Silverbeet and Kale Feta Rolls - Healthy, Happy Lunch boxes

Silverbeet and Kale Feta Rolls

I love packing my kids full of greens.
Right from babies I have got them growing their own in our garden and in pots, greens are just so versatile in cooking and so incredibly jam packed full of nutrients. In face when you look at eating styles and trends there is always one constant in them all!
Eat more green leafy things!!

Paleo, Vegan, Raw, Low Carb, Michelle Bridges 12 week boot camps they all seem to agree green leafy things are especially good for humans!
So as a mum I have always given my two girls lots of greens and found so many delicious and clever ways to feed them to them! Because, lets face it too not too many toddlers are going to eat a pile of lightly steemed spinach quite joyously?

My little Violet as a wee thing with a silverbeet she helped grow that was not so wee!

One of my kids FAVE ways to get a big greens fix and a recipe that I LOVE to make for LUNCHBOXES is this super easy and cheap to make,

Silverbeet and Kale Feta Rolls.
Why Kale?
I know it has become trendy of late and sometimes you might think oh kale this and kale that....BUT it is for a very good reason!
Kale is a sensational power vegetable and was in fact a very popular vegetable in the middle ages and is a popular food source in many, many parts of the world. During World War II it was also in the Dig for Victory initiative in the UK because of its nutrient content, where everyone was encouraged to grow it in there gardens.
Kale is extremely good for you and is a source of beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin C, magnesium, potassium, copper, vitamin B6, and rich in calcium and according to *Mind, Body Green has more iron per calorie than beef.
It is also a source of two carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin and has other properties which are said to have anti cancer and DNA repair in cells properties.and the combination with fresh basil and a great Parmesan and feta is beautiful.
Kale (Brassica Oleracea) is a green leafy vegetable considered to be one of the highest in nutrients with many health benefits including it is said, to have anti – cancer effects so it is well worth tracking down or growing your own.
It is also a "cousin" to other nutrient rich veggie super heros like broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, savoy, collard.
There are many varieties available now including beautiful pruprle leafed types and it is also excellent in things like juicing, green smoothies, all kinds of fresh salads, spinach and kale cheesey scrambled eggs and often made into kale “chips”.
I also put it fresh, shredded very finely in my kids salad wraps, coleslaw.
(Note; if you have diagnosed thyroid issues always lightly cook it first before eating - even in smoothies, just steam then cool and freeze in portions, check with your naturopath for more information.)

It is also extremely EASY to grow!
Look out for organic seeds or seedlings and grow it in a really nice sunny spot (at least 6 hours), in good compost rich soil with plenty of organic matter and good drainage. Water deeply once established to promote a healthy root system and feed with diluted seasol once a week as a baby and then every 2 weeks once established. Harvest as a whole plant or just the leaves you need as you need them.
Grow them amongst marigolds, chives, spring onions, sage, thyme for companion planting.
If your worried you will plant and "forget" and they will die, plant a pot near your front door, amongst your flowers, somewhere were you will see them everyday and remember to water them.
I know for me I love taking 5 minutes of peace in the garden of an afternoon or early morning to have a cup of tea and water, it is actually very relaxing!

Grow things and get the kids growing things from babies

Silverbeet and Kale Feta Rolls Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups fresh silverbeet finely chopped and firmly packed in (or 1 pkt frozen spinach, thawed and drained well will also work fine)
• 1 cup fresh kale, washed and finely chopped. (You can find in Coles and Woolies now or farmers markets and places like Jeffers market on the Sunshine Coast.)
• 3/4 of a 250g pkt feta cheese. (You can use less if you find feta too salty for your palate or more see notes).
• ¾ cup grated cheese.
• 2 sheets puff pastry ( I use butter puff pastry or wholegrain when I can find it and sometimes gluten free puff pastry)

Method

• Pre heat oven to approximately 180`c.
• Combine spinach, kale, feta and grated cheese together.
• Semi defrost pastry sheets.
• Cut each pastry sheets in half to make two long rectangle.
• Line each one down one side with a long strip of the mixture. 
• Pinch the two sides of pastry together right along both sides to make it an enclosed ‘parcel’ or roll over on to itself to make a roll shape.
• Chop up into desired sizing rolls.
• Brush top of pastry with milk.
• Bake them in the oven on baking paper until golden and pastry is visibly cooked.
• Serve hot with fresh salad

Notes

• For a more ‘adult’ version you can add lightly sautéed onion, chilli or spring onion.
• Perfect for school lunch boxes.
• Freeze rolls before cooking for ready to go meals and lunches
• Adjust the amount of feta to you and your kids taste buds. Use a lot less if you generally find it too salty and more if you like a strong feta flavour. I find in general kids do not like a too strong feta flavour but rather just a hint of feta so I often will use 3/4 of a packet, depending on the amount of greens. I would suggest the first few time you make the recipe to tweak to make it with a 3/4 packet and then tweak if needed the next time. I prefer to use a Australian hard feta and just crumble it.

Toddler Tips

• Make them half the size again so they are handy toddler sized sausage rolls.
• Serve with a toddler friendly salad of things like cheese cubes, avocado cubes, cherry tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, capsicum slices and carrot sticks.

For more Healthy, Happy Lunch Box IDEAS please LIKE my new FACEBOOK page!!

>>> HEALTHY, HAPPY LUNCHBOXES
Happy Cooking!

Bek xoxo

Recipe and writing (c)RebeccaMugridge2012

Grow Your Own Smoothie Greens and Super Charge Your Health

Beautiful days are perfect inspiration to get outdoors, go for big walks, swim, run, hit the gym.
but when the cooler weather starts to hit, the rainy days and the chilly mornings can lend to us swapping sneakers for sleep ins, gym visits for snuggles on the couch with dvd's and letting some of those exercise routines slip a little, sometimes even a lot! And then throw a few Winter bugs into the mix like the odd cold, cough and flu and you can really lose your fitness mojo..
But Winter is the best time to actually ramp up your fitness and health levels and best of all being fit, strong and healthy is your best defense against all the bugs that get around that time of year, and if your a busy mum like me - you know, you just don't have time to get sick!

So how is my family SuperCharging our health and fitness?
Well Australian Fitness Week is 7th to 13th April and there is inspiration all around you like Fitness First's pay as you go flexible gym plans, free twighlight bootcamps in the city (fun!) and a 1 day guest pass so you can try before you buy, which is such a fantastic idea.

We will eat well and exercise every day. For me using weights will be much more of a priority. We are making our health important. We have also pledged as a family to do something energetic and fun every weekend on top of daily exercise, yes, even if it raining!
Think climb a mountain, long waterfall trek's, canoeing, surfing, dancing, yoga, maybe an outdoor bootcamp!

AND thanks to the ever inspiring Fitness First we are inspiring ourselves to have a green smoothie or green juice EVERY DAY by growing our own organic smoothie greens!

So much easier than you think, and so rewarding!
As a horticulturalist I can tell you growing your own beautiful, organic produce is one of the most exciting things in life. I firmly believe the reason both my kids with very different personalities both love all their veggies and are not fussy eaters is because they have grown up with lovely fresh produce all around them and gardens they can pick and eat from.

This school holidays thanks to Fitness First's inspiration we set about creating a very special garden.
A smoothie greens garden!So there will always be plenty of green, organic goodies to supercharge our life.
WHY are greens so good?
They are alkalizing, they are full of iron and vitamins for our bodies and minds.
They supercharge your health and boost your fitness energy!!

We wanted to make it a garden that any family, anywhere in Australia could do also.
So we chose a self watering, leak proof affordable planting tub from Bunnings.
One that is neat and tidy to look at, user friendly, size friendly so even if you only have a small balcony in the city you can fit one in and practical and of course doesn't cost a fortune!

(You can also find these at hardware stores and nurseries. Look for one that has a removable water tray underneath so you can clean the tray if need be and also so it wont make a mess on your veranda or balcony with water stains.

TIP Pick just the right spot, most vegetables and a lot of herbs require at least 6 hours of strong, full sunlight to grow well. Not enough sun and they will be weak, grow strangely and be prone to pests and diseases.
Then just like a good cake mix load yourself up with gorgeous goodies for your garden.
TIP a successful garden relies hugely on the soil/potting mix, never scrimp on this part of gardening. Underrating soil will mean weaker plants, plants prone to pests and diseases, soil that dries out too quickly and a huge array of problems. A good mix is worth every cent!

So what kinds of things did we add into our garden?
The garden was 120 L, we used

• Brunnings All Natural Garden soil (60 litre)
• Richgro organic compost (25 litre)
• Dynamic Lifter (as directed on packet)
• Coir Peat  x 2 bricks (you buy this in a compressed block for under $3, add water and it swells up, lots of fun for the kids this part - we use this peat and not actual peat moss as peat is an limited resource so we try not to use it)

We mix these together like a big giant cake mix making a beautiful custom blend.
This is one of the mist fun arts for the kids and is also a very grounding exercise for us busy mums too, studies show too that toiling in fresh dirt actually has anti depressant effects.

After filling the tub with a beautiful, rich mixture we get the seedlings ready by gently soaking them in a weak solution of seasol (my favourite fertilizer) for around 10 minutes. This will help give them strength, nutrients and a real boost to take to their new surroundings.

Then you get to give the little health packed plants a home. Remember to always space them well, you don't want overcrowd them or have taller growing plants shadowing out the littler ones.
TIP I always recommend planting some companion planting herbs and flowers amongst your vegetables, they help deter pests and make plantings smell great and look attractive too. Trust me if your little veggie pot has pretty flowers around the edge, smells amazing as water hits the herbs amongst them you truly will find yourself more likely to spend time looking after it and watering it regularly and therefore getting so much more success out of it.
In our little smoothie greens patch we have included marigiolds which are fantastic for repelling nematodes and also chives and garlic chives to deter all the green leaf munching pests!

Give the whole lot a nice slow, deep drink.

And then tuck all the plants in with a good mulch, I recommend an organic sugar cane mulch.
Sugar cane mulch is excellent at retaining moisture, breaks down quite rapidly adding organic matter and nitrogen to the soil and increases microbial activity. All helping give you strong, healthy plants.

Finish with another drink make sure all the plants are upright and stable in their little spots, or tucking them in as my youngest called it!
Maintenance keep them healthy with regularly watering and once a week seasol treatments to start off with, dropping down to every 2 weeks once the seedlings have established. Keep your garden growing organic and strong, remove bugs by hand, use organic natural sprays if and only when necessary.
*Remember just because it's natural doesn't always mean it is safe or non toxic as well and you will often kill off all your good bugs as well.
TIP  get the kids involved with the whole process and especially harvesting for and then making green smoothies and they will fall in love with the whole process and you will have the added pleasure of knowing you are giving them amazing healthy life-skills and an incredible learning experience.

How will you #superchargeyourhealth ?

If you make your own smoothie greens garden I'd love to see it! Share your pics on my Facebook page

Be well, be happy, eat beautiful and be active.
Love Bek XX

Kale, Basil & Macadamia Pesto Roulades

Kale, Basil & Macadamia Pesto Roulades
Delicious canapé, snack, school lunch or dinner party entree with the goodness of kale.

I LOVE pesto and I love changing it up and making it lots of different ways, one of my current favourite ways is using some beautiful, healthy kale in it, being one of my all time favourite vegetables to grow and eat for family health.

This recipe using the kale, basil and macadamia pesto in tasty egg roulades was featured in Sunshine Coast publication  WHY Fitness magazine, in their Christmas issue as a perfect delicious canape that is healthy too!

Ingredients
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves {pesto}
• 1 cup fresh kale leaves {pesto}
• ½ cup macadamia nuts {pesto}
• ¼ cup freshly grated parmesan {pesto}
• ½ cup olive oil {pesto}
• 4 free range eggs
• 200 g feta cheese (as needed)
• Pink Himalayan salt
• Toothpicks

Method
• To make the pesto: in a blender or processor blitz the macadamias, kale, basil, parmesan, a pinch of himalyan salt and olive together to make a smooth but still textured pesto.
• Whisk the eggs together in a bowl.
• Heat a frying pan with some olive oil, swirl the olive oil so the pan is well covered.
• Pour the egg mixture into the frying pan so it makes a large and thin omelette. Depending on the size of your frying pan you may need to make 2.
• Flip to make sure it is cooked and nice and golden on both sides.
• Carefully remove from heat and drain on paper towel.
• Cut the omelette into long rectangular strips about 2 cm wide.
• Spread each strip with the pesto and crumble feta over the top.
• Roll up into swirl shapes and cut off at desired thickness, you should get 3 -5 swirls per strip depending on your omelette size. You can also cut the now rolled segments in half width wise again to make them nice and thin.
• Skewer with a toothpick.
• Serve.

Notes
• Kale is a sensational power vegetable and the combination with fresh basil and a great Parmesan and feta is beautiful.
• This is a beautiful, healthy, gluten free canapé perfect for entertaining.
• Make a nice big batch of the pesto as it can also be thrown through really lovely pasta, on crackers, in wraps, in muffins and OK I'll admit it, I love pesto and if I make some or buy a great one I just have to eat it!
• Kale (Brassica Oleracea) is a green leafy vegetable considered to be one of the highest in nutrients with many health benefits including it is said, to have anti – cancer effects so it is well worth tracking down or growing your own. There are many varieties available and it is also excellent in things like juicing, green smoothies, all kinds of fresh salads, spinach and kale feta sausage rolls, spinach and kale cheesey scrambled eggs and often made into kale “chips”. I also put it fresh, shredded in my kids wraps.

Not a new thing kale was in fact a very popular vegetable in the middle ages and is a popular food source in many parts of the world. During World War II it was also in the Dig for Victory imitative in the UK because of its nutrient content, where everyone was encouraged to grow it in there gardens.
• Kale is extremely good for you and is a source of beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, and rich in calcium.
It is also a source of two carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin and has other properties which are said to have anti cancer and DNA repair in cells properties.
• Basil (Ocimum basilicum) is also a fantastic fresh and healthy ingredient, with potent antioxidant, antiviral, and antimicrobial properties.
(c)rebeccamugridge2013

Bek XX

I'd love to connect with you on facebook too!
www.facebook.com/AuthorRebeccaMugridge

Create your Like Badge

Teaching Green Smoothies to Happy Kids in Foodie Fun, with a Smothie Bike at Kawana Library

Foodie Fun the event was called and it certainly was!

On the school holidays I had the delight of teaching a really fun school holiday cooking class with the Kawana Library as sponsored by Community Solutions.
I believe the greatest gift we can give our children is the tools to live a healthy, happy life and the very best way of doing that is by making healthy living and healthy eating a fun, enjoyable experience.
When given the chance to cook, grow food and exercise in fun ways kids blow you away with their enthusiasm, their excitement and ability to get involved.
They never cease to inspire me!
I was absolutely delighted to be asked to teach a group of kids some healthy cooking recipes over the school holidays.
And no, I am not about "hiding' veggies from them, they were all on display for them all to see, to touch, to smell, to taste if they wanted too. How it should be.
We need to give kids the chance to really experience their fruits and vegetables, to grow them, to source them at markets, supermarkets, to prepare them and cook with them, to eat them in many different ways. To learn about them, enjoy them. Not just have them hidden in their nightly meal.
This, I believe is the true way to get kids eating healthier.
Inspire them.


What did we make?

We made delicious healthy chocolate bliss balls!















We made lovely pretty in pink smoothies.
And we made, what ended up being the absolute favourite of the whole class, yep everyone was unanimous!
GREEN SMOOTHIES....
Yep all 20 kids booked in for the school holiday cooking class with me at Kawana library, knowing full well as they made batches themselves too, that it contained spinach and kale, absolutely loved the green smoothies!!

The whole smoothie making experience was such a highlight of the whole event, especially with the generously supplied SMOOTHIE BIKE, invented by a very forward thinking Sunshine Coast Council and able to be loaned by community events and groups.

 The genius smoothie bike!
Sunshine Coast council created fun and healthy inspired living 

I have taught a lot of cooking events and classes and I have to say that teaching kids warms your very soul.

My gorgeous little helper, my miss 8!

 Putting in the miles for the smoothies!

Yes, there is already more events on the cards! And I have been so excited by the feedback from parents telling me their kids asked for all the ingredients to go out and make them at home, one family even had to go and buy a blender they told me! So thrilled they were that their child willingly wants to eat spinach and kale! I tell you working with great kids like these guys, seeing them enjoy healthy food and have fun making it literally fills you with JOY!

Absolutely kid approved Green Smoothies
(otherwise known as incredible hulk, goblin green or green lantern superhero smoothies in our house ;)

Ingredients:

(serves 4 big glasses or 6 smaller glasses)

·        1 cup dairy/soy, rice, coconut milk

·        1 cup vanilla yoghurt (we used Maleny Dairies a local producer here as i am a huge supporter of shopping local - you could also use, natural, greek or coconut yoghurt)

·        2 kiwi fruit, skin removed

·        1 large mango ( You can use frozen if fresh out of season)

·        2 bananas

·        1 cup washed baby spinach leaves

·        ¼ cup washed kale
Dash vanilla paste

·        Fresh mint and sliced kiwifruit to serve/decorate (optional)


I find with my two kids that a green smoothie packed full of goodness is perfect for them for breakfast, neither of my kids likes a big, heavy breakfast so a filling and health packed smoothie serves them well, sometimes they have toast, porridge or other things with it sometimes just a smoothie.
At home I also add in extras sometimes like oats, coconut oil, super greens powder , superfoods for kids cberry blast or berry choc chunk - click on my affiliate picture below to check these gorgeous goodies out!
(PS the cocobiotics bars are incredible! ;) )
These powders are so amazing and are completely natural, no hidden nasties! My kids would eat them out of the jar given half a chance...

Cooking in Bundy - Pink Lemonade, Haloumi Salad, Spinach & Kale Rolls

Recently I was invited back to beautiful Bundaberg.
Bundy, as the local's affectionately call it will always be close to my heart.
I turned 21 in Bundy, had one of the most enjoyable jobs of my life in Bundy, managing the Bunnings Warehouse plant nursery section, even had a stint with my own gardening show on community radio and created a garden club for Bunnings, and designed and wrote it's monthly newsletter along with all it's events.

I have my very own Bundy Belle, my oldest, Lily who was born there.
I wrote my first book In Bundy and was shown so much support there from the local newspaper and it's journalists, the council and the mum's there who read my book.
I found myself dazzled to be on the front page of a newspaper there and filmed, twice on A Current Affair
and sign my first ever book deal, with Random  House and officially become an author.

My Bundy Belle - Lily

I will never forget opening that box of books that came, what a moment.
A huge moment for me in my life as I have been writing stories since I can remember and had my first ever story published, in a newspaper, in year 1, yes I was a 'square' as they called it back then - I still proudly have the school certificate for that, as you do!

I found myself in Bundy, walking along the sunkissed shoreline in Burnett Heads breathing in the salty breeze with my girl and our pram each day.

I didn't just lose a lot of weight after having Lily in Bundy, I found my healthy self and there is a huge difference. I not only made peace with body there, I for the first time became in tune with it.
I was very fit, strong and so healthy and stayed that way for 5 years before being blessed with my second bundle of joy and moving to the Sunshine Coast.

So I was delighted when asked by Move it to come up to Bundy as part of their 3 month healthy living campaign and teach a cooking class and be in a community pram walk.

We stayed at the lovely Park Lane Motel which I would highly recommend to anyone, it was very

comfortable, we had our own mini kitchen facilities which was great, it had an excellent sized bathroom, a very cute pool, which the girls swam in even though they were cold!

And it's position was perfect!

You could walk easily into town, which we did one night to hear the rainbow lorikeets in the trees, it was surrounded by eateries and the beautiful riverside park and Alexander zoo was

 directly behind it, literally just a short stroll so perfect if you have kids with you, each day we walked over so
they run around and burn of all that amazing energy kids have so they weren't stir crazy in the hotel room!
They were very impressed with the park and of course the quoll's and emu's!

                                  

                                                Kitchen Confidence owner and celebrated chef Wayne Bryans

My cooking demo was held at the gorgeous and very funky cooking school ,Kitchen Confidence 

If you live in or around Bundaberg, I highly recommend checking this cooking school out!!

With Crystal from Move It Bundaberg and all the fresh ingredients as supplied by Hinkler Centra

Me and Sonia aka the famour Natural New Age Mum

What a fantastic group of women it was and it was including one of my absolute highlights of my trip the incredible woman that is Sonia aka Natural New Age Mum, put the kettle on and take a second for yourself
to go check out her page and blog!

As a big fan, how excited was I to have NNAM eating my food!

What did we cook? Using fantastic ingredients sponsored by Hinkler Central we made:

Pink Lemonade

Haloumi & Spelt Sourdough Croutons Salad

It was a very hands on cooking class with everyone getting involved, whirring up the juicer, frying the cheese or the croutons, chopping ingredients, mixing and making the rolls!

And Spinach, Kale and Feta rolls

Spinach, Kale and Feta Sausage Rolls

Ingredients

·        

3    2 cups fresh silverbeet or spinach, finely chopped and firmly packed in (or 1 pkt frozen spinach, thawed and drained well)

      1 cup fresh kale, washed and finely chopped

·        1 pkt feta cheese

·        ¾ cup grated cheese

·        2 sheets puff pastry ( I use butter puff pastry or wholegrain when I can find it and sometimes gluten free puff pastry)

Method

·        Pre heat oven to approximately 180`c

·        Combine spinach, kale, feta and grated cheese together

      Semi defrost pastry sheets

·        Cut each pastry sheets in half to make two long rectangles

      Line each one down one side with a long strip of the mixture 

·        Pinch the two sides of pastry together right along both sides to make it an enclosed ‘parcel’ or roll over on to itself to make a roll shape.

      Chop up into desired sizing rolls

·        Brush top of pastry with milk

·        Bake them in the oven on baking paper until golden and pastry is visibly cooked

·        Serve hot with fresh salad

Notes

·        For a more ‘adult’ version you can add lightly sautéed onion, chilli or spring onion.

      Perfect for school lunch boxes

      Freeze rolls before cooking for ready to go meals and lunches

Toddler Tips

·        Make them half the size again so they are handy toddler sized sausage rolls.

·        Serve with a toddler friendly salad of things like cheese cubes, avocado cubes, cherry tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, capsicum slices and carrot sticks.

     

     The following day we topped off the visit (and walked off the food)  with a big community pram walk along the foreshore from Nielsons beach to Kelly's beach.
I got to meet so many lovely ladies during this walk too including the fantastic group from Baby Bods - Personal Training and Stroller Fitness and even had the absolute delight of an attendee and just beautiful woman from the previous day's cooking class finding me half way en route and bringing me a beautiful thank you card and a jar of her incredible home-made mango chutney!
Talk about making your day.

      If you haven't ever had the chance of visiting Bundy maybe you should put it on the to do list

Happy Cooking - Bek XX

Gee I love a farm side stall!

Under $10 not organic but unbelievably fresh!! 

Recipe (c)RebeccaMugridge2013