Two Raw Sisters launch new cookbook for 'intelligently lazy' cooks

Margo and Rosa Flanagan - known as Two Raw Sisters - are following up their 2021 best-seller 'Salad' with a suitably named new cookbook, 'More Salad', to inspire "intelligently lazy" cooks.

With Rosa due to have a baby this month, she's thinking ahead on how to make things easier on herself when it comes to cooking.

"That's what Margo and I are all about as Two Raw Sisters, is being intelligently lazy with your time," Rosa tells Saturday Morning.

"I'm already thinking about how I'm going to use more salad and making sure I've got all those key staples such as the legumes and the grains and the nuts and seeds and my veggie garden having lots of herbs and fresh greens such as rocket and kale and all that.

"We always say a dressing always absolutely transforms anything so picking any of the dressings in our new cookbook and even making them in big batches and storing them in the fridge, they'll last two to three weeks as well."

"We really encourage people to batch-making all of our salad recipes," Margo says. "They last three to four days in the fridge … We always say it takes the same amount of time to make one times the recipe as it does to make five times the recipe."

Another way they encourage people to save money and time is to be creative and take the liberty to substitute out-of-season veggies, which they've usefully provided a guide for at the start of their book.

"You may want to make the cucumber, avocado chilli oil salad .. but cucumbers are really expensive, don't go to the supermarket and buy those cucumbers, use that broccoli you have in the fridge and roast it up," Margo says.

"We really try and change the game in terms of look at your grains, look at your roasted veggies … veggies are just so good, I think they're so underrated."

If you're looking to use some "crappy avocados" or even good ones, Margo and Rosa suggest their olive oil chocolate mousse with sea salt recipe.

Which, again, you can feel free to substitute some of the ingredients like dark chocolate with milk chocolate if you have a sweet tooth, or coconut cream for whole milk or cream, or adjusting the salt.

"For an after-dinner thing, it's really nice to have it quite salty to cut through the sweetness. A lot of people say with our desserts 'oh, it's so nice, because they're not too sweet, and I feel like I can go for a run after them', which is always a great compliment," Margo says.

Transforming lives with food

While the sisters have four best-selling cookbooks, their own culinary app, and recently started the Two Raw Sisters podcast, they haven't always had a positive relationship with food.

Between them, the sisters grew up struggling with eating disorders, chronic fatigue syndrome and endometriosis, which affected all areas of their lives.

It wasn't until they began to see food as a way to fuel their bodies, not determine how they looked, that their love affair with food really kicked off.

"By raw within Two Raw Sisters, we mean using minimally whole processed foods so oats, grains, nuts, seeds, legumes, all these things, and just really focusing on putting that at the centrepiece of the plate," Margo tells Saturday Morning.

"I found that just having that simple mentality has really made such a difference in terms of my endometriosis, my energy levels for my chronic fatigue."

Rosa, who is a registered nutritionist, says food can make people feel guilty or upset but their mission is to try and prevent people from going down that path or helping them get out of it.

"Those things never go away, it's always in the back of your head but it's learning how to manage those thoughts and feelings and I think understanding the body and the importance of fuelling your body properly and just taking that stress out of cooking has definitely been an absolute game-changer.

"We now see ourselves as role models, we love inspiring people every day, all eaters every day to see food as an enjoyment and to show people how good food and good ingredients can actually make you feel so great."

More Salad: Two Raw Sisters, published by Allen & Unwin, is out now.