There’s a bluebells post every year on this blog. This year is no different. Just love them. Even when they are a month late.




There’s a bluebells post every year on this blog. This year is no different. Just love them. Even when they are a month late.




Wendy has very kindly let me, Lucy ( www.nourish-me.typepad.com ), take over her blog today to talk to you guys, her lovely readers, about the next issue of An Honest Kitchen ( www.anhonestkitchen.com.au ), an e-publication that nutritionist Kathryn Elliott ( www.kathrynelliott.com.au/blog) and I work on. It’s about cooking in an honest, healthy way with real, no fuss ingredients.
When Kathryn and I were challenged by a reader to makeover some classic recipes, to give the An Honest Kitchen treatment to some favourite family meals, we jumped at the opportunity. What a fun idea, one with a practical and healthy outcome. Our Makeovers issue was born.
Roasts are a real favourite for many people. The traditional roast centres on a big joint of meat with hearty sides of potatoes, pools of gravy and all the extra trimmings. It’s a heavy, stodgy meal, one which can leave you feeling stuffed and lethargic at the end. If you’re trying to eat healthy meals, then avoiding the family roast may seem like a good idea, but we’ve gathered some tips to help you make it fresh, lighter and an altogether healthier option.

How to makeover a traditional roast dinner
In the course of our makeovers we developed a few guidelines which you can use to revamp your own favourite roast dinners:
Use less meat: Rather than cooking a huge joint of meat, choose a smaller cut with a bone in it. This will cook in a fraction of the normal time, but you’ll still end up with a juicy and flavour filled dinner. In our recipe below we’ve used lamb shanks which speeds up the cooking time, but also gives you an idea of how much protein you should be eating. It’s all too easy to eat far more protein with a roast than you actually need.
Don’t avoid potatoes: Roast potatoes are an integral part of the traditional roast and while they have a seemingly poor nutritional profile, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a bit of potato. It’s all about the size of the portion you eat and what else you plate them with. Try to make the potato no more than ¼ of the space on your plate.
Make sure you add LOTS of vegetables: Roasting is one of the best ways to cook vegetables. They are simply delicious and you can easily pack a variety of vegetables into the meal. We also avoid peeling and chop the veg into large chunks so there’s no fussy prep work required.
Add flavour: Don’t be afraid to add unusual and strong flavours to your roast, the results can be spectacular. In the following recipe, a fresh burst of lemon juice and oregano adds a lot of flavour.
So. What does a Makeover recipe look like? Like this!

Oregano Roast Lamb with Vegetables
A Greek-inspired roast lamb, where the meat and vegetables are cooked together – so you’re only dirtying one pan – and the whole meal is served with natural yoghurt instead of gravy. To make sure all your veggies cook evenly within the time frame, try to cut them into similar-sized pieces, about 3cm. Serves 2
2 onions
1 bunch beetroot – roots and leaves
2 carrots
400 – 450g potatoes
2 sticks celery
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 lemon
1 tablespoon dried oregano
600g Frenched (well-trimmed) lamb shanks – 1 large, or 2 smaller
1/3 cup natural yoghurt
For more ideas on making over the meals you love take a look at our publication An Honest Kitchen: Makeovers. An Honest Kitchen (http://anhonestkitchen.com.au/) is a regular publication all about real food that’s good for you. Each issue is full of simple recipes, practical cooking information and healthy eating advice. Our latest edition, Makeovers, in which we revamp popular meals is available in e-format from 11 June.
On a lazy Sunday morning (the rarest of things recently) one of my favourite things to do is to head over to Beauly and have breakfast or lunch in the lovely Corner on the Square.
A cafe and deli, Corner on the Square is bright and cheerful and chocablock full of nice things to eat right there or take home. I love the Goats cheese on toast and the cooked breakfasts especially but the specials are always rather, umm, special too.






David and I disagree about this salad. Both of us love the crunch and the sweetness of the vegetables and both of us think the colour is fantastic. We do not, however, agree on the dressing. He prefers a zingy gingery flavour; I like a kick of mustard.
See what you think.
Shredded Beetroot and Carrot Salad
(serves 4 as a side)
3 medium beetroot, peeled
2 medium carrots, peeled
Dressing 1 – Mix together the juice of one lime, a teaspoon of grated ginger and 25ml groundnut oil. Top salad with coriander.
Dressing 2 – Mix together 1/2 tspn Dijon mustard, 1 tblspn white wine vinegar and 4 tblspn olive oil. Top with parsley.


A lovely loaf cake that keeps fresh for days. Nice sliced and spread with butter; even better toasted and topped with ricotta.
Apple, Date and Walnut Loaf (Adapted from Bill Granger’s Everyday)
50g rolled oats
300ml milk
1 tspn cinnamon
250g self raising flour
100g dates, chopped
75g dried apple, chopped
50g walnuts, chopped
75g soft brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
2 tspn mixed seeds






