Recipes | Leah Itsines

Are you ready for the choc protein bread of your dreams? This is seriously delicious and I promise you, worth the mess in the kitchen!  Choc Banana bread Serves: 8 Cook time: 30 minutesIngredients:  3 ripe bananas, mashed ¾  cup almond meal ¼ cup plain flour 1 tbsp cocoa powder 2 scoops Yes Please Chocolate Protein Powder 3 eggs¼ cup honey or maple syrup 1 tsp baking powder ½ tsp cinnamon powder ½ cup choc chips Coconut oil spray - for the tin  Directions:  Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius and oil a bread tin with coconut oil spray.  Place all ingredients in a bowl together, except the chocolate chips and combine using a spoon.  Once the mixture is thick in consistency, fold in the chocolate chips.  Pour into the pre oiled baking tin and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until brown. Using a skewer, poke it deep into the cake; if it comes out clean, it’s ready!

Spring-time vegetable soup with olive oil drizzle Serves: 8 Cook Time: 30-minutes  Ingredients 2 chorizos, sliced 4 garlic cloves, crushed  4cm ginger, grated 2 spring onions, sliced 1 large leek, chopped 1 large carrot, chopped  2 zucchini’s, chopped  3 large celery stalks, chopped  2L beef stock  1/2 punnet cherry tomatoes, sliced  400g canned kidney beans 1 handful kale 2 handfuls baby spinach  EVOO to finish Method Cook off chorizo in a pot until lightly browned and remove Add a splash of olive oil and cook garlic, ginger, and spring onions until lightly browned Add leek, zucchini, carrot and celery and cook until they begin to soften Add beef stock and cook for 10-minutes Add tomatoes, kidney beans and the chorizo back into the pot and cook for a further 10-minutes  Lastly, add kale and baby spinach and leave to wilt Serve straight away or freeze in single serve containers Finish with a Drizzle Finish with a drizzle of olive oil for peppery pop of flavour.

Homemade HummusServes: 4Cook Time: 2-minutes Ingredients  2 x 400g cans of chickpeas  3 tbsp lemon juice 2 garlic cloves, crushed * 1/2 cup olive oil Sprinkle of salt and pepper 1/2 tsp chilli flakes  1 tbsp tahini EVOO to finish 1 Tsp cayenne pepper  Small handful of coriander EVOO to finish * Make this recipe FODMAP friendly by leaving out the garlic. Method Place all the ingredients minus the olive oil into a food processor and begin to blend. Stop every now and again to wipe down edges to make sure everything is being blended nicely Pour olive oil slowly into the blender, until mixture is to your desired consistency Pair with carrots, cucumber or pita breadFinish with a Drizzle Finish with a dusting of cayenne pepper and a final drizzle of olive oil for an extra layer of taste and amazing presentation.

It’s almost our Greek Easter time and I’m excited!!! We LOVE Easter in our family and of course it’s always a food celebration. These lamb skewers or baked vegetables are a Papou and yiayia special, and you just know they’re going down a TREAT! @australianlamb has got us covered this easter, and I’ve come to you with a REALLY easy few dishes that you can bring if you're on dish duty.  Baked vegetables, with a delicious grated tomato over the top to keep it from drying out and a delicious lamb skewer that you can make into small little bite ones or the big, main serve ones :)  Baked vegetables: Serves: 6Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 10 minutes 1 zucchini, sliced into large rounds3 potatoes, sliced into bite sized pieces3-4 mushrooms, quartered 1 red onion, quartered2 garlic cloves, crushed 2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped2 tomatoes, 1 quartered and 1 grated Salt & Pepper to tasteOlive oil, drizzle  Directions:  Pre heat oven to 180 degrees celsius.  To a large mixing bowl, add all vegetables and season with olive oil,  garlic, salt, pepper, parsley and top with the grated tomato. Mix well to ensure everything is well coated.  Pour onto a tray and bake in the oven for 1 hour or until vegetables are tender. If you need mid way, give the vegetables a mix so ensure they cook evenly.  Serve with lamb skewers Lamb Skewers: Makes: 8-10 Large Skewers Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 10 minutes  2kg lamb shoulder, bone out 1 large rosemary sprigSalt, Pepper, Dried Oregano1 Lemon, juiced (but keep the half!)Olive oil 10 wooden skewers  Directions:  Soak skewers in water for as long as you can (this helps them not burn on the BBQ!) Remove excess fat from the lamb shoulder, and slice into bite sized pieces. This may take some manoeuvring, so take your time in getting the right pieces.  Add to a bowl and season with fresh rosemary, salt, pepper and dried oregano. Season to your liking - lamb is a really flavourful meat and takes on whatever you give it, so don’t be shy here!  Begin to skewer the meat, adding however much you like per skewer. If you wanted to get a little more vegetables in, you can switch each piece of lamb, with a piece of a vegetable like capsicum or zucchini, and then repeat with the lamb so you have a more colourful skewer.  Once all finished, cook on a BBQ of your choice (coal or gas) until lightly pink in the middle.  Serve with the vegetables. 

IT’S DAY THREEEE! Recipe heaven over here haha! Who doesn't LOVE an easy weeknight bowl for dinner? And even better, who doesn't love a meal that you can prep in advance and have waiting in the freezer for you to grab and prep in 10! I’m using the fabulous @birdseye Spring veg mix and I’ll tell ya….frozen veg is where it's at for convenience, ease and simplicity in your day! The @birdseyeau are snap frozen to lock in the taste and natural vitamins & minerals! Seriously, grab a bag when you’re next at the shops and whip this meal up for the family - everyone will LOVE you for it! Serves: 2 Cook time: 15 minutesPrep time: 15 minutesIngredients:  1 large chicken breast, sliced lengthways into schnitzels 1 cup panko bread crumbs 3 tbsp soy sauce 1 small red chili, chopped 1cm ginger, grated 1 large garlic, crushed1 tsp sesame seeds, toasted 2 cups birds eye seasonal veg, defrosted Spray oil, for cooking 2 tsp soy sauce, for veggies Rice:1 cup basmati rice, uncooked and washed 2 cups chicken stock2 balls allspice 3 whole cloves ½ brown onion, diced Directions:  To make the rice, In a medium pot, heat a small touch of butter or spray oil over medium heat. Add brown onion, whole cloves and all spice and cook until lightly softened. Add washed rice, and chicken stock.  Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a light simmer and put a timer on for 15 minutes. Remove once timer goes off.  Meanwhile, add soy sauce, chilli, ginger, garlic and sesame seeds into a bowl and mix well. Dip chicken breast pieces in here and coat well (if you can, marinade for 2-3 hours!).  Once dipped in the soy sauce, place the chicken into the panko crumbs to coat completely.  In a nonstick pan, heat oil over medium heat.  Add chicken pieces into the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side until golden, and cooked through.  Meanwhile, heat another pan with spray oil over medium heat. Add the frozen veggies and cook for 3-4 minutes, until warmed through. Add soy sauce and stir to coat well.  Serve with rice, chicken sliced and veggies! 

DAY TWO RECIPES! Yeeehhaaa!! Fritters are my FAVE - I genuinely could eat a hundred in a row and love it haha this recipe is such a simple, fun and fresh way to have fritters but also - I LOVE how chunky the veg is, makes for such a delicious fritter! For these wonderful fritters, I used the fabulous @birdseye Spring veg mix which are SUCH good quality, beautiful veggies that have been snap frozen for your convenience and to lock in taste and natural vitamins and minerals (I freaking love it!)! Serves: 2Cook time: 5 minutes Prep time: 5 minutesIngredients: 2 cups of birds eye spring veggie mix, defrosted & chopped finely 100g ham off the bone, diced 3 tbsp fresh parsley, roughly chopped½ cup flour 2 eggs, whisked Salt and pepper 100g halloumi, grated Olive oil spray  Directions:  In a large mixing bowl, add ALL ingredients and mix well. Season with salt and pepper to taste. If you want a little extra here, you can add a little garlic, paprika and some corn kernals if you're feeling like you want some extra colour!  Spray a non-stick pan with olive oil and heat over medium heat.  Add a could tbsp of the mixture at a time into the pan and flatten (similar to a pancake!). Cook on each side for 2-3 minutes, or until lightly golden.  Remove, and eat!  Hope you absolutely love this recipe! Thank you @birdseye for collaborating with me for this recipe! 

WOOHOO We’re on DAY ONE! So…who doesn't love a burger?! I absolutely love it when my family comes over for burgers, it's such a fun meal because everyone can choose their own ingredients and build their own fun. If you're someone looking for a plant based meal in their week, then CHOOSE BURGERS! It's such an easy way to slip into your week without feeling like you're missing out and it actually tastes GOOD! Grab this recipe on my website - I promise you'll love it! Serves: 2Cook time: Prep time: Ingredients:  300g Birds Eye Plant Based Chicken Burgers2 tbsp sweet chili sauce 2 burger buns, or 4 slider buns  Thai Slaw: 1 cup Purple cabbage, thinly sliced  1 medium carrot, finely julienne½ red capsicum, finely sliced 1 small cucumber, finely sliced 4-5 fresh mint leaes, finely sliced  4-5 fresh coriander, finely chopped½ long chili, finely sliced2 tbsp fried shallots  Dressing:  2 tsp Sesame oil 1 tbsp fish sauce 2 tbsp Rice vinegar1 tbsp Soy sauce1 tbsp Honey1 garlic clove Jalapeno aioli: Juice of 1 lime5 large spoonfuls of whole egg mayonnaise1 full lime rindCracked salt and pepper½ jalapeno, sliced thinly Directions:  In a large mixing bowl, add all ingredients under “thai slaw” and mix well.  Add ingredients under “dressing” into a small bowl and mix well. Pour dressing ingredients over the slaw mixture and toss to combine.  Heat a large pan over medium heat and spray with olive oil. Place the chicken style burger patties in and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side, until lightly golden. Just before removing from the pan, add the sweet chili sauce into the pan and coat the chicken burgers.  Toast burger buns and top spread with jalapeno aioli. Top with chicken style burger, slaw and a touch more aioli if needed! Thank you Birds eye for collaborating with me on this recipe!  Love, Leah x 

Here's a delicious FREE BARE Lean 2.0 recipe that you'll love! If you love Muesli or or delicious breakfasts... This recipe is for you! Tip: Swap biscoff for peanut butter or another nut or biscuit spread V, VegServes: 9-10Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 20 minutes Ingredients: • 500g oats or rice puffs• 125g coconut flakes• 1–2 teaspoons ground cinnamon• 60ml maple syrup• 2 tsp vanilla essence• 50g biscoff spreadPer serve• 135ml reduced-fat milk (of your choice)• 3 strawberries, halved• 50g reduced-fat Greek yoghurt• 80g biscoff muesli Method: 1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a baking tray with baking paper.2. To a large bowl add oats and coconut flakes and mix well.3. In a seperate bowl, add cinnamon, maple syrup, vanilla essence and biscoff spread and whisk until smooth and runny. Pour over the oat mixture and mix to combine well.4. Transfer the oat mixture onto the baking tray and spread out evenly. Place in the oven to toast for about 20 minutes, tossing halfway. Keep a close eye on it to ensure it doesn’t burn.5. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Once cooled completely, store in an airtight container for up to 4 weeks.6. Serve with milk, strawberries and yoghurt  

Pavlova is one of those cakes that we love to eat as Aussies, but – who wants to make it?! It typically is a very delicate, very tough cake to crack but in the Air-fryer it makes it SO easy and the everyday non-baker can do it! I know everytime I say "this is my favourite thing to air fry" I come up with something 5 minutes later to also air-fry....but this is NOW MY FAVE THING TO AIR FRY! Pavlova?! Are we seeeerious?! YUM! Typically you'd think that you can only make savoury things in the airfryer, but sweets work PERFECT! Muffins, cookies, pavlova even....SO GOOD! I made one big one, but you can make little baby ones too! I have the philips XXL airfryer with the smart sense technology (bigger is always better with airfryers if you're wondering!) and I'm obsessed with it (clearly haha). Alright, off to eat this cake!!  #philipshomeliving #PhilipsAirfryerXXL#AdHere we go! Prep time: 15 minutesCook time: Serves: 8Ingredients:  4 egg whites 1 cup caster sugar 2 tsp corn flour 1 tsp vinegar 2 tsp vanilla essenceExtras (for topping) Whipped cream Fruit (raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, kiwifruit, passionfruit pulp) Directions: Crack egg whites into a large mixing bowl, and store the egg yolks (for another recipe, you won’t need these now). Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites on a high setting until soft peaks form. You want to be able to move the bowl around and the egg whites do not move, that’s when you know it’s ready to move onto the next step. Still beating the eggs, slowly sprinkle the sugar in. Once you are finished with the sugar, beat in the corn flour, vinegar and vanilla essence.   Line the Airfryer basket with either a silicone mold or some baking paper, ensuring the baking paper is cut only to be placed on the bottom.  Spoon the Pavlova mixture onto the bottom of the Airfryer basket  (this should be a really thick mixture, easy to spread). Shape into a round cake, or make little pavlovas! Close the Arifryer basket and place on 150 degrees for 20 minutes. Once finished, slightly open the Airfryer basket  and leave to completely cool. Top with your favourite fruits! First layer with some whipped cream, and then place as many berries and fruit as you like on top, making it a beautiful, colourful delicious dessert! YUM! Try. this and let me know how you go!!Love, Leah x

CRISPY PORK BELLY....in the airfryer?! YES PLEASE! Honestly you guys, you can hear that crackle! It's seriously delicious and isn't dry at all. It cooks perfectly every. single. time. Thank you to @philipshomeliving for partnering with me on this (and let's just thank them for making the incredible Airfryer XXL with Smart Sensing Technology while we’re at it hahaha) you guys are going to LOVE this recipe!  Serves: 6 Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 45 minutes Ingredients: 1kg pork belly  Spice blend: 1 tbsp salt flakes 1/2 tbsp smokey paprika 1/2 tsp pepper 1/2 tbsp mustard powder  Directions:  Pat pork belly dry using a paper towel.  Using a small knife, score the top of the pork belly into a diamond pattern, you don't need to go super deep.  Combine the spice mixture into a small bowl and evenly coat the pork belly on both sides.  If you love a salty pork belly, add a little more salt flakes on top of the pork.  Place the pork on top of a sheet of foil, and fold the sides of the foil upwards, to create a 'plate' for the pork to sit on, ensuring no liquid will be able to escape. The top of the pork should be able to be seen, do not cover this.  Place into the Air fryer basket on 165 degrees celsius for 30 minutes. Open the basket an ensure there is some liquid in the bottom of the foil (keeping the underside tender). Increase the heat to 185 for 15 minutes.  Remove the pork belly out from the air fryer, and if you'd like to leave it here then do so, or if you want a little more crispy, remove from the foil and add the entire pork belly back into the air fryer for 5 minutes on 180 degrees celsius. 

I love a good side salad - and this one is perfect for summer when beans are cheap! It's a great way to have them a little different then normal. It's SO delicious and is set to be a new fave! Serves: 4Ingredients:500g green string beans, topped and tailed 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced 1/4 cup shredded coconut2 tablespoon crushed nuts  Dressing: 1 tablespoon sesame oil 1 tablespoon hoisin tamari2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar 1 small red chilli, de-seeded and finely diced 1 garlic clove, crushed 1 table spoon brown sugar  Directions:  Blanch the string beans or steam until just tender (you still want a little bite!) Combine all ingredients under "dressing" in a bowl and mix well.  Place the beans, onion, coconut and nuts into a bowl and pour over dressing.  Eat warm or cold! 

LOUKOUMADES! Oh my yiayia is going to be SUPER excited about this one - this has come straight from her you guys!! I've partnered with @woolworthsau for this recipe and got my SAME DAY DELIVERY groceries and I was so pumped haha! If you order before 1pm and have a minimum spend of $50, you can get your groceries the same day (how good is that for forgetful people like me haha). Yiayia would be so proud of all of us! These little honey donuts are ALWAYS at our christmas parties, and I want them to be at yours too! Makes roughly 25 puffs. Ingredients: 1/2 a teaspoon dry yeast2 cups of warm water2 cups plain flour1/2 teaspoon salt4 tablespoons of Honey1/4 teaspoon cinnamonRice bran oil - for fryingDirections:  Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water (don’t use boiling, just lukewarm from the tap) Sift flour into a large mixing bowl and add salt and combine.  Add dissolved yeast and the remaining warm water.  Mix throughly, the batter will appear watery (almost like a pancake mixture) and super sticky but thats what you want!  Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise for 1-2 hours.  Heat rice bran oil in a small pot (at least 5cm of oil) and wait until its super hot!  Using a soup spoon, scoop around 1 tablespoon of the batter (small balls bcuase they puff up once in the oil!) and carefully place it into the oil.  Repeat until you have 4/5 puffs in at one time.  Using a slotted spoon, turn the puffs constantly until they reach a beautiful golden colour.  Take them out using the slotted spoon and place onto a dry cloth to catch all the excess oil.  Warm the honey in the microwave or on a hot pan and pour over the puffs.  Sprinkle cinnamon over the top and dig in!  Hope you absolutely love this recipe! If you do make it, Please come and show me over on Instagram or Facebook! Love Leah x