Good Afternoon friends! I hope this finds you all well and enjoying the school holidays (especially if you have some time off work too!) 

A few weeks back I shared this ‘Lentil Slice’ recipe and a friend and I were chatting about how good a ‘Mexican’ one would be – so I put one together for my family for dinner last night (I couldn’t eat it as I am allergic to corn, tomato and red kidney beans!) – so they had to be my taste testers. One thing I can say is that they are SO honest, I guess they have been around me and my taste testing for so long now and know what I expect … and I am pleased to say they all loved it … Miss 3 1/2 especially devoured hers in record time and went back for seconds. 

I served the kids with avocado, sour cream and some corn chips on the side and hubbys I served with sweet chilli relish on the side also.

I hope you love it as much as they did! I would LOVE to hear from you when you try it! 

Mexican Frittata

1 brown onion – roughly diced

2 cloves garlic – crushed

1 red capsicum – roughly diced

1 punnet cherry tomatoes – quartered

1 x 400g tin corn kernels – drained

1 x 400g tin red kidney beans – drained

¼ bunch coriander – roughly shredded

1 tblspn dried cumin

1 tblspn dried coriander

½ tspn sea salt or herbamare

12 eggs – whisked well

Preheat oven to 190c and line a large lasagne dish with baking paper.

In a small fry pan place the onion and garlic and fry over a medium heat until cooked (don’t burn).

In the lined lasagne dish place all the ingredients and mix well until thoroughly combined.

Bake in oven for 40-50 minute or until thoroughly cooked.

Serve with avocado, sour cream, corn chips and chilli!

Options: you can add cheese or chilli flakes to the frittata before cooking. 

Wishing you a lovely rest of the week …. talk again soon!

Take are of You, 

Collette x 

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Mexican Frittata

Nutritional Yeast

Good Afternoon friends and Happy Friday! An extra Happy Friday here as it is the last day of Term and those that have been following my blog for a while would know that I am a lover of School Holidays! 

A few months ago I discovered and fell in love with Nutritional Yeast. Being dairy and soy free I almost forgot what cheese tasted like until I tried this and WOW what a taste sensation it is when I add it to things like Tuna Mornay, casseroles or simply sprinkle some over veggies. I have mentioned it a few times on my FB page and keep getting asked “what is it” … so I have reached out to two of my trusted friends to give you some ‘official’ information on it. I hope it helps. I buy mine from a health food store or online.

Nutritional Yeast   

Information from Abbie – Lee Wright – Nutritionist and Food Technologist

Also known as “nooch”, nutritional yeast is a deactivated yeast that is grown on enriched, purified cane sugar under carefully controlled conditions. Deactivated yeast is a single-celled microorganism named Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Once harvested, it is washed and heat-dried to cause deactivation. The heat-drying process changes the status of the yeast to deactivated and is therefore no longer a “live culture”. Unlike brewers and baking yeast, it cannot be used as leavening agent.

Nutritional yeast is a reliable protein source that contains all of the nine essential amino acids. It is also a good source of B-complex vitamins and many brands are fortified with vitamin B₁₂, which is generally lacking in other plant food sources. It must be noted that vitamin B₁₂ does not occur naturally in the product.

It is low in fat and sodium and is sugar-, dairy- and gluten-free.

Nooch is mostly sold as yellow flakes or as a powder. It is always wise to check different product labels as some brands do add whey (an animal by product) which may influence your choice.

 Values vary by brand but on average, 2 tablespoons provide 60 kilocalories, about 5 grams of carbohydrates (4g of which are fibre), and 9grams of protein.

Nutritional Yeast

Information from Alisha Lynch – Naughty Naturopath Mum 

Nutritional yeast is a very handy powder to have in your cupboard. It’s gluten free, dairy free and vegan and adds a lovely savoury, sometimes cheesy taste to your dishes. It’s an inactive yeast so it doesn’t act like normal yeasts (think bakers and brewers yeasts) and does not help things ‘rise’ or ferment. So it’s just used for added flavour and nutrients! Adding nutritional yeast to your foods adds protein (2 tblspns equals 9 grams of protein!), Folic acid so it’s especially great for pregnant women, fibre and B12. B12 is essential to energy production so if lacking energy then this is a great addition to your food. B12 is generally only in animal sources like meat and eggs so this is a fabulous vegetarian alternative. There is surprisingly a lot of fibre in this powder also which helps with your gut health and inflammation. I add nutritional yeast to casseroles, most of my slow cooker meals, quiches and savoury slices. You can cook veggies with it, I toss some coconut oil and cauliflower florets into a pan with some nutritional yeast and it’s brilliant to lend that cheesy taste to my cashew nut ‘cheese’. It is even nice sprinkled on popcorn. Very versatile, very healthy and it’s basically nutrient boosting your food!

Here is my Lentil Slice Recipe where I use it … a great recipe for breakfast lunch or dinner! 

Wishing you a wonderful weekend full of love, laughter, sunshine, happy memories and GREAT food! 

Take Care of You, 
Collette x 

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Nutritional Yeast

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Good Morning friends! I hope this finds you well. 

We are all well here. We had a super busy weekend with both my girls having their ‘Champion Girl’ on for Physie and one of my best friends got married. It was a really lovely weekend. Both my girls achieved their goals for the weekend. Miss 10 made the final (top 15) and Miss 12 got a place (2nd) so is off to Nationals later in the year.

I felt like doing a little baking yesterday so the big girls had something yummy to come home from school to for afternoon tea … I made a few little adjustments to my salted almond choc fudge recipe and it was a huge hit! My hubby who doesn’t have a sweet tooth even gave it two thumbs up! It is super sweet (I am going to try it with less honey next time) but it was great as it will mean it will last longer as one piece at a time is more than enough to satisfy a sweet craving! I hope you love it as much as we do! 

Crunchy Choc Fudge

1/2 cup coconut oil (100g)

2/3 cup honey (225g)

4 tblspns cacao powder (20g)

good pinch salt

¾ cup buckinis

¾ cup shredded coconut

½ cup craisins

Line a lamington / slice tin with baking paper and set aside.

Place the coconut oil, honey, cacao and pinch of salt into a small saucepan and melt over a low heat, stirring constantly until thoroughly combined. Leave on a low heat for 10 minutes – stirring occasionally – be careful not to burn it.

TMX: 10 minutes / 37c / speed 3. Scrape down sides. Then, 5 minutes / 50c / speed 4.

Meanwhile, place the buckinis, shredded coconut and craisins into the lined lamington dish.

Pour chocolate over the ingredients in the lamington tray, combine thoroughly then push down into an even layer over the base of the tray.

Place mixture into the freezer for at least 2 hours (overnight is preferable) before cutting into squares.

Store in an airtight container in the freezer.

NOTE:

• This needs to be stored in the freezer as it is fudge like and will soften quickly.


• Buckinis are activated buckwheat. They have no taste but are nice and crunchy. You could replace this with crushed nuts, seeds (like sunflower) or more fruit.


• Craisins are dried cranberries – these can be found in the supermarket. You could replace these with sultanas or other diced dried fruit. Once again, just making sure it is preservative free.

Would love to hear from you when you make it! 

Have a GREAT day and talk soon! 

Take Care of You, 

Collette x 

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Crunchy Choc Fudge

Good Afternoon friends and HAPPY FRIDAY! I hope this finds you all well and that you have had a lovely week. 

Just wanted to share on here this ‘Lentil Slice’ that I threw together a few weeks ago and have made twice since as it was easy and such a hit. It has been handy to have ready for breakfast also! (in this photo it is served with Mayonnaise and Sweet Chilli Relish) 

 

Lentil Slice

2 x 400g tins of lentils (drained and rinsed well)

2 medium carrots

2 medium zucchini

1 brown onion

12 green beans

1 medium broccoli

12 eggs

good pinch salt and pepper or herbamare

3 tblspns nutritional yeast – OPTIONAL for those that are dairy free and like a ‘cheesy’ flavour – OR – if you can have cheese approx 1/2 cup grated cheese

Preheat oven to 180c and line a large lasagne tray with baking paper.

I threw all of these veg into the TMX (in 2 batches for 5 seconds speed 5 each) OR  you could grate them, finely chop them or pop them into a food processor, depending on what you prefer to get the same ‘grated’ result.

Add all this veg and the lentils into the lasagne tray and mix well.

Whisk the eggs and salt and pepper really well and pour over the lentils and veg. Sprinkle well with Nutritional Yeast OR cheese .

Cook 180c for approx 40 minutes.

It is a pretty ‘basic’ recipe so feel free to add your own touches to it like different veg (peas, corn etc) chilli, fresh herbs and spices! I hope you enjoy it as much as we do! 

Wishing you the most wonderful weekend full of love, laughter, happy memories and great food! 

Take Care of You, 
Collette x

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Lentil Slice

Test - Fail - Move On!

Good Afternoon friends! I hope this finds you well. 

Last Friday was Hubbys and my 16th Wedding Anniversary. Being a friday all 4 kids were at School and Preschool and it was a work day for us both but we decided to sneak away for an hour to have a lunch date. It was really lovely. 

Quite a few weeks back my Naturopath who I have been working closely with since January this year working on healing over 10 years of ‘gut’ issues, told me I was ready to ‘try’ something that I normally would react to … to see how I go. I have to be honest and say I put it off because I had been too busy to get sick! What Mum has time for that!?

Spur of the moment though on our Anniversary lunch date I decided to go ahead and just order off the menu … the safest thing I could find … and quietly I was feeling happy, relaxed and confidant all was going to be good. After all, the only thing in my salad I couldn’t have was a little Feta and Balsamic Vinegar. 

I am disappointed to report I was wrong to be so confidant. I can react to some things with moods, headaches and itchy skin within hours. Big reactions though I know takes 2-3 days. I learnt this, foolishly, MANY years ago when I devoured an ENTIRE LARGE block of chocolate after a failed IVF attempt and thought I had somehow escaped a reaction … until 3 nights later it hit me. This actually, strangely, helped me to figure out this is how long it took for my body to react and it helped me pin point further things, as early days when I reacted I only ever looked at what I ate in that last 24 hour period. 

Friday Lunch. Saturday good. Sunday good. Monday … not so good. I woke with burning back pain. Throughout the day my back felt on fire the whole time,  I was headachy, couldn’t focus, was moody and was terribly bloated. I stayed positive as I wasn’t running to the loo (which is normally my reaction) .. so I pumped in the water and thought ‘this is the worst of it, I have done well’ …. once again … so … so …SO WRONG. About 8.30pm it hit … like someone just came up behind me and hit me over the head  …. my stomach went HUGE … I am talking 4-5 months pregnant size and the pain … I have said this before and I will say it again … it compares to labour (I have had 3 labours so I can say this!).

Fast forward two and a 1/2 hours later and hubby is tucking his mess of a wife into bed.

Those two and a 1/2 hours: not able to leave the toilet, head spinning, felt drunk, throwing up from pain, cold washers over my body. I try and stay focused and tell myself I can do this but honestly I just panic and freak out as I know that there is no way to escape this … besides just staying on the loo and waiting till I am drained. The pain. Two hours of the horrible pain. I can’t even describe it. Let’s just say .. it is not normal. Once it’s over I manage to crawl to the shower which hubby has to run for me as now I am freezing and hoping the warm water which is running over me (as I sit curled in a ball on the floor) eases some of my cramps. I start crying from exhaustion, humiliation (did I mention I have the best hubby in the world), frustration and disappointment. 

Was the salad worth it: NO. 

Will I try something again: 99% sure NO. 

Will I continue with my Naturopath and gut healing: YES. 

Why? Because I really feel my daily ‘health’ is better for it. I have a list of things I know I can not have ANY of and then I have a list if things I can have in moderation. Those moderation things turned out to be things full of ‘good fats’ e.g. avocado, salmon, nuts and eggs and since seeing him I can now have them. Most importantly though I feel SO much better almost every day. I don’t have daily cramps which were becoming part of my life and despite this recent reaction, I do feel that my body is starting to heal.

So, why can’t I eat SO many things? I don’t know. I don’t actually know if I care anymore. I know that this sounds bad but it is not meant to. For years I have known what I can / can’t have and I have tried to find magic solutions to figuring out why and fixing it. I am no Dr or Health Professional of any kind but I know my body and for some reason I beleive just can’t eat that long list of food (I have tried MANY different things in the past to overcome these issues and none of them have worked – yes, as much as I have wanted them to!) You now what, this food test I just did reminds me that I am ok with that. I am grateful for the fact that it has also bought me to you guys and my cookbooks and led me in a whole different direction of feeding my family to what I was going on. I am willing to accept the hand I have been dealt. I don’t see this as me ‘giving’ up. Just taking a step in a different direction. It is time for me to concentrate, once again, on living with my intolerances … after all, there are so many wonderful things I can still eat (my books are proof of that!) and more importantly when I eat the things my body is happy with I am HEALTHY. What more could I want? 

Wishing you a lovely afternoon! Talk again soon! 

Take Care of You, 
Collette x 

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Test - Fail - Move On!