5-minute cookies for kids

5-minute cookies for kids

Healthy alternatives to standard treats can be prepared in as little as 5 minutes (prep time), like these apricot and coconut cookies.

Apricot and Coconut Cookies

½ cup dried apricots, cut into small chunks
1¼ cup desiccated coconut
3 eggs

  1. Beat eggs.
  2. Add dry ingredients.
  3. Roll into small balls, and place on a baking dish.
  4. Press each ball with a fork (while holding the outside with your fingers to maintain its structure).  Turn the fork in the opposite direction and press the ball again.
  5. Bake at 120°C for approximately 20 minutes, or until golden.

Enjoy!

Note: This recipe is from the Fat Revolution Cookbook, which is a LCHF (low carb, high fat) cookbook, perfect for families and for those who don’t need to be super low in carbs. If you would like to be strict keto (no root vegetables, fruit, nuts), use the Easy Keto Cookbook.

Healthy Smoothies

Healthy Smoothies

Even at the “healthiest” juice bars, a fruit smoothie contains unhealthy ingredients, such as juice made from concentrate, homogenised milk, flavoured yogurts that contain sugar, and commercial honey (honey that has been super heated and no longer has nutritional value).  You can make your own healthy version in 5 minutes.

1 cup frozen mixed berries
1½ cups kefir or quality yogurt from health food store
Stevia to taste

  1. Put the yoghurt into a food processor with the remaining ingredients.
  2. Process until smooth.

Enjoy!

Note: This recipe is from the Fat Revolution Cookbook, which is a LCHF (low carb, high fat) cookbook, perfect for families and for those who don’t need to be super low in carbs. If you would like to be strict keto (no root vegetables, fruit, nuts), use the Easy Keto Cookbook.

Healthy chips for kids

Healthy chips for kids

If you have children, and they are attending a party or other social event where commercial food will be served, it is also easy to make an alternative at home, like home-made chips.

Commercial chips (or anything else deep-fried) available at take-away shops and restaurants are full of free radicals because they are made with cheap, nasty oil, which is continually heated.  Beautiful chips can be made at home and are a healthy alternative.

Free radicals are present in cheap vegetable oils like canola, and the numerous bottles in the supermarket labelled “Cholesterol Free”.  The level of free radicals present in these oils increases astronomically when they are used for deep frying, especially when the oil is heated to very high temperatures over and over again.  Free radicals cause oxidative damage, which creates inflammation in the body.  The inflammation damages cells and results in premature ageing.  If you do need to buy commercial chips occasionally for a children’s birthday, use a plain, unflavoured chip that is cooked in sustainable palm oil (while it is good to avoid regular palm oil, not all palm oil is damaging to the environment), such as Thomas Chipman.  Avoid all commercial chips cooked in vegetable oil.

4 Large potatoes
Coconut oil (cover 2 cm of a small saucepan)
Salt

  1. Use a mandolin with a crinkle cut blade.
  2. To achieve the waffle cut, slice the potato in one direction, turn 180° and slice in the other direction.
  3. Heat the oil in a small saucepan until it reaches 165°C. Note: Don’t let the oil exceed 170°C or it will go past its smoking point ad be damaged.
  4. Cook in small batches, stirring to ensure they are all covered by the bubbling oil and not sticking.
  5. Once they are golden brown (when oil reaches 160 to 165°C again), remove, place on a paper towel, and sprinkle with salt.

Note: This recipe is from the Fat Revolution Cookbook, which is a LCHF (low carb, high fat) cookbook, perfect for families and for those who don’t need to be super low in carbs. If you would like to be strict keto (no root vegetables, fruit, nuts), use the Easy Keto Cookbook.

Easy Healthy Meals

Easy Healthy Meals

It doesn’t have to be difficult to cook something healthy and delicious.  When I am at home for lunch, I throw together a stir fry and use egg or leftover meat.  It tastes so much better than food you can buy at food stalls.  It literally takes 5 minutes to chop the veges, and 5 minutes to cook.

2 cups of mixed vegetables, chopped
¼ cup chicken stock or filtered water
2 tbsp tamari
Eggs, lightly beaten (2 per person)
Melt 1 tbsp of the butter in a wok or frying pan.

  1. Add vegetables, and toss for approximately one minute.
  2. Add stock, and cover for approximately 4 minutes, or until vegetables are cooked al dente (cooked, but not soft and overdone).
  3. Remove from heat, and add 1 tbsp of the tamari.
  4. Melt the other tbsp of butter in a separate frying pan, add the eggs, and cook until the egg is solid.  It is easiest to cook the bottom of the egg in the frying pan, and then put the pan under the grill for a few minutes to finish cooking the top.
  5. Cut the eggs into strips, and drizzle with the remaining tamari.
  6. Add the eggs to the vegetables and serve.

Enjoy!

Healthy Lunch Ideas

Healthy Lunch Ideas

Snacks and lunches provide the biggest temptation to revert to convenience food.  However, it is quite easy to take a little more time in the morning to prepare something nutritious.  Easy healthy meals can be simple.

When I am at home on my own, I often make a quick stir fry, and add egg or leftover meat.  It only takes a few minutes, and tastes much better than what you could buy at a food stall.

If you have children, and they are attending a party or other social event where commercial food will be served, it is also easy to make an alternative at home, like home-made chips.

Try this simple sweet potato slice, which is great to have on the run, or in children’s lunch boxes.

1 large sweet potato, peeled
9 eggs
250 g feta cheese, crumbled
2 tbsp fresh dill (or 2 tsp dried)
1 cup yogurt

  1. Preheat oven to 150°C.
  2. Cut sweet potato into thin slices, and place two layers on the bottom of a large baking dish.
  3. Bake in the oven while preparing remaining ingredients (approximately 10 minutes).
  4. Beat the eggs in a large bowl.
  5. Add the cheese, dill, and yogurt, and mix thoroughly.
  6. Remove the dish with the sweet potato from the oven, and pour the egg mixture on top of the sweet potato.
  7. Bake for approximately 40 minutes, or until the egg mixture is firm and cooked.  The top will brown slightly.

Note: This recipe is from the Fat Revolution Cookbook, which is a LCHF (low carb, high fat) cookbook, perfect for families and for those who don’t need to be super low in carbs. If you would like to be strict keto (no root vegetables, fruit, nuts), use the Easy Keto Cookbook.

Is fat the secret for youthful skin?

Is fat the secret for youthful skin?

Fat may just be the answer to youthful skin…that’s right, the world’s most hated substance could be the key to looking younger.

Premature ageing is on the rise, for a number of reasons. Firstly, the cell membrane is made predominantly of fat. If we don’t eat enough healthy, natural fat, the cell membrane can become weak, at which point it is impossible to keep our cells hydrated. And dehydrated cells shrivel, causing wrinkles and other signs of ageing.

Secondly, if we consumed damaged fats, such as highly-processed vegetable oils, these oils can damage the cell membrane, also contributing to premature ageing.

And, premature ageing doesn’t just affect the skin. Although the effects are apparent visually on the surface, skin, nails and hair are often visual cues of how a person is ageing internally.

Unfortunately, low-fat dietary guidelines were introduced with no evidence, which means that we, as a populous, were subjected to a huge experiment. And not only did the guidelines fail to improve population health, but there were also many serious consequences; one of the biggest is the fact that we are now ageing faster than ever before.

The good news is that many people seem to be able to halt and sometimes reverse premature ageing simply by changing their diet back to real food—including good fats. And when I say “good” fat, I am not simply talking about avocados and olive oil. Real natural fats, such as butter, coconut oil, animal fats from pasture-fed animals and many other wholesome fats that were unfairly demonised.

 

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