SALAD CREATIVITY  Return to Top
10 ways to spice up those boring salads you keep making!
  1. Use your washed beetroot leaves next time you buy a bunch of fresh beetroot
  2. Grated lemon rind adds a deliciously fresh zestiness as well as providing you with the anti-cancer phytochemical limonene
  3. Give it some substance with ½ tin of cannellini beans
  4. Liven things up a little with some finely sliced fresh chilli and grated garlic
  5. Use lemon juice instead of balsamic vinegar with your extra virgin olive oil dressing next time - it will help you absorb the iron from your salad leaves; spinach in particular
  6. Go nuts with goat or sheep fetta, great with lamb salads - it makes the salad more complete and you won’t be looking for a sweet treat later on
  7. Made a roast last night? - next time make more roast vegetables than you need and use them in your salad - makes lunch preparation that much quicker!
  8. Load up on the good oil - add some fresh unroasted and unsalted nuts and seeds e.g. sunflower seeds and also use extra virgin olive oil in your dressings
  9. Use quinoa instead of cous cous or bulghur wheat in your next tabouli
  10. Freshen your salad up with summer fruits (if you digestion can handle it) - kiwi, grapefruit, papaya and pineapple will aid digestion because of their natural plant enzymes. Mangoes are beautiful as are nectarines and strawberries in salads
  11. One more… mix up your salad leaves - try raddicio, roquette, endive, and red oak - these are lovely lettuce varieties that aid digestion. Also - the old iceburg is coming back into food fashion; one of the biggest tips I can give anyone is to mix up their food; variety variety variety; although iceburg doesn’t have the digestive properties raddicio, roquetee and red oat have it is still very good for you
WHICH BREAD IS BEST?  Return to Top
Get adventurous with your bread, there are so many delicious (and healthy) varieties to choose from!

When choosing bread:

  • Try to always go for 100% sourdough (read your labels; is it really 100%?)
  • Choose wholegrain, organic, stone-ground, unbleached flour
  • Pick one with added nuts and seeds
  • Buy one that is different to your last loaf; mix it up. Why not try 100% rye, spelt, kamut or a combination of flours instead of just wholewheat all of the time?

Also - assess how much bread you are having. Are you having at least a couple of slices every day? Do you need to be having it daily? Most likely not. Look around, get out of the habit and tempt your taste buds with a variety of foods. There are loads of other options for breakfast and lunch that don’t involve bread.

However, if you do enjoy a piece with your poached eggs or in your open sandwich which is loaded with fresh market produce on a Saturday afternoon then these are the ones to go for:

Please don’t resort to fluffy white bakery bread. It has absolutely no nutrition what so ever and is most likely doing your more harm than good. There are plenty of healthier AND TASTIER options, so go for them.  Also - bread freezes well so to prevent you from eating the whole loaf in a day, pop it in the freezer and grab out only what you need.

POSITIVE LIFE CHANGES  Return to Top
Let’s put New Years resolutions aside as I believe we can always endeavour to educate ourselves, make positive changes and strive to make a difference to our health no matter what the date is.

Hopefully a few of these health-enhancing ideas will get you thinking and perhaps some may embed themselves in your ‘new and improved you’ sometime over the next year. Remember; one thing at a time…

  1. If you are having more than one coffee a day replace the extras with tea
  2. Mix up your milks… one week have soy, the next cow, then give oat milk a try? Why not?
  3. Loving those lollies in your drawer a little too much? Push them to one side and take in a little container mixed with 80% of your favourite raw and unsalted nuts and 20% of your favourite dried fruit – REMEMBER limit yourself (¼ cup/day), too much of anything is not a good thing :)
  4. Aim to be in bed by 10.30pm most nights of the week – the hours you get before 12am are worth double that to those after 12pm….sleep, sleep, sleep – we all underestimate it!
  5. Vegetables with both lunch and dinner… ham and cheese roll at lunch? – Next time simply add some lettuce. Or is it sushi you are always buying? By 2 rolls instead of 3 and give a seaweed salad a shot!
  6. Add 5 minutes a day to your regular exercise routine? Don’t have a routine? Then start with just 5 minutes a day?
  7. Go buy some indoor plants – they will purify and oxygenate your home
  8. Take time out for you; you can’t be the best father, mother, brother or girlfriend in the world if you are not 100% - perhaps it is time to schedule in monthly massages… Note: SCHEDULE – just like you do your work meetings
  9. You are way too confused on what to eat and what not to eat? Invest in your health and see a nutritionist/naturopath
  10. I know we all tell you to eat more oily fish and in particular salmon however did you know the salmon we are all eating is farmed salmon, raised in unnatural conditions and the fish are actually not that healthy (overcrowded conditions, high levels of chemical use and fish meal stocks)…Yes, we do need our good fats but lets try and not all leave it up to salmon to provide it and finding wild salmon is extremely hard in Australia, they are not native to us. Always ask your fish monger where they get their salmon from. Load up on sardines, anchovies, herring, travelly, oysters, trout and whiting instead. If you are wanting to get therapeutic doses of omega 3 into you though you should only choose quality ‘practitioner only’ (stated on the label) fish oil supplements as this will ensure you a fresh, high grade supplement that contains zero levels mercury or any other nasties; hence you will get your monies worth and they will do what they are meant to do. (Most of the cheap over the counter fish oils will potential do more harm than good)
VITAMIN-BOOSTED BLACK QUINOA SALAD WITH GOLDEN BEETS  Return to Top
A delicious, easy to prepare and healthy salad.

I recently took this delicious salad over to a family BBQ and it was a loved by all. We were serving lamb and chicken off the BBQ with it so I decided I didn’t need the smoked salmon but it would be a gorgeous lunch inclusion. I hope you enjoy it and have as much fun as we did. As it turned out I made way too much as usual but it worked out perfectly; it was devoured the next day for lunch.

VITAMIN-BOOSTED BLACK QUINOA SALAD WITH GOLDEN BEETS

You will need:

  • ⅔ cup black quinoa (you could easily use the white or red quinoa here or a mix of all three!)
  • 50-80gm goat fetta cheese, crumbled
  • 1 avocado
  • Lemon juice
  • 1 grapefruit
  • 2-3 slices of smoked salmon, diced
  • 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
  • 10 baby golden beets, cooked, peeled and cooled (I used regular bunch purple baby beetroot that didn’t need peeling after boiling)

For the vinaigrette:

  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • ½ tsp honey or 100% maple syrup
  • 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
  • 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

  1. Rinse the quinoa under cold water and drain. Add to a pot with twice the amount of water (2 x ⅔ cup water). Bring to the boil while stirring and then turn to simmer and cover with lid. Cook for 15 minutes, or until all the water is absorbed. Take off the heat and let rest for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and let cool. See www.johannaclark.com/newsarchive/superfoods/ for more quinoa info
  2. To prepare the vinaigrette, in a small bowl, combine the mustard and honey with the white wine vinegar. Add the oil and emulsify with a fork. Season with pepper and celtic sea salt.
  3. Prepare the other ingredients: Use a small spoon to shape small balls of avocado. Drizzle with lemon juice to prevent oxidation.
  4. Peel the grapefruit and using a sharp knife, remove the white membranes of the grapefruit; cut it in slices.
  5. Slice the beets in halves.
  6. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, dress with the vinaigrette and toss ever so gently.

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