Apologies, both for the dreadful pun and my continuing absence from this blog. No real excuses, just life and general busyness. This revelation of a salad, however, is a pretty good reason for hauling my lazy arse back into the blogosphere.

I realise that kale as a Caesar salad ingredient is not a new phenomenon, and I cannot believe its taken me this long to try it.

This recipe is from my longstanding favourite blog The Art of Doing Stuff. The odd thing has been changed and I’ve seriously pimped it to main course status though. Cheesy, salty and smokey with a good kick of garlic, and you get to eat your greens. This baby ticks all the boxes. Seriously, we have had it every week, sometimes twice, since I first made it. To prove to you how good it is, here’s a text conversation between me and Mr.B yesterday.

So, without further ado, I present to you to my take on the Kale Caesar Salad! (trumpet fanfare).

This salad is super versatile and tasty. We often have it like this, with a runny egg, as a main course, or with a piece of grilled salmon as a side dish. I’ve even used it as a sandwich filling with tinned tuna and mayonnaise. Apart from being unbelievable tasty, another fantastic thing about this salad is that the dressed kale leaves keep in the fridge for two or three days, without going limp, ready to toss into anything at the drop of a hat.

You can thank me later!

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I think it’s safe to declare Spring is finally here. Oh YAY! Winter has dragged on, and I’m fed up with the cold weather. I’m so ready for warmer days and lighter, fresher eating.

A while ago we had a surprisingly delicious Italian style cabbage salad as a side dish at this cute little Italian restaurant down the road from our place; Franco Choo’s. It’s our favourite place for a romantic dinner: tiny, dark and cosy, with an intriguing menu and sophisticated cocktails; walking distance from home and reasonably priced. It ticks all the boxes for us. If you live in these parts and haven’t been – go.

I couldn’t wait to re-create the salad at home. It surprised me because it wasn’t a pickled, Eastern European thing, or a mayonnaisey American thing. It was fresh and crisp, with a toasty crunch from pine nuts, and a salty tang from parmesan.

I didn’t want to copy it, and it’s not been on the menu the times we’ve been back. I wanted to create the tastes as I remembered them, and added red wine vinegar soaked currants for a piquant twist. Who knows, I might be completely off the mark, but everyone loves this version and we have it weekly now, usually as a side to grilled salmon.

Now Spring is here and warmer days and lighter meals are on the radar, it’s a good time to introduce it to you.

It may seem just a simple salad, but it’s so much more than that. I love the subtle layers of flavour: the fresh, bland crunch of the cabbage; the merest hint of aniseed from the fennel; the apple’s tartness; the sweetness of the peas; the bright sweet/sourness of the vinegared currants; the toasty crunch of the pine nuts and parmesan’s salty umami notes. And . . . it’s so blinking healthy!

I have to come clean with you though, I would usually use a red apple, and half and half shredded purple cabbage, but I wanted a clean, green image, so food styling won out. No need for you to faff about – use what’s available and in season. I reckon finely slivvered fresh mint would kick it up a notch too. Maybe I’ll try that next time.

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Oh the irony! I’ve been trying to get this recipe for a truly delicious and nutritious winter salad up on the blog since I made it ages ago, and finally manage it on the first day of Spring. I’m sorry. Busyness is my excuse. That’s not much of an excuse really is it?

Anyway, I was in my lovely local greengrocers, Toscano’s, as I am almost every day, when I became somewhat obsessed with purple vegetables. Honestly, I was planning some kind of a roast vegetable salad, and I’d just popped in to get something to go with the left-over roasted sweet potato from the previous evening’s dinner. A lovely bunch of baby beetroots was soon joined by gorgeous purple carrots, red onions and then, (sharp intake of breath) early figs from Queensland! Suddenly dinner was a bit luxe, Winter Salad I do believe, and fast becoming a photo op.

OK it’s corny, but I photographically dined out on all this splendid produce. I hope you like looking at food photos, because there’s a lot of them before you get to the recipe.

Scroll on, those of you who have the patience. You will be rewarded by a recipe eventually.

This salad was seriously so good, and healthy too. It’s always a bonus when food that’s good looking packs a punch in the health stakes. I don’t think we need to keep it just for winter, do you? Let me know if you make this.

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When I started The Urban Nest, nearly four years ago, I had just come out of an exciting but brutal 25 years in the fashion industry. Not knowing where it would lead, I was happy to go along for the ride.

At first I’d thought my blog would mainly be about craft, but that went out the window pretty quickly. It seemed gardening and growing our own food was the thing that gave me satisfaction. I loved the writing, and the cooking, and for a while I seemed to become a food blogger.

At the end of 2015 the unthinkable happened when my younger brother committed suicide. For about a year I felt like I was wading through mud. Blogging kept me afloat, but unsurprisingly my heart wasn’t really in it.

I had inherited his camera, a Canon EOS1 DX. If you know anything about cameras you’ll know this is the ultimate scary monster of professional DSLRs. It scared the pants off me, but I was determined to not let it go to waste, to honour my brother through learning how to use it, and maybe it would be my saviour.

I took a course to learn how to use the monster in manual mode. The world opened up to me again and suddenly I found myself more interested in the photography than the cooking. The penny dropped. This was it, the thing that made me feel joy, excitement, passion to learn more, do more, achieve more.

Anyone who follows me on Instagram will have noticed that my food photography has improved immeasurably over the last few months. Although I’ve practiced a lot, I haven’t achieved this on my own.

A simple Instagram ‘like’ and ‘follow’ brought me to Two Loves Studio. The unbelievably lucky discovery of exactly what I was looking for, a professional food photographer who teaches and mentors wannabes like me. I jumped in without a second thought. Rachel Korinek is approachable, motivational and realistic. She’s also generous with her support, and has an excellent podcast series called The Mindful Creative, which lifts the spirits when you’re feeling a bit lost. She’s an all round great gal.

I signed up to her personal image critique package and her help and advice was totally achievable and encouraging. She gave me real life steps to take me in the direction of my goals. I realised I want to be a food photographer. Did I say that out loud?

I am currently doing her excellent e-course Lightroom Magic. Previously I’d been shooting images directly in jpeg format, and wondering how professionals get their amazing results. I started editing RAW files in Photoshop, but it felt clumsy and I couldn’t get the control I was after. I tried Lightroom, which is specifically for photography, but I had not the faintest clue what I was doing.

The Lightroom Magic course has given me a whole new way of thinking about my photography. I’m so excited by the editing process now. When the file is in RAW format it’s not ready to be seen. It’s like putting on make-up; The structure and components are there, but you need to enhance them and prepare them to go out into the world. The camera will record what your eyes see, but not what your brain sees. This is where Lightroom gives you the control to create the emotion your brain sees in an image. It’s another layer of the creative process.

I am so happy to promote this excellent course to anyone who is interested in taking their food photography to the next level. I have learnt so much and feel it has improved my images beyond what I could have imagined.

Rachel is about to launch the next enrolment of Lightroom Magic on 4th August, and has a 24 hour VIP offer for anyone referred through her course alumni (that’s me!) That’s in two days time, so get your skates on if you want to score these extra freebies! There are also other bonus packages that come free with the course during the enrolment period. It’s an amazing course and I can say, with my hand on my heart, my images would not be anywhere near the level they are today without it. Check out the link below. What are you waiting for?

4th August Lightroom Magic is open for enrollment and 24 hour VIP deal is on.

1. A Single Image Critique (Value $35) – A personalised video critique of one of your images, pinpointing exactly what you need to do, highlight your areas of growth and provide actionable advice. To be used at any time throughout the course so you can get PERSONALISED feedback on your editing technique and the concepts you’re applying to your workflow.
2. A chance to win 12 months FREE Adobe CC Photography Subscription. For new and existing Lightroom CC users.

This is not a sponsored post. I paid for the Lightroom Magic e-course myself, and I highly recommend it. For the purpose of transparency the link in this post is an affiliate link and I will get a commission if you book via my link. It is generous of Rachel to offer this to me, but I would have recommended it regardless as it’s such a great course.

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I have this wonderful friend who recently hosted an incredible event at her amazing hobby farm home. She has been battling a rare and brutal form of cancer for the last year, and the moment she’s had the first clear scan she’s immediately thought of giving back. That is the sort of person she is. I’m not going to go into the details of her story, as it’s not my story to tell. What I will tell you though, is the story of her awesome Biggest Morning Tea to raise funds for the Cancer Council of Australia.

This marvellous being has an network of friends and family who love her dearly. Again, that’s the sort of person she is. With their help she put on the most fantastic of events. Local businesses volunteered their time and expertise – caterers, coffee carts, bakers; friends with businesses donated fabulous items for a silent auction; a professional photographer documented the event, and took portraits at $5 a pop of guests with Taco the baby donkey and the cutest mini pony dressed as a unicorn; there was live music in the form of a talented young singer; and other friends baked – me included.

The turn out was impressive – over 100 people I reckon, all tucking in the delicious cakes and pastries and sipping on real coffee, in a gorgeous farm yard setting with the barn decorated within an inch of it’s life. Happiness, relief and positive vibes. A lot of cash was donated, exciting goodies bid for and $15,000 raised. I told you it was incredible!

She said her initial idea was to raise $500. The response was so positive she changed her target to $5000. This girl doesn’t do things by halves and soon it turned into this epic event. Good work Miss B.

I was so busy taking snaps that I failed to get myself a portrait with Taco the baby donkey, and I missed trying out many of the sweet treats. However, I did, give my friend the biggest of hugs, stuff myself with yummy homemade scones with cream and jam, and win the auction for a gorgeous French Linen tablecloth, which will appear in future food photos, I’m sure. Happy, happy, and happy!

I made a Rhubarb and Almond cake, and some mini rosewater pavlovas with raspberries and pomegranate. Here’s the recipe.

I had intended to make a raspberry coulis and drip some into the meringue mixture to make the pink swirliness. This would have been nice but I ran out of time. You could consider it though. It would look and taste great drizzled over the finished mini pavs too. If you like the taste I’d add the two teaspoons of rosewater. Mine had one teaspoon and just the merest perfumed hint of rosewater.

The meringues were made the day before and stored carefully in layers between sheets of kitchen paper to minimise breakage. They were transported like this to the venue and the final pavlovas put together when I got there, so they didn’t go soggy enroute. I prepared myself with the pre-whipped cream already in the piping bag, plastic clips at either end, and with an ice pack for transit, and all the fruit prepared before hand. It was an easy job to just get all the meringues on the serving platter and piping cream and popping fruit on in the barn as soon as I got there. A scatter of dried rose petals and they were ready.

I surprised myself with this efficiency. It went exactly according to plan – I can highly recommend this if you are attending some kind of function that requires you to bring a platter. Easiness to ‘Wow’ ratio is quite high!

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Rhubarb is one of those things I love to eat, but never cook myself. I’ve always thought of rhubarb as the domain of the ladies of the Women’s Institute, and my granny – seriously good, slightly old-fashioned cooks. Admittedly, I thought it a bit scary, and maybe complicated. I have no idea why.

Going about my daily business at the greengrocer last week, the glorious colour grabbed my attention. I took a daring risk, with a dash of inspiration and before I could think rationally I’d stashed a bunch of rhubarb right into my basket. Living dangerously is my thing. I thought, if nothing else, it would make a stunning photo.

I poured through cook books when I got home, expecting I’d need traditional skills beyond my reach. Oh how I laughed! Cut up and poach in a pan with sugar and a couple of tablespoons of water for 10 minutes flat. Ha! I can do that and add a couple of star anise, off my own bat even. Gosh, I’m clever.

What resulted was some rather broken up rhubarb, some pieces that had held together better, and the most glorious, vivid, magenta syrup, perfumed with anise. I couldn’t resist: I had a bit of the mushy stuff with Greek yogurt and it was heavenly.

Inspired by this success, I thought I’d make an upside down cake. I’ve never made one before. I was on completely alien territory now. In for a penny, in for a pound. Here’s the recipe if you feel daring too.

Light, moist, fragrant, and absolutely stunning to look at: my goodness it was so delicious! Celebratory star jumps happened in the kitchen. I served it with a dollop of thick, natural Greek yogurt, and raspberries on the side.

It pays to sometimes walk on the wild side.

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It was 1979, Birmingham, UK. A young band called Madness, on their first tour – the One Step Beyond tour. My first ever gig. Exhilaration, raw energy, a night I’ll always remember.

Fast forward 38 years. 2017, Melbourne, Australia. A band of a certain age, still going strong. Madness on their latest Can’t Touch us Now tour. Exhilaration, raw energy, a night I’ll never forget. Most of the audience, and obviously the band themselves, were of a certain age, but that didn’t stop any of us giving it our all. Everyone jumping about and shouting the words to One Step Beyond, the floor was shaking and it felt like the early 80’s. There were a good few people who looked well past retirement age, in the mosh pit, and they weren’t going to let it stop them having fun. I’m hoping I’ll be fit enough for a Madness gig again in another 38 years!

Recently I read this article in the Huffington Post about longevity, more precisely, healthy old age. There was a link to this article called 10 Secrets from the World’s Longest-Living People. It made for interesting reading, and some tips that are pretty doable too, if you’re keen to be fit and healthy in more senior years.

This is what I learned. There are the five so-called Blue Zones; the areas of the world that have the most long-lived people: Ikaria in Greece; Sardinia in Italy; Okinawa in Japan; Nicoya in Costa Rica; Loma Linda in California. These people have lifestyle habits in common that are probably the source of their longevity. The good news is that they seem fairly easily attainable to most of us. Freedom from stress, and engagement in the community may be a bit trickier to attain in our western lives, but moderate exercise and a wide and varied diet of mostly fresh vegetables and legumes, seems a no-brainer.

Okinawa has the world’s highest proportion of people over 100. According to Wikipedia, their diet consists mainly of fresh vegetables, soy and other legumes, and small amounts of fish, meat and dairy. In more good news, they have a very low rate of cardio vascular disease and cancer.

U.S. celebrity chef, Diane Kochilas, waxes lyrical about the Ikarian way of life in The Huffington Post. There it seems a relaxed pace, and a diet rich in fresh veggies and herbs, foraged wild foods, honey and goat’s milk, encapsulates a holistic approach to healthy old age.

National Geographic Magazine’s excellent article The Secrets of Long Life  highlights the Blue Zones of Okinawa, Sardinia, and Loma Linda. All these seniors enjoy a lively social life and sense of community in addition to a diet rich in fruit, vegetables and legumes.

Nicoya, in Costa Rica is the final Blue Zone area, and the subject of this article on CNN’s website. Less stress, a mostly plant-based diet, and regular walking, in addition to a strong community, result in healthy longevity here.

You can see a pattern emerging. After having digested all this research I conclude that the more developed the world becomes, the more unhealthy its people. The secrets to a healthy, long life are actually fairly obvious: less stress, more community inclusion, a purpose in life, a mostly plant-based diet rich in legumes, regular, moderate exercise and contentment. Surprise! It’s not money, success, fashion or the internet.

I think I’m on the right track generally, with the reduced meat intake and focus on vegetables and legumes in our family meal plan. I reckon I need a bit more exercise though – one yoga class a week and a slow and chatty amble about in the park with my dog every morning probably doesn’t cut it. It does take care of the community spirit part of the equation though!

Here’s how I make my roast vegetable lasagne. It may be a bit tenuous, but since I emptied the fridge of my left-over, lonely bits of veg, eight different types went into this, and it made us all happy, it could be the secret to eternal life!

This is a deeply satisfying, truly comforting dish, but takes quite a long time from start to finish, in my experience. To make things easier on yourself, consider making the cheese sauce and tomato sauce ahead of time and keeping in the fridge for a day, or the freezer for longer.

Serve with a simple dressed green salad for even more antioxidant, health enhancing power!

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This warming dinner is something I cook if we are all a bit weary at the end of a busy day. Not too much to think about or plan. No endless watching or stirring of pans. A cheerful meal when we are out of sorts. Healthy, delicious, gluten free and vegetarian. Anna Jones, you are a genius!

Everything about this gorgeous dish is comforting to me: The casual ease with which ingredients are thrown together and left to bubble away with scant attention from the cook; Savoury aromas creeping through the house now the evenings are getting chilly; Not having to plan too much for the ingredients. Too easy, if you don’t have beetroot simply substitute something else. I’ve topped these nourishing lentils with roasted cauliflower, butternut pumpkin, red onions, broccolini and kale and they’ve all been delicious. Next time I may try whole baby carrots and parsnips too. We like  this topped with a generous blob of creamy natural Greek yogurt. I don’t always make the salsa verde if I’m pushed for time, but it does add another dimension with refreshing zing. You could always serve a handful of sharply dressed salad leaves as a stand in.

You won’t regret giving this a go. It’s been a welcome addition to the high rotation dinner gang at our place. And another sneaky tip I can share with you, if you cook it in advance, you can always serve as a salad. In my experience it works a treat!

Recipe from A Modern Way to Eat by Anna Jones. Read my review of this excellent book here.

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It’s been a bit over a year now since we started on our family gluten free, vegaquarian, 5:2 fasting diet food odyssey. I first wrote about it here if you’d like to find out the whys and wherefores.

So far so good. Actually, really good. Miss E’s gluten free diet is continuing to keep her coeliac disease at bay; Miss S is robustly healthy despite being a teenager who doesn’t eat meat; Mr.B lost a load of weight during the year, put on some back on over Christmas, and is now firmly on the road back to a healthier weight without drama. Me? I haven’t gone mad with it all, and my health is fine. In fact, I’ve really enjoyed exploring different ways of cooking and eating, and been totally inspired by new recipes and cuisines.

I can honestly say, with my hand on my heart, that we don’t really miss meat these days. With the exception of Miss S, we might indulge when we eat out, but I don’t cook meat at home anymore. There are far too many tasty, meat free things to eat, and I think the secret to our success has been pulses.

The humble legume has opened up a new world of deliciousness to us. Lentils, chickpeas, beans and peas are a staple of Middle Eastern and Indian cuisine, and a staple at our house too. A healthy source of protein, low GI, budget conscious and versatile – I’d say we’re onto a winner.

I’ve shared a few of our favourites with you over the year: Jamie Oliver’s Aubergine Dahl, a lentil shepherd’s pie I wrote about for hercollective, and the trusty, comforting Lentil Soup.

Here’s a brilliantly easy and tasty recipe using red lentils from Anna Jones’ A Modern Way to Eat. We love this dish, and it’s making my mouth water just thinking about it!

This dhal freezes well, so you could make a double quantity and save half for an emergency meal. To make things quick and easy I often use microwave sachets of brown rice, and I always use store bought roti.

Thanks to Safari Living for the loan of the serving bowls.

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Well I’d say Happy New Year, but we’re already a quarter of the way in, so I’ll just say Hi! It’s been a very slow start getting back to The Urban Nest, and I’ve missed you, really, I have.

Things slowed to a halt at the end of last year when my sister, George, and family came over from the UK for a Christmas visit. We had such a wonderful, relaxing time eating, drinking and lazing on the beach at the Mornington Peninsula, and exploring Melbourne through the eyes of visitors. No time for blog posts.

When they left, the relaxing continued with the four of us spending ten days in Bermagui. At this point everyone says “where?” Bermagui is a lovely little holiday spot on the NSW coast near Bateman’s Bay. A bit too far to drive easily from either Sydney or Melbourne, and with Canberra a good 4 hours away, it’s just a little too far from everywhere to make it too touristy or overcrowded. Perfect! There was a good deal of lazing on near empty beaches, cavorting in the ocean, vintage wares fossicking, eating delicious locally grown food, tasting all the amazing and unusual flavours at the Bermagui Gelati Clinic; the perfect antidote to the stresses of the year.

Of course we came home to the beginning of the new school year busyness, with the Misses E and S starting year 11 and their VCE journey. Apart from that I’ve been seriously working on improving my food photography. I bought a new 100mm macro lens for my camera, had an excellent one-on-one food photography coaching session with Rachel from Two Loves Studio, and finally got my hands on the out-of-print Plate to Pixel by Helene Dujardin, otherwise known as the food photography bible. I just seem to have gotten side-tracked with life, but it’s all good.

Here’s a recipe for some deliciously healthy, crunchy, bitey, sour pickled vegetables I made the other day. The original recipe is from Smitten Kitchen, with a few tweaks from me.

So far I’ve added it to wraps and rice paper rolls, other salads for a tangy element, noodle bowls alongside barbequed salmon, avocado and edamame, and tonight’s lucky last serve as an accompaniment to vegetarian burgers. You could give it a go.

Thanks to Safari Living for the loan of the serving bowl.

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