Lamb Rissoles with Guacamole

Another great idea for lunch or snacks, team in layers of capsicum, guacamole, tomato and lettuce to create a tower burger!

 

Lamb Rissoles

500gm premium lamb mince (lean)
1 courgette, small, grated
1 egg
1 onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, finely diced
3 tbs fresh flat leaf parsley
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander seed
4 tbs coconut flour

Mix the ingredients until well combined. Heat a heavy based fry pan to a medium heat for 2 minutes. Add a touch of olive oil. Roll the lamb mixture into balls and then flatten to make rissoles. Cook in hot oil on both sides, draining on a piece of paper towel as they cook. You will need to do this in batches.

Guacamole
2 ripe avocadoes
1/2 tomato, seeds removed, finely diced
1/4 red onion, finely diced
2 tbs fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper

Mash the avocado, then stir in the remaining ingredients. Store in the fridge until required.

Serve with tomato and greens, and a couple of wedges of lemon.

A great base recipe which can be used for meatballs as well!

Enjoy!

Chicken Thighs wrapped in bacon

Another late night requires another quick meal! This is easy to put together and takes about 20 mins.

What I used:

4 Chicken Thighs Fillets
4 rashers paleo bacon (sugar-free, pastured)
1 clove garlic
1/2 a carrot
broccoli
cauliflower
1/2 a yellow courgette
small handful of cashews
1 spring onion
1 tsp coconut milk
coconut oil for frying

Heat a frypan to medium heat for 3 mins, then add a small amount of coconut oil. Meanwhile, wrap one piece of bacon around each chicken fillet. Add the chicken to the pan and cook 5-7 mins each side, then put the pan to the side and let the chicken rest for 5 minutes while you stir fry the vegies.

Heat a wok to high, add a little coconut oil. Next add the garlic and spring onion, followed by the carrot and keep moving around the pan. If you find the wok is drying out or the vegies are sticking, just put a splash of water in, don’t add to much of the vegies will become soggy. Next add the broccoli, cauliflower and courgette. Keep moving/tossing the vegies in the wok, adding small splashes of water as needed, cooking for about 3-4 minutes or until courgettes are amost cooked. Finally add the cashews and a tsp of coconut milk and stir through.

Pop the vegies onto a plate. Check the chicken is cooked all the way through, it should have clear juices but no blood, and position beside or on top of the stir fried vegies.

Quick, easy and healthy. Ticks all the boxes for a fast meal, in fact this meal would beat a pizza delivery any day! So when you are craving those take aways, remember, sometimes it’s actually faster to make a healthy meal, even if you don’t feel like it!

Enjoy!

Baked Egg with Paleo Bacon

This is what I made us for dinner tonight. We had our running technique course, so it’s always a rush to get good food into us when we get home and this worked a treat!

I used:

1 leftover salmon cake from last night (see post from last night 28 Jan 2013)
1/4 avocado sliced
2 pieces of roast courgette (see the post below for roast leek and courgette)
2 pieces of roast leek
1 wedge of lemon
1 clove garlic, finely sliced
2 rashers Paleo bacon (sugar-free)
2 eggs

In the bottom of a ramekin, place the garlic, then line the inside edge with bacon and break 2 eggs gently into the centre.  Bake at 200 degrees celcius for about 20 mins, or until the eggs are almost set.  The eggs will keep cooking when you pull them out of the oven.

Meanwhile prepare your plate however you wish to present it! I always figure, if it looks pretty on the plate, people are more likely to enjoy it, even if it is healthy and Whole30 friendly!

Try different things, think of it as a tapas plate or mezze dish.  If you want a more mediterranean feel, add some basil, cherry tomatoes and olives.  This also works well with a tablespoon of tomato puree or hunk home made tomato sauce at the bottom of the eggs.

This is a fabulously versatile dish.  It also works well cold and can be easily reheated, so make double and you have lunch sorted for the next day!

Enjoy!

Roast Leek and Yellow Courgette

You can make use of old leeks by trying this simple recipe.

Cut the green part off the leek and wash. Cut the courgette and leek into thick chunks, drizzle with a little olive oil, some salt and pepper and about 2 tbs water and roast at 200 for 20 minutes or until the leek and courgette are soft.

If you aren’t orthodox paleo, a small dollop of butter on each of the leeks turns this dish into something extraordinary!

I usually cook a batch up, serve a couple of pieces with dinner as a side and save the rest to put in a roast vegetable salad the next day.  Great eaten hot or cold, so a nice one for lunches, enjoy!

 

 

Salmon Cakes

 These were fabulous!  I made a non-paleo batch for Matty and he loved them so I came up with these.

What I used:

• 1 small yellow courgette, grated
• 1/2 carrot grated
• 1 whole spring onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely sliced
• 2 tbs fresh flat leaf parsley
• 1-2 tbs lemon juice (depends on how tart you like them, I used 2 tbs)
• 1 egg
• 1-2 tbs coconut flour
• 1/2 small can tinned salmon, drained
• 1 medium kumara mashed
• pinch of salt

In a small bowl, whisk the egg and then add to the cooled kumara mash (if mashing from scratch) with a pinch of salt and put to the side.  In a medium sized bowl, mix courgette, carrot, spring onion, parsley and lemon juice.  Next add the salmon, and mix it through so the salmon is well dispersed.  Add the egg and kumara mix to the salmon mixture and then add the coconut flour.

Heat a heavy based fry pan for 2 mins at a medium heat.  Brush with a little olive or coconut oil, and add spoonfuls of the mixture, flattening once in the pan.  Cook until brown on each side of the salmon cakes. Serve with salad and avocado – also great to eat cold, so double the mixture and keep some for lunch the next day!

Healthy Fish and Chips

 

Healthy fish and chips I hear you say!  No such thing….actually yes there is!  It doesn’t have to be heavily battered and deep fried to taste good, in fact, the way I do it actually tastes better (well so my husband and son tell me!)

What I use:

• Salmon fillets, skin on
• Kumara or sweet potato, skins on (so give them a good scrub)
• Salad items of choice (I used mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, red capsicum, cucumber, avocado, flat leaf parsley and sicilian olives)
• Salad dressing – A drizzle of avocado oil, squeeze of lemon and a little salt

Turn the oven onto 180 degrees celcius.  Cover an oven tray with tin foil.  Scrub the kumara to get the dirt off, dry with a paper towel and cut into chunks.  Put into a bowl with a small drizzle of olive oil and a touch of salt and mix until coated in the oil and salt.  Place the kumara onto the oven tray, giving the chunks a little space to breathe while cooking.  They will take about 20-25 mins to cook.

Prepare your salad while the kumara is cooking.   I like to put the greens in the bowl and drizzle with a touch of avocado oil, a tiny tiny pinch of salt and a squeeze of fresh lemon.  Toss the greens gently to coat in the dressing.  Next chop your salad vegies of choice and place in the bowl.  If you are not orthodox paleo, goats cheese feta is a nice touch!  Gently combine and put to the side.

When the kumara only has 10 minutes of cooking time left, heat a heavy based pan or grill plate on the stove top for 2 mins on a medium heat.  Add a little olive oil (remember salmon is quite an oily fish so you won’t need much oil).

Rub sea salt into the salmon skin, and a little olive oil if you like (I generally find you don’t need it), this will allow the salmon skin to become crispy.

Cook skin side down for 3 minutes then turn over and cook for 3 minutes.  Rest the salmon for 2 minutes before serving as the salmon will continue to cook.

You can also grill salmon in the oven.  Brush the grill rack with a little olive oil and place skin side down.  Cook on a medium heat (my oven that is 170 degrees celcius) for 10 minutes, then rest the salmon for 5 minutes before serving.  You may need more or less cooking time depending on how big the fillet is.

I cannot stress how helpful oven or microwave timers are!  They stop good meals from turning bad or just to remind you that there is something in the oven that needs tending!

We had fish and chips tonight, and all in all I have to say I think the family are converted and it took less than 30 minutes to make (actually buying them probably takes just as long), cost about the same price to feed 3 people and is about one third of the fat.  Not to mention, the Omega-3s in salmon are essential for brain development and function, there you go….a smart food choice that will actually make your brain work better.

 

 

Tortilla

These are really filling and fantastic to whip up when you have very little time. You can chuck any ingredients in them, just be sure to cut the ingredients up quite small so they cook quickly.

I used:

• 5 eggs (free range and if possible pastured)
• 1 clove garlic
• 5 fresh spinach leaves
• 4 rashers paleo bacon (that is sugar and additive free, from pastured pork, I used Verkirk’s)
• 1 spring onion
• 6 fresh basil leaves
• 4 black olives, pitted and sliced
• 4 cherry tomatoes, roughly chopped p
• A pinch of pine nuts
• salt and pepper
• avocado sliced or crisp green salad to serve

Whisk the eggs with some salt and pepper, put to one side.

Heat a frying pan with a little olive or coconut oil to a medium heat. While the pan is heating, finely chop the garlic, spinach leaves, bacon, basil and spring onion.

When the pan is nice and hot, add the finely chopped garlic moving it around the pan to season, add the bacon and the spring onion, cook for 2 mins, then add the spinach. When the spinach starts to wilt, turn the heat down to low and give the pan a shake to evenly distribute the ingredients.

Pour the whisked eggs over the top, then sprinkle the fresh basil and cook on low for 2-3 minutes, the bottom will start to set.

Turn the grill on high and place the frying pan under the heat for a minute or 2, being careful to pull the pan out just before the egg completely sets. Egg will continue to cook after it has been removed from the heat.

Cut in half or in quarters, it is fabulous to keep in the fridge to eat the next day or for lunch if you are making this for breakfast. Scatter the olives, cherry tomatoes and pine nuts on top and serve with the avocado and/or crisp green salad. Enjoy!

Goal Setting and Meal Planning

So before I get too excited on providing recipes, let’s touch a little on what you are hoping to achieve out of reading my blog. Are you after easy to prepare healthy recipes for the family? Are you wanting to lose some body fat? Are you interested in having some help and motivation to change your lifestyle so you can look younger and have more energy? Have a little think about your goals and what you want to achieve.

Got it? Ok, why do you want to do it? To fit into that pair of jeans sitting in your drawers gathering dust or to look amazing for that upcoming event (where there will inevitably be someone you haven’t seen for ages) or to help overcome some health issues you might be currently facing? Did you also know eating well will assist you body to recover faster from injury? I’ll delve into that a little later. But think about this when you walk into a room, do you want to feel amazing about yourself, your skin and your body shape? Yes? I think we all do. Good feelings require a little planning to help us succeed. In comes the meal plan.

As you can see, I use our fridge to map out my meal plans, simply using whiteboard markers. I find this makes me more accountable, it is amazing how much time you spend opening the fridge door! Having to write all your food down, means you actually start to think more about your food choices and whether they are going to achieve that goal of making you feel good about yourself. It is amazing how good food choices can actually boost your confidence!

I generally start with a shell of what I want to eat for the week, as per above and I use that shell to generate a shopping list so I am prepared when going to the supermarket. There are some great websites out there which will help you generate shopping lists and meal plans if you find that easier, for me I find this works just as well. This also allows for a little flexibility, so if we feel like chopping and changing things around we can do that. Sometimes I will find we end up having salmon for dinner instead of a chicken dish or prawn and scallops instead of prawn and ginger etc, so using the fridge as the whiteboard means we can accommodate for those changes. As the week progresses, I flesh the meal plan out, adding ingredients and listing foods so it becomes a living, breathing food diary.

You can of course simply map all this out on a piece of paper and stick it to the fridge. You’ll see on the right hand side there is a piece of paper which has 30 squares on it, each square represents a day of good food choices (days that make you feel good!). I try and do the 30 days in a row, have a break and then do another 30 days, but those starting out you may want to aim for 5 or 7 days, although if you struggle to moderate behaviours, I would suggest doing the full 30 first and then resetting (see http://www.thewhole9.com for further info, they have fantastic support networks and recipes).

Write your goal up, somewhere you can see it every day, sketch out a rough meal plan fleshing it out as you go along, write a list for your groceries and stick to it! See how many days you can feel good about yourself, and I’ll post recipes to help you along the way. If temptation is an issue – get rid of it, give someone your chocolate, ice cream and any processed foods you have….trust me, you won’t need them. The recipes I post will fill the fat and sugar buzz you have been relying on all this time.

Give your body some clean food and see how well it responds. You might surprise yourself!

x

Carol

Paleo Friendly Nachoes

So I felt like something a bit naughty, it was Friday night after all! No wine in sight, so I made these which were well received!

Cook 500 gms beef mince in a little olive oil, with garlic, onion, paprika and a little salt and pepper.

Meanwhile make the guacamole. Mash 2 ripe avocadoes, add 1 tbs lemon juice, some salt and pepper, 1 finely diced red onion, 1 finely diced ripe tomato and mix. Put into the fridge.

Wash a kumara or sweet potato and finely slice. Toss in a little olive oil and a pinch of salt and bake in the oven 200 degree celcius for 20 mins or until well cooked (as they will replace the corn chips).

Place the sweet potato chips around the plate, pop the mince in the middle and guacomole on top. Enjoy!

30 Days of Paleo

Hi, I’m Carol and I’m a Movement and Rehabilitation Specialist.  I have worked in the fitness industry for a number of years and with a plethora of different clients, from those needing to lose weight, pregnant and post-natal women through to elite athletes representing NZ at International level.  I’ve worked in Melbourne, Australia and am now based in Upper Hutt, New Zealand in my business Bump. So why am I writing this blog? Due to popular demand! My clients and peers have encouraged me to start to make my knowledge, information and recipes public, so here we are!

I should tell you now, I am a massive foodee! I have foodee friends, subscriptions to food magazines, cookbooks from Movida Cocina and Maggie Beer, I love hosting dinner parties and can bestow no higher compliment to my friends than providing them with a 3 course meal cooked with vegetables out of my garden! My philosophy is to maintain a well balanced lifestyle, without compromising on taste or time. Being a working mother of two (I have a 4 year old son and a 6 month old daughter), I know only too well how difficult it can be to whip a healthy meal up that meets the needs and tastes of the whole family! I’ve had a clean approach to food for over 8 years now and have developed a number of easy recipes to satisfy most foodees, meaning you can cook them for the family or guests and serve them proudly.

So am I at my ideal weight? The answer is NO. Like many women to have children I gave in to cravings and indulged one too many times during my pregnancy, leaving me with 16 kg to lose to get back to my ideal, which by the way is pretty normal. Also because I am breastfeeding I need to ensure I am still eating enough good fat and protein to keep my milk supply up as well as getting that excess body fat down. This blog will detail my recent adoption of the Paleo lifestyle (see http://www.foodee.com) and my journey to get back to my ideal weight. As well as recipes I have developed or discovered, I will provide information and research I have come across over the last 8 years which will help me achieve my goal and back up my recipes and lifestyle choices.

What I like about the Paleo lifestyle is that it ticks all the boxes for me, based on my personal philosophies. It basically involves eating clean food, lots of protein, with easy to follow guidelines and fabulous online resources, information and recipes. To start 2013 off, I am undertaking the Whole30 (see http://www.whole9life.com) – 30 days of clean eating, along the Paleo lifestyle guidelines, but a little stricter. This means being sugar, alcohol, grain and junk food free for 30 days. Along with restoring the balance of the gut, looking and feeling better, increasing energy levels and ultimately reducing body fat, it has the added bonus of providing my gorgeous family with all the nutrients they need to grow well!

We are all human, we can’t be expected to be perfect.  What we can do, is work towards having a healthy life balance, a healthy food balance and a healthy approach to food, weight loss and energy without compromising on taste.  Along the way, you might actually find you have adopted a healthier lifestyle that makes you feel so good that you start to eat better more often.  Remember, like every new behaviour you adopt, it takes practice….eating well and exercising are no exception.  Try the 30 days with me, follow all of  my recipes or discover your own, there are a plethora of excellent blogs and websites out there supporting the Paleo lifestyle, so do some research, do some reading, take your weight and that pair of elusively fitting jeans and see where your journey takes you.

Enjoy it, it is always a moment to be cherished.
x

Carol