I’m always looking for new ways to enjoy fresh salmon. As I have mentioned before in other posts, it is my go-to healthy & quick dinner that all 5 of us love.

With some left-over homemade Spinach and Almond Pesto in the fridge and a desire to give our salmon dinner a new twist, I decided to smear it all over the top of our salmon fillets before baking.

Well, it was a hit!

Healthy eating does’t get much easier than this.

We have enjoyed this dinner a number of times now and I have served it with raw vegetable sticks or salad.

Click here for the Spinach Pesto recipe or if you are really short on time, use your favourite store-bought pesto.

This recipe can serve however many you like – just buy a salmon fillet per person, or 1 between 2 small children.

Ingredients

Fresh salmon fillets, boned and skinless

Spinach Pesto, approximately 1 tablespoon per fillet

Method

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius.

Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Spread pesto over the top of each salmon fillet.

Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes, depending on how you like your salmon cooked and how thick the fillet is.

Serve with lots of fresh salad.

Well, our family recently enjoyed an unexpected winter treat! 

After escaping to the family farm to see out what we hoped was the remaining week of ‘The Flu’, we found ourselves knee deep in a ‘once in 40 years’ snow event in the heart of beautiful Oberon, NSW.

2 of our 3 boys had never seen or been in snow before and so when we woke to see the farm covered in soft snow, 25cm deep, it was almost as good as Christmas morning!

A beautiful view across the farm.

Real Estate signs made the perfect toboggans for the big boys.

And yes, even Dad had to have a turn!

Sometimes life’s unplanned moments turn out to be some of the best. I celebrated my birthday as the snow was falling and it will definitely be a birthday I will remember for a long while yet.

How will we get out the driveway Mum? It ended up being Dad who shovelled us out.

Of course we had to build a snowman!

It might seem like a strange recipe to post after talking about the winter snow, but this beautiful salad is full of some of winters most wonderful produce and packs a huge nutritional punch in terms of goodness.

Let’s break it down;

Beetroots are high in fibre, have zero fat or cholesterol, are high in folic acid and help the liver in it’s detoxification process. The beautiful purple colour comes from a pigment known as betacyanin which helps to reduce the incidence of some forms of cancer. The leaves can be eaten too and are high in iron, calcium and Vitamins A and C.

Kale is high in fibre, water, calcium, iron, Vitamins C, A and K, many cancer preventing anti-oxidants, and potassium to help in managing blood pressure. It is best eaten very slightly steamed.

Oranges are a great immune boosting food due to their high Vitamin C content. They are also high in fibre, contain many anti-oxidants, some of which are essential for bone health and preventing osteoporosis. They are a source of carbohydrates and B Vitamins for energy.

Walnuts are full of omega-3 fatty acids which help lower bad cholesterol, help reduce the risk of breast cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes due to their high anti-oxidant levels. They contain melatonin which helps to improve sleep. They help lower blood pressure and contain lots of B vitamins.

Goats cheese is lower in fat and cholesterol than cheese made from cows milk and is more easily digested.

This salad takes minutes to throw together and can either be a meal on it’s own, or partner it with poached eggs, some chicken, beef or fish for a more complete meal.

These quantities will serve 2 as a meal in itself or 4 as an accompaniment.

Ingredients

1 orange, peeled and cut into thin segments

2 medium sized fresh beetroots (or a small tin of beetroot wedges if you are short on time)

2 stems of kale, leaves removed from stem and ripped into smaller pieces. Leave raw or lightly steam in the microwave for a minute or two.

a handful of lightly toasted walnuts

50gm goats cheese, crumbled

extra virgin olive oil to drizzle over the top

Method

If using fresh beetroots, preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius, wrap each beetroot in foil, place in oven and roast until soft when pierced with a fork. Cool slightly and using kitchen gloves (to keep your skin from turning purple!), peel skin away and cut beetroots into wedges.

Place all ingredients on a platter, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Meatballs of any kind are always a huge hit in our house.

It’s fun to change things up a bit from time to time, so this recipe ditches the classic beef mince we often make our meatballs with and uses lamb mince instead. By all means, you can use beef mince in this recipe if lamb isn’t your thing.

The flavours of Moroccan cuisine go beautifully with lamb. The classic spices that make up the moroccan flavour are cumin, cardamon, cinnamon, paprika, turmeric, ginger, fennel and paprika.

To make things easy, look out for a spice mix called ‘Ras al Hanout’, in your supermarket or green grocer or deli. I keep this spice mix in my pantry at all times as it is a perfect spice combination that can be used to rub on meats, throw in casseroles, tagines or soups.

When I make meatballs I often do it in 2 stages. I make up the meatballs and leave them covered in the fridge. Then after a busy afternoon, all I need to do is brown them and finish cooking them in their sauce.

This recipe also freezes perfectly if you want to get organised and have dinner made on the weekend for the week ahead.

Serves 6

Ingredients

Meatballs

800gm lamb mince

1 tablespoon of Ras al Hanout (Moroccan Spice Mix)

1/2 a spanish onion, peeled and finely diced

1 small carrot, finely grated

Sauce

1 x 700ml jar of tomato passata

150ml chicken stock

2 cinnamon sticks

1 tablespoon of honey

Chopped Parsley to garnish

Method

Combine lamb mince, spice mix, onion and carrot with your hands.

Roll the mixture into bite sized balls. You can do this step in advance if you wish, just leave covered in the fridge.

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan over medium heat.

Brown the meatballs in batches, turning them a couple of times.

Remove the meatballs and leave on paper towel while you start the sauce.

Pour all of the sauce ingredients into the pan and bring to a gentle boil.

Add the meatballs back in to the sauce, lower the heat to a simmer and put a lid on. Simmer gently for 15 minutes.

Remove the lid and simmer for another 5 minutes to slightly thicken the sauce.

Serve on a bed of Cous Cous or Risoni (rice shaped pasta), alongside some steamed green vegetables and garnish with parsley.