Our seasonal recipe database is complete with healthy recipes for all the family. You'll soon find that healthy food is not only quick and easy to prepare but it's delicious too.
Grilled chicken with broad bean, avocado and olive salad
This delicious spring recipe from The Greengrocer’s Diet (published by Pan Macmillan RRP $39.99)is a sneak preview of the fresh tasting meals you can look forward to eating in spring.
Those of you who need to lose a few kg's before the warmer weather kicks in, may want to buy a copy of this excellent book from your local greengrocer, book store or on line.
Crispy Skin Salmon Fillets with Bean Mash and Mango Salsa
When you use fresh herbs and seasonal produce there’s no need to bombard a dish with fat and salt for flavour.
Unless of course it’s good fat. This is a recipe that is packed full of flavour and contains essential Omega 3 fats.
It’s a beautiful dish to look at, it tastes delicious and it’s very easy to make.
Spanakopita
This is a real favourite and incredibly easy to make. Don't be put off by the filo pastry. The real trick is allow it to reach room temperature and work fast. I use a pastry brush to brush the sheets lightly with oil. Thanks to Costa Georgiadis for passing this recipe of him mother's on.
Date and Walnut Loaf
This is a variation of a recipe I found on a site called Baking with Granny. I cuit down the amount of sugar in it given how sweet dates naturally are.
This is an easy way to make meat balls look good and taste great, without frying. Packed with iron, zinc and fibre, these meatballs contain vegetables that are well disguised for the fussy eater. Perfect for small hands, they make great finger food.
Oats are a nutritious complex carbohydrate, that are high in B vitamins, low GI, easy to digest and easy to cook with. Cooked oats make the perfect toddlers breakfast, especially compared to most commercial kids cereals that are packed with sugar and salt. The addition of fruit adds fibre, and together with milk, adds a natural sweetness without the need for sugar. Perfect for hungry little tummies!
Most children love to eat cooked rice. This is a quick and easy, delicious meal the whole family can enjoy. The vegetables in this recipe can be swapped for your toddler’s favourite vegetables too. Packed with loads of nutrients and energy dense, this dish will help keep your toddler happy and satisfied.
This delicious gnocchi is packed with protein, carbohydrate and calcium, which are all important nutrients for active growing toddlers. Fun to eat, this recipe makes eight toddler servings or two adults and two children servings.
Most, if not all toddlers love jelly and it’s a favourite at most kid’s parties. The problem is that most commercial jellies contain too many artificial additives.
This Tutti Frutti Yoghurt Jelly is so creamy, delicious and easy, you’ll never want to buy a packet jelly again.
These lentil patties are very tasty and dead easy to make. The lentils are high in protein and together mixed with breadcrumbs, make a complete protein. A good alternative to meat, especially if your toddler is fussy with meat.
This is a lovely recipe that's ridiculously easy to make. It may seem slightly daunting to cut up and skin a chicken yourself but do it once and you'll wonder what all the fuss was about. It's the cheapest and freshest way to go!
There's nothing to beat this winter warmer. It heats you up from the inside and fills you up for hours. Make sure you use a great quality stock though. It makes all the difference.
This is one of my favourite recipes. The extent to which you make of it is up to you, but I like to make everything including the chilli sauce! Choose a couple of varieties of Asian greens to accompany the chicken. I like to combine a crunchy variety like Pac Choy or Buk Choy with a leafy green such as Gai Lan.
Who doesn't love a roast dinner? Many people buy those horrible rotisserie chickens from the supermarket but baking your own is so easy to do, and the taste is far superior.
These rolls may take a little time to master, but persevere and your efforts will be rewarded when you do get the hang of it. Have fun with this recipe and be creative - tempeh works well as a filling, as does strips of avocado, ginger slices, pickles, salmon, chicken...the list is endless!
Finger food is typically deep fried, surrounded in pastry, or served with everything sitting on, or dipped in, bread. These polenta rounds make a nice change to the standard party fare. They are extremely easy to make and robust enough to hold heavier pieces of food including these little roma tomatoes. They freeze well so make more than you need in case unexpected visitors drop in. The recipe below makes approx 35 mini rounds.
How often do you see a group of women each armed with a spoon, each descending like seagulls onto a single plate of pudding? Women in particular enjoy the taste of something sweet to complete meal, but can’t, or won’t eat a dessert of their own because:
1. They can’t fit it all in, or
2. They’re worried about their weight.
Whatever the reason, these juicy strawberries coated in bittersweet chocolate are the perfect solution for a single sweet fix, and complete any evening meal. Share if you like, but it’s unlikely you’ll want to.
Now that it's fashionable to eat whole grains, and other foods our ancestors enjoyed, it's time to make leftovers fashionable. That's not to say we should go down the road of bubble and squeak - where everything is thrown together and fried! These rice balls could have guests fooled into thinking you've been slaving over a hot stove for ours. They are delicious and make an ideal lunch (or make them smaller and serve as finger food at a party).
While making falafel it occurred to me that the word palaver, meaning fuss or bother should be substituted for falafel, coining a new phrase “What a falafel”. But don’t let me put you off! OK so they are a bit of effort compared to a packet mix deep fried feast from the takeaway, but for the improved health properties, and taste, it’s well worth it.
In this recipe, the delicious flax seed coating adds numerous health benefits. Flax seeds are a rich source of lignans, helping to protect the body from oestrogen related cancers and regulating hormone levels.
A food processor is an absolute must when making these so if you don’t have one already, it’s a great excuse to go shopping.
Spring rolls make the best finger food for drinks party (get plenty of practice making them before you embark on rolls for 50!)
Typically, as you can see in this recipe, they’re made combining Asian flavours, but you can think outside the square, especially if you have a gluten allergy. The rice paper fills the role of bread and the filling can be many things you may use in a sandwich – with the salad!
This alternative to traditional oysters natural, Kilpatrick and mornay oysters is pretty and fresh. Oysters are known as an aphrodisiac possibly because they are such a good source of zinc - the mineral responsible in the production of healthy sperm. 6 oysters will give you 59 mg zinc - almost 5 times the recommended daily intake.
Mountain bread is paper thin unleavened bread available from supermarkets and health food stores. It can be used as a quick and healthy alternative to pastry and served as finger food to make a light entrée or pre-dinner canapé.
Since time, the oyster has been considered an aphrodisiac and as such is always on the menu for Valentine’s Day; maybe because it’s such a great source of zinc – the mineral responsible for healthy sperm production.
Gluten intolerant or not - everyone enjoys fresh spring rolls made with rice paper, veggies and vermicelli noodles. Make them the night before for the whole family to enjoy with enough left over for lunch the next day.
These are lovely little naturally sweetened treats to produce for dessert or when the kids get home from school. They’re very easy to make and take next to no time but do need to be eaten straight away otherwise the bread loses its scrunch.
This pate is a variation of “ Smokie pate’. Smokies are a haddock smoked in the small fishing town of Arbroath on the East coast of Scotland. They have an authentic smoked flavour but sadly we can’t get them here in Australia. The pate would typically be made with cream cheese therefore to use some creative license for health and availability, here’s a variation to serve on the classic Scottish oatcake.
This meal is sweet substantial and delicious and referred to as a meal because being a soup it contains complex carbohydrates, vegetables, lean protein and a little fat. Everything you need to feel sated and fulfilled.
Here's a lovely soup to enjoy for lunch or as a quick "pick me up" snack in afternoon when you really feel like something sweet.
Sweet? Well pumpkins are sweet and a good deal more healthy than that cake you might have chosen instead!
For an easy, inexpensive, flavoursome soup this one takes some beating.
Those of you unfamiliar with miso, it is a fermented soy bean paste used to flavour soups and casseroles. Like yoghurt, miso boosts the digestive system with friendly bacteria to aid digestion and strengthen the immune system. It is available from health food stores and Asian grocer.
The recipe below is not an authentic version of the classic mulligatawny, a traditional watery Indian soup. This version is anything but watery. It’s a complete meal in itself and the perfect way to boost your veggie intake in one hit.