Christmas Infused Waters

Posted on 22/12/2020 by Cathie Lowe

Infused waters can be a refreshing way to drink water when you’ve had enough water. Those people in hot weather know exactly what I mean. Infused waters have minimal sugar so are an alternative drink for people with diabetes. This photo is an example of some Christmas colour infused drinks.

Cucumber slices, mint leaves and sliced chilli – this was quite refreshing.
Cherry, lemon slices and mint – my favourite for colour and taste.
Peach slices, lemon slices and ginger – not a strong flavour, so next time I’ll be adding more ginger and peach.

There are plenty of websites with recipes and suggestions for infused waters. I’d love to hear any favourite recipes that you have.

Wishing you all a happy and healthy festive season and a fantastic 2021. Cathie

Festive Mexican Rice Salad

Posted on 24/12/2019 by Cathie Lowe

I have been experimenting with this salad as it has Christmas colours, has mexican flavours and a great source of fibres.

If you use the cooked brown rice from the supermarket and start grilling your corn while layering the rest of the ingredients, this salad can be finished in 15 minutes. Put with grilled salmon (and chilli sauce) and you have a very quick easy meal.

Ingredients

2 cups cooked brown rice (buy prepared packet)

1/2 tspn ground cumin

400g can drained kidney beans

30g baby spinach leaves

1/2 diced red or green capsicum

200g punnet of cherry or other small tomatoes – halve the tomatoes

1/2 Spanish onion, sliced

2 cobs of corn

1 avocado

1 tbsp. lite sour cream

chilli powder to taste

cayenne powder to taste

handful fresh parsley

1/2 lemon juiced

1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

Method

Heat a non stick pan and start grilling corn cobs (takes about 10 minutes), turn every few minutes.

In a salad bowl, layer the brown rice and sprinkle cumin over top, then kidney beans, spinach leaves, diced capscium, tomatoes and onion.

Mix lemon juice and olive oil and sprinkle over the salad.

Once the corn has been grilled, slice the corn from the cob and sprinkle over the salad.

Slice half the avocado and layer on top.

Mash the other half avocado with lite sour cream, chilli and cayenne pepper and place on top of the salad and sprinkle with parsley.

Serves 6

Nutritional Information

Per serve Energy 1340kJ, Protein 10g, Fat 11.8g, Carbohydrate 37.3g Fibre 11g

It’s National Nutrition Week – Try for 5 Challenge

Posted on 12/10/2015 by Cathie Lowe

Happy Monday Everyone,

It’s feeling like summer in Queensland which is when I start looking for salads. Which is one way of boosting vegetables if you aren’t getting your 5 vegetables a day. Have a look at the link below for recipe ideas for vegetables.

The Asparagus Crumbed with Parmesan on Bocconcini Salad is a different way to eat asparagus which is in season now. The Rice Paper Rolls are a great way to boost vegetables and these could be used at a party with the dipping sauce for a different snack. Continuing on with the Asian influence the Asian Salad with Snow Peas and Cashews is a refreshing crunchy salad.

http://pickrightfeelbright.com/nutrition-recipes

And finally a link to a website to help get ideas for how to encourage children to eat more vegetables….

http://www.nutritionaustralia.org/national/resource/vegetable-snacks-kids

Hope you take on the 5 Vegetable a Day challenge this week.

Regards Cathie.

Ecofriendly Food Challenge Week 2 – local seasonal fruit and vegetables

Posted on 10/05/2012 by Cathie Lowe

The challenge for the week was to look at whether I was buying seasonal fruit and vegetables and also how many miles away from home my food was travelling. I think most people are aware that for the environment it is better to buy locally.

If you live in Queensland you can download the seasonal fruit and vegetable wheel from www.ecofriendlyfood.org.au to see what is in season. (The state fruit and vegetable growers websites often have information on seasonal fruit and vegetables.) When I had a look at the chart, most of the fruit and vegetables I buy are available locally and in season except carrots. However, a lot of the food I was buying at the supermarket had travelled many ‘food miles’. To get fresher local produce the food markets are the best option. For time poor people like me, I discovered Food Connect and received my first box of fresh produce last Thursday. You can definitely taste the difference with food picked the day before delivery. Check out their website www.foodconnect.com.au for more information – they have systems in place for New South Wales and Queensland. Another website is www.localharvest.org/csa – you can plug in your post code and it tells you what farmers markets or locally produced food is available nearby. Finally the last website that was interesting during this week’s challenge was www.lovefoodhatewaste.nsw.gov.au. If you go to this website it has plenty of resources including a meal planner that helps you to plan your meals and prevent you from buying more food than you need for the week.

I do talks to groups about healthy eating on a food budget using the FoodCents information. It is interesting to see that by purchasing seasonal fruit and vegetables locally you can keep to a budget easier and also be doing your bit for the environment.

Love to hear any tips or comments people have.