Asian stir fried snapper with wombok, mushrooms and greens

Feel free to use any combination of vegetable you like, anything you have in the fridge that you want to use up. Make sure you add in leafy greens near the end of the cooking time.

Serves 4

Ingredients

600g snapper, cut into 2 cm chunks- you need to use a firm fish or it will fall apart. If you do not use a firm fish you can panfry in whole fillets and not stir fry

¼ cup of oyster sauce

2 tbsp tamari or soy sauce

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

2-3 tsp finely chopped turmeric

2-3 tsp finely chopped ginger ( you can blitz the garlic, turmeric and ginger together in a little food processor)

¼ of a wombok (Chinese cabbage), chopped

300g mushrooms, sliced, feel free to use exotic mushrooms like shitake, enoki black fungus etc

3 stalks of celery

1 bunch of asparagus, woody ends trimmed and cut into 3 on an angle

1 bunch broccolini, chopped into 3

2 small zucchinis, sliced thin on an angle

Method

Put the fish, garlic, ginger, turmeric, tamari and oyster sauce in a bowl, set aside.

In a large pan or wok heat some oil and panfry your fish for 2-3 minutes or until its cooked, it will continue to cook through with the residual heat. Wash the bowl out and use that bowl to put your cooked fish into. Cover the bowl. Rinse the pan out to reuse.

In your large pan or wok heat some oil and add your zucchini, broccolini, celery and asparagus, Stir fry for 3-4 minutes on a high heat and then add in the mushrooms, cook another minute and then add the wombok, cook until just wilted.

Serve up vegetables with some soba noodles or some rice. Put your fish on top on your vegetables, you can garnish with some chilli if you like. Any juice that came out the fish you can pour over your meal.

Middle Eastern meatballs baked in a tomato and vegetable sauce

Serves 4- you can use 750g mince and serve 6

Ingredients

500g pork and veal mince

2 browns onions and 5 cloves of garlic finely chopped

2 carrot, ½ cm dice

2 stalks of celery ½ cm dice

1 cup of tomato passata

1 cup of beef or chicken broth

1 big handful each or mint and parsley, washed and chopped

1 tsp ground cumin/1 tsp ground coriander- you can double these spices if you want more flavour

1 tsp salt

Optional- 250g tub of buffalo mozzarella, sliced thinly- you can find this in this nice cheese section at the supermarket, it’s a fresh mozzarella and is white in colour, will be in brine or most likely oil.

Optional chopped red chilli if you like some heat

Method

Preheat your oven to 200c or 180 c fan forced.

In a large bowl knead together the mince and 1/3 of your onion/garlic, salt, spices, most of your chopped parsley/mint (reserve some to sprinkle over the top when cooked. Knead until sticky and form 16 balls and set aside.

In a large pan heat some olive oil and fry off your meatballs for 1-2 minutes until browned. Then put in the other 2/3 of your onion/garlic, carrot, and celery- cook a further 1-2 minutes and then add  your passata and broth- simmer, stirring a further 1-2 minutes until the broth is hot. Transfer to an oven proof dish and bake for 30 minutes, uncovered. Serve up by putting some sliced buffalo mozzarella on top and your reserves parsley and mint and chilli if using.

Serve this with some rice, cous cous, flatbread or some zoodles (zucchini/vegetable noodles)

Also have with extra steamed vegetables or a nice big salad.

Apple and cinnamon scrolls

Ingredients

2 granny smith apples, peeled & cored and 1 cm dice

2 tbps panella or similar (rapadura, coconut sugar, brown sugar)

2 tbsp sultans or raisins

1 tbsp melted butter

½ tsp ground cinnamon

Method

Mix together and set aside

Dough

2 cups of spelt flour

1 cup of natural yoghurt

2 tsp baking powder

Method

Preheat oven to 180c fan forced or 200c normal

Line the bottom of a 20 cm springform tin with baking paper and grease the sides with some butter. If you don’t have one you can just arrange the scrolls on a lined baking tray.

Mix dough ingredients together and then knead until dough has come together, roll out to a 45 x 25 cm rectangle, it should be quite thin. Have the long edge towards you. Down the long edge put your apple mix along the bottom 3^rd, leave one third empty, you will be rolling up to the empty side.

Carefully roll up the dough. 

Then using a sharp knife cut 2 cm slices to get about 13 slices.  Line the outside of the tin with your scrolls, pop any filling that falls out back in, then place the rest in the middle, they will be touching. Bake for 20-22 minutes, until golden brown and not doughy in the middle. 

While still hot brush over a mix of 2 tsp honey and 2 tsp melted butter. Eat while warm. Keep the rest in an airtight container in the fridge.

 

Quinoa, cannellini beans with vegetables and tahini & lemon dressing

Ingredients

½ cup of quinoa, cooked- cook while your vegetables are cooking

1 x 400g can of rinsed and drained cannellini beans- add these in the last 1 minute of cooking the quinoa to heat through

½ a large cauliflower

1 large broccoli

400g of thinly sliced pumpkin, skin off and slice  as thin as you can sliced it otherwise it won’t cook in time

Method

In a large pan or wok add some olive oil and butter, stir fry your veg for 5-6 minutes until it is cooked to your liking. When done add in your cooked quinoa/cannellini beans and mix through. Season well with salt and pepper. Serve up with tahini dressing and optional garnish.

As a garnish sprinkle over some pumpkin seeds and some Persian or normal feta cheese, feel free to have more veg/salad on the side J

Tahini dressing is 1 tbsp tahini, juice of one lemon, small clove of crushed garlic (not too much!) 1/4 cup of natural yoghurt plus salt and pepper, mix well.

Ricotta gnocchi dumplings with Italian tomato sauce

The second thing I did with the ricotta was these ricotta dumplings, one way to get some calcium too :)
The other I did was those ricotta hotcakes I posted the other day.
Anyway this is the recipe for you all, enjoy!


Ingredients for Gnocchi
500g ricotta cheese
1 egg
Juice of half a lemon
2 tbsp chopped basil
2 cups of spelt flour approx or gluten free flour plus extra
Salt and pepper

Method

Mix together the ricotta, egg, lemon and basil and 1 cup of the flour. Keep adding more flour until you get a dough consistency. Knead only until it comes together, you don’t want to over work it or it will toughen. Add extra flour as needed. Roll as traditional gnocchi or you can roll into tbsp. sized balls (this takes less time). The littles ones take a little less time to cook.

Ingredients for Sauce
3 large kumatos (or normal ones) this is about 400g, 1 cm dice
1 brown onion, diced
2 carrots, small dice
3 stalks of celery, small dice
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 cup of vegetable stock- you could use chicken stock
2 tbsp tomato paste (the thick concentrated one)
2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp chopped basil (you can use more if you want)

Method

Fill a large pot of salted water for your gnocchi.

In a large pan heat a little oil and fry off the onion, garlic, carrots and celery for 2 minutes, then add in vinegar, stock, tomato paste, kumatos and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until it has thicken to form a sauce for your gnocchi. Then add the sugar and the basil. Stir through.

While that is simmering away you can cook off your gnocchi’s in the boiling water, you can do half the gnocchi at one time. Put the gnocchi’s in gently and cook until they float up to the top, then scoop out with a slotted spoon out and place in your sauce to keep warm. Then cook the other half. Check the first one to make sure it’s cooked through and not doughy in the middle. 

Then serve up with parmesan cheese and steamed veg on the side.

Chocolate peanut butter cookies

The secret ingredient is lentil flour! You can get this in the flour section at Woolworths (hopefully) if you can’t get you can replace with most other flours, spelt, gluten free, etc

What I loved about these is only a few ingredients, very quick to prepare and bake, and the texture was so good, you get that slight chewiness :)

In my practice you see people looking to improve the nutrition content in their diet and by making little changes like these biscuits (they will have biscuits no matter what!) instead of people buying biscuits that have calories and little nutrition to swapping for home made and improving the nutrient profile smile emoticon

You don't need to go without cookies!

Lentil flour has 25g of protein per 100g and 16g fibre! That’s pretty cool!

Lentils are an excellent food source for molybdenum too!  (1 cup of cooked lentils has 330% of your RDI!)

The main known function of molybdenum is to act as a catalyst for enzymes and to help facilitate the breakdown of certain amino acids in the body. Molybdenum combines with sulfite oxidase to catalyse sulfur-containing amino acids that are crucial for human health.

Did you know that peanuts are a fantastic source of biotin? (B7)

Yep, per 1/4 cup they have 88% of your daily intake.

Biotin is involved in blood sugar regulation and also in skin, hair and nail health

Yes they have sugar but as far as cookies go they are healthier than most due to the protein and fibre content, plus other vitamins and minerals.

Ingredients

½ cup of lentil flour

½ cup of peanut butter

½ cup of granulated sugar such as panella

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp cacao powder

Method

Preheat oven to 160 c fan forced or 180 c normal

Mix together and roll into tbsp sized balls and place on a lined baking tray. Flatten the balls with slightly damp fingers or the back of a damp fork and bake for 10 minutes. Keep in an airtight container.

Ricotta hotcakes

Makes 8

Ingredients

250 g tub of smooth ricotta

1 egg

300ml milk

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup of white spelt flour or gluten free flour

Method

Whisk until smooth, but do not over mix or they will toughen. Lightly oil or butter a non-stick pan on a medium to low heat.  Using a ladle or large spoon pour in 2 x 5cm diameter pancakes. When bubbles appear on the top flip over and cook the other side for another minute. Continue this with the rest of the mix. You should get 8. 

Serve the hotcakes with maple syrup a dollop of greek yoghurt and some berries or banana.

You can also make mini ones as pikelets and pop in a lunch box sandwiched with butter and/or jam or cream cheese. You can also use these for savoury and top with smoked salmon, avocado etc

Pork with prune and apple

Serves 4
Ingredients

4 x 125g boneless pork steaks, you could also use chicken

1 cup chicken stock

¼ cup of red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar

1 green apple, peeled, cored and 1 cm dice

1 brown onion, diced

½ cup of prunes, this is about 10, diced

Method

Season your pork steaks with salt and pepper. In a large pan put in some oil and when hot cook your steaks about 4-5 minutes each side, it can be a little pink in the middle. The time will vary depending on thickness. When done set aside and cover to keep warm. In the same pan (don’t wash) add your onion and apple and cook for 1-2 minutes and then add your vinegar and stock, simmer for 5 minutes until it has thickened like a gravy. Then add your prunes to warm through. Add your pork back into the pan to warm and serve up with some mash and steamed vegetables. Pour your sauce over everything and enjoy! ! I used carrots, green bean and broccoli.

Laksa

Ingredients for the paste

1 stalk lemongrass, white part only

3 cm piece of ginger or galangal

1 red onion or 2 shallots

2 cloves of garlic

 2 tsp shrimp paste

½ tsp paprika

½ tsp ground coriander

½ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground turmeric or 3 tsp fresh turmeric

3-4 coriander roots (when I use coriander I chop the roots off and about 4 cm stalk and keep in the freezer)

1-2 red chilies- use the amount to your taste and this will depend on how hot the chillies are!

Put all this in a food processor and blitz, add some oil to form a smooth paste.

**As an option-a garnish of bean sprouts, chili, lime wedges and coriander leaves.

Plus you will need some fish sauce and palm sugar to balance the flavors. You can also use rapadura, brown sugar or coconut sugar

Method

For the laksa- take the vegetables of your choice, I have used, broccolini, baby corn, bok choy and small button mushrooms that you can leave whole.

Use prawns or tofu, chicken, salmon or whatever protein source you choose- about 80g or so per person, you can use whatever amount you want. Chop the chicken small so it cooks quickly, tofu can just be heated through at the end when you serve it. If using salmon use about 2 cm chunks as it cooks quickly.

I also made carrot noodles using a spirooli- you can also use a vegetable peeler. You can also use cooked vermicelli noodles.

This will be enough for 4 serves or if you like the strong flavour you can use this for 2 serves.

Take your paste and fry off in a large pot for 1 minutes until fragrant. Then add your stock and coconut cream.

For each serve add 250 ml chicken or fish stock and ¼ cup of coconut cream, so for 2 serves you want 500 ml stock and ½ cup of coconut cream.

Then add your vegetables and your meat/prawns and let them simmer for 4-5 minutes until the meat and vegetables are cooked, taste and add some palm sugar and fish sauce, and then taste again to make sure its ok.(start with 1tsp of each and see how you go)

Add the carrot noodles right at the end along with your bokchoy as these cook quickly (and tofu if using), if using vermicelli noodles, place the heated, cooked noodles in your bowls. Then serve up your meat and veg and ladle in the liquid left in the pot into your bowls. Garnish with bean sprouts, chili and coriander leaves, plus a wedge of lime.

For the kids take approx. 2-3 tsp of the paste and put in a small pot, fry off and add 1 tbsp of coconut cream and about 150 ml stock (per child) and add the meat and veg in to simmer.

Raspberry, coconut and chocolate slice

Ingredients

1 ½ cups of desiccated coconut

1 ½ cups of rolled oats

1 tsp of baking powder

2 eggs

1 cup of frozen raspberries, I used half raspberry half blackberry

100g butter or coconut oil

¼ cup of honey

2 tbsp- 1/3 cup chocolate chips, white/dark/milk

Method

Preheat oven to 160c fan forced or 180c normal

Line a 20 x 20cm cake tin with baking paper. Scrunch the paper up with damp hands this makes the paper sit in your tin better.

Melt butter and honey together.

Add butter mix to all the other ingredients and mix until well combined. Press firmly into your tin, sprinkle with chocolate chips, press down and bake for 15-18 minutes, should be golden brown on top and firm to the touch. Leave to cool in the tin and when cool cut into squares, Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Black bean chocolate brownie

Ingredients

This stevia is mixed with erythritol

1 x 425g can black beans rinsed and drained

2 eggs

¼ cup of stevia powder/natvia or honey or maple or rapadura

½ tsp baking powder

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup of cacao powder

1/3 cup of olive oil or butter or coconut oil

½ tsp salt

Optional…but is it ever really optional? 2-3 tbsp choc chips scattered over the top

Method

Preheat oven to 160 fan forced or 180 c normal

Put everything in a blender/food processor, scrape down the side and make sure it is nice and smooth. Line a 20 x 20 cake tin with baking paper. A good way to line this is to get your paper and screw it up with wet hands, this make it easier to sit in your tin. Pour in your mix and then scatter the choc chips over if using.

 Bake for 12-15 minutes, the centre will still be a little soft and the outside edges with be firm. Leave to cook in the tin and then cut into squares when cold. Keep in the fridge