Well it's more like what to eat when you have limited cooking facilities and limited food available as well!

I used to be able to travel to various locations for a week at a time for work. I would always have to be prepared to make very fast simple meals as I would often be tired from work and cooking facilities can vary. It actually became quite an exciting challenge to come up with what to cook every night! I know how daunting it is to cook a meal after a long day and how easy it is to just grab take away but trust me the following will work even for the most lazy, unmotivated and unskilled! I thought I'll share with everyone some of the tips for cooking meals that are both healthy, quick, simple and cheap (I once only spent $25 for a week's supply of food for myself).

Write a shopping list! Write what meals you plan to make! Think of ingredients you can use multiple times in different ways for different meals. This will ensure no food is wasted as well.


This is one of the shopping lists I made before going to the supermarket.
When I had access to a stove I made eggs every morning. This varied from a fried egg to scrambled eggs with tomato and spinach. I also had some toast with peanut butter.

One of the places I was at only provided a kettle and a microwave. This is where I had to get creative.... (PS we also had no cutlery at times...)
 
This is something a friend recommended. It's scrambled eggs cooked in the microwave! It's very very simple to make, seriously. Crack an egg into a bowl (Or takeaway container in my case), put a tablespoon of milk into it and then whisk it slightly. Put it in the microwave and watch the magic. You might want to take it out and give it a stir 30seconds in. I would also have the eggs with some instant oats that I heated up in the microwave or a piece of toast. Cereal also works well.

What's really important at breakfast time is having something with protein and fibre. These two things will keep you full and satisfied. In the breakfasts I had, the protein came from the eggs, porridge and the peanut butter. The sources of fibre were the bread, porridge and vegetables I added to the eggs.     

Lunch always had to be something simple and could easily pack into my bag. This usually meant sandwiches and salads. 
One of the sandwiches I had. One of the weeks I survived on a tuna sandwich every single day because tuna was on sale.... I always made sure I loaded it with some vegetables such as red onion, spinach, tomato and mushrooms so I wasn't leaving the task of consuming 5 serves of vegetables all at dinner.


This is one of the salads I made. You might recognise this from a previous blog post! Yes I was still obsessed with fruit in salad at that time (and I've had more chances to experiment so look out for them in future posts). This one has some added shredded chicken from the night before and instead of a vinaigrette I just used some olive oil.

A snack after lunch was always fruit to ensure I got my serves of fruit as well.


One of the first days I really couldn't be bothered cooking and it was already an effort to go shopping so I made sure I bought a frozen meal for these kind of days. Instead of eating out of a plastic plate or bowl I made the effort to plate it up and it made all the difference. I often have one or two frozen meals stored in my freezer at home for really lazy days or when there is just nothing in the fridge. Frozen meals can be quite small sometimes though so an extra salad or serve of vegetables on the side can bulk up the meal.

The second picture is of a very simple meat and veg meal. I bought a BBQ chicken and took off the drumstick, microwaved some frozen vegetables and had it with a piece of bread. No cooking required! I shredded the rest of the chicken for sandwiches and salads at lunch and to go with pasta for the next night's dinner.     

  Pasta is my number one go to dinner on these work trips. I buy a can of low salt tomato based pasta sauce and add in some frozen and fresh vegetables, a source of protein and voila meal done!


How I cooked the above pasta dish on the left... As I said before one of the facilities only had a kettle and microwave. I was determined to not just live on frozen meals for a week and took inspiration from a video I'd seen on cooking in a hotel room. I filled the kettle with water and added pasta and boiled it with the lid open so it will continue to boil. Lots of stirring in between and there you go cooked pasta! I put some pasta sauce on it, some already microwaved frozen vegetables and some shredded chicken and into the microwave it went. It wasn't as delicious as a home made pasta sauces but it was still a comforting meal after a long day and that's all it needed to be.

I also tried cooking lentils and pork fillets in the kettle but they didn't work out so well.....

Lentils and any form of canned beans are very cheap to buy and easy to cook. They're a great substitute for meat or simply to add more bulk to a meal. You can never speak ill about beans (maybe the gas...)!

There were still some days when I did end up eating out and I didn't want these photos to sit in my phone neglected while my kettle of pasta got some screen time... You can always go back to my post on tips for eating out.
  Looking at that salad is making me drool already....

I hope this post comes back on nights when you're feeling uninspired and unable to get off the couch. These meals are definitely cheaper than some take aways and this is more my definition of fast food. If you think about it, in the time you take to call up a pizza place and have it delivered, you could have had a nice home made meal.  

Feel free to share any quick meals, cooking tips and what you like to eat when you're in a rush in the comments below!

I used to hate blueberries. Something about the smell, the colour, the price! But then I don't know how or when, I started to fall in love with them! I'm still not a fan of fresh blueberries but I love them frozen and I make sure to have a packet in my freezer at all times. At only 184kJ/100g they are a great frozen sweet treat any time of day.

Two nights ago I picked up my box of frozen blueberries for a snack and discovered a recipe for blueberries and white chocolate muffins. It was VERY late in the evening but I had all the ingredients handy and decided to do some late night baking.

I made a few modifications with the recipe so here's a comparison of the original with my modified recipe.

Blueberries and White Chocolate Cupcakes

Original Recipe Serves: 6	Modified Recipe Serves: 14
1 cup blueberries 2 cups self raising flour ¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar ½ cup white chocolate bits 1 egg, lightly beaten ¾ cup butter milk ½ cup vegetable oil	¾ cup blueberries 1 ½ cup wholemeal flour ½ cup self raising flour ¼ teaspoon baking powder ½ cup low GI sugar ¼ cup white chocolate bits 1 egg, lightly beaten ¾ cup low fat milk ½ cup canola oil ¼ cup low fat yoghurt

    
Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius
2. Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl
3. Stir in egg, milk, yoghurt and oil 
4. Scoop batter into lined cupcake tray evenly
5. Push in a few blueberries and white chocolate into each cupcake 
6. Bake for 20-25mins  

Before they go into the oven!

 

 

These were beyond delicious. The only thing I would've done differently is to put MORE blueberries in! These are more dense than your ordinary cupcakes but they were very moist and soft and filling. So perfect.

Nutritionally Speaking....

Original Recipe (Per serve)	Modified Recipe (Per serve)
Energy 2320 kJ Protein 9.2 g Fat (total) 23.6 g Saturated fat 4.7 g Carbohydrate 74.8 g Sugars 36.7 g Sodium 410 mg	Energy 864 kJ Protein 4.2 g Fat (total) 9.2 g Saturated fat 1.4 g Carbohydrate 25.4 g Sugars 10.4 g Sodium 68 mg

As you can see I have significantly reduced the kilojoules! 864kJ is still a bit high for a snack but it's a big improvement on 2320kJ. An average person's kilojoule intake for the day is 8700kJ so just having one muffin from the original recipe would be 25% of your daily intake. Not such an innocent muffin now right? 


Some easy modifications to try when baking:

• Change the serving size. I prefer cupcakes over muffins because they're cuter and I only have cupcake tins at home ;). This way I ended up with over twice as many cupcakes than I would have! Good food should be shared so I passed some on to my neighbours, family and friends who dropped by. It's also quite impressive if they love it (and they will!) and you tell them you made them!
• Substitute white flour with wholemeal flour. This is really easy to do if you're baking a fruit cake or nut cake since there's already different textures in the batter. If you're not sure how much to substitute try 1/4 or 1/2 of the amount in the recipe and just experiment. 
• Choose Low GI Cane sugar, Natvia or Splenda instead of white sugar. These have lower GI or less kiljoules than white sugar. However read the packet for conversions of quantity. Usually sweeteners are several times sweeter than sugar so less may be needed.  With sugar it also helps to experiment with how much is really needed. As this cupcake already has blueberries and white chocolate I felt it would be quite sweet already so I cut 1/4 cup of sugar off and it was still quite sweet.
• Choose low fat ingredients. This includes using low fat milk, cream, yoghurt etc. Choose maragrine instead of butter. This can reduce the kilojoule content as well as the total and saturated fat.
• I've been exprimenting with adding yoghurt to my cakes and so far so good! Adding 1/4- 1 cup of yoghurt can make cakes more moist, dense and increase the protein content. Definitely will be experimenting more with yoghurt!     
  

 Let me know about any recipe modifications you've made and how it turned out!

Today I wanted to share a salad I've been obsessed over. I've had this for lunch for the past 3 days!! It is so unbelievably delicious you MUST try it! I've had this new fondness for fruit in salads and it's such a brilliant idea especially throughout spring and summer. Sadly summer is over in Australia and with the dreary summer Sydney has had this year, I feel robbed. This salad is the perfect mix of tangy, sweet and fresh taste that I have been craving.

This salad is under 2000kJ/large serve. I usually have some chicken or tuna with it or have it on the side with a meal. However at 2 serves of vegetables, a serve of fruit and plenty of good fats from the olive oil and cashews it's a great low salt lunch choice! Not to mention it's vegetarian on it's own which is why I've added it to Veggie Mamas Meatless Monday list.  


Adapted from: A Couple Cooks


Serves: 4 (side salad) or 2 (salad meals)
Preparation Time: 10mins

Ingredients

• A cup or two of strawberries (Watermelon works great too)
• Half of a red onion
• Handful of cashews
• Crumbled fetta cheese 
•  Vinaigrette dressing
• 4 tablespoons aged balsamic vinegar
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 teaspoons mustard
• 2 tablespoons honey
• Fresh ground pepper

Method

1. Prepare the ingredients: Wash and slice the strawberries. Wash and dry the salad greens. Thinly slice a red onion (if you’d like it to be a bit less spicy, soak the slices in cold water for about 20 minutes prior to serving).
2. Make the dressing: Combine dressing ingredients in a bowl, whisk with a fork
3. To serve, spread the greens on a plate and top with strawberries, red onion, cashews, cheese crumbles and vinaigrette

Per large serve: Energy: 1610 (385kCal) Fat: 26g Sat Fat: 4.6g Carbohydrates: 24.8g Protein: 8.8g Sodium: 84mg 

This week, March 13-20 is Coeliac Awareness Week.

A person with coeliac disease has an abnormal immune reaction to gluten. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye, barley, triticale and possibly oats. When a person with coeliac disease eats a food containing gluten their intestinal villi (small finger like projections that line the intestinal wall) gets inflammed. Over time these projections can flatten out. The problem with this is that the villi is responsible for absorption of nutrients in the gut.

Coeliac disease affects approximately 1% of the population but it is likely 75% of those with coeliac disease remain undiagnosed. More adults are diagnosed than children and it is more common among Caucasians. If you have a first degree relative that has coeliac disease then it may be likely that you are susceptible to it as well. This is because those with coeliac disease have a specific marker called HLA on their cells. This gene is present in about 30% of the population. A blood test or buccal swab can test for the presence of this gene but only about 3% of those with the positive genetics will go on to develop coeliac disease. This means that this test can only be used to rule out coeliac disease.

Environmental factors also play a part, for example there is a larger prevalence of coeliac disease in cultures that eat wheat.


Many people suffering from coeliac disease may have no symptoms or only a few non specific complaints. This means that many can remain undiagnosed for several years. 
Some common symptoms:

• Iron deficiency anaemia or other vitamin and/or mineral deficiencies 
• Weight loss
• Diarrhoea, bloating, flatulence, nausea, vomiting, steatorrhoea, abdominal cramps
• Muscle wasting
• Weakness and tiredness
• Osteoporosis
• Infertility
• Failure to thrive in children
• Skin rashes and bruising
• Recurrent mouth ulcers
• headaches and dizziness

Coeliac disease is treated with a gluten free diet. A vaccine is in development and is currently undergoing clinical trials but the best treatment we have now is still a gluten free diet. Although this may be a bit daunting it's important that there are risks involved in not treating coeliac disease.

• Chronic poor health
• Increased risk of GI cancers 
• Infertility and miscarriages
• Refractory coeliac disease (late diagnosed coeliac disease)
• Liver disorders
• Neurological disorders (ataxia, epilepsy, early onset dementia)
• Increased risk of autoimmune diseases such as diabetes and Dermatitis herpetiformis (skin condition)
• Damage to teeth 
• Poor nutritional status  such as anaemia, low bone mineral density, poor absorption of protein, fat, carbohydrates, calcium, magnesium, zinc and vitamins
• Osteoporosis

First of all don't start a gluten free diet just yet. The test used to diagnose coeliac disease will not be accurate if you have not been eating gluten and can give you a false negative. Therefore wheat products must be eaten for 6 weeks prior to a biopsy test.

The first test is usually a blood screening test that looks for antibodies in the blood. A person with untreated coeliac disease often has increased levels of these. However a blood test can not diagnose coeliac disease and it MUST be followed by a small bowel biopsy.

A small bowel biopsy is a conducted to look at the villi in the small intestines. This requires a gastroscopy procedure which is when they look at your bowel and collect small samples to look at under the microscope. This is to confirm the presence of a flattened villi, a sign coeliac disease.

A second biopsy usually occurs after at least 6 months on a gluten free diet. This should show recovery of the intestinal villi.

It is very important that this procedure of diagnosis is followed. Although it seems slow it is the gold standard for diagnosis. Coeliac disease is a life long medical condition that benefits greatly from a proper diagnosis. By obtaining a proper diagnosis you can be assured that the symptoms experienced are caused by coeliac disease and not another medical condition. There are other causes of abnormal intestinal villi and it's important to make sure what you have is coeliac disease as treatment is a life long strict gluten free diet.


Treatment of coeliac disease is self managed. How strictly you adhere to the gluten free diet is in your control so it's important to be aware of foods that contain gluten and how to read and interpret food labels. Symptoms often take 6-12 months to settle so keep at the diet even if you do not see any immediate effects. The Coeliac Society has a great collection of resources for anyone who has coeliac disease ranging from ingredient list booklets, magazines, restaurant cards, seminars, cooking demonstrations, gluten free food monthly discounts at Coles and recipes etc. It costs a small annual membership fee but it's really worth it! With the amount of gluten free products in the market now it's become a lot easier for people with coeliac disease to still have many of the foods they enjoy.



Remember individual consultations with an accredited practising dietitian can help manage coeliac disease and answer any questions you might have. 

I wanted to share 2 recipes today on one of my favourite foods of summer: Mangoes!

After the last post about Nok Nok I had an intense desire to make Thai Green Mango Salad and as luck would have it someone had gifted us some!

I did a quick search on green mango salads online and mashed together a few recipes that took my fancy and ingredients were available in my fridge.

Ingredients:

• 1 small handful of dried shrimp (around 1 1/2 tbsps)
• 1 green mango (peeled and sliced or grated)
• 1/2 cup bean sprouts
• 1 birds eye chili (chopped)
• 1 tablespoon coriander/cilantro (chopped)
• 1 green onion (chopped)
• 1 tablespoon roasted peanuts (chopped)

Dressing

• 3/4 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• zest of 1 small lime 
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar

Method:

1. Mix the mango, bean sprouts, chili, green onion, dried shrimp and corriander in a large bowl.
2. Mix fish sauce, lime juice, lime zest and sugar in a small bowl.
3. Toss the salad with the dressing and serve garnished with the peanuts.

Look at this beautiful dish! This will be a flavour explosion in your mouth and with only 3 steps what could be easier? The salad can serve as a healthy and refreshing lunch during the summer or anytime of the day. For those who have never tried green mango salad or would give it a pass just imagine the flavour and texture of this dish in your mouth right now. The soft sweetness of the mango, the crunchy fresh bean sprouts, the flavoursome coriander, the spicy chilli, the crunchy roasted peanuts, the salty and fishy shrimp and fish sauce, the tangy sour lime and the sweet sugar all combined together in one dish. Heavenly!

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I first saw this salad shared on Twitter and knew I just HAD to make it! It had a lot of my favourite ingredients! Sadly it was the middle of the night and I was already in bed so I bookmarked the link for another day. That night I couldn't stop thinking about it and in the morning I recruited the ingredients from my fridge to make this beautiful salad.

Ingredients

• 500g prawns, peeled and deveined
• 2 mangos, peeled and flesh cut into bite sized cubes
• 1 avocado, peeled and cut into bite sized cubes
• 1 small bunch baby asparagus, lightly steamed, cut into small lengths
• small sprig snow pea sprouts, trimmed
• 1 tablespoon walnut pieces
• a few tiny baby cos lettuce leaves, rinsed, pat dry
• black pepper

Dressing:

• Juice of 2 limes (including 1 teaspoon finely chopped lime zest)
• 1 tablespoon coriander leaves, finely chopped
• 1 Birdseye chilli, finely chopped, seeds removed
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Method

1. If you are using green prawns, cook the prawns in gently boiling salted water until the colour changes to pink. Prawns don't take long to cook, so be careful not to overcook them. Set aside to chill in the refrigerator. Or if you are using cooked prawns, simply peel and devein, then chill them while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
2. To make the dressing, combine the lime juice, lime zest, coriander, chilli, honey and olive oil in a small jug and whisk lightly. 
3. Arrange the lettuce on serving plates. Top with the mango, avocado and asparagus, then arrange the prawns over the top. Sprinkle the dressing over the salad, top with the walnut pieces and snow pea sprigs. Season with pepper. Serve immediately.

This salad was really fresh and lovely as well and my family really enjoyed having fruit in a salad. As the weather gets warmer I often find myself uninspired to cook or eat cooked foods so salads are really quick and easy during these times. I was too eager to make the 2 salads above and didn't get a chance to measure the kilojoule content of the dishes but they are definitely low kilojoule, low fat healthy meals. What's also great about salads is anyone can make them out of anything! Put in lots of vegetables and then add in a protein source like meat, chicken, legumes etc to make it more satisfying!

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I have officially graduated from my course a couple of weeks ago! I am now a fully qualified Accredited Practising Dietitian (APD). It's all very exciting and yet nerve wracking trying to figure out what to do with myself now, so I'm taking a holiday! I'll be going away to China for a lovely 3 weeks break with my family tomorrow. We'll be touring multiple cities across China so look forward to many food and travel posts ahead. The weather will be the polar opposite from Australia (though if this rain continues it might be quite similar) so I won't be having any salads! I can't wait to absorb in all the food and culture!

Hope everyone has a lovely and safe Christmas and New Year.