Good Morning

Here in New Zealand, its almost Spring! How happy we all are! The sun is shining most days, the daffodils are out, lambs are leaping & there is a feeling of joy in everyone. 

My apologies for not having all the recipes up yet, its been a busy week, with the official launch. I'll get there, as we do. 

Meanwhile feel free to ask for any recipes you'd like to see, or cooking tips & I'll endeavour to answer them as quickly as I can. 
Have a great day, because you woke up 

Being Resourceful cont

HI again, nice to see you! Well figuratively anyway.

Yesterday I got into my stores of dry food & what was left over in the fridge etc & made some very yummy things to eat!

I started the day with my traditional wholegrain oats, with sesame seeds, turmeric, cinnamon, ginger & some frozen cranberries(man those things are Sour) in it. Chopped apple & brazil nuts on top.

I had brown rice, so I made rocket lemon risotto with chicken for dinner. It was So good! I used the liquid from cooking the chicken as the water for the risotto, picked some of the larger leaves of rocket from the garden & had been given some lemons, so the zest & juice went in at the end. (zest gets bitter otherwise) You can find the recipe on my main meals page

I also had some coconut flour, a banana & other dry ingredients like currants, so I made what I like to call Banana Bread, but its more like coconut fruit bread with only one banana. You can find the recipe on my baking page.

Then I had some Chia Pudding with Cranberry Compote for dessert. You can find the recipe on my dessert page.

Next I found some dried chickpeas, to make hummus & roasted chickpeas for snacks. They are cooking right now! Find those recipes on my snacks page.

Being Resourceful

This week is a challenge for me, to  be as resourceful as I can. Its that time when the bills roll in one after the other, with surprises in between. You know what I'm talking about, no matter what country huh!

I"m looking in my cupboards to see what I can make. So far I've found dried chickpeas, they will be roasted chickpeas & hummus, with a lemon & garlic I have. If I had a can of tomatoes I'd make Moroccan chickpea soup, but I don't.

I found a banana in the freezer, & eggs, so banana bread is on the menu, along with the apple cider bread to use up. I still cant get why anyone would want to eat that stuff! Its sour!

I have 2 chicken thighs for today, what shall I make with them? I was thinking soup but I have NO vegetables left.

I have rice, gf noodles, lentils, gf flours, 2 eggs, a small can of coconut milk & coconut flour. Lend me your creativity today, all ideas welcome.

All Blogs are Not Equal

A bit of a controversial subject I know!

https://www.facebook.com/FeedingUwell/photos/a.672606116122081.1073741828.671856869530339/685904914792201/?type=1&theater

This is what I made today. As it was called an apple cider bread, I shouldn't be surprised that it reeked of vinegar, & worse still...tasted of it...a LOT!

Ok I swapped out 1 cup of the sorghum flour for flax meal, buckwheat & added an egg. 
But still! Bread shouldn't taste of vinegar should it? Perhaps its my limited cultural tastes?

Anyway, the texture was good, and the general feel & taste was good. I could post the recipe...but do you want it? Best wait for the next one.

Bone Broth

HI, how are you today? Thanks for dropping in to visit my blog, without you there'd be no point doing one. 

Bone broth is the latest catch word, everyone who's anyone is using it. Why? Because its Full of nutrients!

I've seen bone broth before, in fact its a staple of a chefs kitchen, chefs call it stock. Though chefs don't put vinegar in theirs. Its said to bring out all the gelatine in the bones. They use vegetables, chicken bones, beef & fish bones, to make nutrient rich, flavoursome, flavoured broths for our dishes. Yum! 

Chefs use stock instead of water in most dishes that call for water. They do this to add more flavour to the dish, these days its used nutritionally, & thats a good thing in my opinion.

My grandmother used to save the water from all the vegetables she cooked, & either drink it with the meal, or freeze it to use another day in her cooking. Very thrifty! Not to mention health conscious, she was a whizz at things like that.

Some examples of places you could use bone broth are:
E.G. risotto, soup, pasta dishes, sauces, to cook vegetables in, polenta & meat dishes.  *Use it in the place of water.

Heres a recipe or two from the New Zealand Chef 2002 by Lesley Christensen-Yule & Hamish McRae

Going Organic

Going Organic:

One of the dumbest things I've heard is the statement, "we don't believe going organic is any more healthy than not". (The food authorities)

Thats a strong thing to say, & I just cant understand the reasoning behind it.
If the vegetables & fruit have been sprayed with pesticides, who wants to or feels safe to eat the skin?

NOT me thats for sure!
So when I buy organic, I leave the skin on all my fruit & veges, where applicable of course.

Why do I do that?
Because heaps of the nutrients are in the skin!
The end, have a great day everyone. If you woke up, its a good day.




More on Snacks:

Gluten, dairy, egg, soy, sugar & nut free Crackers
From what I'm hearing its definitely the snacks that are hardest to find, in a more healthy or allergy friendly form. So I'm doing some research, learning a lot along the way, & producing some very tasty little morsels for you! See my baking page for more x


HI again, I've been thinking...did you smell the smoke?


One of the issues that a lot of people have difficulty with, when trying to eat a more healthy diet, in my experience, is snacks!

e.g. What can I eat between meals when I'm still a  bit hungry?...

More on Sugar

I thought about how I add sweetness to my food, without the use of sugar, and wanted to share it with you.

Some of my food rules are:

1. Buy organic if I can, if I cant, buy the Best quality I can afford, & make sure its fully ripened before buying. When fruit is picked before its ripe, the sugars havent fully developed in the fresh produce.
2. Find sweet flavours I can add to food, to appease my sweet tooth.

The way I do that is by following some simple rules for cooking. I caramelise the sugars in the food where possible, by roasting or toasting. When the natural sugars are caramelised, they go brown...simple.

If there are no sugars present or very low sugar, like bread, I add a flavour to enhance the sweetness or cover another flavour.

For example: Organic Coconut oil, chips etc, is quite sweet! So is liquorice root aka liquorice tea. If its a savoury meal, use bone broth/stock instead of water, to add nutrition & flavour. (chef tip)

I add fruit (gold kiwifruit, berries, chopped raw organic apple, skin on) to my porridge, seeds, (sunflower) spices like cinnamon & occasionally nuts. Almond nuts are sweet, but I just LOVE brazil nuts, & they give me selenium for my nails & hair. New Zealand is said to have low silica in our soil, so I make sure my nails & hair arent compromised. I also like to eat well.

Sometimes I add mint to things like coleslaw, or dried fruit (keep it minimal), a little sprinkle of sea or Himalayan pink salt, or other herbs. Parsley is divine with pumpkin soup, kale chips are crunchy...its all about the flavours, textures for me.

Pretty easy when you think about it, she says eating a handful of coconut chips mmmm creamy, chewy & lovely milk.

Sugars continued & FODMAPS

I'm reading the book I Quit Sugar For Life by Sarah Wilson, at the moment. It has some very good things to say about how ingredients interact with each other. It seems our bodies only need glucose, which is found in meat & vegetables. What we dont need is fructose! It has no nutritional helping value at all, in any part of our bodies...makes me wonder why God invented fruit?

Agave is Extremely high in fructose, 70% in fact! I know when I've used it, thinking it was healthy...I felt really sick. Now I know why! As well as the high fat content, albeit good fat from coconut oil & cashews. And honey is higher than maple syrup! (the no sugar added one) I'm changing my habits as we speak.  

What Sarah does say, is eat more fat for satiety (feeling full).