A Wholesome Christmas with Affordable Wholefoods

Print Recipe

As 2016 winds up it is a great time to reflect upon the happenings of the year and to take a moment to stop and appreciate. In this final article for 2016, we would like to share our thoughts on eating well to feel well over the holidays, along with some of our favourite wholesome recipe alternatives to the often (overly) rich dishes that are traditionally shared throughout the festive season.

Christmas time is the perfect opportunity to explore new recipes and have fun with ingredients you haven’t used before. We don’t always need to repeat the traditions of old and can certainly save the Christmas hangover by keeping our cooking simple and light yet still full of flavour. Impress your friends and loved ones with new and interesting breakfast recipes, creative summer dinners, time-saving slow cooked meals and healthy refreshing drinks.

Using your slow-cooker more often this summer will reduce the time your oven is on and heating up the kitchen.  This time saving gem can be used not only for casseroles and slow cooked soups or curries; you can cook almost anything from frittata or homemade granola, to dips, stuffed capsicums and healthy desserts. Cooking this way reduces the need for oil and has the added bonus of being easy to clean.

Healthy time saving and kid friendly summer breakfast ideas are handy to have ready for this time of the year. An all-time favourite, especially with the kids, is Home-made Baked Beans, perfect on toast with avocado. One that takes more time but is well worth the effort is our popular Peanut Butter Granola and Teff Pancakes, always a winner. If you want something different for breakfast and want to get your day off to an extra healthy start try a savoury option, for example a simple Raw Asian Salad with poached eggs or our ever popular Gluten Free Chickpea Pancakes.

Keep Christmas snacking healthy with Gluten Free Quinoa & Rice crackers, they are surprisingly easy to make, keep well in the fridge and are a treat alongside our Macadamia and Semi-Dried Tomato pesto.

Here are some of our favourite main meal recipes of the year we thought would be perfect to share with friends over the summer. These recipes are great when you need to serve for more than 4 people: Swiss Chard Quiche, Roast Garlic, Sage & Pumpkin Pie or the Sweet Potato & Quinoa Slice. Each of these meals taste great warm or cold and can be enjoyed on their own or with a salad. We recommend the Healthy Yoghurt Slaw or Colourful Quinoa as two of our favourite salads for this summer. And don’t forget the delicious Quinoa Tabbouleh that is always a crowd pleaser.

There is often pressure to drink a glass of bubbly, wine or beer amidst the festive season celebrations however if you’re not too keen to do this there are other alternatives.  Coconut water is a super hydrating drink that can be mixed with nearly anything. Try a combination of lime and pomegranate juice or simply mix with ice and some fresh mint leaves. If you are looking for a little fizz, try sparkling water with fresh lemon or lime juice. You’ll definitely feel better for it the next day.

So, from all of us in the Affordable Wholefoods Family, a big thank you for reading our blog this year and for trying our ever growing collection of delicious recipes. We hope you have found much inspiration in what we have shared with you and wish you all the very best for a healthy and wholesome Christmas & New Year.

Stay tuned, as Affordable Wholefoods has only just begun.

See you in the new year,

Jesabe Warner

Naturopath, Affordable Wholefoods.