The famous Laura Thai Marinade

My thai marinade has become infamous with those who frequent our dinner table and also when we are invited to barbeques. I get asked for the recipe all the time, so finally folks, here is the secret to my Thai success!

This amount makes enough marinade to coat 6 chicken skewers, or 2 pieces of meat.

Combine the following in a bowl or measuring cup:

• 1 stalk lemon grass, end roughly chopped
• 2-3 Tbs olive or peanut oil (I use olive)
• 1 fresh red chilli, de-seeded if desired
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped coriander
• 1 tablespoon grated ginger
• 2 Tbs fish sauce
• 2 tsp brown sugar

Mix well, so the sugar dissolves. Pour over your favourite meat - I have done this with chicken, turkey and fish and all have turned out superbly. I think it would taste good on pork, but unsure about red meats.

The marinading can be done an hour before cooking the meat. I usually give it 4 hours.

The meat can then be grilled, barbequed or baked.

Thai marinade in action!

On Tuesday night I had 3 of my gorgeous girlfriends over for dinner and we were having so much fun and laughing without the need for alcohol!

Our dinner was detox friendly, pregnancy friendly and dairy free. 

Not only did we have Thai marinade chicken, but we also had sweet potato slices shallow fried in coconut oil, garlicky goodness snowpeas and a simple & delicious salad provided by Kate & Erin - toasted almonds, broccolini, avocado, tomato and lettuce mix in a balsamic dressing.

Oil pulling - the Naturopath's new black.

Just like everyone else, naturopaths have fads that come up every now and then. It could be a new piece of research, a vitamin deficiency trend, or a new superfood. In my group of naturopath friends, a new trend has been gaining in popularity and so I thought I should share this amazing health gospel so its not just for naturopaths!

So what is oil pulling?

Oil pulling is an ancient Ayurvedic (traditional Indian medicine) ritual, which was introduced to the western world in the early 90s. It involves keeping a spoonful of oil in your mouth then swishing and 'pulling' it between your teeth for 20 minutes. This action provides a powerful detoxifying and cleansing effect for our mouths.

Our mouth is a large city of bacteria, fungi, viruses and other toxins. Candida albicans and Streptococcus are well known residents to this land. These products and their toxic waste by-products are known to cause gum disease, tooth decay and can also contribute to other health conditions such as arthritis and heart disease. By doing a 20 minute oil pulling each day, you are removing these harmful products from the mouth.

According to Bruce Fife, naturopath and author of Oil Pulling Therapy: Detoxifying and Healing the Body Through Oral Cleansing, the health benefits of oil pulling include:

• Brighter, whiter teeth
• Healthier gums
• Prevents bad breath
• Increased energy
• Clearer mind
• Decreased headaches
• Clearer sinuses
• Alleviated allergies
• Better sleep
• Clearer skin
• Regulated menstrual cycles
• Improved lymphatic system
• Improved PMS symptoms

Such a simple, easy and cheap method to help your health, who would have thought it?

How to oil pull

Oil pulling is best done first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach.

Spoon a tablespoon of organic, cold-pressed vegetable oil (I found coconut oil is best - olive oil goes very bitter) into your mouth and swish it around for 20 minutes, then spit it out. While swishing your oil you do some some jobs around the house - have a shower, clean up, make breakfast, water the garden... you don't need to sit there and watch the clock tick by! In fact, I've written half of this blog while oil pulling!

Never swallow the oil, as it is full of toxins and rinse your mouth out afterwards.

20 minutes can be a very long time for first time pullers, so just go as long as you can. Some people who have a strong gag reflex may need to be spit earlier, but please stick with it... its so easy to do to improve your health!

My personal oil pulling experience

I'm still a newbie to this, but I really like it. My first attempt with olive oil only lasted 5 minutes, as the bitterness of the oil was putting me off and it feels very odd to be swishing a thick liquid in your mouth. With my second pulling experience I used coconut oil and lasted 17 minutes before my gag reflex came in. I have to say, my mouth feels amazing - so clean and my teeth have that 'just brushed' feeling. Hello new morning ritual!

Are your oil pullings showing?

Don't knock it until you try it - I urge to give it a go, even if its just once!

Refreshilicious is a real word - and a drink.

Here's a refreshing summery drink for the Febfasters and those looking for a non-alcoholic option to wind down and watch the sunset...

Squeeze of half a lemon, a spring of rosemary, a handful of fresh mint and topped with soda water. Truly refreshilicious.

Thank you to Heather for this sparkly inspiration! :) xo

Yusheng - the Malaysian Chinese New Year salad!

Gong Xi Fa Cai to all all those celebrating Chinese New Year! We say goodbye to the year of the dragon, and say hello to the year of the snake!


My husband needs to travel to Malaysia quite a lot and he told me about this traditional salad celebration he gets involved in when he is over there. It is known as Yusheng (or yee sang), which translates to Prosperity Toss.

This amazing salad has its ingredients chosen very carefully as each ingredient has a different meaning and if you ask me, it doesn’t sound all that bad healthwise either!


The base of the dish contains capsicum, chilli, jellyfish, sun-dried oranges, red pickled ginger and turnips. These make the base ingredients. Those eating the salad then proceed to add ingredients to build the salad:

• The raw fish is added (usually this is salmon, but traditionally wolf herring was used), symbolising abundance and excess through the year. 
• Pomelo or lime is added to the fish, adding luck and auspicious value. 
• Pepper is then dashed over in the hope of attracting more money and valuables. 
• Oil is then poured out, circling the ingredients and encouraging money to flow in from all directions. 
• Carrots are added indicating blessings of good luck. 
• Shredded green radish is placed symbolising eternal youth. 
• Shredded white radish is added for prosperity in business and promotion at work.

The condiments are finally added:

• First, peanut crumbs are dusted on the dish, symbolizing a household filled with gold and silver. 
• Sesame seeds quickly follow symbolising a flourishing business. 
• Deep-fried flour crisps in the shape of golden pillows is then added with wishes that literally the whole floor would be filled with gold.

Once put together, all the diners at the table stand up and on cue, proceed to toss the shredded ingredients into the air with chopsticks while saying various auspicious wishes out loud. The higher the toss, the more prosperous the year!

What a fun way to start the new year! :)

Diet Soda: Wolf in diet sheeps clothing

Diet soda guzzlers, listen up... you may choose this drink because you think its a 'lighter' option... time to wake up! A recent study has found that those drinking diet sodas have just as much risk as developing diabetes as those who drink regular soda. Surprised?

http://www.theage.com.au/national/health/light-sodas-hike-diabetes-risk-study-20130207-2e1nb.html

Diet sodas contain artificial sweeteners, the most common of which is aspartame, which is well known to cause havoc in the body and has been shown to damage the brain by destroying neurons (building blocks of your nervous system). This has been known to lead to conditions including MS, Alzheimer's, hearing loss, memory loss, epilepsy and more. And unfortunately, artificial sweeteners have an addictive quality that can stimulate the appetite, increase carbohydrate cravings and stimulate fat storage, thereby increasing weight gain. So your 'diet' soda isn't your lighter option at all!

How about nature's lighter option - water - instead? Want some flavour? Add lemon, lime, orange or mint to it. Want bubbles? Go for soda or mineral water.

For more information on aspartame: http://www.naturalnews.com/aspartame.html

Tribute to Black Saturday - 4 years on

This blog entry isn't about foods, or anything healthy. But it is something I wanted to share with people.

4 years ago today, Victoria suffered its worst bushfires in history. 173 people lost their lives, 2030 homes were lost and townships were burnt to ashes.

The fires tore apart communities and families, but the volunteers and Australian spirit of helping those who survived was absolutely amazing. My husband’s cousin lost his home and it was truly inspiring to see how much support he got from the community to help rebuild his property. My dad was one of the brave CFA volunteers who helped with these fires, as was my father-in-law and brother-in-law. This photo of my dad was taken by a Herald Sun photographer while he was out in the field. It's a shame I never got the original photo.

I can't believe its been 4 years already. My thoughts are with those families who lost loved ones and their homes.

This summer, Australians have been watching the news in awe, seeing all the bushfires occuring in Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales, as well as record breaking heatwaves across the country. Australia is known for its hot summers and for bushfires to occur, but unless you experience it in some way, I don't think you can fully understand the extent of what these fires can do and what these people are going through.

I haven't been in the front lines, but I have experienced bushfires first hand and it was an eye opening and life changing event. I wrote about it in late 2008 and would like to share with you my experiences:


I just wanted to make people aware of something that happened in January this year. You may recall a sweltering day in Melbourne when all the power went out and everyone was without traffic lights, trains were running wild and homes were without air conditioning. BOO FRICKIN HOO. That day was put into perspective for me due to an event which happened close to where the power outage happened.

I'd first like to write about my parents. Last year my country born and bred dad decided he was fed up with the city life and wanted himself and my mum to move to the country. After some counselling from her beloved daughter, mum thought this idea would be fantastic. They started looking in the town of Mansfield - near Mt. Buller. After a month or two, they found a perfect home in the small township of Tolmie - 17 acres, mudbrick, handmade home and one of the most serene places I know.  They sold their family home in Camberwell and made the treechange. Dad did the country thing and joined the CFA. He had the local fire chief over for a beer where they were talking how they had not had a fire in this region for 80 years.

The following week they had a fire. A big one. Lightning strikes! Dad went into red alert, but could not help out as he had not performed the fire induction. He did work in the radio station however. These fires were not close to mum and dads however they needed to remain vigilant for burning embers. My boyfriend Jarod and I went up one weekend for ember watch but all we experienced was smoke. These fires destroyed a lot of bushland, but the worse for my parents was yet to come.

Lightning stikes twice! This time, a few km from my parents. I had remained fairly calm (checking the CFA website for fire updates every 10 minutes at work) until my mum wrote me an email talking about the heavy smoke and the burnt leaves and ash falling in their property. I left work 20 minutes later to go up and fight the fires. The smoke was ridiculous. Everything was eerilie calm that night. 

The next morning we headed to the CFA meeting to learn how close the fires were. These poor guys had not stopped since the fires in November - they saved other peoples homes and sacrificed their own. The fires were close to the township. Everyones face told a similar story - fear, worry and death. Dads cousin and one of his mates Neil and his came up to help clear the bush away from the house. We were on standby and everything was ok until that afternoon. The smoke got even heavier, the sky went yellowish and outside all you could here was the constant noise of what sounded like a plane going overhead - that was the fire. Dressed in old clothes, poised with a mop and bucket to put out fires, I watched the glow on the horizon of a ridge 500m away get stronger and stronger. I was scared. Neil told us if the fires come, the flies will first leave, then the birds, then the wind will get cool. I saw no flies, I saw no birds. I waited for a cool breeze. Ashes were getting heavier and as I sat on a rock watching the glow over the ridge I was thinking Bring it on... get it over and done with! when a miracle happened. The wind changed direction and the fires proceeded back towards the bush (right where the power cables broke and Melbourne was left without power!). After many yays, mum realised she flooded the house (she left the bath on, which needed filling in case the fires came to the house) and I called work to let them know the danger was over... sort of.

We were getting ready to leave when the wind changed again. We saw the fires climbing over the ridge. Neil said to us "if you're going to leave, you need to go right NOW." Do I stay or go? A difficult choice. We left, being told there was nothing we could  do, but in hindsight, I wish I stayed, as I spent most of the night worrying. In the car on the way home, I was very worried. We listened to the ABC radio fire update, but mainly heard about people complaining how there was no power and they were unable to cook that night. Jarod and I couldn't believe the selfishness and small mindedness of these people. Even the radio host was fed up with them.

That night in Tolmie, the fire came over the ridge. It came within 50m of the pub - 1km away. CFA trucks drove up the driveway and asked my parents what needed saving. Mum told them where all the beer was stored, so that was top priority. The CFA made sure the fires never reached my folks, but my heart goes out to the many souls who lost their homes, livestock and land.

My parents are fine now - loving the country life. It makes me realise how many people in Melbourne have no idea what is going on in the world and are very full of themselves. I've attached some pics Jarod and I took when the fires were nearby (and we weren't in immediate danger!) I hope you enjoyed this blog - I just wanted to tell one of the many stories which happened north of Melbourne while people were complaining about food going off in the fridge.

View from my parents verandah - this smoke plume was about 0.5km away

Watching Elvis - the fire fighting helicopter - take water from a neighbouring dam

This yellow effect isn't a filter, this was the light. These are local parrots who came to shelter with us!

Yellow sky and smoke in the distance - preparing for the worst.