The Bountiful Lunch Plate

We all want our lunch to be delicious and we want to look forward to what is in our lunch box! We might be tempted to have the toasted ham and cheese sandwich from the corner cafe, but we really just want something that's going to taste good, fill us up, and keep us energised for the rest of our busy day. Ahhh wouldn't it be nice to have a personal chef to whip up such whimsical-sounding morsels!? Yes yes it would.

Let's pretend for one moment your personal chef created this for you, ok?

Thrown together with the extra sweet potato "chips" he made for you last night that was accompanied with a perfectly cooked fillet of salmon and a crisp seasonal salad. Well yes please!

But let's say in case you didn't have a personal chef, you could indeed "throw" this together in just a few minutes, by simply making extra sweet potato the night before and having only a few other fresh ingredients on hand. Easy. 

Here's why it's good for you!

Kale: The mother of all leafy greens and packed full of potassium, beta carotene and Vitamin C. Kale also contains isothiocyanates which have powerful anti-cancer effects in our cells.

Cashews: Cashews are slightly lower in fat than most other nuts and contain predominately oleic acid, the same heart-healthy monounsaturated fat found in olive oil, shown to reduce triglyceride levels. This nut is also rich in copper, important for healthy hair and skin.

Sweet potato: This veggie is filled to the brim with antioxidants, including Vitamins A, E and C. All of these vitamins are excellent for beautiful hair and skin, and help us to fight the free radicals associated with ageing and diseases such as cancer. It really is a "beauty food"!

Avocado: Want to lose weight? Eat avocado! Even though avocado has lots of fat, it is mostly comprised of the healthy monounsaturated fats. Studies have shown that these fats are more likely to be used as slow burning energy rather than being stored as body fat. It also helps us to keep full and satisfied for longer. AND it is RIDICULOUSLY TASTY especially when you add salt, pepper and lime!

Here's how!

Ingredients:

Leftover sweet potato chips from last night's dinner Big handful finely chopped kale leaves Half a fresh beetroot (roughly grated) ¼ avocaso Handful cherry tomatoes (halved) Small handful cashews (untoasted & unsalted) Juice of 1 lime Chili powder Salt & Pepper

Method:

1. Warm up the sweet potato chips in the oven until warm an crispy 2. Mash the avocado and season with salt, pepper and lime juice 3. In a cup, mix together the cashews, a sprinkle of chili powder and lime juice 4. Arrange ingredients onto a plate and dress with the remaining lime juice

Fig & Vanilla Bliss Balls

Afternoon snack time comes around and every day we find ourselves with the predicament of trying to sidestep the dreaded office fundraiser chocolate box and try to convince ourselves to stick with the celery sticks and hummus instead. But let's be honest, vegetables cut into "fun size" and homemade bean dip can start to grate on your already-monotonous work routine. Clients ask me all the time for snack ideas on how to satisfy the afternoon sweet tooth munchies, without labour-intensive prep time or weird ingredients. This is one of my go-to snacks for afternoon tea time. I like to have 2 bliss balls with a cup of herbal tea or chai tea with almond milk.

Packed with healthy fats, protein and fibre these bad boys will leave you satisfied and keep you full until dinner time. Dried figs bring natural sweetness to this snack, and contains a good dose of calcium and iron, as well as vitamins A, E, and K.

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Ingredients: makes 12 bliss balls

4-5 dried figs
¾ cup almonds
½ cup oats
2 tablespoons shredded coconut
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 heaped tablespoon almond butter
2 tablespoons cacao nibs
1-2 tablespoons liquid sweetener (rice malt syrup/raw honey)
Optional: 1 scoop protein powder (I use natural Sunwarrior or Boomers)

Method:

Whizz it all up in a blender until finely chopped. The consistency should be dry touch but moist enough to roll into a ball and stick together. If it is too dry, add more sweetener. If it is too moist, add more almonds or coconut. Roll into balls and refrigerate. Enjoy with a cup of herbal tea.

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Nutrition Information for 1 Bliss Ball: 480 kJ (114 cal) 4g protein 6g fat 9g carbohydrate 3.5g fibre

PS: I had one of these crumbled over my creamy almond milkshake for breakfast a few days ago, and oh my! It was so delicious! Here is what it looked like:

Creamy Almond Milkshake topped with fig & vanilla bliss ball

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Lime & Sage Cashew "Blue Cheese"

I absolutely love entertaining at home and serving up new food and drink creations to friends and family  (using them as my guinea pigs). They don't seem to mind most of the time. Sometimes my creations don't always come out looking and/or tasting very glamorous, but at least it lends itself to some interesting dinner conversations. This one (thankfully) did turn out to be a success and a wonderful substitute for blue cheese if you struggle with the thought of mould in your cheese (me). If you're stuck for an appetizer at your next dinner party, this cheese compliments any kind of seasonal fruit and is heavenly on a fresh piece of sourdough.

Ingredients:

2 cups cashew nuts 1 handful fresh sage Juice of 1 lime

Method:

Add cashew nuts to a high speed blender and blend until a fine powder. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until a soft "cheese" consistency. Spread on freshly baked sourdough with fresh fig slices.

Going nuts for nuts!

Nuts,  the perennial of life for any vegetarian, has now been proven above its other feats to have life prolonging capacity.

Having long been known as nutritious (and by many health conscious as a “superfood”) these little guys were previously known to lower cholesterol and diminish insulin resistance.

Most of these claims were met with scepticism, with the most common question being – ‘how does lowering cholesterol or improving insulin function really even help me?’.

Published last month in The New England Journal of Medicine, was  the largest prospective study to date on nut consumption. With 76 464 women and 42 498 men, the authors concluded that those who ate nuts less than once per week had a 7% decrease in mortality and those who ate nuts up to 7 times per week had a 20% reduction!! And that goes for any type of nut too.

Good news right? Great news you say ……especially for those of you aiming to push past 95 and spend every last waking hour squeezing a bit more out of life. But what about those who are more stuck in the reality of the next few years rather than the twilight of time? Maybe you hate the though of living out your life in a hospital bed or rattling with pills into old age? There's more good news!

The study also showed associations with lower rates of cancer, respiratory ailments and heart disease.  And possibly the best part …increased nut intake was associated with less weight gain (contrary to popular belief). LESS weight gain! Yes you did read that right. Reduced waist circumference, and reduced risk of obesity.

So ready set go. To your pantry scrabbling for that packet of almonds bought last year and inhale your 28 grams for the day. Alternatively you could always click on the links below and creatively consume your portion.

The Perfect Protein Bar	Cashew & Fig Cream	Creamy Almond Milkshake
The Life-changing Loaf  of Bread	Crunchy Choc Almond Butter Cups	Easy Homemade Almond Butter

Healthy Strawberry Macaroons

I want to clear up the confusion between macaroons and macarons. Macarons is a sweet meringue-based confection made with eggs, icing sugar, granulated sugar, almond meals, and food colouring/flavour. It is usually filled with a ganache or buttercream. The macaroon is a type of light, baked confection, that can look like a small cake or meringue-like cookie. Here is an illustration provided by blogilates

It is this innocent-looking delightful treat on the high tea tiers that makes us second guess the healthy eating vow we murmur to ourselves as the tea is being poured into our fine china cup.

Not Your Typical Dietitian has developed the "Not Your Typical Macaroon" and gave it a healthy twist, without refined sugar and butter. I am not saying that this treat is that healthy that you can now gorge yourself on them, but they're definitely a better option than the macarons you'll find staring back at you through the glass casing at the patisserie. And they have real fresh strawberries in them!

Ingredients: Makes ~20 macaroons

1 ½ cups almond flour 2 ½ cups organic shredded coconut 3 tablespoons raw honey 3 tablespoons cold pressed coconut oil 2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract 1 punnet fresh strawberries (250g) (finely chopped) Pinch sea salt

Method: Combine dry ingredients. Warm coconut oil and honey in a bowl suspended in hot water until runny, then add vanilla. Combine with dry ingredients. Once well combined, carefully mix through the strawberries. Use your hands to form into macaroon shapes and place on baking paper. Chill in fridge for around 1 hour or until firm. Keep refrigerated in an airtight container. Will keep for 1 week.

IMPORTANT: You probably noticed that these babies don't require any baking. However, if you would like to bake these for a crunchy outer casing and soft chewy centre, then you can bake them at a very low temperature (140 or 150 degrees Celsius) for around 40 to 50 minutes. The key is not letting them brown too much - so keep an eye on them!