Beetroot salad

I don't know when I came across this recipe, but it has become a firm favourite throughout the summer. The combination of the sweetness of the pear, the tartness from the vinegar, the crunch of the walnuts and the saltiness from the feta is just delicious!! its definitely one of my favourites to take to a BBQ, or even have by itself. Adding quinoa gives it some more body and it becomes a meal on its own. Feel free to play around with the proportions til you get a combination that suits you.

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Beetroot Salad

Ingredients

• 120g baby beets
•  1/2 C walnuts
• 2 C baby spinach leaves
• 50g Feta
• 1 pear
• 1 C cooked quinoa (optional)
• Drizzle balsamic vinagerette

Method

1. Roast and cool the baby beets if using fresh, or open the tin and drain if using tinned.

2. Cut the baby beets in half, crumble the feta, core and slice the pear.

3. Mix the ingredients together.

4. Drizzle balsamic vinegarette over the top.

5. Serve and enjoy

6. Perfect by itself or serve with some grilled or BBQ'd meat

Apricot and Almond Muesli

I love having a batch of this home made muesli in the cupboard to eat. You know exactly what is going into it, and you can miss out or swap things you don't like. One batch generally lasts me a good couple of weeks when I don't have it every day. I've tried other flavours but I just keep coming back to this one. It's soooooo good :)

Apricot and Almond Muesli

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Makes 8 serves

Ingredients

• 2 C oats                                  
• 1Tbsp LSA
• 1/2 C sunflower seeds            
• 2 Tbsp maple syrup
• ½ C pumpkin seeds               
• ½ C sliced almonds  
• ¼ C chia seeds              
• ¼ C dried apricots

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
2. Mix the oats, seeds, nuts and LSA in a bowl. Drizzle over the maple syrup and mix well. Spread the mixture out on a lined baking tray and toast until lightly brown (approximately 10 minutes).
3. Add all the toasted ingredients into a bowl plus the chia seeds and chopped dried apricots and mix well.
4. Place into an airtight jar and keep in a cool, dry place.
5. Serve with milk or your favourite alternative and enjoy!

Blueberry Overnight Oats

In the last couple of years I have discovered overnight oats. They are a lifesaver when i have an early start in the morning. You can prepare a number of days ahead of time, and just add the milk and fruit the night before. I like using old jam jars for mine. They are the perfect size, portable and sustainable. This is a nutritious, filling, and super easy way to start the day.

Blueberry Overnight Oats

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Blueberry Overnight Oats

Ingredients

• ½ C oats                                 
• 1 tsp chia seeds
• 1 tsb sunflower seeds            
• 1 tsp pumpkin seeds
• 1 tsp LSA
• ½ tsp cacao                            
• ½ C blueberries
• ½ C milk/almond milk

Method

1. Add all the ingredients except the milk and blueberries to your container and shake or stir until well mixed. Add the milk and blueberries to the container the night before eating. Soak overnight then eat.
2. Sweeten with maple syrup or honey if desired

Plum Ice Cream

My husband is a huge fan of ice cream, however recently he has been diagnosed as being inintolerant to dairy. He was pretty disappointed about this, until he remembered that I have an ice cream maker and he could try to make some dairy free ice creams. Last night he attempted his first one. It might not be the healthiest recipe out there but my goodness it tastes great!! I'm keen to try and get the sugar content down in future so if anyone has any ideas on how to successfully do this while still getting the great taste I'd love  to hear from you. We went for a plum ice cream because I had some frozen which I picked from my friends house when they were literally falling off their massive tree. So the total cost of this ice cream was about $2 for 1L of dairy free ice cream. Loving that!! I'm sure there will be plenty more ice creams and frozen desserts features when the weather warms up a little, but for now, enjoy this one

Plum Ice Cream

Serves: 1 litre
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 500 grams Plums
•  Juice of 1 lime
• 1/4 Cup sugar
• 400g tin coconut cream

Method

1. Put plums, lime juice & sugar in saucepan. Cover & simmer for 5 minutes until fruit is tender. Leave to cool

2. Tip 3/4 of the mixture into a blender or food processor & process to a smooth purée.

3. If using an ice cream maker: Mix coconut cream & puréed mixture. Churn in ice cream maker until thick.

4. Blend the reserved fruit mixture lightly, then mix through the ice cream.

5. Freeze the mix for 2-3 hours or until firm enough to scoop

6. If not using an ice cream maker: Beat the coconut cream until fluffy in a freeze proof container. Fold through the fruit mixture then freeze for 2 hours.

7. Mash the mixture with a fork, or beat it with a food processor to break up the ice crystals. Return to the freezer for 4 more hours, beating the mixture again after 2 hours.

8. Blend the reserved fruit mixture lightly, then mix through the ice cream.

9. Freeze the mix for 2-3 hours or until firm enough to scoop

Caramalised Cauliflower Soup

A couple of years ago I went to a fancy restaurant in town with work. We were ordered the chefs choice menu, and the started was a caramalised cauliflower soup, not something I would normally order. I tried it, and decided straight away that I had to find a similar recipe and try it for myself. This one from Sprouted Kitchen is amazing and creamy! There is no way you would guess that its dairy free and totally healthy. I have made it a couple of times now and everyone who has tried it loves it.

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Caramalised Cauliflower Soup

Serves 4
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

Cauliflower

• 1 head cauliflower
•  extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
•  salt & pepper

Broth

• 2 tsp olive oil extra virgin
• 1 large onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 cups low sodium vegetable broth
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 Tbsp white balsamic vinegar

Method

1. Cut the cauliflower into florets and spread them on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle the fresh nutmeg and a hefty pinch of salt and pepper and toss everything to coat. Bake on the middle rack for about 35-45 minutes at 180 degrees, tossing the cauliflower halfway through, until they are fully roasted and you see a good amount of brown edges. There is a pretty wide grace period here. Remove to cool.

2. While the cauliflower roasts, start the broth. Heat the oil in a saucepan and saute the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes to soften. Add the vegetable broth, dried thyme and vinegar and warm through.

3. When the cauliflower is cool to touch, add it and the broth mixture to a food processor or blender and process until smooth. Taste for salt and pepper. If you want more contrast, add a bit more vinegar. Add it back to the saucepan to keep warm.

4. Serve each portion with a few croutons, and shaved parmesan, if desired.

Pumpkin, Sweet Potato and Red Lentil Soup

When I was a kid I hated pumpkin, but loved pumpkin soup. As an adult, I'm a little less adverse to pumpkin and still love pumpkin soup, especially on a cold wintery day. This one never quite turns out exactly the same way each time as I tend to make up the proportions as I go along depending on what i have in the cupboard, but each time it still tastes great. I've tried to figure out the basic recipe for you, but feel free to have a play around with it. Also, I put quite a bit of salt in it (I'd hate to measure how much!!) to take away the sweetness of the vegetables and give it the gorgeous savoury depth that I love.

I cook this in my sow cooker but its just as easy to cook in a pot on the stovetop.

A tasty alternative with a Thai zing is to add some Thai red chilli paste while cooking. My husband and I love it this way but his kids aren't so keen on the spiciness!

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Pumpkin, Sweet Potato and Red Lentil Soup

Ingredients

• 1/3 grey pumpkin
• 1 sweet potato 
• 3 medium potatoes
• 1 cup red lentils
• 2 onions
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 pinch ground cumin seeds
• 1 pinch ground coriander seeds
• 1 pinch mixed herbs
•  salt & pepper to taste

Method

1. Peel and de-seed the pumpkin. Peel the sweet potato. Clean the potatoes

2. Cut all the vegetables and put into the slow cooker or pot with the lentils

3. Add enough water to almost cover them all

4. Add the herbs, spices, some salt and pepper

5. Cook until the vegetables are soft (the smaller you cut them the quicker they will cook)

6. Whizz the vegetables up until it is smooth. I use a metal whizz stick which I can put in while it is still hot. Depending on what you are using you may need to let it cool first.

7. Reheat if necessary. Taste and adjust the seasoning if you like.

8. Serve up while hot. I love having it with some warm bread to dip in the soup.

Basil Pesto

When I was a kid my parents made us cook one meal a week. The first thing I learnt to cook was pasta, and it remains one of my favourite meals (which probably helped make Italy one of my favourite countries to travel to!).

I LOVE pesto!! I love it on my toast in the mornings, I love it on home made pizzas, I love it with cheese on crackers, and I love the simplicity of pesto stirred through pasta. Pesto is actually really easy to make, and there is nothing quite like home made pesto. Would be even better if i could actually grow the basil myself. Anyone got any tips on how to make it grow?!?!

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Basil Pesto

Ingredients

• 1 cup basil leaves
• 1/2 cup spinach (omit if you have loads of basil. The spinach can make it go further)
• 1/4 cup cashews
• 1/4 cup pinenuts
•  olive oil
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese or other hard cheese (omit the cheese to make it vegan)
• pinch salt
• 1 clove garlic

Servings:

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients in a blender. Add enough olive oil to get the consistency you want. Serve with toast, pasta, salad, whatever takes your fancy.

Cannelloni

When the cat's away, the mice will play... or in this case, while my dairy intolerant husband was away, I feasted on some cheesy home cooked Italian.

A few years back I lived in England and did a bit of travelling through Europe. One of my favourite places was Italy, probably in big part because of the amazing food there. I so want to go back and explore some more, and possibly even live there at some stage.

This is probably not one of the healthiest recipes around (cheese galore!), but life is for enjoying, and I definitely enjoyed this!!

I sometimes find passata hard to find so I just use tinned chopped pealed tomatoes most of the time. Try to get ones with the least number of ingredients. I love the convenience of frozen spinach. Keep some in the freezer, thaw it out and you're ready to go. If you have fresh herbs thats definitely the best way to go but I was running short so just used dried herbs, although i'm not sure on the proportions if you use fresh ones - definitely taste it as you go and see what you like!!! If you're feeling totally lazy or pushed for time feel free to use substitute this sauce for pre-made sauces, although I reckon home made is definitely best!

Serve with a big salad, some crusty bread (with lashings of olive oil), and maybe a glass of sparkling water or your favourite vino.

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Cannelloni

Serves: 6 people
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 500 g spinach
• 250 g cottage cheese
• 200 g feta
• 1 packet fresh lasagne sheets
• 1 medium onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 tins chopped pealed tomatos or passata
• 2 tsp dried parsley
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
•  salt & pepper to taste

Method

Spinach filling

1. If using frozen spinach, thaw out then squeeze the water out. If using fresh spinach, wilt in a frying pan then squeeze out the moisture.

2. In a blender mix the spinach, feta and cottage cheese (this gives it a nicer texture).

3. Add salt and pepper to taste

Tomato sauce

1. In a frying pan sauté the onion and garlic.

2. Add the tinned tomato or passata, the herbs and tomato paste. Heat through then add salt and pepper to taste.

Construction

1. Add a small amount of the sauce to the base of the dish (this stops the tubes from sticking to the bottom).

2. Put some of the spinach filling along the width of the lasagne sheets. Roll the lasagne sheet over into a tube shape.

3. Cut the lasagne sheet to cut the tube off. Place this in the dish (you can use cannelloni tubes if you like, I find this is much easier though!!).

4. Repeat the construction of the tubes until all the filling or pasta is used up, placing the tubes side by side in the dish.

5. Cover with the pasta sauce, ensuring the pasta sauce gets between the tubes.

6. Cover with cheese.

7. Bake at 180degrees for 40 minutes or until the pasta is soft. If the cheese is getting too brown cover with tin foil.

8. Serve and enjoy!