On the third day of Christmas… Going to a pre-Christmas lunch or BBQ? Take a goodie basket.

Boy it’s great being a food writer – especially when you belong to the NZ Guild of Food Writers. We get to go to all these neat foodie places and eat lots of delicious food. Last night I was at the newly opened Nosh food store in Mt Eden for our Christmas party. No chips and dips here!

On the second day of Christmas… make biscotti as gifts.

Today I made biscotti, or to be precise, the Provencal version called croquettes. When I hear the word ‘croquettes’ my mind conjures visions of some oblong, crumbed, deep fried nibble so I prefer to call them biscotti. They make a healthy alternative to most cakes and biscuits because the only fat comes from the almonds (and a tiny bit from the egg yolk) – and it’s ‘good’ fat. This recipe, adapted from ‘Patricia Wells At Home in Provence’ uses honey instead of sugar. I added dried cranberries for a more festive look. It makes about 50-55 biscotti.

I’m on my way to the opening cocktail evening for the Food Writers Conference in Napier. The hotel lift opens at my floor and I stop, speechless, as Richie McCaw [current All Black captain] and a couple of his Canterbury Crusaders teammates smile nonchalantly out. No room for me – these boys are big! What am I doing wobbling off to eat and drink tonight? I should be in the gym chiselling my body like these amazing specimens. The momentary motivation passes as we enter the whitewashed historic Hawkes Bay Club, just a stone’s throw from our hotel.

“I’ve just walked into Brad Thorn’s stomach!” my friend Jenny from Beef and Lamb New Zealand says as we munch on large green Orcona jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese and sprinkled with smoked paprika. “Those boys are big!”

If you need a quick healthy snack why not eat some baked beans straight out of the can – cold. That’s what our Prime Minister, John Key, does when he’s too busy to stop for a meal, according to the latest Watties Nutrition News. He’s made a wise choice too. Baked beans have plenty of protein and fibre as well as iron and folate. Half a 420g can provides half the recommended daily intake (RDI) of iron and quarter the RDI of folate. Eat them with some vitamin C-rich food such as tomatoes, orange or kiwifruit to enhance the iron absorption. Baked beans’ low GI (glycemic index) means they release their energy slowly which keeps you feeling full for a long time. And the soluble fibre helps reduce cholesterol levels.

Baked beans (plus other dried or canned beans and peas) also act as a prebiotic. Prebiotics are like food for the healthy bacteria in our digestive system. Eating some baked beans provides food support for the good bacteria in their fight against the bad bacteria in our gastrointestinal tract. Yes, there really is a war going on down there!

The New Zealand Cardiovascular Guidelines suggest that people eat 4-5 cups of legumes (baked beans, dried beans, lentils, chickpeas, dahl, tofu, tempeh or fortified soy milk) each week. This doesn’t mean you need to eat baked beans every day. Try some of the other foods too. Variety is always the key to good health. If you have been avoiding baked beans because of their potentially anti-social effects, start off with just a few and allow your digestive system to slowly get used to the extra fibre. Small and often is better than a lot occasionally.

Come on – if the PM can do it, so can you!

PS: Our PM has recently been on the David Letterman Show in the US  — Click here for his top ten reasons to come to New Zealand.