Super Green - Simple & Lean

Photo : Ben Dearnley

In their new cookbook, Super Green Simple and Lean, Sally Obermeder and Maha Koraiem have created 140 brand new smoothie recipes, salads, nourishing bowls and delicious snacks that will help make us all feel fantastic, gain energy and even lose weight. This is one of my favourite cookbooks to come out this year, so much so that I will be including it in my 2017 Christmas Gift Guide which I will feature here on 1 December, so stay tuned.

Sally Obermeder is one of the best-known faces on Channel 7. She hosts the daily news and lifestyle program, The Daily Edition. She has also worked on The Morning Show, Today Tonight, and Sydney Weekender along with a stint on Dancing with the Stars. Sally also co-founded and runs the lifestyle blog SWIISH.com with her sister Maha. SWIISH.com is a leading lifestyle website and online store, where women get their daily fix of luxe for less. Sally lives in Bondi, NSW, with her husband and four-year-old daughter Annabelle. She is also the author of Never Stop Believing (2013), her memoir of growing up, finding her way into TV, undergoing IVF and battling cancer, as well as the co-author of Super Green Smoothies and The Good Life.

Maha Koraiem is the co-founder and director of SWIISH.com. Maha adopted the green smoothie lifestyle along with her sister Sally, with similarly fantastic results. Her love for green smoothies led to co-authoring her first book, the number 1 bestseller Super Green Smoothies. Maha is a certified Health and Nutrition Coach and a freelance writer. She is passionate about cooking, creating recipes, and good health. Maha also lives in Bondi, NSW.

Following the launch, I caught up with Sally to ask her a few questions:

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1. What advice can you give to other mums who struggle with staying healthy and keeping fit post baby?

My number one piece of advice would be to trust your gut and listen to your body. I think it’s so easy to get caught up with what other parents are doing that it’s easy to lose sight of what’s important to you. It’s your baby and your body! You’re the only one who knows what is right for you and your little one.

When there’s a new baby in the house, the best thing you can do is to keep everything as simple as possible, so cook meals that are on the table in a flash. Our 15-Minute Hunger-Busting Prawn Zoodles from Simple and Lean, our new is something I cooked regularly when Elyssa was a newborn.

If you want to start exercising again, go slowly and put your bub in the pram and go for a stroll around the park. No one is expecting you to have a six-pack twelve weeks post-baby!

I know from my experience that it’s easy to focus all of your energy on the kids and not yourself. At the start of the year when Elyssa was a newborn, I was focusing all of my attention on the girls and work that I forgot about myself, and my health certainly took a beating. It wasn’t until my ear was bleeding that I finally stopped to take care of the body that needed it most: mine.

Sit on the couch and watch a movies, take a nap, take an hour to read a book, do a few laps around the block or make your favourite dinner; just make sure you’re nurturing and loving your body as much as everyone else’s.

At the end of the day, if you and your baby are healthy that’s all that matters. 

2.  What is your favourite quick and easy breakfast?

Besides green smoothies, I am a huge fan of anything that you can prep the night before and is ready in the morning. Like most households, our mornings are incredibly hectic getting the kids ready for their days so I love our Acai What You Did There Bowl from Simple and Lean because I can make it the night before. I make individual jars that are layered with mixed berries, chia pudding and acai berries and I’m able to just grab one as we’re literally running out the door. There are literally six ingredients and only two steps and one of those steps is to put it in the fridge! Because it’s loaded with so much goodness it keeps me full until lunchtime.

3. What is your ultimate green smoothie recipe?

Ahhh that’s like choosing a favourite child! It’s so tricky because they all taste so different and have special benefits, but one that is on high rotation at the moment is our Green Supreme Layered Smoothie from Simple and Lean. It’s so refreshing and the ultimate summer smoothie because mangoes are one of the key ingredients. Besides mangoes, there are only three other ingredients: bananas, spinach leaves and almond milk. It’s easy and not to mention, pretty!

Recipe included below.

4. How do you unwind?

At the moment, unwinding is catching up on laundry whilst listening to podcasts but my absolute favourite way to unwind at the end of the day is to watch a TV show with Marcus. We’re obsessed with Suits (I’m in love with Harvey but shhh don’t tell Marcus that!) and House of Cards. I’ve also recently taken up gardening because I realised I didn’t have a hobby besides the laundry haha!

I’m obsessed with food and passionate about eating locally sourced produce and you can’t get more local than eating from your own backyard so I decided to create my own veggie patch in this amazing device called a Vegepod. Jamie Durie, who is basically the king of gardening told me that I should get one because it self-waters and it’s on a stand so there’s no chance of killing the plants and there’s no chance of breaking your back from bending down. So far, I’ve planted cucumber, tomatoes, celery, okra, corn, coriander, shallots, broccoli, basil, mint, chives, radishes and chillies! So far, so good, but safe to say Jamie won’t be out of a job anytime soon hahaha.

5. What are your thoughts on fasting? 

Although it’s not something I would usually do, I know a lot of people do see the benefits of fasting and I do actually think it’s important to give your body a break from time to time.

Whilst I don’t fast, if I do need to have a bit of a detox, I much prefer to do a three day smoothie cleanse, where I replace each meal and snack with a smoothie for three days. I prefer to do it this way because I know I’m still nourishing my body with loads of fruit, veggies, vitamins and nutrients. Other than that, I’m definitely an 80/20 type of person because life is too short to miss out on pizza or a cheese platter!

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Here are two of my favourite from the new cookbook: Smoked Trout and Mango Salad and the delicious Green Supreme Layered Smoothie.

 Enjoy!

 smoked trout and mango salad

Photo: Ben Dearnley

ingredients

90 g (3¼  oz/2 cups) baby spinach leaves

200 g (7 oz) hot smoked trout, sliced

1 large mango, thinly sliced

115 g (4 oz/1 cup) bean sprouts

2 spring onions (scallions), thinly sliced

1 fresh red or green chilli, seeded and  thinly sliced

15 g (½ oz/½ cup) mint leaves, roughly torn

15 g (½ oz/½ cup) coriander (cilantro) leaves, roughly torn

dressing optional

1 garlic clove

2 tablespoons lime juice

2 tablespoons fish sauce

2 tablespoons rice malt syrup

2 tablespoons coriander (cilantro) leaves, finely chopped

1 fresh red chilli, seeded and

finely chopped

method

In a small bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the dressing.

On a platter, place  the baby  spinach leaves. Top with the trout, mango slices, sprouts, spring onion, chilli  and herbs.

Spoon the dressing generously over the top and serve.

notes

This salad also works  really well with tinned tuna.

We suggest using  tuna in spring water; because the dressing is so flavoursome, it’s best to use tuna that is closer  to its natural flavour.

You can get smoked trout at the supermarket.

It comes shrink-wrapped and in a fillet. Here we've used hot smoked river trout, but you can also use rainbow trout, or even hot smoked salmon. They all work  beautifully in this recipe.

green supreme layer smoothie

Photo: Ben Dearnley

DF/GF/V/VG/P
1526KG/364CAL, per serve
Serves 3
ingredients
270g (6 cups) frozen baby spinach leaves
3 frozen bananas
945g (3 cups) frozen mango pieces
750ml (3 cups) unsweetened vanilla almond milk, plus 250ml (1 cup) unsweetened vanilla almond milk extra. 

method
Place the spinach, banana, mango and 3 cups of almond milk in a blender and blend until smooth. Divide the mixture into three portions.
Divide portion 1 across three jars and freeze for 2 hours.
While portion 1 freezes, take portion 2 and add 1/4 cup vanilla almond milk. Pour portion 2 on top of portion 1 in each jar and return to the freezer.
Take portion 3 and add the remaining 3/4 cup of vanilla almond milk. Pour portion 3 on top of portion 2 in each jar and freeze until firm.
Top as desired.
We've used: paleo granola, blackberries, pumpkin seeds (pepitas), star fruit, honey and goji berries.

Recipes Extracted from SUPER GREEN SIMPLE AND LEAN by Sally Obermeder and Maha Koraiem. 
Published by Allen and Unwin. 
Out now. RRP $24.99

Purchase here: http://bit.ly/2fd4T6J