“It’s not a diet… It’s a way of life”
How Cooking With Jo Started
Healthy eating at meal time doesn’t need to be hard. As my children were growing up it was important to me as a mum & Health Coach that I create a healthy meal everyone will enjoy. I have a motto in my house: “one meal for everyone”. No one has time to be a Master Chief or be able to create two to three different meals at dinner time to suit everyone.
I enjoy using a variety of normal everyday food items and a range of meats, vegetables & salad items. I love making our family favourites and sometimes I get inspiration for new recipes from the Coles & Woolworths magazines. Thanks to Curtis & Jamie 🙂 I take some of their recipes and add my own touch to them to fit into the Healthy Living Program.
Now my children are all adults, we still enjoy family dinner night once a week, where we all get together. This gives me a chance to create new recipes for them to try out… yes, they are my number one taste testers and will always give me an honest opinion if a meal is a keeper or not!
During my coaching sessions I found some of my members were struggling with their night time meals and felt a little overwhelmed… Basically they had forgotten the good old basics on how to keep it simple to create yummy family friendly meals. They would look at the list of words with veggies, salad & meats on it but could not pull recipes together. I was frequently suggesting meals that I cook for my own family and giving out recipes.
I started videoing meals in my kitchen and sharing them with members in my Online Support Group.This is how Cooking with Jo was created.
You know how we always roll our eyes at people who take photos of their food and post it on facebook!!!! Well guess what… nothing excites me more than seeing Back to Basics members share their #foodporn in the support group or send me messages of recipes they have created from the Healthy Living Program.
Self Sabotage
That little voice in your head
The chances are you may have downloaded a free weight loss program or stumbled on a list of foods to follow with a couple of recipes. You may have even read a book or two and tried to put a plan in place.
Everything went well for the first couple of days until you started getting sick of eating the same food every day!
You found yourself lacking variety and started to think about all of the food you were missing out on.
By Thursday you are getting a little frazzled and hanging out for Friday. The weekend comes and it is taking all of your willpower not to have a glass of wine or phone for a pizza.
Then the little voice in your head starts talking to you…
“You have been good all week”
“It won’t hurt if I just have one drink”
“I have not eaten rubbish all week so one night will not hurt”
“What sort of diet is this if I can not have something every now and then”
You know what happens next hey… I will start again on Monday!
I call this Mondayitis, where you are on this consistent merry go round stopping and starting.
Sound Familiar?
Most families have their favourite go to meals…
Beef and Cabbage Curry is a winner in my house and is often requested.
Check out my video I made a few years ago.
Beef & Cabbage Curry
You can change this recipe up many ways by altering the type of mince. I personally use pork & veal combination or turkey mince. But it will not matter which one as it is delicious either way.
BTW did I mention it tastes even better as left overs and eaten the next day!
I have been using this recipe for over 25 years and this is one of my favourite go to meals expecially if there are lots of people turning up for dinner. Plus a mince meal often goes further and you can beef it out by adding in the veggies.
Hope you like this as much as I do.
Cooking with Jo
Buttery Garlic Herb Chicken
All you need is zucchini, mushrooms and a handful of cherry tomatoes… toss in a few herbs and it only takes minutes to make.
I love this meal expecially when I am short on time, it only takes minutes to make and is really tasty.
Dinner is served.
Enjoy!
Cooking with Jo
Chicken and Mushroom Risotto
You know how risotto is made traditionally with rice, well I gave this dish a go and traded out the rice. I have to say you will not even notice the difference.
The first time I made this I used frozen cauliflower and squeezed out the water and in this recipe I used fresh grated cauliflower. Have to say out of the two options I enjoyed the recipe with the frozen cauliflower.
I made this up for family dinner one night and my mum’s partner could not stop raving about it and mentioned more than once he loved the dish. (He actually thought he was eating rice!)
When they got home he kept saying that risotto dinner was delicious and mum said “you do know it was not rice and Jo used cauliflower.” He didn’t believe her 🙂
I know when I am on a winner when everyone at the dinner table gives it the thumbs up… it means it is a keeper.
Time To Have Fun In The Kitchen!
Try Some of My Quick and Easy Recipes
Creating Healthy meals doesn’t need to be hard when you are losing weight and it doesn’t mean eating food you don’t enjoy.
Try some of my quick & easy family friendly recipes, I know you are going to enjoy them as much as my family does.
In the Cooking with Jo Recipe Guide, you will find some of the amazing delicious recipes that many Back to Basics Members have enjoyed eating on the Healthy Living Program and have been given the thumbs up approval!
