WELLBEING RESET DAY: THE FOOD

We love healthy and tasty food!

We plan our lunch seriously for our wellbeing reset days. Our aim is to cook seasonal, gluten free food from scratch. Most retreats tend to serve vegetarian food. We serve MOSTLY vegetarian food, but always a side of meat as we are also keen proteinarians too.

Many people have asked the 2 main favourites plus the healthy protein brownies: The kale quinoa salad and sweet potato crusted quiche. I will add more recipes upon request.

Cranberry pecan kale quinoa salad

We have run 4 wellbeing reset days and this salad is everyone's favourite. It's gluten free, vegetarian and vegan, which ticks A LOT of boxes.

Rich in fiber, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, and anti-inflammatory deliciousness



8 servings

MAIN BITS

1 cup dry quinoa

1.5 cup water

1 bunch of kale, 3 cups-ish, I prefer cavolo nero, as you can easily remove stalks

1 cup dried cranberries

LIGHT LEMON DRESSING

3 lemons, juiced

6 TBSP avocado oil or light olive oil

2 tsp cider vinegar to taste

1 small clove garlic, peeled and minced

Salt and pepper

CANDIED PECANS

2 cup chopped pecans (the smaller the better)

2 TBSP unsalted butter

4 TBSP brown sugar

salt

STEPS

I try to make parts of this salad in advance. There are 5 components to this salad:

Quinoa, kale, cranberries, dressing, candied pecans (the best bit)

I do 3 things in advance:

1. Cook the quinoa with the quinoa and water, let it cook down
2. Make the dressing, put it all in a jar and shake it
3. Candy the pecans: Sautee the unsalted butter, add the brown sugar, then pecans. Cook for 5 minutes on medium heat, constantly stirring until the brown sugar melts and the nuts are smelling roasty. Cool on a baking sheet on parchment paper. Make sure they are separated as much as poss.

An hour before serving the salad:

• Put the cold quinoa in the main salad serving bowl
• Rinse the kale in very warm water, leave for a few minutes to soften the leaves. Put over the quinoa
• Add the cranberries
• Add the pecans
• Pour the dressing on. Put half on first, mix the salad bits. Taste it. See if you need more. Some people don't like overly saturated salads so just ensure the leaves are well coated without drenching.
• Prepare to receive compliments; don't let it go to your head, but it's hard not to feel proud of this creation. It's great in both winter and summer.

Sweet Potato Quiche

This is one of my desert island meals. My friends request it, mainly because of the cheesy sweet potato base. You can add any veggie combo. I am just putting my preferred players in here: Broccoli, sun dried tomatoes, black olives. But the original recipe from my friend Helen was spinach.

Sweet potato provides complex carbohydrates for sustained energy, fiber, and high levels of Vitamin A. Eggs/cheese, protein. Broccoli is a cruciferous veg (nutritional powerhouse so you get a lot of bang for your buck with this particular choice).

QUICHE CRUST

400g sweet potato

50g cheddar cheese grated

1 egg

Salt and pepper

QUICHE FILLING

150g broccoli (or any vegetable)

Chopped sundried tomatoes (optional)

Chopped black olives (optional)

6 medium eggs

100g cheddar cheese grated

STEPS

• Preheat your oven to 170c (180c if not fan assisted)
• Grate sweet potato on top of a clean tea towel (you can leave skin on or not). Use the tea towel to squeeze the juice out of the sweet potato
• Grate 50g of cheese and mix it together in a mixing bowl with the squeezed sweet potato and 1 egg
• Next grease your quiche/cake tin and then use your hands to push the sweet potato mix into it until there are no gaps (save a little of the mix to patch up any holes that appear after it’s been baked)
• Pop in the oven for 20 minutes. 
• Chop broccoli into small bits
• Whisk the eggs and milk in a mixing bowl. Add veggies/sun dried tomatoes/olives in, along with the 100ml of grated cheese
• Pour your filling into the sweet potato crust and bake for 30-40 minutes (until golden on top).

Protein brownies with sweet potato and black beans

These are delicious brownies but it can be a bit of trial and error getting the consistency right. I cook them the night before and gently reheat them to make them gooey.

Makes 8 hearty servings but you can cut them smaller and serve more people, especially before going into a yin yoga class. But you can have as many brownies as you'd like...

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups sweet potatoes peeled, cooked and cooled
• 2 cups black beans soaked/cooked (or a tin can will do)
• 3 medium eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup cacao powder
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 half of a large DARK 70% chocolate bar broken into bits
• A bit of flaky sea salt for topping

STEPS

• In advance, you can prep the sweet potatoes and black beans.
• When ready, preheat oven 175 C
• Then blend the sweet potatoes and black beans
• Whip the eggs
• Mix the other ingredients with the aforementioned ingredients
• Bake for 30 mins, check with toothpick. It should come out clean but I kept baking it and it still was a little gooey. But after refrigerating it overnight, it seemed fine when I gently warmed it up.