All posts by holisticwellnessforlife

Holistic Nutrition and Wellness Coach with a focus on food as medicine and life balance. My website is a reflection of the health journey l have been on and the importance that l place on achieving wellness in life. I am a Primal Blueprint Certified Expert and have a special interest in Paleo Nutrition and Primal Living. A clean eating diet and lifestyle where your health is at the centre of everyday decisions. I am sharing this passion and journey with like minded people who are empowering themselves with knowledge and challenging the traditional medical system and health model and who desire to contribute whole heartedly to their own wellbeing.
Wellness

Walnut and herb bread

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2014-02-04 18.34.142014-02-04 18.33.59

The aroma of this delicious bread will have you coming back for more. This is a lovely addition to your meal with its light texture and warming taste of fresh herbs. I actually saw the recipe on fastpaleo.com, although they called it a different name, and thought it looked so delicious that l made it the same day to accompany dinner. It was really easy and quick to make but took longer in the oven than was recommended in the original recipe. I was surprised at the very positive reaction from my husband and children when they tasted this bread and will definately be making it again.

Grease (with organic coconut oil) and line a glass loaf dish (or similar).

Ingredients:

2 cups of activated walnuts (or raw walnuts) -blend these in the food processor until finely chopped.

2 tablespoons coconut flour

2 tablespoons almond meal

2 tablespoons fresh Rosemary and Thyme finely chopped

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda ( I used Bob’s Aluminium free)

5 free range eggs

1/4 cup coconut oil (if solid melt then let cool, but in warmer climates use at room temperature)

1 tablespoon organic apple cider vinegar (Bragg brand is very good)

Mix together the dry ingredients. In a seperate bowl whisk the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well. Pour into the baking dish and smooth the top until the mix is level. Place into a pre-heated oven 160 degrees celsius for around 40 minutes or until golden and firmish to touch. Remove from the oven and cut around the edges with a knife to separate the bread from the baking dish. Turn onto a cooling rack. I was able to slice this bread straight away while warm and a quick taste test confirmed how delicious it is. The smell in your kitchen while this dish is cooking will be divine.

If you have enjoyed this post please share it with your friends. Thank you. Carolyn

Recipes, Wellness

Banana and coconut cake (Paleo)

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2014-01-24 17.15.37

A sweet treat.

I have seen a few versions of this cake and thought it sounded so delicious that l decided to make my own. It is a very soft and moist cake with a lovely coconut and banana flavour, as well a being gluten, processed sugar and dairy free.

You will need a greased and lined loaf tin. I greased mine with organic coconut oil and my loaf tin was made of glass. Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Ingredients:

6 Medjool dates chopped in the food processor (seeds removed)

4 medium sized ripe bananas (mashed)

1/2 a cup of filtered water

1/2 a cup of melted organic coconut oil

4 free range eggs (beaten)

2 tablespoons raw organic honey (or just organic honey)

1 cup shredded coconut

1 cup coconut flour

1 cup hazelnut or almond meal

1/2 teaspoon mixed spice

2 teaspoons gluten free baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon powder

Method:

Mix together the first six ingredients (all the moist ones). Add the dry ingredients and gently mix through. Pour into the baking dish and smooth the top with a spatula. Place into the oven and cook until golden. This cake is very moist so it needs to be cooked well. I let mine sit in the tin for a while when l took it out of the oven and let it cool on a rack before cutting.

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Wellness

Making good use of your oven

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2014-01-22 13.13.412014-01-22 18.49.05 2014-01-22 18.58.27  2014-01-22 14.26.19

I do a lot of cooking and l try to be as resourceful as l can. Since l have stopped using the Microwave oven for anything other than heating a wheat bag, it is tempting to turn on the oven to heat up small things. I have had to be inventive and often use my griller, have the meals cold or heat the food in a steamer. Using the oven can be expensive and l like to have a cooking day where l keep it full for quite a few hours and cook lots of different types of dishes. Yesterday was one of those days where l roasted a chicken in the top half of the oven and had trays of chopped up beetroot and pumpkin on the lower trays. I used half of the roasted beetroot for a salad and the other half for beetroot hummus. The roasted pumpkin was also for the salad.

2014-01-22 19.41.13

As the oven was hot l also decided to whip up a double batch of my chocolate chip cookies. After some taste testing the remainder went into the freezer, ready to be placed into lunch boxes when needed. Cooking like this means l may only use the oven a couple of times a week.

2014-01-05 15.49.45

Last week after cooking a roast chicken l made some ginger bread men for my children, and a couple of apple and cinnamon cakes which l slice into single serves and freeze for the lunch box (all gluten free of course)

2014-01-03 20.20.07

In the past I used my oven to dehydrate the activated nuts but l found it was a real problem to have the oven out of action for any other cooking and l didn’t like to have the oven running all day. Now that l have a dehydrator the problem is solved as l can run the dehydrator on very low temperatures and use my oven as l please.

If you have enjoyed this post please share with someone else so that l can increase the number of people following me. Thankyou.

Recipes, Wellness

Roast chicken

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2014-01-13 17.15.19 2014-01-13 19.19.58

A magnificent home cooked chicken

Why buy a pre-cooked chicken from the shop when you can cook a delicious free range one at home, and the smell throughout your home will be enticing! I bought this free range chicken from Aldi and it was very reasonably priced for a whole chicken of this quality.

First of all l unwrap the chicken and rinse the outside and insides with cool clean water. I place the chicken on a rack as shown in the picture and put two cups of water in the glass dish. I coat the chicken in extra virgin olive oil and season with some ground black pepper, sea salt and mixed herbs. I then cover it in foil and place into a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees celsius. I like to cook my chickens for quite a long time so this chicken was in the oven for around 2.5 hours plus another twenty minutes with the foil off to brown. When l remove the chicken from the oven l cover it in foil again and leave it for about 30 minutes to rest. I then place it on a serving dish and cover it with new foil and place it into the fridge if l am not serving it straight away. Every part of the chicken as shown above was so moist and delicious and you know you have done a good job if you try to transfer it from the cooking dish to the serving plate and it falls apart. Remember not to throw away the bones, skin and left over meat as this can be used to make a very healthy stock.

Recipes, Wellness

Sweet potato, apple and almond pancake

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2014-01-14 15.18.21 2014-01-14 07.56.44 2014-01-14 07.37.43

A breakfast delight!

You may have noticed that l have a liking for pancakes. Since removing breakfast cereal and bread from my diet l needed to find an alternative and my current breakfast habit is to make up a batch of my pancakes which lasts for a few days, and then l make a completely different flavour. The combination of sweet potato, apple and almond is really nice and the mix of different flours, almond meal, flax and eggs helps this pancake hold together very well.

Ingredients:

1/2 a medium sized sweet potato peeled, washed and grated

1 green apple with the skin on, washed, cored and grated

2 tablespoons black chia seeds

1/2 cup flaked almonds

1 cup besan (chick pea) flour

1 cup coconut flour

1/2 cup almond meal

1/2 cup ground flax seeds

4 free range eggs beaten

Filtered water

Method:

Place all ingredients into a bowl and mix thoroughly with a spoon. Add enough water that the mixture is thick but quite moist. You will need to add more water after a few minutes as the chia seeds soak up the moisture and expand.  Pre-heat your frypan and pour some extra virgin olive oil into it. Place several spoonfuls of mix into the pan and flatten with the back of a spoon and push the edges in so it is a nice shape. Use a spatula to turn and flatten again. I topped this pancake with flaked almonds and organic maple syrup and it was really delicious. The mix will keep in the fridge for a few days.

Recipes, Wellness

Lemon and raspberry smoothie

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2014-01-14 16.04.22

On a super hot Summer afternoon a refreshing drink is required, and a glass of this lemony drink is very fulfilling. This recipe makes several glasses and is very easy to make in your blender.

Place in the blender:

1 small lemon with the skin on-washed and seeds removed

1/2 a green apple with the skin on (or a whole one if it is small)

1 tablespoon black chia seeds

1/2 cm piece of fresh ginger (more or less depending on your liking for it)

250 ml plain coconut water

1 generous cup of frozen raspberries

Mix the ingredients on high until nicely blended then serve.

Recipes, Wellness

Egg salad with walnuts and seeds

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2014-01-12 18.28.57 2014-01-12 18.41.07

Delicious, crunchy, healthy and full of flavour.

Eggs are a great protein source and l experimented with some of the ingredients here to make a really healthy and crunchy salad. I served this salad with my Zingy tomato salad and roasted sweet potato and the flavours blended together beautifully. Some of you might ask where the meat is in this meal and certainly l could have served some grilled fish or chicken on the side or had a nice piece of Salmon with it. Sometimes it is just nice to have a non-meat meal and there were good sources of protein in this meal including the eggs, walnuts and chia seeds. Those of you who follow this blog will know that l have had my gall bladder removed and as a result l don’t eat red meat as l find it hard to digest and find that a light non-meat orientated meal can be a good way to finish the day.

Ingredients:

8 hard boiled free range eggs

2 small finely diced carrots

1 cup of activated walnuts (raw walnuts soaked and dehydrated)

1 cup of finely diced cabbage

2 spring onions (the green ends finely diced)

2 stalks of celery finely diced

1/4 cup activated sunflower seeds

1/4 cup activated pumpkin seeds

Method:

Mix all of these ingredients together in a nice glass bowl and add your favourite dressing.

My dressing:

In a bowl mix with a hand blender:

1/4  cup extra virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoons organic apple cider vinegar, sea salt, black pepper, 2 cloves of crushed garlic and the juice of one small lemon or lime. You can add in any herbs or other spices you have that you think would make this dish extra delicious. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate until serving.

Wellness

Breakfast pancake with banana and walnuts (Paleo)

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2014-01-12 07.21.14

A really sweet and satisfying pancake which could be topped with a different fruit such as strawberries. The toppings l have used compliment each other beautifully and this meal is very filling as the pancake is heavy and dense. This pancake utilises chick pea (besan) flour which l purchased after reading the wonderful book ‘Wheat Belly-Dr William Davis’.

Ingredients for the pancake:

1 cup of besan flour

1 cup of coconut flour

1 cup of LSA (keep this in the fridge)

2 small carrots (skin on, washed and grated)

1 small green apple (skin on, cored and grated)

4 free range eggs

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Filtered water

Method:

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Add enough water that the mixture looks moist. It is a heavy mix and therefore when you spoon it into the pan it needs to be shaped into a pancake with the back of the spoon. Cook in a pan with extra virgin olive oil until nice and crispy, then turn with a spatula. It will hold together well and the mix keeps in the fridge for several days. I like to make recipes that will last for a few days to decrease the workload as cooking everything from scratch is very labour intensive.

Topping:

Place your pancake on a plate and top with a banana nicely sliced, some black chia seeds, a handful of activated walnuts and a nice drizzle of organic maple syrup. Delicious!

Recipes, Wellness

Apple and cinnamon cake (Paleo)

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2013-10-13 16.05.36 2013-11-04 16.41.38

I am re-posting this recipe because l have many new followers and wanted to share this wonderful recipe again with everyone. The mix of coconut, cinnamon and apple is really enticing and satisfying. Since l have adopted the Paleo diet this cake has become one of my favourite snacks.

Ingredients:

2 green apples, 2 cups almond meal, 1/4 cup coconut flour , 6 free range eggs, 1/4 cup organic coconut oil, 1/4 cup raw organic honey, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda (Bob’s Red Mill Aluminium free ).

Method:

Chop up the apples into small pieces. I leave the skin on because of the additional fibre and nutrients. Place in a saucepan with the organic coconut oil and cinnamon. Bring to the boil then simmer until the apples are soft. The smell in your kitchen will be amazing. Beat eggs and honey then add dry ingredients. Add contents of the saucepan and mix together. Place mixture in a greased and lined loaf tin and bake in a 170 degree celsius oven for approximately 40 minutes. Cool on cake rack. Yum! You can also use square tins as the picture above shows. The cake on the right is darker because l let the cinnamon and apple mix cook a bit longer than for the cake on the left. 

Hint;

When cool l slice this cake into single portions, wrap in glad wrap and freeze. When l am working and pack a lunch l just pop a piece into my lunchbox. Now my husband has realised how delicious it is l make double batches every few weeks to keep up the supply.

Recipes, Wellness

Sweet potato slice (Paleo)

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2014-01-08 19.55.51 2014-01-08 19.54.19

A taste sensation straight out of the oven!

Who would have thought that sweet potato would be so delicious in baked goods. When this slice came out of the oven it was really delicious and l admit that l had two pieces because it was very tasty. I also have a liking for eating my treats straight out of the freezer and this slice is really good cold and hard as well. The recipe is really sweet so if you need to you could cut down on the Stevia granules or just have a small piece.

Ingredients:

1 medium sized sweet potato peeled, steamed, mashed and cooled (about 2 cups when mashed)

1 dessert spoon of granulated stevia

Just under ½ a cup of raw organic honey

¼ cup organic coconut oil

2 free range eggs (beaten)

1 cup of coconut flour

2 teaspoons cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon all spice

½ teaspoon organic vanilla essence

2 teaspoons baking powder (gluten free).

Method:

Pre-heat a fan forced oven to approximately 160 degrees celsius or a bit higher. Grease a slice tray with organic coconut oil. I used a glass dish and that worked well. Line the base with baking paper.

Gently mix all of the ingredients together with a spoon, ensuring everything is evenly distributed. Smooth the top of the mixture with the back of the spoon so it is nice and even. Place in the oven and cook until golden on top and just coming away from the edge of the baking dish.

When the dish is cooked remove it from the oven and leave to rest for a few minutes in the dish. Run a knife carefully around the edge of the slice and as it cools a bit the slice will pull away from the dish. Place the cooling rack on top of the slice and with a t-towel so you don’t burn your hands flip the cooling rack and slice tray up-side down so that the slice is out of the dish and on the tray. I then used a second cooling rack to turn the slice over to the right side. I cut the slice into small pieces and after l had tried a couple and it had cooled, l wrapped each piece individually with cling wrap and placed in the freezer. This would be delicious as a dessert but l will use it mainly as a snack for when l am out and have my lunch box with me.

 

Recipes, Wellness

Zingy tomato salad

2 Comments

2014-01-08 18.46.032014-01-09 15.47.34

This is a very simple but tasty salad that is a wonderful side dish to a meal. I have had it for lunch the last two days with my home made seed bread and eggs, and it was really wonderful. I used baby Roma tomatoes that had been grown on the vine and they were so delicious and sweet. My own tomatoes are coming along nicely but need a few more weeks of the hot Australian sunshine to be ready to pick.

Place the following ingredients in a nice bowl and mix:

8 small truss baby Roma tomatoes (or a smaller quantity of larger ones) diced

1 Lebanese cucumber diced (wash well and leave the skin on)

2 spring onions. I only use the green tops which l chopped finely

The juice of a small lemon

Some herbs chopped up. I had mint and basil in the garden and the taste was nice. If l had some flat leaf parsley l would have put that in also.

Sea salt and ground black pepper to taste.

Cover with some cling wrap and store in the fridge until required.

Recipes, Wellness

Sweet and crunchy salad

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2014-01-06 18.29.47 2014-01-06 19.25.15 2014-01-06 16.18.02 2014-01-06 16.17.36

There was quite a lot of work in this salad but it was delicious and got rave reviews from normally fussy family members. The roasted pumpkin and beetroot provide a natural sweetness to the dish, while the crunchiness of the cucumber and snow peas is a good contrast in texture.

Ingredients:

One quarter of a small pumpkin chopped into small pieces

Two whole beetroots chopped into small pieces (they will shrink in the oven)

One and a half cups of chickpeas (soaked and boiled)

One small lebanese cucumber or similar diced (I washed mine well and left the skin on)

One cup of washed and sliced snow peas

One carrot washed and diced/sliced

One quarter of  a cup of pepitas (Pumpkin seeds)

One quarter of a cup of sunflower seeds

Sea Salt

Ground black pepper

The Juice of half a lemon (use a whole lemon if it is small)

Two pieces of spring onion (just the green tops chopped or use the white bits as well if you can tolerate them)

Extra virgin olive oil

Organic Apple Cider Vinegar

Fresh mint (plus any other fresh herbs you have)

Method:

The first step is to prepare the chick peas which need to be soaked overnight in water and a small amount of sea salt. Rinse, then boil for around thirty minutes or until soft. Place in the fridge to cool.

The next task is to cook the pumpkin and beetroot. Place the chopped up vegetables on trays lined with baking paper and drizzle with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and sprinkle with sea salt and ground black pepper. Place in a hot oven (around 200 degrees Celsius) until nice and golden. Transfer to a bowl and place in the fridge to cool.

Choose a nice bowl from your cupboard to place your salad in. I like to place this on the table with salad servers and let people serve them self. Place the chickpeas, vegetables, seeds and herbs in the bowl and mix. Add a sprinkle of sea salt and ground black pepper, the lemon juice, and a drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and a few splashes of Organic Apple Cider Vinegar. Mix it all up with a spoon. Have a taste and add more of the dressings to suit you.  Place covered in the fridge until required. I served the salad topped with Kapai Puku and accompanied with free range roasted chicken and it was really lovely (see picture above). Enjoy!