Day 2 Whole30 challenge

I found today more challenging. Sabbath is about getting together with good friends and eating good food after church, and we usually eat lots of carbs since vegetarian food is usually the option for after-church lunch. I also love baking cookies on a rainy afternoon, and that wasn't an option this week. We were planning a picnic lunch (until the rain came), so I put my lunch plan of baked sweet potato into action as I was doing an hour yoga session in front of my TV before church. It pays to be organised!!!

Day 2

Breakfast

Carrot, berry and coconut mix bowl thing (I need to come up with a catchier name!)

Inspired by The Paleo Way TV show with Chef Pete Evans, this version is really yummy

Ingredients

1 tablespoon chia seeds
3-4 strawberries, quartered
small handful blueberries
half a carrot, grated
nut and seed mix - mix equal portions almonds, flaxseed, pepitas, sunflower seed and coconut flakes and roast until golden brown (5-10 mins max...but you can smell the moment it is done...so yummy)
1-2 tablespoons whipped coconut cream (I put the tin in the fridge the night before so it is nice and cold to whip in the morning)
The original recipe calls for the addition of grated apple, and cacao nibs on top. I don't usually bother with either but you certainly can :-)

Add all ingredients together in a bowl and enjoy.

  
Lunch

Twice baked sweet potato with spicy mayonnaise

Ingredients
1 small sweet potato, washed
half a tomato, diced
1 button mushroom, diced 
1 olive, diced
spinach, finely chopped
2-3 thyme sprigs, de-stalked
salt and pepper to taste

How to
Bake the sweet potato until skin is cripsy and centre is soft. Mine took 1 hour at 180 degrees C, but will depend on your oven and the size of your potato.

Once baked, cut down the middle and scoop out all the lovely soft flesh. Mash the flesh with the tomato, mushroom, olive, spinach and herbs of your choice and S+P to taste. Push it all back into the hollowed out potato and bake for another 15-20 mins (again, depends on how much stuffing you have.

Serve with mayonnaise (but it is lovely just by itself)

Ingredients
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon mustard (organic seeded would be good)
1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin, coriander seed, paprika, cayenne pepper, plus a small amount of S+P to taste)
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup oil (I used light olive oil coz that's what I had)
1 extra cup oil

How to
Add mustard, spices, lemon juice and oil to the egg yolks and mix well to combine.  Whisk slowly (or put in a food processor on its lowest continuous setting) and slowly drizzle in the oil while whisking (or processing) so that it thickens and emulsifies. Refrigerate after making (it contains raw egg essentially).

 

Dinner

Chicken salad from Limon

I went to dinner with my wonderful friends prior to doing a craft night to make wedding invitations. We went to Limon, a turkish restaurant, which, btw, has an amazing menu of reasonably priced food and very generous portion sizes. I was a little worried as a perused the menu as everything seemed to be legume/carb loaded. I found the page with salads however (towards the back of the menu) and ordered the chicken salad, and, may I say, that was a GREAT choice! It was SO good! The only thing I would do next time is get the dressing on the side. I'm not a huge dressing fan and having lots of mayonnaise over the salad is a bit much for me. The size of the plate was massive, to the point I have half the salad sitting in my fridge as left overs to be eaten at lunch today.

The salad was spiced grilled chicken, lettuce, cucumber, tomato, olives, (I swapped red onion for olives) and roasted cashews. The dressing was a mustard mayonnaise. Wow. I'll be making something like this at home many times I think. 

Excuse the weird green/yellow hue to the photo. The lighting was terrible and cast this eerie colour over the food, us and my poor picture!

 

January Challenge Whole30

I love a good challenge; and this is a good challenge. I've been reading a lot lately on the evils of sugar and the benefits of good fats for the body and mind, and just happened to stumble across the Whole30 challenge on NYE2014. I thought I'd give it a go and see how it felt to eat a strict paleo diet for a month. I'm doing the full Whole30 challenge - grain free, dairy free, legume free, sugar/carbs free - which is a challenge for this baking-loving, goats-cheese afficionado sugar addict! I've gone cold turkey (which ironically would be a great protein for the Whole30 challenge!)...and here I will document my journey.

Day 1 - Jan 2, 2015 (I wasn't organised enough to start on Jan 1, but figure that Jan has 31 days so will fit in quite nicely!)

Breakfast 

2 egg omelet with tomato & avocado salsa

Ingredients
2 eggs, gently beaten
half a tomato, diced
half an avocado, diced
a small handful of coriander, roughly chopped
1 cm thick capsicum ring, diced
salt and pepper
a slug of olive oil

How to
Combine avocado, capsicum, tomato and coriander in a bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside while you cook the eggs.

(rightly or wrongly, I use EVOO for just about everything. I know it can burn at low temps and is much better as a salad dressing than in cooking but I still love it)
Heat EVOO in a frying pan until nice and hot. Add the scrambled eggs (I do add salt and pepper to my eggs before I scramble them) to the hot oil and don't stir. Leave to cook on one side before flipping and briefly cooking on the other side.

Place on a plate, add the salsa to one half of the egg omelet and then fold the omelet over the salsa.

Photograph and then enjoy :-)

Lunch 

Chicken salad

Ingredients
A handful of baby spinach leaves
4-5 cherry tomatoes (I used heirloom) halved
1cm ring capsicum, diced
2 tablespoons walnuts, crumbled
a small handful of coriander, roughly torn
a small handful of chicken (I had some left over chicken from making chicken stock earlier in the week, but you could grill a chicken breast or even use a pre-roasted chook, or roast one yourself).
Olive oil
salt and pepper

How to
Combine spinach, tomatoes, capsicum,  and coriander in a bowl or arrange on a plate. Top with chicken, walnuts, S+P to taste and drizzle with a bit of EVOO.

Voila! Easy as... 

Dinner

Vegetable soup with beef sausage

Now, I"m not entirely sure that beef sausage fits in the non-processed foods, however I did use organic, grass fed, gluten free beef sausages, and I could pronounce all the ingredients present within the list :-) I also have a pretty big vocabulary ;-)

Ingredients
Chicken stock (coz that is what I had on hand...but would be extra amazing with home made beef stock)
2cm carrot, diced
1/2 stick celery, diced
2cm ring capsicum, diced
2cm zucchini, diced
small handful coriander, roughly chopped
2 sprigs thyme leaves (remove the leaves from the woody sprig)
1 beef sausage, baked (see above)
salt and pepper

Now, my stock has ginger, turmeric, sage, thyme, basil, parsley and a bay leaf in it already, but you could add any of these as well to the soup. Also, if you like, you could add any vegetables you have in your fridge.

How to
Place stock in a saucepan and add all diced vegetables. Heat until vegetables are cooked to your liking. I quite like them raw-ish, so I usually get it up to the boil and then I"m done, but cook it for as long as you want.

Stack the sausage (or chicken or whatever protein you are using) in the serving bowl, and then gently ladle the soup/vegetables over the meat. My sausage was hot when I did this (straight out of the oven), but heat whatever meat you are eating prior to adding the liquid. I originally made this with the chicken meat left over from making the chicken stock, and it was amazing.

Season to taste and then enjoy. I found adding the meat meant I didn't need bread and I was full and satisfied with just the meat/vegetables.

So that was my first day. I have found I have to be really organised but so far so good. My fridge is stocked with a ton of healthy looking vegetables and I've got some recipe ideas in the back of my mind to try as the challenge progresses.

Want to know more about the Whole30 challenge? Click here for more information.


xxx

Oh Tannenbaum, oh Tannenbaum

My mumma does a mean Christmas tree. It is truly beautiful, resplendent in its red and white Scandinavian theme. She is also a bowerbird when it comes to Christmas tree decorations; the tree has many which hold special memories from countries all around the world. The New York and Paris decorations are especially dear to me; firstly I was there when they were purchased, but also, they remind me of the amazing northern hemisphere Christmas from a couple years ago. New York is certainly very special at Christmas time.

So while I may be dreaming of a white Christmas, I"m certainly extremely happy to be here in Australia having a wonderful Australian Christmas, with this beautiful Christmas tree.

Merry Christmas!
xxx

This gorgeous girl is from Peru

An astute observer would notice this decoration has come all the way from Budapest

Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let Earth receive her King.

No Christmas tree is complete without Myer Christmas bears - Archie and Harry

It is so important to remember the reason for the season

Gorgeous handpainted eggs from Budapest

Paris, of course...from le Tour Eiffel

These beautiful little robins are from the Southbank Christmas Markets in Brisbane

New York, New York. This one came from a gorgeous Christmas shop set up near the beautiful Christmas tree in Bryant Park , Manhattan

Red and white wrapping was mandatory...of course it needs to fit in with the tree theme!

Like angels watched the flocks by night...the Christmas bears resolutely guard the Christmas gifts

Christmas lights and special family time

One of my favourite things to do at Christmas time is go look at all the Christmas lights displays that are put up on houses around town. It was a tradition when I was younger; my whole family would would bundle up (as much as was necessary in a Toowoomba summer) and we would drive around town looking at prize winning light displays and my sis and I would have a back-seat competition to see who could spot the most christmas trees twinkling in the windows of houses as we drove past. I never did remember who won, but I do remember with such fond memories the time spent with my family. Now, as an adult, I still love seeing the houses lit up and looking at all the joy on the little kid's faces as they take in the magic of twinkling fairy lights and christmas music.

I was fortunate to be able to see Toowoomba's prize winning house this year, and they did not disappoint. A feast for the eyes, they had larger than life candy-canes, gingerbread men and Christmas puddings; singing Christmas trees serenaded the masses, a row of tin soldiers were spotted standing to attention, and a standout crowd favourite, a gingerbread man counting down the days until Christmas, by doing sit-ups! They had christmas trees galore and, my favourite, two nativity scenes, proclaiming the true meaning of the season. Congratulations guys, you did well.

Although the silly season is over for another year, I would challenge you to take the time, as a family, to go look at Christmas lights and invest in time as a family. You won't regret it.

Merry Christmas.

xxx

Even the Toowoomba City Hall got into the spirit of the season with lights and Christmas music