Last night I returned from a week of blissful, amazing holidays (more on that later) and decided it was time to get organised. Seriously organised. The only way I was going to be able to stick to this Fresh Eating thing was to plan ahead.

I headed off to the supermarket and bought:

– 1 packet of Ceres Organics Quinoa (approx $8)
– 6 chicken breasts $23.60
– Assorted dried fruit & almond slivers $7.50
– 2 bags of various mixed frozen veges $9.20

I did a bit of online research as to how to cook the Quinoa. Dubbed an ‘ancient super grain’ I was quite interested to see how it tasted – and was hoping like hell that I would like it (considering I was mass cooking it for every single meal this week!). I cooked 2 cups of dry quinoa with 4 cups of boiling water (I added a small amount of chicken stock to give it a savoury flavour).

The basics are – bring it to the boil, simmer for 15 minutes, and then let it sit for 15 minutes (exactly the same as if you would cook rice the “absorption method” way). I also put on another pot – 1 cup of quinoa with 2 cups of boiling water – no chicken stock.

While the quinoa was simmering away, I stirfried the 6 chicken breasts. This took me AGES – had to do it in 3 big batches. Hence the very hot, sweaty “slaving over a hot stove” look below!

(please DO note the awesome holiday tan. Yuss)

To make my 5 breakfasts, I portioned up the plain quinoa – about 3 big tablespoons per serve. I sprinkled over a bit of cinnamon, a teaspoon of Ceres Organics LSA (ground linseeds, sunflower & almonds) and a dash of maple syrup to sweeten it up.

When I got to work this morning, I added a small handful of dried fruit (I combined diced dried apricot, dried cranberries, sultanas) and some slivered almonds. I microwaved it for 30 seconds with a small dash of soy milk and YUM. It was seriously yummy. Way better than the homemade oats I had been having, less gluggy, slightly nutty and the fruit/cinnamon combo sweetened it up perfectly!

For my 5 lunches and 5 dinner portions, I divided up the savoury quinoa (about 1/3 cup per container), added a heaped tablespoon of LSA, and a small handful of chicken (approx 1/2 chicken breast). With all my frozen veges I portioned them up into 10 freezer bags.

So now all I need to do for every meal this week is grab a container of frozen quinoa/chicken, chuck in the veges and microwave for 2 minutes. I had the chicken/quinoa/vege combo for lunch today and it was SO nice that I ate it all before I even thought about taking a picture! As an extra – this has worked out to be about $3.22 per serve (considering I made 5 breakfasts, 5 lunches and 5 dinners!).

Would highly recommend giving this super grain a try if you haven’t already! I am hoping it will help kickstart the weight loss again, as I have stagnated for the last few weeks. If anyone has any other good quinoa recipes – please share!