All tagged Real Food

A Healthy Start to The New Year: Mix Apparel at Coles Supermarkets

A Healthy Start to The New Year: Mix Apparel at Coles Supermarkets

Melanie Lionello
Blog, Reviews, Sweet

Happy new year everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful festive season and are getting back into the groove of healthy, balanced meals and a little more movement! I started my new year in Bali this year and it was absolute bliss. Think early(ish) mornings, long walks in the soft sand (great for your legs and pretty much like a foot exfoliation at the same time!), fresh smoothies for brekky, then a dip in the ocean, some beachside stretching and a walk back home. My go-to 'uniform' for my active routine has heavily featured the new Mix Apparel range now available at 740 Coles supermarkets nation-wide.

Chargrilled Eggplant Soup

Chargrilled Eggplant Soup

Melanie Lionello
Food, Savoury, Uncategorized

Well what a day! Today marks Isaac and mine's 8th anniversary together. We met in high school, year 7 to be exact when I had changed schools and ended up in Isaac's class. I made a great bunch of friends, a lot of whom I still call great friends today but Isaac wasn't one of them right away. His locker was above mine but we never spoke to each because you know - high school. So the silence continued for term after term until one day we had a 'battleships' competition in maths class.

Berry Pavlova

Berry Pavlova

Melanie Lionello
Blog, Sweet

Summer time and Christmas go hand-in-hand in Australia and I love nothing better than a good pav during the warm, festive season! I am so happy to be working with Pacific Epping on this gorgeous marbled berry pavlova, it's not too sweet and a little healthier than most <3

Matcha Cupcakes

Matcha Cupcakes

Melanie Lionello
Food, Sweet

My friend sarah (@foodies_digest) recently went to japan on a skiing trip and to spend some time in tokyo. it looked like an amazing time and like the most perfect winter wonderland. and to top it off, she could get beer from a vending machine for $1. winning big time if you ask me.

Easy Granola

Easy Granola

Melanie Lionello
Breakfast, Food

I am a firm believer that there is no better way to clear out my cupboards than by making a batch of granola. i just go through all my little bags and jars and tip whatever i've got left into a big bowl until i'm sufficiently happy that i've cleared out all the little, annoying leftovers. this time though, i actually measured everything so i could tell you about it!

Easy Banana Pikelets

Easy Banana Pikelets

Melanie Lionello
Breakfast, Food, Sweet

I love pikelets, i used to take little ones to school as play-lunch with jam. and in high school every single shrove tuesday (pancake day), my friends and i would go over to someone's house and either make 'shaker pancakes' from the bottle or open up a packet of golden circle pikelets and lather them up with nutella, milo, and ice cream.

Feta & Silverbeet Rolls

Feta & Silverbeet Rolls

Melanie Lionello
Food, Savoury

There's this cool little lebanese bakery in my end of town. it's always bustling, always full of lebanese and turkish people (this is the seal of approval i reckon), and it's dirt cheap. they do lebanese pitas, manoush, pides, sweets, thick coffee, and my favourite salty yoghurt drinks (ayran in turkish). they make these triangle pastries filled with lemony greens and onions, then you can sprinkle red pepper chilli into the parcel once it's cooked.

Lemon and Caper Fish Cakes

Lemon and Caper Fish Cakes

Melanie Lionello
Food, Savoury

Last night i was eating pizza in front of the tv (WHAT?! but you're a nutritionist!) because i was tired and so was isaac and i couldn't be bothered cooking. so i did one of my favourite things, ordered a semi-healthy pizza (wholemeal base, not much cheese, plenty of veg etc.) and watched SBS because i knew they'd be showing something more worthy my time and my retinas than family feud or a current affair.

Chicken and Sweet Corn Soup

Chicken and Sweet Corn Soup

Melanie Lionello
Food, Savoury

The cupboards were pretty much bare when i made this chicken soup. i have zero cooking experience in asian cuisine because it's so daunting - i mean i grew up watching iron chef where they could chop shallots perfectly in a blink and made foam from livers. crazzzzzzy stuff.

Orange Blossom and Cardamom Cake

Orange Blossom and Cardamom Cake

Melanie Lionello
Food, Sweet

The last couple of years i have coincidentally made isaac middle-eastern inspired cakes, and i did it again this year. i made orange blossom and cardamom cake with yoghurt and honey icing aka 'ugh! it tastes like morning fresh detergent' according to isaac's bro.

Zucchini Slice

Zucchini Slice

Melanie Lionello
Food, Savoury

The inspiration for this recipe came from a cooking show i saw on tv, i don't watch tv very much at all and this show only reiterated that for me. they made zucchini slice, it was disgusting. they only used egg-whites (WHY?!), used cottage cheese instead of tasty or parmesan, and used the fattiest bacon i've ever seen.

Vegan Dips

Vegan Dips

Melanie Lionello
Food, Savoury

I used to always think that dips were just for the adults at parties i went to when i was little. they seemed to love dip. the women with the double-denim and too-dark-for-them bob haircuts were always chatting, laughing, and slapping each other's thigh when a joke was told all with a jatz cracker in their hand topped with french onion dip. 

Salted Chocolate Cookies

Salted Chocolate Cookies

Melanie Lionello
Food, Sweet

Sometimes i'm actually so lazy on the weekend that i don't get around to eating until it's nearly lunch time. bad, i know. but i'm just sleepy and not that hungry right away and usually just enjoy basking in the sunshine in the backyard with my (fur) baby jessie moomoo and isaac over a cup of coffee.

Zoodles

Zoodles

Melanie Lionello
Food, Savoury

I grew up eating pasta, a couple times a week - no less. my mum, and nonna have always made pasta sauce from scratch and in huge variety. bolognese, amatriciana, arrabiata, napoletana (also known as 'stupid sauce' in my family because it's so easy it's stupid), carbonara (the real way, none of this cream business), formaggio e burro, the list goes on!

Beer Battered Fish

Beer Battered Fish

Melanie Lionello
Food, Savoury

Being Australian and ice cold beer are almost synonymous on a hot Summer's day. You get home from a long, hard day at work, sweaty and dirty, and you open the fridge to reveal a glistening glass stubbie of delicious, golden ale calling your name. You crack it open and neck it one (or so my Dad does..he claims the first one doesn't even touch the sides). Onto the next one, and you've gotta get some dinner together. 

Scottish Porridge

Scottish Porridge

Melanie Lionello
Breakfast, Food

Porridge is always a breakfast staple for me especially when the weather gets cooler. But on a recent trip to Scotland, I realised porridge is taken seriously there. Like, no joke - forget quick oats, packet porridge, or pre-flavoured oatmeal.