While Pinterest, Instagram and many food blogs are brimming with beautiful pictures of fallen leaves and delicious recipes full of spice, pumpkin and caramel, here in the southern hemisphere it’s warming up – big time! At the moment our days are filled with bright sunshine, warmth and all the glittering hazy images of a summer that’s just round the corner.

I can’t help but spend nearly everyday outside; it’s warm, blue and so incredibly sunny. Little Lu and I have been busy planting out a bigger garden in the backyard with more herbs and greens that hopefully will survive the heat of our Australian summer.

This wholesome and healthy vegetarian recipe is just the thing to enjoy outside and perfect to pack up for a picnic lunch. Everything can be made in advance and although the vegan ‘meatballs’ are delicious hot – they are beautiful served cold when accompanied by this crisp and colourful salad.

The nutty meatballs are amazingly versatile and I’ve been making variations of them over the last few months. Try serving as traditional meatballs in a tomato pasta sauce with spaghetti or form into patties and grill on a barbeque plate – perfect for a nutty burger.

This is absolutely a kid friendly vegetarian recipe (providing you’re careful with nut & seed allergies) and ideal for school lunch boxes or as an easy make-ahead dinner the whole family will enjoy.

Almond & Cashew Vegan Meatballs
|| note: Look for the sprouted bread at your local wholefoods or health food store. Alternatively use lovely wholegrain seeded bread for the breadcrumbs. Any combination of nuts would probably work well here. I used chia gel for a vegan recipe – if you enjoy eggs you could substitute the chia seeds and water with one certified free-range egg instead. ||

Preparation time: 50mins // Makes approx. 20 nutty meatballs

• 1/3 cup filtered water
• 1 tsp chia seeds
• 1 cup raw almonds
• 1 cup raw brazil nuts
• ½ cup raw cashews
• 1½ cups of sprouted bread (such as Ezekiel) roughly diced into coarse breadcrumbs
• 1 large organic green (tart) apple, cored and quartered
• 1 handful of fresh parsley &/or thyme
• 2 tbs homemade or store brought tomato relish (or try tomato paste)
• 4 tbs olive oil
• ½ cup low sodium vegetable stock or filtered water

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/356°F.

For a vegan recipe combine the chia seeds with the 1/3 cup of water and set aside for around 10 minutes until a gel forms. Alternatively use 1 certified free-range egg.

Place the nuts in a food processor and process until you have a coarse sand like consistency – transfer to a large mixing bowl.

Add the breadcrumbs, quartered apple and herbs – process until you reach about the same consistency as the nut mixture.

Add the breadcrumb mixture to the nut mixture with the tomato relish, chia gel or egg, olive oil adding cracked pepper and salt flakes to taste.

Using your hands combine all the ingredients adding enough of the stock or water to get a moist mixture that forms easily into balls.

Roll the mixture into golf ball sized balls and arrange on an oven tray lined with baking paper.

Place into the pre-heated oven and bake for around 30-35 minutes until golden on the outside.

Serve warm or cold with the following salad and dollops of tomato relish – perfect for a picnic or school lunch boxes.

These vegetarian meatballs are also amazing served warm with veggies or tossed through a tomato pasta sauce and served with spaghetti for a veggie take on meatballs and spaghetti.

Seeded Carrot & Cucumber Slaw
|| notes: Try and source organic vegetables and for a vegan dressing use agave nectar or maple syrup in place of the honey if you prefer. Pura Veda is a seed mix containing buckwheat, sunflower kernels, raisins, sesame seeds, millet, pumpkin seeds, linseed, poppy seeds, chia seeds, amaranth – use a similar one or simply add whatever seeds and dried fruits you wish. If you enjoy dairy a little crumbled vegetarian feta cheese is lovely tossed through at the end. ||

Preparation time: 12 minutes // Serves 4

• 2 organic carrots, grated (approx. 2 cups)
• 1 lebanese cucumber, grated (approx. ½ cup)
• 1 organic celery stick, thinly sliced
• ½ cup sunflower sprouts
• ¼ cup seed & grain mix with raisins (I used pura veda)

for the dressing

• 1 tbs tahini
• 1 tbs apple cider vinegar
• 2 tbs good quality olive oil
• ½ tsp raw honey or agave nectar
• 1 tsp filtered water

To make the dressing whisk all ingredients together until smooth. Depending on how thick your tahini is you may need to add more or less water. Season with cracked pepper and salt flakes.

Toss the remainder of the ingredients together in a large bowl.

The slaw and dressing can be made ahead of time – simply toss through the dressing just before serving.

A great crunchy and healthy salad recipe perfect for summer.