10 Whole Food Meatball Recipes

October 15, 2015 · Leave a Comment

10 Whole Food Meatball Recipes

Meatballs (or if you want to be really Aussie, rissoles) are a must-have in the repertoire for whole food mums.

Mince is one of those budget ingredients that can be used in so many ways and with so many flavours.

You can serve meatballs straight up with veges or salad. You can make them big to go in a homemade burger or mini to go in lunch boxes or on a wrap.

My tip is to cook them on a tray in the oven for about 10 to 15 minutes on medium. Its saves burning and mess on the stovetop! Plus you can make a double batch and whack some in the freezer for another meal or to pull out for easy kid lunches.

You can use any sort of mince or a combination of meat for meatballs or you can make vegetarian meatballs – I have included two of those for you – it’s good to change it up.

Here are ten awesome meatball recipes to get you inspired…..

Morrocan Lamb Meatballs with Tzatziki

Beef and Pork Meatballs with Tomato Sauce

Turkey, Lemon and Fetta Meatballs

Herbed Green Polpette with Minted Tomato Sauce

Chilli con Carne Meatballs with Sweet Pepper and Black Beans

Baked Apple and Pork Meatballs

Chicken and Spinach Patties

Roasted Sweet Potato and Chickpea Patties

Healthy Fish Cakes

Spicy Meatballs with Adjika and Yoghurt

Do you have a favourite meatball recipe? Link us up!

Mexican lamb shoulder with pomegranate glaze

September 3, 2015 · 33 Comments

Today I am so thrilled to share with you a recipe from Lee Holmes’ new cookbook, The Renewable Table.

I am a long-time fan of Lee and her amazing recipes. I actually think this cookbook might be her best yet (well, for time-poor mums anyway!) Lee Holmes is a certified holistic nutritionist, yoga teacher, wholefoods chef, best-selling author and a mum.

The reason I love this book so much is that the recipes use the concept of ‘continuum cooking’. I have been doing this for years and I didn’t even know there was a name for it! Basically you make one meal with extra food and then subsequent meals use components of that meal, but re-imagined into something a bit different.

As well as saving you time and money, it’s a very sustainable and eco-friendly way to cook with no wastage! Lee also gives us loads of information, shopping lists and tips on meal planning, storage, reheating and stocking the pantry. It’s designed to give you the basic skills of continuum cooking and then inspire you to make up your own ideas.

There are 50 recipes that are gluten free with some dairy free to get you inspired (and salivating).

Today I am sharing Lee’s yummy Mexican Lamb Shoulder with Pomegranate Glaze. It’s a gorgeous slow roast, full of flavour. You can then make Mexican Fajitas and Lamb Nachos with as your next two renewable meals with the leftover lamb.

Mexican lamb shoulder with pomegranate glaze

Vital Stats: gluten free, grain free, egg free, nut free

Ingredients:

4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 lemon halved and pips removed
1 tsp Celtic Sea Salt
1 tsp black pepper
2kg bone-in lamb shoulder joint
2 brown onions, cut into wedges
1 whole quorn of garlic unpeeled
1l pomegranate juice
1 lemon juiced
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp rice malt syrup
250g full fat natural yogurt
Seeds from 1 fresh pomegranate
Small handful mint leaves, chopped

Method:

To make marinade place garlic, cinnamon, cumin, oregano, lemon and rind, salt and pepper and blend until smooth. Place the lamb in a large baking dish and spoon the mixture on top and massage in with hands. Let marinate in fridge for between 2 and up to 24 hours.

Heat oven to 160°C/140°C fan/ gas 3. Place lamb into pan and garlic and onions surrounding the lamb, then pour over the pomegranate juice and lemon and apple cider vinegar.

Cover the lamb with foil and cook for approx. 4 hrs checking every hour and re basting with the juice. When ready and after four hours, remove pan from the oven and carefully remove lamb and pour juice into a saucepan on the stove over a medium heat. Replace lamb into baking tray and place back into the oven whilst you are making the syrup.

Add rice malt syrup and cook until bubbly and a thick syrup is formed adding more rice malt syrup if necessary. This should take about 20 minutes. Once it is ready, remove foil from lamb, pour it over the lamb and return to oven for 20 mins until the lamb becomes crispy on top.

To make the dressing:

In a small bowl mix yogurt, pomegranate seeds and mint. Serve lamb with dressing and a side of green vegetables.

Some other recipe books from Lee that I love and recommend:

10 Nourishing Winter Dinners

July 9, 2014 · 7 Comments

One great thing about winter is the food! A chance to tuck into warming, hearty dishes!

Your slow cooker is your best friend in winter time. Load it up with meat, veges, flavourings and a little bone broth in the mornings and you will come home to a nutritious meal.

Make a huge batch and you will have meals for several nights or freeze the leftovers for another time.

Here are ten warming ideas from some amazing Aussie wellness bloggers.

My Slow Cooked Goat Chops in Red Wine with Polenta.

Fish and Corn Congee from Wendy at Vegie Smugglers.

Kangaroo Pies with Homemade Tomato Sauce from Nikki at The Wholefood Mama.

Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks by Jules Galloway, Naturopath

Cheap as Chicken Curry from Louise at Yogi Tree.

Hearty BBQ Meat Loaf by Jen’s Paleo Kitchen

Homemade Baked Beans by Jo at Quirky Cooking

Slow Cooked Beef Cheek Casserole from Angela at Lovely Little Coconuts.

Vegetable Paella from Cyndi at Changing Habits.

Healthy Roast Marinated Chicken from Georgia at Well Nourished.

Do you have a favourite winter warmer recipe for dinner? Share it with us!

Don’t forget to check out the 10 Nourishing Winter Soups post!

Easy Peasy Lamb Moussaka

August 19, 2013 · 8 Comments

I know the Greeks will throw their hands up in horror at my version of lamb moussaka but hey, mums are busy and we need cheat versions sometimes!

This recipe is so tasty and it is a great way to eat a ‘lasagne’ type of dish without the wheat. The eggplant sort of smooshes into the meat and you can’t really tell it’s there – so try it on the kids!

When making and serving this moussaka,you must also pronounce it like George from Masterchef – moooo (long) sah-kah (short) just to annoy your offspring! 😉

Easy Peasy Lamb Moussaka

Vital Stats: gluten free, grain free, nut free, dairy free option

Okay, so this is what you need:

500g organic lamb mince

2 large organic eggplants

1 jar of organic pasta sauce (or make your own with passata, onion, garlic and herbs)

1 can of organic diced tomatoes (use a BPA free brand)

250g fresh full cream ricotta cheese (from the deli)

2 organic eggs

1/2 cup milk of your choice

Okay, this is how you do it:

Pre-heat your oven to 180° celsius.

Cook your lamb mince in a large frypan, breaking up the lumps as you go.

Add the pasta sauce and tomatoes and simmer for a few minutes.

Slice the eggplants into rounds, about 1/2 cm thick.

Oil a large lasagne dish.

Put the eggplant in the bottom and then top with a layer of mince. Keep going until you run out of ingredients.

If you have too much for the dish, just make some mini ones in ramekins.

Whisk the ricotta, eggs and milk until smooth or whizz in an appliance.

Spread with a spatula over the top of the moussaka.

Bake, covered, in the oven for about 50 minutes or until the eggplant is soft and the top is brown. I usually take the cover off in the last ten minutes.

Serve with a green salad and enjoy!

Notes:

* This moussaka makes about 6 portions.

* If you have time, feel free to add garlic, onion, grated vegetables or Vital Veggie Power to the mince mixture and make your own pasta sauce. Both ways taste equally nice!

* For a dairy-free version, top with Quirky Cooking’s Melty ‘Cheese‘ instead of the ricotta mixture.

* You can also make this with beef mince, but it’s just not as nice! 😉

So, have a go at this one and let me know what the family thought!

Slow cooked goat chops in red wine with polenta

May 4, 2013 · 9 Comments

Organic goat neck chops are a budget-friendly option at your organic butcher and they taste amazing. Think lamb but a more subtle flavour. Use lamb neck chops or just lamb chops instead if you want!

Slow Cooked Goat Chops in Red Wine with Polenta

Vital Stats: gluten-free, egg-free, nut-free, can be dairy-free.

Serves 8.

Okay, so this is what you need:

8 large goat neck chops or goat loin chops

3 cups bone broth (I use chicken but anything is fine)

1 cup red wine

2 onions, sliced

2 carrots, sliced

2 bay leaves

4 organic garlic cloves, crushed

2 cups organic polenta

1 litre full cream organic milk (we love Barambah)

1 litre chicken bone broth or stock

pink Himalayan salt

cracked black pepper

Okay, so this is how you do it:

Heat oven to 180°C. Brown the chops in batches in a frypan on the stove. We don’t use oil as there is enough fat on the chops. Place in a large baking tray.

Saute the onion and garlic in the fat from the chops on a medium heat. Sprinkle over the top of the chops the sliced carrots and bay leaves. Pour over the red wine and 3 cups of chicken stock and a good sprinkle of salt and pepper.

Place in the oven to slow cook for two to two and a half hours or until the chops are tender. You do need to check and turn them a few times as there is no cover. Add more liquid if needed.

You can also cook this in a slow cooker. Just reduce the bone broth to 1 cup instead of 3. Cook on high for about four hours or low for about eight hours. You want the meat falling off the bone!

To cook the polenta, heat the milk and stock in the saucepan until boiling. Add the polenta in a steady stream while stirring all the while. You might like to use a whisk to avoid lumps.

Turn the temperature down and stir occasionally until the polenta is thick. It will take about 20 minutes or so.Season with salt and pepper.

Put a big dollop of polenta on the plate and serve with the chops and vegetables and some of the pan juices drizzled on top with some green steamed vegetables on the side.

To make this recipe dairy free, simply use all stock for the polenta instead of the milk.

Notes:

I always choose an organic polenta to avoid GMO corn.

Want to know more about bone broth? Check out my Beginner’s Guide to Bone Broth.

Have you eaten goat? How do you cook it?

A (Mostly) Healthy BBQ for 12

November 12, 2012 · 27 Comments

Last weekend, I had all my family at my house for my Mum’s 60th birthday.

I decided to go with a healthy BBQ with a bit of a gourmet twist and a few treats thrown in. Most of it was homemade, but there were a few shortcuts. Hey, a girl has to be realistic!

We decorated and catered on a budget. It was so lovely and relaxing to have it at home. Later in the night, when all the candles were on, it was magical sitting out on the deck.

My photos are not that great as I was running around like a chook with my head cut off! So, please excuse them!

I hope you enjoy the recipes. Most of these are our favourite things to eat.

First though, I will tell you a little bit about our decorations.

I had been stalking Pinterest for ages looking for some good ideas. They didn’t all come together exactly how I wanted them and I ran out of time to iron the tablecloth, but I was still happy.

Plain white tablecloths. Branches off the gum trees (was going to be hessian but Spotlight had run out!). Silver platters from the opshop topped with rocks and candles. Assorted natural looking things I already had. Loads of tealights in glass holders from Ikea. Glass vases and white flowers. Crochet doilies from the opshop. Hanging glass bubbles with tealights. Paper doilies with place names handwritten.

Now, let me tell you what we ate.

Pear, Brie and Prosciutto Forks. This is one of our favourite appetisers to eat, but we don’t eat it much anymore because of the prosciutto. It’s a rare treat and we thoroughly enjoyed it! I got the idea of putting it on forks for presentation from a Home Beautiful magazine. So this is how you do it: Cut a pear into thin slices and rub with lemon juice. Place a small wedge of brie (Jindi triple cream brie is sublime) and a small smear of Maggie Beer’s quince paste on the pear. Wrap a thin piece of prosciutto around the pear and spear onto a fork. Make as many as you need, arrange attractively on a platter and scatter with some fresh thyme.

Caprese Salad. So simple. Just layer roma tomato slices with bocconcini slices, sprinkle with fresh basil, drizzle with some good quality virgin, organic olive oil and some cracked pepper. Always make and serve at room temperature for the best flavour.

Beetroot, Lime and Apple Salad. Thermomix owners will be familiar with this one – but I change it up a bit! For those without a thermy, get a couple of fresh, peeled beetroot and a couple of green apples. Grate coarsely. Add 1/4 to 1/2 a finely chopped red onion. Add salt and pepper, good quality virgin, organic olive oil and lime juice to taste. I make this all the time. Love it.

Green Salad. I just made this one up. I wanted a green salad, but with a bit of colour. So, it’s a mix of rocket, spinach and tatsoi to which I added snow-pea sprouts, cucumber, radish slices and macadamias. We just served a simple vinaigrette with this made from apple cider vinegar, chia oil, mustard and salt and pepper.

Lemony Asparagus. Simple fresh, organic asparagus, with lots of lemon juice, salt and pepper quickly cooked on the BBQ.

Fresh prawns. You can’t be a Queenslander and not love prawns! We actually had these as an entree, in two large serving bowls on ice with some snowpea sprouts to decorate. I had warm water in finger bowls, lots of lemon wedges and two dipping sauces. Both sauces were based on my mayo recipe. To one, I added lime juice, garlic and lime zest to make lime aioli and the other I added organic tomato sauce and cayenne pepper to make a spicy thousand island sauce.

Crispy potatoes. These were going to be something more elaborate. But in the end, I just got some organic baby potatoes, tossed them in coconut oil, added pink salt and ground pepper and cooked in the oven on a high temperature for about 30 minutes. The leftovers were nice the next day, cut up cold with some of the lime aioli and tzatziki as a dressing.

Lime, Coconut and Chilli Chicken. This is a really yummy recipe I adapted from this one at taste.com.au. Blitz in your thermomix or food processor, the rind and juice of two limes, 1 green chilli, 3 cloves of garlic, 1/4 cup coconut oil, 1/2 cup coriander leaves and 1/4 cup mint leaves. Rub well into 800g organic chicken thighs, cubed. Marinate 20 mins in the fridge (I don’t think you can do it for too much longer as the lime juice will ‘cook’ the chicken). Thread onto pre-soaked bamboo skewers. Cook on the BBQ 5 minutes each side. We served it with some tzatziki on the side, fresh coriander leaves and lime wedges.

Spicy Lamb Steaks. This is also a really delicious recipe. I adapted it from a cookbook I have called, Easy Mediterranean. Using 24 small lamb rump steaks, I marinated them overnight in a mix of eight crushed garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon of sweet paprika, 6 tablespoons of grapeseed oil, salt and pepper and 8 sprigs of fresh thyme leaves. I served it with a jarred vegetable relish, Ajvar (love this stuff). Everyone loved the lamb best!

Fresh Fruit Platter. What could be healthier or easier? It’s always very popular! Just select a range of seasonal fruit, find yourself a platter, cut and arrange artistically. I like to put the big pieces of fruit on the bottom (there was also pineapple hiding in there) and then add smaller pieces and then decorate with strawberries and grapes. Try to get a mix of colours for the best look.

Raw Mango Cheesecake. This was a variation of my berry cheesecake. The base was 2 cups organic almonds, 1 cup dates, 1 cup organic turkish apricots, 1/2 cup shredded coconut, 2 tspns vanilla and 2 tspns cinnamon. The filling was 3 cups organic cashews, 2 cups of chopped mango, 4 passionfruit, 1 cup coconut oil, 1/2 cup lemon juice and 3/4 cup xylitol. Please see the link for how to put it together. I took it out of the freezer a few hours before serving and topped it with some more chopped mango, passionfruit and mint leaves. It’s so yummy.

Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes. Okay, I confess, this recipe (from a Home Beautiful magazine) is not healthy. But it looked so yummy, I couldn’t resist making it for the ‘birthday cake’. My theory is that a few treats are good for the soul. I will give you the recipe because some of you on Facebook asked me for it. I used all organic ingredients, except for the champers! Cream 160g butter with 3/4 cup caster sugar. Add 3 eggs, beating after each addition. Sift 2 cups SR flour over, add 3/4 cup pink champagne and stir. Put into 24 cupcake papers (I got mine here) and bake in a moderate oven for 25-30 minutes.

Now, the original recipe called for butter icing mixed with champers, food colouring and flavouring, but I just couldn’t go that far! What I did was mix up a tub of marscapone cheese with a punnet of pureed strawberries and a good splash of the champers. Instead of cachous, I topped them with fresh strawberry halves. The little stars on wire were purchased from The Cheesecake Shop. The tower was easy to put together – you just get two plates, one smaller than the other and use an upside down bowl in between. Some fresh flowers tucked in between the cupcakes finished it off.

Okay, so that was our birthday BBQ! It was more than enough for 12 people and we had a few leftovers for lunch the next day – winner. Best of all, we all had a lovely time together as a family. We don’t often all get together in the one place, so it was pretty special.

What sort of things do you like to serve at a BBQ? Do you have big family get togethers?

Morrocan Lamb Meatballs with Couscous

February 13, 2012 · 4 Comments

I thought today I would share with you one of my family’s all-time favourite meals, Morrocan Lamb Meatballs with Couscous!

Lamb is one of our favourite things to eat and it goes so well with Morrocan style flavourings – a match made in heaven. The meatballs have lots of flavour from the spice in the dukkah, but it’s not hot, so the kids still love it. The little hint of sweetness of the currants and the tang of the yoghurt just make it all work well together. I am a huge fan of couscous too- it’s just the easiest thing in the world to prepare. If you find it a little bland, make it with chicken stock instead of the water. If you are gluten-intolerant, you can serve it with corn couscous, rice or polenta instead. This recipe feeds the four of us.

Morrocan Lamb Meatballs with Couscous

Okay, so this is what you need:

500g organic lamb mince

2 tablespoons organic pine nuts, toasted lightly in a dry pan

4 tablespoons dukkah (any type – make your own or buy it pre-made, just watch for additives )

40g baby spinach, finely chopped (getting some greens in!)

2 tablespoons currants

1 1/2 cups dry wholemeal organic couscous

1 1/2 cups boiling filtered water (or chicken stock)

tzatziki dip, to serve (make your own or buy it pre-made, just watch for additives)

cherry tomatoes on the vine, to serve (optional)

Okay, so this is how you do it:

Combine mince, pine nuts, dukkah, currants and spinach in a bowl. Roll into balls with wet hands, about the size of a walnut.

Set the meatballs on a rack and cook in a hot oven, (200 degrees celsius) for 10 mins or until cooked through.

If you are having the cherry tomatoes too, add them to the oven on a tray with a little drizzle of olive oil (they only need a five to ten minutes).

Meanwhile, place couscous in a glass or stainless steel bowl. Add 1 1/2 cups of boiling water. Cover with a tea towel. Stand for 5 minutes or until the water is absorbed. Fluff it up with a fork.

Divide couscous between plates. Top with meatballs and tomatoes. Drizzle over the tzatziki. I also serve this with a huge green salad.

You can freeze the meatballs, cooked or uncooked. If you have any leftovers, the meatballs are delicious the next day in a wrap (SORJ or MOUNTAIN BREAD are best) with spinach, beetroot, cucumber and tzatziki.

I am drooling just thinking about it…… :P’

As always, if you make them, come back and let me know how you went and please share the recipe around with your friends!