If you like eggplant you'll love this. Hell, even if you don't like eggplant you'll love it!

It's great served with roasted butternut pumpkin and chickpeas over greens, or as a relish with anything. We put it on pizza with broccolini or asparagus (whichever is in season) or have it as a side with any salad, roasted veggies, burgers - just about anything!

It's pretty easy to make, just get it going and then let is cook down and adjust the flavours as you need to get the right balance of salty, sweet and acidic.

Yep, you read it right, it's a fridge cake! That means no baking, just melting, mixing and stirring.

You'll need....
100g mint chocolate
200g dark chocolate
100g nutelex (or any vegan margarine/butter)you could use nut butter and coconut oil if you like them)
A large tablespoon or two of honey, golden syrup or maple syrup
A pinch of salt
About 150g of ginger nut biscuits or digestive biscuits or any kind you like, we use whatever gluten free biscuits we can find but if you don't need it to be gluten free then you're a free agent!
100g raisins or sultanas (soaked in rum or vodka if you like)
A couple of handfuls of chopped pistachios (or you can use different nuts if you like)

Buddha bowls are so in fashion at the moment. This beans dish goes really well with our green rice and some sweet potato wedges and greens to make the perfect spicy buddha bowl!

This dish is by far the best if you take the time to toast the spices from seed and grind them yourself. We make batches every month or so and enjoy the resulting spice mix in the mean time. It makes every dish so much more full of flavour.

Start with an onion and a dash of oil in a fry pan and cook for a few minutes. You can add garlic too if you like. While that's getting going you can strain your beans. Depending how big you want to make the dish you can add more veggies or more beans.

Even if you've never done this before I promise it is so easy and you're thank yourself for going to the effort every meal you eat for the next few weeks.

We do a batch every now and then and just enjoy the extra flavour it adds to each and every meal. Our favourite mix to do is two parts coriander seeds to one part cumin seeds. It's so easy, you literally toast them in a dry fry pan until they smell fragrant, then put them in a spice grinder, coffee grinder or use a stick mixer if thats all you have to grind them up. It doesn't have to be a super fine mix to be tasty and enhance your dishes so much. Try it compared to ground spices bought from the shop and you'll be amazed!

Use them on vegetables that you're roasting, with avocado on toast (or sweet potato toast) in the morning, as part of the seasoning in any dish you're making or even in salad dressings. It'll become the most reached-for container in your pantry.

They'll keep well in an airtight container for about a month or so, even after three months they'll still be better than the shop bought variety!

Buddha bowls are all the rage these days and if you're going to have one this is a must add. Along with our buddha bowl beans and some sweet potato wedges and greens this makes an amazing dish for any time of year.

It goes well with pretty much anything else too and it a great way to sneak more greens into your life. Fry a diced onion in a little oil until it is lightly cooked. Chuck it into a food processor or blender, or just a bowl and use a stick mixer with a cup or two of spinach, kale or pretty much any green that you have and like, we like doing it with sweet potato leaves because we have an abundance in the garden and they are apparently very good for you.

For some unknown reason every vegetable is simply better when you have it two ways. Cooked and uncooked, mashed and fried, dehydrated and roasted...it doesn't matter what the combination is it's just better! This one takes the cake though. Roasted and raw cauliflower all in a salad with pomegranate seeds, pistachios or pepitas (for nut free) and a load of herbs. It just doesn't get much better.

Start by grating a third of the cauliflower, or if you're not allergic to using a food processor due to the crazy amounts of washing up they produce you can use that instead. Then break or cut up the remaining cauliflower and toss it in a little oil and salt before popping on a baking tray and baking it until perfectly cooked (that will depend how big your florets are but usually around 20mins at 180 degrees C).

This is one of the best dishes ever. It's so easy and it doubles as a salad for lunch the next day. You can make enough to feed an army or just enough for two and it's just as easy either way. 

Roughly speaking budget about a quarter of a cup of quinoa per person. We use red quinoa but a mix of red and black works well for a lighter dish with a bit of bite. If you're looking for a stodgy comfort food number then use white quinoa, it just won't work quite as well as salad the next day but it'll still be yum.

First you're going to find that one dish that your mum gave you that goes both on the stove top and in the oven. If you don't have one don't worry, you can fry the stuff first then chuck it in the oven safe pot. 

This salad/dish is a ripper if you want to serve a heap of people on the cheap, or if you're just after a delicious and easy-to-justify-as-healthy way of eating potatoes! Basically grab a bunch of potatoes (new ones are the best, but normal potatoes are fine too - just cut them into quarters rather than halves!), boil them until tender and set aside. Meanwhile you can be making the beautiful green accompaniment out of either peas or broad beans.....whichever you have in your freezer or veggie garden! 

A week of dinners made simple (and cheap)
 
Do you struggle to decide what to cook for dinner each night? Do you end up reaching for the freezer or just chucking spuds in the oven and having them with baked beans from the can? We’re going to bring you a week’s worth of meals on a budget. The only thing you have to promise us is that you’ll go and find yourself a fresh market to get your veggies from. Not only will they be fresher and last longer in your fridge (saving you precious shopping time), they’ll be heaps cheaper too.
 
We shop once a week. A quick fly around Coles/Woolies/IGA for the essentials such as bread, rice milk, school lunches, cans of beans and frozen peas, on to the Asian deli for tofu of varying kinds and some spices and then to the fresh market for a trolley full of veggies. It’s about 15 mins further to drive to the fresh market rather than just going to our local Coles/Woolies/IGA but the fact that we can shop just once a week and have everything we need (plus the amazingly cheaper prices) makes that extra time totally worth it and still a massive saving when it comes to time AND those precious dollars that we all work so hard to earn.