How hard it is to think of meal ideas 3 times a day, every day? It's a killer, right?! Throw the word "healthy" into that equation and it gets a whole lot gnarlier (dude). Admittedly, I've always been a big "salad" fan. And because of the resourceful Virgo in me, my lunches and dinners are almost always dictated by whatever veggies we have in the fridge - and if I may say so myself, I have a bit of a knack of making it work. Remember that TV chef a few years back called Aristos? He'd meet someone in the supermarket, look in their pantry and fridge then whip up a gourmet meal with whatever ingredients they had. Yeah. I'm a bit like him. And I constantly surprise myself. Here are a few you might want to try at home - all mega-quick, super-duper easy, and crazy-delicious:
(above) Thinly sliced (raw) zucchini, mixed lettuce leaves, walnuts, lemon zest, parmesan and harissa/chilli.
Dressing: lemon juice, olive oil, honey and garlic.
(above) I turned that...
(above) Into this! Cos (Romaine) lettuce leaves make a beautiful, crunchy wrap! I used smoked salmon, a tomato and avocado salsa and the walnut tapenade from the My New Roots Raw Tacos. I've been making it a lot - It goes gangbusters on just about everything! Here's the recipe:
Walnut Taco Mix
1 cup raw walnuts
1 Tbsp shoyu (raw, unpasteurized soy sauce)
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, chilli, harissa etc (more if you like it spicy!)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
Directions: Put all ingredients in a food processor and pulse just to mix. Don’t over-blend, or you will end up with walnut butter!
Walnut Taco Mix
1 cup raw walnuts
1 Tbsp shoyu (raw, unpasteurized soy sauce)
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, chilli, harissa etc (more if you like it spicy!)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
Directions: Put all ingredients in a food processor and pulse just to mix. Don’t over-blend, or you will end up with walnut butter!
(above) Oh look! There it is again! This time with roast pumpkin, roast onion lettuce, and shredded coconut in a mountain bread wrap.
(above) And again (I told you it was good!). I made a waldorf salad of sorts with it - Celery, apple, chickpeas (to "oomph" it up), walnut mix and a beautiful, garlic-y continental parsley pesto.
Dressing: lemon juice, olive oil, honey and garlic.
Dressing: lemon juice, olive oil, honey and garlic.
(above) My breakfast almost every day is two jars of this "Green Smoothie" (and if I miss a day, I miss it like crazy!). 2 cups kale/baby spinach/silverbeet, 1 frozen banana, 1 lemon, 1T coconut oil, 1T chia seeds, handful of almonds. But it's slightly different every day - there's also goji berries, coconut milk, coconut water, almond butter, flax seed oil, pear, apple, macca powder and bee pollen to play around with?! Green smoothies sound disgusting, but they're a superb (and convenient) way of getting your green leafy veggies in and are DELICIOUS. Victoria Boutenko claims to be the pioneer of the green smoothie, and her books Green for Life and The Green Smoothie Revolution are fabulous. I literally inhaled both of them in 48 hours.
(above) This is one I'm very proud of. This was last week, on one of those nights that I had "nothing" in the fridge or pantry. Enter spaghetti and frozen edamame beans* (so much nicer than broad beans too!). Add toasted pine nuts, parmesan, chilli, lemon juice and olive oil. Success!
*Look for edamame in the freezer section of Asian supermarkets ($1.98 a bag).
(above) Smoked salmon and salsa (corn, tomato, onion, avocado, corainder, lemon zest, cayenne pepper, lemon juice and olive oil).
(above) Another day, another killer salad: Roast pumpkin, roast onion, green beans, avocado, feta (I love Barambah brand) and walnut tapenade.
Dressing: Olive oil and lemon juice.
So there it is - "A week on my plate". I feel a Table Tonic cookbook coming on... I could call it: "Table (wait for it) Tonic"! PS Click to read Food Glorious Food Part 1. Bon Appetit Tonic-ettes!
