I am soooo excited and am bursting to share....I am going to the TEDx event at the Opera house on Saturday with 2000 other mad keen peeps bursting hear all the "ideas worth spreading". This year the catering is managed by Matt Moran with as much of the food as possible provided by the participants through their amazing crowd farming initiative. My humble donation, pictured, inspires me to get my butt into the garden and plant some more produce.
0 Comments
My daughter has been wheat free for just shy of 30 days. She has coped remarkably well...perhaps better than I in fact! It's tough work coping with the removal of an ingredient and I have a renewed and healthier respect for those battling with Coeliac and other ailments that dictate the removal of said ingredient. People tell me that of all of the foods that they have to give up, the most pined for is bread. I could definitely relate to that as I love nothing more than the aroma of baking bread in the wee hours of the morning. A close second is biting into a crunchy crust to reveal a chewy moist interior. I must say I have not had that experience with many gluten free breads. The bread pictured is an adaptation of Cindy O'Meara's recipe. It is a little cakey as it contains eggs and I will experiment further but for now it is a perfectly acceptable loaf. Here is mine. Enjoy. The new Australian Dietary Guidelines for healhty Eating were launched on Monday 18th February and the much anticipated publication (due out in second year of my Nutrition studies...I am now in my fourth) has attracted truckloads of comments, some anguished, some scathing and a few mild (that's the most positive level of commentary.) My favourite comment: It's all rather hauntingly reminiscent of Michael Pollan's gnomic seven word guidelines: 'Eat food; not too much; mostly plants.'
55,000 peer reviewed evidence based articles are said to have been considered in the writing of the guidelines. Australians are advised to reduce the consumption of added sugar, saturated fat especially cakes, pies, confectionary, alcohol, cream, chips, salami and soft drinks. The food industry is outraged...all except the Dairy industry whose piece of the nutritional and presumably therefore financial pie has not changed one iota. Food sustainability experts are cranky - there is still apparently too much food on the plate to be eaten. I think fruit and veggie growers will be happy - no change there so we still need to eat two and a half cups of veggies or 5 cups of salad day (or mix it up a little). If you are interested here is the conversation and here are the guidelines for adults and children. Ponder and enjoy. My 11 year old is helping with food styling....mmmm...we both need professional help! She says it tastes better out of a jar and that's fine by me. We have been a little adventurous with our smoothies lately and the vast majority of them have been green. Yes one of my children had a mini tantrum when presented with it, a little reminiscent of the Green eggs and ham character who is harassed relentlessly by Sam-I-Am. Green smoothies are just so vogue right now so you really must try one. (Tip request that child closes eyes to taste and all will be well. This I did with my second Guinea pig and she deemed it delicious.) Tanti throwing child also came around and reluctantly admitted that the kale could not be tasted and that the smoothie was ...yummy. Below is the recipe for the classic banana, strawberry smoothie. NO Tantrums guaranteed. Banana & Strawberry Smoothie/ icecream 1 tablespoon linseeds 1 tablespoon chia seeds 1/4 cup activated almonds (soaked in acidulated water overnight) 1/2 cup shredded coconut 3 frozen bananas 1 cup frozen strawberries 1/2 cup yoghurt water to thin Process the seeds in your thermomix or blender. Add almonds and coconut and process until smooth. Add remaining ingredients. Process until well blended. The mix will be solid like ice-cream. Now you have a choice. If you would like the thinner smoothie version, add iced water as desired half - whole cup. Blend and pour. If you like the look of the more solid version below. Simply spoon into a glass and serve with a spoon. Either way enjoy. Thelma and I have bonded. It is a fantastic feeling. She is so helpful in the kitchen. I feel like I have a kitchen fairy.
The one thing I detested in the kitchen was the washing up! I think it has halved since she arrived. I am now the risotto queen - Asian crab last night. mmmm. Demo at my place on Thursday 13th December 11am. We will make; mango sorbet creamy garlic and herb dip mushroom risotto beetroot salad & custard speedy crusty bread rolls This is a free event. If you are interested, please book in. Christmas gift cooking class vouchers available for 2013
Your Christmas Gift Voucher will come wrapped in a delicious bar of nutty christmas nougat (a little like Willy Wonka's Golden ticket.) Christmas special $90 including the nougat or $65 for kids' classes For orders please email Nourishing Nosh. Childrens' classes will be held in the week of January 14 - 18. Adults' classes will recommence in February (unless there is a demand for a January class.) We often talk about hiding the vegetables in meals from the kiddies. To be honest I find it really difficult myself sometime to eat the daily recommended amount of veggies. Fruit recommendations (2 per day) I find easy to eat as we usually have a fruit smoothie for breaky or afternoon tea. The NHMRC (National Health and Medical Research Council) recommends 5 serves a day - that's 2.5 cups of veggies or 5 cups of salad. Diana from the Natural Chemist also tells us that 50% of the food on our plates should be vegetables. When you take a moment to visualise your daily consumption patterns, most people realise that it can be tricky to eat enough veggies. We all know that Vegetables are full of vitamins and minerals and we mostly know why our bodies need them. for example Vitamin C is an antioxidant and the B vitamins are critical in the production of energy in our bodies. What is less well understood is the benefits of the phytochemicals in vegetables. It is believed that it is the phytochemicals that protect us from chronic diseases such as heart disease, artherosclerosis, diabetes and stroke. We have an ancient juicer (that has to be coaxed into finishing the job somedays but I don't love the concept of composting all of that gorgeous fibre.) Check out the veggie smoothie I made today. It is so smooth and so delicious I just had to show you a piccie. Veggie Smoothie 1 whole carrot, chopped 1 whole orange, peeled 1 stalk celery, chopped 1 whole vine ripened tomato 3cm cube beetroot, halved few sprigs parsley tray of ice cubes 125ml water to thin (plus extra if desired) Place all ingredients in the thermomix. Process at speed 10 for 2 minutes. You might wish to add more water for a thinner more juice like consistency. The one I made is thick like a boost style juice (but about $5 cheaper). Enjoy! The 2012 canned tuna guide compiled by Greenpeace supersedes the 2011 guide. There are fewer choices contained therein, but a lot more pole and line caught options. It seems Greenpeace is not presenting the brands purely using FADs (Fish aggregating devices) for fishing.
The Greenpeace website offers an explanation of the ranking system and includes some of the following criteria.
The link to this page is on the Nourishing Nosh Sustainability page Thelma (the new Thermomix & Kit's replacement) unlike her movie namesake is headstrong, powerful and completely predictable... I am told. Thelma arrived last Wednesday.
To me she is still a total mystery! I am not really the instruction manual reading type (one of my few flaws) and I do cook by feel, rather than recipe book regimentation, so Thelma and I do not always see eye to eye. I realise as the alpha cook in the relationship that our success as a team rests pretty much on my shoulders. So I must keep them horizontal and step it up a notch. My husband, his hungry eyes evaluating one of last week's meals with which Thelma had helped, said he felt as though he had come home to a novice cook's experiment and he was intrigued to know what else I could do with my new $1939 investment. That's all I needed really - a challenge! I read the manual. I read the basics cook book. It made a difference. We understand each other better now. I cooked the basics. I made butter & babaganoush, whipped cream, cooked rice, steamed beans, made sorbet, juices, smoothies (with celery that no-one even detected), cooked mushroom & spinach risotto (and yes to the purists, it was just perfect.) I made an entire meal with the steamer including rice, vegetables, chicken and a creamy tomato sauce. I made bread dough with buckwheat, concentrated vegetable stock, hommus, herby cream cheese dip, beetroot salad (twice) and a gluten free blueberry chocolate cake. This morning I made sweet dukkah and cinnamon, quinoa porridge. Remember Thelma arrived last Wednesday. Thelma has been completely predictable. I am happy. My husband is not scared to come home for dinner. Life is good. Yesterday my food processor kicked the bucket. She was a fabulous draught horse of a kitchen appliance. Not much to look at or talk about, a sensible, frumpy, hard working model. She had toiled tirelesssly beside me for years, 10 in fact. She was a loyal, compliant member of the kitchen team. Her name was Kit.
Replacing Kit had been on my mind for a couple of years. Being a member of the cutting edge healthy foodie business, it is of course my duty to ensure I am up to date with all of the latest kitchen gadgets...and yet the thought of jumping on the Thermomix train made me a little scared of losing that wonderful traditional wholesome cooking experience. Would the thermomix replace all that I hold dear in my beautiful kitchen? The wooden spoon, the french oven and the egg beater - yes I know that most people think this is a party trick these days but I still have one! On Tuesday morning I attended a thermomix cooking demonstration. I did not tell Kit. The demonstrator was a friend of mine, a brand spanking new consultant, a cult virgin. She did a great job. She sold a machine and signed up a new consultant. That afternoon, Kit helped me make a batch of Bliss Balls. When cleaning up I could not remove the food processor bowl from the motor. Kit looked a little pale. I filled her with water and ran out the door to the New Thermomix consultant's sign up meeting... When I came home, Kit had been washed and was sitting peacefully on the drying up rack. I replaced her bowl on the motor and then tried to refit the blade. I could not help her. The blade shaft was cracked in two places. I think it was her telling me it was time to move on. Thank you Kit for all you have done for me and my family and friends. I took it as a sign that I had done the right thing. I had not rushed out and bought the newest kitchen applicance and thrown out a perfectly good one. I did not feel guilt as my husband and I carried her tenderly to the garbage bin and bid her a fond farewell. So now with the mourning period over I embark on a new relationship with a new kitchen appliance and I feel that the time is right. |
Categories
All
Archives
April 2021
|