs some kind of protein. This led me to quinoa, which then led me to the absurde idea to turn quinoa into meatballs. Since I am not really good at making meatballs either, I looked up a simple recipe that showed me how to make regular meatballs, and I realized that it all comes down to onions, herbs and salt and pepper.

So long story short, I simply mixed quinoa with cilantro, red onions, garlic, ground nuts for texture, a flax egg and a bit of sambal olek for spice – and I was in pure meatballs heaven.

Seriously, it’s the onions that make meatballs taste like meatballs. Not the meat.

As I have a weird sense that someone will criticize me for this sentence, I better stop now and present you the delicious recipe. Now, I know that it looks like a lot of ingredients, but you actually just need the ingredients for the quinoa “meat”balls and avocado mayo and use the ingredients you have in your fridge

Enjoy!

DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE OR HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS, QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?

Feel free to leave a comment below, and don’t forget to tag your creations on social media using #heavenlynnhealthy.

I’d love for this blog to be a dialogue.

The post Vietnamese Banh Mi Bowl with plant based quinoa meatballs appeared first on Heavenlynn Healthy.

I am the biggest fan of middle eastern, north african and asian foods (especially vietnamese). Ok, I realize that those cuisines are all completely different from each other, but  if I had to chose a restaurant I could go to for the rest of my life it would probably be one of the three. Recently, I’ve played around with the north african spices such as za’atar, ras el hanout and or the spicy paste harissa, and I feel like they complement most of my dishes very well. That’s why I added za’atar to my quinoa tabbouleh the other day, and it was such a game changer. 

If you don’t have za’tar at home, don’t worry, the salad will taste just as delicious without it. However, it’s really easy to make your own za’atar, as I will write down in the recipe below. The only thing that you will probably need to buy is sumach, a unique spice, with a tangy, lemony flavor. You can get it at most middle eastern or turkish stores, as well as online.

Tabbouleh is one of my favorite salads, as it is so easily prepared, and the ingredients are cheap and always in stock at any grocery store. All you need is fresh parsley (lots of it!), cucumbers, tomatoes, and some kind of starch, such as couscous, bulgur, millet or quinoa. I prefer quinoa lately, as it contains all essential amino acids, which makes it a full protein. Parsley is becoming the new kale, by the way. You can easily find it locally grown, and it is one of the cheapest herbs in the produce isle. Like most greens, it contains a great amount of vitamin K, which is important for blood clotting and healthy bones. It’s also an amazing source of antioxidants, which protect our cells from free radical damage, thus prevent chronic diseases.

This quinoa tabbouleh with za’atar really is one of the easiest salads to prepare for a barbecue, a picnic, or simply as a side dish. It’s such a fresh salad, too, with all the parsley, cucumber, tomatoes, and fresh lemon juice. Trust me, you’ll never want to buy tabbouleh again, after you’ve tried this recipe.

Enjoy!

Did you make this recipe or have any suggestions, questions or comments?

Feel free to leave a comment below, and don’t forget to tag your creations on social media using #heavenlynnhealthy.

I’d love for this blog to be a dialogue.

The post Quinoa Tabbouleh with Za’atar appeared first on Heavenlynn Healthy.