Healthy and Balanced Family Recipes

Ingredients (serves 4):
1.5kg chicken drumettes or wings
1/2 tspn each: ground cumin, coriander, turmeric, five spice
1 teaspoon sambal oelek
1 tb honey
4 tb low salt soy sauce
300g risoni
1 clove garlic, crushed
4 cups chopped fresh or frozen vegetables (e.g. capsicum, bok choy, corn, carrot)

Method: 
1. Combine spices and sauces.
2. Coat chicken and marinate in the fridge for 1 to 24 hours.
3. Roast in pre-heated 180 degrees C oven for 60 minutes until golden brown. Turn mid-way through cooking and coat with pan juices.
4. Cook risoni as per packet instructions, drain.
5. Whilst pasta is cooking, heat a drizzle of olive oil in a pan, brown garlic.
6. Add vegetables and cook until soft and golden (do this in 2 in batches). 
7. Stir vegetables through risoni and serve with the chicken.

Make a tray and use as sides for main meals throughout the week.
Ingredients:
1/2 cauliflower, stalks, leaves & florets chopped & washed
10 Brussels sprouts
1 medium sweet potato, cut into discs (skin on, rinsed)
4 beetroot, quartered
2 zucchini, chopped

Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Place cauliflower. zucchini and brussels sprouts on a tray , spray with olive oil and season. Roast 30 minutes, checking midway to turn once golden brown.
Place beetroot & sweet potato on another tray, spray with olive oil, roast 45 mins.
Tips: Use herbs such as thyme or rosemary or spice mixes such as za'atar or dukkah to roast with vegetables for additional flavour.

Pack a plant-based punch for meat free Monday (vegan, vegetarian, gluten free). Set out all ingredients and encourage children to serve themselves.

Ingredients:
2 x 400g canned beans such as chickpeas & black beans, drained
1 tb tomato paste
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
250mls water

Cooked brown rice
Baby spinach
Corn kernels
Diced tomatoes
Diced capsicum
Avocado, sliced

Method:

1. Heat olive oil in a pan, add onion and garlic and soften.
2. Add spices, toast for 30 seconds. Add tomato paste for another 30 seconds.
3. Add drained beans and water, cook ~10 minutes until most of the water evaporates.
4. Serve with cooked rice and assorted chopped vegetables and avocado.

I promised a return to fresh, few ingredient balanced meals and this will be the best thing you eat all day.
Packed with folate, choline, Vitamin B12, iron, protein, B vitamins & monounsaturated fats and the right balance of macronutrients: carbohydrates, lean protein & vegetables.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
2 cups chopped mushrooms
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
Olive oil
4 eggs
4 mini wholemeal pita
2 cups baby spinach
40g feta cheese
4 tablespoons hummous
Chilli, salt, pepper

Method:
1. Boil 500mls of water, add a generous glug of white vinegar.
3. Heat oil in a pan, add garlic, mushrooms and brown on high heat. Remove and add spinach to the pan until wilted.
4. Crack 2 eggs into rapidly boiling water, reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon. Repeat with remaining eggs. Whilst eggs are cooking, toast pita and set aside.
4. Spread pita with hummous, pile each with mushrooms and a poached egg. Scatter feta, heap spinach on the side. Season with chilli flakes, salt and pepper. 

Vegan, vegetarian, GF

Packed with phytonutrients, fibre, slow release prebiotic carbohydrate, plant-powered protein and monounsaturated fats, this meal is a balanced way to eat vegan or vegetarian.

Ingredients (serves 2):
180g soba noodles (ensure 100% buckwheat if GF)
300g tofu or chicken
1 sweet potato
1 cup broccoli
1 cup cauliflower
1 zucchini, sliced
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 tb soy sauce (tamari if GF)
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tb crushed nuts

Dressing:
1 tb tahini paste
1 teaspoon honey/maple syrup
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon soy sauce or tamari for GF

Method:
1. Boil soba noodles 3-4 minutes, drain and set aside
2. Heat rice bran oil in pan, add garlic, tofu or chicken and mushrooms. Once starting to brown, add soy sauce. Cook on high heat about 2 minutes and remove.
3. Steam sweet potato, zucchini, cauliflower and broccoli in the microwave until soft.
4. Add dressing ingredients in a jar, shake.
5. Divide noodles, tofu, vegetables between 2 bowls, dress with tahini sauce, scatter with crushed nuts and serve.

Gluten-Free, Low FODMAP options, vegetarian
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Have you ever looked at a 4-year-old’s outfit and thought, ‘I wish I could do that?’ You know what I’m talking about, stripes, stars, spots clashing all over the place, topped off with gumboots and sunglasses.  Look, I know that I have and really, why not? Life’s too short to be matching. A very special little friend visited the other day, sporting the most amazing outfit, that may or may not have included a ladybird jacket cape. Stop it. One day, she will rule the world.
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The thing is, these kids are onto something. Imagination is key, so why not let the sparkle and pizzazz extend to their meals? Today’s post is about my rainbow day, inspired by the children. It’s all about making yourself feel that little bit fancy. Trust me, you’ll feel good and the kids will pick up what you put down.

Let’s start with breakfast fit for a mini dictator queen (at her request, of course):

1. ‘Circle rainbow porridge:’ Quick oats made with milk, kids given creative licence with cinnamon shaker, fruit and a little honey to decorate. Tomorrow we’re adding blueberries.Breakfast, lunch or dinner:

2. Avocado and tomato on sourdough, topped with chickpeas, rocket, basil, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Dinner for everyone. I’m not into making separate meals, it's time consuming & unnecessary. Also, preparing food with the children and eating together helps to shape lifetime eating habits. Gluten free or Low FODMAP: use gluten-free bread

3. Rainbow pizza: This is a great school lunch box idea. Spread 4 small wholemeal pita pockets with passata, topped with a variation of: grated carrot, grated zucchini, chopped beetroot, canned corn, grated cheese and olives. Add lean ham or shredded chicken breast. The idea is to let the kids make their own rainbows. Trust me, they’ll want to eat their creations. Grown-ups can add some basil and chilli flakes to their ‘rainbow pizzas’ to add a bit more zest to happy hour. I know that I need it.
Gluten-free & Low FODMAP: use gluten free pizza bases

Another day, another soup to warm you through to the soul and boost those immune-fighting nutrients for this long, cold winter. This covers most food groups in one excellent bowl. Many micronutrients = happy body. It includes some great plant-based protein from the chickpeas and  continues along the theme of my love affair with legumes. Really. Here is my healthy twist on a traditional favourite.

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (I removed as much skin as possible), cleaned
2 carrots
celery
2 onions
2 garlic cloves
1.5L water
Dried bay leaves x 3
salt, lots of black pepper
half bunch kale, leaves removed or 2 handfuls spinach
1 small bunch broccoli, cut into small florets, stalks sliced
1/2 cup barley
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
lemon zest, dill to serve

Method:
1. Cover chicken in large pot with cold water, add roughly chopped carrot, onion, garlic and celery, seasoning and bay leaves.
2. Cover with lid and bring to the boil. Lower heat and simmer for about an hour, until chicken cooked through.
3. Remove chicken, garlic cloves and bay leaves from pot, add rinsed barley and continue cooking stock until barley soft, roughly 30 mins. Whilst this is cooking, remove chicken bones and reserve meat.
4. When barley cooked through, add broccoli, kale (or other leafy green) and chickpeas. The heat from the soup will cook those veg.
5. Add some of the chicken back to the pot, stir through lemon zest and dill and serve.

Tips:
- Reserve some chicken for sandwiches or to add leftover chicken to brown rice with frozen mixed veg, canned corn and low salt soy sauce for quick fried rice.
- Freeze leftover chicken for other sandwiches and meals 
- You can prepare this recipe up to step 3, strain the broth and put the veg and barley aside. If the broth is refrigerated overnight, any fat that comes to the surface can be skimmed off the next day. Simply add the barley and cooked veg back in, reheat the soup and go from step 4 the next day. Of course, you don't have to wait a whole 24 hrs if you would prefer to serve immediately.
- The kids may enjoy this with some cheesy soldiers on the side.
I hope you and your family enjoy this as much as we did,
Nicole.