Recipes for Eye Health – Baby Spinach
Happy Australia Day! Hopefully you are all enjoying a day off and celebrating in a style that represents Australia to you.
Today’s eye health recipe features a number of eye health wonder foods including baby spinach, tomato, pumpkin seeds and nuts.
Baby spinach is the king of all eye health foods and is loaded with lots of nutrients, in particular lutein (LOO-teen) and zeaxanthin (zee-ah-ZAN-thin). Lutein and zeaxanthin are two types of carotenoids (kuh-RAH-teh-noids),useful in protecting our eyes from age related macular degeneration and cataracts and are the only carotenoids located in the eye. Tomatoes also contain a large amount of the carotenoids, beta-carotene, lutein, zeaxanthin and lycopene. Combined with nuts and seeds that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin E this salad is a nutrient dense addition to your lunch or dinner menu.
Thanks to the Therese Cutter the Healthy Chef for this amazing salad.
INGREDIENTS (Serves 4)
- 1 cup cooked quinoa
- 2 cups parsely chopped
- 2 cups mint, chopped
- 2 large handfuls, baby spinach leaves
- 1 small red onion or 2 shallots, finely sliced
- 2 Lebanese cumbers, chopped
- 2 ripe tomato, chopped or 250 g cherry tomatoes
- 20 g pumpkin seeds
- 20 g almonds or pistachio, chopped
- Jewels from 1 fresh seeded pomegranate or a handful of goji berries
Pomegranate Dressing
- 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 80 ml cold pressed olive oil
- Fresh ground pepper
METHOD
- Combine all the dressing ingredients until creamy. Taste and check it should be lovely.
- Mix together parsley, mint, spring onion and spinach.
- Add the tomato, cucumber, seeds, quinoa and almonds.
- Mix in a few tablespoons of the dressing.
- Spoon into a large serving bowl and enjoy.
- Have extra dressing on the side in case you need more
Every Thursday, our Envision Optical blog brings you ‘Nutrition Thursday’ – news about nutrition for your eye health. Keep an eye on our Facebook page and like us to receive the reminders once they are posted. Each week we also include a delicious recipe for you to make: www.facebook.com/envisionoptical
When was the last time you had your eyes checked?
Contact Us:
Burleigh Heads, 21a James St, Burleigh Heads – 07 5535 2344
Treetops Plaza, Shop 19, 7 Classic Way, Burleigh Waters – 07 5593 7844
MyCentre Nerang, Shop 34b, 57 Station St, Nerang – 07 5502 1277
Tweed Health for Everyone Superclinic, 4/33-35 Corporation Circuit, Tweed Heads South – 07 5524 9659
Source: Therese Cutter the Healthy Chef
