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

•  Preheat the oven to 200°C.
•  Prepare most of the vegetables: Trim the ends off the onions and peel away the papery skin. Cut each into 6 wedges. Cut the leaves off the beetroots and put these to one side. Scrub the beetroots, carrots, potatoes and celery – don’t worry about peeling unless they’re very grubby and marked. Cut into chunks, roughly 3 cm – this is important as you want the vegetables to cook evenly. Place all the vegetables in a large baking tray. Pour over the olive oil and gently turn the vegetables over, until they are covered in oil.
• Flavour the lamb: Juice the lemon, pouring the juice into a shallow bowl and putting the leftover lemon shells in with the vegetables. Add the oregano to the lemon juice and then season with salt and pepper. Put the lamb shanks in the lemon and oregano marinade and rub the mixture into the flesh.
• Cook the roast: Place the shanks on top of the vegetables, in the baking tray and pour any leftover marinade over the top. Place the tray in the oven and cook for 45 minutes. At the end of this time, remove the tray and gently turn over the vegetables and lamb. Return to the oven and cook for a further 30 minutes.
• Prepare the greens: While the roast is cooking give the beetroot greens a good wash. You may need to do this in two changes of water. Roughly chop into thick strips.
• Rest the lamb and cook the greens: At the end of the 30 minute cooking time, take the baking tray out of the oven. Remove the lamb to a plate, cover with tin foil and leave to rest for 15 minutes. Add the chopped greens to the tray and quickly toss them in the juices at the bottom of the pan. Place back in the oven for 7 – 10 minutes, until the greens are wilted.
• To serve: Once the vegetables are cooked, serve the lamb shanks and vegetables with the natural yoghurt on the side.

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.

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

• Simply use a mandoline to shred the vegetables finely.  (Unless you have incredible knife skills, a mandoline is what is required here.  Grating makes the whole dish a bit wet.)
• Toss with one of the following  dressings (you may not want to use all the dressing) and sprinkle with the matching herb.

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.