As you may already know, I'm a raving fan of my Love Your Gut Powder. Among many of it's benefits, the powder helps clean out accumulated build-up of waste, toxins, metals and mucous in the digestive tract as well as improving digestion and increasing nutrient absorption. 

Ever since launching the powder, I've received thousands of questions asking me how I like to incorporate Love Your Gut Powder into my everyday life; my tricks, my tips and my recipes. I thought it was time to finally give the people what they want! This is why I'm excited to launch my FREE Love Your Gut Powder E-Book. This eBook contains 12 gut-loving recipes to help you fall in love with your gut. It includes smoothies, breakfasts, turmeric treats and more!

This coconut yo-gut is just one of the supercharged delicious recipes you'll find in the free eBook. 

This frozen dessert is so delicious you wouldn't know it's good for you! 

Initially, coconut yogurt is made with pressed coconut milk and water. Coconuts are high in fat which is amazing for lowering bad cholesterol levels and helping you lose a few inches on the waist line! Most coconut yoghurts are dairy-free, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have the same gut-healing effects as normal yoghurts do.

Coconut yoghurt contains live cultures and bacteria which have a probiotic effect on the body. Probiotics help boost our immune system, improve digestion and assist with various bowel conditions like constipation and irritable bowel syndrome.

Probiotics are also amazing for keeping your gut in check. This is why I just couldn’t resist adding in my Love Your Gut powder into the mix! Double the gut health, double the fun!

To make my frozen coyo easier for you guys, I’ve gotten rid of some of the dirty work. Instead of having to make coconut yoghurt at home, my recipe requires a cup of already made coconut yoghurt. 

While it’s amazing if you have time to make the real thing from the start - not everybody has time to break the coconuts off the tree themselves and spend hours churning away in the kitchen! You are more than welcome to create your own coconut yoghurt for the recipe, but you have the okay from me to buy a good quality brand that you love and have fun with turning it into coconut frozen yo-gut!

There are some great brands of coconut yoghurt that are full of only the good stuff and no nasties. These can be enjoyed by all and will save you hours of slaving away in the kitchen. Just be sure to check the ingredients list before buying and look out for some hidden sugars and additives.  

My frozen coconut yoghurt recipe is high in fat, giving it a creamy texture and much fuller flavour! The bonus beauty of this recipe is that it can be jazzed up enough for a dinner party dessert and tastes just as naughty as the real thing.

Coconut yoghurt is undeniably delicious and having it frozen makes for a perfect treat!

Who is ready to go loco for some frozen coyo?

For more gut-loving recipes, download my FREE eBook here.

Coconut Yo-gut

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• 1 TBSP LYG powder
• 1 cup coconut yoghurt (chilled)
• 1 TSP vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
• Pinch cinnamon
• 1 cup frozen raspberries
• Edible flowers to decorate

Method:

• Place all ingredients in a blender until smooth
• Scoop into bowl and place in freezer for 15 minutes to firm up
• Remove from freezer, top with berries and decorate with flowers

Enjoy! Lee xo

I'm going back to the future.

I love blogging and sharing my food adventures with you.

And you sharing right back.

It's what Supercharged Food is all about and why I started blogging in the first place.

So, I’ve decided I’m going back to basics.

You know, when the blogger make a recipe at home in their kitchen, away from the hullabaloo that is life?

Forget FaceTime! Let's get back to face to face time.

Say hello to good old-fashioned, simple Supercharged food blogs.

Here’s the first…

Curate your date night with my Oven Baked Veg and Garlic Soup with Toasted Seeds.

Whether you’re facing first-date butterflies and you want to seriously impress your first date or, you want to make your long-time partner feel a little more special, this SOUPercharged recipe is sure to do the trick. 

Get changed out of your tracksuit pants and throw on your fanciest get-up because date night at home need not be casual!

You don’t need a specific day to show someone you love them. Sometimes love can come through in the simplest of gestures - like making a warming pot of soup with some candles and soft tunes to gently sway to on the couch. 

This baked veg soup is husband-approved and absolutely fool-proof. You can even throw it together while you're getting home from a long day. It's sure to warm you both up from the inside out. 

So, what makes this soup so soupercharged? The cruciferous vegetable, cauliflower, can help fight inflammation because it's rich in antioxidants and anti-inflammatories. Whilst garlic can help lower cholesterol and combat heart disease!  Who knew healthy eating could be so sexy?

Don't forget the seedy topping! Seeds are rich in  zinc - a crucial but often forgotten mineral that helps with growth, immunity and can even improve our skin.

And of course, the best part of having a date night at home is what happens after dinner...... 😉

Get your head out of the gutter - I'm a food blogger after all! 

I'm talking about DESSERT. 

Be sure to try out my love heart chocolates. These indulgent delights, with their special smooth and velvety texture and chocolaty buttery taste, are melt-in-your mouth good.  

You'll wonder why you ever made reservations in the first place...

Oven Baked Veg and Garlic Soup with Toasted Seeds

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cauliflower cut into florets
• 2 zucchinis chopped into cubes
• 1 carrot chopped into cubes
• 1/2 bulb garlic unpeeled (about 6 cloves)
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp coriander
• Pinch chili flakes
• 1 knob butter or 1 tbs olive oil
• 500gms veg or beef stock
• 2 tbs tomato paste
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• 2 tbs wheat free tamari
• 1 tsp ginger grated

Top with:

• 1/4 cup toasted seeds
• Fresh coriander

Method:

Heat oven to 240 degrees Celsius

Place veg and garlic on a baking tray and splosh with olive oil then add spices and stir to coat

Bake for 25 to 30 mins

Once ready heat butter/oil in heavy based saucepan

Squeeze garlic into pan and break up with a wooden spoon

Place veg into pan and stir

Add stock and remaining ingredients and stir then bring to the boil and reduce heat place on lid and simmer for 10 mins

Ladle into bowls and top with toasted seeds and fresh coriander

Are you getting ready to hop into Easter?

I have the perfect sweet treat for you this Easter. Some healthy and tasty treats that won't melt while you’re on the Easter egg hunt.

Introducing my Easter Bliss Balls, or as I like to call them LEEaster Balls!

These are the greatest hunter gatherer snack you can find for Easter. They’re nutritious, delicious and won't tie you down in between eating (or overeating) sessions. I like to think of them as a little good thing amongst all the decadence.

Whilst everyone knows that bliss balls are a 'healthy treat', a lot of the time they're filled with a LOT of dried fruit - I'm talking double the quantity you would eat in one sitting! Dried fruit is delicious but it can be hard going on the gut because of the high levels of sulphites and sugars - giving you some unwanted digestive problems.

These balls don’t contain any unwelcome ingredients, which means your tummy won’t be frustrated with you during the Easter holidays. In fact LEEaster balls will make you and your insides happy.

I’ve included two different  variations for you – chewy chocolate and anti-inflammatory attack!

When hosting Easter meals, the chocolate balls go down as a terrific treat and for times when you're in need of a health boost, the anti-inflammatory turmeric balls are the way to go.

I’ve also included my Love Your Gut powder into the mixture for some much-needed gut-loving;  a true necessity after the over-indulging we usually do around holiday time. The powder also has remarkable health benefits, improving nutrient absorption and taking care of your hair, skin and nails, not to mention it's absorbable iron content that is wonderful for energy levels.  You can watch and read more about the health benefits of it here.

By the way, I forgot to munch-ion that these balls are approved by the Easter Bunny, so please be sure to give them a go!

LEEaster Balls

Ingredients

• 1 TBSP LYG powder
• 1⁄2 cup almond meal
• 5 TBSP almond nut butter
• 1⁄2 cup tahini
•  8 drops liquid stevia
• 1 cup chopped nuts of choice
• 1⁄2 cup coconut flakes
•  1⁄4 cup sesame seeds plus extra for coating
• Chocolate: 1 TSP cacao or more if you like them chocolaty!
• Anti-inflammatory: 1 TSP turmeric, 1 TSP cinnamon and 1⁄2 TSP ginger 

Directions

Makes: 12

1. Place almond meal, LYG powder, coconut flakes and nuts into food processor and mix.
2. Add stevia, almond nut butter and tahini and continue to mix until combined.
3. Chill the dough in the freezer for 30 minutes.
4. Remove and roll into balls on a flat tray.
5. Place extra sesame seeds in a bowl and roll balls to coat the surface.
6. Refrigerate and enjoy.
7. Chocolate version: Add in a 1 tsp of cacao to the base mixture or more if you like them chocolaty!
8. Anti-inflammatory: Add 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp cinnamon and 1⁄2 tsp ginger to base mixture. 

Supercharged Tip

You can make a big batch and keep a few of these in the freezer for later. 

Happy LEEaster,

Lee xo

Is a Sunday morning really a Sunday morning without pikelets?

When I reminisce about some of my favourite Sunday mornings, they involve late mornings, lazy tunes, light rain and steaming hot pikelets with toppings galore! 

Over the years, I’ve experimented with healthy-fying my old pikelets recipe and I’ve finally come up with a gut-healing recipe I know you all will love...

Green Pikelets!  

Yes you read that correctly - green pikelets! Before you wrinkle your nose and squint your eyes at the word 'green' in front of 'pikelets', just trust me on this one. The green aspect of these pikelets take them to the next level.

As you know, I love trying to incorporate veggies into my diet as much as possible. This is why adding spinach, a brilliant green leaf and a great source of folate, iron, vitamins and minerals, is the perfect addition to any pikelet recipe.

I know how hard it can be to get the kids to finish their vegetables, let alone enjoy them, so my pikelets recipe is sure to be a winner for both you and the kids. Hooray!

Even the biggest sceptics won't be able to taste the difference with this recipe. I've trialled and tested it out on my family and even the fussiest one in our bunch loved them. They’re secretly healthy but let me tell you, they're so delicious that will be adored by all.

To make them extra creamy, I add almond milo the recipe but you can use any milk that you prefer for a good hit of calcium. Rice milk makes them extra sweet and creamy. 

Pikelets are great for Sunday mornings but really, can be enjoyed for any day at any time! They make for the perfect afternoon hit, busy breakfast, lazy lunch, mid-morning pick-me-up or decadent dessert.

The great thing about these delicious treats is that they can be eaten with savoury and sweet toppings. I say - go crazy!

I love having mine with eggs for a savoury protein hit in the morning. They can also be enjoyed with some of my lemon and blueberry ice-cream, nut butter, simple berries for an antioxidant hit or even on their own!

So what are you waiting for? Let's enjoy some fluffy green pikelets for breakfast this morning.

Green Pikelets

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch of English spinach leaves
• ¼ cup chia seeds

• 1/2 cup almond meal
• 2 eggs
• 1 TBS smooth nut butter
• 1 TBS LYG powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2/3 cup almond milk or milk of choice
• good pinch of Celtic sea salt
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin coconut oil, or butter for frying

Method:

Place all the ingredients, except the coconut oil or butter if using, into a food processor and combine until smooth.

Remove batter and let sit for 5-10 minutes.

Heat a frying pan over medium heat and add half the oil.

Depending upon the size of the pikelets preferred, could just under ¼ cup mixture into the pan and cook for 5 minutes on one side, then flip over to do other side for about 3 minutes.

Place on a waiting plate and continue until all the batter is used.

Happy cooking!  Lee xo

As much as the health world idolizes the beauty of eating poached eggs and greens for breakfast – sometimes we just can’t hold back from our morning sweet tooth! Sometimes fluffy muffins, crunchy cereals and chewy choc-chip cookies are calling your name and the last thing on your mind is eggs and kale?!

Instead of fighting cravings, let’s embrace them! Listening to your cravings is so important and can indicate a lot about what you’re needing both emotionally and physically and can help to highlight the foods that you may have become addicted to.

If you’re craving chocolate, it could mean you're magnesium deficient. Magnesium is available in fish, dark leafy greens and nuts. Craving sweet foods like pastries, white bread and pasta may mean that you're chromium deficient. Chromium can be found in oats, sweet potatoes and eggs.

Thinking about cravings rationally and listening to them can help us lead healthier and happier lives.  So instead of ignoring cravings, why not just make healthier choices and fill up with healthy versions of favorite foods?

I'd love to introduce you to my new delicious No More Muffin Top Muffin recipe and I’ve made sure that they'll not only improve your gut health and waistline but also fill your daily ‘eggs and greens’ quota! 

If you’re not already on the healthified sweets train, these muffins will make you jump on board! Forget the traditional, sugar-filled, gluten-packed muffins and swap to a new world of healthy, refined-sugar free and absolutely tasty muffins. There are no strange ingredients here – just healthy wholesome baking ingredients.

Who could pass up the chance to start the day with fluffy, yummy muffins? The chromium-packed eggs and vitamin-filled zucchini makes sure these beautiful muffins stay moist, while my Love Your Gut powder (a raw vegan plant based whole food) ensures that you're getting good gut-healing straight off the bat.

My Love Your Gut powder is high in absorbable iron which helps to support tiredness and fatigue and it doesn't leave you constipated like traditional synthetic iron supplements do. That way you can get your necessary iron via real plant based foody-goodness.

Magnesium-packed almond-meal is a delicious gluten-free flour that is great for baking so I threw it into the mix too. This recipe also contains a touch of butter, which contains healthy saturated fats and fat-soluble vitamins. Butter helps these baked treats stay fluffy and keep their texture. Yum!

So, make up a batch and let me know what you think? They freeze well too!

No More Muffin Top Muffins

Makes 6 large or 12 small muffins

Make these the day before and then just warm them in the oven for 10 minutes before enjoying. They're surprising filling and full of veggie goodness.  Take them as a snack to work too.

• 11/2 cups) almond meal
• 1/2 cup) toasted walnuts
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• 1/2 tsp gluten-free baking powder
• 1/4 tsp Celtic sea salt

• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 
1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 3/4 tsp stevia powder
• 1 tbs LYG powder
• 11/2 cups grated zucchini
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/3 cup additive-free coconut milk
• 1/4 cup melted butter

Place zucchini in a sieve over a bowl and sprinkle with a little salt and let sit.

Line a muffin tray with muffin liners and preheat oven to 180°C

In a medium bowl, place all the dry ingredients and mix well with a wooden spoon

With your hands, very tightly squeeze the zucchini to remove any excess moisture.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, coconut milk and butter together. Fold the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and then very gently stir in the zucchini.

With a spoon, carefully spoon mixture into the muffin tray liners  and place into the oven for 45 minutes until cooked through- you can test with a skewer.

Let cool on a wire rack.  These can be kept in the fridge for 4 days in a sealed container.

Lee xo

The humble apple is one of my greatly adored kitchen staples and today I'm sharing an apple recipe from my brand new book Fast Your Way to Wellness.

Affordable, nutritious and versatile, they’re a scrumptious fruity must-have that I love to continually replenish within my kitchen. Whether sliced thinly and thrown into salads, baked and stuffed with nuts and oats, stewed and made into apple sauce, or lovingly formed into a classic crumble, apples are the jack of all trades and a loyal friend that awaits transformation into all kinds of delectable creations.

Apples are nutritional ninjas, boasting loads of wellness boosting properties. Did you know that apples are a wonderful ingredient for regulating blood sugar? Recent studies have shown that the polyphenols contained within apples can help to prevent rollercoaster blood sugar spikes. Particular flavonoids like quercetin have the effect of inhibiting enzymes like alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase which normally break down carbohydrates into simple sugars. Therefore when you eat apples, your body deals with less simple sugars and releases you from spikes in blood sugar.

Today I'm supercharging a classic cake stall favourite straight outta the 80's.  Back in the day when fashions and seasons were mixed; leg warmers and mini skirts, lace with acid wash jeans, now I'm combining salt and caramel!  

Say hello to my gooey and melt-in-the-mouth Salted Caramel Slice, a dessert sure to be a sell out at every school fete across the country.

These beauties are gluten-free, dairy-free, refined-sugar free and full of healthy mood boosting ingredients.  I mean, what kind of person doesn’t break into a smile when they’re gobbling down a piece of chocolatey caramel slice? You’ll be surprised at how something so delicious can actually be so nutritious!

To reach their supercharged potential, I've rounded up some cashews and almonds to make the base. Cashews are great for zinc, iron and vitamins E, K and B6 and almonds are known for their fibre levels, protein, iron, magnesium and vitamin E.

These slices are full of lip-licking and tongue-tingling goodness, and satisfy your sweet cravings without adding inches to your waistline! They partner well with a pot of tea and best served chilled.

If you're looking for a healthy dessert to wow your guests or a superfood snack for afternoon tea, you've come to the right place! 

So, what are you waiting for?

Here’s what you need:

Ingredients: 

Base

• 1 cup raw cashews
• 1 cup raw almonds
• 1/2 cup buckwheat groats
• 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 1 tbsp rice malt syrup
• a few cracks of sea salt

Filling: 

• 1 cup cashew butter
• 1/3 cup rice malt syrup
• 2 tbsp coconut oil 
• a few cracks of sea salt 

Chocolate topping:

• 1 tbsp coconut oil 
• 1 tbsp cacao butter
• 2 tsp cacao powder

Method: 

1. For the base, combine cashews, almonds and buckwheat in a food processor
2. Transfer to a bowl and add coconut oil, rice malt syrup and sea salt. This is best combined using hands and then pressing into a brownie tin. Leave in fridge for an hour or freezer for half an hour while preparing the filling. 
3. To make filling, combine all ingredients in a bowl and spread on top of the base. Leave in the fridge for an hour or freezer for half an hour. 
4. To make the topping melt coconut oil and cacao butter, add cacao powder and stir until there is no lumps... Drizzle on top of slice and set in the fridge or freezer. Top with shredded coconut and a few more cracks of sea salt!

Give them a whirl and let me know what you think in the comments section below 🙂

In the searing heat of summer, I want my food to be refreshing, full of supercharged ingredients, and speedy to prepare. Balmy evenings and the dry warmth of the summer air begs for our energy to shift from the comforting presence of the stove and lengthy food preparation, towards simple alfresco food solutions that can be enjoyed by adults and children alike.

In the warmer parts of the year, my priorities shift away from indoor activity, to more outdoor, social engagements; morning yoga sessions and beach walks followed by throw-together breakfasts, inviting friends over for a shaded outdoor lunch of simple, seasonal ingredients, and family gatherings where common sense, last-minute entertaining or pot luck offerings are regularly required.

When enjoying the food of summer, I always tackle my food planning with a two-fold approach. Firstly, and most importantly, I focus on healing, supercharged ingredients that are full of the season’s well-curated nutrients that support immunity, energy and vitality that the summertime requires. Secondly, I love to embrace speedy simplicity by taking hold of the ritual of batch cooking, one pan options, and easy-peasy snacks and refreshments that allow less time in hands-on food prep, and more time enjoying the outdoors and the presence of those I love.

For summer breakfasts, you can’t go past a glorious granola topped with a mountain of seasonal fruits. My Cranberry and Walnut Granola is my favourite go-to. I find great contentment mixing and baking a large batch of this scrumptious stuff during a Sunday batch-cooking session. You should smell the aroma! The blissful scent of sweet cranberries and roasting nuts will fill the air of your home, comforting your mind with the assurance of nourishing breakfasts sorted for the week ahead. I love to immerse my granola in homemade almond milk topped with fresh organic farmer’s market fruits. You can’t beat passionfruit, mango or raspberries!

One pan meals minimise the need for hands on time in the kitchen, and you don’t have to miss out on flavour with a throw-together dish. My Seven Minute One Pan Salmon with Greens is one you could do blindfolded, and always delivers the light, fresh oceanic flavours of salmon, plus the anti-inflammatory benefits of this high omega 3 fish. It’s also surrounded by seasonal greens that are important for oxygenating the blood to increase energy levels for outdoor cricket or rugby and trying to keep up with chasing around my three step sons during the holidays. 

But if I were to uphold one of the greatest summer recipes that I know of, I’d have to wave my banner for these no-fail popsicles. For the amount of effort required to whip up a batch of these darlings, it never ceases to amaze me how many times they have brought a sense of delight to both adults and children on a sweltering summers day.

As guests drizzle in through the holidays, I love to have a few variations of this basic recipe stored up in my freezer to bless unexpected guests. At the point of their presentation, it’s beautiful to watch the kid come out of everyone in response to the offer.

When whipping these up, you can use the basic variation, add cacao for a cheeky chocolate flavour, or try some of these seasonal variations:

• Blend in some mango chunks and scatter some whole macadamias into each mould
• Drop a handful of chopped strawberries into the mix before pouring into moulds for a strawberries and cream popsicle
• Stir the pulp of two passionfruit into the mix before pouring.
• Blend in a handful of blueberries and the zest of one lemon.

The best thing about this recipe is that it utilises simple non-perishable food items that can be kept on hand for use at any moment. Aside from being conveniently canned, coconut milk is also highly nutritious and rich in fibre, vitamins C, E, B1, B3, B5 and B6 and minerals including iron, selenium, sodium, calcium, magnesium and phosphorous. It’s also dairy free, so your popsicles will still impress friends or children with dairy allergies.

My Love Your Gut powder is included in this recipe but is an optional addition. However I always love to prioritise a scoop, as it’s a simple way to cram in its remarkable gut healing benefits of improving detoxification, aiding nutrient absorption, increasing the health of hair skin and nails, and boosting hydration in the hot weather. You can read more about the benefits of the LYG powder and purchase it here.

Popsicles

Makes 6-8 popsicles 

Ingredients:

• 2 cans of organic coconut milk 
• seeds of one vanilla bean (or alcohol free vanilla/ vanilla powder) 
• 2 Tbsp LYG Powder
• 10 drops of stevia (or to taste) 

For chocolate version add in 1 tsp of cacao powder

Method:

1. Blend all ingredients in a blender.
2. Pour into popsicle mould and leave in freezer for 3-4 hours. 

*These are best eaten at this time, as if left overnight or too long in the freezer, the coconut milk sometimes splits. 

Make them and let me know how you go!  Viva la holidays 🙂

Lee xo

Bananas and avocadoes are two foods always stocked in my fruit bowl. I honestly don’t know how I could live without these perfectly packaged portions of nourishment, in fact I'm bonkers about them.

While the spotlight is often on ambiguous superfoods found in the depths of Amazonian rainforests, I like to think that some of the simple seasonal foods we have grown up with are also brimming with supercharged goodness.  This is something that I've discovered in my own kitchen at home; everyday foods often hold some of the greatest nutritional superpowers. My mission in life is to find ways to harness the nutrient density of these ingredients; maximising their benefits through the pleasure of everyday simple and delicious recipes.

Smashed avo on toast certainly is a national favourite in Australia and also was peaking in cafes on my recent trip to New York City, and why wouldn’t it be? Creamy, green, versatile and full of nourishment ranging from an abundance of heart healthy monounsaturated fats, a big hit of fibre, vitamin K, folate, vitamin B6, potassium and vitamin C; these perfect portions of goodness can turn a piece of toast or a standard salad into a thing of gastronomical wonder.

I love a bit of smashed avo, but you don’t have to spend an arm and a leg in a hipster café to enjoy its goodness, and can quite frugally enjoy this wholesome café favourite at home. My ultimate go-to breakfast recipe is my smashed sardines with avocado on chia and flaxseed loaf which is full of anti-inflammatory fats, and wonderful for anti-ageing by supplying the skin with moisture from the inside out.

My chilled avocado soup is also an ideal way to enjoy the delight of Mexican flavours and is a brilliant recipe to share as a light meal or starter in the warmth of summer.

No salad really feels complete to me without the presence of luscious chunks of ripe green avo, and another way to celebrate this dreamy fruit is within my kale, strawberry and avocado salad; a beautiful lunch or side to grace your family table.  It's one I'll be serving at my annual orphans Christmas event at my house this year. For more Christmas recipes go here.

Now bananas are another one of those everyday foods that just don’t get old. It’s likely these yellow friends were a presence in your daily school lunchbox, and are the perfect on-the-go snack to bring energy and nourishment in an instant. But don’t let this commoner fool you. They are absolutely loaded with nutrition.

We all know they’re high in potassium which is important for relieving anxiety and stress, enhancing muscle strength, metabolism, water balance, electrolytic functions, and balancing the nervous system; but did you know that bananas are also loaded with vitamin B6, vitamin C, manganese and fibre?  They also contain several types of potent antioxidants, including dopamine and catechins, which have been linked to a reduced risk of heart disease and degenerative diseases.

I love to enjoy bananas as a quick morning snack before exercise. I never let an over-ripe banana go to waste; storing them up in my freezer as a quick way to add creaminess to breakfast smoothies. A stash of frozen bananas always means I can have a sustaining smoothie bowl on offer;  whizzing up a deliciously customised blend bejewelled with different crunchy sprinkles like cacao nibs, nuts, seeds or coconut on top.

“Good broth will resurrect the dead,” reads a South American proverb.

Escoffier claimed “Indeed, stock is everything in cooking. Without it, nothing can be done.” A staple and medicinal cure-all in traditional households and the prime ingredient in classic gourmet cuisine, stock or broth made from meat or vegetables is a beautiful meal-base ingredient to always have on hand in the freezer, and has been revered for generations for its ability to nurture the sick and nourish families.

For chefs, stock is the charmed elixir for making soul-warming soups and spectacular sauces.

Vegetable broths made mindfully at home are one of the cheapest and easiest ways to use up leftover veggies, making it a fabulously frugal and environmentally friendly household staple.

If you’re looking to be a more conscious consumer, a homemade stock using up all of your on-hand veggies are the perfect way to enter into the world of frugality, and can help you to justify spending a little extra on quality organic ingredients as you find use for every last skerrick of produce to create delicious meals for you and your family to enjoy.

Beyond adding delicious flavour as the bases of sauces, stocks, soups and stews, they also act as a supercharged “tonic” that are wonderful for adding a dose of healing nutrients that are empowering for health.

Many of the minerals and vital nutrients contained within vegetables are actually bound up within the cell walls of the raw product. Long, slow and gentle cooking actually allows for the breakdown of the cell walls of veggies so that your digestive system can have easy access to the uptake of nutrients.

This is an especially helpful process if you suffer from leaky gut or malabsorption.  Adding broths and stocks is an extra insurance policy to ensure that your body is being flooded with easy-to-digest nutrients and it's one of the staples in my book Heal Your Gut and Heal Your Gut online programs.

I love to experiment with different flavours of seasonal vegetables, herbs and scrap leftovers to create nourishing stocks and tasty, nutrient-rich broths that are both delicious and healing.

In need of a little umph and energy?

These Spicy Lamb Koftas from my Ayurvedic bible Eat Right For Your Shape are the perfect energy building food.

Lamb's gamey taste will remind you of the strong blood building qualities of red meat which also helps you build internal heat; a serious requirement of the flighty vata, who tends to feel the cold and become destabilised physically and emotionally. Vatas out of balance caused by a lack of warmth, grounding and digestive fire will be prone to dry skin, poor circulation, muscular aches and pains and arthritis.

Koftas are such a comfort food; even their name is filled with an ultra-cosy vibe. Their hearty nature will warm up your metabolism, so you feel warm from the inside out but can be eaten any time of the year. Rosemary & cumin highlights add to the warmth and spiciness of this rustic and sturdy dish.

Where possible, it’s important to purchase organic and 100% grass fed and finished lamb, which will contain higher amounts of healthy fats including omega-3 fatty acids, bringing another level of wholesome nourishment to build energy and stamina.

Pastured meat’s EPA fatty acid components are also incredibly important for mental health, as EPA is directly linked to brain function and emotional stability.

The fat content in these lamb kofta’s will bring an increase in digestive fire, as will the inclusion of fiery spices like warming ginger and the grounding zing of fresh parsley.

Lamb's natural oily and warming qualities will make you feel capable and maybe even a little competitive. It’ll bring the bounce back to your step, and make you feel more focused and driven.

Enjoy these delightful ayurvedic kofta’s as a midweek meal that’ll be enjoyed by the whole family.

Kids will especially find them fun to eat on their little skewers, and they’re a great way to ground littlies as a trusty witching hour meal to bring them back down to earth!

For busy families, double the recipe for lunch the next day. You can even serve them minus the skewer as a great protein addition to a salad made with seasonal vegetables.

I hope you enjoy them 🙂 Let me know what you think in the comments section below.

Spicy Lamb Koftas

Serves 4 makes 8 koftas

• 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) minced (ground) lamb
• 1 small brown onion, chopped

• 2 garlic cloves, crushed

• 2.5 cm (1 inch) piece of ginger, peeled and grated

• 1 tablespoon chopped mint

• 1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf (Italian) parsley

• 1 teaspoon mild paprika

• 1 teaspoon ground cumin

• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• Celtic sea salt, to taste

Preheat a chargrill pan or barbecue hotplate to medium.
  To make the koftas, mix all the ingredients in a bowl until well combined. Divide the mixture into eight portions and form each into a short sausage shape. Thread each onto a bamboo skewer and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Place the skewers on the prepared pan or hotplate and cook for 10 minutes, turning halfway through.

Serve with a garden salad in warmer months or roasted vegetables in winter.