Ingredients

1-2cups of lentils soak over night

1 leek

1 onion

2 cloves of garlic

1 large carrot

1-2 potatoes

4 rashers of lean bacon, excess fat removed

½-1 tablespoon oil

Vegeta (or chicken stock) and pepper to taste

Instructions

Step 1 Heat a wok or large pot for a few minutes with the oil. Add onion and garlic and cook until clear and soft. Keep away from burning by adding small amounts of water to the pan/wok.

Step 2 Wash, peel and chop up carrot, potato and leek and add to onion and garlic

Step 3 Meanwhile, remove visible fat from the bacon and dry fry it in the pan. Remove liquid fat from the pan and add bacon to vegetables.

Step 4 Add lentils and sufficient water to cover all ingredients. Cook stirring occasionally until lentils and vegetables are done.

Step 5 Add salt (vegeta or chicken stock) and pepper to taste

Goodbye summer and hello to the autumn. Waitangi weekend was a highlight of our summer holiday so far because after a long while we caught up with dear friends in New Plymouth.

When talking to them about us visiting for the weekend, they warned us about a funny diet they are now eating. To our relief this funny diet turned out to be a Mediterranean style diet. So over the Waitangi weekend we enjoyed stunning weather, beautiful scenery of Taranaki west coast and absolutely delicious foods.

It is needless to say that Mediterranean eating is exactly our type of eating. Our friends treated us with several good eats and this Mediterranean style fish is something we now call our family special.

Their recipe is definitely a keeper and we want to shareit with you. The best part with the recipe is that it can be done really fast, uses only few ingredients and is bursting with Mediterranean flavours. And let’s not forget it does rate as a healthy meal.

Over the last decade we are hearing a lot about Mediterranean diet and its benefits to our health. Researchers around the world looked closely into lifestyle and eating habits of people living in Mediterranean area because they seem to live longer and with fewer diseases burdening our modern communities. They found that Mediterranean diet is predominantly based on plant foods. Those foods include seasonal fruit and vegetables, whole grains and legumes. Some fish and sea foods are part of regular eating, but very small amount of processed, red meats and dairy. The main source of fat is olive oil rich in polyphenols and other unsaturated fats like fats from nuts and seeds.

Today Mediterranean diet is promoted by health professionals, and media because it is packed with fresh and seasonal foods needed to support good health. This style of eating also minimises treat foods which contribute to empty energy, weight gain, heart disease, diabetes and tooth decay.

For more Mediterranean style recipes watch our blog space, we will publish them there and share on our Facebook page and on Pinterest.

Also we incidentally stumbled upon another quick and easy meal. With a few fresh ingredients we turned a common omelette into a gala omelette. Have a go with our idea of a summer flavoured omelette. If you have a different idea and don’t mind sharing, post it on our Facebook page. We’d love to hear about your favourites.

Goodnutrition courses and seminars

We revamped our courses this year and Food and Nutrition Conversationsnow is only a weekend course. So please watch the space on our website for the course dates and spread out the word.

We will also run a series of seminars on different topics starting this April. We will post the seminar topics and dates on our website.

New Zealanders, the world leaders in butter consumption! Do we need to change this?

For those who are still not convinced that butter, which is full of bad saturated fat similar to coconut oil, should be treated as a treat only and not as a staple healthy diet please read the latest articlein Listener by a New Zealand epidemiologist. You may be interested to find out why New Zealanders are holding off their heart attacks to later age than before in spite of having a diet high in saturated fats.

Simple and nourishing lunch box

If you have a school aged child, then you know they spend at least 6 hours away from home. During those long hours they play, learn and grow. The latter is usually forgotten when we pack their lunches in a morning rush. So to support their day in the best possible way when they are out of home is to fuel them with good carbs, lean protein, and some healthy fats. Time wise, all you need is the time it takes for jug to boil water for your morning coffee. See the link to the school lunch box.

If you are vegetarian or sometime non-meat eater, you will know that there are many meals you can do with eggs. While eggs are full of protein they also deliver the whole range of other nutrients our bodies are craving for. I personally was never a big omelette’s fan. Only recently I discovered omelette recipe I do enjoy eating.

For this simple recipe, which makes 3 serves, I used

3 Large free range eggs

¼ Cup diced red capsicum

1 Medium tomato

½ Clove minced garlic

1 Hand-full of chopped basil

2tb Olive oil

2tb Grated Edam cheese

Procedure

In the frying pan, warm up the oil and garlic and keep stirring until garlic is cooked. Now add to the pan capsicum, tomato and basil. Keep it on medium heat and stir occasionally. When vegetables have softened pour whisked eggs over them and cook until the bottom of the omelette is cooked. Turn the omelette over and cook for another half a minute and dish out on a plate or warm slice of ciabatta bun, sourdough or grainy bread. Serve with side salad.

Enjoy

You don't have to be a food artist or master chef to put together your children's lunch box .

School children need lots of nutrients and energy from their foods which will feed their brains and fuel those muscles for sport and play.

And sandwiches are great food for busy and growing bodies. Making sandwiches is fast and easy. Start by spreading a couple of slices of grainy bread with hummus, avocado, or margarine, add some egg or ham, slices of cheese, cucumber and that’s done. Finally add a pottle of yoghurt, couple of pieces of fruit, some cherry tomatoes and your child’s lunch box is complete. Do not forget to throw in a cool pack if your child’s lunch box contains perishable foods.

With this foods in your child’s lunch box you can be assured that their developing brains and bodies will get the nourishing and fuel they need most.

This is our latest favorite fish dish.

We love this Mediterranean recipe because it bursts with flavor, color and taste.

Ingredients

500g white fish of your choice

2 whole tomatoes diced

100g feta diced

2Tb pitted and sliced black olives

1 tub (135g) Sundried Tomato Pesto

2Tb olive oil

Instructions

Place into a heat proof dish white fish filets of your choice (we used trevally in our recipe) and drizzle with olive oil.

Stir well in medium sized bowl sundried tomato pesto, diced tomatoes, cubed feta cheese and black olives. Spread the mixture over the top of the fish and cover he dish with aluminium foil.

Bake the fish in preheated oven at 190 for 15 min. Take off the foil and finish the last 5 min of baking at the same temperature but without the cover.

Serve hot over some rice and a side salad.

With Christmas approaching at the galloping speed, we decided to combine November and December issues into one more padded edition.

Therefore, we padded this issue with some extra easy and yummy recipes and even produced a couple of videos.