Mission One - Meal Planning

I must admit that I've fallen off the wagon these past few weeks in regards to eating well and I can definitely notice the difference in how I'm feeling at the moment. I feel a bit tired and run down and my skin is not happy so I'm determined to get back on and stay on! So I am starting weekly missions to help myself stay on track. You can come along for the ride if you like - the more the merrier!

I used to be fantabulous at meal planning. I would do it religiously every week and would know what we were having for dinner each night. I'm not sure what happened but sometime last year I stopped doing it and even though I keep thinking about doing it again I never have. Procrastinator that I am! Time to change.

I find that having a meal plan helps in so many ways. You can plan healthy and nutritious meals for your family, you know what you are buying at the supermarket therefore you save money on random purchases and also you reduce food waste. The key is also to stick to your shopping list which is also something I need to get better at (note to self - no more Hot Wheels cars!).

I personally find it easier to have my meal plan written out on paper and stuck somewhere in the kitchen rather than have it on the computer or an app on my phone. I found a weekly meal plan on Everything Mom which I like as it has space for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You can find the free printable here. I've just saved it to my desktop so I can print it out each week.

So this is mission number one - meal plan each and every week. I don't want any more wasted food in this house and I would love to stick to my grocery budget for once. I'll post my meal plans each week so you can see what we're doing over here and I'd love to hear what you'll be having too. Who's with me? :)

Pesticides

There are over 7000 registered pesticides for use in Australia - how scary is that? Many have not been tested for long term effects on health either which is even more scary.  It's virtually impossible to wash all of the pesticides off your fresh produce unfortunately so if you can make even a small change and buy just one item organic (mine is apples) that would make a big difference. Basically leafy greens, produce with edible skin and soft fleshed produce are the top of the list for buying organic as these soak up the pesticides more and have been found to have the most residue on them. If you simply can't afford to buy organic then perhaps you could try growing one or two items yourself a go. You don't even need to have a garden as many things can be grown in pots and there's lots of varieties of dwarf trees (we have a Pinkabelle apple tree). An added bonus is that gardening is a great activity for the kiddies to get involved in, they have so much fun 'helping'.

These are the worst offenders for pesticide residue:

Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries 
Peaches, nectarines, plums, cherries
Carrots
Apples
Spinach
Nectarines
Capsicums
Lettuce, spinach 
Pears
Tomatoes
Grapes
Celery
Pears
Leafy herbs

Thick skinned produce and things like bananas where you have to peel the skin seem to be more resilient against the nasties.

Remember to wash all produce really well. Here is a fruit and veg wash that will help remove more of the residue from your produce than just water alone. .
Mix the juice of one lemon, 2 tablespoons of distilled white vinegar, and one cup of tap water.

This mixture can be put into a spray bottle and sprayed onto fruit and vegetables before rinsing in water and preparing to be eaten.

I'm thinking of doing a weekly challenge for myself to make one small change in my home which will make a big difference. I'll keep you posted :)

Daddy's Home!

My partner works FIFO 2 weeks one and 1 off so when he's home I like to make sure that we at least do something fun as a family even if it's just taking the boys to the park. He misses out on so much during the year so I think it's really important we try and make the most of his time home especially while the boys are little and not at school. It's not always easy though as there's always so much he needs to catch up on around the house and he always has a project or ten on the go. Today however we packed up the kids and drove to a fair at a Primary School about 40 minutes away from us. It was another glorious Autumn day (Will the cold weather ever arrive?) so it was a great opportunity to get out of the house. Due to another 5.30am start both boys had a sleep in the car on the way there:

It was lovely to walk around and see all the of the bits and pieces the kids from each class had made. There was a secondhand clothes stall there too and I scored a gorgeous pair of Country Road cords which were like new for a dollar! Bargain of the day :) The local markets were on too so we popped in there afterwards and I bought some organic fruit and veg. We also got a couple of Frangipani trees which we are going to plant in a corner of the garden. When I say we I mean my partner as although I try, I don't have much of a green thumb. After that we took the boys to our local park for a play then it was off home for much needed naps.

I had some pears and a couple of bananas I needed to use up so I made some muffins up while the kids slept which turned out to be very yummy. This is a recipe from an old but fabulous blog - Super Organiser Mum and I just added cinnamon.

Banana and Pear Muffins

1 1/2 cups SR Flour

1/3 cup raw sugar

60g butter

1 large mashed banana

1 pear diced

1 egg, lightly whisked

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Rub together the flour, butter and sugar and cinnamon until the mix resembles breadcrumbs

Stir in mashed banana, pear, egg and milk to combine.

Spoon mixture into prepared muffin pans. Bake at 190 for 20 minutes.

I would normally substitute the SR flour for spelt flour and baking powder but I've run out unfortunately. I'll talk more about spelt later in another blog post.

I hope you're all enjoying your weekend as much as I am :)

Sugar and a Recipe!

I thought I'd talk about sugar today. I am the first to admit that I have a massive sweet tooth. I can't remember the last day I didn't eat something sweet..... I do prefer homemade sweets though so I try and have something in the house most of the time. I'll even admit that I got desperate the other night when I didn't have anything made up so I whipped up a batch of thermo caramel sauce and made a banana split!

When I bought my thermomix one of the things they sell you on is that you can make your own caster and icing sugars out of raw sugar and stop using white sugar because it's so highly refined it does nothing for you. So I stopped using white sugar and just bought raw but after doing a bit of research I found out raw sugar was still refined and not that much better for you nutritionally however is is less refined so I'm happy with that. I now use rapadura, raw honey, molasses, dates, maple syrup and I do still use raw sugar because everything else is so much more expensive! So what is the difference between all the sugars you can buy? Jo from Quirky Cooking has one of the best explanations I've seen on all the different types of sweeteners so I would encourage all of you to go and read about it here. Her blog is AMAZING and she has so many recipes that I want to try. She is one creative lady!
Obviously the best idea is to cut down on sugar as much as possible and I am really trying to do that but in the meantime I am trying to make healthier choices. The best sweeteners to use are the natural ones like dates, raw honey and pure maple syrup and I'm going to make an effort to try recipes with these in them (which I will share of course) but for now here is a fave thermo recipe of mine which uses rapadura.  I'm sure those with more kitchen ability than me can convert it from the thermomix to a standard recipe. It's not totally healthy as it's got the naughty white choc chips in it but they make it sooooo yum! This recipe is from DelighfulDen of www.forumthermomix.com.

White Chocolate, Sesame and Sunflower Seed Biscuits

Ingredients:
125g Unsalted Butter
80g Rapadura Sugar
1 egg
200g Self Raising Wholemeal flour
20g Sesame Seeds
20g Sunflower seeds
100g White Chocolate bits

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 120 degrees fan forced. Line baking sheets with grease proof or baking paper.

Place softened butter and rapadura in themomix and cream together 20 seconds speed 4-5. Scrape down bowl and cream a further 5-10 seconds if needed. Add egg and mix 10 seconds speed 4.  Place all remaining ingredients into the rmomixand mix 20 seconds on reverse and speed 4.

Place tablespoon sized balls of mixture onto baking sheets and flatten with a dampened fork.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until they just begin to change colour. Cool for 5-10 minutes before transferring to  wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Here are mine - sorry for the crappy picture but my camera is useless!

Yummo! I think it's time for a couple of these with a cuppa while the kiddos are asleep. Have a fantastic day :)

Green Smoothies

I first tried a green smoothie awhile ago after reading about how good they were for you  somewhere on the net. It was a very very green smoothie and didn't go down too well especially with Master 2. I decided to give them another go and made this one this morning (As you can see I had my little helper nearby) -

In it is a couple of handfuls of blueberries, a banana, a handful of baby spinach, a teaspoon of chia seeds, ice and milk which I blitzed for 30 seconds. It turned out like this -

It was a massive improvement on the first one I did and was heaps easier to drink although I could still taste the 'green' in it but I'm guessing you get used to it. I'm not sure I could do the ones with kale or the like in them.

Master 2 on the other hand loved it......Tee hee!

:)

Today

Where is Autumn? It has been such a lovely day again here in the West and we took full advantage of it. We had a very early 5.00am start which seems to be becoming the norm. For some reason the later the sun rises the earlier my boys get up. We started the day with a yummy juice which we used to do every morning but just recently I've fallen off the wagon. I'm determined to get back on again though! Today we just had apple, pear and orange:

I do all of my juicing in the thermomix. I basically chuck whatever fruit I want in with some ice cubes and water and then whizz on high for 30 seconds or so. I don't strain the juice as I'm used to the thickness with the peel in but you can easily strain it if you want. It's just a matter of personal taste. This was the end result:

Master 2 loves his morning juice and I just let Master 1 sip out of mine. Sunday is our cooked breakfast day so today we had yummy scrambled eggs for brekky using eggs from our girls and I also sauteed some mushrooms. We went to the markets after that and I bought a pomegranate tree seedling. I was so excited to see it as I love pomegranates so hopefully this little baby will take off!

We spent the afternoon outside enjoying the warm weather. The boys had lunch out there and then we played around with their water table and went on the swing and blew bubbles. Of course the day wouldn't be complete without Master 1 tripping over and cutting his lip resulting in a lot of blood everywhere!

 Tomorrow morning I'm going to try a green smoothie with the kids. The first time I did this it wasn't too successful so stay tuned!

:)

Chickpea Recipes

I made the yummiest dinner with chickpeas the other night  which I thought I'd share with you. Chickpeas (also known as Garbanzo beans) are so good for you they are full of fibre and folate and are a great source of protein. They also have heaps of calcium in them as well as iron, copper, zinc, manganese and magnesium. They are so tasty too what more could you want?

The recipe was a tear out from New Idea magazine which I found among my millions of recipes.

Chicken & Chickpeas With Curried Yoghurt

2 red capsicums
4 eggs
400g can chickpeas, drained
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander
2 sticks celery, thinly sliced
400g cooked thickly shredded chicken (I just cooked up a large chicken breast)
Curried Yoghurt
1 cup Greek yoghurt
1 clove garlic, crushed (I didn't use this)
1 teaspoon curry powder
Cracked black pepper, to taste

To make curried yogurt, mix ingredients in a bowl. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to serve.
Cut capsicums into quarters. Remove seeds and membranes. Place on an oven tray, skin-side up. Cook under a hot grill until skins blister and blacken. Place in a snap-lock bag. Seal. Stand for 5 minutes. Remove. Scrape away skins. Thickly slice capsicums.
Place eggs in a saucepan. Cover with cold water. Bring to boil. Gently boil for 8 minutes. Drain. Rinse under cold water. Peel skins. Cut eggs into quarters.
Combine capsicum, chickpeas, herbs and celery in a bowl. Toss up to combine. Divide among serving bowls. Top with eggs and chicken. Serve with yoghurt on the side.

I made a couple of changes. I didn't cook the capsicum I just used it raw and I tossed the chicken and egg and salad together and added the dressing to the bowl. It was so good even my 2 year old loved it! This would make a great lunch too.

I also make Hommus quite a bit as an afternoon snack for us so I thought I'd share my recipe. I am not keen on tahini so I don't use it but you can easily add it in if you like.

Hommus My Way

1 can of chickpeas drained
1 clove garlic, crushed
Olive oil
Pinch of sea salt
Cracked pepper
Italian parsley (optional)

Add everything into the food processor (I use my thermomix) and whizz up. I slosh a bit of oil in then blend a little and add more if I need too. Some people like chunky hommus and others like smooth so the amount of oil you use will depend on your preference. Sometimes I'll add a handful of Italian parsley as well it's so yum it gives it a really fresh flavour.

I'dLet me know how you go if you try either of these and feel free to share any favourites of your own :)

Coconut Oil

Today I thought I'd talk about the benefits of coconut oil (which you can buy at the supermarket in the health food aisle) and why I love it so much. I've been using it for a few months now and because it's not cheap I tend to be quite selective about what I use it in. I made a recipe with it and had to use 1/3 cup in it which I won't be doing again! 

Coconut oil has been used forever in India and Sri Lanka and Thailand. It's used in Ayurveda which is the traditional Indian healing system. It's had a bad rap because it's mainly saturated fat but it's a natural plant based saturated fat not a man made one like margarine (hydrogenated fat) and it doesn't contain any transfatty acid. It has lauric acid in it which the body uses to fight bacteria and viruses. Here are some ways it can be used:

- In cooking - you can fry with it (it won't oxidise and go rancid), use it in baking basically replace any other fat with it

- Taking 3-4 tablespoons a day will increase milk supply for breastfeeding mums

- Use it on bruises to help them heal quicker

- It stops the itching from mozzie bites

- Massage it onto sunburned skin

- It's great for nappy rash and cradle cap

- Massage it into your scalp daily to reduce dandruff

- Use it to keep lice and their eggs away

- Its a fantastic massage oil and body moisturiser

- Use it in homemade body products. You can find a coconut oil deodorant recipe here.

- It boosts your immune system

- It aids in vitamin and nutrient absorption

- It helps treat dermatitis, eczema and psoriasis

- Massage it into your skin to prevent wrinkles

- It helps the digestive system and can prevent digestive problems such as IBS and bloating

- It increases metabolism

- There have also been reports of coconut oil helping people with  Diabetes and Alzheimer's and Dementia

This is just scratching the surface! Check out Hybrid Rasta Mama for 333 uses for this amazing stuff. Many people just take a tablespoon of it a day for general health. Here is a link to a zillion recipes using coconut oil to give you some ideas. Hopefully you'll give it a go in your home and I'd love to hear how you've used it.

Homemade Fun!

I got the idea for this blog post from my sister. She sent me a picture of homemade chalk and said I should put it on my blog so I thought I'd do a post of all different homemade stuff for kids.

Sidewalk Chalk Paint

Mix 1 cup of cornflour with 1 cup of water then divide into muffin tins and tint with food colouring. Apparently you can let this harden to a make chalk. Here's my version:

Homemade Puffy Paint

This recipe is from Get your mess on! and I found it via my love - Pinterest. The original post can be found here.

1 cup flour
1 cup salt
1 cup water
food colouring

Mix all together and put in squeezie bottles.


Homemade Playdough

This is the Playgroup Australia recipe which I think everyone has on a magnet on their fridge. All of my friends who have made this have said how easy it is - why bother buying it!

1 cup salt
2 cups plain flour
3 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 cups boiling water
food colouring

Mix altogether and store in the fridge (well I do). Mine has lasted for months now and is still good (apart from all the crap that's stuck in it!).


Homemade Finger Paints

I think we've all seen this one:

There's tons more stuff out there to make at home and it seriously only takes a little while and the kids can get involved too. I would love to hear of anything that you've made at home :)

Homemade Sugar Scrub

I just wanted to do a short post today and share a homemade body scrub that is so easy to make. It's from Stacy at A Delightful Home. It's a Lemon Lime Sugar Scrub which smells divine and has no nasties in it. Here is the link to her original post, she has lots of lovely recipes for all sorts of things. Her sugar scrub E-Book is fantastic!

Lemon Lime Sugar Scrub

1/3 cup coconut oil, melted over low heat.
2 cups sugar (I use raw sugar)
20 drops lime essential oil
3-5 drops lemon essential oil
3 drops orange essential oil
3 drops bergamot essential oil
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

(May substitute Safflower, Jojoba or Avocado oil. Or make a mix of a few of these to add up to ½ cup)

Method

Mix all ingredients, except for olive oil, in a large bowl.
Gradually add olive until you reach the desired consistency.
Scrub on desired area and rinse off with water.

Coconut oil is available in a jar from the health food section of your supermarket or at health food shops. This scrub is gorgeous and will last for ages. I keep a tub of it in my shower.

Enjoy!