Superwoman salad

A rare meat-free blog post coincides with what I call Project 13. Starting today, I will have 13 days to get my bikini body in shape for THAILAND! Can she do it?! Probably not, but I did march purposefully around the supermarket today, stuffing my basket with vegetables and resisting the crisp aisle. A diet high in vegetables and lean protein and low in refined carbohydrates and sugars should at least keep the bloat at bay.

Breakfast of champions

Toasted and buttered cholla bread, topped with roughly smashed avocado, pinch of sea salt, Farmison’s dry cured bacon and a smattering of maple syrup.

Inspired by one of the tastiest brunch dishes available at Caravan.

Japanese beef carpaccio with salad leaf tempura

I do love it when a recipe sort of makes itself up as you go along, and you end up with something much more creative than you originally planned. I wanted to use the beef fillet from my Farmison meat box to make a carpaccio salad. I was originally going to use an Italian leaf salad as a base, but ended up spontaneously turning it into tempura and making quite interesting carpaccio rolls.

What’s Your Beef?

I rarely have a pious moment, so indulge me and let me say a massive “I TOLD YOU SO”.

For the last 18 months I have been banging my drum about conscientious meat consumption. I’m hardly the first person to have talked about it, nor am I the most influential. So see me as an average member of the Joe Public who made a pledge and stuck to it – and it’s time you did too.

Chairman Mao claypot pork

It’s Chinese New Year tomorrow, and I’m looking forward to spending time with my family, feasting on traditional foods that symbolise good luck, health and prosperity for the coming year. I thought I’d cook something Chinese this weekend, so I opted for the ‘Chairman Mao’ or ‘red braised’ pork belly recipe well known in the Hunan province. The pork belly is meant to turn out a deep red in colour – the reason for my choosing this recipe, as red is considered lucky in Chinese culture. I used the wonderful rare breed pork belly from my Farmison meat box.