Businesses that offer cool alternatives: Kate Knox from Keane’s Organic Food

Finding alternatives, when you previously thought you had none is great. We’re so lucky to live in a time where more and more alternatives are available for people like us who can’t or don’t eat dairy, soy, gluten, egg or meat and so I wanted to introduce you to some of the individuals and businesses I’ve come across in my “food alternatives detective” work who share a passion similar to myself: making alternatives available for people like us.
When you’re finding it hard to get out to bring the veggies home…
 Back in 2012 (when I first started the behind the scenes planning and writing for the show) I was  talking about how hard we were finding it to get to the markets every Sunday morning to get organic veggies  (our kids were 2 and 1 at the time and we’d had a particularly tough year with sickness, my husband studying, and also my elderly mother in law passed away). So when our Integrative GP said “well why don’t you get veggies delivered?” (my eyes lit up – I had no idea an organic veggie home-delivery service even existed and so I thought the whole idea of it was fantastic. Because while I love the idea of supporting the local farmers markets, in reality we found it hard to get to them). At the time we’d been doing a lot of travel to the country (where my mother in law was living) and in the last few years since, we’ve been busy either filming or I’ve been working in my clinic on the weekends so having a veggie home delivery service was pretty handy. I’ve since found that my clients who work crazy hours and find it hard to get to the shops also find the service really useful.
Introducing our first special guest: Kate Knox from Keane’s Organic Food
So when I decided to start this segment it was a no-brainer who our first guest would be. Because in order to cook and eat healthy food, you really have to have it in the house to begin with, so it made sense to chat to the people who help bring the healthy food to you. So without further ado – I’d like to introduce you Kate Knox from Keane’s Organic Food and to share our chat about the fantastic service her biz offers people, things that can make it hard for people to cook and eat healthily nowadays and of course it wouldn’t be the Alternative Chef Kitchen without discussing recipes…
Kate Knox Keanes Organics 1
Lisa : What do you think are the 3 biggest barriers making it hard for people to cook and eat healthily at home these days?

Kate: I think the 3 biggest barriers in today’s society are time; understanding; and the conception of cost. Whats very noticeable about these 3 factors is they all link into each other, we lack time because we are working, and we are working so much to make money. We lack understanding because everything we see around us is whats advertised which is most often not what is best. We see what is important to us and as cost is an enormous factor for some, we pay more attention to the cost. With big companies advertising things like “feed your family for $10 and $2 burgers” we think we need to do that because we see that we have paid $4.00 for a capsicum and we think we can’t afford to live healthily.

Lisa: What alternatives does a business like Keane’s Organic Food offer the everyday person who is trying to live a healthier lifestyle?
Kate:  Keane’s Organic offers the every day person easy access to the best quality organic fruit and veg. Organic fruit and vegetables are grown without harmful chemicals, and so are better for you and your family, and they taste great.
 KOF_logo_trans_brown paperNASAA
Lisa: How does Keane’s Organic Food help the everyday person overcome those barriers to cooking and eating healthily at home? 

Kate: We help by being there, we are a phone call or an email away and we care, we want you to love the healthy life, love the produce and love the kitchen and we are more than happy to help you do it. If you need some inspiration, you want a recipe or you want to know why something is good, just ask. We are contactable by email, if you have something in your box and you need an idea, send us an email and we will send a suggestion. We also offer recipe suggestions for the family with each delivery and share our recipes on our Facebook page. 

Lisa: What is your story Kate? How did you come to run this business? 

Kate: Keane’s Organic Food was originally set up by some very passionate friends of ours, who like us loved the produce, the healthy life and the dinners at the end of the night. The business came up for sale when I was at home on maternity leave with my baby girl and I knew I wanted to continue what they started. Healthy food for me is one of the most amazing things we can work with. It puts smiles on faces, warmth in hearts and keeps us nourished and going. It really does keep us alive. Because I have always had a passion for food, worked in the hospitality industry and continued my own nutritional learning food journey I couldn’t see myself doing anything else. It was a win win for us as It was a role I could undertake and love, whilst being able to work from home so as not to feel like I was missing out on my daughters childhood by having to wave goodbye every morning.

Kates little helper(Kate’s little helper)

Lisa: Do you have a favourite recipe you’d like to share with us? That’s made without dairy, soy, gluten, egg or meat?

 

Kate: I feel I have hundreds of favourite recipes, and yes they are all favourites, for me memories are around food and good  memories often result in favourite meals from the staple childhood bolognese, noodle soups and to my own experiments in the kitchen (I once spray painted my shower in a cacao mix just to cover a tofu cake! (thinking that would be easier to clean than the kitchen).

Inspiring cooking can often be about a mood, so whilst I sit here though I look out at the citrus trees that are loving this time of year and a big hit at the moment is the use of lemon so that’s where today’s recipe is going. This recipe whilst simple is delicious. I also suggest trying it with Kale and Orange.

Kate’s Lemon Kale Salad

Ingredients

  • 1 green capsicum
  • 50 ml
 olive oil
  • 1 
lemon, peeled, seeded and cut into 1 cm dice
  • 3 
celery stalks, cut into 1 cm dice
  • handful of celery leaves, finely chopped
  • half a handful parsley leaves finely chopped
  • 1
 garlic clove crushed
  • 30g olives pitted
  • ½ tsp 
dried red chilli flakes
  • ¼ tsp 
salt
  • 1 tsp 
sumac.

Method

To make the salad, place the capsicum in a baking dish. Drizzle with 2 tsp of the oil and smear to coat. Roast for 10 minutes (30–40 minutes if using a regular capsicum), or until skin is blistered and flesh is soft. Transfer to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Once cool enough to handle, peel, cut into 1 cm dice and place in a large bowl. Add the remaining olive oil, the lemon, celery and leaves, parsley, garlic, olives, chilli flakes and salt. Stir well and set aside. When you are ready to serve sprinkle with the sumac.

 Kate Knock Recipe
If you’d like to contact Kate or learn more about Keane’s Organic Food you can visit their website here: http://keanesorganicfood.com.au/
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