Around here

Last week we had the most beautiful sunset and everyone in Brisbane was talking about it and posting photos.  Here is a picture with no filter or Lightroom edits, just standing in front of my house looking over our roof to the back.  It was so pretty and everywhere you looked was pink and purple and it was amazing.  

I'm a chocolate lover from way back and we all know the better quality the chocolate the better it is for you.  I know they say that 80-90% cocoa is better for you however I find that too bitter for my liking and not sweet at all which is probably why you can only eat one square at a time instead of the whole block.  While I am trying not to buy chocolate from the shops I do need to have a chocolate treat in the freezer so I can have something that is more wholefoods than chemicals.  Dr Libby's Brain Balls are what I've had in the freezer over the past two months and I'll have one in the evening if I feel like chocolate.  They are called brain balls because they have walnuts in them and the walnuts look like brains.

Today I found this recipe and as I had all the ingredients on hand I made some "Coconut Rough" using this "Cacao Rough" recipe.  It's super easy to make as you put everything into a food processor or Thermomix and mix for 5 seconds then press into a small lined tray and pop it into the freezer.  The recipe is also listed below because if I don't put it on my blog and years later I just have the link and the website is shut down or no longer around I end up loosing the recipe.  I know I have a lot of recipes and links on my blog so I make sure I actually type it up as well so I have it forever.

CACAO ROUGH [AKA GOLDEN ROUGH] [from Well Nourished Blog]

INGREDIENTS

• 100gms almond meal [1 cup]
• 30gms cacao powder [1/4 cup]
• 85gms rice malt syrup [1/4 cup] - you could also use maple syrup or honey
• 50gms shredded coconut [1 cup]
• 100gms coconut oil [1/2 cup] - make sure this is in liquid form or melt to achieve liquid
• 20gms chia seeds [1/4 cup] - this is optional however I put them in as they are good for you
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract or essence

METHOD

1. Place all the ingredients into Thermomix on Speed 4 for 5 seconds or use a food processor to combine.
2. Press the mix into a small lined tray and then place in freezer.
3. Once set, remove from the tin and chop into little squares.
4. Store in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer.

As I love Mint Patties and Golden Roughs [or anything chocolate] I made the "Cacao Rough" and I have to say it's pretty nice.  I cut the slice up into 2cm x 2cm squares [3/4 of an inch] and popped them back into the freezer in a container as this way when I want a little chocolate fix I'm not eating rubbish chocolate.  When you eat sugar you want more sugar however if you are eating wholefoods you don't get that sugar high and crash and addiction to eat 10 more mint patties.  I didn't take a picture of my Cacao Rough however it looks just like the picture on the recipe.  I can highly recommend it and it only took 5 minutes to get the ingredients out and make it.  If you have never seen "That Sugar Film" you need to watch it.

Let me know if you make this little treat.  It's not the same as the Nestle Golden Rough however it hits the spot and even better knowing it's additive and preservative free too.

Here's another photo from the sunset last week looking down to the bottom of our street.

Around here

Last May I undertook a 7 day challenge additive free challenge which opened my eyes to hidden preservatives and additives in our foods.  Here's another blog post on things I was making.  I have always made our food from scratch however there's making things from scratch and then there's making things from scratch.  I used to use some sachets for stir fries or devilled sausages etc. we used to have store bought mayonnaise, coleslaw dressing, tomato sauce, BBQ sauce, sweet chilli sauce.

I now make these ingredients from scratch, they don't take very long, they taste great and more importantly I get a kick out of doing it and I love making healthy choices for my family.

Food companies are clever and they know consumers are a little more savvy these days so putting things like "natural flavour" on the box we as consumers believe this is better for us because it's natural flavour as opposed to chemical flavours [listed as numbers on the packet].  I for one thought "natural flavour" was just that, natural and not chemical however if you read this latest blog post from Tracey & Jo from Additive Free Lifestyle about this subject you will be a little shocked.  

Home made tomato sauce.

Home made bread.

Home made crumpets.

What we perceive to be healthy and what is healthy can be two different things. I've copied this from a post from last year. Here is a quote about spinach wraps you buy in the shops.

 "You will notice that the reason they are green is from a combination of blue and yellow food colour and they use spinach ‘seasoning’ (no real spinach!)"

This is the ingredient list from the store bought spinach wraps [as per Additive Free Lifestyle blog] - Honestly what is all of this stuff.

Ingredients: Enriched Bleached Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Vegetable Shortening (Interesterified Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil and/or Palm Oil), contains 2% or less of each of the following: Seasoning (Spinach Powder, Onion Powder, Spice, Salt, Garlic Powder, Soybean Oil, Artificial Colors [FD&C Yellow #5 Lake and FD&C Blue #1 Lake], Natural and Artificial Flavor), Salt, Leavening (Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Aluminum Sulfate, Corn Starch, Monocalcium Phosphate and/or Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Calcium Sulfate), Distilled Monoglycerides, Enzymes, Wheat Starch, Calcium Carbonate, Antioxidants (Tocopherols, Ascorbic Acid), Vital Wheat Gluten, Cellulose Gum, Dough Conditioners (Fumaric Acid, Sodium Metabisulfite), Preservatives (Calcium Propionate, Sorbic Acid and/or Citric Acid).

Here is a recipe to make your own spinach wraps using 6 ingredients real spinach, flour, baking powder, salt, butter, water and olive oil. These ingredients we all know what they are compared to the list on the packaged wraps above.  It's quite frightening and if you were buying wraps generally you would think spinach wraps are healthier than plain wraps so again our perception of healthy is buy the spinach ones when in fact they are probably all the same.  It's a bit of false sense of security about buying the healthy option for your family as we think we are doing the right thing.

In our pantry we have a lot of ingredients and not packets and I've made a lot of progress over the last year.

Tracey and Jo run Additive Free Workshops from time to time and they bought a packet of Anzac Biscuits from the bakery of a well know Australian Supermarket to take along to the workshops to show the ingredient label and explain all the items on it.  The other day she posted a pic of the biscuits on IG and they looked like she had just bought them that day.  She asked people how old did we think the biscuits were and she said she had bought them for their first workshop 3 years ago and they were still in the packet going strong, not mouldy, not off.  That is scary that a packet of bakery biscuits still hold their structure in the packet and haven't gone off in 3 years.  On occasions when I have run out of time I've actually bought these biscuits myself for afternoon tea for the kids after school.  I was shocked and will not be ever buying these if I run out of time.  I would have been shocked if she said 6 months however 3 years that is crazy...just like the burger at the fast food chain that doesn't go off for 20 years.

We have full control over what we put in our bodies and having knowledge about how to go Additive & Preservative free is easier than you think.  Next time you see even an organic product with "natural flavouring" think again.

This is another great resource that I got onto years ago "100 Days of Real Food" and Lisa's cookbooks are both great.  This is their story and oh so jealous of their mountain "tiny house" too.  This is their holiday home and what a location how beautiful.  I have two of her books here and here.  In her book she tells you how her family went additive and preservative free and committed to trying it for 100 days.  She and her husband were into healthy eating and exercise however when they started the 100 days of real food they realized how little they did know because of food packaging and what the marketers of food try to tell you.  I can highly recommend her books and also lots of articles on her blog as well.  I love the internet and the fact that we can get access to so much information from right here in our homes.  Have a good week and let me know if you have any great blogs or books you have come across that made you aware of these things.

  

Around here - Coronavirus update

I use this blog as a diary of our lives so I have included some information about how Queensland is making it's way back slowly after lockdown and ISO in 2020.  Today there are over 5 million cases of Coronavirus and 327,881 deaths.

WEEKLY CORONAVIRUS UPDATE

On Thursday the 2nd of April, 2020 I started posting these numbers for history purposes on a weekly basis on a Thursday.  World figures can be seen here.

WORLD WIDE
Wednesday 25-03-2020        World Wide Cases        417,348                Deaths    18,596
Thursday     02-04-2020        World Wide Cases        936,886                Deaths    47,264

Thursday     09-04-2020        World Wide Cases     1,513,243                Deaths    88,403

Thursday     16-04-2020        World Wide Cases     2,084,042                Deaths  134,669

Thursday     23-04-2020        World Wide Cases     2,663,064                Deaths  183,882

Thursday     30-04-2020        World Wide Cases     3,212,993                Deaths  227,784

Thursday     07-05-2020        World Wide Cases     3,812,513                Deaths  264,109

Thursday     14-05-2020        World Wide Cases     4,412,366                Deaths  296,895

Thursday     21-05-2020        World Wide Cases     5,053,982                Deaths  327,881

AUSTRALIA
Wednesday 25-03-2020        Australian Cases               2,144                Deaths not sure didn't look
Thursday     02-04-2020        Australian Cases               5,124                Deaths          24

Thursday     09-04-2020        Australian Cases               6,052                Deaths          50

Thursday     16-04-2020        Australian Cases               6,462                Deaths          63 **

Thursday     23-04-2020        Australian Cases               6,649                Deaths          74 **

Thursday     30-04-2020        Australian Cases               6,752                Deaths          91 **

Thursday     07-05-2020        Australian Cases               6,875                Deaths          97 **

Thursday     14-05-2020        Australian Cases               6,980                Deaths          98 **

Thursday     21-05-2020        Australian Cases               7,079                Deaths        100 **

** 22 of these deaths are related to the Ruby Princess Cruise that docked in Sydney in March.

** Another death from the ship however the person had flown home to America and passed away overseas.

** 19 deaths are related to one nursing home in Sydney.

Most of the cases in Australia have been linked to people returning home from overseas.

This is the Stage 1, 2 and 3 roadmap to recovery in Queensland.

Stage 1 - 11.59pm 15th May, 2020 - Family, friends and community

• Gatherings in homes (household + max 5 visitors, allowed from separate households)
• Gatherings of up to 10 people:
  • outdoor, non-contact activity
  • personal training
  • pools (indoor and outdoor)
  • public spaces and lagoons* (e.g. South Bank Parklands, Cairns, Airlie Beach etc)
  • parks, playground equipment, skate parks and outdoor gyms
  • libraries
  • weddings
  • hiking and other recreational activities in national and state parks
  • places of worship and religious ceremonies
• Funerals (max 20 indoors or 30 outdoors)
• Recreational travel (max 150kms within your region for day trips)

Businesses and economy

• Retail shopping
• 10 people permitted at any one time for:
  • dining in (with COVID SAFE Checklist): restaurants, cafés, pubs, registered and licensed clubs, RSL clubs and hotels – no bars or gaming
  • open homes and auctions
  • beauty therapy and nail salons (with COVID SAFE Checklist)

Outback

• Dining in (with COVID SAFE Checklist): restaurants, cafés, pubs, registered and licensed clubs, RSL clubs and hotels (max 20 at any one time) for locals only (must show proof of residence) – no bars or gaming
• Recreational travel including overnight accommodation max 500 kms within the outback only if you live in the outback.

Stage 2 - 11.59 pm 12th June, 2020 - Family, friends and community

• Gatherings of up to 20 people:
  • homes
  • public spaces and lagoons (e.g. South Bank Parklands, Cairns, Airlie Beach etc)
  • non-contact indoor and outdoor community sport
  • personal training
  • gyms*, health clubs* and yoga studios*
  • pools (indoor and outdoor) and community sports clubs
  • museums, art galleries and historic sites
  • weddings
  • parks, playground equipment, skate parks and outdoor gyms
  • libraries
  • hiking, camping and other recreational activities in national and state parks
  • places of worship and religious ceremonies
• Funerals (max 50)
• Recreational travel, camping and accommodation, including caravan parks (max 250kms within your region)

Businesses and economy

• Retail shopping
• 20 people permitted at any one time for:
  • dining in (with COVID SAFE Checklist): restaurants*, cafés*, pubs*, registered and licensed clubs*, RSL clubs*, hotels* and casinos* – no bars or gaming
  • indoor cinemas
  • open homes and auctions
  • outdoor amusement parks*, tourism experiences*, zoos* and arcades*
  • concert venues*, theatres*, arenas*, auditoriums* and stadiums*
  • beauty therapy, nail salons, tanning, tattoo parlours and spas (with COVID Safe Checklist)
• School holidays – drive holiday in your region – Queenslanders backing Queensland
• Tourism accommodation

Outback

• Dining in (with COVID Safe Checklist): restaurants*, cafés*, pubs*, registered and licensed clubs*, RSL clubs* and hotels* (max 50 at any one time) for locals only (must show proof of residence) – no bars or gaming
• Recreational travel within the outback only if you live in the outback.

Stage 2 - 11.59 pm 10th July, 2020 - Family, friends and community

Subject to further planning and review, interstate and further intrastate travel will be permitted and a maximum of 100 people will be permitted for:

• gatherings in public spaces and homes
• dining in: restaurants, cafés, pubs, registered and licensed clubs, RSL clubs, food courts and hotels
• indoor cinemas
• places of worship and religious ceremonies
• museums, art galleries and historic sites
• pools and community sports clubs
• community sport
• gyms, health clubs and yoga studios
• outdoor amusement parks, zoos and arcades
• concert venues, theatres, arenas, auditoriums and stadiums
• weddings
• funerals
• saunas and bathhouses
• open homes and auctions
• casinos, gaming and gambling venues
• pubs, registered and licensed clubs, RSL clubs and hotels
• nightclubs
• beauty therapy, tanning, nail salons and spas, tattoo parlours and non-therapeutic massage parlours
• libraries
• hiking, camping and other recreational activities in national and state parks.

Around here

How is everyone doing at the moment as restrictions are starting to ease a little.  I certainly won't be going to any big shopping centres for a while and in fact, I hardly go there anyway as I'm not a big shopper-spender.  Queensland schools will all be back next Monday and I've noticed there are a lot more cars on the road lately.  We are still being very careful and social distancing as whilst we have done an amazing job to stop the spread it's not gone from our lives so we have to be very careful at all times.

I've made these cup cakes today and if you haven't made this recipe I recommend you do as the cakes are so soft and yummy.  You crack 2 eggs into a 1 cup measuring cup and top it with cream to the top.  Beat those for 3-5 minutes add the sugar beat again and then fold the flour so easy and delicious and it's my "go to cupcake" recipe.  In the post I've linked it says a cup of cream, it's probably about 1/4 cup and I just used the left over cream we had in the fridge.

Here is a Sourdough website that might be useful.

I loved this post from Frogdancer about having an Emergency Fund and her blog post about her "no spend" days and how she records it like a game or a challenge.  I love spreadsheets to this one appealed to me on so many levels.  I love reading her blog posts and I take my hat off to her as she had 4 boys under 5 and $60 cash to her name after she split from her husband. That takes a lot of guts and 20+ years or so later she is still thriving.

Here's some photos from our week.

Home grown lettuce in the garden, I don't have much else however this is amazing.

Wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands.

Sienna made the home made vanilla ice cream and apple crumble for dessert for Mother's Day.

James made me bacon and egg for breakfast on Mother's Day.

Roasted pumpkin for this delicious Pumpkin & Cashew Dip from Additive Free Lifestyle.  Recipe ingredients with quantities in the girls cookbook.

Back into the exercising doing my home workouts and don't you love the paint on my sketchers from last years home reno.

Around here - Week in the Life & Mother's Day

Last week was our 13th year participating in the 7 day photo documenting project called "Week in the Life' and it ended yesterday being Mother's Day.  It was a very different year this year as there was no driving the kids to and from school, ironing uniforms, making lunches or the kids seeing their friends on the weekends. 

I have loved having the kids around 24/7 and now my son is back at school today in Grade 11 it was a shock to the system to iron the school uniform and make a school lunch for him.  My daughter has another 2 weeks of online learning at home before she goes back to school.

We have been playing UNO after our evening meal every night and have been having lots of laughs playing the 7 and the 0 rule.  If you put down a 7 could can chose to swap your cards with another player of your choice and if you get a 0 everyone passes their cards to the next person in the order of who's turn it is.  So if you are taking turns and going clockwise then you pass your set of cards that way or if anti-clock wise same thing.  It really adds another level to this card game and we were laughing so hard at what was happening.  So you could have one card left and call UNO and then the next player puts a 7 or 0 down and then you lose your hand...it's loads of fun.

The kids made me beautiful hand made Mother's Day cards and some fruit chocolate skewers for breakfast....who doesn't love chocolate for breakfast on Mother's Day.  We had chicken and leek pies for dinner and my daughter made apple crumble and home made ice cream for dessert which was delicious.

One thing I'm very proud of is having both my kids in the kitchen cooking from a very young age and now as teenagers the next phase is evening meals so when they leave home they are not ordering take-away and wasting their money.  Home cooked meals are so much better anyway and it's my job as a Mother to teach them about budgeting, meal prepping for the week and basically one day when they leave home they can look after themselves with a food budget and cook healthy dinners and have leftovers to take to work to save money.  I love this about Motherhood and given they are 16 and 14 I have plenty of time to do this.  Last school holidays they cooked lots of evening meals so I could have a break and they can build up their confidence in the dinner menu...they both love cooking and it works out for everyone. 

Remember the dinner party they put on by themselves which required them to write a menu and shopping list, work out to keep to the $50 budget and actually walk around the shops together and buy the food and then come home, prepare it and cook it  They even put together a play list of songs for the evening and waited on us hand and food...the best $50 ever I ever spent and they loved it.  Once the family can come over again I'll get the kids to do this again as we had a great night.  We even used the special china and white table cloth.

Here's a few photos from our week.

Breakfast treats made by my kids for Mother's Day present.

Mother's Day handmade card.

 I made this Roasted Pumpkin & Cashew Dip...sooooooo delicious.

Afternoon coffee in the backyard.

After dinner UNO with the kids.

Sienna whipped up some pasta for lunch.

Fried Rice for dinner.

On our walk.

Around here - Coronavirus Update

I am posting these details for recording and history purposes on my blog.  The numbers are staggering when you think that every number is a person who has contracted Covid-19 or died as a result of it.  The whole situation is so tragic and the entire world has been affected.

WEEKLY CORONAVIRUS UPDATE

On Thursday the 2nd of April, 2020 I started posting these numbers so I am updating them weekly on a Thursday.  World figures can be seen here.

WORLD WIDE
Wednesday 25-03-2020        World Wide Cases        417,348                Deaths    18,596
Thursday     02-04-2020        World Wide Cases        936,886                Deaths    47,264

Thursday     09-04-2020        World Wide Cases     1,513,243                Deaths    88,403

Thursday     16-04-2020        World Wide Cases     2,084,042                Deaths  134,669

Thursday     23-04-2020        World Wide Cases     2,663,064                Deaths  183,882

Thursday     30-04-2020        World Wide Cases     3,212,993                Deaths  227,784

Thursday     07-05-2020        World Wide Cases     3,812,513                Deaths  264,109

AUSTRALIA
Wednesday 25-03-2020        Australian Cases               2,144                Deaths not sure didn't look
Thursday     02-04-2020        Australian Cases               5,124                Deaths          24

Thursday     09-04-2020        Australian Cases               6,052                Deaths          50

Thursday     16-04-2020        Australian Cases               6,462                Deaths          63 **

Thursday     23-04-2020        Australian Cases               6,649                Deaths          74 **

Thursday     30-04-2020        Australian Cases               6,752                Deaths          91 **

Thursday     07-05-2020        Australian Cases               6,875                Deaths          97 **

** 21 of these deaths are related to the Ruby Princess Cruise that docked in Sydney in March.

** Another death from the ship however the person had flown home to America and passed away overseas.

** 17 deaths are related to two nursing homes.

Most of the cases in Australia have been linked to people returning home from overseas.

To brighten things up here's a few pics from our week.

 Chocolate muffins Sienna made.

Morning coffee.

Pizza sauce I made last week using this recipe from Additive Free Lifestyle.

BBQ Sauce made last week from this recipe from Additive Free Lifestyle.

Lemon & Chia Seed Muffins recipe from Additive Free Lifesytle.  I use half chia and half poppy seeds.

Around here - Week in the Life 2020

This week I am participating in our annual "Week in the Life" photo project which is our 13th year.  It's the brainchild of Ali Edwards a US Storyteller/Scrapbooker and people from all over the world participate documenting their lives for 7 days.  It can be as simple or as detailed as you like.  You could take a photo on the hour, every hour of your day or you could just take a few photos.  The idea is that you document your life right now.  Most people think their lives are boring, particularly since most of us are at home 24/7 at the moment due to ISO thanks to the Coronavirus however it's the collective images of 7 days that tell the story.

If you have a hard time getting your head around it think about what it would be like if your parents or Grandparents handed you a photo album with a 7 day period of their lives.  Their cars would be different, houses, furniture, appliances, decor to name a few.  Think back to the 70's and the orange and brown kitchens that we all loved and the red white & black circle wallpaper my sister and I put up in our bedrooms.  Documenting books, TV shows you enjoy, the foods we eat etc.  Remember those pottery 70's mugs that were brown, olive, mustard ones.  You can still get them at the charity shops and as soon as you see them it evokes feelings of the days gone by.

Not sure if you remember that TV show on last year where the family had to live through the decades it was amazing.  They decorated their house of the era and provided recipes, etc. and what was around eg the kids went to the arcade to play their games and there were no mobile phones so the parents had to wait until the kids got home.  It was such a trip down memory lane as there was a time when they could go out to the Chinese restaurant for dinner as a treat.    The show is called "Back in time for Dinner" and I can highly recommend you watch it particularly if you are Australian.  It is brilliant and so interesting taking you back from when the family had their first computer etc.  It's so good to watch.  Watching this show you can see that they are time warps for history and the Week in the Life project is exactly the same.  What car we drive, what our house looks like, what our clothes look like.  When I was a kid our stereo was a wooden piece of prized furniture in the lounge room which also had the radio as well.  These days our children have phones which play music, no need for even records or CD's.  It's all so nostalgic and I'm passionate about documenting our lives to tell the stories to my own Grandchildren one day in the future.  They will be able to see what their parents lives were like when they were growing up.

Last year we did the "WITL" at the same time which ended in Sunday being Mother's Day and I always take photos of the cards and words that my kids give me and also breakfast in bed.  Last year the kids were going to school every day and this week they are at home learning on line and this is very historic.  Last year we had a hairdresser come to our home to do our hair [and for many years] however I have now changed hair dressers and go to a local salon instead.  Last year I was having coffee at my friends place on acreage and I could hug her, this year all her family are at home working and schooling and we haven't seen each other for weeks and I can't hug her.

Last year we had all the family over for Mother's Day and my kids could hug their Grandmother and currently they still can't see her or do that and we can't gather together for lunch to celebrate Mother's Day.  Last year I was dropping off my daughter to school early for her music lessons and this year she is at home.  I was ironing uniforms and making lunches early in the morning and this year I'm not doing that...yeh for some tasks dropping off my to do list.  I realize that this year is totally way out of the norm however that's the beauty of documenting your life because from one year to the next what is "ordinary" may not be ordinary the next year.

This is a link to my Week in the Life 2012.  Here is another example of Elise's Week in the Life with mostly photos.

I have photos of the kids picking out their DVD's on $1.00 Tuesdays and there are no longer any Video/DVD stores. I have photos of us at the local nursery that was around for 30 years and it's been pulled down with town houses being built on site.  What is our everyday today may not be the same in a year or 2 years down the track.  The beauty of this project is more precious as the years go by.  James was 4 and Sienna was 2 when I first started this project so you can imagine their lives are completely different now and both are taller than me.  This project is amazing and I love doing it every year.  I have a simple format for the day "morning" "midday" "afternoon" and "evening" and I take 4 photos for each.  One vertical photo for a large image and 3 horizontal images.  I've really simplified the format and the number of photos as the years go by and this format is super easy.

Here's some example pages.  I have lots of photos with the kids in them however they are not keen on me posting lots of images of them now they are teenagers so they do feature in a lot of my pages.