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Quinoa ,Date and Roasted Pumpkin Salad with a Creamy Balsamic Dressing

This salad is so delicious I could eat it every day!  The flavours just seem to melt into each other and then the dressing - just yum.  It’s oil free so nice and light for those wanting to eat a salad that loves them right back! Creamy Balsamic Dressing 1/3 C Tbsp Sunflower Seeds3 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar 6 Dates1 Tbsp Soy Sauce 1/3 C Water Blend Together until creamy. Salad 2 C Roasted Pumpkin2 C Cooked Quinoa 3 Tbsp Pumpkin Seeds2 C Kale ( finel...

Sweet potato and chickepea curry

Hello my cheeky chickpeas how are you all doing?  I was at a friends place and she commented that her teens open the fridge and say “why do we have an ingredient fridge”. I laughed as had never heard this before. Well I have heard my boys exclaim “there is no food in this house”. I guess this is what they mean.  No “instant” food. Just ingredients to create. Now my goal is to help others have ingredient fridges and pantries. Let’s just say if it c...

Overnight Oats

If you really would like to do an act of rebellion this week, try eating food you cooked.   Honestly in this fast past world that is screaming constantly at us that we need more more more how about we just simply say no. We choose to love ourselves enough to nourish what matters. Us.Think twice before you get taken in by fads, complicated recipes and marketing of the latest superfoods. I can promise you the best superfood that exists is the last veg you ate.  Eat a diet full of li...

Bowl of Beans

Hello my little chickpeasHumans are the only species that requires scientific evidence that fruit and vegetables are good for them!  I find that statement a little funny and slightly scary both at the same time. If you want evidence well there is a ton out there. Starting with the Seventh Day Adventist Study. A great piece of research that follows a community of SDA people who eat a plant based life style. This is a longitude study which means it wasn’t just a small cohort group over a sh...

Hydrating Summer Salad

Oh wow it has got hot, even more so in the kitchen. Now is the time to change up what we eat and how we cook.   You probably know by now that your body is between 60 -70% water. You should be drinking minimum of 6 glasses of water a day.  A few more if you are exercising or having drinks that dehydrate you - that’s drinks that contain caffeine. Have you tried a a herbal tea? I like mine over ice it’s so delicious and refreshing. But did you know that our veg and frui...

Staying in your healthy zone - Caths Kitchen Chat November 25th

Staying in your healthy eating zone during the silly season is tough. This is the time that many stop with taking care of their health and indulge. Not so surprisingly it’s also the busiest time of the year for our cardiologists.Listen, do I think you are going to destroy your health in one day of indulgence by eating Grans trifle - no! But for many it’s not just one day. For me it’s a door I can go through and struggle to find my way back to health. For others they simply enjoy ...

Peanut Thai Salad 

So why is a Monday the day where we always wake up with the best of intentions for our health?   I know I always previously started diets on a Monday and the weekend before I would eat the most horrible calorie loaded food.  Then somehow think if I could just starve myself and nibble on lettuce it would balance out.Well it didn’t and it’s incredibly bad for your health. Taking responsibility for your health is like an investment .  Little by little you make better choices...

Caths Yoghurt 

I love yoghurt but buying plant based yoghurt is super expensive and near impossible to find a good unsweetened non gmo soy yoghurt.  The reason why my choice of plant based milk is soy is simply because of its health benefits. It’s higher in protein, it has no cholesterol and almost no saturated fats compared to coconut milk.  It has a lovely creamy thickness and is fairly neutral in taste so you can change up the flavours.  And of course it’s a bean! Please don’t get ...

Strawberry Balsamic Dressing

This week I want to chat about inflammation. If we have inflammation in our body it is where most modern dis-ease begins. If you want less inflammation  then you need to move your body away from an inflammatory diet. That’s a diet high in ultra processed foods, take aways , fried foods, sugar and processed meats. Then introduce an anti inflammatory diet which is high in  vegetables, fruit legumes and lentils.   Now remember what you eat today you crave tomorrow. It takes ti...

Maple Walnut Chocolate Cookies

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No Cheesy Sauce

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Cannellini and Beetroot Hummus

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Tofu Scramble

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Herby Dressing

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Dirty Chai Tea

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Pesto Hummus

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Sweetcorn Fritters

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Roasted Eggplant

I just love the creaminess of egg plant with a slow roast in the oven. Somehow it feels buttery and velvety that no other veg can deliver . This was absolutely delicious and pretty simple. You just cut your eggplant in half and mix up a marinade and push it into those cuts so it goes all the way through. This would also be yum on the BBQ and I think a few carnivores may just love it too!Marinade2 Tsp Miso2 Tsp Peanut Buttersplash of Tamari or Soy Sauce2 Tbsp Maple SyrupA little water to loosen ....

"Cheesy" Wedges

Sometimes you just want wedges for tea. Served with tomato sauce ( low sugar) and plant based cheesy sauce . Oil free of course but still crunchy with my secret coating. Well it won’t be a secret for long now. Precook your potato’s ( not quite cooked) then slice into wedges. Next pop them in a bowl and add half a lemon juiced. Then in a little bowl mix up 2 tsp cornflour , 1 tsp smoky paprika ,1 tsp sea salt , 1 tsp of onion or garlic powder, 1 tbsp of Nooch. Toss over your wedges and cook f...

Super Kale

Kale is such a superfood for our bodies yet we often are not sure what to do with it. A couple of pieces in your smoothie but then what?Well lovely ones let me tell you how I gobble up my kale I mix it with our leaves and make salads. Just chop it up finely and give it a gentle massage and you are good to go.I add it into mash potatoes at the end before I drain the water. It’s a great partner with cabbage as a quick stir fry! And of course kale chips . Just sneak it in where ever you can!Today...

Spag Bollagnaise

You can’t beat a nice bolognaise. The secret I believe is in the tomato paste as an extra in your sauce . It delivers a depth that a tin of tomatoes just can’t match . Sun dried tomatoes do this as well but much more expensive and will add lots of calories if they are in oil.This lovely sauce mix starts off in the food processor and it’s really versatile mix . Most will not even notice all the veg and beans in there . It’s much much cheaper than “real mince” and also cheaper than you...

"Meat"balls and Spag

I do love a good plate of spaghetti and meatballs and this plant based version is delicious. It delivers all the flavour but leaves out the saturated fat and the lentil adds a ton of fibre . Legumes help to sweep our arteries . Pretty important as you don’t want blocked arteries right?There are so many different pastas out there that it’s hard to choose . This time I used wholemeal spaghetti as that’s what I had in my pantry but you decide what you like . My advice is if plant based eating...

Easy Snack - Vege Platter

The quickest way to whip up something when the kids come home from school or you have unexpected guests turn up is a platter.If we can get our kids (or ourselves) pre loading up on veg before tea it’s such a great way to get in some extra veg. It’s just a change of thinking to what you can put on it.This little platter has courgette fries , carrots , celery , a few crackers , hummus , raisins and crunchy sprouts and a few cherry tomato’s . The more you eat veg the more ways you will start ...

Spinach Tofu Koftas

I know I say it all the time but these are delicious. The sauce is creamy full of delicious spices but mild enough for the kids . Though for me I would like a chilli in my sauce for heat if that’s you just add some chilli to your liking .Koftas1 bag of Spinach chop in your food processor then add …1 Block of Firm Tofu (drained)2 tbsp Health Yeast1 tsp Celtic Sea Salt2 tsp each garlic & onion powders2 tbsp CornflourRoll into your koftas and cook at 200deg for 20 mins or until nice and bro...

Made it in the paper !

Cath Jeffares may be no stranger to being in the kitchen, but what she’s cooking these days might seem a bit strange to some.Cath will be running a plant-based cooking workshop in Napier this month and says after going through some health issues a few years ago, she discovered the health benefits of this way of eating.“Basically, what whole food plant-based eating is, is you eat plants in their entire form before anything is bleached, stripped or removed. That way you get all of the nutrient...