Quinoa: sweet and savory recipes with low calories and lots of taste

Quinoa is not just a plant or a "false cereal", as it is usually called, but it is a very ductile, light, extraordinarily nutritious food that lends itself to a thousand different recipes, both sweet and savory. Favorite dishes with quinoa are mainly salads, vegetable pairings, and the legendary meatballs.

Among the various dishes, quinoa salads will be of great help for your weight loss diets, especially in the summer, including the super metabolism diet, to lose 10 kg in a month, and even those suffering from celiac disease can use quinoa seeds or its flour as a substitute, because it does not contain gluten. Those who do not feel the need for vegetarian or in any case light recipes, can instead discover the legendary quinoa meatballs, a real must in the kitchen with this food.

© iStock See also

Eat healthy: natural and delicious recipes to lose weight with taste

Light cooking: the secrets for dietetic cooking without sacrificing taste

High in protein but low in calories: discover the benefits of oat milk

So let's discover the best recipes with quinoa, to take advantage of its many benefits and properties with a pinch of taste and fun. And for those who want to learn only about sweets, like children, there is puffed quinoa, suitable for snacks such as baked morsels.

1. Savory recipes

Quinoa meatballs: tasty and nutritious

© iStock

Ingrediants:
400 grams of quinoa
3 egg whites
Rosemary
artichoke cream
salt and pepper

Preparation:
Boil the well washed quinoa for 10 minutes in a pot full of water. Drain it and let it cool. Then place it in a bowl and add the egg whites, salt and pepper to taste, and the artichoke cream. With the dough thus worked, create meatballs of the size you prefer, but not too small. Arrange the meatballs on a baking sheet with parchment paper to prevent them from sticking. Bake in the oven at 160 degrees until the meatballs are golden brown. Serve with a sauce of your choice or with a salad.

Quinoa and avocado salad: the menu for a diet

© alcibocommestibile.com

Ingrediants:
a cup of quinoa
12 green asparagus
a ripe avocado
a lime
extra virgin olive oil
chives
salt
a pinch of pepper
4 tablespoons of whole or sliced ​​almonds

Preparation:
Bring a saucepan of salted water to a boil, pour in the quinoa and cook according to the instructions on the package. Meanwhile, clean the asparagus and slice them into cubes about 1 cm long. Add them to the quinoa after the first 5 minutes of cooking. Meanwhile, heat and toast the almonds. Clean the avocado and cut it into rather small cubes. Also chop the herbs. Assemble the salad: drain the quinoa and asparagus and cool them quickly under cold water. Combine the avocado, aromatic herbs and almonds. In a bowl, mix the lime juice, 4/5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, salt, a pinch of pepper and season the salad. Enjoy it warm or at room temperature.

Kale and Quinoa Burgers: Perfect for a healthy lunch

© Crumbs in the kitchen

Ingrediants:
180 grams of quinoa
2 eggs
50 gr of grated Parmesan cheese
2 spring onions
1 clove of garlic
80 gr of chopped black cabbage
80 gr of breadcrumbs
4-5 fresh basil leaves
salt
extra virgin olive oil

For the sauce:
2 small cooked beets
1 jar of whole yogurt
2 teaspoons of mayonnaise
1 spring onion
3 fresh basil leaves
salt

Preparation:
Cook the quinoa in a saucepan of lightly salted water for about 15 minutes. Cook the already chopped cabbage, until tender, then drain it, squeeze it from the excess water and cut it further. In a bowl combine the quinoa, cabbage, finely chopped spring onions, Parmesan, eggs, chopped basil, the crushed garlic and finally the breadcrumbs. Mix well, until you get an easy-to-work mixture. In a hot, oiled pan, help yourself with a pasta bowl to form burgers. Cook about 4-5 minutes on each side, until golden. Prepare the accompanying sauce by blending the yogurt, beets, basil, spring onion and mayonnaise. Serve the burgers hot accompanied by this delicious and colorful sauce.

Quinoa Stuffed Vegetables: Summer recipe with lots of flavor

© alcibocommestibile.com

Ingrediants:
4 round tomatoes
4 round courgettes
4 small peppers
200 grams of quinoa
aromatic herbs to taste: oregano, thyme, basil and chives
a clove of garlic
extra virgin olive oil
a lemon

Preparation:
Wash the vegetables and remove a "hat" from each with the help of a sharp knife. With a melon digger, empty the tomatoes and courgettes and keep the pulp aside. Put the vegetables in a pan, sprinkle them lightly with oil, salt them a little and put in a preheated oven at 180 ° C for about 20 minutes. Boil the water to boil the previously washed quinoa thoroughly.Cook it for 15-18 minutes, it should stay al dente. Drain the quinoa and cool it under cold water. Season with oil, salt, lemon juice, chopped herbs and the pulp of the vegetables you kept aside. Remove the vegetables from the oven, fill them with the quinoa salad, cover them with their hats and serve them warm.

2. Sweet recipes

Puffed quinoa for a sweet snack! A quick and easy recipe

Quinoa really fits any recipe, salty, as we have seen, and sweet. In fact, here you can discover the video recipe of puffed quinoa morsels: ideal for a fun snack, and much healthier than packaged snacks. Watch the video and try to do it again at home, it's very easy!

Quinoa for breakfast? Match it with red fruits!

Quinoa for breakfast is a great idea: it is rich in fiber, vitamins and minerals, and therefore is a great food to start the day. You can combine it with other cereals, or mixtures such as muesli, but the best is achieved by mixing quinoa For a healthy breakfast, try mixing boiled quinoa seeds with red fruits like pomegranate, which is also rich in many properties, or cranberries. You can enrich your breakfast with a quinoa porridge, or by adding yogurt, cereals and fruit to your liking.

© iStock

Quinoa, coconut and chocolate cookies: a gluten-free dessert

© FoodFaithFitness

Quinoa, gluten-free, also allows celiac sufferers to enjoy the desserts that can be created. Like biscuits, which can be made with many variations of recipes. Here is ours!

Ingrediants:
1 cup of boiled quinoa
1 cup gluten-free oatmeal
half a cup of coconut sugar
flaked coconut
a quarter cup of coconut oil
2 eggs
vanilla extract
baking powder
a pinch of salt
flakes or chocolate chips

Preparation:
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees. In the meantime, mix the oatmeal with the coconut sugar, the baking powder and the salt. Separately, mix the quinoa well washed and then boiled for 15 minutes, well drained, with a cup of coconut oil and the 2 eggs. One once well mixed, combine the two compounds and continue to mix well, adding the vanilla extract and the chocolate chips only at the end. Put the mixture in the fridge for about 15 minutes, and once taken out, start composing the biscuits in the shape you prefer. Place on a wrapped baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes, until the cookies are golden brown. Garnish to taste with coconut flakes.