Just Add Yoghurt

Swedish tarts is (as the name suggests) a Swedish inspired café known for its diverse and exciting breakfast menu. Potato pancakes with bacon, breakfast flatbreads and mushrooms with polenta are all featured on this vintage inspired café’s menu. A beachside feel, you can find Swedish Tarts at Henley Beach and Semaphore. Mr Bball and I went for a nice beach walk followed be breakfast at Swedish Tarts – a common weekend occurrence. This time it was a hot day so I opted for a breakfast smoothie instead of my usual large, extra hot, skim flat white. The ingredients: Banana Yoghurt Berries LSA Apple juice. The good: Tart, refreshing and healthy. Not creamy like I expect of a banana and yoghurt breakfast smoothie but perfect for a 38 degree day. Its initial bite is followed by the natural sweetness of the banana. Plus the rich purple colour makes me want to go back for more. The addition of LSA, linseed (flaxseed) sunflower seed and almond, means I've had my nut...

I love cooking for my family but I always get a little nervous about having enough food. So when I had my family over for a burger night I decided to make a hearty salad as a side dish. This couscous salad is colourful and flavoursome. It’s also healthy and very flexible – a great, whatever is in my fridge weeknight meal. Ingredients: 3/4 cup couscous – I used wholemeal ¾ cup vegetable stock 2 tomatoes diced 100g baby spinach ½ cup roasted pumpkin (room temperature) ½ cup corn 2 tablespoons yoghurt 1 teaspoon tomato Kasoundi 100g feta Method: Poor boiling vegetable stock over the couscous and cover with a plate Let stand for 5 minutes or until cooked and fluff up with a fork Spread over a platter to cool Once cooled top with diced tomatoes, baby spinach, roasted pumpkin and corn Mix the yoghurt and kasoundi together – add some water if too thick Spoon the yoghurt dressing over the salad Crumble the feta over the salad,  A si...

I love chilli on everything – except sweets. I’m not partial to the chilli chocolate combination (don’t throw stones!) however when it comes to all things savoury, that bite really sets it apart. I don’t mind that burning, sweating, almost can’t taste feeling. As soon as it gets to that can’t taste feeling, that’s my limit. So for me chilli and yoghurt is the perfect combination – they mellow each other out. I made this fiery yoghurt sauce to dress up a what use to be boring weeknight meal – meat and three veg. Ingredients: 4 tablespoons Greek yoghurt 2 teaspoons lemon juice 1.5 – 2 tablespooons sundried tomatoes 1 ½ red medium chilli Method: Mix all the ingredients together with a hand held blender. This easy sauce is creamy, punchy and will take your next dinner party to a whole new level. Perfect with BBQ meat and grilled vegetable skewers, it’s a perfect BBQ accompaniment.  Fun farewell yoghurt fact: “many historical acc...

It was a hot summer’s day, I was trying to be healthy and oh did I want ice-cream. So I sat in the heat, watching old episodes of Friends on Gem and a conversation with a workmate hit me – you can make fruit frozen yoghurt in a food processor in 4 minutes! So it started… Ingredients: 2 frozen peaches 1 frozen banana 2 tablespoons of natural yoghurt 1/2 teaspoon of honey (optional) Method: Process the fruit until smooth Add in natural yoghurt and honey and mix until combined Eat it then and there or put it back into the freezer for a bit (if it lasts…). Be warned, if you put it back in the freezer, it will get icy. For that reason, eat it all straight away! Its guilt free J My farewell fun yoghurt fact – “ Not only is yogurt a delicious and healthy snack option, it contains high levels of lactic acid that promote healthy skin . Dating back to ancient India, yogurt has long been used as a natural moisturizer to revitalize dull, dry skin.”* ...

My Grandma makes the best cheesecake. I worked at The Cheesecake shop for 2 years so I consider myself an expert on the subject. Why was her cheesecake the best? Because it was light, creamy and sweet but not sickening. Plus the biscuit base was crunchy and buttery. The perfect end to Christmas lunch. For a friend’s Christmas catch up (yes another) I wanted to make a tangier and gluten free version of my Grandma’s cheesecake. A dessert that would cut through the salty antipasto entree and rich pork main. These mini cheesecakes did just that. A warning however, these mini cheesecakes are very soft and don’t have a firm texture. So use patty pans. Ingredients: 160g gluten free chocolate chip cookies 75g butter, melted 250g cream cheese, room temperature 2.5 tablespoon glucose syrup Juice of ½ lemon ¾ cup Greek yoghurt Lemon curd and mint to finish. Method: Using a food processor, crush the gluten free chocolate chip cookies until they resemble bread...

Christmas growing up was all about the desserts. Yes a sausage for lunch was always good, but it was the table full of different desserts that would get my heart racing as a chubby little girl. We loved light, creamy and sweet desserts. And every year I say to myself I’ll try making panna cotta, but I never have! So when Mr Bball and I had two friends over for dinner as a pre-Christmas catch up I couldn’t wait to finally give panna cotta a go. In an effort to make it light and tangy, yoghurt replacing the cream seemed like an obvious choice. Truth be told my friend was weary of panna cotta, but I think I won her over with this recipe. Ingredients: 1 cup cream 1 tablespoon honey 100g sugar 3 teaspoons of gelatine powder ¼ cup hot water  400g MOO mango yoghurt Method: Combine cream, honey and sugar over low heat. Cook until honey and sugar dissolves Sprinkle the gelatine powder into the hot water and stir until dissolved. Once dissolved set aside f...

I use to work at the cheesecake shop and the amount of Pavlovas I would cream and top with fruit on Christmas Eve and Christmas day would blow your mind. Let’s just say a production line was required and it was by order only. Too much demand for last minute orders. When I think of Christmas, I think of Pavlovas. The marshmallow, sugary and crispy base with cream and slightly tart fresh fruit to balance out the sweetness, conjures up memories of my old green apron and checked chef pants. So when having the girls over for dinner for a pre-Christmas gathering, I couldn’t resist recreating this traditional Christmas favourite but with a twist. I’ve always wanted to make an Eton mess so I took this as the opportunity. Commonly served with cream, I used a yoghurt instead along with lemon curd, strawberries and crushed biscuits. Ingredients: Meringue: 3 large egg whites 175g sugar Yoghurt sauce: 2 x eggs whites 2 tablespoons sugar Pinch salt 400g yoghurt To serv...