The Week in Food

Another installment of 'The Week in Food'.

This week sucked. M & I are both sick and have been off work stuck indoors for 2 weekends in a row through this gorgeous weather. We had to cancel our express lunch at Embrasse yesterday, and today we were meant to go to Vic Market for the annual Food & Wine Fest stalls they set up so you can try a zillion different amazing foods.

What are we doing instead? Sitting in our separate studies, drinking tea and wasting time on the internet. Oh well! If that's the worst of our problems, we're doing well.

My eating for the past week has been a bit crazy, my body has been craving the strangest things through being ill (strange for me is like, white bread and white pasta, and masses of milk chocolate), but I've just listened to it. When I'm sick, I don't care what I eat (within reason, still no packaged stuff or fast food, but I would never crave that), as I think a few days of eating white pasta or some honey, as my body asks for it, is not going to hurt my otherwise clean diet.

I even had half a glass of diet coke for the first time in about six months. I know! Vice totally gone, and it does not taste good.

Anyway, here is my week in food....

Can you believe this is vegan, free of added sugars and just ridiculously tasty?
Soaked Oats with banana, pecans, cinnamon and pure maple syrup.
Try it and tell me you don't love it. SO good.

Mushroom & Asparagus Risotto (in the making)

Complete with Parmesan rind floating in the middle.

Mum & Dad got me this

Semillon is my favourite white wine.

Brown Rice with Lentils and Vegies, and a can of Salmon.
When I started to get sick, I started shoving in nutrients.

Miso Soup

With tofu, broccoli and mushrooms

Spaghetti Marinara

White - how M likes it.

I hadn't had a toasted cheese sandwhich in years.

Confession; Mum used to make them on white bread with loads of butter and cheese when I was a kid.
I made it on grain bread with no butter and a little low fat cheese.

Not the same. Not good.

I've had the biggest craving for Blue Cheese this week.

This one is Castello.

M made me dinner which made my day!
Ricotta & Spinach Agnolotti with Walnuts, Pumpkin & Herbs

Impromptu Creme Caramel making.

Feeling terrible on the couch on Friday night and someone made it on tele, so then we went and did it.

So easy. SO good.

(Comment if you want the recipe)

If you're going to eat sugar, eat something sweet!

Buckley likes to bathe...
SO CUTE.

Did you eat anything interesting this week?

Did you get involved in the Food & Wine Festival?

We are considering the Yarra Valley Food & Wine Festival as we missed out on Melbourne thanks to this insane virus.
Does your cat like to bathe? I've never seen a cat do this.... he seriously has a daily bath.

Have you liked Lemon Living's Facebook page? Come on over!

Stay well (and don't get this virus!)
Nat x

The Week in Food

Some snap shots of my food for the week, including the clean eating I did today....

The Sunday Afternoon Cook Up
I have to do this now as I am so insanely busy during the week I often don't have the time to cook, but it's good for people who don't have the discipline to prepare healthy lunches and sides during the week, too. This was a big pot of brown rice with some peas, leak and mushrooms to go through it that could be a side or a lunch, (with legumes, tuna or egg) for the week, and a chickpea and vegetable 'tagine' / stew.

A lunch of the chickpea tagine, some lettuce (it's all we had), and some Vitawheats with hummus.

A banana smoothie (1 banana, put in the freezer for 20 minutes, 1 cup milk, cinnamon galore, drizzle of agave nectar, ice), with my afternoon study.

The following was part of today's 'clean eating' to try and get rid of my cold. Basically not many carbs, no sugar, no packaged food and small meals.

Breakfast - oats soaked in water with berries, cinnamon and pecans.

Hard pear (my favourite!) with crunchy natural peanut butter.

Asian inspired salad - coleslaw mix with chickpeas and a dressing of soy sauce, orange juice, sesame oil, chilli, mint and sesame seeds. Oh and fish sauce (just 3-4 drops, so strong!)

Baked flake with garlic, parsley, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper, with sweet potato mash (mashed up with chilli), and green beans.

There were some walnuts, a 'bliss ball' and about a half a cup extra of oats in there as I was hungry. Never a point in being hungry.

How was your eating this past week?

I am happy as my new desk arrived last week and now I have a laptop desk and a studying desk (in front of my window), a cork bored for inspiration, a new printer, and I am understanding the silly science I never thought I'd remember.

I have a crazy cold, but I am thankful it's forced me to chill in trackies all weekend.

Stay well,

Nat x

The Slack Food Lover

I have been a terrible food lover lately. Between catching colds and losing my appetite, to waxing and waning a little with NoSugarVember (which, just quietly, I might have lapsed on 3 times so from here until my work knock-off for Christmas, Dec 22, I will be sticking to it. Mark my words), I've just stopped photographing and taking the time.

I guess it's a good thing in a way as I have lost my comfort eating bone, which is a huge deal for me. I'm actually considering giving away all of the 13 boxes of cereal I have (except the Vita Brits). They're only ever eaten when I'm down, (silly, hey?), and are glorified dessert for the most part. Bircher muesli, eggs and rye bread are currently taking the front seat in breakfast land, alongside fresh and frozen berries, rhubarb, greek yoghurt and green tea. You heard it here first - I'm losing the cereal.

Despite my recent lack of food-enthusiasm, I did still find a couple of photos on the old gold cam. Not all especially recent, but here we go.

Stir fry with tofu and a few rice noodles in the bottom

San Pellegrino with lemon in a tumbler (the way to do it when what you really want is something stupidly alcoholic)

Bircher Muesli with strawberries, rhubarb, greek yogurt & cinnamon.

This has been a staple brekky through NoSugarVember

I'm stupidly obsessed with Nori.

I eat it straight of the packet when I'm craving something salty.

I'm nuts but you know that.

I've posted a meal like this before - mashed sweet potatoes with chilli, and greens fried in garlic. This one packs in chickpeas for a little protein & substance, but I only really do this if I ate heavy the night before, or will the night after.

What are you eating at the moment?

Stay well,

Nat x

Food From Port Douglas

Any excuse to reminisce.

& let's face it, holiday food is the best food.

Buffet Brekky, DIY.

Ricotta on Toast

Smoked Salmon

Muesli

Berries

Fruit

BBQ on our private roof top.

Yep.

The best seafood platter either of us had ever seen.

Buffet brekky = Amazing.

Room service pizza and fries. Oh yes, we did.

Favourite place for food whilst on holiday? The Yarra Valley..

Yours?

Stay well,

Nat x

Things Not To Do;

Set rules on food, except for 'eat what feels right'. Just do it, and don't look back.

Don't worry, no body performs at it's peek on high sugar, high fat, low nutrient diets.

You'll work it out.

Food guilt, begone.

Diets begone.

Calorie Counting, begone!

In other news, this lady & her new book is amazing;

\

Look out for related posts.

Eat well to stay well, and smile for your Monday..

Nat x

Random Food Pics

Made for my friend Mel & her partner a month or two ago

(using the recipe I posted here)

Mmm, choccy mousse...

First and last time I purchased this. Yummy if you like lollies, which I don't.

Mountain Bread Pizza.

Have you ever tried mountain bread? It's super light, very healthy and natural and only comes in at around 60 calories a wrap. You can use it for all sorts of stuff - as a base in a muffin tin for mini quiches, as layers in lasagna, for a pizza base, roll it like cannelloni - the list goes on. It fantastic for people sensitive to additives as well as people trying to reduce their calorie intake. Plus! It'll last in your pantry for around 2 months. Go get some!

Custard Apple Tea Cakes - they totally had custard in the middle and were amazing.

Stay well,

Nat x

(Food) Stuff I Love Right Now

Home made wholemeal pancakes with cinnamon, greek yoghurt, honey & fruit. Yummmm.




My fruit bowl. A constant source of freshness.



Decaf 'real' coffee. And the way 'Decaffeinated Coffee' is said in Italian. Sexy.




Being The World's Worst vegetarian and making a seafood platter that Mr. LL & I shared.
My body told me to eat it, and I listen to my body. We'll see how it goes... especially as I felt terrible afterwards.




Vegemite & avocado on toast. So ridiculously yummy.




Egg, soldiers & the paper on the weekend.

Non food? Catching up with a girlfriend who I speak to every second day, but haven't seen in probably a year.

And you?
Stay well,Nat x

The First Supper

Breakfast is by far my favourite meal of the day. Brekky, for me, sets the tone and the standard for the rest of the day. If I have a fatty, sugary breakfast, then I only crave fatty and sugar foods for the following 24 hours. When I have a healthy, well balanced breakfast, I crave fresh, whole food for the rest of the day. It really does dictate what my day of food will involve.

In addition to this, breakfast is what it is, a 'break' of the 'fast'. Your tummy and insides have been cleaning themselves all night preparing for the next day and you have this grand opportunity to make it incredibly happy, so it makes no sense to me why people put too much butter on white bread with some jam and give that to their hard working insides. Yes it's easy, fast and cheap before work, but so's an apple, (or wholegrain bread with no butter but some peanut butter instead. Or both!). Imagine you spent all day cleaning your car only to have an overtaker splash mud all over you? I bet you'd much rather someone come along and polish it. Although, unlike the occasional white bread with butter, I don't think mud on your clean car is ever good. Even in moderation.

Right now, my usual 'every day' breakfast is home made un-toasted muesli, with fresh or stewed, (without sugar), fruit, and most of the time, some yoghurt. I always wake up to a glass of water with a squeeze of lemon juice and not for the detox benefits some people claim it has, but because I love the freshness in the morning! I follow with a green or peppermint tea. On weekends this usually changes and is accompanied by an long decaf macchiato.

It took me a while to get into making muesli, but now I've started, I'm addicted. The following is what I have in my current one, but it changes every brew. If you want to make your own muesli but are lacking in inspiration, have a look at http://www.mueslimixer.com.au .

Natalie's Current MuesliI;(Please don't ask for quanitites)A lot of rolled oatsFlaked almondsRaisinsSesame seedsSunflower seedsBran flakes & strawsDried apricot
M;Dice fruit & mix it all together! I store it in the fridge to keep the nuts, seeds & fruit fresh.

So why do I eat this? The filling factor of muesli is amazing, plus the oils, vitamins and proteins from the nuts and seeds, and the fibre from the dried fruit a long with the little sugar hit it provides. The fruit always feels amazing on my stomach first thing, (I often have an apple before I leave for work, and eat the muesli when I am hungry again at work), as well as all the obvious vitamins from fresh fruit. The yoghurt is a calcium as well as a protein thing - I don't eat a lot of dairy otherwise (I buy Jalna Low Fat Vanilla or Strawberry, but the Vanilla is better with the muesli). Most importantly, all of the above tastes ridiculously amazing and is hard to get sick of.

The above is an M creation. He by no means eats this every day, but I like to make an event of weekend breakfast's and M seems to be appreciating this, which makes me happy. On this particular morning, I offered to make M a toasted sandwich which, when he asked, I explained I did in the griller. Oh the things you learn living together! M says the proper way to make a toasted sandwich was as above; fried in a pan, in butter. I'm not big on frying in butter and probably would never have done this myself, but this smelt amazing. He promised to make me one some day and I can't wait to try it.

This was a mini-event weekend breakfast, (probably a Sunday, they're always smaller). Almost all our meals from breakfast to dinner are this different in appearance and ingredients. We're very different eaters (and I'll write about the vegetarian health nut living with the meat eating pretty relaxed eater very soon). We always eat breakfast very late on the weekends to avoid eating 3 very large meals. A late breakfast signals time to relax in my brain.
So, I'd love to know, what do you have for breakfast?And why?
Stay well,Nat x

Why Lemon Living?

Hello to all! - some of you old (I hope), some of you new.

Why Lemon Living?

Well my greatest passion in life is by far, nutrition, health and food. Beauty, fashion and shopping are wonderful things that bring endless joy when funds permit, but I know as much as the rest of the world that beautiful women like my friend, Melanie, and the ever-outfit-inspirational Lady Melbourne do a much better job of making you want to hit the shops. Me? I hope to make you love more than anything food that loves you more than anything.

So why now?

I work with 2 girls who I'm forever blubbering about food and health to. Let's call them Mickey* and Mini*. Mickey and Mini endure my my non-stop babble 5 days a week for exactly half an hour, and when I do stop babbling to eat something, I often get comments on the way I enthusiastically eat. At a recent work function, Mini commented to Mr. Boyfriend that she'd never met anyone who revolves their life around food and meals as much as I do. This past week, Mickey and Mini both suggested I start to write about food, nutrition, weight management and all the other topics related to edibles I pride myself on having a library in my head about. What a good idea.

So what will Lemon Living be about?

Well, as some of you will know, as a result of a half-decade long illness and the determination it left with me to treat my body as well as I can learn how to, it is my plan in life to return to study one day to become a nutritionist (hopefully once the flurry of a new home settles down). I believe prevention is the best medicine**, and, as one of the authors of a loved book of mine, Skinny Bitch describes herself, I like to think of myself also as a self taught know-it-all. I love to cook, I love to know what exactly is going into my body and what it will do, I love to help people improve their health through food and I love to share my knowledge, (and am eternally grateful to all the people in my life who don't yell at me to shut the hell up).

I hope more than anything you will love, or even like, to read what I write.

I'll leave you with a collection of food photos I've taken over the past year. They never end up anywhere but my hard drive, and I'm so happy to now give them a home.

Vic Market








The Press Club




I love to cook M breakfast




Caught-out coffee (Southbank)














Noodles for my Birthday




Cheese & Wine in Halls Gap




Minestrone

I should have started this blog years ago.

Stay well,

Nat x

*names changed

**I do not believe everything can be prevented