Tag: healthy lifestyle

Fatteh

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This is my version of Fatteh, a traditional Middle Eastern dish usually made with crispy baked flatbread, yogurt and chickpeas. My version has slightly more spice, and while usually eaten for breakfast, this is a dish that also makes for a super quick and easy dinner!

Don’t eat this with utensils – the mess is half the fun!

Ingredients (for 2):

  • 1 x 400g can chickpeas, drained
  • 1.5 cups plain Greek yogurt
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp Ras El Hanout
  • 1/4 cup almonds, flaked or crushed
  • Lebanese or Turkish bread (as much as you feel like really)
  • Olive oil

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 200*C. Cut up the bread into pieces, spray with olive oil and bake until golden and crispy.
  2. In a fry pan on medium heat, toast the almonds until crispy. Set aside.
  3. In the same pan, cook the garlic in the olive oil until fragrant. Add the chickpeas, honey and Ras El Hanout and cook for another 3-5 minutes.
  4. To serve, place the Greek yogurt in a bowl and top with the chickpea mix and almonds. Serve alongside the toasty bread.

Vegan Pumpkin Soup

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Warms the soul as well as the belly!

Ingredients (serves 2-3)

  • 200g butternut pumpkin
  • 4 large carrots
  • 125g can coconut cream
  • 4 fresh sage leaves
  • 1 sprig fresh rosemary
  • 1 litre vegetable stock
  • Chives to serve

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 200*C and roast the pumpkin and carrots until soft and golden. Allow to cool slightly.
  2. Place the roasted pumpkin and carrot, sage, rosemary, stock and coconut cream in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Alternatively, place the mixture in a large bowl or saucepan and blend with a stick blender until smooth.
  3. Serve hot with chives on top.

Pie Maker Savoury Muffins

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After a recent baking spree for night shift, I can now truly appreciate why people are going nuts over these pie makers!

You’d be surprised at what people can create in such a short space of time with one of these (a real bargain considering they’re only $29 from Kmart). For some epic recipe ideas, definitely look up the Australian Kmart pie maker recipe group on Facebook!

As part of my experimentation, I made an old recipe of mine, a cross between a muffin and a frittata – a fruffin if you will (because mufftata sounds a bit risky).

I made two different flavours of these by changing the spice, otherwise the base recipe is the same!

 

Ingredients (makes 12)

Method

  1. Turn on the pie maker.
  2. Beat the eggs, then add the milk, flour, yogurt and spice mix and stir well to combine.
  3. Place spinach leaves at the base of the pie mould, then pour 1/8th cup of filling mixture on top. Place a small piece of cheese, then add another dollop of filling mixture to cover.
  4. Cook in the pie maker until golden brown (about 3-5 minutes). These will cook more evenly the more full the mould is.
  5. Store in an airtight container in the fridge if they don’t all get eaten!

One Tray Mediterranean Chicken Bake

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This is one for those ‘cooking when you can’t be bothered cooking’ kind of days!

Ingredients 

  • 4 chicken breasts
  • 2 medium zucchinis
  • 500g mushrooms
  • 2 red capsicums
  • I head of broccoli
  • Herbs of your choosing – I used my favourite garlic lovers mix from Gewurtzhaus but a clove of garlic and a generous sprinkle of mixed herbs or parsely + oregano will work just fine!

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180*C. Line a baking dish with paper or grease with olive oil.
  2. Chop the zucchinis, broccoli and capsicum into roughly even sized chunks.
  3. Place the vegetables on the bottom of the dish, then place the chicken on top, covered with a little olive oil and the herbs of your choosing.
  4. Cover with alfoil and bake until cooked through (about 30 minutes). Remove from oven when chicken is just cooked (as the veggies will be cooked underneath). Serve hot or use as meal prep to fill the freezer!

Pumpkin, banana and rhubarb loaf

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This was an experiment I’ll admit, but it was a rather delicious one. This is a great way to use up any leftover roast / boiled pumpkin as well as old bananas. The rhubarb is entirely optional and was just what I had in the fridge!

Ingredients 

  • 1/2 cup flaxseed meal, 1/2 cup buckwheat flour and  1/2 cup vanilla pea protein  –> BUT you can substitute ALL of this with 1.5 cups of plain flour of your choice + 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 2 over-ripe bananas (must be over-ripe for this to work!)
  • 100g roasted or boiled pumpkin
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup almond milk (or whatever milk takes your fancy)
  • 2 tbsp Nuttalex olive oil spread (or just use butter or coconut oil)
  • If using rhubarb – bake 4 stalks of rhubarb until soft, then mush with a fork until it forms a rough puree

Method 

  1. Preheat the oven to 200*C and line a brownie tin with baking paper.
  2. Place the pumpkin, banana, milk, eggs and butter in the blender and blend until smooth.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flaxseed, buckwheat, protein powder and baking soda, then stir in the mixture from the blender until well combined.
  4. Pour into the baking dish and swirl in the rhubarb by placing small blobs on top and dragging through the mixture with a butter knife.
  5. Bake until firm and risen (about 25-30 minutes). Allow to cool, the cut into slices (I find it easier to cut into 9 chunks, and then cut these in half through the middle).

Nacho Average Burrito

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Here’s one for the meal prep list for vegetarian burritos on demand!

Ingredients 

  • 1 can mixed beans
  • 1 large red capsicum, chopped
  • 200g mushrooms, chopped
  • 4 large kale leaves, deveined and chopped
  • 200g fetta cheese, crumbled
  • 250g cherry tomatoes, cut in halves
  • 1 packet wraps +/- salad leaves

I mix the beans, capsicum, mushrooms, kale, fetta and tomatoes until well combined, then divide into air-tight containers and freeze until needed. Then just defrost the mixture, decant any water that may have been produced in the defrosting process, and wrap in your wrap (I also add lettuce or baby spinach and sometimes avocado for a bit of freshness just before serving!).

Honey I Stuffed the Pumpkin

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While we’re all getting into the full swing of our New Year resolutions, I thought I’d share a few of my recipes from the festive season – starting with this stuffed pumpkin.

I’ve seen many variations of this concept over the past few weeks, and mine is nothing fancy. But it was super easy and vegan / gluten friendly too!

Ingredients

  • 1 large butternut pumpkin, halved
  • 1 cup black rice
  • 200g vegan cheese (I used a vegan version of Persian fetta)
  • 1 tbsp each of sunflower seeds, cranberries, pepitas
  • 1/2 tbsp sesame seeds
  • 2 tbsp lemon infused olive oil

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 200*C.
  2. Place the pumpkin halves cut side up on a baking tray. Remove the seeds and bake until soft enough to scoop out a portion of the flesh in the middle (about 30 minutes).
  3. Cook the rice as per the instructions (or you can cheat by using a supermarket microwave version). Mix the rice with the seeds and olive oil until well combined.
  4. Scoop out a small portion of the pumpkin flesh. Fill the hole with the rice mixture, then top with the vegan cheese and bake until the pumpkin is soft (another 15 minutes should do).
  5. Serve hot, or portions can be stored in an airtight container in the freezer for 1 month. Enjoy!

Nutty Carob Granola

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Nutty, chocolately granola without the hidden sugar!

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup buckwheat groats
  • 1/4 cup oats
  • 1/2 cup quinoa flakes
  • 1/4 cup flaked almonds
  • handful each of hazelnuts, cashews, walnuts and flaked coconut
  • 2 tbsp carob
  • 2 tbsp cacao
  • 3 tbsp olive oil Nuttalex, melted

If you prefer your granola sweeter, add 1-2 tbsp maple syrup.

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180*C and line a baking tray with baking paper.
  2. Mix all of the ingredients together and spread onto the baking tray.
  3. Bake until crispy (~ 15-20 minutes), using a fork to turn the mixture every 5 minutes.

Carrot and Parsnip Gratin

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After I made my amazing mushroom cauliflower sauce, I remembered I had bought some parsnips from the market. Time to make gratin!

Ingredients (serves 2 as above)

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180*C. Lightly grease a baking dish with olive oil.
  2. Grate the carrot and parsnips. Mix with the sauce and pour into the dish.
  3. Sprinkle with quinoa flakes and then mozzarella. Bake until cheese is melted and golden (approx 20 minutes).