One of my favourite things to do is to come up with a meal from… nothing. It’s a sport. And I find myself competing in it often because I travel almost weekly and have to empty my fridge of random ingredients. Oh the thrill of it!?!

Pic: Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

So I always have a few staples on hand that can stretch out the random fridge surprise ingredients. Eggs, tinned tuna, tinned sardines,  frozen spinach, peas and broccoli (I steam, bag and freeze myself, as explained here), capers and activated nuts and seeds (which I keep in the freezer…they keep longer and stay crisper).

Me, at the moment I’m loving these ideas:

* Freezer spinach, pea and parmesan surprise: Take two cubes of frozen spinach (I buy the one that comes in a pack of 6 cubes) and a handful of frozen peas in a bowl and microwave (I know, not ideal, but frozen spinach is dodgy in a pot and this meal works best in a microwave) for a minute or so. I drain a little water out and stir through one egg and some grated Parmesan (which I store in the freezer) and heat for another minute or so. Breakfast!

* Mushroom mush: I saute mushrooms in a pan and some shaved ham (I keep a container in the fridge for such moments) and swirl through some lightly forked eggs, a splash of milk and some chia seeds.

* Broccoli and ….: I steam broccoli cut up pretty fine (as mentioned I do this in advance – a head or two at a time – put in containers and freeze ready to grab) and add:  some shredded chicken (I buy 1/2 a chook and use it across 3-4 meals), a few anchovies and some garlic, a tin of tuna and an egg…I swirl it through the hot broccoli and it “cooks” into a cheesy bind. Sometimes I toss in some finely cut celery  and swirl through some whole-egg mayo (sugar-free). And some activated pepitas (again, which I keep in the freezer). And bang. Lunch. Or breakfast (the other day I took it on the plane with me on my way to Sydney at 9am).

* Meffins (meat, veggie and egg muffins):

This week in Sunday Life I get deliberately vulnerable

Illo by Erik Marinovich

I love the number three. It’s a thing (as they say on Twitter, preceded by a “hashtag”). When things come in threes – three knock-backs, three mentions of the same person in a week – I’ve learned to take note. And something always comes of it. There’s nothing particularly woo-woo about this predilection. I’m a wary, hesitant person – it takes three strikes, generally, for me to notice and trust something, and then to act.

This week University of Houston scientist Brene Brown told me she’s a three kind of a kid, too. Of course, I got around to watching Brown on TED.com only after three people mentioned her to me. Her talk on vulnerability has since become one of the most popular TED presentations ever. And so I contacted her to see if I could interview her for this column on Skype. And whattayaknow, she replied immediately to say she was due in Sydney the very day I was also going to be in town.

Woo-woo? Or just weird? Whatever. We met.

Can I just say, I was more excited about meeting Brown than anyone I’ve encountered in my weekly journey for this column. Three hands down. Brown’s spent eight years studying thousands of people to determine how best to live a wholehearted life.

It drills down to this:

A little while back I finished making a TV show. It’s a nutrition makeover show. It’s called Eat Yourself Sexy. The premise is simple: I take 8 average Australian women and show them how to eat their way back to wellness in 8 weeks. It’s all it takes. And they wind up eating MORE than they’ve ever eaten before. Here’s a sneak look… and below some behind the scenes shots from the shooting of the promo.

Where can you see it?

Lifestyle YOU (Foxtel and Austar)

When?

August 25, 8.30pm

Why?

Because it’s a show that spreads REAL eating advice and is wholly accessible and all about pointing at the telly and saying, “Wow, that’s me, I do that” and, “Wow, that’s not complicated or hard, I can make that change”.

The women are mostly size 14-16, with kids and jobs (REAL). I swear, we see ourselves in all these women and their food and body dilemmas. We don’t whisk them away and lock them in a house and put them through artificial boot camp misery…