As the days warm up I've been slowly coming around to it being salad season – it takes a bit to transition from the warming foods of winter to finally feeling sun warmed enough to proceed on to salads here in Melbourne in my experience. And with a beautiful day of sunshine, perfect for basking in, scheduled ahead, it has now become urgent to dig out my favourite salad recipes!

We know that the average Australian family aims for 5 serves of vegies each day, however, it's only a slim few of us who actually get there. With a healthy salad in the fridge, you can easily add an extra serve or two to meals throughout the day. If you happen to recall, a cup of fresh salad greens or vegies is generally considered 1 serve, while 1/2 cup of cooked vegies will also satisfy for a serve.

The following are some of the best salads on my summer rotation, packed with lots of yummy flavours, textures, colours, and crunch, take your pick with something simple, like the Kale Salad or move up to something fancy like the Beetroot, Seeds and Spinach number by COOKIE+kate.

1. Simple Kale Salad

Having well-deserved superfood status, kale is also at the top of the list for pesticide residue, unfortunately. Never fear, if you have a small space in the sun, Kale is also very easy to grow. Can't do better than homegrown produce, and look at you go, reducing your food miles, greenhouse emissions and combating climate change, just by eating your greens! However, don't worry if you can't access organics at your local green-grocer or afford the extra dollar or two, wash them well to minimise pesticides – after all, conventionally grown greens is much better than no greens at all.

Dressing Ingredients:

• Juice of 1 orange
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 tsp of ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp of turmeric or paprika
• 2 tablespoons flaxseed oil
• Himalayan salt to taste
• Black pepper to taste

Finely chop your freshly washed Kale, toast some seeds or nuts and drizzle with a tasty dressing and voila, your salad awaits! What could be easier? You will find the full recipe here.

2. Raw Zucchini, Cherry Tomato, and Toasted Almond Salad

Once the summer produce gets going, it seems there are zucchinis everywhere. Being new to homegrown delights, the pleasant over-supply of zucchini did present an opportunity for creative zucchini use. This is one of my favourite ways to sneak extra vegies into your day from last summer, even going so far as eating them with breakfast on hot summer mornings. You really don't need a fancy vegie spiraller, the humble potato peeler did work just as well 🙂

Ingredients

• 1 zucchini, spiraled or sliced thinly with a vegie peeler
• 1-2 tablespoons of mixed seeds and nuts – I used pepitas, sunflower, flaked almonds and pine nuts, lightly toasted in a pan
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• A handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
• Fresh basil leaves, torn

For the full recipe, see my earlier post – Raw Zucchini Salad Breakfast.

3.Brussels sprouts as a salad ingredient? Why not!

Raw Brussels sprouts are just really tiny cabbages and coupled with a tangy dressing, a delicate cheese and some red onions, there is really nothing that can be said in opposition to this recipe. You'll probably surprise your guests with the revelation that in fact, they have just enjoyed a Brussels sprout! For other ways to eat Brussels sprouts check out my earlier post here.

Ingredients

• 1/2 small red onion
  
• 1 lemon, juiced
  
• 1 tsp honey
  
• 1 tsp whole grain mustard
  
• 1 pinch salt and freshly ground black pepper
  
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
  
• 3 cups Brussels sprouts (use larger sprouts if possible)
  
• 1/2 cup finely grated pecorino romano

I found the original delicious version of this recipe here.

4. Beetroot, edamame and avocado anyone?

This is the type of salad that I like to take to Christmas events, it has so much red and green is the mix, it just feels festive! However, I'm not saving it until then – there will be one of these whipped up this week, you can count on it 😉

Ingredients

Salad

• ½ cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
• 1 cup frozen organic edamame (find it in the frozen section – edamame are soy beans, either in a pod or shelled, mine were in a pod and I shelled them after cooking)
• ⅓ cup slivered almonds or pepitas (green pumpkin seeds) (I used both!)
• 1 medium raw beetroot, peeled
• 1 medium-to-large carrot, peeled
• 2 cups packed baby spinach or arugula roughly chopped (arugula = rocket, this is what I used, I didn’t chop it though),
• 1 avocado, cubed

Vinaigrette

• 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint or cilantro (cilantro – coriander, I opted for 1 of each)
• 2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup or agave nectar (I used 1 tsp of coconut sugar, you could use any sweetener)
• ½ to 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, to taste
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Check out the full recipe from the fabulous COOKIE+kate here.

There are a few other salads I've yet to share, so look out for a few more to come. Oh, and if you have any gems to share, I'd love to be introduced to your faves for sure 🙂

Enter, the nutritionally dense vegie cake! Earlier this year we had a glut of zucchini's as my partner tried his hand at gardening for the first time (very successfully!) and unleashed his inner farmer.

The thing with making your deserts nutritionally dense is that they contain a lot of fibre, they are naturally sweetened with fruit and don't give you the same quickly absorbed blood sugar high that plummets as soon as you've consumed it. Think kids having a meltdown after a birthday party.

Adding in some superfoods, good fats or protein sources also keeps the release of sugars into the bloodstream at a reasonable level and most importantly satisfies the principles of cake. Celebration and reward, love and sharing! This is the recipe I based the chocolate zucchini cake on. Have a play with variations yourself – this is what I ended up with 🙂

As the original recipe says:

It turned out like actual, edible zucchini bread. It doesn’t fall apart, it’s not too dry, and not too soggy.

Dark Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cake

INGREDIENTS:

• 1-1/2 cup blanched almond flour
• 1 cup  of chickpea flour (also called besan flour, this has quite a strong flavour but you can't taste it over the dark chocolate flavour of the cacao – you could also use buckwheat or any gluten free/nut flour)
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 tablespoons vanilla protein powder
• 4 tablespoons raw cacao (or cocoa powder – the raw stuff does have more antioxidants, however)
• 2 tablespoons cacao nibs
• 2 tablespoons pepitas (the green kernels from pumpkin seeds are high in zinc!)
• 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
• 2 tablespoons shredded coconut
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 4 tablespoons stewed apples (you could also use a ripe banana, I just happened to have stewed apples!)
• 12 dates, chopped
• 1 large zucchini, grated (unpeeled)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius.
2. Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl.
3. Mix wet ingredients in with the zucchini and pour in dry ingredients, a little at a time. Stir through until all the dry ingredients have been incorporated.
4. Line your loaf tin with baking paper and pour the mixture in, smoothing over with a spoon. You could possibly also use the mixture to make cupcakes/muffins.
5. Bake for 60 minutes until the middle is set and a fine skewer comes out clean.

Remember that raw cacao, like chocolate and coffee, contains plant chemicals that are stimulating for sensitive people. This is great if you want a mood enhancing pick me up during the day but like all stimulants, they are best avoided in the late afternoon and especially if you are being extra careful with your sleep routine.

This gem is great served with a cuppa at afternoon tea time and is gluten-free to boot! Enjoy 🙂

So, why do we need a refined sugar-free, gluten-free, chocolate zucchini cake?

Sugar and white flour are two ingredients that are generally considered some of the not so healthy imaginings of modern living and also two of the essential ingredients in cake. Cake, as a word is layered with associations – celebration, reward, sharing, milestones, comfort, hospitality, as mentioned above. It could mean a catch up with some special friends, your nephew's fourth birthday, dessert for a special guest, some time to grieve or soothe your tensions away in a world that sometimes offers very little real comfort. It is a word accompanied by love.

Natural medicine or what we call naturopathy in many ways works its magic by manipulating the ways we eat, how we move, the times we choose to sleep and how we think about our lives, to make a difference to our health and happiness. Taking the supplements, the herbs, the vitamins in little bottles, these are also part of a naturopath's dispensary and do make a difference to help us get on track, but it's the things that we can do for free – choosing to eat vegies every day, going for a walk, sleeping more and hanging out with people who love and inspire us, they are the long-term cures to most of our modern ailments. And we know this. We've tried it out, read the studies on vegan diets, listened to our mothers but somehow, with all the knowledge, it seems harder than it looks on paper.

Good nutritiously dense food, needs to edge out the processed foods – but it's one step at a time, and we need something to replace it with!

We all know that health is not handed to us on a platter (or maybe it is – depending what's on the platter!) and for the vast majority of us, we'd have to admit, our current habits require revision. It does take some work to look after this wonderful organism we walk around in, and it is worth it. Even the six-fingered man from the 80's spoof classic, ‘The Princess Bride' was advised,

Get some rest. If you haven't got your health, then you haven't got anything.

I couldn't agree more. Still, wrestling with a chocolate, mint-slice, gummi bear addiction can mean that cake is now one of the bad guys. But what about all the things that make cake meaningful? Does this mean no more celebrations, no more comfort, no more love? I really don't think it can. Cake is a part of the colour of life and if you're not celebrating life, then we might need to prescribe some cake to get you back on track. Oh my, a naturopath just prescribed cake!

In my opinion, there are two types of cake eaters. Those who can do moderation and those who eat the whole cake. Personally, I have to confess, I'm on the ‘eat the whole cake' end of the spectrum. Following which I'd be wrestling with cravings tempting me to further fuel my delicious sugar bender every day for the whole next week… If only it were a health food, *sigh*.

So, if you can do moderation, have your cake, eat it even 😉 Maybe this looks like ordering a half slice, sharing it with your friends, eating a couple of bites and (gasp!) leaving the rest. All good options for the moderate cake consumer. Order the dessert, share it, celebrate it, savour it. You know already it's not a major food group.

If you can't do moderation, the alternative can seem like an eternity of misery, particularly when you're in the throes of a sugar addiction denial. However, when you've come to terms with said sugar addiction, misery is going back to being riddled with anxiety, itching all over, and foregoing sleep to drive to the shops at midnight because you can't stop thinking about cake. I remember the feeling and truly, this is what keeps me looking for alternatives to the seductive temptations concocted of white sugar and flour. That's why we definitely need zucchini chocolate chip yumminess!

In the interest of finding healthy snacks, accompaniments for afternoon tea and options for nutrient dense desserts I have been experimenting again with bliss balls. Trawling the internet I found a treasure chest of delicious concoctions and have melded a few together to create this little gem. With the addition of festive spices, I might even tag this one for Christmas as an alternative to the condensed milk and Marie biscuits which are the traditional ingredients for Christmas Rum Balls in my family. Look out Santa!

You might notice I've snuck in a carrot, which has delicious sweetness and helps to lift our vegie quota for the day to boot! There is also plenty of fibre to feed our good bacteria and make these treats nice and satisfying. The orange rind has a prominent flavour overall but the spices are not overpowering. If you do like spices you could easily double the spice ingredients (ginger and cinnamon powder) or add nutmeg and ground cloves for a stronger (and oh so festive) flavour. Maybe Christmas in July could feature some of these too 🙂

Ingredients

• ½ cup almond meal
• 1 medium carrot, grated
• 2 Tbsp vanilla protein powder
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil
• 2 Tbsp flax meal
• 2 Tbsp chia seeds
• 2 Tbsp sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup desiccated coconut for rolling
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1 cup dried apricots
• Zest and juice of 1 orange
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1 tsp ginger powder

Method

1. Heat the dried apricots with 1 cup of water in a small saucepan stirring continuously until the water has absorbed and the apricots are nice and plump. Stir in the tablespoon of coconut oil and Set aside.
2. Place the dry ingredients, except the desiccated coconut into your food processor and mix well.
3. Add in the rehydrated apricots and oil mixture along with the orange juice and blend until it forms a soft dough.
4. Shape the mixture into a tablespoon or teaspoon-sized balls (depending on what size you like and the requirements of your consumer, if you're making them for kids you might like to make them smaller) and roll in the desiccated coconut until covered. Shredded coconut can also be used if you don't mind the look of the longer strands.
5. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

To serve, take out of the fridge and bring to room temperature for full flavour. Enjoy!

This week I was experimenting with bliss balls. These are the tasty little snacks filled with power foods, that many people are making instead of cookies (also called biscuits or bikkies if you grew up in Australia as I did) these days.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of pitted Medjool dates
• 3 very ripe bananas
• 1 cup of organic coconut flour
• 1 Tbsp of coconut oil
• 2 Tbsp sunflower seeds
• 1/4 tsp of sea salt
• 2 Tbsp vanilla protein powder (I used Nutra Organics Thriving Protein Exotic Vanilla in this recipe but you can use whichever one you have handy)
• 2 Tbsp flax meal
• 1/3 cup shredded coconut (to roll them in at the end)

Note: if you don't have Medjool dates, just put a cup of dried, pitted dates in a small saucepan with a cup of water. Stir until most of the water is absorbed and the dates are a soft paste. Add to recipe as follows.

Variations to try: Add 1 tbsp of chia seeds, it's also a good way to include a plain non-acidic vitamin C powder (such as Melrose Calcium Ascorbate), spirulina, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon or blueberry powder. 

Method

1. In your food processor put all the dry ingredients (except the coconut for rolling) and mix well. Add the dates, banana and oil until it is a soft, smooth paste. It might even feel a little too soft, but remember coconut flour absorbs moisture quickly and it needs to be a good consistency to roll into balls. They will become firmer once they are in the fridge.
2. Roll about a tablespoon of mixture into balls and roll them in the coconut. Store in an airtight container in the fridge or they can be frozen and brought out when needed, to thaw. I challenge you to make them last more than a few days, everyone is going to want one!

Makes about 25-30 delicious bliss balls. Share with your friends and family. A lovely addition to a cup of tea mid-way through the day 🙂