Our corn ‘harvest’

Wonder what the neighbors think…

When we moved to our new place with a big back yard, one of the things we couldn’t wait to do was put a big veggie garden in. And that we did! We are loving planting tiny little seeds in the dirt, watering, watching them grow and then eating them. It really is very satisfying! We always had a great veggie garden growing up. I remember playing in the back yard with my brothers and often stopping off in the garden to raid the bean vines for a snack! I can’t wait for my kids to do the same when they’re older! Our latest harvest was the corn we planted… there was a LOT!!! We have learnt now that when planting a veggie garden, stagger the planting so that they fruit at different times rather then all at once haha!

I’m madly looking for recipes that use a lot of corn! My husband has taken most of it to work for whoever wants it. Can’t bare the thought of it going to waste.

Here’s a couple of pictures of our corn harvest 🙂

 

Inspecting the corn

(The weeds got the better of us around the corn ha!)

He loves corn… lucky!

Some of the corn pickings

Now that all our corn has been picked we have pulled out all the corn plants ready for our next ‘season of sowing’.

Katie xx

Sugar-less stewed rhubarb

I can’t get enough of rhubarb a the moment. I love it stewed with Greek Yogurt. Here’s how I make mine. It’s very simple and healthy and makes  the perfect snack, breakfast or even desert 🙂 My 13 month old loves it also, so double score!

Ingredients

-Bunch of rhubarb

-Stevia if you wish to sweeten it a little. I have the 100% pure extract powder and I put about 4 scoops in.

-Chia seeds to thicken. I use a bit under  1/4 of a cup but give or take depending on how thick you want it and how much liquid is there to soak up. (Chia seeds soak up to 17 times they’re weight! Are healthy as the seeds are full of omega 3 and fiber. A better alternative to corn flour in this case)

Method

Dice up all your rhubarb and put in a saucepan on medium heat. You may need to add a tiny bit of water but only a tiny bit. Cook for a min or 2, then add in your Stevia.  Let it stew until cooked, stirring occasional. Once you have it to the taste you like add in the Chia seeds. Mix it around and then let it sit for awhile so the Chia seeds can do some soaking up.

Enjoy with Greek Yogurt.

Katie xx

Old habbits die hard

Around mid last year is when Rachel and I kicked our dirty little sugar habit for 8 weeks. However in the last 2 months I must admit I have picked it up again, and I’m feeling it! I have been thinking I really need to sort myself out before I get too carried away. It also so happened that the lovely Sarah Wilson has recently made her e-books paper back (I now have both versions ha). A couple nights ago was when she would be launching and book signing. So I decided that would be when I start my sugar free stint… again.

I went to this event all by my lonesome. Now I don’t remember the last time I was at an even by myself, I got to tell you. I don’t like being at events by myself. There I standing in the corner scanning the crowd for another awkwardly lonesome person I could buddy up with… no one! Sorry, there was one, but she had an awful scowl on her face so I thought best to avoid. So I did the ol’ faithful, ‘look busy on your phone’ thing… until the lady herself S.W came out to do her spiel. Which I didn’t have to wait too long for 🙂 Meanwhile they had different recipes of hers to taste. I only manage to get my hands on a few as it was packed and they were going quickly! So I did what I have learnt from my husband and that is to place yourself at the opening in which the fresh plates of food are coming from. I’m pleased to say the food I tasted, I loved! Unlike one of the ladies not so far from me who screwed up her face at every bite she took… yet kept eating… interesting, I think she wanted to not like it but secretly loved it. That’s what I got from my observations anyway.

I got a few tips from the night that I liked so thought I ‘d share, in case you feel the urge to also give up sugar be it permanently or for a time.

– Get a morning routine. Do the same thing each morning as this helps set you up for the day.. I somewhat have a morning routine however I probably need to make it a better routine.

-Be gentle and kind to yourself. Don’t be too hard on yourself, women I think are especially bad with this. They say a 1% change bit by bit is far more successful then trying to change 100%.

-Eat as much of the good food as you can possibly fit in, this way it crowds out the rubbish we eat and you have no room left for it. Eat, eat and eat… so long as it’s good food.

-Don’t eat anything that is low fat when it comes to dairy products they are full of sugar.

-Eat good fats. Good fats turn on your metabolism, and start burning straight away. They also fill you up and you feel satisfied. Your body will tell you when you’ve had enough and you won’t want anymore. Sugar goes undetected which means your metabolism doesn’t get turned on and it doesn’t satisfy, which is why you can eat and eat and eat it.

I really do find her quite inspirational and I love her recipes. Rachel and I both have her e-books. There’s a few recipes I’m busting to try and some that give me great ideas for my own.We are very excited to be affiliates of Sarah Wilson’s e-books now and you can buy any of them through our blog buy clicking on the photo of her books in our sidebar. That will take you to where she sells them on her blog (The list of her books and prices are listed once you click on her books in the sidebar). I want to note here though that as affiliates we do receive a little percentage of each book that is bought through our blog… Just so you know 😉

Good Luck 🙂

Katie xx

Here’s just a couple I’ll be trying over the next 2 weeks 🙂

Its been a fruity week

This week I seem to have had a bit of a fruit theme in my meals.. The heat probably had something to do with that.

One of the things I made was a salad. I REALLY enjoyed it!

It had-

Baby spinach and rocket leaves

Cherry tomatoes

Halloumi (cooked in a pan)

Toasted pine nuts

Orange (thinly sliced)

Green apple (thinly sliced)

Balsamic vinegar for dressing.

So I just cooked the halloumi and toasted the pine nuts and cut the fruit up as thinly as I could. It was very fresh. Think this will become a summer salad favorite for me. If avocado’s were cheaper I would have put that in too… I’m sorry but I’m just not paying $3.98 for an unripened avo! Or a ripe one for that matter.

Another fruity dish I made was an Indian spiced Chicken and Mango curry. I hadn’t made this before and had a friend coming over that is dairy and gluten free so hoped it was going to be nice. I found this on the net and added some green beans I had in the fridge as well. This was supper easy and I liked it…  Hubby is not so sure about mixing fruit with his meat but he said he liked it…

Something I want to try out this week is Quinoa. I have been hearing a lot about it and last night I tried it at a friends place and really enjoyed it! It’s one of those ‘superfoods’ we hear about. It actually is quite good for you! Its also a seed instead of a grain so it’s gluten free and is very high in protein 🙂

So I’m on the hunt for some quinoa recipes, if you have any, please share them with me!

Katie xx

Sweet Potato Fries

These are great, now my 1 year old has decided he must feed himself he can hold these and go at his own pace… They are tasty and have no preservatives or strange ingredients which i found some of the supermarket packets of fries to have..

INGREDIENTS

• 2 – 3 large sweet potatoes (depending on how many moths to feed, i only have a family of four and use 2)
• 1/4 cup olive or other vegetable oil
• 1-2 Tbsp spice or spice combination of your choice: Chinese five-spice,  mixed spices, garam masala, Cajun seasoning…

METHOD

1 Preheat oven to 220

2 Peel the sweet potatoes and cut off the ends. Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise and then, if they are very long, in half crosswise. Cut each piece into wedges. Alternately, you can slice the peeled sweet potato into disks either with a mandoline or a sharp knife.

3 Put the sweet potatoes into a large bowl and add the oil. Mix well to combine, add spices and use your hands to mix well, so all pieces are coated with oil and spices.

4 Spread the sweet potatoes out in a single layer on a baking sheet;if you don’t have time to turn them over you could put them in the oven on a wire cooling rack on top of a baking sheet, so that the oven air circulates around the sweet potato pieces.

5 Bake for a total of 25 to 30 minutes. After the first 15 minutes, remove the baking sheet from the oven and turn over all of the sweet potato pieces. Return to the oven and bake for another 10-15 minutes, or until they are well browned. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

 

Cut in half and then in slices

 

Then cut into thick chips

 

Place in bowl and cover with oil and spices, i used a spice mix i bought from the markets which had garlic and dried vegetables but you could use mixed herbs or some pepper

Bake for 15 minutes and then turn them over for another 15 minutes

Serve either by themselves or you could add a side of greek yoghurt, lemon juice and crushed garlic with  a dash of oil for a dipping sauce

 

Meal ideas

If you’re looking for dinner ideas this week, here are a few.

I have made Ricotta and Spinach stuffed pasta shells a few times before and they are nice.

The other day I made a slightly different version to use what I already had and it was nice also. Recipe below.

Spinach stuffed Cannelloni

Ingredients

Bunch of silver beat spinach

Ricotta

Feta

Cannelloni pasta

Pasta sauce

Cheese to grate

Method

Steam and finely chop your spinach. Mix together the ricotta and feta (mix enough to stuff your pasta with, use more ricotta then you do feta), then mix in spinach. Boil you cannelloni until they’re just starting to soften. Stuff your cannelloni with spinach mixture. Lay them in a shallow backing dish. Pour over pasta sauce, not too much but enough that all pieces have a little sauce on them. Sprinkle grated cheese over top and put into oven on a bout 180 until the cannelloni is tender and cooked.

We had this and a salad and it was nice.

Curried sausages

I’ve heard this is a real 70’s dish and I love it! You just cook your sausages and set them aside. Dice up all your veggies; you can put anything you want and lots of them. Then put them in the frypan with a little water until cooked. Once they’re all done slice up all your cooked sausages and put them back in. Sprinkle over some curry powder as much or as little as you want (if young kids are having this opt for a little curry powder). Then mix up a little cornflour or flour in water and pour that over. Cook that until the dish thickens and the cornflour is cooked. Boil your rice. Serve the curried sausages on a bed of rice and your done. Easy and simple dish packed with veggies, love it!!

Quiche and salad

The ol’ quiche and salad is a great one when it’s hot. It’s also a great one for using up the veggies you have left in your fridge because you can pretty much put whatever you want in it. When ever I make a quiche for dinner I always try and make extra individual ones because they’re perfect for lunches the next day 🙂

*Just make sure you either cook or roast the vegies you are putting into your quiche before you add them.

Lasagne and salad

Also great when there’s left over’s for the next day. I always make a double batch. It’s even better the next day! Everyone seems to have a lasagne recipe that they love. I find it’s one of those dishes that we all think we have the best recipe for and can become quite the competition with! Nothing like a lasagne cook off if you ask me! Especially if I’m getting to eat them!

BBQ

I realise I have suggested this before, but it’s summer time, so who can go past a BBQ on a hot summers evening! Easy, no fuss, small amount of washing up AND you don’t have the oven on inside to make it even hotter. The humble B.B.Q is one of the best meals for summer! Kebabs are something great to have on the BBQ and so easy and quick to make. I love them with marinated chicken or beef, capsicum, mushrooms, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, & spanish onion. Fresh and delish!

So if you have some meal recipes to share, please do! I’m always looking for ideas!

Katie xx

Raw Cacao Balls (Sugar free)

So it seems my Apricot and Coconut balls have been well received. They came about from the recipe below I came up with when I was wanting chocolate during my sugar free stint… or just after, can’t quite remember. Though chocolate, lets be serious, can’t really be replaced by anything. These little balls though come close. Points for being healthy (ish) too! So without further a due I give you Raw Cacao Balls

You will need a food processor for this.

Ingredients

– 20 – 25 dates (soak over night in water)

– 1 3/4 cups of almond meal (maybe more depending on your dates). I like to use the Woolworths Macro brand for these because it’s more textured

– 1/3 cup desiccated coconut

– 1 tbs cashew nut paste

– 1 tbs coconut oil (melt down)

– 3 – 4 tbs raw cacao powder (depending on how strong you like it. Its a good idea to taste as you go). You can get this from health food stores usually.

And this is why Cacao powder is so good to use as apposed to cocoa…. (and no this is not a paid plug ;))

– extra desiccated coconut for coating.

Method

Start by emptying and  squeezing out the water in your soaked dates. Then process them until they become a paste (Don’t add the water from soaking them to the mixture). Then add your almond meal and coconut and process it. Then the cashew nut paste and melted down coconut oil, process it again. Finish with your Cacao powder aaand… process. Your mixture needs to be at the right consistency to roll into balls. So if it’s too wet add more almond meal. Roll all the mixture into balls, cover in desiccated coconut and store in an air tight container in  the freezer. Your done!

They really are good!

Katie xx

Monday Meal Menu

I tend to do my grocery shopping on a Monday. Some weeks I find it hard to come up with different meals and to not do the same thing every week… which does tend to happen a bit. Here’s a couple of the meals on my menu for this week.

Chicken, Zucchini and Feta Pilaf – Do yourselves a favor and try this recipe out! This one a cousin made for us once and it’s become a favorite!! I especially love it because of how SIMPLE it is!! All in one pan too 🙂 It’s also always impressed people we’ve had over for dinner! I give this recipe out a lot!

Shepherd’s pie and salad – another easy one

My trusty Spinach and ricotta parcels with a salad (it’s hot here at the moment hence all the salad!) – I’m especially excited about these this week as I will be using spinach from my very own veggie garden!!! So excited to be using my first veggie!!

The veggie pasta that cost about 20c to make… ok maybe $3 I referred to it here in an earlier post.

BBQ one night at home.

Desert one night I’m going to make my sugar free Blueberry and Apple pie 🙂 I will most definitely put this recipe up for you to try out some time.

 

So… hopefully you might get a couple of ideas from here… I’m always looking for new and easy recipes I can whip up for dinner so if you have any, please, send them through or send a link through to a recipe on your blog… Share the love!

 

Katie x

2 & 3 weeks down, feeling good. Diary of a sugar addict

2 weeks Down

A big sigh of relief. I’m feeling a fair bit better then in my last post. I’m glad I didn’t give in. Again if you’re going to do this I can not stress enough – get a friend to do it with. If I weren’t doing this with Rachel I 100% know without a doubt I would have given up.

This week has been pretty hectic with the move and I’m finding more and more things take longer when you have a baby (funny that).  This is true even more so when your moving house. Luckily my husband was on holidays (just what you want to do on your holidays) and pretty much did all the packing himself. He did well!

ooooh please… does anyone actually look like this when they move house!

So I pretty much lived on eggs and toast this week. I love eggs. However I think I’m done with eggs for a good while now! I think I had them for every meal! Pouched… scrambled… fried… boiled, you get the picture. I’m done with them!

The good thing this week is I haven’t had a whole lot of time to day dream as it were about sugar. So that was handy.

I’m starting to notice a difference in my energy levels. Feeling calmer and not so irritated and just generally feeling fresher then I have in a long, long time. So, perhaps the benefits are starting  to come my way!

3 Weeks Done

3 weeks, can you believe it! I can’t! So pleased with myself, I’m like an annoying puppy at the moment. Every 10 minutes I go bounding up to glen with ‘Are you proud of me, I’ve done 3 weeks. Bet you didn’t think I could do it. Yep, so you proud of me???” In case you haven’t picked it up yet, I’m pretty dang pleased!

I do admit however I do still think of sugar from time to time and I do still want it though I definitely don’t have the same ‘desperation’ for it that I’ve ad since starting. Which is encouraging!

This week we’re getting a bit more settle and with a nice new kitchen I’m really looking forward to getting into some cooking! We are going away in a few days to the farm (where the hubs grew up) so I’m not wanting to do a big shop before then. Rachel invited us over for dinner one night and she made an amazing spag bol full of veggies and herbs. Was so delicious! She also made the sauce from scratch. When I say scratch I mean she started with actual tomatoes! How good is she! It was so yummy! Especially after having a diet purely of eggs the past week, it made it all the sweeter!

Another night we had pancakes for dinner. We have a ‘tradition’ that on Sunday night we have pancakes. Glen is adamant about having this tradition. Some friends of his had it when they were growing up and he loved it! So every Sunday that’s what we do.  This Sunday they were pretty indulgent but so good!

As you can see I went all out! And why the heck not! One good thing about not eating sugar is I feel no guilt what so ever about any other food I eat, potato chips to cream, no guilt. It’s brilliant!

The night before we went to the farm I made pasta with whatever I had in the fridge and cupboard which wasn’t much. What I made though I really liked!!! So easy it’s not funny and cheap as chips!!! Here’s what it was.

2 Cans diced tomatoes

1 Can butter beans drained

Broccoli, carrot, zucchini (use what ever veggies you have, this is just what I had)

Mixed herbs, I also had a bit fresh parsley and chives I needed to use up.

And you guessed it, the ol’ faithful cinnamon.

All that in a pot, cook until the veggies are cooked, meanwhile cook your pasta.

Serve it with a generous spoon of sour cream. (This is essential in my opinion)

Now how easy is that!!!!!! I’m making that again for sure!

I love pasta for the fact you can put anything and do pretty much anything with it!

Katie xx

Days 7 to 11 – If your looking for motivated, don’t read this. Diary of a sugar addict.

I’m not even kidding. These last few days have been really, really hard! I tell you, quitting sugar is not for the faint hearted! If you are going to do this and do it properly don’t even bother if you don’t have a friend who’s doing it with you. To put it frankly  – you wont be able to do it! These last few days I have been so unmotivated! An example of the monologue running through my head.

‘Why am I even doing this. I don’t even care anymore, I actually don’t. Seriously… why am I bothering?!? I’m only going to inhale it again when it’s over. I know I will. Oh yay, more washing, are you kidding!. No one’s even going to know if I eat something dripping in sugar. Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh, he’s opened the new bottle of milk when there’s still perfectly good milk there… yet AGAIN!!!! That’s IT, I’m never buying milk agAIN! Nu, don’t want to do this stupid no sugar thing anymore. I DON’T CAAAARE!’

I can relate.

Ect…ect…etc you get the gist.

This about sums me up

It’s been hard, and booooy have I been a cow of a thing! I’m constantly irritated and short tempered. My blood is at a constant boiling point! I’m so tired and I feel absolutely horrible. I just want my sugar fix. Oh and can NOT stop thinking about all the sugar items I’m going to stuff as fast as I can into my mouth when I’m done. I’m thinking about it way too much. Again, not the point of this.

I’ve gotten to the point now that when I’m doing our groceries I have to physically run past the confectionery isle. With one hand tunneling my vision the other pushing the wonky trolley (as they always are) with the baby strapped to my chest. How ridiculous, I know I look insane but I just don’t trust myself!

So to fill in for when I would usually smash a chocolate bar I have bought potato chips… yes I know not the best thing to be eating, but you know what, I don’t give a rats and quite frankly I need something along that junk food line, so I’m going salty! And you know it has helped. I just figure I will do this until I’m over this hump (wow listen to me!!! I sound like an actual junky…scary). I also got pretty desperate one night so I raided the fridge and cupboard for something I could bake. My little creation is actually quite nice I think. Perhaps  I will put the recipe up one day, still needs some perfecting though. I also got around to making a veggie and haloumi stack one night which both Glen and I really enjoyed.

Also made the carrot cake smoothie from Sarah Wilson’s cook book. A winner also but very rich (in a non sugary way) so could not drink the whole thing in one sitting, but was good.

We’re also about to move house! You know how it is when you move everything is chaotic and you live on take away because you don’t want to stock up your fridge, only be more you have to pack and move. Not sure what I’m going to be eating… a whole lot of eggs I guess.

So, how motivated are you to quit sugar now hmm? Your welcome!

Katie. I’m not even putting kisses, I’m too irritated 😉