Take Hippie Lane to healthy eating
Taline shows you how to be happier on luxe food that will delight your family, guests and you
SHE is a social media star with 495,000 Instagram followers and is a businesswoman who has turned her own battle with food sensitivities into a successful app and now a cookbook.
Taline Gabrielian, 36, created Hippie Lane after she built a successful social media following. The cookbook author started out by posting recipes she created on Instagram, following her doctor’s diagnosis that she had sensitivities to gluten, dairy, soy products, egg and refined sugar.
“After having my son Seb, I wasn’t feeling quite right,” she said in an email Q&A.
“In order to heal, I’d need to remove the offending foods from diet and find alternatives.
“It felt difficult at first – the no-no list felt long and limiting.” However, Taline started visiting health food stores and experimenting in the kitchen – and sharing her results with the world.
“The demand for my recipes grew strong within the first six months on my social media journey which led me to create my recipe app, Hippie Lane, in 2015,” she said.
A year on, she was approached by a handful of publishers to create her first cookbook, which was released this month.
Taline shares two recipes from the new cookbook with Weekend, plus more of an insight into her food choices and family life.
How long have you been choosing this whole food or raw foods diet?
It’s been seven years since I changed my lifestyle to a gluten-free and dairy-free organic whole food diet.
What initially seemed like a major hurdle was in fact a blessing in disguise. Through my journey to healthy whole foods, I was able to establish my business, Hippie Lane, help myself to feel and look my best, whilst inspiring the worldwide health community with appealing healthy recipes.
How old are your kids now and do you ever face issues with them in public or at parties if they want to try a non-whole food? If so, how do you overcome that?
Seb is 7 and Camille is 4. Party food is definitely an obstacle for mums who are trying to steer clear of additives, preservatives and added sugars.
Although it pains me to know what’s in those party foods, I let my children choose one ‘not so healthy’ option at parties. Either it’s a piece of cake, a lolly, some chocolate, a fruit drink – whatever it is they prefer – they get to have a choice of one from the party table.
I want them to be able to join in on the celebrations without feeling deprived or different from the other kids. My belief is that deprived children rebel and seek out their cravings in other ways. I think it’s about balance and I’m keen on the 80/20 rule. Eat well 80% of the time, and be more relaxed about your choices for 20%. Same applies to adults and children.
If someone wants to make changes to their diet but is unsure where to start, what is your biggest tip?
Don’t overwhelm yourself with big changes all at once. I’d say take it slowly so that your goal is achievable. Ditch the processed packet food and eat more fresh colourful fruit and vegetables. That would be my starting point.
Cherry bites
INGREDIENTS: ◗ 125g dried cherries ◗ 60ml melted coconut oil ◗ 360g desiccated coconut ◗ 1 tsp Himalayan salt ◗ 1 tsp vanilla powder ◗ 2 tablespoons raw cacao powder ◗ 2 tablespoons macadamia or almond butter (see tip) ◗ 45ml rice malt syrup
Chocolate coating – ◗ 375ml melted coconut oil ◗ 175g raw cacao powder ◗ 185ml maple syrup
METHOD: Place the dried cherries in a food processor and reduce to a paste.
Add the coconut oil and coconut and pulse until combined. Add the salt, vanilla, cacao powder, nut butter and rice malt syrup and process until the mixture sticks together.
Line a rectangular baking tin, measuring about 34 x 23cm and 5cm deep, with baking paper.
Press the mixture into the tin and freeze for up to 1 hour. Whisk the chocolate coating ingredients together in a bowl. Place a sheet of baking paper on the kitchen bench, then set a wire baking rack on top.
Remove the baking tin from the freezer and cut the cherry mixture into bite-sized pieces.
Dip each piece in the chocolate and place on the wire rack to allow the excess chocolate to drain off.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge. The cherry bites will keep for 2–3 weeks.
TIP: You can replace the nut butter with seed butter to make this recipe nut-allergy friendly.
Stuffed capsicums
I’m a fan of stuffed anything. I’m always on the lookout for any new vegetable that I can stuff. Literally! It must be my mum’s influence as she used to make stuffed eggplant, capsicum and zucchini for us all the time.
This stuffed capsicum dish isn’t based on my mum’s traditional recipe, but is a ripper vegie variation. Quinoa is always in fashion with me, and plays the star role in the stuffing, alongside a medley of vegetables and spices that make this dish a taste bomb.
INGREDIENTS: ◗ 4 capsicums (peppers), in a mix of colours, cut in half lengthways, then hollowed out ◗ 1 tsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling ◗ 300g quinoa ◗ 625ml vegetable stock, plus an extra 125 ml vegetable stock ◗ 1 tablespoon tomato paste (concentrated puree) ◗ 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil ◗ 1 red onion, finely diced ◗ 3 garlic cloves, crushed ◗ 1 long red chilli, diced (optional) ◗ 2 ripe tomatoes, peeled and diced ◗ 1 tsp Himalayan salt, or to taste ◗ tsp freshly ground black pepper
◗ tsp dried basil ◗ 15g nutritional yeast, plus an extra 2 tbs for sprinkling ◗ 200g cooked corn kernels ◗ 75g cooked fresh or frozen peas ◗ 175g cooked or tinned black beans, rinsed and drained.
METHOD: Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. Place the capsicum halves on a baking tray lined with baking paper and lightly massage with 1 tsp olive oil.
Put the quinoa and 625ml vegetable stock in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 10–12 minutes or until the stock is absorbed and the quinoa is cooked.
Set aside to cool slightly.
Mix the 125ml vegetable stock with the tomato paste and set aside. Heat the grapeseed oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Saute the onion for 2–3 minutes or until translucent.
Add the garlic and chilli and saute for a further 1–2 minutes. Stir in the diced tomatoes, then add the tomato paste mixture, salt, pepper, basil and the 15g nutritional yeast.
Remove from the heat when the mixture begins to bubble.
In a large bowl, combine the corn, peas, black beans and quinoa. Add the tomato mixture and fold through well.
Evenly scoop the mixture into the capsicum halves. Drizzle with a little extra olive oil, then transfer to the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
Sprinkle the extra nutritional yeast over the capsicum halves and bake for a further 10–20 minutes, or until cooked to your liking.
Transfer to a serving platter and enjoy straight away. Images and recipes from Hippie Lane, the cookbook, by Taline Gabrielian (Murdoch Books, RRP $39.99) Photography by Sneh Roy and Petrina Tinslay
Don’t overwhelm yourself with big changes all at once. Take it slowly so your goal is achievable. Ditch processed packet food and eat more fresh fruit and vegetables.