This one is a variation on a recipe I stole from my big brother (although his version involved pan-fried speck and soooo much parmesan and melted butter) which I have transformed to make it more everyday friendly…. Im not going to lie to you I SUCK at poaching eggs (props to my mate Dan for live coaching me on the phone on how to poach) but it adds a richness to this salad so I definitely recommend that you practice and persist with the eggy (If you don't have a Dan handy then google it)! This salad goes perfectly with any and all kinds of sustainable/pastured fish and meat and delicious and satisfying on its own. Some other gorgeous green veg that would fit perfectly into this salad include finely chopped wombok, peas, cabbage, sautéed zucchini and pan-fried brussel sprouts and some beautiful young snow pea sprouts!

Ingredients: 
- Rocket
- Spring onion – chopped or sliced lengthways
- Asparagus – woody bottom part of the stalk removed
- Mint – finely sliced
- Thyme – Leaves roughly pulled from the twig and gently rubbed between the fingers to make it slightly bruised and fragrant
- Fennel- bulb and stalks finely sliced/shaved with leaves retained for dressing/garnish
- Broad beans (You can buy frozen, near the peas at the supermarket) – shelled (employ a friend/child/sibling/partner for this job… it is fun but time consuming!)
- Walnuts
- Egg - poached

Dressing

- Juice of 2 lemons
- Equal amount of extra virgin olive oil
- Pepper to taste
- Heaped tablespoon of Dijon mustard

Spread a layer of rocket at the bottom of the salad bowl. Blanch asparagus for no more than a minute! These should be tender but still crunchy! And run under cold water in a colander to halt the cooking process to keep them fresh and full of flavoursssssss. Pop the pot back on the boil and add broad beans. Cook until they float on the surface of the water, then similarly, run under cold water for 30 seconds. Add all other ingredients and toss to combine. Top with a poached egg (with yolk still very soft), the lacy little fennel leaves and dressing (for dressing simply combine all ingredients in a jar, seal tightly and shake the jeepers out of it until emulsified)

Or in regular people's speak it's basically just a pumped up, yummier, super healthy coleslaw!

I make a ginorrrrrrmous bowl and keep it in the fridge to stick a big handful on top of some fresh vitamin greens and rocket from the garden for lunches. Lasts forever and is super delicious and satisfying, and contains a glorious spectrum of nutrients including a little protein, fibre, vitamins A, C and E (plus the essential element of fat in order to absorb the fat soluble vitamins A & E!), a little B vitamin action and a bunch of minerals. Fantastic blood and liver cleansing salad mix too, it's anti inflammatory and if you dress it in Apple cider vinegar it's gonna increase your hydrochloric (stomach) acid and help your overall digestion! This one is a high-rotation lunch at our house and is filling enough for my boyfriend who does a super physical job too.

INGREDIENTS:

~1/4 or 1/8 of finely chopped red cabbage

~ 1-2 big organic carrots, grated

~ 1/2 pear, grated

~ 1/2 big raw organic beetroot, grated

~ 1/2 red onion, sliced

~ 1/2 red capsicum, sliced finely

~ (optional) tablespoon of very finely chopped fresh ginger

~ 1/2 cup sunflower seeds

~ 1/2 cup flax seeds

~1/2 cup sesame seeds

Dressing of extra virgin olive oil (best you can afford) and organic apple cider vinegar (with the mother)

Combine all ingredients in a massive bowl and serve on top of fresh rocket and/or greens. (HOT TIP: grate straight into the big bowl or grate everything in a food processor!) PS how beauuuuuuuutiful is my lunch spot at my house in Port Macquarie?! So blessed 🙏 to be living amongst it! 💗

I might be biased because I have ginger hair, but ginger has some kick ass health benefits too! It's beauuuuutiful for the whole gastrointestinal tract, serving as a carminative and a spasmolytic (in regular speak: gets rid of often painful intestinal gas, and is soothing, calming and relaxing for the GIT). It is antioxidant; it is anti inflammatory (even fantastic for pain relief when applied topically as a poultice in inflammatory conditions like arthritis); it is super powerful (moreso than over the counter medicines!) at reducing nausea (🙋to all my pregnant mums out there with morning sickness🚼), dizziness and motion sickness, it is detoxifying, it is warming and an expectorant in colds and flu, basically it is really good gear. I use both chopped fresh and powdered dry ginger in evvvvvverything from cakes, biscuits, soups, salads, stirfries and teas! Household staple! 💟🆒

I'm so lucky that my boyfriend brought me home this massive knobbly sword of native ginger from his work as an arborist; it tastes earthier and not quite as strong as commercially bought ginger, and is slightly sweet. I just chopped up a bunch and put it in a big huge bowl of antioxidants that is my healthy coleslaw for lunch. I'll post the recipe later today! 💃

✨🐂✨MILK MYTHS✨🐂✨

Gonna stir some pots today by talking about milk and dairy! If there are two nutrition topics that I find people are extremely emotionally attached to it is milk and dairy consumption, and gluten consumption. People love nothing more than to argue with me, a qualified nutritionist, that it is good for your health to drink as much milk as possible, and to eat as much wheat as possible 😒 Strap yourselves in folks because this might take a while! 🐄

So milk and its dairy mates are often promoted as calcium and protein rich foods that you simply must eat/drink lest your bones wither to chalk by the time you are 35. Milk DOES contain a lot of calcium (about 300mg per cup of milk), but there are so many scientific studies that have shown the negative health effects of milk consumption, most overwhelmingly that we barely absorb the calcium in milk (especially when pasteurised, which is the only milk commercially available for consumption in Australia 😉) and in fact INCREASES calcium leaching from the bones. This is because animal proteins (ie the protein in milk) have an acidifying affect on the body, and calcium is a fantastic acid neutraliser. The biggest storage of calcium is of course the skeletal system, so the body pulls calcium from the bones to use as a neutraliser (it also does this to calcify and compartmentalise toxins and unrecognised materials within the body, all the more reason to eat and live organically 😊) and the calcium then leaves the body via urine. It is not coincidental that the countries that have the highest dairy consumption rates also have the highest incidence of osteoporotic fracture. 👴👵 It's also no coincidence that most of us will present with HIGH calcium on our blood tests but LOW bone density (we need that calcium in your blood to be in your bones!)

If you have ANY kind of inflammatory reaction or dysfunction, have skin, bone, neurotransmission, respiratory, digestive or mucosal/integumentary problems then I suggest you limit your intake of dairy. (Listen I know it's hard, the cheeeeseeee ALL OF THE LOVELY CHEESE but I said limit. Just cut down for the time being!) if you're looking for some beautiful ABSORBABLE calcium-rich foods (and there are many) then look at leafy green veg (mmmmmmbroccoli), nuts and seeds (almonds yo), tahini and sesame seeds 💀💪 my favourite coco quench is the best milk substitute!

ALSO ALSO I mean obviously dairy farming uses some super questionable farming practices (any mums out there keen on being pregnant continuously for your entire lifespan? Have your babies taken from you within 24 hours?) and there is nothing in milk that you can't get from other dietary sources. Our dairy-loving friends in countries other than Australia and New Zealand can look forward to the chemical shitstorm of bovine growth hormone and oestrogen used in most other dairy industries too 😳

ALSO ALSO ALSO (sorry, I promise I'll shut up after this) watch out for whey protein supplements (yuck, do not recommend) and check your medication as many Meds employ dairy/lactose as excipients... It's all dairy. Big big business is the dairy industry!