Cinnamon & Black Sesame Roasted Carrots

We all need some "comfy" when the weather cools down. A snugly jumper, cups of tea and of course deliciously warming foods. The new season vegetables are in and what better way to celebrate this than warm roasted veggies! This recipe is super easy and a fun new take on roasted veg. A great addition to your Sunday roast lunch instead of potato or sweet potato, or teamed with your lunch greens and grilled chicken. It even works as an afternoon snack with a tablespoon of hummus!

Cinnamon & Black Sesame Roasted Carrots - a beautiful dinner side dish to wow your guests with! By 'Not Your Typical Dietitian'

Here's  a quick comparison between carrots, potato and sweet potato. You can see that carrots are a lot lower in calories and carbohydrates, but still very high in fibre.

Carrot 100g

Potato 100g

Sweet Potato 100g

Kilojoules

171

322

360

Calories

41

77

86

Carbohydrate

10g

17g

20g

Dietary fibre

2.8g

2.2g

3g

Cinnamon & Black Sesame Roasted Carrots - a beautiful dinner side dish to wow your guests with! By 'Not Your Typical Dietitian'

Ingredients:

2 large bunches of baby carrots 2 tablespoons macadamia oil (or olive oil) 1½ tablespoons ground cinnamon 2 tablespoons black sesame seeds 2 tablespoons honey ½ cup macadamia nuts (raw unsalted) ½ teaspoon chili powder

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius 2. Combine the carrots with macadamia oil, cinnamon and sesame seeds

Cinnamon & Black Sesame Roasted Carrots - a beautiful dinner side dish to wow your guests with! By 'Not Your Typical Dietitian'

3. Place onto roasting tray lined with baking paper 4. Drizzle the honey evenly over all the carrots and place into the oven 5. Roast carrots for 30-40 minutes or until golden and crunchy

Cinnamon & Black Sesame Roasted Carrots - a beautiful dinner side dish to wow your guests with! By 'Not Your Typical Dietitian'

6. Roughly chop the macadamia nuts and combine with the chili powder 7. Place warm carrots onto serving plate and top with macadamia nut mixture

Enjoy!

Cinnamon & Black Sesame Roasted Carrots - a beautiful dinner side dish to wow your guests with! By 'Not Your Typical Dietitian'

Oh! And this will be a super duper addition to my Bountiful Lunch Plate recipe! Why not make a big batch of these carrots for the week and add them to your lunches as you go? Leading a healthy lifestyle and achieving your nutrition goals is all about being organised and prepared. Upload your photos on instagram and tag me @notyourtypicaldietitian or share it with me on facebook - here!

What I Ate Wednesday

A lot of my blends (blogger friends) have this thing where they post what they ate on Wednesday. I think it's genius. For one, we get to see what others eat (c'mon, I know we all secretly want to know this). And secondly, we get inspiration from others. Let's be honest there is nothing new under the sun, and all of us lose a little inspiration or creativity sometimes. "What I Ate Wednesday" is here to help us all.

So here's what I had.

Breakfast:

1/3 cup of rolled oats cooked with 1/2 cup of almond milk, 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 a pear. Topped with chia seeds, almonds, and walnuts with a dash of agave syrup. My favourite kind of breakfast for a cold rainy day.

Snack:

1 small banana cut into wheels and topped with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter. Sorry I didn't take a picture, I was in a hurry!

Lunch:

This is my new favourite. Two slices of the life changing loaf of bread topped with 1/4 of an avocado mashed, a handful of microherbs, 1 tsp of homemade almond dukkah and a drizzle of fresh lemon juice. I had a side of freshly chopped tomatoes and orange capsicum! So yum!

Snack:

As I said, it was a cold and rainy day. What is a girl to do in this kind of weather? Well, have chocolate of course! This was in the form of warm liquid chocolatey goodness! It is called my Hot Choconana, and is made from 1 teaspoon cacao powder, half a small banana, 1 cup of almond milk and a date! All you do is blend and then heat on the stove or with a coffee machine milk frother. Or, you can do both simulaneously if you have a thermomix (which is the coolest kitchen gadget you will ever use). Top with extra cacao powder and a few cacao nibs. Chocolate heaven!

Dinner:

This is such a quick meal to make if you had a long day and can't be bothered to spend a lot of time cooking a healthy meal. It's a Tomato, Kale, and Lentil Pasta topped with goats cheese fetta and fresh coriander. I made the sauce from organic canned tomatoes, freshly chopped onion and garlic, and lots of different spices (chilli, turmeric, coriander, sumac, paprika, cinnamon). Then added a whole bunch of washed purple kale and a tin of organic brown lentils. I then let it simmer for about 10-15 minutes while the pasta cooked (made from wholemeal spelt flour) and then combined with the pasta. Dinner time!!

Dessert:

Yep, I eat a lot. Dessert was a medjool date filled with a teaspoon of almond butter and a cup of rooibos tea. The perfect sweet end to a busy, cold and productive day.

Question:

What do you think of "What I Ate Wednesday" blog posts. Yay or Nay?

Link of the day: Creamy Almond Milkshake - perfect for breakfast, a snack, or dessert!

Maximising your nutrient intake

I often get asked by my clients what the best way is to make sure that they achieve their requirements for their vitamins and minerals. There are two answers -

1. If you want to make 100% sure, see an accredited practicing dietitian who can analyse your diet in detail.

AND

2. Eat a wide variety of different foods (at least 20 different foods per day) and eat them in lots of different colours!!

Why? The more colour a fruit or vegetable has, the more concentrated the vitamins or minerals! This is almost always an indicator that it will be more nutritious.

Here are some examples of colourful fruit and vegetables and how they can benefit your health:

Red - strawberries, tomatoes, radishes, beetroot, rhubarb, pomegranate. These contain lycopenes and anthocyans, believed to help reduce the risk of certain cancers, improve heart health, and help fight off infections.

Orange & Yellow - sweet potato, mango, carrots, pumpkin, oranges. These contain carotenoids and bioflavonoids which help improve vision, fight off cancer, slow ageing, and maintain a healthy immune system.

Green - kiwi fruit, avocado, spinach, kale, asparagus, broccoli, zucchini. These contain phytochemicals that help antioxidants fight carcinogens and strengthen our bones!

Purple & blue - blueberries, raisins, eggplant, figs, plums. They contain anthocyans and resveratol that may reduce cancer risk and slow down ageing.

This is more than enough reason for me to eat colourful! So that's what I did for lunch today...