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My Berry Forest

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May 22, 2019 By Tiinatuuli Leave a Comment

PICK AND MIX QUINOA PASTA SALAD WITH ALMOND FETA

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Pick and Mix quinoa pasta salad with almond feta Wellness Wednesday meal: Pick and mix quinoa pasta salad with almond feta is lovely picnic food, or a fun buffet style meal to enjoy with family and friends. We enjoyed this colorful meal on Sunday evening, but it’s pretty quick to prepare and would brighten up any weekday too! This meal is vegan, gluten-free, wholesome and kid-approved.

Pasta salad essentials and protein sources

You need just a few ingredients for the delicious base: pasta, quinoa, almond feta and herb oil sauce. You can also use herb-avocado sauce if you want to eat oil-free.

Quinoa is a complete protein containing all nine essential amino acids so it’s a great base for the salad (or any meal) together with pasta. Also the almond feta is a filling protein source and I crumble it into the pasta salad.

Pick and Mix

I love to make buffet style meals, because it gives me more freedom with the ingredients: I can add everyone’s favorites to the mix. What I chose for this pasta salad is a pretty simple collection of my kids favorite veggies and my favorites: tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, olives, capers, sauerkraut, baby spinach, fresh basil.

I find these pick and mix style meals very convenient now that two of my kids are having a picky phase. My 2 year old loves pasta, tomatoes and cucumbers and that’s what she ate this time, too. My 5 year old on the other hand has a picky phase with veggies, but he loves sauerkraut and olives.

Plant-based clean eating with kids

I’m not going to lie, my whole foods diet which I’m on for the second week now is somewhat stressful at times when I need to cook different foods for my kids. The first week I was super excited about all the wholesome recipes and didn’t mind experimenting and cooking for just myself and then later prepping different food for my kids.

This week I’ve been a bit frustrated about all the cooking, and I’ve tried to reduce my time in the kitchen. This pick and mix quinoa pasta salad with almond feta is one of the first meals I cooked for us to enjoy together and I think more buddha bowl style meals will be on the menu from now on.

Pick and Mix quinoa pasta salad with almond feta

So why don’t I cook the same clean vegan food for everyone?

My diet at the moment is a restrictive elimination diet and I see no reason why my kids or husband should go through the same, as they don’t have health issues like I do (hypothyroidism for example).

For example I’m not eating any legumes at the moment in addition to eating gluten-free, without refined sugar, vegan. As I’m also mostly grain-free for now, I’m not eating any store bought bread, but my kids eat bread and I have no problem with that.

My kids and husband are not vegan, but they eat mostly vegan food at home. Of course ideally I would love us all to eat super healthy wholesome vegan food all the time, but I know it’s not going to happen by pushing. But it can happen by showing what a difference eating wholesome food makes and of course by cooking delicious plant-based food 🙂

Pick and Mix quinoa pasta salad with almond feta

Wholesome food for health

I started this wellbeing journey because I wasn’t feeling good. I didn’t feel like myself anymore. Losing myself somehow happened so little by little that it was difficult to notice at first. And when I did, it took me a while to take the first steps towards change. Change is scary, it is stressful, and I wasn’t ready for it until now.

I am not doing this health journey on my own. I searched for help, because I didn’t have the strength to make changes on my own nor did I know exactly where to start. I’m working with lovely Julia Michelle and I can recommend her to anyone thinking of starting a health journey! Her Instagram page is an amazing source of health and wellness information too!

Becoming the best version of myself

I’m on this health journey to become a better person, to become the best version of myself at this point in my life. My kids are going to see positive changes happening over time: my mood and energy levels will be better, I’m going to be less anxious and nervous, I’m going to be more patient and present.

And I can then honestly say it is because I’m eating all this healing food and following a healthy lifestyle in general that helps me become the best version of myself!

If you want to follow along my health journey, there’s a new WELLNESS category on my blog. The posts in this category contain both recipes and my tips and lessons I’ve learned on my journey.

I hope you’ll follow along!

♥ Tiina

Pick and Mix quinoa pasta salad with almond feta

Pick and mix quinoa pasta salad with almond feta

Tiina from My Berry Forest
Pick and mix quinoa pasta salad with almond feta is a fun way to eat with family and friends. Make a nourishing pasta salad base and add whatever extras you like! 
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes mins
Cook Time 20 minutes mins
Total Time 40 minutes mins
Cuisine gluten-free, vegan
Servings 4

Ingredients
  

  • 1/2 cup dry quinoa
  • 3 cups dry gluten-free pasta
  • almond feta

Herb oil

  • 1 cup very tightly packed herbs such as basil and parsley
  • 1,5 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1/4-1/2 tsp salt (to taste)
  • 5 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil If oil free: use one avocado

Extras, examples

  • Tomatoes
  • Cucumber
  • Bell peppers
  • Baby spinach
  • Sauerkraut
  • Olives
  • Capers
  • Sun dried tomatoes

Instructions
 

  • Cook quinoa and pasta according to instructions.
  • Bake almond feta in the oven while quinoa and pasta are cooking.
  • Chop herbs and mix all herb oil ingredients.
  • Mix quinoa, pasta, herb oil and crumbled almond feta.
  • Add whatever extras you like. Enjoy!
Keyword almond feta, buddha bowl, pasta, pasta salad, quinoa

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Filed Under: All recipes Tagged With: Vegan, almond feta, clean eating, family meals, gluten free, health journey, kid-approved, pasta salad, quinoa, refined sugar free, wellness journey, wellness wednesday

Previous Post: « 15 MINUTE OVEN BAKED ALMOND FETA (WITHOUT FOOD PROCESSOR)
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Tervetuloa marjametsään! Blogissa pohdiskelen kaikkea kokonaisvaltaiseen hyvinvointiin, luontoon, luovuuteen ja muuhun sielunravintoon liittyvää. Täällä myös syödään maukasta kasvisruokaa, usein vegaanista ja joskus myös gluteenitonta. Blogia kirjoitan minä, Tiina, kolmen lapsen äiti Etelä-Suomesta. Täältä voit lukea lisää minusta.

Hello and welcome to My Berry Forest! This is a safe and happy place, where I share what I’m cooking and creating.  Read more about me.

 

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About Tiina

Tiina is a mom of three living in Southern Finland. She's a recipe & content creator, cookbook author and holistic health coach with a focus on plant-based foods.

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