Baked pumpkin sage risotto This recipe is adapted from Donna Hay's "No Time to Cook" cookbook. The original calls for pancetta and does not call for mushrooms but I don't do very well on salty things so I opted to remove the pancetta for that reason. With that said, it does add depth of flavour and colour to the dish so I'll include the measurements in the ingredients list below and you can choose whatever variation suits you. I usually make this once a week because it requires one [...]

Banana vanilla breakfast oat slice So many people ask me for breakfast recipes and I always tell them to eat leftovers from whatever they had for dinner the night before. This never goes down well because very few can imagine eating chicken or fish for breakfast. You should try it though – it makes life and meal prep so much easier! In an effort to find an alternative to the breakfast frittata, we are introducing this oat slice. Don’t be deterred by the ingredients list – you literally just combine everything and [...]

Breakfast frittata Everyone has had a frittata at some point in their life and probably thought, “Hmmm, I could make this…” and it’s true – if you can make an omelette, you can make a frittata. That’s all it is – just one really huge omelette! The combinations are endless and you can add sweet potato if you plan to be having this pre / post training. You can also go a bit crazy and add some short cut bacon rashers or good quality sausage to make you really excited about [...]

Chicken avocado salad Easy, fresh & delicious! We are all a bit time poor and constantly in need of something “on the go”. Just because you don’t have time to sit down and eat between meetings doesn’t mean you need to sacrifice flavour and deliciousness! This Chicken Avocado Salad recipe will take less than 15 minutes to make & is a good mix of carbohydrate, fats and protein! If you find yourself a bit high on fats for the day, reduce the avocado to 1 small or 1/2 a large avocado [...]

Coconut chia seed pudding I'm low on fat intake today... ...Said no one, EVER! But just in case you are a bit low on fats, I want to share this AMAZING and EASY coconut milk chia seed option! This recipe takes about 4 minutes to prep (it actually takes longer to do the dishes required!) and can be prepped in advance. Chia seeds are an excellent source of fibre and will help keep your intestinal tract moving and healthy. I bought the jars at Target - $5 for a [...]

Date and nut bars Last year, I travelled to beautiful Kiawah Island in South Carolina to visit my family and every time we get together my Mum outdoes herself with amazing cooking and baking. We are so spoiled! My grandmother used to make a date & nut bar that was to die for but since I steer clear of flour, I wouldn’t be able to use her original recipe. Mum found this great date & walnut recipe on a fabulous website called Elana’s Pantry. The exact link is here: http://www.elanaspantry.com/date-walnut-bars/ I just [...]

Nourishing Bone Broth Bone broth is all the rage right now! A 250mL cup will cost you around $8 and it’s actually so easy to make yourself. We have to admit, the health benefits are incredible. The whole concept of bone broth revolves around the nutrient rich gelatin found in the bones of pastured cows and free range chickens. Basically, our ancestors ate the whole animal, including the joints whereas we are predominantly muscle meat eaters now (think: chicken thigh, beef rump, lamb shanks, etc) so we are missing [...]

Nut-Free Cookie Dough Bliss Balls When Mia started school and needed a packed lunch every day, I went out in search of recipes that would suit her Planetbox lunchbox. I knew bliss balls would be an easy win but was surprised to see how many contained nut flour or peanuts - both a big NO in school lunchboxes. I modified this recipe to suit our needs and our love of dark chocolate. To save time, I highly recommend you invest in an OXO brand cookie scoop, size small. If you've been [...]

Oven roasted chicken We sing the praises of homemade bone broth but very few people know how to roast a chicken so they can get the bones to make the broth. It’s actually the easiest thing to do but you need to have 10 minutes to prep and 2 hours of oven time (so you need to be home for a block of time) which can be hard with after school pick ups and afternoon activities. We make anywhere from 2 to 4 chickens a week in the oven and [...]

Polish Pierogies I'm sure you have a few recipes that are considered "family traditions", passed down to the next generation around the holidays. Sometimes a recipe is written down on the back of an envelope but more often than not, there are no set quantities for the ingredients but rather everything is mixed by "feel and consistency". For my family, that recipe is our Polish Pierogies. We have them once a year around Christmas time and I've seen my Mum making them at various stages throughout the process but never paid [...]

Quick Energy Oat Jars These Oat Jars are easy to make, can be made in bulk in advance and are very portable! We bought these mason jars in a 9 pack from Kmart. You can exercise a bit of creativity with this as well because you can add just about anything to this mix to make sure you are hitting your macronutrient numbers. Oats pack a powerful punch of energy so you want to be consuming this anywhere from 90 minutes before you train to 90 minutes post training. This is not a [...]

Salsa Chicken This is the $1 Million Grand Prize winner of the 1998 Pillsbury Bake-Off.  I wish I came up with a recipe that won me $1 million!  In any case, I think it's worth every penny.  This dish has so much flavour and will keep in the fridge for at least 5 days.  I used to measure out the ingredients but now I just dump them all together in one big pot and it works.  For my photos today, I'll measure for you. If you are time-poor (aren't we all?) [...]

Sweet potato hash This is such a yummy breakfast and is filled with all things AMAZING. The recipe should take you about 15 minutes to prep (chop!) and about 20 minutes to cook on the stovetop. I suggest serving it with poached eggs or eggs sunny side up! You want to avoid overcooking your eggs as the yolk contains valuable nutrients (like choline – which clears fat from your liver!). Prolonged exposure to high heat can denature the enzymes and we wouldn’t want that! Ingredients: 8-10 short cut bacon [...]