A long way from Home

When I was in Sydney, I could easily find café’s or restaurants who support their local economy by buying their ingredients from farmer markets and using only food in season and from their land.

Don’t you agree that this should happen everywhere? Transportation is great, however it got to the point where we are importing food across the world with container ships, planes, trains and automobiles. It bewildered me when I saw kiwis from Italy in a supermarket in Sydney, and when I’m in Switzerland I see Kiwi’s from New Zealand. Apart from that little disappointment, I did notice that Australia and New Zealand supermarkets or food stalls do have a lot of food made in their own country. I have never so many ingredients or foods that where labeled “Australian Made” or “New Zealand Made”, which put back a smile on my face 🙂

I just came back from the the Blue mountains, where I was working on a horse ranch in Kanimbla Valley. Where Wifi was non-existent and my life came back, never feeling so in the moment. I had to get used to having minimal cooking gear for three weeks straight. You know living in a caravan, and a kitchen that is not the cleanest and limits your Michelin star cooking..ranch life basically, in which I got used to very fast. With this being said, I could easily jot down Ramen noodles, cereal, frozen meals etc. on the shopping list, to have an easy dinner ready after a long day of work. Well, that obviously didn’t happen, no matter how tired I was, I still made myself a nice looking and tasty healthy meal with the limited ingredients I had in my fridge.

Which once again, shows you how easy it is to make a nice meal with few ingredients.

Mila’s Secret Garden

From picking Mila’s rasberries, to peeling her Fava beans, to digging gold from her healthy fertile earth (potatoes), pulling out large onions, and making a nice bouquet of flowers from her flowertopia patch for our dinner table gave me a free shot of instant joy. Does this sound dreamy? Well, for me it was, to be able to a sit down to a beautiful plate of Milas homemade food using all veggies I dug out from her healthy soil. Blueberry picking at her aunts Organic Orchard was also a part of the treasure hunt. We spent couple hours carefully picking only the ripe and large blueberries. One whole kilo of organic blueberries would cost 3.50 euros. In Switzerland you pay that much for a 125 grams.

All this hands to earth activity, and finding treasures in which we can eat is not comparable to ingredients found in the supermarket. Seeing how much work it takes to produce food for us humans, you appreciate your homemade dinner plate so much more since you realise the amount of work, effort, time and patience you need to have a secret garden like Mila’s.

Read below to see what Mila has cooked for us three times a day, I am still full from that trip 🙂

Healthy & unimaginable tasty Garden Salad

1) Zucchini from Garden, cook in coconut oil and garlic. Season with salt, pepper and drizzle some high quality olive oil and lemon juice.

2) Tomatoes from Garden, chop up some basil from your herb pot and season with salt, pepper and use high quality olive oil as well. Olive oil does make a big difference, so when you are not sure what one to buy at the store, pick the higher price, this usually means higher quality, which is worth the extra coins. Or even better if you find a bulk store near by, bring your glass bottle or jar and fill up the amount you want-no waste 😉

3) Pecans were their neighbour friends who have a Pecan Ranch.

4) 1 generous table spoon of baba ganoush topped with Vegetable Chips

5) Blueberries are low in calories and have the highest ranking of antioxidants-They are just SO sweet and flavourful, As a snack, with your Greek Yogurt or even in your salad, you’ll never be disappointed with them. Make sure to buy them when they are in season and from your country.

You really do notice the difference of eating food from your own garden or from local farmers compared to buying your vegetables that are shinny and perfect looking wrapped in plastic in big supermarkets. When you buy from the mass production agriculture companies, you are not tasting how that vegetable, fruit or nut actually should taste like.

do you know how your pecan nut looks like?

Pecan trees are part of the Hickory family and are originally from North America, however they copped well with New Zealands climate. They have been growing pecan trees in the Southern Hemisphere for more than 100 years.

In a store you find them in plastic wraps with the two separated kernels. Did you know that they look like the first picture (far left)? They have smooth brown mottled shells and a thin partition separating the two halves of the kernel.

Pecans are high in antioxidants which help reduce the risk of heart disease. Improves Digestion. Helps with Weight Loss. Reduces the Risk of Certain Cancer. Anti-Inflammatory Benefits and Boosts Immunity.

So you won’t go wrong with having a handful of pecans a day 😉

Eggplant made easy

And Tasty… 😉

1) Wash your eggplant from your garden or the farmers market once–Wash twice with warm water if bought from the supermarket to get rid of the pesticide spray.

2) Cut in into slices

3) Put on a baking sheet on a tray

4) Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius (350 F)

5) Drizzle high quality Olive oil

6) Sprinkle Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper

7) If you are a Garlic lover like me add thin slices of garlic

8) Pumpkin seeds are full of Protein–Through some of those on top too

9) Bake for 35 minutes or until light golden brown

and Voila–done…so easy right? While you let them cool down a little make yourself a Green Bean Salad with red onions and throw in a half of avocado to make it more filling and tasty 😉

Vegetable chips are always such a great addition to your healthy meal!

QUICK & EASY HUNGER FIX

Kale & Apricot Celery Salad

1) 1 bunch of kale, but into small pieces (Try buy from farmers market & organic)

2) 3 stems of Celery cut into small half an inch pieces

3) 1 small avocado smashed in there

3) If you have some extra Cauliflower left from the Roasted vegetables used for the frittata through them in your salad

4) Sunflower seeds and salted Cashews

5) Take three apricots (only if in season) and cut into small peaces to add a little sweetness to your healthy Salad

DRESSING? Mix Good quality olive oil, a tbsp Greek yogurt, garlic, salt, pepper and a little lemon juice not forgetting the secret ingredient –> cilantro (Coriander).

discvover New Zealand in a Hippie Van

Have you ever seen where a kiwi comes from? This was the first time I saw a Kiwi vine. It’s actually sad that I had never seen where Kiwi vines grow their beautiful fruits. We see them in Smoothies, Granola Bowls or plastic wraps in supermarkets. Many people know how they look like with their beautiful fruit design, and furry coat, however I’m sure most people would not know how a Kiwi vine looks like. This vine plant lives all year and can survive frosts to-10°C. Kiwi is a great source of fibre, helps your digestion, boosts your immunity, supports weight loss, and is the most alkaline fruits out there! Great for skin with its Vitamin E content. Eating two or three a day will help fight cardiovascular disease.

Van Life Breakfast

Chloe & Ashley’s budget shall we say was not for going out every morning to find hip, organic, local café’s where you would spend more than 20 nzd on a meal. Of course we did spoil ourselves from time to time to the best café’s we could find.

When we went to shop for food, we bought ingredients for our Muesli for breakfast and for lunch we would buy ingredients to put in our beetroot or spinach wraps.

If you are on the road and want a filling breakfast, that is really easy to make, that is tasty and healthy well go for a Van Life Muesli 🙂

We would pour oats, organic almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and a mix of flax, chia, sesame seeds in our bowl! Somedays we felt like cacao. This would give us a little boost if we’d feel a little bit tired. We would cut up banana slices, and our favourite fruit were the organic blueberries and kiwi fruit. It was so nice to buy kiwi that was from the country and not from thousand miles away. We would use rice or oat milk to soak our dry ingredients and fresh fruit to enjoy it as a wholesome healthy and tasty breakfast.

Hippie Van Ringo serves Wraps for Lunch!

After the most amazing experience in my life, taking an eco tour to swim with wild dauphins, we found a perfect ocean view picnic table.

We would cut up thin slices of carrots and cucumbers with our swiss army knife (a life saviour when you’re out camping). Cherry tomatoes would also be enjoyed in the wrap. Our favourite spread brand we found in New Zealand was called Lisa’s. I loved the Kumara (sweet potato) and pumpkin hummus. Chloe liked the Babaganoush made with eggplant. We sometimes bought the original hummus, but we were excited about these new flavours in which are not easily found back home. I loved to buy pesto to put in my wrap, Chloe was not understanding how I could put all those flavours together. I’m just a flavour lover I guess 🙂

We bought some coleslaw or sometimes kale mix salad to fill up our veggie wrap. I liked to throw in some salted nut mix or roasted cashews.

So we Rolled it up and enjoyed this colourful veggie wrap with a view!

Beverage pairing recommendation: Ginger&Turmeric kombucha or the Feijoa and Apple Kombucha (Chloe&Ashleys favourite)

A short but sweet stop in Christchurch

Chloe & I had an incredible opportunity to stay with the sister of a student I coached tennis to that summer. They had a wonderful horse ranch. My horse was called Mikey and gosh.. did he and I fly like the wind. Cantering as fast as a jet plane I felt ALIVE again. I can’t wait for the day I have my own horse. Riding on a beach so immense where you can barely see the end of it is a dream come true for a horse rider.

After a wonderful horse ride, dinner was served, and wow.. we ate like Queens. Zucchinis, onions, tomatoes and peppers picked from her garden and a fresh catch of the day was the menu. From the pictures you can tell that the veggies are from an organic garden. I can’t describe how flavourful every bite was. What a great end to this sunny day in the outskirts of Christchurch.

A glass (or two) 😉 of local Pinot Noir with this light, fresh & flavourful meal was a recipe for happiness.

Chloe & Ashley’s Princess Van Life

When I say “treat” ourselves, we spontaneously booked eco hotels, airbnb’s and nice hotels where we could enjoy a warm bath and a big bed with five pillows. The Van life is a great way to make you realise that having a warm bed is like winning the lottery. We ate in farm to table restaurants or health conscious café’s.

My favourite hotel we stayed at was in Queenstown. The Sherwood hotel was rated top 10 most eco friendly hotel in the world. The feeling when you walked into the Sherwood territory automatically gave me a happy vibe. Their concept was not the feel of a traditional chain hotel like a Hilton or a Marriott. They wanted and worked hard on making you have a different experience in a hotel. There was chilled music playing when you walked in the room, beautiful native American style curtains, a wooden bed, and natural decorations with some hanging plants. They had a sauna for guests to be able to reserve for themselves, they had a yoga studio, workshops and; my favourite was the huge garden. Their farm to table restaurant would only use ingredients from their garden. What a great concept, and my one day dream to open a restaurant like this. The menu always changes depending of what veggies grow in each season. The breakfast was also a dream come true. With homemade (gf, df, v) seed bread, warm croissants, homemade nut butter, granola, fruits and everything you were hoping to see on a buffet bar top. The chef was so nice, he made us homemade waffles with garden blueberries and their own honey drizzled on the perfectly crusted waffle

…well all I can say if you ever are in Queenstown the Sherwood is a place to stay and eat.

HERE & NOW