What’s your go-to summer lunch? A baked potato? Cheese sandwich? Tuna salad? If you have an eye on your health and weight management, then get inspired by Liz Earle’s Instagram post, which showed the wellbeing guru and bestselling author creating her lunchtime wrap… made from quinoa and chickpea flour.
The recipe, which she labelled ‘heatwave lunch inspo’ and calls ‘so delish!’ comes together in super-fast time. First up, she says, rinse and soak 100g quinoa overnight. Tip into a blender with half a cooked beetroot, 180ml water and salt, then blend. Add 1.5tbsp chickpea flour and mix well! The mixture makes four wraps – pour a ladleful into a hot non-stick frying pan and cook for 2-3 minutes each side… then repeat. Once wraps are ready, stuff with a salad and feta filling.
Liz’s wraps are protein-packed, moderately low-carb and nourishing, containing magnesium, iron, folate for cell health, potassium, vitamin C, protein and B vitamins. Each wrap is rich in plant protein.
Over on her website, Liz shared some must-know food hacks and a glimpse into her daily diet. She starts every day with a large glass of water, and adds electrolytes or rock salt for extra hydration. For breakfast, she prioritises protein and fat: ‘I’ll have a couple of boiled eggs most mornings, or smashed avocado with a squeeze of lemon and lashings of olive oil on sourdough toast, or a bowl of thick Greek yogurt, a splash of kefir and some berries.’
Because of her busy schedule, she batch-freezes bags of homemade soups for a quick bowl of something hot, and usually makes ‘overnight yogurt pots with yogurt and kefir to grab and go. If I’m travelling, I’ll chuck a few chopped walnuts and bits of apple into a tub of cottage cheese and take that with me,’ she says.
Dinner is often protein with green veggies, ‘especially broccoli and raw watercress, both powerful superfoods. I don’t eat many conventional carbs (potatoes, rice, pasta), but if I am cooking pasta, I’ll cook it ahead of time, allow it to go cold and then reheat it for a minute in boiling water. This reduces its glycemic load and releases more of the resistant starch gut microbes thrive on. A simple carb-lovers’ hack.’