Recipe | Edamame

Just a super quick recipe post from me today. I've been recovering from a hectic week of partying and dancing at Woodford Folk Festival with Jess and some of our dearest chums. We are both addicted to steamed soy beans (otherwise known at edamame in Japan) but neither of us have ever cooked them before. After finding them in an Asian grocer in Richmond, Melbourne, I have successfully brought my addiction into my parents home. This is a great healthy snack food but also makes for a great meal if you're feeling lazy. 

Recipe | Sustainable Breakfast

It may not be entirely obvious but my diet is incredibly important to me; diet probably isn't the right word either. I like the food that I consume to be the best that it can and not in an overly snobbish way either. I don't see the point in consuming food if I'm not going to enjoy it and if my body isn't going to receive multiple benefits from it. Of course I consume junk food but in the smallest of amounts. A big portion of my days intake is breakfast and I like to stick to the age old phrase: 'eat breakfast like a king.' My dear friend Joanna and I like to joke that we'd rather marry breakfast than any man; we really are pretty obsessed. This is my current breakfast routine.

Ingredients

1 handful of low salt, gluten and wheat free corn flakes

1/2 cup pura veda (a natural blend of buckwheat, sunflower kernels, raisins, sesame seeds, millet, pumpkin seeds, linseed, poppy seeds, chia seeds and amaranth)

2 tbsp of puffed quinoa 

1 banana, sliced

4 - 5 fresh strawberries, sliced

2 tbsp no-fat natural yoghurt

1 tsp honey

This breakfast involves only the most basic of steps: put all the ingredients in a bowl (in that order), mix and enjoy. Feel free to decrease or increase the quantities but I find this to be a fairly large breakfast that gets me through (not hungry) until about 12.30pm when I usually have my lunch at work. I also like to have a glass of Berocca and a cup of green tea with this breakfast as well. For people that don't eat breakfast (I know you exist in the masses) this may seem huge and how could I possibly be that hungry when waking up? I'm not usually hungry but I know I will be if I don't give myself a good head start. These ingredients also offer me a huge amount of nutrition everyday before 7am. 

I highly recommend eating a healthy breakfast like this everyday as an inclusion in a balanced diet. Let me know if you have your own versions as I'm always looking for ways to add and improve on my current combination.

Erin xx

Recipe | Rice Noodle Salad

Weekend lunches growing up were always a bit of pot luck in my household. This isn't to say they weren't always amazing but because she was home my mum would get crafty with whatever was left in the house after the week or with some bits and pieces she had picked up on the weekend grocery shop. One of many dishes she excelled was a healthy vermicelli rice noodle salad with a variety of different ingredients. As it gets hotter here I've been trying to cook dishes that require a lot less cooking and this is one of them. 

Recipe | Sea Salted Rosemary Pita Chips

Here in Australia, where the summer starts early and our culture is largely outdoors, having a few nibbles at dusk on the veranda, balcony or by the pool is ritual. I've recently been trying to make a lot of basics for my friends and I to enjoy and I realised that chip and bread components are ridiculously easy and simple to make in bulk and keep for when you need them. It can also be a lot healthier when you know what ingredients are used and eliminate the nasty artificial flavouring that is in much of the similar products you purchase from the grocery store. 

Recipe | No Regrets, Just Lamb

A few Sundays back Jess and Honor joined me for a true Winter warmer before the weather took a turn and it was too hot to cook such a slow-cooked house-warming dish. Probably one of my all time favourite things to eat this was the first time I had attempted cooking lamb shanks. I know they taste best cooked slowly and a fairly simple tomato sauce works to complement and not overpower the lamb. We also decided that for some added bulk to the meal we would cook up a small portion of brown rice; it also helps to soak up the sauce. 

Recipe | Tomato and Basil Pasta

I am a big enthusiast for deliciously simple food; some of us call it peasant food. A few really simple, yet beautiful, ingredients can make a really special dish. This pasta dish has been a favourite of mine, and my family's, forever. It is quick and easy to cook and full of rich flavour. After an overload of dumplings (recipe coming soon) and other Asian delights, I invited Jess over for a night of classic Italian where we enjoyed this dish.

Recipe | San Choy Bow

San Choy Bow is possible one of my favourite dishes of all time. I remember it being the most exciting part of dining at my family's local Vietnamese restaurant...aside from the karaoke of course. I made this dish recently when two dear friends came over for dinner to save me from loneliness that is an empty house. 

Flour-less Dark Chocolate Brownie Cups

I am a self confessed chocoholic. However, the chocolate has to be dark for me to really enjoy myself. There is something sickeningly sweet about milk chocolate that allows me to easily push it aside (mostly). This recipe is my own creation from years of fiddling with dry brownie and cake recipes that don't press my buttons.  

Good Food, Good Company

It's Sunday and I would normally be bringing you a new recipe but today I felt like sharing with you my review on two of Brisbane's finest (and very different) establishments. My mum came up to Brisbane on Thursday for a bit of an Easter getaway/return-to-home-town holiday. We've spent the last few days together and have done some fine eating in that time. Thursday afternoon we were in the Fortitude Valley and I decided it was high time I tried the hippest new (new is debatable) establishment in the area, Alfred and Constance.

As expected, this new cafe/restaurant/bar combination is a much needed chilled addition to 'the valley' scene. Housed in a classic Queenslander (the typical home built circa 1900 is this tropical state) the vintage-probably-more-retro decor is comfortable and not overdone. For lunch, the food and service is friendly, casual and simply delicious. It's not overly fancy and fiddly, the food is wholesome, tasty and anything but bland - like a meal from your mother (well, I don't know about you but at least from my mother). 

Home-grown Basil Pesto

Before I left Melbourne I stocked up on recipes to share with you so that I wouldn't feel guilty about not cooking while I was job hunting. This is one of my favourite things to make and it only happens every so often. Occasionally, the basil my mum loves to grow becomes fairly overgrown and starts to flower. It's normally at this stage that she recommends a pesto making session. I've used a few different recipes over the years and some are better for cooking with while others are better for dipping. This one is half-way between but if you're not a huge pesto fan, I'd recommend putting this version in other dishes rather than using it as a dip. And just as a heads up, you'll also need a food processor for this recipe.

Sweet Potato, Prosciutto and Quinoa Salad

It's been a while since I brought you all a new recipe, and well this isn't new but it's my own variation on what is quickly becoming a very popular grain. Quinoa (pronounced anyway you feel like it) is one of my favourite things to eat. Never having been a big fan of couscous, simply because it's too easy to make a mess, quinoa has filled that gap in my life. It used to be quite expensive and only available at heath food stores but it has made quite a headway in the market in recent years. You caaaan find it in normal grocery stores now but it is more likely to be cheaper, and probably better, from a health food store. It really depends where you live as to what your supermarkets stock. 

Anyway, here is my most recent salad creation with the delicious quinoa. 

Serves 2-3 people for lunch

Ingredients

2/3cup quinoa

1 1/3 cup water

1 lebanese cucumber, finely diced

1 tomato, finely diced

1 red chilli (as hot or mild as you like), chopped roughly with out without seeds

3 shallots, finely chopped

1/2 sweet potato, chopped into bite size pieces and roasted (can be done anytime before)

250g prosciutto, chopped and briefly warmed in a frying pan

Dressing

1/4 cup tahini

juice of one lemon

salt and pepper

water to thin mixture

Juicy Treats

Juicing. It's a trend that has really exploded and I am completely happy to jump on for the ride. We bought my mum a juicer for Christmas and I have to admit, I might have been using it a bit more than her. I adore fruit, and although juicing vegetables might be more beneficial for me, I can't go past a good fruit juice in the morning. It's got plenty of natural sugars to kick start my day side-by-side with my muesli. 

So far this summer I've tried a few combinations and found some favourites. I love the kick that a bit of ginger or lime can give to a super sweet drink. It's definitely a bit heavenly. 

Today I made this beauty. I love the froth that a freshly juiced orange creates and the multiple colours that emerge when fruity froths swirl together. 

Using Breville's Juice Fountain Plus I juiced two oranges, one green apple and a lime and got about two of the cups you see to the left. I always like to hold back the froth with a spoon until the liquid is right near the top. The layered appearance just adds something special to the drink. 

I'm also a fan of using one red (preferably a Pink Lady) and one green apple to achieve different colouring. Juicing is such a good and healthy way to create. A few richly coloured berries can be a fabulous addition, although you want to make sure they're fresh as frozen just aren't the same in a juice - much better in smoothies. 

Have you found yourself caught up in the juicing and green smoothie whirlwind of late? Found any great combinations? 

Erin xx