Recipe | Freekeh Greek Salad

Recently, I had freekeh pointed out to me in the health food isle (thank you, Adrienne) and couldn't stop pondering what it was like. To be honest it wasn't the most excited food I've ever tried but grain alternatives are always nice to discover. It has a texture very similar that of a brown rice-quinoa hybrid. As usual, my salad recipes are super easy to interchange with your favourite ingredients. I was aiming for a slightly Greek inspired dish but feel free to make this dish vegetarian or vegan if you like by omitting the fish and cheese. 

Ingredients

1 cup freekeh

4 small tomatoes, diced

1/2 cucumber, diced

400g rocket

1 capsicum, diced

2tbsp olives, halves

400g tin tuna in spring water, broken up into chunks

200g feta cheese, broken up into chunks

1 lime, juiced

sea salt and cracked pepper

Cook the freekeh according the instructions on the packet. Mine involved cooking 1 cup of freekeh in 2 cups of water covered for about 25 minutes, until all of the water had been absorbed. 

Meanwhile, place tomatoes, cucumber, rocket and  capsicum in a large bowl and toss together. Follow with olives, tuna and feta cheese. Toss salad again.

Add cooked freekeh, lime and seasoning. Combine ingredients and serve. 

I actually didn't eat any of this at the time of making it and put it into containers for my weeks lunches. It keeps really well in the fridge for 4-5 days after making. 

Happy eating!

Erin xx

Recipe | Bacon, Leek & Feta Frittata

Hi lovelies! I have been all about quick and easy meals of late. I had some eggs that needed using up and so I knocked up a quick frittata which has been making for a super quick lunch or breakfast. 

Recipe | Capsicum Nachos

After a recent nachos gorge session I figured there must be a more healthy way to enjoy the Mexican cuisine classic. I've seen recipes around the internet using mini capsicums in a similar way but none using my favourite ingredients and truly utilising the capsicum as a corn chip replacement. I know that Jess' favourite food is capsicum so when she came over for a chilled out girls night I knew it was the time to try this recipe (she's also very handy in the kitchen). 

Serves 4 - 5

Ingredients

2 packets of miniature capsicums, halved and deseeded

3 tomatoes, diced

cucumber, diced

small red onion, diced

400g tin corn kernels 

1 green capsicum, diced

1 lemon, juiced

1 lime, juiced

400g tin Old El Paso Mexe-Beans

bottle of Old El Paso Think n Chunky Medium Salsa

sour cream

guacamole (1 ripe avocado, 1tbsp sour cream, salt and pepper smashed together)

2 cups tasty cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 200°C. 

On a baking tray lined with wax proof paper arrange the capsicum halves so that they're quite bunched together with the open side facing upwards. Place in oven for 10 minutes then remove. 

Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, mix red onion, tomatoes, cucumber, corn, green capsicum, lemon and lime juice. 

Spoon Mexe-Beans and the Medium Salsa evenly on top of the partially cooked capsicums. Next, sprinkle over a thin later of cheese. Spoon the diced vegetable salsa on top. You may end up with excess salsa; this can be stored in the fridge for use at a later date. Cover your nachos with the remaining cheese and place in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes or until cheese is melted and starting to become golden.

Once cooked, serve with sour cream and guacamole.  

Enjoy your healthier nachos!
Erin xx

Recipe | Simple Spicy Vegetables in Honey Soy

After a fairly crazy weekend of birthday and Australia Day celebrations I found my nutrition levels to be fairly lacking. During the week I like to chill out and restore my body to a more healthy state and in addition to my daily seed-based breakfasts and salads for lunch I try to avoid heavy carbohydrate-based meals in the evening. This is one of this weeks detox meals full of vitamins but also flavour and different textures. Feel free to change up the vegetables with your favourites. 

Ingredients

broccoli, separated from head

mushrooms, halved

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2tsp hot chilli paste

1/4 light soy sauce

1tbsp honey

Preheat oven to 180°. Prepare baking dish with baking paper.

In a medium mixing bowl mix garlic, chilli, soy sauce and honey together vigorously. Set aside. 

Bring a small to medium pot of water to the boil. Place broccoli and mushrooms in boiling water momentarily; until the green becomes much brighter. This process is called blanching and normally happens in under a minute. You wouldn't normally do this to mushrooms but I find it gently breaks through the skin which allows the marinade to soak through better.

Drain vegetables and add to marinade. Toss throughly and let sit for 5-10 minutes. Move vegetables from marinade into prepared baking dish and bake for 15-20 minutes. 

Serve and enjoy!

If you have any healthy fulfilling snacks, feel free to recommend them in the comments.

Erin xx

Recipe | Warm Chicken Pesto Salad

Hi lovelies! Sorry it's been awhile in between posts. I've been moving house and have been internetless. I made this salad for dinner a couple of nights back and it was a really tasty, fresh and satisfying feed. Thought I'd post it up because I tend to prefer salads in the warmer weather. 

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

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