Cooking healthy food at home is simple...

I remember when I worked behind a deli counter a lady coming up and asking for "200g of ham". I can't remember which ham exactly, but that's beside the point. When I started to weigh it up and price it she looked absolutely bewildered and said, "You're kidding me?! I'm trying to eat healthy and that's all I get? I should have just gone to Maccas!"

You know what, I completely get it but then, of course, I don't...Yes, you can go to Macca's and go and buy yourself a meal completely devoid of nutrition and full of preservatives for $5 - or whatever it is these days; or you can opt for making a few better choices, spending that little bit more as well as putting that time and effort in the kitchen preparing a meal where you know exactly where it has all come from and feel that little bit proud to know that you made it.

I wanted to share a few meals we've thrown together over the years. To me, they each hold their own story. I can recall the recounts of our day we shared, the laughs we had, the frustrations we showed in things we messed up, but most of all the proud moment of saying, "It's done, let's eat!" and then having that first bite together. Nothing surpasses that feeling.

Simple sald of red cabbage, tomato, sprouted almonds, asparagus and shredded cheese with a dash of extra virgin olive oil.

We had so much silverbeet growing in the garden and had no idea what we were going to do with it all. My zia (auntie) always used to make incredible plates of silverbeet mixed with tomatoes, garlic, onion and oil. The tomato gives it a great sauce-like texture and gives it a good moisture. I tried to replicate it here, it wasn't quite like hers, nevertheless it tasted great and was a nice snack and side accompainment to another meal.

 Ah, this was a yummy zucchini and eggplant lasagna dish we put together - completely gluten-free.

I couldn't help but purchase a spiraliser a little while back, and c'mon check out what I was able to do with this incredible gem! The left picture is a zucchini pasta I made with a rich tomato base where I included anchovies to really give it some punch. The second picture are sweet potato fries - not bad for an afternoon snack!

Pizza doesn't have to be a guilty pleasure - you should enjoy it without the guilt! We used pita bread here as our base, topped it up with our favourites, placed it in the over for 10-12 minutes and voila!

At this time of year there are so many tomatoes we have no idea what to do with them all...being Italian the first thing that comes into my head: bruschetta! I love rubbing garlic on the bread first, putting it on the stove with a nice olive oil and really getting the flavours in there before adding on the tomato/basil.red onion toppings.

 Cauliflower popcorn, anyone? Or perhaps some sweet potato fries? No, I do have kale chips?

From memory, this was a Sunday evening meal we put togehter - we always go that little mile extra on a Sunday - more time, perhaps? Here we've cooked up a salmon fillet with lemon and herbs; sweet potato, parsnip and eggplant chips; steamed cabbage and a nice garden salad.

 Oh, this was so yummy! My versions of raw pad thai!

The garden delivers a lot of produce, and when those capsicums start coming through boy, they don't stop! There are two things we love doing with the capsicums: roasting them with lots of garlic and herbs or stuffing them with rice - you should try walking into the house when this is cooking, heaven!

 A few easy meat and fish dishes..

 A few breakfast options - the acai bowl is essentially frozen banana and frozen berries placed in the Vitamix to create an ice-cream texture (you can add a little bit of coconut milk if you'd prefer it less solid) and topping it with some of your favourites - from what I can see here I've topped this with coconut, museli, hemp seeds, cinnamon, kiwi and hazelnuts. The photograph of the eggs, tomato and chorizo is from a recipe from Tobie & Georgia Puttock's The Chef Gets Healthy - it's a cookbook that I highly recommend! And lastly, the buckwheat recipe is from one of my favourite websites: Wholefood Simply who has created this incredible recipe: Not Quite Coco Pops, you'll love it!

 Great for entertaining - a hommus green olive dip topped with paprika and parlseyl and a pesto dip topped with hemp seeds and extra virgin olive oil - these were both winners.

 Something for the warmer months: minestrone, chicken tagine, asparagus, lamb and mushroom...

 And last, but not least, something warming: canneloni, salmon, eggplant with brown rice, rocket and fetta; and a sweet potato spud.


 So, thre you have it! As you might have already guessed, there are plenty more I could share and will hopefully get a chance to do so too. I hope you have drawn some inspiration from some of these dishes, or at least seen that it's not as hard or out of reach as you may initially think. Start with a simple cookbook - some of my favourites are: Crunch Time by Michelle Bridges, The Chef Gets Healthy by Tobie & Georgia Puttock, Eat Drink Paleo Cookbook by Irena Macri, amongst many more - perhaps that's a story for another time!

How to make natural almond milk

Making almond milk is so simple and easy that you'll be kicking yourself for even contemplating purchasing the long-life varieties sitting on the supermarket shelves.

It only takes a few steps and two ingredients: almonds and water.

Take one handful of almonds and place them in a plate of water and leave overnight (7 hours minimum), this will activate the almonds, releasing the enzyme inhibitors called phytic acid, which is not digestible by humans.

Rinse the almonds until the water runs clear.

Place the almonds and 500ml of water in a food processor / blender. Blitz on a high speed.
NB: do not allow this to 'cook', which you will notice if the mixture grows warm.

Use a sieve and pour the liquid into a bowl and voila you have almond milk.

You will have quite a bit of almond pulp leftover, depending on the type of processor you used, there are lots of recipes online on how to use the pulp to minimise waste.
You can also transfer the milk back into a clean processor and add a scroll of true cinnamon and/or vanilla bean to give it a little flavour.

This milk will keep for 48 hours. 

My kind of raw bliss balls

These balls are incredibly easy, guilt-free and raw. I don't usually use any measuring devices, I go with the feel, texture and cheeky test tastes in between.

Ingredients include:

- Activated almonds, macadamia and hazelnuts 

- sesame seeds 

- hemp seeds 

- liquorice root

- star anise

- true cinnamon, ground 

- maca 

- cacao

- carob

- clove

- vanilla bean or organic vanilla essence

- coconut dessicated

- cranberries (optional)

- medjool dates

- ginger

- Celtic sea salt 

- coconut oil 

In a food processor place the vanilla bean, ginger, star anise, liquorice root and Celtic salt, blend into a paste.

Add rest of ingredients, keeping some of the sesame seeds, carob and hemp seeds aside. Use a tamper to assist in bringing the mix together.

Spoon a mix onto your palm and create bite-sized balls. Alternate rolling these in hemp, carob or sesame seeds.

Place in fridge for 10 minutes.

Enjoy!!

Nb: do get in touch if you'd like some guidance on quantity.

Decision made - proud Vitamix owner

I've wanted a Vitamix ever since I saw the first demonstration. I knew it would be a hero on my kitchen bench and would never see the dark side of a cupboard. The hefty price did see me entering competitions, texting for the daily Sunrise cash cow call and researching a  negotiated price from a wholesaler but no one will budge, and no phone from the morning cow just yet!
So we bit the bullet and decided it was time, we were going to fork out for the Vitamix, pros outweighing the cons, justifications concrete.
Wow, what a machine, this baby is strong. Check out one of the first recipes we made, and start tuned for updates!