Hey!

So, if you haven’t herd of or tried a green smoothie or juice yet then you really must! They are one of the most delicious and addictive ways you can cram some more greens into your day and that’s got to be a great thing.

Green smoothies are a great addition to your diet, packing in so many nutrients in one convenient little drink. Perfect for a busy weekday morning when you are dashing out the door or an afternoon snack. I personally prefer to drink smoothies over juices (with a few exceptions) as blends the whole food and therefore retains the fibre which is what helps keep you feeling full.

Greens such as spinach, silver-beet, kale, parsley, cos lettuce, rocket, mustard greens and more are low energy, nutrient powerhouses that have an alkalising effect on the blood. In the world of simple carbohydrates, meat overload and convenience foods it is super important to make sure you are eating enough fruit and vegetables in your diet to keep you healthy and keep the pH level of your blood in check.

Check out this awesome little chart of different greens and their nutrients.

Source: www.onnit.com/blog/what-greens-do-for-you-a-helpful-infographic/

So to get you started on the new green smoothie addition to your diet here are a few recipes. The first recipe is great for beginners as it has some strong flavoured fruits in it to help disguise the greens a bit. As you get used to the colour and the taste of the greens work your way up to a 70/30 ratio of greens to fruit. Make sure you play around and experiment with your green smoothies, they are pretty hard to stuff up and are a great way to finish of bits and bobs in the fridge.

A few little tips:

It doesn’t matter what kind of blender you have just get started! Even a handmixer/stickmixer will do the trick.

If your blender isn’t quite up to it add the greens with a little water first and blend, this seems to get it a bit smoother.

Chop up your ingredients, or even grate things like beetroot and carrot to make your blenders life a little easier.

Chop bananas in quarters to freeze. The small pieces are easier on your blender and this way you know 4 pieces = 1 banana.

When you get home from the F&V shop chop and freeze things like pineapple so it’s ready to go and there’s no mucking around in the mornings

A bag of frozen berries in the freezer is super handy.

Added extras for your smoothies…

There is a whole world of powders and supplements you can add to your smoothies to supercharge them. Goji berry powder, Maca root, bee pollen… It can actually be a little overwhelming and daunting trying to decide which ones you should be using. That’s when I discovered the world of green powders & super greens etc w

dness.hich seemed to tick all the boxes. The first one I tried was horrible and it’s still sitting half used in my freezer, the flavour was very overwhelming even when I tried to disguise it in smoothies. I have now found one I love and can even drink straight on its own on days when I just don’t have time for a green smoothie or I feel like I need an extra dose of greens.

It’s called Good Green Stuff and it really is great! made with natural and wholefood ingredients it’s full of antioxidants, pro-biotics and helps support the acid-alkaline balance.

Green smoothies for beginners

- 1/2 c blueberries, frozen

- 1 small banana

- 1 c spinach, chopped

- 1c cos lettuce, chopped

- water to desired consistency

Green smoothie

- 1 apple

- 2 kale leaves

- 5cm of cucumber

- 2 sticks celery

- 1/2 lemon, peeled

- 1c spinach

- water to desired consistency

Just simple throw ingredients into the blender and blend. Couldn’t really be any simpler! 

If you would like to buy some Good Green Stuff you can jump on their website and get a 10% discount.

1. Select your purchases

2. Select the shipping destination (for courier)

3. Press ‘checkout’

4. Enter the promotional code KWN

5. Press ‘redeem’

6. Your discount, freight cost, and total cost including GST will then show on the screen.

Have an awesome week,

Kate

Hey Guys,

So a few weeks back I posted a photo on my instagram and my facebook page of some mushroom and lentil burritos I made for dinner. I was just making it up as I went along so the measurements are a bit of a guess. This is the recipe….

For the filling

Ingredients:

2 c Mushrooms, chopped (I used field and brown button)

1 onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic

1 chilli, finely diced

1 tin of brown lentils

1 tbsp tamari

1 tbsp olive oil

S&P

little splash of water

Method:

Warm oil in a frying pan, add onion, garlic and chilli, soften. Add mushrooms and a stir fry for until they soften. If they start to stick to the pan add a splash of water instead of more oil. Once the mushrooms are pretty much done mix in the lentils and tamari and cook until warmed through, season with S&P. Set aside.

Guacamole, Salsa mix all in one 

Ingredients:

1 Avocado, finely diced

2 Ripe tomatoes, insides removed, finely diced

1 Spring onion, finely diced

1/4 Red Capsicum, finely diced

1/2 Red chilly, finely diced

1/2 Bunch of coriander, roughly chopped

S&P

Method:

Pop all the chopped ingredients in a bowl and mix around, smooshing the avocado slightly.

Place bowls of guacamole and the mushroom lentil mix on the table with chopped up lettuce or spinach, refried black beans and a cashew nut sour cream and let everyone assemble there own. I find this dinner great when I have last minutes guests as it’s quick and easy to prepare or for Meat Free Mondays (which might I add if your not already doing is a must! Adds a bit of variation to the week, stops the monotony of meat and three veg and is great for your health and our environment).

Let me know how you get on with this recipe!

Kate x

Hey everyone,

Happy New Year and I hope you all had a great holiday, what amazing weather we’ve been having!

So I got home from a few weeks away in the Coromandel only to find my veggie patch had gone crazy. Maybe it had something to do with the 15 or so tomato plants I popped in the ground late last year….

These are a few pics from my phone of some of the action that had been happening while I was away. Yip I’m the crazy lady walking around the garden, with 4 little chickens in tow, taking photos of plants…. We wont talk about me wandering down to the beach with my wheel barrow to collect seaweed later that afternoon

Yellow Courgettes

I'm sure I'll be sick bottling a lot of tomatoes this year after popping 15 plants in the ground

Gutted I missed the artichokes, but what pretty flowers.

Loads of figs are starting to ripen up

A couple of nectarines, just enough for one each

and this is where I buried all that seaweed, another veggie patch on it's way

So that’s a little update on what has been keeping me pretty busy last year, nice to see the fruits of our labour finally starting to arrive (hehe).

Back to the garden for me now,

Kate

So I was looking for something to make for desert the other night and stumbled across this little recipe for Cocoa Nut Bites. Simple and quick to make with no added sugar or fats so I gave them a try….. Delicious!

Almonds, flax seeds and walnuts are a great source of essential fatty acids and the dates bind the balls while adding  natural sweetness and fibre yo the balls.

This is a great base of a recipe which is super easy to mix up a bit. I reduced the nuts a little bit and added 1/2 c of wholegrain oats to lower the total fat and increase the fibre of the balls. You can throw in chia seeds, cashew nuts, dried fruits like apricots or prunes, vanilla seeds, spices and you really can’t stuff it up as long as they are moist enough to roll into little balls.

Cocoa Nut Balls

- 1c pitted dates soaked for 10min and drained

- 1/2c almonds

- 1/2c walnuts

- 1/4 coconut

- 1/4 cocao or cocoa powder

- 1 tbs flax seed

- Blitz almonds until crumbly 

- Add other ingredients except dates and blitz until combined and crumbly (a few chunky bits are nice)

- Add prunes

- Shape into balls and let set in the fridge for 15 or so mins

Recipe from Good Things Grow

Don’t forget that even though these yummy little balls are made of natural sugars and good fats they are still high in kilojoules so they are a treat and not for munching back at breakfast time like someone else in the house has been doing since these were made

Let me know how you go with these and any of the winning flavour combos you come up with!

Kate

So if you follow me on facebook or instagram you may have already noticed my love for sprouts. 

I’ve had a long love affair with sprouts, I remember sitting down after school with a bag of those little crunchy round ones you’d get in the sandwich packs and munching the whole bag mmmm

I love the fact that you can grow these little nutrition powerhouses all year round and that you don’t even need a garden! Simply grab a jar and you’re away laughing. Sprouts are a great addition to any diet, low calorie, high nutrient and super easy to grow. Once a seed has sprouted it is a living thing with more protein, vitamins ready and waiting for you.

They’re great in winter when the variety of veggies is pretty slim (and pricey) and there uses are endless, Stir-fries, sammies, smoothies, salads, dips, hummus or straight from the jar

You can get a huge variety of sprouts and the Kings seeds starter kit or the Wright Sprouts website is a great place to start so you can sample a few and get the hang of it.

Sprouting Seeds….

1) Pop about 1-2 tablespoons of seed into a jar with a mesh lid and give them a gentle rinse.

2) Fill the jar about halfway and leave the seeds to soak for a bit. Small seeds 10-30mins bigger seeds like chickpeas and peas let soak overnight. 

3) Drain them and leave them in a cool darkish (out of direct sunlight) place.

4) Give them a gentle rinse morning and night being careful not to break of and of the delicate little sprouty bits. 

5) Sprouts are ready when the sprouty bit (technical term) is about 1-2x the length of the seed.

6) Pop the jar in the light (but still out of direct sunlight) for a day to increase the chlorophyll (and nutrition)  in the sprout 

6) Lay out on a paper towel to dry a little bit and then store the sprouts in the fridge for about 7-10 days. 

Now go out and grab yourself a jar and some seeds!

Happy sprouting

Kate

Hey Hey,

Today I’ve got a quick and easy recipe for a super yummy and nourishing frittata!

I kind of just made this up as I went a long with what I had available in the garden so measurements are just a rough guess but you can’t really stuff up a frittata, just add any vegetable that takes your fancy or that just happened to be lurking around in the fridge. Frittatas are a great way to really up your greens, and have a vegetarian meal without any complaints from the men in the house

So, recipe as follows…

Vegetarian Frittata

4 Medium Leeks, roughly sliced.

4 Spring Onions, finely sliced.

3 Stalks of celery, diced.

Few sprigs of thyme, leaves removed and finely chopped.

Big bunch of parsley, finely chopped.

Big bunch of silver-beet, roughly chopped.

2 Cups of pumpkin, cubed.

8 Free range eggs.

Splosh of milk

Spray of oil

S&P

Add pumpkin and leeks with a spray of oil to a heavy bottom oven pan and bake in the oven until pumpkin is tender then remove from oven.

Add chopped silver-beet, spring onion, thyme and parsley and mix about.

In another bowl whisk eggs with milk and S&P then add to the pan with the veg. 

Mix about then return to the oven until cooked through, about half an hour.

This made enough for 5 serves and keeps really well to take for lunch the next day. I served it with a crunchy raw beetroot, carrot cabbage and seed salad which also keeps well so is handy to have in the fridge to throw in wraps for lunches. Recipe for the salad coming soon…

Take care,

Kate x

Hey Everyone,

There is another article up on the 24/7 Girl website and this time it’s looking at soft drinks and which is better, diet or regular?

Jump on over and have a read. At the end of the day either choice should only ever fall into the ‘sometimes’ category as even though the diet version isn’t packed with the usual quantities of sugar they are still loaded with artificial colours, flavours and preservatives, caffeine and other nasties. Green tea, water, milk, nut milks are all better options for staying hydrated.

Kate

Hi All,

So I have had my new little chickens for 4 weeks this Saturday and I still haven’t shown you any photos yet!

So this is them when they first arrived. So cute and fluffy and still making tiny little cheep cheep sounds. Their names are Snuffleupagus or Snuffy, Big Bird, Mrs Piggy and Grover.

It took them a while to learn how to use the ramp but now they hop up and down all day. Food, bed, food, bed….

The girls are allowed out of the coup now, so they have been heads down bums up eating bugs ever since. Luckily they still haven’t found my veggie patch but I suspect it’s only a matter of time.

I will take some more pics soon to show you, it’s amazing how fast they grow up! I reckon they have doubled in size already!!

Catch ya later,

Kate

With so many articles and stories covering alcohol it can often be hard to know what we should be doing. How much we can drink and what type of drinks are best? Often I feel we like to take the bits of every story that suit us the best, picking and choosing bits of diets such as drinking read wine or eating dark chocolate, never mind that the story also mentioned that it was 1 small glass of wine

Have a read of my latest article on 24/7 Girl for more.

Kate

Hey Guys,

Another article is up on 24/7 Girl about trying to avoid the flu this winter. Make sure you keep up your intake of fruit and veggies with lots of onions, garlic herbs and spices to keep things interesting, tasty and full of vitamins and antioxidants.

Check it out at 24/7 Girl

Kate

Hey guys,

Check out the latest post Q&A on 24/7 girl about the different types of protein and are you getting enough?

Hope your all having a great start to the week,

Kate.

Hey Guys,

Jump on over to 24/7 girl and check out my latest Q&A on crazy diets and binge eating.

Kate.

24/7 Girl Article

I absolutely love this time of year! Sunny days, warm evenings, beautiful sunsets and loads of yummy fresh produce. Popped along to my local Oratia Farmers Market in the weekend and it is just full of deliciousness, highlight of the morning was the passion fruit man is back in action.

I have also been loving whipping out to the garden and collecting the fruits of my own labour as well.

Nothing beats fresh outdoor, vine ripened tomatoes…

So I may have gone a little overboard with the red onions considering it’s just the two of us, however I do add them to lots of my cooking for a low energy flavour booster. Red onion, tomato, avocado, and mesclun  is one of my favourite simple salad combos at the moment which is very convenient since they are so cheap and yummy.

Just thought I’d pop this photo into to brag really, last time a few of my carrots came out a bit wonky and some were even forked which I later found out was from to much compost and fertiliser and too many lumpy bits in the soil. So this time my carrots are displayed proudly

So make the most of all the produce around at the moment because in a flash it will be winter and we will be back to 101 ways with cabbage.

Kate

And one pretty sunset photo to finish…

Hey guys,

Jump on over to 24/7 Girl and have a read of the article I’ve just written discussing taking supplements vs the real deal in food!

Let me know what you think…?

Morning,

So i did a we bit of gardening/patting my plants (i hope all the love makes them grow bigger and faster) last night.

Lemons are coming along nicely

Lemons are great to use instead of a salad dressing, a quick squeeze over a salad or steamed broccoli is nice and fresh in summer.

Basil, Parsley, Thyme and Oakleaf Lettuce

I’m not photographer but the herbs are coming along so I thought I’d let you have a looksie. Use fresh herbs generously throughout cooking to add flavour instead of using salt and heavy sauces. Stuff chicken thighs with a mix of cottage cheese, fresh parley and thyme, a little bit of parmesn and bake in the oven, or simply add fresh herbs to a salad or stir fry.

And a pretty pink flower for the dinner table.

Hope your gardens are doing well this (wet) summer.

Kate

Congratulations to Danielle Miller, she has just won the chance to shake up her nutrition routine with a 5 session consultation package.

Congratulations to Catherine Oldroyd, winner of the 3 session introductory nutrition consultation package.

And congratulations to Madison Atherfold and Charlotte Kofoed who are off to the supermarket with me to learn how to read nutrition panels properly and learn those sneaky marketing tricks and give there pantry a makeover.

I can’t wait to try this recipe for Nana Mary’s Cabbage Rolls a friend of mine has passed on to me. Her Nana used to make them for her as a kid and now she makes them herself and she LOVES them. I will be testing them soon and giving you the feed back. Here’s the recipe if anyone else wants to give them a try, let me know how they go I would love to know. Yum yum!!

Cabbage Rolls

1 LARGE cabbage
800g-1kg mince
Rice (1 cup to every 2 cups mince)
Fresh mint, chopped (bit of dry mint also)
Salt & Pepper
1 onion
Generous amount of fresh garlic
1 – 1/2 tins tomato purée

Slice down sides of core of the cabbage, this will help loosen the leaves when it’s cooking.
In a large stock pot put your whole cabbage into around 1 litre water. Just enough to soften and steam the leaves off.
While cabbage is boiling away, put all the ingredients (raw rice, raw mince + extras) into a large bowl and mix together with your hands.
As leaves start to fall off the cabbage pull them from the pot, and then you can start rolling your ‘cabbage rolls’
With the larger outside leaves, you can normally get 2 rolls from it. Splice out the core of the leaf and then cut the leaf into 2 halves.
Starting closest to you, place a small handfull of mix onto the leaf in a sausage shape, and then wrap/roll the leaf around the meat mix. Making sure to keep the ends closed. Kind of like a burito.
Continue pulling leaves off the cabbage and rolling them until you have no more meat mix, and only small leaves that can’t be used!
Keep all the rolls aside on the bench.
Put your ‘cabbage water’ aside also, pot should now be empty and ready to use again.
Start stacking/laying cabbage rolls in the pot, reasonably tight but don’t squish them in.
Pour cabbage water back over the rolls, and then add the tin of purée. I sometimes mix the puree in with the water so it spreads evenly when your pour it over.
Pop back on the stove, bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer.
Simmer for… an hour or so. And then turn off.
Top up with more water every now and again, you will notice them drying out ever so slightly.

Serve with freshly squeezed lemon juice, and the Nana Mary traditional way is with boiled potatoes also (good for mashing in your bowl to soak up the juice)

YUM, YUM! This makes a decent sized amount, but smaller batches can be made with home grown silver beet too!

yum yum yum… nothing beats a fresh mandarin!

I’ve been loving all the mandarins, oranges, lemons and limes that are around at the moment… to be honest I’ve probably had a bit of a citrus overload but at least i’m getting a good dose of vitamin c for winter

Make sure you keep trying to eat as much food that is local and in season as possible. It has better nutrition as it’s fresher, and it also tastes a whole load better than fruit that’s been sitting in a cool store for months or has been shipped half way around the world.

Try using the zest and juice of lemons and limes in you’re cooking to give winter food a real kick. Zest a lemon over some fresh fish before baking in baking paper with fresh herbs. Use the juice of the lemon in a hot winter drink or add a good squeeze to an Asian flavoured soup or stir-fry.

Hiya,

Another yucky cold and wet day here today, best way to stay warm in this winter weather? Get out there and get moving! get your heart rate up this weekend by rugging up and going for a good long bush walk or if your not that brave maybe it’s time to hit the gym for an aerobics class or two….

Have a good weekend everyone, maybe while you’ve got some time up your sleeve you could try a new healthy recipe from the Healthy Food Guide website.

Kate

Look at all these tomatoes! This seasons tomato plants are doing much better than last year so im very happy and they are delicious too. Baked them with red onions and fresh snapper (fresh from our fishing trip), loving the summer time goodies

Welcome back and Happy New Year everyone. I hope you’ve all had a wicked break and made the most of the amazing weather we having been having, getting outside and keeping active.

I’m sure many of you have made New Year resolutions to live a healthier life style and others just want to get back on track after a busy holiday season of  socialising eating and drinking. Well there’s no time like the present to start making those changes so stop procrastinating and get moving TODAY!

Check back soon for some tasty recipes on how to make the most of this amazing summer produce.

World Vegetarian Day is observed globally on the 1st of October. That’s this Friday, so why not take a leap for your health, and the planet and go one day without meat? I’ve put up an awesome Tomato Base Sauce recipe for you to try out. World Vegetarian Day initiates the month of October as Vegetarian Awareness Month, which ends on November 1st.

A recipe hunted out during World Vegetarian Day... Perfect for this late spring type wet weather we are getting bombarded with.
Keep your spirits and immunity up with hearty Tomato? I've found a recipe that's easy to make and can be used in so many ways.
Add in some chopped parsley for extra immunity boost if you're feeling a sniffle coming on too.

Click on the link and get cooking.