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.
It’s been a challenge of mine to come up with a healthier Christmas cake. No Christmas is complete without one. Here we maintain the traditional brandy but substitute sugar for apple concentrate, butter for a small amount of oil, and use spelt flour for its reduced gluten content.
Traditional fruit mince pies made with suet and sugar and eaten each day in the lead up to Christmas are guaranteed to pack on the kilos. Here we use dried fruit, peel with a delicious flax seed pastry for a fresh tasting, lighter pie that still feels like Christmas.
These are a slightly healthier version to the coffee walnuts my Aunt used to make at Christmas with creamed butter, sugar, instant coffee and milk chocolate.
Could these possibly be good for you? Made with mixed nuts, cocoa and nut spread they most certainly are but don’t be confused into thinking they are low energy. Enjoy in moderation. They’re excellent after-dinner treats to share with your guests, but eat them quickly otherwise they will dry out. Store them in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 7 days.
This fresh tasting and beautiful summer pudding is delicious and relatively guilt free provided you don’t eat too much of it! Outside of Christmas you can use brioche.
Make this pudding in a large glass bowl, individual glass bowls, or for an impressive voila, on individual serving plates, set inside metal rings that are removed just before serving.
A twist on the traditional Florentine biscuit, these glorious biscuits as beautiful as they taste and make a very special treat for the festive season.
For a traditional Christmas with a little twist this year,try this delicious festive stuffing using RicePlus. The combined wholegrains add texture and a delicious nutty flavour and boost the fibre content of the meal.
You can stuff a turkey breast yourself and tie it together with string or ask your butcher to do it for you for a more professional job. With this recipe, it's important to baste the turkey regularly, adding a little boiling water to the roasting pan occasionally to prevent the cranberry glaze from burning.
A large 3 kg turkey will easily feed 12 people with leftovers for a salad the next day
Any time of year this salad is delicious but I particularly like it at Christmas when we can go "all out" and treat ourselves to a luxurious home made macadamia mayonnaise.
Mayonnaise is high in fat but it's the good stuff - mono unsaturated fats which we can all benefit from.
This macadamia mayonnaise is decadent and delicious and ridiculously easy to make. I have tried it with other brands of macadamia oil but find Brookfarm to be the best by far.
I know of nothing easier nor more impressive than a cold poached salmon for a special meal. A large whole salmon will easily serve 12 people with leftovers for the next day. Ask for Huon salmon farmed in Tasmania. The texture is better than other farmed salmon and the farming practices are kinder. Serving size should be approximately 160g.
Summer tomatoes are stunning and none more so than the heirloom varieties with their interesting shapes and colours.
This salad needs salt, a great quality olive oil and generous amounts of crushed fresh Australian garlic.
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.
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.
Bright colours add to the beauty of this clean and fresh dish that is easily prepared. Low in fat and carbohydrates yet high in protein it's a winner all round.
A good veggie lasagne does take a bit of preparation but it’s not hard to do and the results are well worth the effort.
And unlike traditional lasagne made with whole milk and full fat cheese this roast vegetable lasagne is low in saturated fat, with less than 200mg of sodium and with so many veggies and it’s loaded in fibre, vitamins and antioxidants.
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.
This spicy and flavoursome marinade is delicious with a robust textured fish such as blue eye trevalla. The longer you allow it to marinate the better, and if you are feeding a family, don’t be put off by the term spicy – it’s not peppery spicy and will kids love it.
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.