Turn Over A New Leaf Style of Cooking

Ever since leaving uni I have continued to seek the most practical methods to live a very healthy life. One of the biggest challenges has been to make vibrant healthy meals without feeling like you are missing out on the good stuff! This has certainly been a challenge and long term problem. While at uni, it was fine to get around eating raw carrot and celery sticks and plain oats with water (no sugar added) but this is simply not sustainable. I think all but the most stubborn naturopaths and nutritionist do not think variety (and the fact eating is to be enjoyed) is necessary.

There is ways to prepare food that tastes amazing with nothing bad added. I have always said that if you let me cook with butter, sugar, white flour etc, I can make something REALLY NICE, but what if we wanted to make something really nice, that we want to eat with nothing bad added...that is not easy. After perusing many macrobiotic, vegetarian, vegan, liver cleansing and zen cookbooks during the last ten years, there is one I am using now which is a clear standout - its called Turn over a new Leaf and its by a Gold Coast lady named Di Skelly Heron. For this reason, I have actively started to promote Di's book on this blog (see link to the right).

Healthy eating that gives you pure energy and gives the best level of preventative health care should not be as rare as it is - we have all the resources and information needed except maybe one - time. I have found that healthy eating requires organization and time management above all else. When you get busy, stressed and overworked it can just be too much to soak the chick peas for 12 hours, cook them for 2 and then start to prepare your meal. But with forward planning and assigning these tasks, it becomes possible. This was a big part of wanting to put together the bonus of "chefs organic garden recipes" and I make mention of these things in there. While it contains some great healthy recipes, it does not have the overall eating plan and dinner/lunch recipes to cover 6 weeks (and more) like Di's great book. You can see what it is all about and download the recipe of the month to see what I mean, go to Turn Over A New Leaf. At the moment, you can download the Carob fridge fudge recipe which I can give you a hint for - use the light carob instead of the normal carob - if you get this recipe right you will not miss chocolate! Serious. If you visit the page regularly, the recipes of the month change and when you buy the book, you have access to all of them via the members area.

Be a Gardener - Then Become a Chef.

Preparing food and gardening go hand-in-hand. The first step is to grow (or access) as much local organic product as possible. The only way you can be sure is if you (or someone you know) grows it. Nothing beats this in terms of your overall health, but you will also want to know the best ways to enjoy what you have grown. I have seen people grow their own vegetables and not use them all because they did not like the end result of what they were eating. Once you are growing a decent amount of organic herbs and vegetables at home, take the time to improve your chef skills. This makes perfect sense if you have been watching Jamie Oliver over the last few years. Once you can cook the raw ingredients naturally and they taste much better than unhealthy cooking, you will want to grow more. You will find yourself searching for new varieties and a whole cycle starts from "spade to blade". Its one of the best things in life and you will feel so much better for it.

Recently I got the chance to do some cooking classes with Di and it was great to learn so much and take home some new recipes that are super healthy and will not make me feel like I am missing the good stuff. I am looking to continue making these dishes right up over Christmas so it does not become an overindulgence this time.

Coming Soon

In the next post I will tell you all about stevia, and why I added it to my "must have" herbs in the home garden. It will be very interesting reading if you are not yet using it. Be sure to bookmark this page before then. All the best in health and gardening.