As readers of this blog might know, I can’t do gluten or sugar, which makes breakfast tricky. If not toast or porridge or muesli or fruit, then what? Eggs. And more eggs.

zucchini ricotta cheesecake, via 101cookbooks

Not a sad predicament, but variety is required. Lately I’ve also been experimenting with cutting back on grains overall. I’m not wholly paleo (caveman diet follower); I tend to follow Weston A Price’s eating ideas (although not strictly). I can see merits in not eating so many carbs…doing so does curb my cravings…which I have problems with. I still eat carbs, just not as many.

So back to breakfast…no sugar, no gluten and… less grains. A challenge? Yes, but one I’m up for.

Tell me what you think of these ideas, and please add your own.

Zucchini Ricotta Cheesecake

This one is fresh from 101 Cookbooks. They used a springform pan, but you could use an equivalent baking dish or deep tart pan as well. I did mine in a skillet with less ingredients.

serves 8

• 2 cups zucchini, unpeeled & grated
• 1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• 2 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped
• zest of one lemon
• 2 large eggs, well beaten
• 1/3 cup goat cheese, crumbled
• drizzle of olive oil

Preheat oven to 170C degrees. Butter/oil a 7-inch springform pan.

In a strainer, toss the grated zucchini with the salt and let sit for ten minutes. Now aggressively squeeze and press out as much moisture as you can. Set aside.

Combine the ricotta cheese, Parmesan, shallots, garlic, dill and lemon zest. Stir in the eggs and mix. Now stir in the zucchini. Fill the pan with the mixture and place on a baking sheet and in the oven and for sixty minutes. Sprinkle with the goat cheese and return to the oven for another 20 -30 minutes or until the goat cheese is melted and the cake barely jiggles in the center (it will set up more as it cools).

Let cool five minutes, then release the cake from its pan. Serve at room temperature drizzled with a bit of olive oil and a few sprigs of dill.

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):

Another week, another “study” that shows we’re meant to be eating this instead of that. Yeah, I tire of them. But I found this one on the best and worst foods for healthy weight quite interesting.

It found yoghurt was the best food to eat to lose weight.

Below I’ve outlined the gist of the study, and then shared my favourite ways to eat yoghurt.

via pinterest.com

The study was based on three trials over 20 years. It found

• The quality of food matters more than calorie count!!! So eating organic makes you lose weight.
• The top five most fattening foods were sugar-sweetened beverages, red meat and processed red meat, each associated with half a kilo of weight gain every four years.
• The most fattening food of them all?

This is a quick post, just to alert you to a resource for buying fish because I think many of us feel in the dark as to which are best to buy and why.

via pinterest.com

The Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) have developed the first online sustainability guide for seafood consumers in Australia. It was developed in response to growing public concern about overfishing and its impact on our oceans and their wildlife, and is designed to help you make informed seafood choices and play a part in swelling the tide for sustainable seafood in Australia.

The guide lists fish according to ‘better’ option, ‘think twice’, or ‘no’- which basically means don’t eat it if you have a conscience.

According to the sustainability guide, some of the well-known ‘better’ options include

• sardines,
• whiting,

A few posts back Julie Cowdroy wrote about the Below the Line campaign – a program in May that sees well-fed westerners live on $2 a day to experience what it’s like for the world’s poorest. And to raise $$. I promised to give it a crack and did so for a day. As, it seems, with most people who did it, I resorted to lentils.

Lentils are cheap. And Dr Weston A Price considers the little buggers the most nutritious of all legumes – high in minerals and they help assimilate protein and iron absorption. But they can be bland and horrible and really crook on the gut. If you don’t play right.

Here’s some tricks for eating them.

Just mine. It’s not a comprehensive list.

1. Add red lentils to soups and casseroles and curries…

for extra bulk and fibre and protein. A cheap way to spread out a meal. Simply rince a handful and toss in 15-20 minutes before the dish is cooked. They disintegrate and you’ll barely know they’re there.

2. Soak your green and brown lentils a few hours.

Most recipes will say you don’t need to at all because they’re quite low on phytic acid. Soak in warm water with a bit of lemon juice. Seven hours is good.

3. I make dahl…
by boiling  soaked brown lentils (1.5 cups)  in water to cover, adding a tsp of turmeric (a great anti-inflammatory), pepper and garlic. I simmer for an hour  (covered) and then whisk the lentils til creamy. In a pan I saute cumin seeds and 2 small hot chillies in butter (or ghee) and then fold that through the lentils with some coriander.

4. I sprout lentils.

Here’s a few cooking and eating tips I live by for a Tuesday. Enjoy! Oh, by the way, the new nutrition makeover show I finished filming in January – Eat Yourself Sexy – will appear on Lifestyle YOU in August…in time for Spring. That should give you enough time to subscribe to Foxtel/Austar!

1. I blend my tomatoes. Cooking tomatoes increases the available lycopene antioxidant content by five times. Blending tomatoes does the same but avoids the heat and oxidation, as well as water and enzyme damaging properties of cooking.

2. Marinate meat in rosemary. Cooking meat at high temperatures can create toxins called heterocyclic amines, linked to cancer. But, marinating lowers the risk by preventing the formation of the toxins -  rosemary is the most effective marinade herb to use. Makes sense. They taste good together.

3. Here’s how to do speedy pumpkin: To stirfry cubes of pumpkin (for a quick lunch salad etc) without pre-steaming it, fry it up with a liberal shake of salt. I’m not sure why, but the salt breaks down the pumpkin’s starch faster, so it softens as you fry.

4. I cook with coconut oil. It tastes amazing – a little bit sweet and a bit toasted. And it’s sooo good for you. It’s made up of ninety percent saturated fats (good fats). And 50 percent of the fat content iis a fat rarely found in nature called lauric acid. Your body converts lauric acid into monolaurin, which has anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-protozoa properties, as well as being antifungal, antioxidant, and soothing. PLUS it supports thyroid gland and enzyme function.Pumpkin in particular tastes great with this oil. It’s also less fattening than other oils…if that matters to you.