Zucchini slice

I am utterly exhausted after the last few weeks. My Dad had an emergency surgery days before Christmas, we had family from all over come in for Christmas, which is always a lot of work, we made Christmas hampers for friends, we've had issues at the farm, yesterday I had the funeral of my beloved Great Uncle and I'm spent.

I already have 14 demos booked for January and I am very aware that before I know it, school will be back. I want to have lots of readily accessible meals on hand for when I'm working during the day, and for the kids lunches. Today I decided to whip up a family favourite as well to pop in the freezer for the busy days. 

I farm eggs amongst other things.  From time to time my seconds, (eggs I can't sell) are more plentiful than others and I have an abundance at the moment. I decided to whip up a zucchini slice. I wanted it wheat free and full of veggies, with some beautiful Christmas ham and lots of eggs.  The kids don't eat meat so I whipped them up a roasted pumpkin and parsnip version. 

The Thermomix made the job easy grating cheese, milling oats into flour and chopping herbs, mincing ham and whipping eggs in seconds.  I chose to grate the zucchini and carrots so they looked pretty. I kept the ingredients simple, ham, cheese, onion (and parsnip which I hate, so I chopped them small with the onions) carrot, zucchini, herbs and eggs. 

Ingredients:- 

200g oats 

1 heaped teaspoon baking powder 200g ham (or bacon)
150g cheese

1 onion
1 parsnip
2 large zucchinis
1 carrot
1 large handful herbs (whatever is in your garden)
12 eggs

Method:-

Put oats into Thermomix (or high powered food processor) bowl with baking powder, and mill on speed 9 for 20 seconds. Pour oat flour into large bowl.Place cheese cut into 2cm chunks into bowl and process at speed 9 for 10 seconds, until finely grated, add to bowl with oat flour. Place ham into bowl, process for 5 seconds at speed 9 (or until minced to your liking) then add to oats and cheese. Add parsnip and onion into bowl and chop speed 7 for 4 seconds add this to the bowl with oat flour, onions etc.  You can grate zucchini and carrot in the Thermomix if you so desire, but I chose to grate them by hand and add to the mixing bowl.
Take your herbs and chop at speed 7 for 3 seconds, then add 12 eggs to the Thermomix bowl and process at speed 8 for 10 seconds. There is no need to rinse the bowl between each addition, as the eggs will take anything left over in the bowl and they'll be poured out with the eggs. Add eggs to other ingredients, and mix until well combined.
Put mixture into large baking dish or rectangular pyrex dish and cook for 20 mins at 180° or until cooked through.

 

Variation (vegetarian)
Place onion, pumpkin and parsnip into baking dish and roast.
Mill flour with baking powder, grate cheese, grate zucchini and mix with 12 beaten eggs and herbs. Take roasted vegetables from oven, and add wet mixture to tray of vegetables and return to oven until cooked through. 

Now that the cooking is over, and a taste test has been conducted, I am going to have a lay down on the couch and watch one of the DVD's my sister gave me for Christmas!

I wish all my readers a wonderful new year, filled with love, family, good health and real food.

M xx

Saving money on pet food

Today just a super quick post about saving  money on pet food. Our pets just like us do much better with health when fed a nutrient dense diet, filled with a wide variety of foods to give them lots of different nutrients.

Today while grocery shopping I purchased around $20 worth of organ meat (livers, hearts), chicken giblets, and pet mince. Collectively, around 10kg. I also gathered the veggies from the fridge that were past their best and some lentils and rice and some eggs that I couldn't sell. 

I used the Thermomix steaming basket to cook up brown rice, white rice, green lentils and red lentils.  I cut up the chicken hearts and liver, and minced the giblets and the lamb hearts and diced the veggies.  I even threw the egg shells into the Thermomix to crush the eggshells.  

I packaged the pet food into used food containers to go in the freezer. I got around about a months supply of food for the dog and the cat (as we also use dry food)

We used to buy our pet food from a the local dog store where our dog does puppy classes, at a cost of $15 per week (which was only for the dog). The cost to produce a month supply in the Thermomix was around $25. A monthly saving for us of around $40 - and we know exactly what is going into the dog (and cat's) belly!

We love our furry friends as much as we love our kids, so of course they should Just Eat Real Food too!! 

Yogurt

I've been super busy with family obligations of late - and haven't had time to blog.
I promised a few customers a quick yogurt tutorial - so here it is.

Yogurt is so very good for you. It's full of good nutrients, lots of gorgeous beneficial bacteria (sometimes we even add probiotic tablets to the milk) and it tastes delicious! 

The basic steps are heat milk to 90° and add (optional) gelatin
Cool milk below 40°
Add starter and mix - put in Thermoserver for 8 hours!

It really is that easy to have perfect yogurt. Every. Single. Time.

Here is a pictorial of our latest raspberry vanilla yogurt.

Enjoy

edit - I have had a couple of customers have this recipe fail.  I use a very creamy non homogenised milk with a high fat content.  If you use regular store bought milk consider adding 300ml cream to your yogurt.  With 2 tbsp gelatin it will be creamy and set beautifully.  

Milk and a Thermomix, not much more required to make yogurt

Pour  1.5 litres milk into Thermomix

Add 2 tablespoons gelatin - 20.00 mins, 90°c  speed 4

Allow milk to cool to 40°c (this should take around 1 hour)
 then add 100-200grams of starter yogurt withheld from previous batch then mix 15 sec speed 7

Pour into Thermoserver

8 hours later, thick, creamy yogurt

Whisk yogurt to mix whey and cream (if using unhomogenized milk)

Add vanilla (or any other flavouring)

Put Raspberries and Rice malt syrup in Thermomix
Cook for 10 mins at 110° speed 2

Raspberry Syrup for mixing through yogurt

Pour yogurt into glass jars, and swirl raspberry syrup through yogurt.

Cultures

My friend Jules lead me to fermenting and culturing. She is an incredible woman who has worked so hard to repair her body using the power of food. Her and I have the same autoimmune disorder, but you'd never know it with her. She also has a barrage of other health issues, but she works so hard to ensure that she is almost always symptom free.

She has helped me so much in working toward regaining my health, and the health of my kids. She has supported me over the years through many of our family's dietary changes to work toward improving our gut health. I will be forever grateful to have had her love and support, and my family will be indebted to her for a long time for the way she's changed our life.

She has taught me about kombucha, kefir, kvass, vegetable fermenting, and this has led me to looking at other fermenting and culturing also. We always have yogurt, and sourdough starters made using the finest of ingredients. We quite often have veggies culturing in jars on the bench. We love these foods, which have become part of our life.

Today I'll talk briefly about the drinks and I'll provide lots of links for you to further research from experts. If you're on facebook, like the page CARNA - it Jules page. Also Sandor Katz is considered to be one of the world's leading experts in fermentation. He has lots of youtube videos, check him out.



Kombucha.

Kombucha is a fermented tea drink which has been around for over 2000 years. It uses sweetened tea to host and feed a SCOBY- symbiotic colony of beneficial yeast. It's very easy to make, and requires not much more than making tea, adding sugar, cooling it down, adding a scoby and covering it with cloth. We keep ours in a dark cupboard as they don't like light. A month to six weeks later, we pour it into bottles add fresh fruit or dried fruit, sometimes fruit juice, turmeric, ginger......whatever is on hand.

A brewed kombucha with the scoby floating on top of the tea. 

Kombucha is a very powerful detoxifying drink. There is conjecture regarding if it carries strains of probiotic bacteria, (you can make up your mind after reading the articles I link) but all agree it's detoxifying qualities are immense.   We use it as a digestive aid, as it has been reported to help with digestive health. I take it to detox my liver and kidneys, as I have had issues with both in the past. 

Pouring the kombucha into glass bottles for the second ferment.

Second fermenting with turmeric and strawberries, and honey and sultanas.

http://www.foodrenegade.com/kombucha-health-benefits/

http://www.seedsofhealth.co.uk/fermenting/kombucha.shtml
http://www.naturalnews.com/041051_kombucha_healthy_drinks_scoby.html
http://www.culturesforhealth.com/water-kefir-versus_kombucha-tea

Water Kefir.

Water kefir is a probiotic beverage made with water kefir grains. Water kefir grains consist of bacteria and yeast existing in a symbiotic relationship. The term kefir grains describes the look of the culture only.  The grains are fed from the sugar in the water, and a second ferment (after the grains are removed) using fruit or juice makes the drink sweet and palatable.  This link shows the 57 strains of bacteria found in water kefir.  http://www.culturesforhealth.com/water-kefir-grains-composition-bacteria-yeast These strains are known to be beneficial with a myriad of health concerns, ranging from cancer, to autism to autoimmune illnesses. The great thing about water kefir is you get a new batch every couple of days. 

The front bottle is the first ferment, you can see the grains at the bottom of the bottle. The two bottles behind are second ferments using fruit. They are going to lightly carbonate. 

A lovely fizzy apricot water kefir. 

http://www.modernalternativehealth.com/2013/07/25/the-health-benefits-of-water-kefir-and-how-to-make-it/
http://www.growyouthful.com/recipes/water-kefir.php
http://nourishedkitchen.com/water-kefir/
http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2011/04/how-to-make-water-kefir.html

Milk Kefir.

Milk kefir isn't a favourite in our house. We don't love the taste. So I hide it, in smoothies usually. I really want the kids to have it, as it is the cultured drink that contains the most beneficial probiotic strains. It is super easy to make, just adding grains to milk, and culturing it a couple of days - and it has so much goodness in it.

Here are the strains http://www.culturesforhealth.com/milk-kefir-grains-composition-bacteria-yeast in your milk kefir.

Milk Kefir. The bottle on the left has the grains in it, the one on the right
is from the last batch. It'll go into a smoothie. 

http://www.growyouthful.com/recipes/kefir.php

http://www.kefir.net/kefir-benefits/
http://www.benefitsofkefir.com/probiotic-benefits-of-milk-kefir-and-water-kefir/
http://products.mercola.com/body-ecology/kefir.htm
http://www.naturalnews.com/024477_kefir_bacteria_probiotics.html

Yeast and milk kefir sourdough starter.

We use milk kefir in our sourdough starter. It's basically bread yeast, milk kefir, bread flour and water. We let it culture for a few days on the bench, then use it in place of yeast in our bread. It gives a delicious sourdough taste. The yeast and most of the bacteria is killed off in the cooking process, but gee it tastes good.

Our 'fermentation station' on the kitchen bench. We always have something brewing up.

Here are a few more links to more fermenting information.

http://www.changinghabits.com.au/probiotics-and-fermented-foods
http://www.wildfermentation.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i77hU3zR-fQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmDtbvRZnw4

As I said, I'm no expert - and as with all our kitchen adventures, this is trial and error too. I do know how much better we feel when we take these beautiful things. Live cultures really make a difference to your health.


As always, enjoy your kitchen adventures - and just eat real foods.

Marney x

My story - and why we live the way we do.

This morning I read, correlation doesn't equate to causation.
The scientific part of my brain knows this to be true - but sometimes, you only have your own empirical evidence to rely on. Sometimes that is all the proof you need.

This is my story. It is based on my own empirical observations and 'experiments' into improving our family's health.  I am not telling my story in an attempt to persuade anyone to alter their family's current health treatments. I am just telling the story to show the way our family has dealt with health issues. I'm telling this story, to empower mothers to study, research and learn as much as they can about how to ensure your kids have the best shot at health.

I have 2 kids. Both on the Autism Spectrum.

My son was really healthy, he never cried, never was sick, may have taken antibiotics 3 times in his life. He had his tonsils out at age 2, and has never had any major health issues. He is now almost 14, and rarely misses school due to illness, and reported his very first headache to me at age 12 (which was part of a virus). He is a normal healthy child.

My daughter is the polar opposite. It honestly feels like she was born to be sick. She was born so congested she couldn't feed. I had to express into a syringe to feed her. She was diagnosed with failure to thrive within weeks of birth, she always had a cold, a runny nose and she ended up in the 2% for weight. She was scarily thin, and I had no idea what to do.

She cried 18 hours a day. 18 FRIGGIN' HOURS A DAY - for around 12-18 months. By the age of 12 months old, she'd had at least 6 courses of antibiotics. By age 3, she'd had 10 burst ear drums from severe infections despite having 2 lots of grommets. She's had her tonsils and adenoids out before her second birthday.

By age 10, she'd had 6 sets of grommets. 27 (yes TWENTY SEVEN) burst ear drums.  She had also had over 50 courses of antibiotics. She's had 5 myringoplasty surgeries, one which involved cutting of her entire ear to try to repair the damage caused by the grommets. She had a canalplasty, which involved boring out her ear canal for better surgical visibility for future surgeries. Every surgery involved more antibiotics, and longer courses of them as she became resistant. Recently, an audiologist put a fibre optic camera in her ears to show us the damage. Her entire ear drum is scar tissue. She'll probably never have normal hearing.

She missed at least 10 weeks of school a year, sometimes 12. Considering a school year is 40 weeks, it meant she missed a lot of school. She is in grade 6 and has missed more than a full year and a half of school. We are very fortunate that she is an incredibly intelligent girl, as it hasn't affected her and she is an amazing student - but an average student would have suffered with their learning!

Around age 10, I had to take her to the pediatrician (again) as it seemed she'd developed allergies. After testing we discovered a lot of allergies. Ranging from dust mites to grasses. We were advised to do drop therapy that would have cost us around $10,000, pull the carpet out of her room, paint the house with mold proof paint. Keep her indoors in spring, and give her high dose antihistamines every day for the rest of her life.

She also had constant stomach pains for several years. Debilitating cramps that had her in tears. The GP's always put it to a glandular issue that was linked to her constant ear, nose, throat, chest and urinary tract infections. I told the pediatrician I suspected she had a wheat intolerance. He told me that if you didn't have an actual allergy - you had nothing and that 'food intolerances' were a way for overprotective mothers to control their children. He proceeded to tell me food had nothing to do with her health issues. He suspected she had an immune disease.  He then ordered blood tests for every immune disease under the sun.  That was the last time my children saw  a pediatrician.

I didn't know what to do next. I was sure that she had a food intolerance. She would get cramps within half an hour of eating bread. Sometimes she'd be in tears.  I decided to take her off all wheat. Within 2 weeks, all the pain had stopped. Completely.  I was cynical about naturopaths, after having taken her to one as an infant only to discover she was a dud. I knew I had to do something different though, so I decided to give another one a shot.

It was an interesting experience for me, taking my child to a naturopath. I by nature believe in science. At uni, I studied a Bachelor of Science,  data, research methodology and empirical evidence are important to me - they're what I know. How my brain works.  I will admit, taking her to that office I was the biggest cynic about naturopathy. I had already been burned once, and I was chastising myself for even booking an appointment.  When he started a physiospect I can tell you my cynicism was escalated to a point it's never seen.

I was quite withholding with information, as I wanted him to tell me what was wrong - and I wanted this physiospect to prove itself to me! Without going into to much personal detail, I'll tell you that after about 40 minutes I believed unequivocally in this machine. The naturopath was able to tell me in detail every health ailment that my child had. The most troubling was the state of inflammation in her gut and her head. There were cells in her gut that were pre-cancerous. At age 10!  He put her on some supplements, and together we changed her diet.

The supplements she was on managed to really help her start to regain her health. She had 16 warts under her feet, which doctors had tried in vain to dry ice off numerous times. They went away completely within 2 weeks. They have not returned 3 years later. We worked really, really hard on her diet. We eliminated dairy, wheat, many grains, fruits and all nightshades. Her diet was so very restricted, and it was really, really hard. Fortunately, with all the research I'd done, I was confident she'd be able to tolerate all of these foods when we got rid of her inflammation issues.

Around this time, I was accepted into the Australian College of Natural Therapies and Endeavour College to study Nutritional Medicine. I was so happy - I was going to use the power of food to heal my daughter (and my own fibromyalgia and depression) completely. This was the time I found out my Dad had cancer. My world collapsed. I knew I couldn't leave my family at this time, I didn't want to take my babies to the city so I didn't accept either place. I always decided I'd go back to my study at some point. To date, I haven't. I'm not sure I will now, because I am more interested in preventative healthcare using food as medicine. I think Hippocrates was onto something!

I can honestly say, I haven't stopped studying. Every day I am still looking for answers, for ways that food can help to give us optimal health. All of us are doing great now. Each of us has done elimination diets, based on our own body's needs. Each of us knows the foods that will inflame us, the foods that heal us. We all self monitor and regulate. We listen to our bodies. We are getting healthier by the day. My son and I have lost weight, everyone has more energy. All of us have less illness.

My daughter had one more surgery after we changed our healthcare from the allopathic system to a holistic system. It was in an attempt to repair the eardrums further - another myringoplasty surgery (to fix holes left in the eardrums from grommets). We didn't give her antibiotics after the surgery. We gave her a supplement. She healed faster, and didn't get sick. She has only had ONE course of antibiotics in almost 3 years. For her, this feels like a miracle.  I can't actually begin to describe the changes in her. Her medically diagnosed allergies seem to have gone away. Her inflammation levels are very low. She's replacing the gut bacteria with probiotics. She can eat the foods that cause her inflammation (in small quantities) without pain. She is happy. She is healthy.

As a parent, knowing the things I know now I would never have done things the way I did. I wouldn't have let her have all the antibiotics I did. I just didn't know. I didn't know they kill all the beneficial bacteria our bodies need to thrive. I didn't know that the beneficial bacteria in our gut protect us from allergens. I didn't know the food I was putting into my daugther was making her sick.  I can't change the past, as much as I'd like to, I refuse to chastise myself for choices I made before I knew any better. All I can do now, is learn as much as I can, and try as many 'experiments' as I can to improve my families health.

I see friends travelling the same path with their kids. I just want to give them a big hug. I know how hard it is to constantly feel sick. To be so tired you can barely cope. To constantly take time off work to look after sick kids (to the point I didn't work for years, as it was impossible to get months a year off to look after a sick child). I don't know how to help them. I do know, maybe, if I share my story - their kids won't suffer the way my kid did.  We are so dependent on allopathic medicine - we believe there is a pill for every ill. We've forgotten to listen to our bodies, to nourish and protect them. If my story helps just one mother to empower herself to change her child's health, then I'm a happy lady.

I can't tell everyone to stop using a doctor, or to change to a naturopath or holistic practitioner. But I can tell them that the power of food is something that is so important. It has the power to heal.

So my story ends here - with correlation and causation. Perhaps the correlation between us changing to a holistic approach and my child's improved health mean nothing. They don't prove causation. Scientifically speaking there is no proof that changing treatments caused her to become well. But as a Mother, I don't care. My child is well, my family is healthier and that is all the proof I need.


So, just eat real food!!

Much love - Marney xxx

P.S - comments always welcome! I'm really interested to know your thoughts.


Edit:  She also had 'hereditary Asthma'. For years she had steroids daily, as well as massive quantities of Ventolin. I was told given the strong family prevalence of asthma on both sides of the family that it was genetic, and inevitable. She would have it for life. She would require medication for it for life. She hasn't taken any asthma medication for over 3 years. She hasn't had a single asthmatic episode for over 3 years.  (Her history is so long, I honestly forget to mention things - but Asthma is a biggie hence the edit).

Renée's Immune Boost Juice

So my beautiful bestie has been sick - and her work has her slammed at the moment. She's had a cold for weeks and needs a mega immune boosting pick me up. 

I told her I'd come up with a quick juice that she could throw in the Thermy that will help her immune system to get her well. 

Teresa Cutter is one of Australia's most renowned wholefood nutritionists, I have been following her for quite a while, she's a wonderful source of information. She has a great post on immune foods which you can read here.  

Here is my juice for Renée, using some of the foods from Teresa's top 10 immune boosters.


Ingredients :- 

100g or 2 oranges (with skin and pith removed)

50g or 1/2 lemon (with a peeler, remove a little zest, then deskin and remove pith)

50g or 1 small carrot
75 g fresh pineapple
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 tablespoon manuka honey
500g water

Method:- 

Put all ingredients except water in Thermomix, process at speed 6 for 20 seconds. Add water to bowl and process or a further 40 seconds at speed 8.

I used a fine wire mesh sieve to strain the juice, but you can use the TM basket if you don't mind a little pith. I made a double batch, because let's face it - it's delicious, and refined sugar free - so it's a great morning juice for Sugar Free September! 

Sticky Date Puddings for my Dad.

So my dad has the big C. He's been sick for a couple of years, and has nearly died a couple of times now, he has been so lucky - and every day I'm thankful he's still with us.  He's hanging on, and has gotten his fight back.

My entire birth family has an entirely different food philosophy to me, choosing to adhere to the Standard Australian Diet - consisting of many wonderful and healthy meats and vegetables, but also full of chemicals, toxins, sugar, wheat and refined products.

Mum and Dad are more than aware of how I choose to eat and feed my family, and I've offered them advice in the past, particularly about the sugar, tumour growth research - but it's fallen on deaf ears. It's not my place to tell them what to eat, so I give them any information I may come across, and leave them to it. What I won't do, is intentionally feed them things that I know will make them sick - so when I was asked to bring dessert to tomorrow's bbq lunch - I decided to try to make healthy one of Dad's favourites. Sticky Date Pudding!!

Typically, this has over 400g of sugar in it and is made using wheat flour. I wanted to make the cake itself sugar free, using organic medjool dates and locally sourced honey to sweeten. The toffee sauce has organic black strap molasses (as Dad's blood counts are low, and molasses is rich in iron) and organic rapadura sugar, which contains many valuable nutrients.

I decided to make it grain free as well, and the cake itself is dairy free. I used almond milk and lots of eggs, to make it protein rich, to help improve his muscle tone after weeks in a hospital bed.  So, I hope you like it Dad. (Of course Dad doesn't read this blog - but I still hope he loves it). 

Ingredients

Puddings 

3 egg whites
3 egg yolks
1 whole egg
14 medjool dates (dry dates soaked overnight would also work)
1 teaspoon chia seeds
170g almond milk
50g honey
50g coconut oil
50g butter
50g almond flour
40g coconut flour
1 heaped teaspoon baking powder

Separate 3 eggs, reserve yolks. Put egg whites in TMX bowl and insert butterfly. Whip eggs on speed 4 until they're light and hold form. Remove from bowl and put aside for later.

Put pitted dates, chia and almond milk in TMX bowl, cook for 4 mins at 60° speed 3. Then add all other ingredients (except egg whites) and process for 1 minute, speed 9 or until smooth texture is achieved. Reinsert butterfly and egg whites, and mix for 20 seconds at speed 3.

Cook in well greased muffin pans at 170° until a skewer inserted into centre comes out clean.


Caramel sauce

100g rapadura sugar
90g butter
300ml pure cream
1 tsp vanilla bean paste

Put rapadura in TMX bowl and mill for 20sec speed 9, then add all remaining ingredients. Cook at 60° speed 4 for 4 minutes.

Pour sauce over warm cakes, and serve with custard, cream or ice-cream.

Enjoy, and don't forget, just eat real food!!

Marney x

Failsafe Quiche - and farewell Robin Williams

Today is such a sad day. My heart is breaking just a little bit. As someone who has struggled with depression, my heart breaks for Robin Williams and his family. I empathetically cried today for the heartbreak that comes with losing a husband, a father and a friend. I've also cried because I will miss him. He changed my life. Oh Captain my Captain. Carpe Diem. Gooooooooood Morning Vietnam. You all know what I mean.

The knowledge that depression took him, hits too close to home. I feel blessed that in my darkest moments, I still saw the light at the end of the darkness. I am so sad that he didn't see that.

R.I.P Robin. You will be missed by millions. You made the world a happier place.

Being sad often makes me want to eat - so today I whipped up a few quiches. 

My quiches are so easy - and taste great. There is a base, and you can fill them with whatever you like!!

Failsafe Quiche

sHORTCRUST PASTRY (THERMOMIX RECIPE)

200g Spelt Flour
100g chilled cubed butter
pinch salt
50-60g cold water

Place flour, butter and salt into TM bowl and mix for 10 seconds on speed 6.

Add water and mix a further 5-6 seconds on speed 6 to form a rough dough.  Add water as necessary to bind.

Turn mixture onto floured bench knead lightly.

If you don't have a Thermomix, you can use the same recipe with a high powered food processor, or you can buy shortcrust pastry.

Roll pastry into the dish then add whatever you'd like in your quiche.

I usually put around 100g bacon or ham, with 50g cheese and then  spinach, or kale, or broccoli florets. You can add onion, garlic, any vegetable you like. 3/4 fill the prepared base.

Then, depending on the size of the quiche, use 2 eggs for each 1/2 cup cream.  Sprinkle with cheese and put in a 180° oven until it rises fully and is slightly browned. 

note: The pastry is so easy to whip up, and lasts well in the fridge. Quite often I'll make a double mix and wrap half in the fridge. It makes a super quick dinner if you have the dough pre made.  You can roll it as thick or as thin as you'd like too! 

Let me know how you go with the quiche, if you enjoy it, and what you put in it!

Remember guys, just eat real food.

Marney x 

Lasagne

Two things happened today that made me sad. The first was when I heard on t.v that I should google 'am I pretty' and look at the video results.  There were well in excess of two and a half million results on the web. I was astounded to see there are over 650,000 video results alone!

The second was seeing a commercial for a new TV show called 'Bringing Sexy Back'. The basic premise of the show seems to be people being unhappy with how they look, dreaming of looking the way they do in photos that are decades old.

What is the common theme for today's upset? Beauty. Our society puts such importance on physical beauty, to a point that 9 year olds are asking the world if they're pretty. They're wearing make-up and all the right clothes, but they're still not as pretty as girls in magazines, or other girls at school. They compare themselves with the physical attributes of others, and they can't measure up. Did I mention they're 9 years old?

25 years ago, just before I hit my teen years, I started to notice I was 'fat'. My sister, who was a couple of years older than me was very slight, she was around a size 6 naturally. I was a size 10 - standing next to her, I was huge. I grew up in the 80's in a family that joke to show they care, and compliments were doled out very rarely, to avoid conceit.  My nickname was Norm. Kids of the 80's will remember the Life Be in It advertisements of the day? A big, fat, lazy guy sitting around in a chair. That was me, or at least how I learned to see myself - Norm.



As a teenager, I hung at the fringe. There were others like me, and they'd sit with me in class, sometimes hang out with me in the yard, but for the most part, I was alone. I went further with boys than I wanted to, because I just wanted affection and attention. I wanted someone to love me, to approve of me, to think I was pretty. I ran away from home at 16 to live with a guy I thought was the love of my life, because finally I found someone who thought I was beautiful. I nearly married him for the same reason, despite the fact we weren't good together. 

Years later after speaking to others from the fringe groups at my high school, they felt similar feelings. Alone, unattractive, seeking approval and love, kindness and friendship. Things that weren't given by all those perfect girls, the popular ones with the jock boyfriends that were just so damn hot. They were so beautiful that the boys wanted to date them, not just make out with them behind the building so no-one would see - like they did with me. Oh how I wanted to be them. They had the right clothes, the right shoes, the right hair, and they were just so fucking beautiful. I was ugly, so I had to hide behind a make-up mask and lots of hair.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate pretty just as much as the next girl. I have occasional moments of having my breath taken away by a set of rock hard abs, muscular shoulders or piercing blue eyes. What I'm getting at is that it's not the most important thing. In fact, it's not really important at all. 

So when I see a T.V show that has grown adults striving to look like they did as young adults, it makes me so sad. Beautiful women, many who are loving wives and mothers who hate the way they look. I would never want to go back to who I was then, I'm finally me. I am beautiful. I am happy. I don't need your approval. I don't need things. I don't need the right clothes, the right hair. My body is most certainly not what it was back then, but I don't care. I have housed two humans in there. My body is amazing. It grew two people - made from scratch.

My amazing body isn't what it used to be. It's much bigger. Mostly because of how I chose to treat it.  For the better part of two decades I lived on a diet of toxins. Cigarettes, alcohol, chips chocolates and any other crap I could find. It made me unhealthy and sick. Hindsight tells me I was eating away emotional issues, which gave me very real physical problems. For the last 4 years, I've been studying wholefoods and eating to restore health. When what went in my mouth started to change, my head changed. I stopped being so sick, but I also stopped thinking so negatively. I actually started to like myself.

To my three devoted readers, I ask this of you, teach your daughters that what is on the outside is not as important as what is on the inside. Teach your sons to respect women, and look beyond appearance. Instill a sense of self in your kids that isn't dependant on what other people think of them. Teach your kids that kindness toward other people, a sense of humour, the desire to help people worse off than yourself, intelligence, a social conscience, a love of nature, passion for life and a killer smile are all so much more important than pretty. Also, teach your kids to honour and respect their body. To love it, nurture it and care for it. Don't let them get into their 30's before they start to nourish it. Teach them young. Teach them well. Teach them to just eat real food!!




Now for my lasagne - it's not a recipe, it's a guide. I think a good bolognese is a really personal thing, and everyone tends to make their own version. The way I make my Bolognese has evolved from my mother's recipe, which is chunky and delicious!

Yesterday for the very first time I made the pasta for my lasagne, which I really enjoyed and found to be lots of fun! I made the dough in the Thermomix in about 90 seconds.

Dough

300g flour  (I actually used wheat as it was for someone else)
3 large free-range eggs
15g Olive oil
1/2 tsp salt

Put all ingredients into TM bowl and mix speed 6 for 6 seconds. Then knead for 2 mins. Remove from bowl, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 mins. Then using your pasta machine, roll out to desired thickness (that's the fun part!!)


Sauce


2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
500g minced beef
2 carrots
1 large stick celery
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil

1/2 cup red wine
1 tbsp veggie stock paste
1 tin diced tomato (plus 1 tin water)
1/4 cup tomato paste

This section can be done in the TM or on the cooktop. I wrote it for the cooktop - because that is how I prefer to do my sauce.

Crush garlic, dice onion, carrot, celery. Add oil to large fry pan on medium heat. Gently sweat off garlic carrots celery and onion until the onion is translucent. Turn heat up to high and add minced beef oregano and basil. Stir until meat is browned.

Add wine, stock paste tomatoes, water and tomato paste, reduce heat and simmer for approx 30 mins.  Once cooked, refrigerate until cold  for a better lasagne!
In the thermomix, make sure you remember to have the blade on reverse so the meat and veg aren't mushy - or cook them in the basket.



Bechamel sauce

This part is so easy in the Thermomix and I hate doing a bechamel on the stove!

In the TM bowl combine

400ml milk
30g butter
pinch salt
pinch pepper
pinch nutmeg
20g corn flour
1 large free range egg

Mix at speed 5 for 3 seconds. Set timer for 8:00 temp 90 speed 6

I like to add a handful of grated cheese and cook for another minute to melt the cheese - this is totally optional.
100g cheese - grated. Please grate cheese yourself or use your Thermy. Commercial shredded cheese has anti caking agents that are toxic. Fresh is best!




Essentially once you've rolled out your dough, the process is exactly the same as any lasagne. Layer sauce and pasta, then pour over bechamel and cover with cheese!

It's just as easy to make a double, or even triple batch of the sauce and make several lasagnes, as they freeze really well! 

I hope you enjoy, comment if you make this to let me know how you go. Don't forget to just eat real food!

Marney x

Helping out.

My Dad has cancer. It really sucks. Mostly because he is 64 and may or may not see another birthday. He probably won't be around to see my beautiful children get married or have children of their own, and that breaks my heart. 

When you are a grown woman, who has a parent with cancer, you feel helpless. All the time. Life is busy, and between the farm, family and the day to day of life, I'm not as much help to Mum as I want to be. Spending huge amounts of time with them is hard, as often he's too tired for my kids energy and he's away for treatment a lot. 

My mother is a very capable woman. She amazes me every day with her strength, and her ability to cope under the pressure of watching her husband get sicker.  On top of caring for Dad, she is also carer to my Uncle, who lives in a flat behind their home. He is a lovely guy, with a heart as big as Phar Lap, who would do anything for anyone. But he's hopeless! He needs looking after and hedefinately needs help with cooking. He's in his late 60's and has never left home, and never really needed to look after himself.

Mum rarely asks me for help, but she asked me yesterday if I could cook a couple of meals for my Uncle to have while she's away. The meals need to be easy to reheat and cater to his simple palate. So since I've been feeling useless I embrace the opportunity to help. I know that if his freezer is full, it will be one less thing for Mum to have to worry about.

I began yesterday, with curried sausages, a quick pasta which I refrigerated overnight, a pasta sauce. That gave me the foundation for a great lasagne. The dough was simple, 300g flour and 3 eggs in the Thermomix for 90 seconds. Never fear non Thermy owners, you can mix the flour and eggs together and knead it on the bench for 10 minutes, and it's the same! 

I must admit, I've never made pasta from scratch before. The kids enjoy it so much, that I always just let them do it for me. I found it to be a lot of fun, and very therapeutic!  Anyone can make pasta, you just need a benchtop and a pasta machine (which are really cheap at homewares stores).

After I'd made a couple of lasagnes, I had plenty of sauce and pasta left over. I decided to make some fettuccine. It too was a lot of fun to do, and so very easy. I was having all kinds of fun, right up until the rolling pin fell off the bench, onto my toe (which I think is now broken). Suffice to say, a break was taken from the kitchen to tend to my foot! 

The Thermomix really made my job a lot quicker today, from making the shepherds pie base, the mash, the steamed veg, onion gravy for the sausages, pastry for the quiches - it really simplified the process.  I quite often had mega cooking sessions pre-Thermy, and would spend 2 straight days cooking. I consider myself a great cook, and I am pretty much able to make anything with a knife, wooden spoon and a pan.

My Thermy is great, but it's just an appliance - I'm the cook. My appliance though really made it easy to do so many meals in such a short time span.  The cheese took around 7 seconds to 'grate' - the bechamel sauce took 2 minutes. I could have done these things without Thermy, but it would have taken so much longer. 

One of the things that also really made today run smoothly, was stacking the Thermy. Using the bowl, with something in the basket, and things steaming in the varoma does require planning, but it cuts down on time and energy. 

 

All up I think I ended up doing about 28 meals in around 5 hours. All from scratch using whole food ingredients. There was quiche, fettuccine bolognese, lasagne, beef korma, curried sausages, chicken risotto, salads, shepherds pie, sausages with onion gravy and veg, 2 pizzas and some steamed veggies. Not bad for 5 hours in the kitchen!!

My Uncle was so happy to see all the food, and his freezer is now chock-a-block. It's one less thing for Mum to worry about, and now she can concentrate on Dad. As it should be. 

If anyone wants recipes for anything they see, comment below, and I'll see if I can help out.

Hope everyone is well and happy - and don't forget - Just eat real foods.

Marney x