Sunday Cook-Up.

Thanks for the love on The Rant.  I have really, really strong opinions on things in real life and I don't share them too much here because I never know how they'll be received (plus, pushing your opinions on others is such an unattractive thing to do), but it made me smile that there were so many people that agreed.  

I have a terrible cold that M gave me, but spent this afternoon cooking up a storm to make the week easier.  Do you ever do this?

Potatoes (sweet & regular), lentil and kale curry with rice.  I made 5 serving for lunches.

Red sauce which will go on a mid-week parma for M, and will accompany some wholemeal pasta one day for lunch for me.  

Lemon cake with a drizzle of white choc on it.  I tend to bake a healthy (rye, low GI, no butter/ugar, whatever) cake one week, and then a more traditional (white with sugar) cake the next.  But I always replace at least some of the butter with coconut oil (I promise you can't tell!)

These little meatballs are from M's Mum which I cooked up for M to use in lunches during the week.

I also roasted those beetroots at the bottom for mid-week side dishes and for salads.  They are from my parents' garden.

Dinner was my favourite leek & mushroom soup.

Get one leek, wash, halve & slice it, fry it in about 1tbps of oil and 1/2 tbps (or more) of butter (do not skip the butter it will not taste the same) until leeks are clear and a bit caramelised.  Add sliced mushrooms (I use about a cup), boiling water and salt to taste.  Cook for at least 10 minutes on a simmer, then add some risoni and cook until risoni is done.  So easy and so yummy.  

I still want to share my food with you so I will keep blogging, just listen to your body.. and please do not be sucked in my advertising.  Do a little research and make up your own mind on things.  That's all.

Stay well,

Nat x

The Fear. (The Rant)

I haven't been blogging lately because I've developed this fear.. a fear that you will read my blog, see what I eat, see my seemingly healthy slender body, and decide that you will eat like I do.

I ate this at the Windsor High Tea - I recommend you copy this experience!

Here's the thing.  We're all different. We have different genes, we live different lives, we have different everything. (youi insurance!  I kid.)  My diet won't work for you.  The diet of the longest living people in Okinawa is most likely also not going to work for you.  X brand new diet books eating plan with x calories and exact perfect instructions will probably make you drop weight, but that is still not a sign it is right for you.

Everybody is looking outside for advice on what to eat and how to live longer and healthier and it freaks me the hell out.

Watching loved ones hang off every word of a current affairs story or the latest popular nutritionist kills me inside.  Why are you not listening to common sense?  Most of the people reading this blog have been blessed with intelligence and autonomy.  What an amazing mixture - the ability to make smart decisions and then act on them?  No wayyy!

Some rules are worth following, like, don't eat processed food.  How simple is that?  Just because you can chew it and swallow it, it doesn't make it food.  Did you ever wonder why those sugary boxed treats have vitamins pumped into them?  Because without them.. they're sweet cardboard...  

Eat what your great great grandparents would have eaten (note that they may have eaten cheese, but they certainly didn't eat sliced processed cheese.. and their yoghurt wasn't sugar laden).  That's it.. not hard.  The rest is pretty much common sense.  Think of your longest living known relative and take those cues.  Mine lived to their late 90s, ate a Mediterranean/Arabic blended diet and was SO active that even blindness didn't stop her.  Somehow I don't think she was trying to look up in books what would make her live longer.  

Also remember that food and diet and weight loss is just a giant money making wheel because THEY KNOW how much you want to look like that model over there.  Food with a health claim really does not care about your health and, guess what?  Foods labelled 'diet' are REALLY REALLY BAD FOR YOU.  But people buy them and make money.  Books telling you what to eat... money.  It is so looked down upon when people try to make money off the ill (diet books to cure x disease.. pill from tagu-tagu koala forest.. whatevs. CFS was a massive market for this), but somehow when it comes to food, everyone gets away with it.

Here's a diet plan that will work;
Breakfast - 1 slice of toast with 1 pear and a glass of green tea with ginger.
Morning Snack - 1 tim tam
Lunch - 2 eggs with 3 egg whites, a baked onion and as much lettuce a you want.
brush your teeth IMMEDIATELY after eating for at least 3 minutes.  4 minutes if you had more than 2 lettuces.
Afternoon snack - 20 jelly belly jelly beans, but no popcorn flavour. 
Dinner - Meat or fish the size of your palm, 3 oysters, 8 stalks of celery cooked in 1 cup of vegetable broth, and a cup of peppermint tea.

Drink at least 2 litres of water throughout the day.  


... I just made that shit up, but if I stuck it in a book with 'The Tim Tam and Jelly Bean Diet! Lose 2kgs a week!", it would sell.  And yes, you would probably lose the weight... and be totally unhealthy and unhappy.  Yay!  

How sad is it that it is more sensible than 80% of the diet books out there?
Eat only fruit until midday!
Starve yourself 2 days a week and eat whatever you want the other days!
Don't touch sugar but eat as much processed bacon as you like!
Cayenne pepper and lemon!!!
I have a nutrition degree... WHAT I SAY IS RIGHT FOR EVERYONE.  

So sad.  

Had to get this off my chest!


Stay well and please just listen to your body and ignore everyone, including me.
Nat x

Want a great food read? Here it is.

Hooray for Harvard!

Harvard has rejected the well known 'food pyramid' in favour of the below...

'bout time!  Hooray!

Read about it here.

Stay well,
Nat x

All-Round Health.

I post a lot about food and always forget to mention the other things that keep us healthy - movement, a good circle of friends, feeling like we have purpose, hobbies, the ability to relax (drop those shoulders!).

I'll try and write more about these going forward, especially as sometimes they take up more space in my mind than food.

My Easter long weekend was perfect.  A long chat over coffee with a friend at the beach on Friday morning, followed by picking paint out for my room make over (M and I have a 3 bedroom hours - a room to sleep in, and then a 'study' each, I've been wanting to make mine over for ages).

Saturday was a day of shopping and then out to a late-ish lunch with Mum, then a quiet din with M as I was still trying to shake a week long cold.

Sunday was the family Easter lunch.  So much good food, but some things I do not want to share - they are just for me.

Monday I started the painting but by lunch the cold had taken over.  I now feel a little like I've been hit by a bus and I'm off to the doctor's soon.  Mainly to get a medical certificate as getting sick after a 4 day weekend isn't the best look.

Here are some photos from the past week or so.  I have't been whipping out my camera as much as usual.. 

Breakfast this morning.  

3/4 of a cup of spelt flour, 1/2 a cup of almond meal, 1 egg, 1 mashed overripe banana, about 2/3 of a cup of almond milk, 1 tsp baking powder and a sprinkle of cinnamon made 4 very filling pikelets.  (Leave the batter in the fridge for 15 minutes before cooking).
That's my brekky sorted for the week.
Here with greek yoghurt, berries and some honey (I love honey when I have a sore throat).

Another brekky - melons are tasting very good at the moment.  

Yes yes, another stir fry.

The current hobby is painting.  I am rubbish at it, but I absolutely love it.

When I can't be bothered exercising, I jump on my exercise bike for a while.  Even a leisurely pedal  with a magazine adds up.

Took the brother out for breakfast.  Love to order big when I go out for brekky!

Still a favourite.  Sauce is lime, garlic, ginger and chilli.

Have a beautiful (short) week & stay well,

Nat x

Good Take Away.

I hope you all know by now that I don't do the sponsored post thing.  I can't stand it when bloggers start doing that.  Anyway.

On Tuesday night I could not be bothered cooking (I have been unusually tired after work lately - think it's time for a break, lucky I am taking one this weekend!) and I stopped at the supermarket to get my usual mussels or smoked salmon to stick on a salad or with some veg - something I do every time I just can't be bothered.

But this time I found myself annoyed that I wasn't content to drive through a fast food place, or just get a noodle box, and I looked for an alternative.

I found this yummy soup;

It was $7 for what was meant to be two servings.  Maybe people with really tiny stomachs would only want to eat half of this pouch, but not me.

It was all organic ingredients and there was nothing I didn't understand (or that you wouldn't).  They had risottos and all kinds of goodies, too.  

A warm on the stove, a little parmesan cheese and some chives and I had a super yummy, super healthy, super easy dinner.

Finally I have an option!

I was very happy so I wanted to share for all you other full-time workers who get home 6 or after and, despite your usual love of cooking, sometimes don't want to have to do it every single night.

I just had a look at the Pitango web site, they do kid's meals too!  Champions.

I love finding products like this.

Do you have any go-to healthy fast food?

Stay well and have a beautiful weekend,
Nat x

Miso & Strawberries on Greens

My posts aren't very creative lately.  I could go on a rant about the 5:2/Fast Diet rubbish, but we all know what I think of that.  I could plug Goodlife gyms and let you know they have promos where you can use any gym membership to go in and try them, but I doubt I'll convince you to join a gym (and hey, it's not everyone's thing).  I could tell you about the many healthy benefits of some of the foods below, but you can Google them if you want.  I could talk about my quest for calcium tablets without vitamin D and why I care, but you probably don't.

In the end, photos are prettier than text and I'm not much into pleasing others.

Snapshot of home.
I love home.

Lentil/Eggplant/Tomato/Mushroom bake.  The eggplants and tomatoes were from the garden.
Have I told you how much I love having a vege garden?

Healthy dins.

Fried egg on a bed of rocket/asparagus/broad beans with toasted mountain bread covered in lemon & pepper.

Put strawberries on your rocket!  So yummy.
I've never spelt that kind of rocket before.  I assume that's how you spell it.

Healthy dins for boys/non vegies;
Chicken in spent flour, paprika, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper squeezed with lime juice
(it wasn't that black in real life!)

Tomato & Basil from the garden.

Pumpkin mash with chives.

Start of a thai green curry.  Sometimes the unfinished meal is so pretty.

Salads totally make awesome dinners with they contain haloumi, avocado and pomegranate.
Add smoked salmon if you need more bulk.

This was the first time I'd cooked mussels.  I did them in a broth of fish stock, garlic, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, white wine and fresh tomatoes.
I added some other seafood in case I wasn't a fan.. and some pasta, as the broth totally needed to be soaked up by something.

M isn't a mussel fan due to the texture so these empties are my doing.

Just add water for amazing miso soup.

(It was 37 degrees this day and there was a heat wave in Melbourne, but nothing stops me eating my miso!)

Little healthy chocolate puddings - adapted from here.  I basically added cocao and used dark agave instead of honey.

Work has been busy & I'm glad it's the weekend.

Enjoy yours & stay well,

Nat x