Avocado Pesto Zoodles with Oven Roasted Tomatoes.

This week (23rd - 29th March) is Meat Free Week, which is a worldwide campaign designed to get everyday, average people just like you thinking about the consumption of meat and products from animal agriculture. Scientific evidence conclusively proves that excessive consumption of meat and animal products is not only bad for your health, but its also killing the environment. High blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers, obesity - they've all been linked to human consumption of meat, dairy, eggs, etc.

In terms of the environment;

• on average it takes 11 times more fossil fuel to make one calorie of animal protein than it does to make one calorie of plant protein (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 78, No. #, Pimentel & Pimental, Sep. 2003)
• In the U.S., livestock production is responsible for 55% of all soil erosion on cropped land and pastureland, 40% of which ends up in water resources (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, "Livestock's Long Shadow", 2006, p. 73)
• It takes 5 times more water to yield 1000 kcal of meat as it does to yield 1000 kcal of fruits, vegetables or grains (Malin Falkenmark & Johan Rockstrom, "Balancing Water for Humans and Nature", 2004, p. 50)
• You could save more water by not eating one pound of beef than you would save by not showering for 12 months (based on 1, 7 minute long shower per day) (John Robbins, The Food Revolution, 2001, p. 237)

Personally I find these kinds of facts truly shocking, however none of this is to say you shouldn't eat meat at all, and MFW is not about promoting zero consumption of meat. But, as a population, humans consume too much meat that is frequently farmed in an unsustainable way, so the whole idea behind MFW is to get you thinking about that excessive consumption and to, hopefully, do something about it. I am personally a vegan, and very strongly believe in a vegan diet being the quickest, easiest and cheapest way to make a genuine beneficial impact on the planet. But, I recognise that many think veganism is a diet extreme, and that the majority of the world still consume meat, as well as other animal agriculture products. That's where Meat Free Week comes in, as it is founded on a desire to promote the realisation of that and encourage people to eat less meat, more fruits, vegetables and grains and as a result, be healthier and contribute towards helping our environment.

In honour of MFW, I thought I would share one of my favourite meat-free recipes that I love to eat for dinner. Zoodles are cool. If you've never heard of a zoodle, then you're missing out. Basically zoodle is short for zucchini noodle. You can buy a super fun kitchen contraption called a spiralizer (very fun, would recommend) or you could also use a conventional kitchen knife and slice a zucchini into thin strips. Basically no excuses. I should probably also mention pesto. And avocado. And pine nuts. And roasted tomatoes. All together. YUM.

Ingredients;
(serves 2)

2 large zucchini's
2 cups fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup raw pine nuts (+ extras for garnishing)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil + extra for the tomatoes
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 avocado/1 small avocado, seed and skin removed
Half a lemon, juiced
1 cup fresh rocket (arugula) + extra for serving
Handful cherry tomatoes
Cracked black pepper
Chilli flakes (to serve)

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Use a sharp knife to slice the cherry tomatoes in halves, and then lay them out on a baking tray. Garnish them with a dash of olive oil and a generous sprinkling of black pepper. Roast for 20-30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, using a spiralizer, turn the zucchini's into zoodles and place in a large bowl. (In the absence of a spiralizer, use a sharp knife to carefully cut the zucchini into thin strips, like fettuccine, or a julienne slicer if you've got one of those!)
2. In a blender, combine the basil leaves, pine nuts, garlic, rocket, avocado and olive oil. Blend these on high speed until you have a paste like consistency - this might take a few minutes and require some scraping down of the sides of the bowl.
3. Add the pesto to the bowl of zoodles and mix through well.
4. When the tomatoes are cooked, remove them from the oven. Plate up the pesto zoodles and serve with a generous topping of roast tomatoes, some fresh rocket leaves and some pine nuts as well as some chilli flakes. An extra handful of fresh basil leaves also doesn't go astray at this point.
5. Devour and appreciate the deliciousness of your completely meat-free, vegan creation of yum!

Chocolate and Hazelnut Granola.

If you know me, you will know that I have two great food loves in my life; foremost, chocolate and more recently, granola. I have serious issues because when I am in the presence of either, I cannot control myself. To be honest, I think that this kind of uncontrollable, eat-everything behaviour is entirely justified because like, as if any sane human would ever voluntarily stop eating chocolate or granola?!

This weekend, I made something miraculous happen. I took these two, singularly fabulous things, chocolate and granola, and I turned them into one, absolutely astounding thing of such deliciousness that I literally cannot even use language to express how yum and oh-my-god wow that this creation is. And! As if the stars aligned and the higher powers that be smiled down upon me, this delicious chocolate granola is......HEALTHY! No refined sugar, no dairy, no bad anything, only 100% pure whole foods and nutritional goodness which means one thing - it is more than acceptable to eat the entire batch of this in one sitting!!!! Go on, make some. You know you want to!

Ingredients;

2 cups rolled oats (I use a gluten free variety)
3 tbsp virgin coconut oil (melted)
3 tbsp pure maple syrup
2 tbsp raw cacao powder
1 cup raw hazelnuts (roughly chopped)
1 cup dairy-free dark choc chips

1. Preheat a fan-forced oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. In a large bowl, combine the oats with the coconut oil, maple syrup and cacao. Mix this really well, making sure that all the oats are covered with the chocolatey cacao goodness.
3. On a large baking tray, spread the chocolate oat mixture. Cook this in the oven for approx. 8 minutes, then add in the halved hazelnuts, stir everything around, and cook for another 8 minutes or so. Make sure that you don't let anything burn, so keep checking in regularly.
4. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
5. When fully cooled, mix through the chocolate chips (would recommend potentially unjustifiably large amounts of these). Store in an airtight container.
6. Tell your friends you've made healthy chocolate granola and that you would share it with them, but you ate it all already. They will most likely begin to consider you some kind of chocolate goddess from this point onwards.

The Most Delicious Banana Bread Ever.

Of all the recipes on this site, this one is probably the one that I have personally made the most. It's been tested, tweaked, re-cooked again and again and again and I can very much confirm that it's a foolproof recipe. Why have I made it so much? Well, I like bananas. And when I say I like bananas, I really mean that I take it upon myself to put banana in everything and anything I can because banana is delicious. By default then, banana bread, which is so banana-filled that it even has banana in its name, its an all time fav. In actual fact, if banana bread is not your all-time fav then you're depriving yourself and I'd recommend making it your favourite because it is so good. In the words of Little Britain's Marjorie Dawes, facilitator of Fat Fighters, I love the cake! But more specifically, the banana cake/bread.

I literally dream about this banana bread - it is that damn TASTY. Alone, it's phenomenally delicious, though if you're feeling fancy, I also suggest serving it with some vegan butter, or if you're feeling particularly extra, some coconut yoghurt and stewed berries (the second of those options being one of my favourite breakfasts)! Take it to an afternoon tea to wow all your friends, make it on a lazy Sunday afternoon and keep it all to yourself - whatever you choose to do, if it involves this banana bread, I can guarantee that it'll be one very delicious time!!!

Ingredients;

(makes 1 loaf - I dare you to try make that last more than a day...)

1 3/4 cups self raising flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup coconut sugar
1 chia 'egg' (1 tbsp chia seeds soaked in 3 tbsp water for 5 minutes)
3 tbsp rice malt syrup/date paste (either option works well!)
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
3 very ripe bananas
1/3 cup plant milk (I used oat)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

(optional add in - 1/2 cup chopped medjool dates)

1. Preheat a fan-forced oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. In a bowl, combine the flour and baking powder.
3. In a small bowl, mix the coconut sugar with the chia egg, rice malt syrup/date paste and vanilla  until well combined. Add this wet mixture to the bowl with the flour.
4. In the now empty small bowl, peel the bananas. Use a fork to mash the bananas really well, and then add the banana to the bowl with the other ingredients, along with the plant milk and chopped walnuts (and dates). Mix everything really well, making sure that the mixture is fully combined.
5. Take a loaf tin and line it with baking paper (parchment). Use a spatula to pour the banana mixture into the tin and smooth it over, making sure that the corners are filled and evenly spread. (I used half a banana as decoration on the top of mine, walnuts and shredded coconut also work well)
6. Bake for 60 minutes, although keep an eye out that it doesn't burn. If you insert a skewer into the bread, it should come out clean when the bread is cooked.
7. Allow to cool down, then serve! Store in an airtight container.

Pasta with Rocket, Tomato and Capsicum.

For all my American readers, this recipe title probably doesn't make much sense. In discovering a love for cooking, I have simultaneously discovered some rather hilarious linguistic differences in the names of common food items, which seems to be particularly bad when it comes to fresh fruit and vegetables. Without realising until I sat down to write this recipe, I seem to have rather deftly managed to incorporate the vast majority of these two-name foods. In essence, that means that, out of respect for the large number of American readers, I shall try to translate my classic, bogan Australian English into American English so you too can share in the deliciousness of this pasta.

In other news, I love pasta. I grew up in a rural area in South-Western Australia that is world renowned for its rich Italian heritage. Basically that means that there is a lot of pasta. And not just any pasta either, I'm talking the actual, genuine, homemade quality stuff. I put this to the test when I travelled in Italy in 2013 and sure enough, my humble country hometown on the complete opposite side of the world has pasta equal to any that I devoured whilst in the motherland. But, whilst it may taste like heaven on a plate, the average Italian pasta dish has quite a lot of room to improve nutritionally. Obviously the nutritional value of a pasta dish varies greatly between the individual types, so not everything is 'bad' or unhealthy, but when you can create something equally as delicious as the real thing right at home and have that dish be packed full of fresh green, leafy vegetables, delicious whole, non-salty tomatoes and potentially even a homegrown onion, why on earth you'd opt for the restaurant version is a mystery to me!! Also, this has avocado, and that should be reason enough for making and eating this.

Ingredients;

(a very large serving for one, or two smaller servings)

2 cups uncooked penne pasta (I used egg free, gluten free pasta)

1 tomato

1/4 onion (Spanish or brown both work)

2 shallots (spring onions)

1/4 cup low-fat semi sun-died tomatoes

1/4 cup antipasto capsicum (peppers - I buy this in a jar from the supermarket, but you could also roast your own and add some olive oil)

1 cup fresh rocket (arugula)

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/2 avocado 

1 handfull coriander (cilantro)

1. Cook the pasta according to pack instructions. When cooked, drain and rise briefly in cold water to take the heat away from the pasta.

2. Dice the onion, tomato and shallots. Place in a large bowl along with the sun-dried tomatoes, capsicum, rocket, pine nuts and coriander. Add in the pasta and combine well.

3. Serve up in a bowl, garnishing with the avocado and some extra pine nuts and coriander.

4. Devour your handiwork and pretend that you're in the Tuscan hills watching the sun set from a rustic balcony. 

Apple Doughnuts.

I'm not really sure that this creation is deserving of the label 'recipe' because really it's more so an assembly of a few things with zero cooking involved, but I think it's too delicious to not share. Thiese doughnuts are a super fun creation, they taste delicious and they looks very impressive (which is super important obviously because keeping the Insta feed looking smashing is crucial). Apple doughnuts have become my go-t0 4pm snack at uni because they're quick, inexpensive to make and they are super yum1

When you say you've made apple doughnuts, I've found people look at you like you're either (a) some kind of culinary magician, or (b) lost the plot. I'm not quite sure what people imagine when you mention apple and doughnut together as a single entity, but I couldn't think of a more suitable name and if anyone tries to tell me these couldn't pass for the more conventional doughnut (in appearance), then they are lying.

Probably my favourite thing about this creation is how flexible it is. I'm currently obsessed with Mayver's spreads (available from Woolworths and Coles in Australia), which are basically pure state spreads - i.e. when it says 'peanut butter', it is literally just peanuts, no other add ins. They make lots of really fun ones like alone, cacao and coconut butter and chia spreads and crunchy peanut butter and pretty much my new goal is to try them all (which is absolutely no hardship!). You can put whatever you like on top of the apple depending on what you have lying about, what you feel like or however game you are to experiment. These doughnuts are also a super appealing and very healthy snack for children, which makes me wish I'd thought of these before I took a gap year working as a teachers assistant and nanny in the UK!

Ingredients;
(makes 1 snack sized serve for 1 person)

1 apple
(Mayver's) Pure peanut butter
(Mayver's) Almond, cacao and coconut spread (any kind of pure state, natural spread would also work)
Toppings (dried goji berries, shredded coconut, raw pistachio nuts)

1. This is so simple I almost feel like instructions aren't needed! Basically wash and core the apple. Then, slice it into pieces about half a centimetre thick so that you end up with doughnut shaped apple. Then, go crazy with your toppings! Yummo!!!

Cranberry, Almond and Agave Granola.

I don't actually know what the heck I've been doing for the past 20 years, but until February 10th 2015 I hadn't ever actually eaten granola. In hindsight, I'm just going to embrace the fact that I was evidently some kind of idiot because man was I missing out.

Since February 10th, I have eaten 4 boxes of oats worth of granola, which for the layperson, is a lot of granola. Because of this excessive consumption of the past month, I feel like I can now label myself a granola-guru. I initially thought my apple, sultana, pecan and macadamia combination was an absolute winner, and it totally is (so you should also make that), but this combo also deserves a big shoutout because it is hella fine.

This cranberry, almond and agave granola actually came about because of my procrastination because basically I ate all of my pecan nuts (that's a small problem I seem to have developed in that I can't stop eating pecans as well as granola..) and couldn't be bothered to go to the supermarket and buy more and because of that I obviously couldn't make my usual combination. So, I got inventive and decided to try some new flavours and pretty much this is delicious and I'm going to stop typing now and go back to gorging myself on this granola straight from the jar (no regrets).

Ingredients;
(makes one large jar)

2 cups rolled oats (I use a gluten free variety, but any rolled oats would work)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup slivered almonds (or some peeled almonds cut into quarters)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp raw agave syrup (available at most health food shops/online)
2 tbsp virgin coconut oil
1 cup dried cranberries

1. Preheat a fan forced oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. In a bowl, mix together they dry ingredients (the oats, almonds and cinnamon).
3. To the dry ingredients, add the vanilla extract, agave syrup and coconut oil. Use a spoon to mix the wet ingredients through really well, making sure that everything is well combined.
4. On a lined baking tray, spread the granola mixture out evenly and place in the oven. Cook for approx. 15 mins, but make sure to keep a close eye on things so it doesn't burn.  At about 10 mins, stir the granola and place back in the oven until the oats have started turning a light golden brown.
5. When golden brown, remove from the oven and allow to cool. Then, transfer back to the bowl and add in the cranberries, mixing through well.
6. Store in an airtight container, or a funky glass jar if you're feeling particularly like a hipster (if the granola even lasts long enough to be put in a jar...).