Choc Banana Granola Bites

These beautiful energy and nutrient-dense bites are a great snack when you're travelling, on the road or at work, and make perfect lunchbox fillers for kids. The banana binds them together surprisingly well and gives them a lovely chewy texture, while the cacao nibs add a bit of crunch and chocolate flavour. Buckwheat flakes also give a lovely soft texture and together with the cacao nibs, as well as the nuts and seeds, provide an excellent source of magnesium.

This recipe is a slight variation of Kumquat's Blueberry Coconut Pecan Breakfast Cookies, which is a variation of Anja's Food 4 Thought Banana Pecan Granola Bars - that's the beauty of this recipe, it's easy to adjust to suit your needs!

If you or your kids have a nut allergy, replace the nuts with seeds (such as sunflower seeds). To make it gluten free, replace the oats completely with buckwheat flakes (this also makes it suited to those following the paleo diet). Use apple puree instead of banana for a different flavour (rhubarb would be nice too), or replace the cacao nibs for dried cranberries or figs. Date paste is my preferred choice of sweetener, however if you don't have it use raw honey. The options are endless; get creative!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole rolled oats
• 1/2 cup rolled buckwheat
• 1 cup coconut flakes
• 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
• 1/2 cup roughly chopped almonds
• 2 1/2 tablespoons cacao nibs
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch sea salt
• 1 teaspoon natural vanilla essence
• 1-2 tablespoons date paste (to taste)
• 2-3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/4 cup coconut oil (about 7 tablespoons)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 C. Line two oven trays with baking paper and rub over with a little coconut oil. 
2. Combine the oats, buckwheat, coconut flakes, seeds, almonds, cacao nibs, cinnamon and sea salt together in a large bowl.
3. Gently melt the coconut oil on low heat and whisk in the date paste, vanilla and bananas. Add to dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
4. Press a heaped tablespoonful into a round cookie cutter on the lined baking tray. Repeat with remaining mixture (should make 15-20).
5. Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes until golden. Cool.
6. Eat as is, or top with a drizzle of melted dark chocolate* and fresh sliced strawberries. 

*I simply melted 4 tablespoons of coconut oil and whisked in 30g of raw cacao powder with a tablespoon of coconut syrup and a drop of vanilla. Spoon into chocolate moulds (or ice cube moulds) and freeze for a few minutes and voila! You'll have delicious and healthy dark chocolates!

Mediterranean-style Chicken with Zucchini Pasta

This recipe was inspired by odds and ends in my kitchen and a craving for something light and fresh, whilst still being warm and tasty. It is very low in carbohydrates and high in fibre, protein, healthy fats, antioxidants, colour, nutrients and flavour!

Tomatoes are one of the richest food sources of lycopene; a carotenoid that is responsible for their lovely red colour. Lycopene fights free radicals and may help prevent cancer and macular degeneration. Whilst raw tomatoes have multiple health benefits, cooking tomatoes in oil allows the lycopene to be more easily absorbed. Wilting spinach removes some of the oxalates that bind to important minerals, making it more nutritious (at the expense of losing some folate and vitamin C). So the moral of the story - have a diet that includes BOTH raw and cooked foods (like in this recipe) for maximum nutrition!

This meal will suit those following a paleo diet, and for the vegetarians out there, swap the chicken for some well-rinsed cannellini beans. For those needing a bit more energy, enjoy it with some crusty sourdough drizzled in olive oil.

Serves 2.

Ingredients:

• 1 brown onion, sliced into half rings
• 1 heaped teaspoon coconut oil
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 stick celery, diced
• 1 bunch of flat leaf parsley, chopped
• 2 big cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika
• 1-2 chicken breasts, diced
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tablespoon of baby capers
• 2 tablespoons of olives
• 1 heaped tablespoon sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• large handful baby spinach
• olive oil
• 2 medium zucchinis, peeled lengthways with a julien peeler up to the core (I dice the core and add it in step 6 to save waste)

Method:

1. Saute onion in a large frypan in the coconut oil on medium heat until softened.
2. Add carrot and celery and chopped stalks of parsley and cook for a couple of minutes.
3. Add garlic, paprika and chicken and cook until fragrant and chicken begins to brown.
4. Add tomatoes, stir well, and add a little water if needed. Add capers, olives and sun-dried tomatoes.
5. Cook until chicken is cooked through and vegetables are tender. Taste and season with cracked black pepper and sea salt if necessary.
6. Add baby spinach and chopped parsley, with a good drizzle of olive oil. Stir gently until spinach is slightly wilted, then remove from heat.
7. Arrange zucchini pasta in bowls and top with sauce.
8. Enjoy immediately, or leave to cool and top with a squeeze of lemon juice!

Vegetarian Stuffed Eggplants

I saw a huge pile of the most beautiful looking Lebanese eggplants at my local grocer yesterday and immediately wanted to bake them in the oven. So I grabbed a few other ingredients that I thought would compliment them well (keeping in mind what I also had in the cupboard) and came up with this recipe!

This dish looks so colourful and impressive on the table, smells divine and is a great source of protein, fibre and antioxidants whilst being low in carbohydrates and fat.

I kept this recipe free of breadcrumbs, which is a common topping for stuffed vegetables. I find the almond meal works beautifully instead; it gives the top a nice crunch and is actually much tastier (and more nutritious). Mushrooms and zucchinis also work really well in place of the eggplants if they are more available to you!

Ingredients:

• 3 lebanese eggplants (or 3 small regular eggplants)
• 1 small leek, finely sliced
• 1 heaped tablespoon capers, roughly chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 heaped teaspoon grated lemon rind
• olive oil
• 1 bunch parsley, finely chopped (stalks and leaves separated)
• 250g ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• sea salt and cracked black pepper 
• 3 heaped tablespoons almond meal
• 2 good handfuls of grated parmesan
• sweet Hungarian paprika
• Basic Napolitana sauce*

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 190°C and lightly oil a large baking tray.
2. Saute the leek and parsley stalks in a frypan on medium heat with a drizzle of olive oil. 
3. Add garlic, capers and lemon rind and saute lightly until fragrant. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
4. In a medium sized bowl, beat ricotta and egg together well. Add leek mix and some of the chopped parsley leaves and season to taste with sea salt and pepper.
5. Combine almond meal and parmesan cheese together in another bowl.
6. Halve eggplants lengthways and scoop out flesh and seeds from the middle, leaving at least 1.5cm around the edges (don't scoop out too much flesh, the hollow only needs to be shallow).
7. Fill each hollow with the ricotta mix.
8. Top each with the almond and parmesan mix, sprinkle with a pinch of paprika and place on the oiled baking tray.
9. Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes until tender, bubbling and golden. 
10. Heat Napolitana sauce and spread into a large serving dish. Place each eggplant half on top of the sauce and sprinkle with remaining chopped parsley leaves.
11. Serve immediately with a fresh green salad and enjoy!

*I make my basic Napolitana sauce by sautéing 2 cloves of garlic with a handful of chopped fresh (or a tablespoon of dried) Italian herbs (such as oregano, parsley, marjoram, basil) and a bottle of passata (or a can of diced tomatoes). It's meant to be easy and made with what's on hand. You can jazz it up with a diced onion, celery and fresh tomatoes, then blitz it into a smooth sauce if you have time, but I find the basic one does the trick!

Coconut Pancakes

This recipe is the result of a bit of kitchen experimentation, with a few failures along the way! I'm pretty happy with the results, as were my keen 'guinea pig' housemates!

These are gluten free, dairy free (if you wish), grain free (good for those following the paleo diet), high in protein and light and fluffy yet super filling. They are also super easy and quick to prepare, so make a great lazy weekend breakfast. If you have kids, get them to help with the mixing and plopping the batter into the frypan!

This recipe makes enough for three to four people, as it is suprisingly filling.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 teaspoon gluten free baking powder
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
• 2 teaspoons coconut palm sugar (or raw honey)
• Pinch of sea salt
• Pinch of ground cinnamon
• 1 large mashed banana
• 3 free range eggs
• 1/2 cup milk (this can be dairy, soy, almond or rice)
• Organic cold pressed coconut oil (for frying)

To serve:

• Pitted sour cherries
• Coyo
• Handful of raw almonds, roughly chopped

Method:

1. Toast almonds in a frypan on medium heat. Move frequently, so as not to burn. When lightly browned and fragrant, remove from heat and allow to cool.
2. Mix flour, baking powder, lemon rind, cinnamon, salt and sugar together in a large bowl (if using honey use in next step).
3. In another bowl, beat the eggs well with a fork. Beat in mashed banana, milk and honey (if using). Add to flour mix and stir well until combined.
4. Heat a tablespoon of coconut oil in a large frypan on medium/high heat. When hot, add heaped tablespoonfuls of the batter, ensuring the oil sufficiently surrounds each (this gives the pancakes a lovely crisp texture and ensures they don't burn before they are cooked).
5. Fry until bubbles form and they lose their glossy sheen (don't flip early - they tend to take a little longer than normal pancakes). Flip and cook through.
6. Add extra oil between batches as they tend to soak some whilst cooking.
7. Serve pancakes in a stack topped with a dollop of coconut yoghurt, a spoonful or two of pitted sour cherries and a sprinkle of the toasted almonds.

Enjoy! xT

Pumpkin, Swiss Brown Mushroom & Roast Hazelnut Risotto

Risotto is one of those foods that even when you're full, you wish your bowl would never end... an ultimate Winter comfort food with so many options, it's easy to make a winning risotto dish from random veggies lying around and impress all your friends.

I had some left over hazelnuts and a pumpkin from the farmers market so I ended up with this! The pumpkin really made it - so make sure you use one that is small and not stringy. It gives a lovely sweet flavour and beautiful rich colour, as well as being packed with carotenoids and fibre! I tend to make my food up as I go and rarely measure, so the measurements here are a bit of a guess... Sorry! 

The key to a good risotto is to ensure your rice is aldente (cooked through but with a little resistance) and is a little loose in the liquid, or else you will end up with dry mush. The stock also strongly affects the flavour, so make your own if you can, or try and go for a fresh one with no MSG or artificial flavours.

Ingredients:

• 1 small grey or Japanese pumpkin (possibly 800g) skinned and chopped into 1cm cubes
• Rice bran oil
• Pinch of cinnamon
• Two good handfuls of hazelnuts, roughly chopped
• A cup or two of swiss brown mushrooms, chopped thickly
• Fresh thyme
• Fresh vegetable stock (about 1-1.5L)
• Dry white wine
• 2 cups Arborio rice
• 1 brown onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped
• Fresh rosemary
• 1 bunch fresh English spinach
• Parmesan cheese, finely grated
• Cracked black pepper
• Sea Salt

Method:

1. Toss pumpkin cubes in 1 tablespoon of the rice bran oil on a baking dish and scatter over 1 tablespoon of chopped rosemary and a pinch of sea salt, then sprinkle lightly with cinnamon. Roast in hot oven until tender (about 20mins). Transfer half the pumpkin to a bowl and mash well.
2. Dry roast the hazelnuts in a frypan on medium/high heat. Move often and be careful not to burn. Once they brown slightly and smell fragrant, remove from heat and allow to cool.
3. Cook mushrooms in a little rice bran oil with the fresh thyme until tender. Set aside.
4. Warm stock in a saucepan on low heat. 
5. Sautee onion with the rosemary in a large heavy-based pot on medium heat with a little rice bran oil. Add garlic and rice and cook for a minute or two, stirring well. Add a good splash of white wine (about a cup, perhaps a little more) and let it cook right down. Turn the heat down to a low simmer and add stock by the ladleful (keeping it on low heat), allowing the rice to absorb it before adding more. Keep the rice moving and don't let it stick to the bottom of the pot. I like to add a good amount of cracked black pepper here so it can infuse through.
6. When the rice is aldente, stir through the mashed pumpkin, spinach, mushrooms and a good handful of parmesan cheese. Season to taste with sea salt. 
7. Plate up and top each serve with the extra diced pumpkin, roasted hazelnuts, parmesan cheese and a little more cracked black pepper. I also like to add a little chopped fresh parsley and toasted pumpkin seeds. Serve with a fresh green salad, a glass of wine and enjoy!

xT

Quick Chicken, Sage & Vegetable Soup

Chicken soup - an all time winter favourite that warms you to your bones and comforts you when you're feeling under the weather. This is my version when I'm pushed for time and have a few random vegies left in the fridge at the end of the week. I like to always keep a few chicken breasts in the freezer for times like this! This soup is also delicious served the next day as the flavours develop and infuse right through - especially the lemon rind.

Ingredients:

• Handful fresh sage leaves
• 2-3 chicken breasts
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon rind
• 1 leek, finely sliced
• 1 large turnip or swede, finely diced
• 3 celery sticks, finely diced
• 1 large carrot, finely diced
• 1 cup corn kernels
• 1 large sprig fresh thyme (removed from stalk)
• 1/2 can or 1-2 fresh chopped tomatoes 
• 1 litre fresh chicken stock
• 1 teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika
• 3 spring onions, chopped
• Fresh sprouts (I like broccoli sprouts, pea sprouts are also good!)

Method:

1. Sweat the leek in a large pot over medium/high heat with a little oil until soft.
2. Add sage, thyme, carrot, celery, turnip/swede, lemon rind and paprika and cook for 3 minutes, stirring well.
3. Pour in stock and tomatoes and bring to the boil, then add chicken breasts and spring onion and reduce to a simmer.
4. When the chicken is cooked (cut the fattest part open and make sure it is white all through), remove from soup and allow to cool slightly, then shred into strips and add back in.
5. Season to taste with cracked pepper and sea salt and serve immediately, topped with fresh sprouts.

ENJOY! 

xT

Know your food!

I love food. I love the smells, tastes and preparation involved in cooking, but most of all the satisfaction of creating good food that is good for our health. I love sourcing fresh ingredients, meeting producers and learning where our food comes from. And I love my home. I'm so lucky to live in beautiful little Hobart; a city buzzing with delicious eateries, amazing local produce and good coffee.

I guess I've always been a bit of a foodie, thanks to my parents' encouragement to cook and help in the kitchen and to certain celebrity chefs that I (secretly) preferred to watch after school over cartoons or soaps. But I think its also in my blood - I'm lucky to have grown up in a family rich in culture who all have a passion for delicious, wholesome food. 

My grandmother on my mother's side grew up on a farm in northern Japan and helped her mother plant, grow and prepare food all year round. They had no fridge so they prepared and ate as they needed, staggered the planting of their vegetables so they would last, pickled and preserved food to feed them through winter and swapped produce with neighbours so they all had a bit of everything. 

As much as I romanticise about this way of living off the land, it is in reality incredibly hard work and an entire way of life. With modern lifestyles and fast paced environments, most of us in the Western world have small living spaces, work long hours and no longer live from our garden's bounty and fattened backyard pigs. Whilst we are lucky to have more freedom and comfort, we are also surrounded by constant temptations and marketing ploys - cheap restaurants, drive-through takeaway joints and supermarkets filled with food containing numbers for ingredients. The bombardment of advertising, health fads and 'magical' diets that usually focus on overtly sexual and 'perfected' body shapes makes many of us question ourselves and how we should actually behave in relation to our food.

Because of this, many people have negative experiences and associations to food and can be far removed from where our food comes from or what is actually in it. So much choice, ease of living and access to all sorts of food from around the globe can be incredibly overwhelming and make it difficult to know where to start.

That is why understanding and appreciating where the food you eat has come from and cooking from scratch is so fantastic - it gives you ownership over your food and greater satisfaction. This also goes for growing your own food, no matter how little - it is amazing how rewarding it feels to simply grow your own parsley in a pot! And for those who don't think they can cook, don't be scared of messing up or making mistakes (trust me, I have made plenty) - the more you cook, the more confident you get in the kitchen and the easier it becomes.

As a nutritionist, I am passionate about feeding our bodies with wholesome, real food that prevents disease and enhances our quality of life. I believe its never too late to spin around bad habits and attitudes and learn how to cook, love what you eat and love your body. It may take time, but we do have a choice on what we eat and eating wholesome foods doesn't need to be expensive, as many people believe. 

So go and get inspired! Buy a cookbook, visit the farmer's markets, talk to producers, try a new vegetable, watch a cooking show, plant some herbs, invite a friend over, buy a good knife or if it all seems too much, ask for help!

xT