Hearty Pumpkin & Chickpea Curry It’s Foodie Friday! I just love a comforting, hot soup that tastes delicious, a little spicy, is easy on my digestion, and packs a big dose of true real food nourishment. This one is adapted from a Coles catalogue! I simply changed a few key ingredients to more healthful ones and opted for fresh where possible. Fairly easy, with a small amount of prep work (mostly chopping pumpkin) you’ll be able to get this nourishing bowl of goodness to the table in a short amount of no fuss time! When my Beloved Craig first made the original
READ MORE →Green Smoothies and Raw Chocolate This last week I presented and spoke at the Annual ‘QLD Rural, Regional & Remote Women’s Network’ Ag Show Luncheon in Toowoomba. Packing my mason jars, greens, and Omniblend I was prepared for an inspiring food demonstration educating the ladies on the benefits of blending your greens (check out my article and greens video here) for health, energy, reduced cravings and better sleep and concentration. Sharing the stage with three other panellists from different backgrounds and expertise, we engaged in a discussion on, “Eating is an Agricultural Act” and discussed how we can start to improve our health by being aware
READ MORE →Healthy, Nutritious and Delicious! Introducing “Real Foodie Fridays” to share our love of whole, natural, real food recipes! The weekend is a great opportunity to get creative in the kitchen making wholesome, nourishing foods and trying out new recipes! I love to create, make and expand on recipes all the time, especially using fresh ingredients from our garden or the local markets. My Beloved Craig jokes at how easily I can take what’s in the fridge or pantry and make something so healthy, nutritious and delicious so quickly out of so little! While he likes to research recipes, shop for specific ingredients, create a timeline
READ MORE →RAW Salty Caramel Tart OR Slice!! NB: This post was originally created for my 40th Birthday give-away in 2014. Time for a joyous celebratory recipe in the form of my Raw Salty Caramel Tart (or Slice) Recipe taken from my popular raw, dairy, gluten and refined sugar free, “Healthy Chocolate Delights” whole food sweet treats eBook! YUMMY 🙂 Base: 1 1/2 cups hazelnut meal 1/3 cup cacao powder 1/4 teaspoon rock or Himalayan salt 8-10 medjool dates (soaked in hot water for 5 mins and pitted) 1/4 cup desiccated coconut Alternative Non-Chocolate Base: 1 cup almonds 3/4 cup pepita seeds 1/4
READ MORE →Eat (Real) Food I love to tell people about food designers, because most people haven’t even heard of the term, let along know it’s actually a job title. Food designers are a food manufacturer’s secret weapon. Their job description is to create the perfect ratio of fat, sugar and salt in a food product that will create opiates in the brain to have you craving more! Big fast-food companies rely on these food designers to create great wealth in their business at an even greater cost to public health. People restricting themselves on one diet or another especially find these
READ MORE →Caramel Macadamia Nuts Recipe I love Macadamia nuts. Always have since I was a child. We often travelled up to the Sunshine Coast where my Grandparents lived, not far from the Big Pineapple tourist attraction and alongside the Macadamia Nut Factory. Macadamia nuts are buttery, crunchy and flavourful natives of Australia, although they are also cultivated in Hawaii and several other tropical climates. They’re rich in monounsaturated fats (great for heart health), plus high in fibre and flavonoids (antioxidants). I love them roasted – crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. This scrumptious little recipe is something I put together
READ MORE →My First Self-Love & Wellness Retreat Take Time Out Before You Burn Out Many of you who have met me in person or follow my writings know that I lost my Mother to Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma when I was 24. Even though nearly 16 years have passed, her influence on my life still permeates each and every day. My mother was a most wonderfully warm woman, who never thought twice about helping anyone. She was generous and thoughtful, quick to laugh and smile and she was always ready with a helping hand or a soothing cuddle. As I meet more and more women throughout my work, I think of
READ MORE →Banana Bread! Banana Bread! Oh, I do love a moist, soft and tasty banana bread. Especially when it fits under the category of clean and healthy eating, holistic living and gluten free, grain free. (Dairy free too if you prefer it). Banana bread is a scrumptious comfort food on a cold day when warmed with grass-fed butter on top and a cup of herbal tea! Am I making you hungry? Better get to the recipe quickly then! This recipe was one that I adapted from the lovely Jane at Marinya Cottage Kitchen, who adapted it from another blog, Sleep Love Eat. My recipe takes
READ MORE →Improve Your Mood with Food Are you finding it hard to juggle the daily demands of life, work and family on top of balancing your eating habits? You’re not alone. Many of my busy clients struggle to get going in the morning and don’t take time to give themselves a nourishing head start. Unfortunately this regular denial creates a cascade of cravings and energy dips for the rest of their day, ruining their healthy eating intentions. When the brain is lacking nutrients, it often overrides the conscious mind by reaching for convenient, packaged and processed foods to ensure it gets
READ MORE →The Wisdom of Dieting Who’s been on a diet before – lost weight, regained weight and done the whole thing over again? The word ‘diet’ has evolved over many years of experimentation. It used to summarise your daily assortment of nutrients or food intake, but over the years ‘diet and dieting’ have become more about restriction, starvation and deprivation. When we don’t like our reflection, especially those thighs and that stomach, we tend to blame our body and put it on a diet. When we have no energy and feel bad about ourselves, we often think we’re not trying hard
READ MORE →Basil Pesto Recipe I LOVE making my healthy pestos and dips! Who needs the unnecessary oils, preservatives and sugars in commercial dips when it’s so easy to whip up your own and bump up your nutrient intake. I just love being able to walk out the backyard and pick from our ever-growing herb and vegetable garden and mix them with some beautiful cold pressed macadamia, coconut or olive oils, nuts, seeds, apple cider vinegar, garlic, citrus juices and good old cracked pepper and sea salt…. YUM! Even though it takes time and devotion to keep nurturing your garden, the rewards
READ MORE →Do you BYO Gluten-free to a Party? Over the weekend we spent time in Brisbane celebrating a close friends 40th Birthday. Turns out, my gluten-free dairy-free double layer Coconut Chocolate Cake was a delicious lifesaver for a Celiac guest at the party. She had brought her own container of fruit salad and drank several mugs of tea while others drank alcohol. She politely thanked and refused every single tray of food (mostly fried pastry assortments) that came around in front of her. She smiled with patience every time, never getting annoyed or frustrated, even after the dozenth time she was offered a serving of gluten.
READ MORE →Dieting Disasters It annoys and saddens me when people ask, “So what diet do you follow Viki?” Let’s be clear: I DON’T diet. I spent years dieting and it got me nowhere. I tried diet after diet. I was hungry, miserable, tired, cranky and didn’t really learn much at all about myself, my body or why I was eating the way I was, to get to that point in the first place. Following a plan was challenging because I wasn’t allowed to be in control. I had to follow what was laid out in front of me and make myself adhere
READ MORE →Don’t Miss Out! I’m a huge believer in never feeling like you’re missing out, especially when it comes to food and food intolerances. It’s simply a matter of finding a way to enjoy similar foods in a healthful way for your individual biochemistry. Foods that your body thrives on! Let’s take bread for example. So many people are showing intolerances to wheat and gluten these days – two things found in many common foods that add bulk to your meals. Below is a fantastic recipe from Tania Hubbard of Gluten Free Grain Free Co. for a small, nutritious, dense bread
READ MORE →Decadent AND Healthy! My parents were big on entertaining and hosting parties when I was growing up. We’d often have large groups of people in our backyard and patio indulging on the delights of 80’s finger food and flans. There would usually be a spread of colourful desserts like lemon slice, custard slice, chocolate éclairs, chocolate tarts, lemon tarts, fruit salad, jelly and ice-cream, trifle and of course, cheesecakes! Even though it would be many years until I connected the dots between dairy and the immediate phlegm, biliousness and sick feeling – like you’ve swallowed something well past its’ due
READ MORE →