Lucky for me, Kady is also an amazing recipe blogger and she immediately shot out two recent recipes she had created involving seafood, offering to share with me so I could try and blog it for others feeling fish-challenged. Clever girl that Kady!

I can honestly say that we all LOVED this dish, I wasn’t sure I’d get the kids over the line with the babaganoush, so I did mash potato (or as I like to do a cauliflower, sweet potato and potato mash) for them instead, but they tasted the baba and loved it too.

Kady recommends using the same recipe for the crunch, to make a granola – she keeps the mix in an jar and uses it on everything!

Many of the ingredients in this recipe can be sourced from my one-stop-favourite, organic wholefoods online store, The Wholefood Collective. They go to great lengths to ensure everything they source is amazing quality, they stock all my favorite products and I don’t even have to leave the house! Oh and the cherry on the cake is they donate profits to improve food security for vulnerable Aussies.

Here are some of the ingredients you’ll need:

Salt
Pepper
Coconut oil
Oats
Quinoa
Walnuts
Hazelnuts
Tahini
Parsley

Print

Crunchy Gemfish with Babaganoush

Servings 2

Author Kady O'Connell

Ingredients

• FISH
• 2 x fillets of gem fish or any other meaty white fish
• sea salt
• pepper
• CRUNCH TOPPING
• 1 tsp coconut oil
• 1 tbsp oats
• 1 tbsp quinoa
• 1 tsp walnuts crushed
• 1 tsp hazelnuts crushed
• BABAGANOUSH
• 1 eggplant choose a heavy dark one - they have less seeds
• 2 tbsp tahini
• 1/2 lemon juiced
• 1 small garlic clove
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp flat leaf parsley

Instructions

• Turn the grill on to the highest setting and put the whole eggplant under it. Leave for 5-10 minutes then turn sides - it should be completely soft and the skin starting to burst when its done.
• Take the eggplant out from the grill , cut off the top and peel away the skin.2. Place crunch mix in the oven at 180 degrees celsius for 10 minutes. Then add all crunch ingredients to food processor and blend to a crumb.
• Line a baking tray with baking parchment. Rub the gem fish with a little coconut oil on both sides and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the crunch mix on top of the fish
• Place the fish in the oven at 180 degrees celcius for 15-20 minutes depending on the size of the fillet. Use a knife to check if its cooked through.
• Place the eggplant meat into a food processor/ blender with the other babaganoush ingredients and blend until smooth.
• Spoon the babaganoush onto 2 plates and top with the gemfish.

Another seafood recipe the whole family loves which packs a power punch of goodness is this one for Sweet Potato, Corn and Wild Salmon Fritters.

Enjoy!

Bren x

Last Saturday I had one of those days. I was unstoppable! Which is another way of saying I was in a snowball-like frenzy. Yes, we’ll mash anything in this house, whether it’s food or grammar! Anyway, while Master 10 and his dad were doing the cricket and golf run, Miss 7 and I had the kitchen production line set to 11, churning out a variety of beauties.

While I like to create my own recipes, I adore discovering, trialling and sharing recipes by other wellness mums. As a result, we had lots of nourishing goodies to see us through the week, which dramatically reduced the drama of ‘what should I cook today?’

Here’s what I made:

Nectarine sorbet

Thermie made this delicious icy treat with only 4 ingredients – nectarines, coconut sugar, egg white and ice cubes. We had it as a special after dinner treat over a few nights. Mr 10 is desperate for a mango version so I’ll get onto that this weekend.

Choc-Mint Fudge

This one was made specifically for the lunchboxes, but has been gobbled down by guests on two occasions for afternoon tea. I love the extra boost of nutrition with the addition of pepitas. Pepitas are full of goodness like magnesium, zinc and Omega 3’s.

The recipe is by Cut Out the Crap and you can find it here

Gluten-Free Banana bread

I am mindful of reducing the wheat and gluten load when cooking for my family, and this recipe by Alexx Stuart is a total gem. It’s the second time I’ve made it, but this time I included the ginger. The whole family enjoyed it toasted for breakfast with a side of cinnamon yoghurt and frozen berries.

Mayonnaise

This is the best recipe ever! Another thermomix recipe from the awesome Quirky Cooking. I didn’t add the shallots cause I didn’t have any, and raw shallots don’t really agree with me anyway. Also, I used a mix of Avocado, Macadamia and mild Olive Oil. We dolloped it over fried barramundi one night and chicken schnitzel the next and dipped our vegetables in it both nights. Mr 10 has requested some chicken schnitzel for his lunchbox and demonstrated the (huge) size of the container to be filled with mayonnaise to dip his schnitzel strips into!

Pizza

Thermomix sure got a work out today! Next on the list was pizza dough, which Thermie conjured in a flash. I use Quirky Cooking’s spelt flour pizza dough recipe. We made the dough for pizzas to have the following night and topped them with home-made pesto, lightly fried garlic, red onion and kale, fresh mushroom and goats cheese. And there were leftovers galore for the kids lunchboxes. Yipeee!

 

Huevos Rancheros and Vegetarian Nachos Sauce with Kidney Beans

I was exhausted by the end of the day, but had two hungry men heading home and Miss 7 starting to bug me about dinner. Somewhat ironically, I couldn’t think of a thing to make! A deep breath and a quick search later, and Quirky Cooking saves the day again. This recipe is sure to become a family staple, it took 10 minutes to make and hit the spot after a long, but productive, day in the kitchen.

I also had some brown rice soaking to cook the next day so I could make the kids some sushi rolls for their lunch boxes.

The next day I spent lazing about the beach and swimming in the ocean – it’s all about balance, after all!

Do you ever have the urge to cook all day? What do you like to make? I’d love to hear from you.

If you are keen to learn about how you can create nutritious real food lunchboxes and how to make some of my favourite lunchbox recipes, check out my next workshop here.

Bren x