Category Archives: LFW Fit and Healthy

Lean and Green!

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In our Year of Eating Healthy we’re getting lean and green with winter veggies including greens, greens, and more greens! Greens are chock full of minerals (calcium, iron, and potassium), anti-oxidants, and vitamins—especially A, C, E and K, and a few of the best Bs. Leafy greens like spinach, kale, and chard also contain fibre. So when your mother said ‘eat your greens’ she knew what she was talking about! By Emma Dowling

Our recipes below include greens with a high vitamin B12 content such as Brussels sprouts, spinach, bok choy, broccolini, and green beans; with a few not-so-green extras such as shell fish (great source of B12), mushrooms, nuts, and garlic, though not high on the B12 register it does contain plenty of vitamin C and is great for your immune system—not to mention keeping the vampires away; just joking there.

So check out our favourite Great Green recipes—they’re really good for you!

Broccolini and snow peas with sesame dressingTurning Green broccolini and snap peas Continue reading →

Warming Winter Soups!

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Eat Healthy for winter with LFW’s Pumpkin Soup!

By Emma

You asked for it—and here it is! LFW’s very own Three Pumpkin Soup recipe! I would love to say there is nothing in this soup but pumpkin but I have to admit a little cheating… We always add a medium size potato as this makes the soup lovely and thick. If you’re Paleo, nightshade, or low-carb you can substitute sweet potato—this also gives the soup a lovely orange colour.

Creamy curry pumpkin soup

Creamy curry pumpkin soup (sourced image)

This is the basic soup recipe. However, you can ring the changes by adding various ingredients to make Thai Pumpkin soup, Indian Curry Pumpkin soup, or come up with something that’s totally your own creation!

In all our recipes (see below) we have used fresh ingredients, particularly in the Indian version where we haven’t just tossed in a bit of ready-made curry paste or powder. So give yourself time to get everything ready before you start. Continue reading →

Getting Special with your Slow Cooker

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Healthy recipes for slow-cooked comfort food

By Emma

Do you know slow cooking is really healthy? There’s little added fat, and if you use fresh, organic fruits and veggies, skip the sweet packet sauce mixes, and make your own stock, you’re getting comfort food that’s good for you, and sustainable!

Lamb shanks with spicy plum sauce and garlic mash

Lamb shanks with spicy plum sauce and garlic mash

Winter is the perfect time to get out your slow cooker and put it through its paces. You can pop everything in the cooker in the morning and leave it until dinner-time, or alternatively, let it cook overnight, refrigerate the next day (so the flavours fuse together and are further enhanced) and warm it up for dinner. Even better, pop on your favourite pastry top and you’ve got the perfect winter pie!

The following recipes are super tasty, super healthy, super easy, and all have something a little different to make them super special! Check out our terrific comfort food slow cooking and enjoy! Continue reading →

Eating Pizza!

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In Our Year of Eating Healthy—Yes! You can eat Pizza!

Super healthy pizza - just add your favourite toppings

Super healthy pizza – just add your favourite toppings

Pizza has got to be one of the most popular meals on the planet, and once you’ve got the base you can make it anything you want. But for those of us who are gluten free it’s not so easy to get a take-away pizza, so 99 per cent of the time we’re up for making our own, which is more fun than getting a take-away anyway. For a super-healthy (and ethical) pizza get over to Capital Region Farmers Market on Saturday mornings and get some great organic meats, and visit Choku Bai Jo (Lyneham and Curtin) for the freshest organic veggies.

Anyway, here are a couple of LFW’s favourite easy-peasy recipes for anyone to try, including regular and GF, plus a terrific ‘from scratch’ recipe from FEEDinc. Trust me, once you make your own, you’ll never get a take-away again!

Click for what you need, what you do, and recipes! Continue reading →

Super-Easy Super-Salads!

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Simple Super-Salads for the cooler weather!

by Emma

Emma4

Just because we’re coming into autumn doesn’t mean you have to forego salads. We’ve sourced and tried some great salads/side dishes that are perfect for the cooler autumn weather. Give them a go and let us know what you think! Get the recipes below.

Warm potato salad with pancetta from http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes

Warm potato salad with pancetta from http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes

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Oodles of Zoodles!

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Eating Healthy with home-made Zoodles!

By Emma

Emma4

We’re cooking Zoodles! Well, that’s what we call them. They’re actually zucchini noodles and are totally brilliant! If you’re watching your weight and off the noodles; GF and bored with rice noodles, or simply want to get more veggies into your diet, then try our Asian zoodle and salmon recipe—totally delish!

Asian salmon with zoodles

Asian zoodles with baked salmon

Click the link for the recipe

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Burgers are Back!

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Burgers are Back—and Healthy!

By Emma

Emma4

Yes! Burgers can be healthy! Well, in reality as healthy as you make them. Our LFW burgers are organic and lean, vegetarian, chicken and fish and we use whole fillets not shredded or mashed with other ingredients.  As a Paleo I go ‘naked burger’ ie, no bun, but you can use GF buns or wholegrain if you prefer. Best GF wholegrain buns are either DEEKS (Dickson and Pearce) or delish PURE BRED rolls from your local Coles or Woolworths supermarkets—our GF team stumbled across these when in Sydney with no DEEKS in sight and they’re terrific!

You can use a meat patty (recipe below), a nice lean chicken or salmon fillet, veggie patty, and your favourite salad fillings. Top it off with aioli or our home-made guacamole or salsa sauce*. You can also ring the changes on your meat or veggie patty by including mixed spices such as Moroccan, Indian, or Australian bush spices and conserves.

Home made basic beef burger with GF buns

Home made basic beef burger with GF buns

Click the link for recipes Continue reading →

Super healthy chips and dips!

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By Emma

Emma4

Super healthy! Super crunchy!  Super tasty!

Eating healthy is our big focus for this year, but who wants to give up chippies—not us—so we’ve come up with a great healthy, and super tasty, recipe for plantain chips! No sugar, no frying, no additives. How good is that? And they’re super perfect with our home-made guacamole and spicy salsa dips!

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Plantain Chips (click continue reading for the recipes)

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Canberra’s Healthy Breakfasts!

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In our Year of Eating Healthy we’re looking at café breakfasts around Canberra. We’re huge fans of a good breakfast, and any café who can do the perfect poached egg—which is not as easy as you might think; offers a gluten free option on the toast, and has the nous to offer an all-day breakfast, gets our vote. Surprisingly the latter are thin on the ground with most places moving to lunch around 11.30am, and in our opinion a good breakfast for $15 or so, is much (much) better value than lunch for upwards of $20, so a big tick from LFW to those who offer all day breakfasts.

Home-made poached egg on a bed of garlic spinach served on GF toast

Home-made fried egg on a bed of garlic spinach served on toasted Italian Ciabatta

Here are LFW’s five fave north-side Canberra breakfast spots.

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Eating Healthy—Australia Day!

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What’s on your healthy Australia Day table? We’re going with roast rack of lamb, mangoes and delish Australian avocados!

Fresh organic fruit and veggies from Choku Bai Jo Canberra (Lyneham and Curtin)

Fresh organic fruit and veggies from Choku Bai Jo Canberra (Lyneham and Curtin)

In our year of eating healthy we’re not just looking at looking good and getting fit. We’re also focussed on what we’re actually eating, and to that end will be seeking out fresh, organic and Australian grown produce. Is there anything better?

Prawn, mango and avocado salad (serves 4)

Prawn_Mango_Avocado

 

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