My vegetarian Lent begins - Thai inspired quinoa salad

So Lent started yesterday. Now, I'm not the most religious person in the world. Born and bred a Catholic like 90% of the population in Ireland, I've grown up with the rules and regulations that that entails. And for a long time I've gone along with it because of Catholic guilt. 

Like a thunder bolt will come hurtling out of the sky towards if I eat meat on Ash Wednesday or Good Friday (FYI I had such a blonde moment yesterday, thinking I was doing good having soup for lunch..turns out if I'd taken a minute to read the label it was chicken soup..oh well).

 I'm not saying I don't believe in God. I just don't know. AND I'm also incredibly stubborn. I don't really take well to been told what to do. But a part of me will always want to ''do'' Lent. As an exercise in personal will. It's only 40 days and I should be able to control myself for that long. (expect obviously for St.Patrick s day..cause, yano, we're allowed that off) 

In the past, when I was a kid, the usual things that were given up were sweets/crisps/chocolate/biscuits. I remember having an old Roses tin where I would keep all the chocolate etc that was given to me during Lent. You can imagine Easter Sunday. 

But time moved on and I lost my sweet tooth so giving up chocolate or sweets wasn't really a huge issue and so for a lot of years I pretty much sailed through Lent without doing anything. Last year, I decided to be creative and did a craft/new experience for every day of Lent. Well..almost everyday. With a thesis to write and work piling up I think I managed nearly 30..and wrote a blog about most of them. 

So anyway, for Lent this year I've decided to give up meat and go vegetarian. Don't run away screaming. I promise I won't become one of those preachy, holier than thou, sandle wearing bores who insist meat is murder. I like meat. Hell I'm never going to turn down a medium rare steak with a brandy sauce..or chorizo..man, I'm going to find that hard to give up. But I don't usually eat much meat anyway. For the past few months I'd been veggy 3 days a week at least anyways so I'm taking this Lenten opportunity to experiment more with vegetarianism and come up with some ways to make it was exciting as I'm sure it can be. (and no, no alcohol will be given up. I'm not crazy into self-flagellation like)

Yesterday I bought an igredient that I had been reading about for ages in magazines and online. Quinoa. For those who are like 'da fuk?' it's basically a grain that orginated in South America and is a relative of plants like beetroot, chard and spinach. As such, it's a good source of protein in comparison to other grains and also provides twice to three times as much iron and calcium as other grains (it's also gluten free) So for someone transitioning to vegetarianism it was an excuse to buy it to ensure my protein intake was good. Also, I'm pretty much always anaemic so the more iron the better. After reading up on it, it became apparent that its quite like rice in the manner of cooking and absorbs flavour really well. So the first recipe I was going to try was a salad. 

This salad is filling, will serve 6 and comes in at appox 260 cals per serving

You will need:
65g quinoa
1 red pepper diced
1/2 red onion diced
half a tin of baby sweet corn
1 head of brocolli, steamed
30g honey roasted peanuts, halfed
squeeze of fresh lime

for the dressing:
57 g peanut butter
2 tsp freshly grated ginger
3 tbsp low salt soy sauce
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1tsp olive oil
water to thin as required

Method:
1) to cook the quinoa, bring 355 mls of water to the boil in a small saucepan. Add the quinoa, and lower the heat to a simmer. Simmer for 15 mins or until the quinoa has absorbed all the water. Remove from the heat and fluff with a fork. Allow to cool completely. 

2) Make the dressing. Put all the ingredients a bowl and stir to combine. If you want to loosen the mixture add water ( you probably will need to do this, add water little by little until you've reached you're desired consistancy)

3) In a large bowl, mix the quinoa with some of the dressing. About half of the dressing should be enough. You can do this in advance as the quinoa will absorb the flavour and make it even more yummy.

4) Add the rest of the salad ingredients and toss well to combine. Squeeze some lime juice on top and maybe more dressing if you want to. 

5) EAT!