Written By Go Vita
Hippie Lane founder, passionate foodie and stylish mother of two, Taline Gabriellian is turning ‘sweet treats’ on their head and creating great looking, great tasting and nourishing treats the whole family will love! Go magazine chats to Taline about her tips and tricks for creating delicious, guilt-free food for family and friends!
GO: What has influenced the way you cook and feed your family? I had some health hurdles to overcome which included infertility, stress and digestion issues. My symptoms and general discomfort led me to thoroughly investigate what I was eating and how it was affecting my health. I discovered I was sensitive to a whole heap of common foods. I was already health focussed prior to this diagnosis but the results forced me to take things more seriously. I began to analyse my food choices, went organic and made significant changes to my diet. The improvement was life changing, so it was only natural that I would nourish my kids in the same way. We take a balanced approach and are generally dairy (cow), gluten and refined sugar free.
GO: What is your children’s favourite meal? They love homemade basil pesto with brown rice, peas and tuna. Tuna and beans are packed with protein and keep them full and satisfied. It takes no time to whip up and is delicious. They also love my healthy wagon wheels as a sweet treat!
GO: What are your fridge/pantry must-haves? In the fridge I have rice milk, fresh fruit, salad greens and a variety of vegetables. I use calcium enriched rice milk for all our breakfasts and smoothies. I find that it’s the best tasting dairy free milk and complements all our breakfast dishes. Fruit is in bucket loads in the fridge! My kids love it and I find it curbs their sweet cravings. Vegetables form the main part of our diet. I’m a salad a day person so I use rocket, spinach and kale to form my lunch. I’ll grate zucchini, carrot and beetroot to add to a stir fry or to incorporate in meals. I roast and steam veggies most nights to accompany our dinner meals and I always make more than enough to have as leftovers to add to our lunches the following day. My pantry must contain nut and seed butters. We’re obsessed! I incorporate them in many of our meals, including smoothies, treats, savoury sauces and on our breakfast bowls. Chia seeds and quinoa are a must as well as tuna, beans and brown rice. We use chia for overnight pudding and to sprinkle on our breakfast or lunch. Quinoa and brown rice make the base of our lunch and dinner meals.
GO: What would we NOT find in your pantry/fridge? You won’t find cow’s milk products or juice in my fridge. We don’t digest cow’s products well so I prefer to use sheep or goat’s yoghurt and cheese in moderation. We skip juice, instead we eat whole fruit or make smoothies simply because there is more nutrition this way. I make my own granola and breakfast products so you won’t find breakfast cereals in our pantry. You also won’t find processed snacks or fruit bars. They are highly refined and often contain loads of sugar and GMO products. I do have organic corn cakes or vegetable crackers in the pantry for the occasional on-the-go snack.
GO: What are your simple tips for creating more nourishing meals for children? Here’s my five tips:
Limit processed food. Ditch the fruit juice, lollies, chips, crackers and biscuits.
Cut up colourful veggies and serve with nutritious dips such as hummus and avocado.
Always have fresh fruit available for morning and afternoon tea.
Choose wholegrain and preferably organic options. Think brown rice instead of white, quinoa instead of cous cous and wholegrain gluten free pasta instead of the wheat variety. Wholegrain alternatives are packed with a heap of fibre, vitamins and minerals and they taste great when prepared correctly.
Take five minutes at the end of each day to plan the breakfast meal for the following day. It’s really easy to create healthy breakfasts and I find once your kids have a nutritious breakfast, you’ve really set them up for a productive day. There are plenty of quick and tasty recipes online and on my app, Hippie Lane, it just takes commitment to get started but once you do, you and your kids will feel better for it!
Taline Gabrielian, founder of Hippie Lane, is an expert raw treat maker, she uses whole unprocessed organic ingredients to produce mouthwatering desserts and sweet treats that are vegan and free of gluten, genetically modified ingredients and refined sugar. The Hippie Lane mobile recipe app features her most popular raw and baked recipes.
