I’ve mentioned before how Aran Goyoaga, the beautiful writer and chef behind blog Cannelle et Vanille, and I met online. We connected via our shared issues with thyroid disease. We’ve never met – she lives in Florida – but we write to each other on Twitter and emal. A modern pen pal kind of thing.

Zucchini, Quinoa & Goat Cheese Tart (recipe below)

A while back Aran went gluten-free. Which made me happy, not just for her health, but for the planet. It meant some pretty special recipes were going to come our way.

And they did. Aran sent me her cookbook last week and I’ve shown it to a few people. Like me, they’ve been floored by just how creative her recipes are. And how pretty she can make the simplest of dishes look. It’s not lavish, nor holier-than-though food. It’s elegant and nutritious and you’re left wanting to have what she’s having. It was all good timing: Small Plates and Sweet Treats is out this week in Australia, with Hachette.

Many of her sweet treats contain sugar…but I reckon they’re easily able to be converted to sugar-free by substituting with stevia or rice malt syrup. Just watch me try…and I’ve almost convinced Aran to quit sugar, too! For now, I’m going to share three of her summery quinoa recipes, so you can get a feel for her style and flavour.

If you’re keen on quinoa (pronounced keen-wah), I’ve written a bit of a cheat sheet on how to cook and eat it before, and I’ve also posted additional quinoa recipes here. I’ll be honest, a quinoa post always gets folk going, so I’ve posted some extra recipes…each has a fun twist and all are great for lunch.

Everyone keeps asking me for lunch ideas…here you go.

I love making a hash of my lunch. Hashes are all about efficiency and sustainability and heightened flavour. For me they entail mixing up leftovers – grains, meat, beans, vegetables – from the night before and frying them with some cheese and/or an egg and tossing through some fresh herbs for zing. I also like to squeeze lemon on mine, to cut through any saturated flavours. And invariably I throw in capers. Oh, and some chia seeds! See what you think of these hashtastic ideas:

Rebecca Woolf’s “Quinuevos Ranchero”

• Leftover quinoa (for other quinoa ideas, see here and here)
• Eggs (two per adult, one per child. For a family of four, I cook six eggs.)
• A spoonful of butter or olive oil
• An avocado
• Shredded cheese of your liking
• Coriander (or something similarly green. Chives may just be equally delicious.)
• Salsa
• Seasoning of your preference

Cook your eggs as you usually do. I cook mine in a weird-wackadoo way which consists of cracking the eggs over the pan and letting them sit for a few seconds before kind of mixing the yolks and sort of pushing it around for three minutes before it’s cooked through.

Sprinkle the eggs atop the quinoa [me, I'd personally toss the quinoa through the eggs and the cheese - Sarah] then add a few pinches of shredded cheese, ASAP so it melts from the heat.

Then top with chopped coriander, avocado, salsa and seasoning for taste.