Quinoa feta, roasted pepper and spinach balls.
Benefit: the benefit of quinoa is that it is gluten free, its a seed not a grain and high in protein. These little power balls are great for lunch boxes or snacks and you can vary the vegetables for the more fussy eaters! Finely chop carrot instead of pepper and gently steam before adding to the mix. For dairy free use 2 TBS of soft tofu instead to bind, or replace altogether with an extra egg.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup of uncooked quinoa, rinsed
- 60g of feta cheese, crumbled
- 1 red pepper, chopped
- 1 red onion, halved and sliced
- 1 handful of baby spinach, chopped
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2 heaped tablespoons of cream cheese – see dairy free options
- olive oil
- black pepper
- for dairy free use 2tbs goats cheese/tahini/ground chia seeds/blended chick peas
Method
Preheat oven to 180c or 350f (gas mark 4).
Place red pepper and onion in a oven proof dish, cover with a little olive oil and roast in the oven until softened.
In the meantime, add your quinoa to a saucepan. Cover with 1 cup of boiling hot water, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer on low – covered. As soon as water is absorbed, turn off heat, but leave covered. The steam will continue to cook the quinoa, resulting in lovely fluffy quinoa grains.
Once red pepper and onion is cooked, using a knife chop into small pieces (or if you have a mini food processor, you can put it into that and just to a couple of quick chops with the chopping blade). Do not over blend!
Add this to the quinoa along with the spinach, feta and cream cheese and using a wooden spoon thoroughly combine ingredients.
Season with some black pepper and allow to cool.
Once cooled add your beaten egg and bind all the ingredients together thoroughly. Roll into 15 equal size balls and place in a greased oven proof dish.
Brush over the top with a little olive oil and then place in the oven and bake until golden.
