Swordfish Steaks with warm Zucchini & Olive Salad

4 x 200g swordfish steaks
2 Tbs olive oil
freshly ground black pepper
lemon wedges

Salad
2 tsp olive oil
2 Tbs lemon juice
1/2 red (Spanish) onion, finely sliced
12 kalamata olives
1 Tbs baby capers
3 small zucchini (corgette), thickly sliced
1/2 cup roughly chopped flat-leaf (Italian) parsley

To make the salad, combine oil, lemon juice, onion, olives and capers in a bowl.
Steam zucchini until tender but not mushy. Transfer immediately to onion mixture and toss to coat.Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Brush swordfish steaks with oil and pan fry for 2 minutes each side.
Toss parsley through zucchini salad and spoon over serving plates. Top with swordfish and season with pepper.
Serve with a wedge of lemon.
Serves 4 for dinner

Source: The CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet

Chorizo and Chickpea Salad

2 tsp olive oil
400g chorizo sausages, thinly sliced
250g punnet cherry tomatoes, halved
420g can chickpeas, drained, rinsed
70g baby rocket, washed, drained
70g feta cheese, crumbled
2 Tbs balsamic salad dressing

Heat oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add half the chorizo. Cook for 4 minutes, turning, or until crisp and golden. Drain on paper towels. Repeat with remaining chorizo.

Add cherry tomatoes to frying pan. Cook, tossing, for 2 minutes or until just softened.

Combine warm chorizo, tomatoes, chickpeas, rocket, feta and dressing in a large bowl.Season with salt and pepper. Toss gently to combine. Spoon into serving bowls.

Serves 4

Lamb, Butter Bean & Rocket Salad

This is a delicious salad and so easy to make.

1 tbs olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
2 (about 250g each) lamb eye of loin (backstraps)
2 x 300g cans butter beans, rinsed & drained
250g (1 punnet) cherry tomatoes, halved
1 bunch rocket, ends trimmed, washed, dried & torn
1 small red onion, cut into thin wedges

Balsamic Dressing
60ml (1/4 cup) extra virgin olive oil
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
1 tbs fresh lemon juice
pinch of sugar
salt & ground black pepper, to taste

Combine olive oil, garlic and rosemary in a shallow dish. Add the lamb and turn to coat well. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the lamb and cook for 3-5 mins on each side for medium or until cooked to your liking. Transfer to a plate, cover loosely with foil and set aside for 5 mins to rest.

Meanwhile, to make dressing, whisk the extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, sugar, salt and pepper together in a large bowl.

Thinly slice lamb and add to the dressing with the butter beans, cherry tomatoes, rocket and red onion, and toss gently to combine.

Serves 4

Ten healthy habits from the Mediterranean

• Eat legumes. They're common throughout Mediterranean countries and in a traditional Greek diet are eaten twice a week to avoid eating meat for religious reasons, says Kouris, herself part of a research team at Monash University that found legumes to be the most important food contributing to longevity in over 1000 elderly people in five countries.
• Eat lots of dark green leafy vegetables like spinach, rocket, endive, chicory and amaranth (excellent sources of magnesium and plant omega- 3 fats, she says). You'll sometimes find amaranth - often called Chinese spinach - displayed with Asian veg in some greengrocers.
• Eat a range of coloured vegetables including tomatoes and capsicum - they're high in antioxidants, including lycopene.
• Use extra virgin olive oil. There's some evidence, says Kouris, that olive oil, like omega-3 fats, don't seem to add weight around the waist as much as animal fats and processed (hydrogenated) vegetable fats that are high in saturated and trans fats.
• Include some fermented foods like yoghurt or fetta cheese that may help provide gut-friendly bacteria.
• Slow cook meats with vegetables, including tomato, garlic, onion and olive oil. This slow cooking of meat is less likely than grilling to form carcinogens, she says. Stewing also retains nutrients in vegetables.
• Eat fish and seafood. Traditionally, fish is eaten more often than animal meats, she says.
  Be generous with herbs like oregano, rosemary, dill and mint; they make vegetables taste great so you want to eat more of them. Indeed, "you don't hear Greeks saying they hate vegetables," says Kouris.
• Snack on nuts and seeds. Traditional snacks include pumpkin seeds, roasted chickpeas, almonds, walnuts, as well as dried and fresh fruit.
• Think outside the salad dressing and use vinegar as flavouring for other dishes. Besides adding a tangy flavour, says Kouris, it also lowers the GI (Glycemic Index) of foods and helps you absorb more iron. It's a traditional ingredient in this classic Greek lentil soup on the Healthy Eating Club website (a good site for credible nutrition info).

Bircher muesli with bran

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup untoasted muesli
1 cup unprocessed wheatbran
2 cups hot water
2 Tbs lemon juice
¼ cup almonds
200g low-fat flavoured yoghurt
1 lg green apple, grated
150g seasonal fruit (berries, peaches, nectarines, bananas) per serve
2 Tbs honey

Place oats, muesli and bran in a large ceramic dish and pour water and lemon juice over.
Allow to soak for 30mins. Add almonds, yoghurt and apple and stir to combine.
Cover & refrigerate overnight.
Serve with fruit and drizzle of honey, plus extra yoghurt from your daily allowance if desired.

Bircher muesli keeps for – and actually improves over – about 4 days.
Make on Sunday night and enjoy throughout the week

Open roast pumpkin & feta pies

350g pumpkin, peeled, cut into 1cm cubes
2 tsp olive oil
3 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed
2 eggs
100ml light thickened cream
100g low-fat feta, crumbled

Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease two 12-hole muffin pans. Place pumpkin on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. drizzle with oil and season. Roast for 20 minutes or until cooked.
Cut 20 rounds from the pastry sheets using a 6.5cm cutter. Press into muffin holes to cover base and a little of the sides. Whisk eggs and cream together. Divide pumpkin among rounds, top with 1 teaspoon of egg mixture, then sprinkle with feta. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden. Cool slightly, then turn out.

Makes 20

Source: delicious. - October 2005 , Page 120
Recipe by Mandy Biffin

Friday, 14 November 2008
I made these for the second time for my birthday party. They are so quick and easy and never last long enough for a second trip around the room. Next time I'll make a double batch because they are always snapped up so fast.

Rice Paper Rolls

Capsicum - red and green (in really fine strips)
Carrots (in really fine strips)
Rice vermicelli noodles (soaked in stock until soft and then drained)
Crushed peanuts
Grilled chicken breast (in thin strips) - this is lovely if you marinate it in a honey/soy or an Asian BBQ sauce before grilling. You can also use fried tofu cubes, smoked chicken, prawns or beef strips - whatever you like really.
Mint and basil leaves
Rice paper rounds

Dip a rice paper round into warm water until soft and then lay it out on a plate.
Add the ingredients into the middle of one edge. Don't overload it!
Roll up the rice paper, tucking in the sides as you go
Lie the roll on a fresh plate with the lose edge down and it will seal as it dries
Repeat with remaining rolls making sure you cover the completed rolls with a tea-towel.
Store in the fridge until ready to eat.

These are great with either a store bought peanut sauce or -

Home made dipping sauce:
1/2 red chilli (deseeded and chopped very finely)
1 clove garlic (finely chopped)
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons fish sauce
4 tablespoons rice wine vinegar.
2 teaspoons lime juice
2 -3 teaspoons palm or caster sugar
Mix together well. Keep in the fridge until serving. Enjoy!

OR

Hoisin Peanut Dipping Sauce Recipe
1 cup (8 oz) hoisin sauce (if sauce is thick, add about 1/4 cup warm water to reach desired consistency)
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1 Tbs rice vinegar
2 garlic, crushed
1 minced thai chili, or more for desired spiciness

Good sources of dietary fibre

• Wholemeal, granary and softgrain varieties of bread
• Jacket potatoes, new potatoes in their skins and baked potato skins
• Wholegrain breakfast cereals, eg. Weetabix, branflakes, unsweetened muesli, Shreddies and porridge oats
• Wholemeal pasta and brown rice
• Beans, lentils and peas
• Fresh and dried fruits – particularly if the skins are eaten
• Vegetables – particularly if the skins are eaten
• Nuts and seeds
• Wholemeal flour

Healthy food options

* Avocado. Good on toast or as a spread in sandwiches and wraps.
* Low fat ricotta. Especially good on rye bread - either by itself or with some berries on top
* Hummous.
* Home made pesto. spread on toast or a piece of sourdough to eat with soup.
* Keep a tin of blanched lightly salted almonds at your desk

The Best Things for Your Relationship

"Stop all shame, blame and criticism. Instead ask for what you want in a clear, specific and positive manner, and express appreciation for your partner. To elaborate: Men need to feel competent-that they make a contribution and that it is noticed."

"Change from a critical habit of mind, in which you're very involved with your partner's mistakes, to a positive one, in which you catch him doing something right."

"When your relationship starts to break down, you need AAA: an Apology, Affection, and a promise of Action. You say you're sorry for what you've said or done to hurt or disappoint your partner. You immediately offer a hug, a kiss-some meaningful gesture of warmth. You pledge to do something that matters to your partner."

"With books on the market like How to Make Love Like a Porn Star, one of the greatest services you can do for a guy is to reassure him that he doesn't have to make love like a porn star. You can show him how to have sex like a woman: creative, sensual, non-genital-based, and more pleasure- than orgasm-focused."

"All relationships grow a bit stale as time goes by, and the longer-lasting they are, the staler they can get. The best thing you can do is pump in some fresh air. A long weekend in a romantic hideaway would be ideal, but even a few hours in a motel helps. Don't tell anyone where you are, turn off your cell phones, and unplug the TV. When you get home, you'll find your relationship has acquired ruddy cheeks."