Free Healthy Recipes

For those of you who haven't noticed it's hot, and I for one am not in the slightest bit interested in all the traditional nonsense of Christmas. Take a large salmon, ask the fishmonger to remove the head, fins and scales, bake it in the oven and serve with new potatoes with chopped mint and a drizzle of olive oil, a crisp green salad with sliced avocado and a cool refreshing mango and coriander salsa. If you want to be more decadent decorate fresh prawns around the outside - what could be nicer, and how much better knowing it's good for you.

A very fussy-eating friend of mine described this salad as a 'taste sensation' and I am still reeling from the compliment. The tartness of the pickles against the sweetness of the mango is simply divine.

Another low fat dish, this dish gets its wow flavour from the orange and pinenut combination. Watercress is such a rich source of vitamin C and in my opinion should be added to every salad to boost good health.

A great lunch or dinner served with a huge green salad and steamed sweetcorn, or could serve eight people as an entree. Make sure to use camellia tea oil for its numerous health benefits. Recipe courtesy of www.phase5.com.au

Here we combine the comfort factor of turkey, full flavoured parmesan (to taste through the sinuses) and pine nuts as the main source of zinc.

With some gluten free muesli costing as much as $14 for 500g, from a financial point of view it’s worth making your own. From a health perspective it’s also worth making your own as you can fill it up with many more nutritionally valuable ingredients. Puffed grains typically have a high GI therefore to counter this and make a breakfast which will sustain you for most of the morning it’s good to add nuts and a few seeds.

With the miso used for flavour and pinenuts added to the sauce and crust this vegetarian pie will suit most meat eaters tastes hearty and meaty. This is gluten free, vegetarian food at it's best.

If you want something substantial and delicious here's the meal. It will give you a great feeling of satiety similar to what you would experience from a meat stew. The mushrooms, eggplant and onion give it substance while the tahini sauce transforms into creamy stroganoff type dish, without the cream.

If, like most of us you don’t have much time to spend in the kitchen cooking and washing up, this dish is for you. In one pot you combine the healthful properties of leek, low GI cannelini beans and flathead for protein. Add to it some gluten free kudzu to thicken the sauce and promote complete digestion and you’re done in less than 30 minutes. For an extra boost of veggies, serve with steamed broccoli.

Black eye beans are native to Africa but are used extensively in the Deep South USA in soul food. They are a great source of calcium, vitamin A , folate and fibre. Here's a very easy meal the whole family can enjoy.

Gluten intolerant or not, this breakfast quinoa will give you an exceptional kick start to the day. It doesn’t take long either. Once made you can keep it in the fridge and enjoy it over a few days.

Now, we all know that blokes love meat on their plates. So, how do you cook up a nice slab of meat and impress your guest just as much? This whole rib goes beautifully as a Sunday lunch, served on a bed of leafy greens and accompanied with a lovely Shiraz. It’s also great for dinner any other day or cold for the next day’s lunch. Recipe courtesy of Alec Bragg's new recipe book 'Pants off Salmon'. It is available in September at all good book stores and online at: www.jojopublishing.com

A variation on tomato bruschetta, these make a special breakfast dish. Please don’t be tempted to use any old bread – this recipe is designed for taste and health. White crusty bread may taste OK but it’s nutritionally low in value. In the processing of white flour, the grain is first stripped of its husk removing the fibre and valuable B vitamins; the flour is then ground intensively with bleaching agents added to make it pure white. The result, a fluffy white bread with a high GI, which will fill a gap for a minute but do little else.

I stole this idea from a café close to my home. If you are having guests to stay it’s a rather impressive way to start their day – you’ll convince them in an instant that you’re a gourmet chef – when in fact all you’re doing is serving cereal and fruit. They’ll love it and you can stay healthy at the same time.

These gluten free muffins are naturally sweetened by apple juice and coconut and while not as sweet as most cakes and pastries they’ll still satisfy that occasionally need to seek comfort in carbs!

On a gloomy cool day it's nice to make a batch of muffins and serve them hot with a cup of tea. The muscatel grapes added to the muffin mix give them an intense flavour you won't get from using blueberries on their own alone. They're moist, yummy, high in fibre and a pretty healthy indulgent treat when rain stops play outside.

Each mouthful just bursts with blueberries. Wholesome and low in added sugar. Toddlers just love these as a treat. Be warned though, the gooey blueberries can be a little messy.

To find a healthy sweet dessert that tastes great AND is easy to make ticks all the boxes in my opinion. Easy raspberry and yogurt souffles are some of these great dishes. It’s an impressive low GI treat that will satisfy a sweet tooth yet it’s not that high in KJ. It’s very yummy and looks much harder to make than it really is.

A fresh fruit frozen yoghurt high in vitamins A and C, as well as calcium. A Spring or Summer treat that’s quick, easy and a healthier alternative to most commercial frozen yoghurts available.

This makes a great breakfast, snack or dessert.

This recipe from the spring section of The Greengrocer’s Diet is ridiculously easy and quick to make. Make double the amount and on the second day it turns into a berry bircher muesli.

This refreshing smoothie is from the summer section of The Greengrocer’s Diet (Pan McMillan RRP $39.99)

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.

Pies don't have to be laden with saturated fat and gristle! These delicious pies are packed full of veggies and are perfect on a cold winters day.

These gourmet chicken burgers offer a twist on the traditional chicken burger, and contain substantially less fat.

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.

Here’s a healthy sandwich, with a fraction of the fat but just as much taste as a regular chicken and mayonnaise sandwich.

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.