Fitness Breakfast

Minted Lemon Ricotta Baked Eggplant

Apple, Quinoa and Walnut Salad

Calamari & Mango Zuchinni Slaw

Dapple Dandy Pluot Oats

A little change pour toi!

You may've noticed a little change in our last post, the Frozen Lemon Cake-tart. It's been our intention from day one to make Bona Food as visually appealing as possible and to make wholefood cooking as streamlined in explanation as it is to actually do it. So we've come up with these pretty little recipe cards, designed specifically to simplify the process for you! 


Let us know what you think! 

Frozen Lemon Cake-tart!

Baked Felafel and Carrot + Raisin Salad

This dish came as a delightful surprise. The felafel's were inspired by this recipe by Green Kitchen Stories, but were modified due to lack of pistachios. I knew I didn't have any pistachio's, that wasn't the surprise. The surprising treat was the pairing with this seemingly simple salad of grated carrot and raisins. It was initially done out of pure laziness and the simplicity of grating a carrot was just the right amount of effort I was willing to expend. But, oh boy! The sweetness of the carrots and raisins added such a refreshing boost to the baked felafel and combined with the mint dressing everything on the plate just got along swimmingly!

Serves 2
(with a few left over for lunch)

You'll need

For the felafel - 1 tin of chickpeas, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 10 mint leaves, same amount of parsley, small handful of walnuts, small handful of almonds,  1 clove of garlic, 1/2 tsp of cumin, s + p. 

Mint dressing - 7 mint leaves, 5 tbsp of natural yoghurt, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 1/4 tsp cumin, s + p.

Carrot and raisin salad - 2 carrots, 1/4 cup of raisins, tsp lemon juice, wholegrain mustard, s + p.

To make the felafels. 

Preheat oven to 190.

Put almonds in a food processor and smash about for about 10-20 seconds until they're small and chunky.

Set aside in a bowl. 

Add all the other felafel ingredients to processor for about 30 seconds until well combined. 

Roll mixture into little balls with slightly wet hands. 

Roll each ball in the almond bits. 

Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake for 15 minutes, turning at least once. 

Grate carrot and toss with raisins, lemon juice, mustard, s + p.

Drizzle felafel's with mint dressing and shake on the almond bits that fall off during baking onto the carrots for added crunch! 

Tropical Barley with Walnut Crusted Salmon

Tropical Barley, no not tropical Bali, though you might feel like you were sitting on an island somewhere once you've had a mouthful. Served today with Walnut Crusted Salmon to complete the ocean reverie.

Serves 2

Tropical Barley

You’ll need

1/2 cup pearl barley, 1/2 cup pineapple (diced), 1/2 red onion (diced) , 10 mint leaves.

Dressing - 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp chia seeds, 10 mint leaves, 3 tbsp lemon juice, 1tsp honey, 1 tsp grated ginger, s + p. 

Cook barley in 2 cups of water for about 25 minutes on high heat, until tender. 

To create the dressing dressing, add mustard, chia seeds, mint, lemon juice, honey, ginger and s + p to food processor and BLITZ! ( We added a little splash of water to loosen up the dressing)

Once barley is cooked and cooled, in a non stick pan add pineapple and red onion and fry until onion becomes opaque. 

Mix barley, pineapple, onion, mint leaves and dressing in a bowl and set aside for the salmon show. 

Walnut Crusted Salmon

You'll need

1 x 250gm Salmon steak (halved lengthways), small bunch of parsley, handful of walnuts, juice of 1 lemon, s + p. 

Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius. 

Blitz walnuts, 1/2 the lemon juice, parsley and some s + p in a food processor. 

(If you don't have one, just mash up the nuts and chop the parsley finely and mix in lemon juice.)

Place salmon on a lined baking tray and season salmon with s + p and a squirt of lemon juice. 

Put the walnut mix on top of the salmon, pressing down as you go. 

Bake for 13-15 minutes. 

Serve on top of Tropical Barley!

Note : Tropical Barley is amazing as a main too, just pump it up by adding a grated carrot and some matchsticked broccoli! 

Sweet Potato, Lentil and Quinoa Patties

High in fibre, protien and flavour! These patties are super easy and totally tasty. Leftovers will store perfectly in the fridge too - for tomorrow's lunch! 

You'll need. 

1 cup of cooked lentils, 1/2 cup quinoa, 1 small sweet potato, 1 tbsp of fresh parsley, 1 tsp cumin, 2 cloves of garlic, s + p. 

Dressing - 4 tbsp natural yoghurt, 1/4 tsp cumin, juice of 1/2 lemon, s + p (just mix)

Makes 12 patties

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. 

Chop sweet potato into chunks, drizzle with a little o-oil and s + p and put in oven for about 35 minutes, turning half way through.

Whilst this is happenin'

Cover quinoa with water (1:2 ratio), bring to boil and simmer until water is absorbed. Once done, leave the lid on for 5 minutes, off the heat. 

Add garlic to food processor and blitz til tiny, 

Add sweet potato and blitz for 5 seconds. 

Add cumin, parsley and lentils and go again for another 5 seconds.

The goal here is to still have chunks of lentils and potatoes, not a puree. 

Mix in quinoa. 

Wet your hands a little and roll mix into balls and squish into patties. 

Fry on each side in a non-stick pan for about 2-3 minutes until brown. 

Yum, you're done. 

Roasted Squash and Mushroom Whole Crust Quiche

Whole food crust, whole food insides, it's just whole food goodness. Rolled oats and wholemeal flour make up most of the quiche crust, modified from the complete flour version found here. Blind-baking sets the pastry to be lovely and crispy by the time the quiche is done and gives the perfect amount of time to prep the filling, which by the way, it totally flexible to what you have in your fridge!

Serves 5

You'll need

Pastry - 1/2 cup of rolled oats, 1/2 cup wholemeal flour, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup cold water, 1tsp salt, 1 tsp dried herbs, extra flour for rolling the dough.

Filling - 7 eggs, 1/4 cup of milk, 3 yellow squash, 1tbsp oregano, 2 field mushrooms, 1 garlic clove (crushed), 1/2 cup grated tasty cheese, 1 cup baby spinach, 10 or so chives,  s + p.

To make the pastry.

Pulverize 1/2 cup of rolled oats.

Add 1/2 cup whole meal flour, 1teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon of dried herbs.

Add 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil.

Fork around until little balls appear.

Add 1/2 cup of cold water little by little until dry ingredients come together into a big ball. 

Roll out dough with a rolling pin to about 1/2 cm thick and press into a greased quiche dish. 

Stab the surface lightly with fork ends and let rest in the fridge for 30 mins. 

For the filling. 

Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.

Slice squash into approx 5mm slices and put on a backing sheet to bake with s + p and oregano for 25 minutes, turning half way through.

When done remove squash and put the pastry in the oven to blind-bake for 13 minutes.  

Fry field mushrooms with garlic until they brown. 

Meanwhile mix together eggs, milk, s + p and chopped chives in a bowl. Add grated cheese. 

Scatter fried mushies, squash, spinach leaves in the pastry dish. 

Pour egg mixture evenly on top. 

Put the dish back in the oven, carefully, and bake for about 25 minutes. 

(Toothpick the middle to test at minute 25) 

Serve right now with some salad!

Barramundi Mexicana Medley

Hot day, take me away. A recent adventure east lead to the discovery of Guzman y Gomez and their Barramundi fish tacos. This salad was inspired by the flavours of said taco with a whole food spin. Delicious and high-protein, totally refreshing and super easy and do-able in under 30 mins!

You'll need

2 barramundi steaks (approx 250gm each), 1 avocado, 1 small red onion (diced), 1 long red chilli (seeds evicted if you wish), 8 tomatoes (diced), 2 limes, 1 bunch of coriander, 1 tin of beans (wished for black beans, but settled for red kidney beans), s + p

Serves 4

Preheat oven to 175 degrees celcius.

Marinate Barramundi with juice and zest from 1/2 a lime and s + p.
(This step can be done earlier, if you're organised.)

In a bowl put diced tomatoes, 1/2 the diced red onion, half chilli, coriander, juice of half a lime, s + p.

Mash avocado with a fork, add the rest of the onion, chilli, coriander, lime and some s + p. 

Cover both, put in the fridge and pop barramundi in the oven (for around 14-18 minutes).

Rinse beans from can juice and divide between serving dishes. 

Add the tomato salsa. 
 Flake barramundi on top . 

Pile on the guacamole mix. 

Salut!

Summer Oats

Sweet, sweet mango, bursting blueberries, chunky nuts and organic, non-homogonised yoghurt, and that's just the topping! Soaking the soy milk in the oats for 10 minutes before heating helps it get thick and creamy. Summer days couldn't start any better. 

You'll need

1/2 cup rolled oats, 1/4 cup organic soy milk, a little water (if needed to cook the oats), 4 tbsp organic yoghurt, 1 mango - flesh sliced, small handful of blueberries, chopped almonds + chopped walnuts. 

Serves 2

Cook oats for about 6 minutes on low heat, stirring.

Top with fruit and nuts. Hey presto!

PB + Date Cookie Dough Bites

It's like cookie dough, but it's natural. How natural? All natural. If you ate one you may feel like you just indulged in a big, big way. But fear not, because these babies are all whole food, so simple and pretty flexible. The original recipe sounded too good to be true, so these had to be done. Using what was on hand, the results were just devine. 

No regrets, never, none. 

You'll need

12 dates, pitted

3 tablespoons of all natural peanut butter

a small handful of walnuts

Makes 12

Just blitz everything in a food processor. That's it. 

After about a minutes of sheer mechanical power, the mix was easy to roll into little, bitty spongy balls of joy and then were squished with the back of a spoon. 

Roast Pumpkin, Lentil and Goat's Cheese Warm Salad

Chunks galore, this warm salad is stocked full of nutrients. A little goat's cheese goes a long way to add a delicious creamy texture to balance out the slightly tangy dressing. 

You'll need

1 cup of diced butternut pumpkin,  1/4 cup uncooked lentils, 4 button mushrooms, 2 thumbs worth of goat's cheese, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard, 1 teaspoon dijon mustard, 1 cup of rocket, chives, juice of 1/2 lemon, 1 tsp tahini, 1/2 teaspoon honey, a little olive oil, s + p.  

Serves 2

Dice pumpkin to 1 inch cubes. 

Season pumpkin with s + p + g(arlic).

Roast pumpkin - 175 degrees celcius.

Cook lentils.

Quarter mushies

Mix in mustard, s + p. Set aside. 

10 minute well deserved break. 

Flip pumpkin.

Combine lemon, dijon mustard, honey, tahini, s + p, o-oil and water in a small bowl. Mix. 

Boil water for imminent egg poach. 

Check pumpkin is tender & starting to crisp.

Fry mushies in a non-stick pan. 

Poach eggs. 

Combine lentils, rocket, pumpkin and mushies with 3/4 of dressing. 

Toss. 

Crumble goat’s cheese. 

Add remaining dressing.
Divide into 2 bowls.

Top each with poached egg. 

Sprinkle chives & dried chilli flakes for cool effect. 

Consume.