Free Healthy Recipes

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.

Here we have a perfect lunch for the vegan – a complete meal providing vegetables, carbohydrates, protein, good fats – for energy to sustain the remainder of the day.

It’s simple and exquisite – the flavours of avocado and mango work so well. Combined with pinenuts, rumoured to be aphrodisiacs in ancient Greece and you create the ultimate seductress – a healthy entree for lovers. Choose slightly underripe mangos when making this dish. Avocado and pinenuts are both good sources of magnesium useful for relieving symptoms of PMT.

Large lumps of octopus tentacles can be visually off-putting and tough. Ask your fish merchant specifically for small pieces or trim them down in size before cooking. This marinade imparts a delicious sesame flavour through the octopus and also helps tenderize the pieces. It can be cooked on a grill indoors or the hot plate of your BBQ – either way it’s delicious.

To quote the words of a friend's son this Christmas - " Learn to make this mother!" It's really just a magnificent way to a high fibre fruit salad. I make a point of eating as many berries as possible over the season and here’s another way to present them. Topped with coconut toasted in maple syrup it will fool anyone to believing they’re eating the most decadent dessert. It's highly likely that you and the family will like this dish so much it will become a favourite out of season. The solution, vary the fruit and/or use frozen.

Anyone can make this salad - the trick it to but great quality figs and a nice soft moist goat's cheese.

Nine times out of ten, I’ll end up ordering the tuna salad, or if it’s a posh place the salade nicoise. It would seem the nicoise is made with real tuna; otherwise it’s straight from a can. Regardless, I like them both. Tuna is a good source of iron, perfect for non meat eaters and with the egg the whole salad provides almost enough protein for the day.

When you can step in the door and have a delicious healthy meal in front of you in less than 30 minutes its great news. Don’t attempt it without the relish as this dish will be very dry and exceptionally boring.

Traditional Italian lentils are called puy lentils and, compared to Australian grown, are relatively expensive. Australian grown are excellent quality (sometimes called blue) and like puy, retain their shape and provide the same nutrients.

Quinoa looks like a grain but in fact is a seed. It’s rich in protein, has a low GI and is gluten free. Quinoa can be used to make tabouleh, which in my opinion is much tastier than the traditional Middle Eastern dish which uses cracked wheat.

Served with wholegrain sourdough bread rolls this dish makes a delicious light lunch or without the bread as an entree before a main meal. The colours alone make the dish so visually appealing and that’s even before you taste how delicious it is.

This lovely salad is the perfect light meal to whip together for a quick summer lunch or dinner. Recipe courtesy of Toby Puttock & Australian Mangoes.

Recipe courtesy of Persimmons Australia Inc.

I’ve seen many carnivores look expectantly at this vegetarian version of a meat loaf as it’s far more interesting and delicious. The walnut is one of the most nutritionally rich nuts available and works beautifully in a nut loaf. Someone once told me that foods are good for the body part they resemble. How much truth there is in that is questionable, (some sausages that are good for nothing), but in the case of walnuts with their “brain like” form, there is some justification to believe it. Walnuts contain a high percentage of Omega 3 fat that cannot be made by the body. Amongst other things Omega 3 fatty acids are believed to help improve cognitive function, in other words how your brain works.

Save this one for the weekend after you’ve had a long morning walk. It’s a deviation from the traditional scrambled egg made with milk, or, in some cafes, cream, but in my opinion much nicer. Rich in calcium, abundant nutrients from the eggs, cancer preventing lycopene from the roasted tomatoes, protein, good carbs and good fat, this meal’s got it all. The beauty of it also is, other than the tomatoes, which can be roasted on baking paper to save washing up, it ‘s all made in the one pan.

These easy pots make a delicious light supper dish on a weekend when lunch was the main meal of the day. They are light and nutritious and won’t weight heavily on the stomach before going to bed.

Nine times out of ten, I’ll end up ordering the tuna salad, or if it’s a posh place the salade nicoise. It would seem the nicoise is made with real tuna; otherwise it’s straight from a can. Regardless, I like them both. Tuna is a good source of iron, perfect for non meat eaters and with the egg the whole salad provides almost enough protein for the day.

Adding a few olives, tea oil and nigella seeds makes the humble egg sandwich distinctly more sophisticated. Not that the egg sandwich should ever be humble. The egg has a lot to shout about containing no less than 13 vitamins, minerals and amino acids.

This recipe is an extract from the Diabetes & Pre-Diabetes Handbook, and provides a suitable breakfast meal for those with pre-diabetes, or anyone looking for a delicious low GI start to the day. Peter Howard's pancakes are so versatile - sweet or savoury. And for breakfast, you can make the choice. Avocado slices with pepper and cottage cheese makes a suitable lunch with salad on the side.

It’s hard to imagine how something that looks this good could be healthy too, but it is and it’s well worth the effort to make it. Using spelt flour in the pastry reduces the gluten content of the pastry without effecting the taste.

This recipe is inspired by the famous Balinese dish. Boiling the eggplant whole for 5 minutes softens its skin, reduces the amount of oil required to cook it and the overall cooking time. Fried shallots are available from Asian stores and selected supermarkets.

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.

It's amazing how good a few kaffir lime leaves mixed through fresh papaya tastes. Sprinkle over the top, a little fresh lime juice served on these coconut crumpets and you've made have an exotic dessert with fresh flavours of the East.

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.