Atlantic Salmon, Roasted Vegetable, Grilled Eggplant and Charred Kale Salad

This dish was quite possibly one of the most satisfying meals we have made! (well most definitely in our top 5). It was rich in flavours and just really hit the spot. It doesn’t take much preparation so there are no excuses with this one!

We enjoyed this meal the day our mum came home from Europe. We spent the whole day chatting and catching up on the past two months. This dish with a glass of organic shiraz was the perfect end to the day

Enjoy this meal, and every other meal, with your loved ones. No one should ever eat alone

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Ingredients (Serves two as a main)

All our ingredients were organic. Try eat organic vegetables (especially leafy greens) where possible

– 1/2 a small eggplant

– 1/2 a sweet potato (or one small sweet potato)

– 2 handfuls of brussel sprouts

– 2 handfuls of curly kale (around three leaves)

– 2 wild salmon fillets

– 1/2 an avocado

– 2 tablespoons of pistachio kernels

– Sicilian olives (around six per person or how ever many you desire)

– 2 cloves of garlic

– Parsley (to garnish)

– Extra virgin olive oil

– 1 teaspoon of coconut oil

– Himalayan salt and pepper

– 1 teaspoon of ground sage

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Method (you will need an oven, grill, fry pan and wok)

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius

Wash all vegetables thoroughly

Roughly chop sweet potato and keep brussel sprouts whole. Place them on a tray with the garlic cloves (you can keep the cloves whole or chop them roughly)

Drizzle your vegetables with one tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle with pepper and salt. Massage the oil into the vegetables and place in the oven to roast for around 30-40 minutes

Once your vegetables have been in the oven for 15-20 minutes, turn on your grill and slice 1/2 the eggplant in half again, making two quarters. Make a few slits in the eggplant (not on the skin side) and massage around one tablespoon (or slightly less) of olive oil, pepper, salt and ground sage all over and in between the slits of the eggplant. Place under the grill with the skin side facing down. The eggplant will take around 15 minutes (may take longer depending on how high you put your grill on – keep your eye on them)

Check your vegetables, if you can easily place a knife through the sweet potato thats the sign that you can start your salmon fillets!

On a fry pan, place the coconut oil and wait until the pan heats up. Then place your salmon fillets with a drizzle of lemon and pepper. Salmon usually takes around 5 minutes each side, however this will depend on your frypan and how cooked you like your fish

Slice 1/2 your avocado in half again, making two quarters. We then decided to grill our avocado for a few minutes (feel free to keep your avocado fresh – grilled and fresh avocado taste quite different and can change the taste of your dish. With this in mind, grilled avocado went perfectly with this dish)

Once your fish is nearly ready (or ready), roughly chop the kale and place on a wok with a dash of water. Sauté the kale for only 3 minutes

Now you will be ready to start serving. So! First place your sautéed kale on two plates. Then top with your sweet potato and brussel sprouts. Grab your eggplant and chop into thick chunks then place on plates. Grab your avocado and either slice or leave whole and place on plates. Grab your salmon fillets and roughly chop into thick chunks… then guess what… place them on the plates

Add your olives and pistachio kernels

Garnish with some fresh parsley!

Spring Salad Series #5

SPRING SALAD SERIES

Roasted Vegetables and Poached Chicken on a bed of herbs and Kamala Olives

This salad is pretty simple but it incorporates basically all of our favourite foods so we’re pretty excited to share it with you guys! Who doesn’t love garlic-y roasted veggies, tender poached chicken, herbs, avocado, olives and olive oil?! We absolutely love all of these ingredients and make a version of this salad often at home. Grilled salmon or finely sliced lamb backstrap or even a nice eye fillet steak goes wonderfully.

It’s one of our staple dishes so make it with love and enjoy with close friends and family

Ingredients Opt for organic ingredients if possible

– 2 small to medium potatoes

– 1 fennel bulb

– 2 to 4 carrots

– 1 beetroot

– 1 leek

– 3 cups of finely chopped herbs and greens of choice. We used parsley, fennel leaves, rosemary, chives and spinach 

– 10 pitted Kamala Olives

– 2 organic chicken breasts

– Half an avocado

– 2 tbsp of Olive oil (the the dressing and for the roasting)

– 2 tbsp Apple cider vinegar

– 1 teaspoon of cumin

– Himalayan salt

– Pepper

Method

1. Set your oven to about 175 degrees Celsius.

2. Cup on all your root veggies into generous sized chunks. Scatter onto an oven tray and drizzle with olive oil, himalayan salt, pepper and cumin. We also added a few  rosemary sprigs, a few a couple of cloves of garlic (leave the outer skin on) and some thyme from the garden.

3. Once oven is ready, place your veggies in. They will take about half an hour to get nicely roasted and golden. Thats you’re prep for your roasted veggies done, now you can work on your greens. You really can use any herbs that you may have on hand for this salad. We have heaps of parsley, chives, fennel leaves, spinach and rosemary so we roughly cut them all up and scattered them onto two plates.

4. As your veggies are roasting, bring a saucepan of water to the boil. As you are waiting for the water to boil, slice your two chicken breasts into about 2 centimetre pieces. You should be able to cut about 4 to 5 pieces per breast.

5. When the water is boiling, add your chicken. The pieces will be readily poached when they sort of start to float to the top. Around 5 to 10 minutes (its a bit of a guessing game to be honest! so keep checking them – you don’t want to ‘over poach’ them as that will make them dry and chewy!)

6. Your veggies and chicken should be done around the same time. Distribute the veggies evenly onto the two plates (with the already made greens) and top with your nicely poached chicken.

7. Now for the finishing touches. Add around 5 olives to each plate, plus a quarter of an avocado. We like to create an ‘avo slide’ by finely slicing the avocado and melding it into the shape of a ‘slide’ Refer to the photos

8. We keep our salad dressings simple with just olive oil, apple cider vinegar, himalayan salt and pepper.

9. Eat

M + S xx

Spring Salad Series No# 4

Spring Salad Series

Shaved Beetroot and Shredded Chicken Salad with Quinoa and Spiced Cumin Yoghurt. 

Recently we’ve been experiencing a croissant craving. Now, we don’t usually get immense food cravings as we eat a pretty balanced diet, incorporating all food groups and tune into what our bodies need on a daily basis. For some reason however, we’ve been really wanting to indulge in the buttery-ness and crispness of a freshly baked croissant. We’re thinking it’s the fact that we leave for europe in two months time (omg!) in combination with our desire to visit our favourite bakery in Melbourne – Tivoli Road Bakery. Literally the best bakery. We absolutely love everything about it. Mmm their smoked trout on rye is to die for. As well as their fruit toast (apparently, we’re yet to try it)

So last night we decided that this morning we’d make the long over due visit to our favourite bakery and indulge in the buttery-ness and crispness of their famous croissants.

Best Decision Ever.

After our delicious breakfast we stopped by the markets and bought some fresh deli sicilian olives, goats feta and organic grass fed lamb straps (for dinner tonight!)

With the beetroots, chicken and quinoa that we already had in the fridge, we put together this fun, italian inspired spring salad. To go with our french inspired breakfast of course. 

Ingredients (Serves two as a main dish)

-3 small beetroots

– 6 leaves of rainbow chard

-1 cup of pre cooked quinoa (we make big batched and leave in the fridge)

– Half a punnet of strawberries

-1 chicken breast (poached and then shredded with a fork)

– 10 sicilian olives

– 2 – 3 tablespoons of full fat greek yoghurt

– 1 teaspoon of cumin (can use less if you find cumin too strong)

-1 teaspoon of tahini

– A few leaves of flat parsley

-Himalayan salt and pepper to taste

-1 teaspoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 175 degrees celsius. Whilst you’re waiting for the oven to warm up, leave the beetroots whole and cover them with aluminium foil. Finely chop your rainbow chard and layer evenly on two plates.

2. When the oven is ready, place the beetroots on the middle rack and bake for about half an hour.

3. As the beetroots are in the oven, heat up a saucepan of water on the stove with a tad of salt and bring to the boil. As you’re waiting for the water, you can prep your chicken by dicing up the breast into generous sized pieces. (You can also poach the chicken whole, however this will take you more time)

4. When the water is boiling, pop in your chicken. It will take about 6-8 minutes to poach (depending on the size of your pieces). It is important to keep a close eye on it as you don’t want it to over cook!

5. As the beetroots are in the oven and the chicken is poaching, heat up your quinoa on the stove (ours was pre-cooked so we just had to quickly re-heat) and start to prep your yoghurt. Grab a small bowl and scoop in two to three tablespoons of full fat yoghurt. Add your cumin, tahini and pepper and mix together. Set aside. You can also slice your strawberries either in halves or quarters.

6. The chicken should be ready by now so remove from the stove and drain. Poached chicken should be extremely tender so shredding with a fork should be relatively easy. Basically just ‘stroke’ the pieces with your fork so they almost rip apart. (Sorry that’s a little hard to explain). Set the chicken aside on a plate

7. Remove the beetroots from the oven and test whether you can insert a knife through the middle. If you can they are ready to be finely shaved with either a sharp nice or a large grater. Finely shave the beetroot and place half onto of the rainbow chard that you have already placed on the plates.

8. Evenly distribute the quinoa onto the two plates, alternating with beetroot, shredded chicken, sicilian olives and strawberries. You’re basically layering your ingredients.

9. Now top with a dollop of your yoghurt that you set aside just moments ago and garnish with himalayan salt, pepper and parsley. You can also drizzle with some olive oil if you wish!

10. EAT

We hope you enjoy it! Please let us know what you think!

Oh and also, head over to Tivoli Road Bakery in Melbourne and indulge in one of their croissants.

M + S xx

Rich Cacao and Espresso Mousse

For all you dessert lovers out there! And coffee lovers, and banana lovers…

Ingredients  (will yield two large servings or 3-4 small servings)

– Two small/medium ripe bananas

– Two tablespoons of raw cacao (we use loving earth)

– One tablespoon of ground (good quality) espresso coffee

– Pinch of himalayan salt

– 1/2 a teaspoon of cinnamon

– Fresh blueberries or rasberries

– Dash of distilled water

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Method

1) Place all the ingredients into a food processor. Blitz them until you get a smooth consistency, adding water if you feel as though it is a tad dry

2) Place in fridge for a couple of hours before serving

3) Top with the berries! Serve in small ramekins or just use a spoon and share with your loved ones

Spring Salad Series #2

We’re off to Europe in exactly 10 weeks. It’s no secret that we are completely, 100% obsessed with everything to do with the European culture. The fresh food, old buildings, their train systems, cute bakeries, red wine (lots of red wine), the coop (only a few people would understand this), friendly people and most importantly our family in Neuchatel, Switzerland.

Our love for Europe has come to a stage where we are trying to set up camp over there, permanently. This means a lot of research, visas, Italian passports, what do we do with our clothes?! how much money do we need? etc. It has been quite a headache. But so worth it.

Amongst this research, we have been taking our time in the kitchen, cooking and creating beautiful recipes to share with the world. As we have started our Spring Salad Series, this week we had to come up with salad number 2! Feeling a bit sluggish today, we opted for a lighter salad, bringing us back to our European summers.

Hope you enjoy this meal! Make sure to share it with family and close friends, no one likes eating alone.

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Fennel, Celery, Rocket and Sardine Salad with black Sesame

Organic Ingredients

Serves two

Half a fennel

One celery stalk

Two handfuls of rocket

Two small oranges (we picked these from our garden)

One can of sardines in olive oil

One teaspoon of black sesame seeds

Few sprigs of fresh parsley

Two teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil

Himalayan salt (to taste)

Pepper (to taste)

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Method

 Quite simple, no need for the stove or any other appliances

– Wash fennel and celery thoroughly

– Roughly (julienne) slice the celery and fennel

– Prepare two plates, and place one handful of rocket on each. Then top with the fennel and celery

-Peel the two oranges, and slice into thin circles (we’re not too sure how to explain this but we’re sure you will understand what we mean..). Place oranges onto the plates

– Divide the can of sardines in half and top onto the salads

– Sprinkle with black sesame, EVOO, pepper and salt. Oh and don’t forget the parsley!

– Serve with fresh dark bread (we had ours with some wholemeal organic spelt crackers)

– Bon Appetit!

Carrot and Walnut Loaf

Gluten free, sugar free and dairy free Loaf. Perfect for sensitive tummies.

If you have a normal stomach unlike us and can tolerate milk and gluten, feel free to use milk instead of the water and spelt flour/wholemeal flour instead of the buckwheat!

Absolutely brilliant with our Pumpkin, Rosemary and Feta mash on a cold wintery morning. Comfort food at it’s finest

Ingredients

Wet ingredients 

– 1 cup of buckwheat flour

– 1 cup of almond meal

– 1 – 2 tbsp of psyllium husk powder

– 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds

– 1/2 cup of walnuts

– 1 teaspoon of cinnamon

– 1/2 tsp of nutmeg

– 1/2 tsp of himalayan salt

Dry Ingredients

– 2 cups of grated carrot (about two medium sized carrots)

– 3 organic eggs

– 1 chia egg (1 tbsp of chia in 3 tsp of water –  let it sit)

– 1/4 cup of coconut oil

– A few drops of liquid stevia or 1 tsp of raw honey.

– 1/4 cup of water (may not need – depends on the consistency when mixing all ingredients together)

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Method

Turn your oven on to 180 degrees celsius 

1. Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl

2. In a separate bowl, add all the wet ingredients (except the carrot) together and throughly whisk.

3. Once adequately mixed, add the carrot.

4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently fold with a wooden spoon. Try not to mix it aggressively as you need the mixture to stay light. If you find it is too dry, add more water, if it is too sloppy, add more psyllium husk powder.

5. Transfer the mixture into a lined loaf tin or a silicon tin and top with extra sunflower seeds.

6. Bake in the oven for about 1 hour or until golden on top.

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Enjoy with organic butter, almond butter, avocado or our scrumptious pumpkin mash. Delish!

M + S x

Broccoli and Pea Puree

WINTER WARMER SERIES

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We have one month off uni and boy have we hit holiday mode.

Quick 5am workouts at home before a quick breakfast and then quickly out the door to quickly get to uni by 8 am is thankfully behind us, for one month at least. Our mornings now consist of a slightly longer sleep in, a longer yoga session or workout and a slower, more relaxing breakfast.

We don’t only have more time for relaxing mornings, now we can also cook a wholesome lunch at home. Look, this may not seem all that exciting for some but for uni students who have spent three months eating packed quinoa salads out of glass containers, home lunches are kind of a big deal.

Today for lunch we opted for our usual of quinoa, spinach, roasted root vegetables and poached chicken. However seeing as today was a ‘home lunch’ (yes!), we whipped up a broccoli and pea puree to dollop on top.

This green puree is so versatile. You can have it as a side to meal like how we’ve done today, you can smear it on paleo toast, have it as a snack mixed with a handful of nuts or eat it as a soup by adding a little more bone broth. Options are endless!

Ingredients

– 2 heads of broccoli

– The stalks of one bunch of kale

– 1 leek

– 1 cup of frozen peas

– 2-3 cups of beef or chicken bone broth. we used homemade 48hr beef broth.

– 1/2 small onion

– 2 cloves of crushed garlic

– 1 tsp of cumin

– 1 bay leaf

– 1 tsp of turmeric

– 1/2 teaspoon of himalayan salt

– Pepper to taste

– 1/2 – 1 tbsp of coconut oil (for sautéing leek)

Method

1. Heat coconut oil in a pan. Once warm, sauté the onion and garlic until tender.

2. Dice the leek and add to the pan. Stir through for a few minutes, then add the spices and a dash of water.

3. Saute until leek is tender.

4. Add the broccoli, peas and kale stalks and thoroughly mix with the leek for a few minutes.

5. Add your broth, salt, pepper and bay leaf and bring to a gentle boil (basically simmer)

6. Lower the heat and cover for about 20 minutes)

7. Once the kale stalks are tender-ish, remove the puree from the pot and add to a blender. Pulse on high until smooth.

8. Serve!

M + S x

Winter Sweet Potato and Sardine Salad

WINTER SALAD SERIES

Oven baked Sweet Potato on a bed of sautéed Brussel sprouts and Sustainable Sardines. Topped with sunflower seed pesto, black olives, goats feta and fresh parsley

Much of our inspiration behind our cooking is from Jacqueline Alwill and her ‘Brown Paper Bag Blog’. Her beautifully presented meals and recipes have an abundance of nutrients, incorporating all major food groups. She includes red and white meat, cheese and eggs within her recipes, demonstrating a balanced and sensible approach to wellness. We very much admire her cooking and frequently check her blog for updates – the recipe for the pesto that we’re about to post is adapted from her page.

Ingredients: Serves two as a main

-1/2 a small to medium sweet potato. Finely sliced lengthways

– 2 cups of brussel sprouts. Cut in half

– 1/4 cup of green peas (we use organic frozen)

– 1 tin of sustainable sardines in olive oil

– 1/4 goats feta

– 1/2 cup of black olives

– 1/4-1/3 cup of Pesto (Click here for Brown Paper Bag recipe)

– Fresh Parsley

-Pepper to taste

– Himalayan salt to taste

Method

This recipe is very basic! It’ll take you around 20 minutes to prepare so very convenient for a mid week meal 

1. Place your finely sliced sweet potato on a tray. Brush with a tad of olive oil, salt and pepper. Back in oven set at 180 degrees for about 20 minutes.

2. Whilst sweet potato is in the oven, sauté your brussel sprouts and peas in a wok on high heat in a bit of coconut oil (or water). Keep sautéing till the brussels begin to soften and possibly turn a little brown at the edges. Once ready mix through the black olives and  evenly distribute onto two plates.

3. The sweet potato should be ready now, remove from oven and delicately layer onto the greens.

4. With your tinned sardines, evenly halve and coarsely break over the potato.

5. Top with the pesto, goats feta and fresh parsley

6. A dash of olive oil and you’re good to go!

Cacao Bliss Balls

So, we’ve joined the bliss ball club. It’s pretty awesome. 

We definitely love our snacks, I mean who doesn’t? The idea that some people go hours and hours between each meal without a nibble or a graze just baffles us. Snacks provide your body with energy to continuously burn, allowing your metabolism to remain active and alert. They stabilise your blood sugar levels and prevent that 3 pm mind fog. Adding protein to your snacks and some healthy fats also keeps you sustained throughout the day, preventing over-eating at meal times. 

We joined the snack club years ago, but we are only recent members of the bliss ball club.

 You should join the club too.

Bliss Balls 

1 cup of dates (pitted)

1/2 cup of rolled oats

1/2 cup of desiccated coconut

1 tbsp of cacao (or more if you’re a choccie fan!)

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

A pinch of himalayan salt

1 tbsp of chia seeds or flax seeds

2-3 tbsp of coconut oil

**If you’re a protein powder kinda gal/guy, feel free to add a scoop to give these babies an added protein punch. We personally don’t use protein powder but if you do, try adding it in and let us know how it goes!

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend till the desired consistency. You may need to add some water as you want the mixture to stick well together. 

Once blended, roll into balls and coat with more coconut or more cacao! Pop in the fridge to let them set a bit. We usually leave them in the fridge over night before grabbing one to munch on. 

So delicious as a mid morning snack, 3 pm pick-me-up or an after dinner treat. Go on, jump on the bliss ball bandwagon and give them a go! 

Twins xx

Pumpkin, Turmeric and Leek soup

Nothing warms your belly quite like a big bowl of pumpkin goodness.

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Our version of the typical ‘mums homemade pumpkin soup’ has added immune boosting properties with the addition of turmeric and ginger. Super nourishing and warming on a chilly night. We love to get a little over board with our toppings, adding avocado, wilted kale, cheese,  extra spice, fresh herbs and sometimes some protein like poached chicken. The options are endless!

Like most of our recipes, this soup is easy to throw together – all you need are a few staple spices like turmeric and cumin, herbs like parsley and thyme and veggies.

** Also, the small side bowl in the above image is a sneak peak of our pumpkin and sweet potato curry. The recipe for this little gem will be up on the blog soon!

Ingredients 

– 3/4 of a large butternut pumpkin

– 1 Leek

– 2 small carrots

– 750 ml of water (1 Litre if you want a ‘thinner’ consistency)

Use a homemade vegetable stock if you have that on hand, if not water is fine! (we used water)

– 2 garlic cloves

– 1 small/medium brown onion

– 1 tsp of grated fresh ginger

– 1 tbsp of ground turmeric or grated fresh turmeric root

– 1 tsp of ground cumin

– 1 Bay Leaf

– 1 quarter of a cup of finely chopped fresh herbs (thyme, sage and parsley)

– Half a tsp of cayenne pepper

– Pepper to taste

– Himalayan Salt to taste

Toppings: Avocado, wilted kale, parsley and bocconcini cheese. We also added a ‘Moroccan souk’ spice that we purchased from a spice shop in the city. You can just finish with either dusting some more turmeric or quickly whipping up your own dukkah. 

Method

1. Heat your pot with some coconut oil and start by sautéing your onion, garlic and ginger. Heat till onion browns (be careful not to burn it)

2. Add a dash of water and all your spices and keep sautéing for a couple of minutes to create a paste like consistency.

3. Next add your Leek – sauté for a few minutes before adding your pumpkin and carrots.

4. Cook the veggies in the pot for about 10 minutes, making sure to continue stirring so that the onion doesn’t brown.

5. Add your water, himalayan salt and bay leaf and bring the pot to a boil.

6. Once boiling, lower the heat and simmer for about half an hour (the longer the better).

7. Turn off the heat and blend your mixture with a hand blender.

8. Voila! You have made pumpkin soup, easy hey?

9. Top with your favourites. We mixed through some wilted kale, avocado, bocconcini cheese (we also love haloumi in soup) and parsley

10. EAT

M + S xx