Day Three and a Purchase

Today was definitely harder for me on the Whole30. I started off planning to make scrambled eggs with vegies for breakfast but didn't really feel like eggs again so I made a green smoothie instead with kale, banana, apple and a piece of mango that was leftover. It was divine! My almost 3 year old son loved it and my 4 year old wouldn't even try a sip as per usual. You're not really meant to have smoothies though but they aren't on the banned list it's just that you're meant to 'eat your food' not 'drink your food'. Excuse the sideways picture Blogger wasn't happening for me tonight!

I had the same salmon salad for lunch which was yum but I'm going to have to find something different for tomorrow. I'm not a huge fan of having the same meals day in day out.

Dinner was yum! It was the Savory Lotus Baked Curry Chicken I mentioned yesterday. Of course I didn't read the recipe until 3.30pm and then found out that I had to marinate the chicken for two hours. Needless to say that didn't happen and I also didn't have any coriander powder. It was delicious though and my boys both gobbled it up. I served it with cauliflower rice which they did not touch! Very frustrating but I'll keep trying. Here's the chicken in all it's marinating glory:

The most exciting part of my day was when this happened:

Isn't it lovely? I can't wait until it arrives. Whole30 you WILL help me fit into this dress :P

Whole 30

Well I would try and think of an excuse as to why I haven't blogged for so long but I don't really have one. I've fallen off the healthy home wagon many times throughout the past year and I've gotten to the point now where I've stacked on a few kilos and I just don't feel great. Enter the Whole30 program. I've seen this around the web for awhile now and been following recipes on Instagram but I've always felt that it was too strict for me and that I'd never be able to stick to it. Basically you have no dairy, sugar, alcohol, grains, legumes, sulfites, msg etc for 30 days to strip your body of all the bad stuff then after the 30 days you slowly add each category back in (in a certain order) to see if you react to any.

Sounds tough? I though so but I'm on Day 2 now and I've really enjoyed the meals. Being the disorganised person I am, I also stopped meal planning ages ago so I came into this not knowing what I would be eating when which is a really bad idea but I've managed to survive and I'll be doing a meal plan very soon (so she says). The hardest thing for me to give up is cheese I think (even more than a cold beer on a summers day!). I could have sold my firstborn for a piece today.

So what have I been eating? ILots of meat, vegies and EGGS! Don't forget the eggs. That's my staple breakfast anyway along with cooked vegies so that hasn't changed. For lunches I've had chicken and salad and salmon and salad with a mayo based dressing (yes, paleo mayo is allowed when you make it yourself). Then at dinner time it's been roasted vegies with seasoned steak. Tomorroe night I'm branching out and making this Baked Curry Chicken with cauliflower 'rice'. 

Anyway I thought this blog would be a good way to keep me accountable on this journey and hopefully I'll stick to the Whole30 and blogging this time ;)

Until next time :)

Getting Back into the Swing of Things

My poor blog has been neglected yet again! Life has been very busy and to top it off my 3 year old has pretty much dropped his day sleep (sob, sob) and I am just finding I have less time for myself. I'm sure all mums know what I'm talking about. Speaking of 3 year olds, far out isn't 3 so much worse than 2 in terms of behaviour! Ethan has always been stubborn but he would generally do what I ask but not anymore and he's now deliberately nasty to his brother. He'll often say 'Dylan's not allowed to come out' and hits him and won't play with him at times. It's definitely a challenging age! Soon I'll have a 3 year old and a 2 year old - argh!

Anyhoo I wanted to share a website that's got some fantastic recipes. It's called Wholefood Simply and there's so many things I want to try. I made this Rocky Road Fudge awhile ago and it was delish and I have these White Ones setting in the fridge at the moment. Can't wait to see if they set like 'real' chocolate. I did these in my thermie and just had to keep using the turbo button and scraping down the bowl because it only makes a small amount.

I also have these Anti LCM Bars in the fridge too. The mix tasted superb and the boys each licked a spoon clean so already they're a hit.

I was on a roll this afternoon and made something totally bad for you - Rocky Road (the real stuff!). I got this recipe from a lady I work with and I don't think I'll ever use another one.

2 x 200g blocks cooking chocolate
Bag of raspberry lollies
Bag of clinkers
Marshmallows

Mix the filler ingredients together while melting the chocolate. Stir through the chocolate and put into your mould. I use a Tupperware Jel Ring for mine and then slice it up. It's sooooo good! I'm looking forward to making a White Christmas version next month in the Jel Ring. It'll look so pretty!

Here is my last Rocky Road attempt -

Nom nom nom!!! :)

Meanwhile....

Meanwhile somewhere Down South of WA life just got in the way of my blog. Sometimes I'm not sure where my days have gone!

To be honest not much has been happening here. I've been very on and off with the food thing. Sometimes it's just so overwhelming that it seems way too hard. All these new foods and recipes and trying to meal plan them was just doing my head in. I posted this quote from Jude Blereau awhile back on my Facebook page and I'd say this just about sums up how I'm looking at things now.

To ease back into this blogging lark I want to share some of my favourite go to Thermie recipes when I've got nothing really in the cupboards.

Pasta e Fagioli Quirky Cooking style! I use either Borlotti or Cannellini beans or both. Whatever I have available.

Zucchini Slice a la Retro Mummy. I add basil and mint to mine as suggested to me by a friend. So yummy!

and lastly the good old Creamy Tomato and Salami Fettuccine from the Everyday Cookbook.

Anyhoo until next time!

At Home Day

Today we stayed at home all day which is very unusual for us. I generally like to take the kids out in the morning to tire them out so they have a good sleep during the day. However, I had tons of cleaning to do and I'm also participating in a 'No Buy July' challenge (not going so well) so I figured the easiest way not to spend money is to stay home!

I made Cloud Dough for the kids this morning which is something I've been meaning to do for awhile now. It's basically a 8:1 ratio of plain flour and oil. I used 4 cups of flour and 1/2 a cup of baby oil. It make a feathery light dough which moulds when you press it but is also soft and 'cloudlike'. I posted a photo on my Facebook page this morning of the kids starting out with it which was something like this:

This is how it ended:

It was not pretty and I think for a total time of about 20 minutes amusement the mess was not worth it. I won't be doing this again for awhile.

I posted a pic on FB of some Coconut Banana Cookies I made which were gluten free. The recipe was from Strands of My Life which has lots of GF recipes. They were like a cakey type cookie which I enjoy. I think I might try and reduce the oil a little but next time though. Here's the recipe:

 Coconut Banana Cookies

1/4 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup oil
2 tablespoons sugar
1 banana
2 eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon bicard soda
1 cup coconut

Preheat the oven to 180C. Prepare a cookie sheet with baking paper.
Whizz up dry ingredients (except coconut), oil, banana and sugar in a food processor (I used my trusty Thermie).
Add eggs and vanilla and mix.
Drop spoonfuls onto the paper and shape into circles.
Bake 10 mins until slightly golden then remove from oven and let firm up for about half an hour.

The mix is very wet. I made 6 huge cookies so you could easily get 12 normal sized ones from this. The verdict was positive. They were definitely sweet enough and I'll be making these again.

Until next time :)

Mummy Guilt

It's been a crappy couple of weeks, my kids have been sick constantly and so was Chris when he was home, I've been eating way too much, not drinking enough water and we've had lots of bills come in so I didn't get our organic fruit and veg box this fortnight and I was feeling pretty bad about it. Mummy guilt. We all suffer from it.

So I pulled myself together and remembered that you can only do the best you have with what you've got. So we went to the market today and got lots of fruit and veg and I'll just wash it all in a vinegar rinse before we use it. We're not going to be able to afford to buy organic produce all the time as much as I'd like to be able to especially as we're now tightening our belts (more on that in another post). There are loads of people worse off than us and that's something I have to remind myself from time to time.

As I was in between writing this, bathing the kids and making dinner I dropped the lid of one of my vintage canisters and it chipped - sob, sob, sob! Hopefully the other half can fix it for me when he gets home.

Lucky for me I baked some of these yummo Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies today (ignore the eating way too much bit I mentioned earlier) which I can have after dinner. The recipe is from The Buttercup Bake Shop Cook Book which I recently picked up secondhand for $2 - score!

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

3/4 cup plain flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarb
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar (I used raw)
1 large egg, room temp
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup rolled oats
chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 180C. Lightly grease 2 cookie trays.
In a medium bowl sift flour, bicarb and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl (I used my stand mixer) cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well. Add flour mixture and beat thoroughly. Stir in oats and choc chips.
Drop rounded teaspoonfuls onto the cookie sheets leaving a few cms between each one. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden. Cool on trays for a minutes then remove to a rack to cool completely.

I reduced the sugar and also I should have had my oven at 170 as mine runs hot so I only baked them for about 8 minutes. They are delish and very very moreish.

That's enough moaning from me today. Until next time.....

Our New Addition

It's been awhile since I've blogged due to us using up all  of our internet download! Couldn't believe it since I don't think it's ever happened before. Very annoying having to wait for the month to tick over.

We have a lovely Community Garden about 15 minutes drive away and I often meet friends there for a coffee and playdate. It's great for the kiddos as they can see all the vegies growing and play in the playground there and there's also some rabbits and chooks. Oh and a worm farm which is most fascinating to toddlers! There's also a couple of scarecrows around and last time we went Ethan (formerly known as Master 2) decided that he wanted a scarecrow at home. Daddy was away at this point so I told him to wait until he came home then ask thinking he might forget about it. Nope not our Ethan! As soon as poor Daddy came home Ethan wanted to make a scarecrow and Chris (formerly known as Mr Steps) being Chris grabbed some of his old clothes and started him immediately. Warning photo overload about to begin.

Such a hard worker just like his dad. Except when toys need to be packed up.....



Ethan couldn't rest until he had put the hat on the scarecrow.



But Daddy's not satisfied and has to sew the body parts together with fishing line instead of just tying a rope round his middle.

Rawwwwrrrrrr!!!

I asked Ethan what the scarecrow's name was and he said 'scarecrow'. Hmmm sounds about as original as when he named our fish - Fishie.

Then the morning after Chris flew out to work again we went out the back to feed the fish and I nearly had a heart attack when I saw him as he'd been moved to right in front of our patio and I wasn't informed! Ethan thinks he walks around the garden and also told us he should sleep in our caravan because he's cold outside and sad. So cute!