I absolutely love this salad!

Fresh and alive with delicious ingredients I made it the other day when nothing was appealing to me food-wise and I was in real danger of having a carb blowout.

I wanted something simple and quick … and tasty! Fortunately I had all the ingredients already cooked and cooled in the fridge.

This salad is a little higher in calories mostly from the fats in the egg and the feta. It’s especially yummy with some added pepitas and sunflower seeds which add a nutty crunch and take the mouth on a really good textural journey.

The higher level of fat in this salad is actually a good thing as it allows for the absorption of beta-carotine (vitamin A). Sweet potatoes are also good sources of fibre, vitamin C, and vitamin B6. Despite being primarily carbohydrate, some studies have shown that sweet potatoes can help stabilize blood sugar levels and lower insulin resistance.

So if you’re looking for a more substantial lunch virtually guaranteed to address your carb cravings in a healthy way then this could do the trick!

Ingredients:

80g Baby Spinach leaves

70g Cherry Tomatoes, halved

1 Egg, hard boiled, cooled and quartered

120g Sweet Potato, boiled or dry baked, cooled and torn in to pieces

40g Lemnos Reduced Fat Feta, crumbled

Dressing: 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, 100ml apple cider vinegar (or similar), 50ml water, salt, pepper, stevia to taste

Accompaniments: 5g Pepita seeds and 5g of sunflower seeds

 

Method:

1. Place the spinach, tomatoes, sweet potato and feta in a mixing bowl

2. Mix the dressing in a separate bowl or jar

3. Dress the salad, toss and place into a serving bowl or plate.

4. Sprinkle over the optional seeds.

 

Nutritional Information

Serves 1 and with accompaniments contains:

395 Calories

18.7g fat (of which 7.1 is saturated)

26.8g protein

26.4g carbohydrate (of which 9.8g are sugars)

6.1g fibre

Muesli can be an excellent source of energy, protein and fibre and a great start to your day.

However the issue with most shop-bought muesli’s is they are packed with sugars, in the form of dried fruits, honeys and added fruit or sugar syrups. 

The truth is it’s a snap to make your own home made muesli with my “Magic Muesli” recipe.

It’s high in fibre, protein and healthy fats, low in sugar, high in antioxidants, has anti-inflammatory fighting additives and can actually help lower your blood pressure.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

20g Organic Raw Rolled Oats (or Steel Cut Oats)

10g Spelt or Oat Bran

5g Pepitas

5g Sunflower seeds

6g Ginger, freshly grated

1 Brazil nut, chopped

4 Walnut halves, chopped

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

¼ teaspoon Vanilla powder

Zest of 1 lemon

Stevia to taste

Accompaniments: 80g Jalna Low Fat Vanilla yoghurt and 50g frozen blueberries warmed.

 

Method:

1. Add all ingredients except the accomaniments to a maxing bowl and mix well.

2. Warm the Blueberries in a 900W microwave for about 1 minute.

3. Whip the yoghurt with a fork for a few seconds until a creamy consistency is achieved.

4. To serve place the dry mixture in a serving bowl, top with blueberries and yoghurt.

 

Nutritional Information

Serves 1 and with accompaniments contains:

334 Calories

14.9g fat (of which 2.3g is saturated)

10.6g protein

43.5g carbohydrate (of which 12.5g are sugars)

6.5g fibre

When I went to visit Michelina recently it was a very cold day and she had developed this gorgeous heart-warming soup, low in fat, high in fibre and packed with metabolism-boosting Cayenne Pepper and Ginger.

We enjoyed it for lunch together and I was thrilled (and a little proud) to see she had embraced the food principles in my book “Half The Woman I Was”.

Feel free to adjust the cayenne pepper and ginger to your desired levels, but as these are the most ‘active’ ingredients in this soup, more is better.

If you’ve got fructose-mal absobtion then don’t use onion or leek, just substitute more celery for them.

For those who have a bean problem result in excessive or uncomfortable wind, you’ll be pleased to read that adzuki beans are one of the lowest gas-producing beans. Most importantly, learn how to prepare them properly by reading my article “Are Legumes A Has Bean” here and you should suffer only minimally, if at all.

Finally if you’re making your own home-made chicken stock, be sure to let it cool in the fridge overnight and skim the fat before use. If you don’t have time then feel free to grab a pack of Campbells Salt Reduced Chicken or Vegetable stock instead. It’s not quite as good as home-made, but it will do nicely.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 cup of Adzuki beans

3 full sticks of Celery

3 medium Carrots

1 leek or onion

3 small cloves of garlic

2” piece of Ginger root

1 litre home-made chicken stock, fat skimmed off

½ teaspoon Cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon Coconut oil

Fresh Coriander and Parsley

Himalayan sea salt

 

Method:

1. Soak adzuki beans over night

2. Put the adzuki beans in a saucepan and cover with water

3. Bring saucepan to the boil

4. Simmer for about 40 minutes until the beans are cooked

5. Once cooked, rinse, drain and set aside.

6. Finely chop the celery, leek/onion and garlic

7. Chop the carrot into slightly larger pieces

8. Roughly chop the fresh herbs

9. Finely grate the ginger

10. Sauté leek or onion, garlic, ginger in coconut oil for a few minutes until the leek/onion is translucent.

11. Add all of the other ingredients and bring to a boil

12. Simmer for 30 to 40 minutes until all ingredients are cooked

13. Taste for and additional seasoning

14. Serve and garnish with additional fresh chopped herbs.

 

Nutritional Information

1 Recipe Serves 3 and 1 serving contains:

255 Calories

3.3g fat (of which 2.0g is saturated)

13.5g protein

46.0g carbohydrate (of which 12.5g are sugars)

11.4g fibre

 

Who said you can’t eat chocolate for breakfast? You can if you follow this easy recipe using these deliciously crunchy cacao nibs.

So what are cacao nibs? They are one of the world’s best ‘Superfoods’ – an organic wholefood rich in antioxidants, and magnesium which also increases happy neurotransmitters to make us feel good throughout the day.

Those from Professional Whey originate from the criollo cacao bean from Satipo in Peru and are Fair Trade. But don’t think sweet chcocolate, these tiny super crunchy morsels are very bitter, and may take some getting used to.

This recipe is a raw take on the warming Ginger Spiced Oats I posted the other day. Deliciously moorish, this is a higher calorie recipe designed to be eaten as two half meals, or to serve two.

And with pomegranates in season it’s a great opportunity to boost your antioxidants and fibre intake, keeping you fuller longer. Pomegranates are best when they’re red and BIG! They shrink in size as they dry out making the seeds hard and tasteless. Deseeding a Pomegranate can take a bit of time and effort (Click Here to see the easy way to deseed a pomegranate), but the seeds can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for a week or so.

If pomegranates aren’t in season in your neck of the woods, then usually berries are. So substitute the same weight for blueberries and raspberries.

If you’re gluten or wheat intolerant oats, whilst GF, can be contaminated with wheat product during processing. So to be safe you can substitute the raw rolled oats with Macro’s Rolled Spelt or GF Steel Cut Oats.

For a ‘softer’ more easily digested recipe I soak the oats overnight, particularly if using rolled spelt or steel cut oats. But you can also eat this straight away if you like a more raw texture.

Ingredients

20g Raw rolled oats or rolled spelt flakes (available from Macro)

10g Oat Bran or Barley Bran

2g Ground cinnamon

2g Groung mixed spice

10g fresh ginger root

80g Jalna low fat vanilla yoghurt

60ml milk

5g pepita seeds

5g sunflower seeds

10g Cacao nibs (Click Here for Supplier)

60g Pomegranate seeds

4 raw almonds

1 raw brazil nut

2 raw half walnuts

Method

1. Place the oats, bran, spices, yoghurt and milk in a breakfast bowl.

2. Finely grate the ginger, and add to the bowl.

3. Stir and cover and place in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours so that mixture thickens and softens.

4. Just prior to serving, roughly chop the nuts, add these and the pepitas, sunflower seeds, cacao nibs and pomegranate seeds to the bowl.

5. Stir and enjoy.

Nutritional Information

1 recipe contains:

459 Calories

20.4g fat (of which 4.3g is saturated)

13.2g protein

58.3g carbohydrate (of which 26.3g are sugars)

4.8g fibre

Serves 2

When you’re in a hurry and on the go it can seem simpler just to grab a ready-made shake or breakfast drink. But these products are not healthy, and they’re generally full of wheat and simple carbohydrates which means you’ll be craving more food quickly because your blood sugar is elevated, and this will most likely mean you’ll end up eating more throughout the day!

If you’re going to have a breakfast shake, then you need to learn how to do a healthy version at home – and here it is!

Making a classic creamy smoothie at home doesn’t require complex ingredients or a lot of milk or yoghurt. But it does require the right equipment and a little of the right kind of protein powder, without fillers or added flavourings or sugars.

The right equipment is a powerful blender. The best blender is a Thermomix, but if your budget doesn’t stretch to this marvellous machine then do some research and buy the most powerful blender you can find, one with a chopping function and a good warranty.

As for protein powders there’s a huge array to choose from. With the exception of some Misashi powders, very few are worth using as they are not pure protein, and generally higher is simple carbohydrates which defeats the purpose of using the powder in the first place. When I do use powders (which isn’t that often) I only use them from Professional Whey. Owner Stephen has developed a great range of pure protein powders (all aimed at his main market of muscle building gym freaks, so forgive the masculine looking site).

My favourite is the Micellar Cassein MPI Powder as it’s a slow release protein powder, and it’s low lactose and gentle on the old digestive system. It is, however, a bit grainy, so when I get it I Thermomix it with his Vanilla Bean powder and some of his Stevia for a short time and it becomes a really great addition to this smoothie, making it really creamy, thick and luscious.

Ingredients

15g of Micellar Cassein MPI powder (Click Here for supplier)

60g Raw carrot

60g Raw celery

10g Fesh ginger root

50g raw lemon (no peel)

80g raw orange

80g fresh (or frozen) banana

220ml Water (or ice in summer if you prefer it granita style)

Stevia to taste

Method

1. Roughly chop ingredients and add to blender or Thermomix

2. Add protein powder and water

3. Blitz the heck out of it until it’s smooth. In a thermomix it’s 1 minute on Speed 10.

4. Pour into a large glass, and enjoy.

Nutritional Information

1 recipe contains:

182 Calories

0.4g fat (of which 0.2g is saturated)

16.2g protein

32.8g carbohydrate (of which 25.2g are sugars)

7.5g fibre

Serves 1

OK this may not look like the yummiest breaky out there, but I have to tell you it’s so delicious it is surely one of my favourite, hearty winter breakfasts!

It’s a favourite not only because it’s high in fibre to fill you up, but it’s also packed with complex carbohydrates to keep your energy levels sustained throughout the morning.

The cinnamon helps lower your blood pressure, and the ginger (my favourite miracle spice) not only helps reduce inflammation, it also has carminative, anti-flatulent, and anti-microbial properties. And there’s plenty of vitamins and minerals in there too, so it’s all good stuff.

Feel free to substitute the steel cut oats with raw rolled oats, but it’s best not to use instant oats as they’re chopped smaller, will cook quicker, have less fibre and your body extracts more calories from them than more wholesome, less processed ingredients. You can also add a spoon of Chia Seeds to Step 1 if you want to boost the protein levels.

Finally, 10g of ginger is a lot, so if you’re not a huge fan of it start with just a little and work your way up.

Ingredients

20g of Organic Steel Cut Oats (Click Here for supplier)

8g Oat Bran or Barley Bran

2g (1 level teaspoon) Mixed Spice

2g (1 level teaspoon) Cinnamon

10g of fresh ginger root, finely grated

150ml Water

60ml Low fat milk or soy of your choice

100g fresh banana

Stevia to taste

Method

1. Put steel cut oats, bran, mixed spice, cinnamon, stevia and water into a microwave proof bowl.

2. Mix thoroughly and place in microwave.

3. Cook at 450 Watts for 10 minutes.

4. When cooked, scrape down sides and stir in milk and banana.

5. Place back in the microwave and cook for 1 minute on 900 Watts.

6. Let stand for 3 minutes to cool.

7. Stir and enjoy.

Nutritional Information

1 recipe contains:

216 Calories

3.1g fat (of which 1.0g is saturated)

7.8g protein

44.8g carbohydrate (of which 20.7g are sugars mostly from the banana)

5.3g fibre

Serves 1

Tom Khaa Soup (also known as Tom Yum) is the most famous of all Thai soup recipes; it features all four flavours – salty, sour, sweet and spicy – and is guaranteed to get your metabolism racing. I’ve had plenty of Tom Yums in Melbourne but they’re rather mild compared to the ones I’ve had in Thailand.

This is the most traditional recipe I have found and one which will instantly clear out your sinuses, warm you up and get that metabolism fired up.

Helpful tips: Lemongrass is quite a woody spice, and the galangal and ginger can be quite strong and unpalatable to eat whole so you can either remove these prior to serving, or mince them before cooking with them.

And remember, if you’re making your own chicken stock at home (which is very easy by boiling up a couple of chicken carcasses in water with some finely diced onion, carrot and celery for an hour or two) then make sure you cool the stock in the fridge overnight first. This way any fat from the chicken will congeal on the top and can be removed prior to using, making the stock low fat.

Ingredients:

6 cups good-quality low fat chicken stock

4 kaffir lime leaves (can be purchased at most Asian food stores), OR 1/2 tsp. lime zest

2 stalks minced lemongrass, finely sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

12 thin slices of galangal or ginger root

1 fresh red chili, with seeds, finely sliced

1 Tbsp. Thai Nam Prik Pao chili sauce

Fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced

Juice of 1 lime

2 Tbsp. fish sauce

1 Tbsp. soy sauce

12 medium to large shrimp, shells removed

A handful of fresh basil

1/2 cup Carnation evaporated milk

1 tsp sugar or equivalent sweetener

A handful of fresh coriander

Optional: Additional vegetables of your choice, e.g. handful of broccoli, cherry tomatoes, or baby bok choy

Method

1. Place stock in a large pot over high heat.
2. Add the lemongrass and lime leaves and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat to medium.
4. Add the garlic, galangal/ginger, chili, chili sauce, mushrooms, lime juice, fish sauce and soy sauce.
5. Stir well and simmer 3 minutes.
6. Add the shrimp, basil leaves and any optional vegetables, if using.
7. Simmer until shrimp are pink and plump (about 3 minutes).
8. Reduce heat to medium-low and add the milk.
9. Ladle soup into bowls evenly and serve with fresh coriander.

 

Time: 25 minutes

Serves 4