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Family Food, Fancy Food, Fast Food, Fat Foot

We can call this dish, Hummus with Spiced Lamb, Hummus b’lahmeh or Loaded Hummus. As far as hummus is concerned you can’t go wrong, but you can go even more right, which is what we’ve done here. Whilst it’s more common in Australia for us to treat hummus as a dip to serve with vegetable crackers, and there isn’t anything wrong with that, I stand firm, in other parts of the world it’s a whole meal.  This Hummus with Spiced Lamb is just that, its even more delicious, filling, moreish, fun, and interactive than regular hummus, who would have even thought it was possible.  You can load this with whatever you want, but the spiced, caramelised, gnarly bits of gorgeous mince lamb in this one complimented by the sharp pomegranate and fresh mint is definitely a dang fine place to start!  Give this a go!

My Notes on Lamb Mince

  • Mince lamb is incredibly versatile in terms of cooking methods as well as cuisine style, think of koftas, bolognese, pie filling, hummus topping, rissoles, chili, sausage rolls – the sky is the limit!
  • Mince lamb is budget-friendly, and especially for families, you can make a little go quite far. You can add vegetables and flavouring to bulk it out adding to its nutrition and quantity.
  • For busy families, finished mince dishes freeze quite well, cook in bulk so you can defrost when you’re time-poor!


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Free Food

Goat’s Cheese Mousse with Grape

I quite fancy a cheese board! This Goat’s Cheese Mousse with Grape dessert hits just the spot when you’re craving both savoury and sweet!

As always, I love creating modern desserts that have a handful of elements, easy to pair with seasonal produce. For this dessert, the grapes are fabulous both roasted and fresh; their sweetness is complemented by the tangy goat’s cheese or chevre and mellowed by the nutty coffee crumble. But you could just as easily use plums, peaches, pears, berries, figs and more throughout the year. Similarly to the transparent, delicate disc shapes created when cutting grapes, be considerate of the way you prepare your ingredients. Changing the shape or experimenting with how ingredients are cut and prepared, can change the eating experience.  This also allows for a variety of creative plating presentations which can be a lot of fun for you and your guests!

For other easy desserts suitable for sensitive eaters, intolerant tummies check out my Vegan Mousse with Tangelo or my Breakfast for Dessert recipes.

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Fast Food

Breakfast for Dessert, or Dessert for Breakfast – You choose!

The best thing about this Breakfast for Dessert Recipe is that you can have each element prepared well in advance. This means that you can have dessert ready in under a minute whenever you feel like. Or perhaps when guests arrive unannounced. It may be after a long dinner, that has moved on to the couch in front of a movie.

The frozen yoghurt can remain in the freezer.  The granola lasts in an airtight container for weeks.  You could easily use frozen berries if fresh berries are unavailable or out of season! The yoghurt and berries have a naturally occurring low sugar content. But because of the other protein and good-fat rich ingredients, this dessert shouldn’t have a disastrous effect on your blood sugars!  

Desserts don’t get much more simple, satisfying, semi-sweet, and most of all minimal-effort, than this Breakfast for Dessert recipe!  I’d love to hear about all your recreations, tag me in your dishes on social media!

Some of you may even all have my Game-Changing Granola sitting in your cupboard, just waiting to be prettied up for this dish!

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Family Food, Fancy Food, Fast Food, Fat Foot, Free Food

Vegan Mousse with Tangelo

Vegan Mousse I here you say?! Yes, it’s true! And… with Vegan Jellies too! With a hint or three of citrus and spice and all things nice!

For all you vegans out there, this is for you! For all you non-vegans that think they ‘couldn’t possibly’, you should try this! And for those of you who like to tease, make fun of or laugh at vegans – you should shut your mouth, with this dessert, and swallow hard because everyone deserves dessert!!! Right, let’s get into it!

As per usual, gluten free, grain free and refined sugar-free, this dessert may actually be too good, to be true! For other intolerant friendly desserts check out my Valentine’s Day entry.

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Fast Food
This Beef Salad celebrates a selection of leftovers, quickly cut up fresh ingredients and some fermented or pickled pops of flavour and goodness. You can easily create this beef salad, just like me, in under a minute, when you’re well prepared!  Who doesn’t love steak and salad? But it can be a little heavy on the portion size at the local pub.  This beef salad is a more appropriate serving size, packed full of flavour and nutrient dense, so you need and feel like less, naturally. Fast food never tasted so good!  In fact, you don’t even have to get into a car, place an order for this one – its faster than that!  The best part is, an hour after eating this one, you don’t crave more or hit a slump – you’re energised to keep going, you’re satiated and feeling fabulous!  

For more lunch inspiration check out my Lunchtime Adventures!

xox
Elena
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Free Food

Bliss Balls seem to be in jars on almost every healthy café’s bench top near the register for last minute thoughts and quick sales – the healthy upsell. But why don’t you make them yourself and tailor them to your desire and dietary requirements? These super-spheres of strength and sustenance are portable, convenient, and significantly satisfying. At this time of year, let’s call them Bliss Baubles and match(a) their colour and flavour to the season’s theme. Let’s try Red Berry Bliss, Matcha Pistachio greenies and some chocolate spiced Christmas Pudding Balls. The method is the same for all of these recipes, so it’s only the ingredients you need to play and experiment with, to get your ultimate snack sorted!

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Family Food

I’m quite a fan of muesli, cereal or granola, on occasion. I don’t feel like it for months then all of a sudden I could eat it every day for four weeks.

But like you probably all know, there’s stacks on the market that are full of empty, junk carbs, loaded with sugar and so minimal in nutrient content they might actually be extracting it from us upon consumption. Not good!

But it doesn’t have to be like that, take control, have some fun and enjoy your cereal time with celebration and vigour because it’s full of nutrient-rich vitality and slowly releasing energy in the form of goods fats and proteins, to maintain your blood sugar levels. This is not a dish that will leave you feeling hangry! It’s great quality, so in general, you’re more satiated and desire less.

This granola is game-changing and you can make it!!! You can even gift it in beautiful glass jars or paper bags, so the recipients know it’s bespoke, special, homemade and just a little bit trendy. You’ll be printing your own branded labels and setting up a roadside community stand in no time! Get around this granola, get it into you and give it away! Let me know how you go!

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Family Food, Free Food

I love my Nan, I miss my Nan, and she was the greatest.

I have a lot of food memories shared with Nan and they all are thoroughly saturated with her kindness and gentleness.  So saturated that if I wring them out, even a little, joyful tears well in my eyes, enough to fill an ocean if I let them.

My Nan was an incredible family cook; the wife of a butcher and four hungry children, there was always lots of food and generosity wherever she was. 

My Dad has told me stories about her baking six large apple pies ready Saturday at 4 pm, and the three older boys would devour them by the Sunday evening. 

She had a big chest freezer when I was a kid that her canaries sat on top of; you had to move the cage to get in. The contents included the old 1L Blue Ribbon vanilla ice-cream container, which was a rare treat from my usual sugar-free ice-confection; my clever Mum could recognise very early on I had an issue with sugar. It was always stocked, full of par-cooked meals ready to heat up for family and friends visiting. I often got to help with whatever she was batch cooking, which I adored.

But some of my most favourite moments with Nan were the more intimate ones, the ones between just her and I.  I cherish those moments especially. Soft-boiled eggs with toast soldiers were often on the menu when I would sleep over. I remember the muted apple green ceramic plates with deep-ridged edging, the tiny teaspoons a perfect fit for my tiny mouth – I still take great joy using her cutlery today. How did she make toast cut into long rectangles seem so magical, fun and just for me? Their vague soldier-like appearance conjured up imagery of The Queen’s Guard with their big fluffy hats. I guess they almost created a rectangular silhouette if you squinted your eyes. A fitting image seeing as I always thought my Nan and the Queen shared similarities in appearance as well as poise and grace.

I never had a problem with eating, and I wasn’t particularly fussy so the entertainment provided wasn’t to encourage me to ‘eat my greens’ so to speak. It was pure joyful interaction, for fun, with love.

I don’t have it once a week these days, but I cannot have soft-boiled eggs in cute little cups and toast, without cutting it into soldiers and enjoy a good old dip.

There are lots of methods for boiling eggs just the way you like them. My preference is for soft boiled and I choose the method, which has the least variables, therefore most consistent result. I don’t say at room temperature for no reason, this is one of the variables you regain control of because each fridge and location they’re kept can be different. 

If you’re a fridge-egg-keeper, take them out earlier than you need them. I’d recommend where possible getting your eggs from friends’ chickens or farmer’s markets where you know they’re pastured and free to open range – the fresher the better. 

Fresh eggs are easier to peel. Plunging the room temp eggs into boiling water then dropping them in cold and bringing them to the boil also helps shock the internals away from the membrane and shell, making them again, easier to peel. Check it out below:

 
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Fast Food

I have many recipes that utilise leftovers, and where I don’t already have a recipe I usually invent one.  My usual advice would be to only cook what you’re going to eat, to prevent food waste… but as you gain more confidence in measuring, experimenting, and planning in advance, I would actually encourage you to cook a little extra when you’re doing a family dinner, knowing you’re going to put a little aside for another dish or two.


Root vegetables keep especially well and are quite versatile.  You may roast up a whole bunch for a family barbecue or cosy winter dinner – just throw a few extra in the pan to utilise later. This saves time, work and prevents that whole ‘what are we going to eat?’ conversation we can prolong in our heads for all too long.


Beetroot are so incredibly delicious, versatile and good for you, but they can be a little off putting when it comes to how they can stain our hands, clothes and chopping boards.  So, I’ve got a few tips to lessen this concern.  One of my favourite methods is to wrap each beetroot, skin on; you can trim the stalks off if you don’t have time to wash them thoroughly, in aluminium foil with a little drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper.  I roast these tasty little beetroot packages for 30-60mins at 180° Celsius depending on their size. 


After that time, carefully release some of the steam from each package away from your face and body to prevent any burns – this will allow a small amount of cooling.  Using the foil as a guard to prevent staining, gently push and slip the beetroot skin away – you may be surprised how easy this is to do.  This method really does help sweeten and soften the beetroot too, a beautiful way to eat them as a side or centrepiece to any course.  Alternatively, use gloves – simple!

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Fast Food

When you choose to purchase and eat your fruit and vegetables seasonally, you will often find there are often days, weeks, even months of an abundance of more than one of them. One season, every friend and neighbour of ours received a pumpkin as a gift, from our little backyard patch and we still had stacks spare. Eating one thing cooked the same way can give you flavour fatigue, it’s a thing, I’m sure. I think it also possibly extends to texture fatigue. Who wants pumpkin soup every day for a month?! Not when you can roast it, put chunks into curries, thinly slice and grill it, change the cuisine profile and be use a knife and fork once in a while… Variety is after all, the spice of life – spices both savoury and sweet compliment pumpkin tremendously by the way.


Excess and abundance is often when creativity is born. How many ways can you skin a carrot? Carrot skin chips are quite delicious too, a little olive oil and salt, on a single layer, in at 80-100° degrees for about 60 minutes – great for roasts or an alternative to croutons! I’m distracted now… Let’s think about a week of cooking for the family, housemates, yourself or your partner.


Maybe you blanched a whole stack of snow peas and asparagus to go along with your salmon steaks; it’d be easy to quickly put some on ice to keep them crispy and vibrant. Did you buy whole celery? Leaves and tips straight into a soup base. Tougher bottom section can be slowly braised and the gorgeous middle bits can become snacking sticks. You purchased seven eggplants but the recipe you’re making only requires four… oh the dilemma! Why not roast all of them together and put some aside for this delicious dip?


All of these items are already in your fridge. Ready and waiting for that unexpected visitor who didn’t have lunch but can’t stay for dinner. Less than 2 minutes later you’re serving up a roasted eggplant dip with three different green veggies sticks for scooping and dipping. A few veggies never spoiled anyone’s dinner or diet. But they certainly allowed you the freedom to sit down, have a chat, share a snack whilst keeping it healthy and utilising what may have been a sad bunch of limp, fridge drawer, veggies that required a swift free throw into the bin at the end of the week.


No visitors, no problem, dip for dinner – done!

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