Learning & Lentil Bolognese

I come to you from my study where my hair is scruffy and my brain is attempting to implement a migraine.  Please be kind if my words to to mush.


Day 17 of the writer's challenge, (have I ever told you 17 is by far my favourite number?), brings me to sharing with you lessons I have learnt the hard way;

Learned the Hard Way. What’s a lesson you learned the hard way? 


I'd prefer to give you a dot point form of several lessons I've learnt the hard way rather than harp on for 15 minutes about how I learnt how important health is in relation to my battle with chronic illness, something you've all heard about.


Lessons I've learnt include;
Mental health has a huge impact on physical health.
Don't bag out Pinterest; it has a huge fan base.
Eating all your chocolate at once will make you unwell.
"Soldiering on" is one of the worst things you can do for your body when unwell (yeah, Codral, you heard me).
What you eat and how much you exercise has a huge impact on your energy levels.
Studying nutrition is not easy.
Don't blindly trust Doctors; always do a little of your own research or get a second opinion.
Comparing yourself to others is useless.




There would be many more, but due to the lack of fully functioning brain, I can't think of them right now.


What I can do is share with you my...

Lentil Bolognese
How does one spell Bolognese/Bolognaise?

I;

1 carrot, diced

3-5 button mushrooms, sliced (use more if you are going to cook minimal pasta & are trying to lose weight - extra will make it bulkier)
1 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 can of diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
1 teaspoon of fresh oregano, ripped up
1/2 teaspoon of dry oregano
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup of dry red lentils, washed
1-2 tablespoons of oil (for frying)
Water
200 grams of pasta (I used wholemeal fettucine)


M;


- Fry the onion and carrot in the oil until the onion becomes transparent
- Add the garlic and mushrooms and fry for a further 30 seconds.

- Add the canned tomatoes, tomato paste and one tin (use the tomato tin) of water.
  (you need this extra fluid so you can cook the sauce down)





- Add all of the herbs





- Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer.
As your sauce reduces, it will start to spit - don't cover it totally or it won't reduce nicely, better of just sitting the lid on propped up on your spoon like the below.


 


- Rinse your lentils & set them aside.









- After 30-45 minutes of the sauce cooking, add your lentils.





- You can season your sauce at this stage, or wait until the end - up to you.

- You want to continue to simmer your sauce until you can scrape the bottom of the pot and not have it fill back up (like a risotto, if you make risotto).  The longer you simmer, the nicer the sauce will be.  If it gets too thick and you want to keep cooking, keep adding small amounts of water.  I cooked the below sauce for 1 hour and 45 minutes and added perhaps in total an extra 1.5 cans of water.




- When your sauce is at the perfect consistency, add a couple of tablespoons of water, turn it right down, and put your pasta on.


 


- To serve, drain the pasta and return to the pot, mixing a couple of tablespoons of sauce through.  Place pasta into serving plates and top with remaining sauce and if desired, some parmesan cheese (I desire parmesan cheese constnantly, Millel is my favourite - please don't buy that Kraft stuff!)




Dig in! Yummy!








Lentils are high in protein, fibre, folate, magnesium and even iron (the 1/4 cup you get in a serving of this pasta will give you 15% of your daily iron needs if you're not carrying around a bub)  -  incredibly good for you and super cheap!  More proof that eating healthily does not have to be expensive.


I would love to hear back if you try it, and love even more to see some photos of how yours turned out.  Especially as, if I ever get my ass into gear (credit to dad for putting those three words strung together into my vocabulary), I will include this in my recipe book.


Enjoy!


Stay well,
Nat x

Day 16; Pinboard

Day 16 of the Health Writer's Challenge 
(yes, two posts in one day as I felt especially terrible yesterday and did not get a post out)
Pinboard. Create a pinterest board for your health focus. Pin 3 things. What did you pin? Share the images in a post and explain why you chose them. 


First, a story. 
I've never used pinterest, and only just learnt to say it as I was Googling it. I went to the web site and looked at it confused, and then 'requested in invite'. I thought that was a fancy way of saying 'sign up'.. but no. I actually have to wait for an invite, apparently. How about pinterest shoves it (like, really) and I'll show you something else that could be considered a pin board instead. I introduce to you.... The header for my web site!


 


So as I've mentioned, I am working on a web site that will be called The Health Bubble.  I am super excited, however, not a lot has been done over the past month or so with this super bug I have caught (I've wanted to work on it, but apparently getting better involves this terribly boring thing they call 'resting').

Anyway, I will use this as my day 16 pin board.

The images are quite self-explanatory; me, doing what I love to do (the beach, relaxing, eating), and good food.  The Heath Bubble is going to be about health as a whole - achieving balance not just with food and exercise, but in mental health, contentment - everything!  I am super excited to get it all up and running and super frustrated that I haven't been able to work on it as much as I'd like in recent times.

So yes, I will let you know when I finally launch her!


Tomorrow I will discuss some lesson's I learnt the hard way and share with you that lentil bolognaise recipe I cooked up late last week.


Stay well,
Nat x

Writing Style, Banana Cake & Buddhism

I'm a little late, but day 15 of the writer's challenge asked what my writing style is.


I don't really know if I can label my style, I guess I just write like I speak and speak like you are all my friends who I am all concerned about and love dearly.  I don't really plan my posts, but I hope to start doing so after this writer's challenge is done at the end of April so I can continue to write daily.  I guess I write like I cook; look at what I've got and what I feel like, then put something together.  I don't know, sometimes I feel silly writing as I have many friends and admire many bloggers who are excellent writers and often point out grammatical errors (as does M, thank you dear), but I guess I'm not out to become a professional writer, I just like to share.





 
I'm still toying with the idea of writing my own recipe book and although confident in the savoury department, I am still practising with desserts. The above is a banana cheesecake which I made from scratch with no recipe; I was so proud! Far from healthy, with 3 blocks of cream cheese, 3 eggs, loads of butter, chocolate, sugar etc, but a great success at our family Easter lunch.  I wish I'd written down exactly what I put in, not useful for someone wanting to write a recipe book. . I've decided the key to a good dessert recipe is to master an unhealthy version first, and then tweak it to be more health friendly from there.  I love healthy cooking as I don't really consider it a challenge to make something with butter, cream, sugar, chocolate etc to taste good - you'd have to be pretty bad to make those ingredients taste bad.

Of course, there is room for cream cheese, butter and sugar in our lives, sometimes.

 

I have been unwell for a few weeks as you all now know. It makes me sad as I just got everything I ever wanted all lined up nicely; a good job that is super accommodating to uni with a great boss, studying nutrition, getting my blog really active & starting my web site etc. I eat well, as you all know, and I am (well, was 5 weeks ago), fit and quite strong, however I keep getting sick. I'm investigating the possibility that it is partly due to my personality; not that my personality caused me to become ill or that I have done something to make myself ill, but that my hyperactive personality, need to be constantly entertained and need to in a way 'test' my body to see wat it's limits are (after being so stuck for so long several years ago) do not help my situation. So again, I am reading about Buddhism, meditation etc. I am reading "How to Practice; The Way to a Meaningful Life" by the Dalai Lama (you can buy it here). I like going back to this book as it's a relatively simple read - handy when you're not feeling well.


Every time I read this book it causes me to think about my life and my actions, as books on meditation do, I guess. What I mostly notice is that I need to seriously practice mindfulness, as even reading the book I notice that although I am reading the text, I am simultaneously drinking a cup of tea, thinking about dinner tonight, wondering how M is feeling (he has been unwell too), and wondering when I will be able to return to work. Not good, must practice. I also feel that, even though it may be less than others, I focus on material things too much. I have set myself a personal challenge to buy no 'things' until at least the end of May. I am sad because it means I will miss out on the new gorgeous boots I want (Country Road have a Spend & Save until April 22 and I planned on getting them), but that is part of it. Things I do not need. I remember saying when ill with CFS that I didn't care if I walked around in a potato sack, as long as I could walk around. In addition to the above reading I am also avoiding dairy, eating loads of ginger, meditating, practicing gentle yoga, taking Epsom salt baths and dry body brushing to help recover. I am also taking some vitamins - it may surprise some to know I generally avoid vitamins as I like to get all of my nutrients through food and so far, as per blood tests last week, I have kept healthy vitamin ranges doing this, however on advice with my current situation, I have bought and am taking a few specific ones.


Anyway, after much blab, that is my story today.


I am back off to bed to read more.  It's very hard not to start studying or doing something I consider productive, but there is nothing more productive than working on your health.


I hope you are all well; stay that way!
Nat x

Dream Day / Day Dream

Ahhh, how perfect is the weather in Melbourne town at the moment?

Today I am required to write about my dream day..

 My Dream Day. Describe your ideal day. How would you spend your time? Who would you spend it with? Have you had this day? If not – how could you make it happen?|

I have many ideal days, some involve the Yarra Valley, some involve absolutely nothing, and some involve the following.....


My ideal day has weather of about 33 degrees, sunny and no wind.

First thing in the morning I would wake up and go for a swim in the ocean.

Then I would head out to brunch with all my girlfriends somewhere by the beach, even if it was just Williamstown, and I would dine on stewed fruit, muesli and yoghurt - seeing as it's an ideal day, the cafe would not have added 3kgs of sugar to the fruit as they usually do, and the yoghurt would be something organic and natural, but insanely creamy tasting.  Yum.

I'd spend the rest of the morning strolling in the sunshine window shopping.

I'd meet my immediate family for lunch at Villa Romana in Lygon St, Carlton (my favourite), and eat a seafood dish there (if you go, the spaghetti Scoglio (which I'm not sure how to spell) in the seafood section of the menu is amazing).  I would dine on one of the seafood dishes, drink crisp white wine and finish with coffee at Brunetti's.

In the afternoon, I would meet M and we would head to Vic Market and pick up beautiful French cheeses, fresh breads, home made dips, olives and some fresh fish.  On the way home, we'd stop and pick up some French champagne and a good bottle of Cab Sav.  We'd prepare the food into platters and cook the fish and sit on the couch, eating, while watching amazing cooking shows that tour beautiful regions.  Afterwards, we'd head into the kitchen and make a dessert, like creme caramel together, followed by more wine and cheese.

I've never had this day and I guess I could make it happen with very careful orchestration, but it would be hard!
















What will my day actually involve?


More rest!  I am bored and desperate to go back to work so I need my glands to stop impersonating golf balls.


Enjoy your weekend & stay well,
Nat x

PS.  Photo's courtesy of my backyard as I got some sunshine this week.  As you can tell, she needs serious work and this will hopefully happen in the coming months!

10 Things I Love

For Day 13 of the writer's challenge..

10 Things 

 (that I need or love the most) 

My Health

 That is me, on our private rooftop in Port Douglas, with the timer on the camera while I jumped up and down trying to get a photo. I may or may not have been yelling, "I'm Healthy, SUCK IT!" at the time. Yup..




My Family






 Food & Wine

 




 M (my partner of 10.5 years, for newbies)



 I'd love to show you a hundred pictures of my favourite man, but he's not a fan of his mug being on the internet.





 Friends

 





 I have a close group of friends and then some few extra's I met online who I cherish. They're not all above, but I hope they all know who they are.





 Animals




 In particular my darling soul mate, Rama, who is my best friend & took care of me while I was sick; he was left at Mum & Dad's house, and M & I's two boys, Buckley & Munro (Bucks & Munters).
 When people say animals are good for you, listen to them.




 Cooking



 From reading the books researching it to feeding people I love. I freakin' love cooking, even more than I love eating. It's relaxing and rewarding and it's everything to me.




 Weekends Away







 A change of scenery always does me a world of good, even when it is only a 2 hour drive down the road for 3 nights, I love the break.




 Exercise 

 Only discovered about 2 years ago that it is just as relaxing as cooking, when done right.




 The Beach



 The most relaxing place on earth; I feel like I belong at the beach. I have a massive attachment to water.




Books & Reading


 
Books on paper, please, none of this screen rubbish. I either read cook books, read for knowledge or go on the complete opposite end of the scale and pick up magazines & chic lit.

Gosh I hope i didn't miss anything/anyone!

Stay well, 

Nat x

This Morning I Looked in the Mirror...

Today, the Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge (day 12, already!), has asked me to babble, or as they put it, (much more elegantly), 'Stream of consciousness'.  All I have to do is start with the given sentence - which I have also used as the subject for this post, and write without editing until I stop, and post.  I can do that, right?  OK..




This morning I looked in the mirror.  My hair was messy; I knew that cutting it short would result in bed hair that looks like I've been running side ways really fast for days.  I had a bit of dark circle going on under my eyes and a big red dot on the end of my nose which prompted me to sing 'Rudolph the red nose reindeer' for the remainder of the morning.  I had pink, stripey Peter Alexander pyjamas on which I've had for years, and decided that I didn't need to be rugging up this much at night yet as it's really not that cold.  M seems to think putting the heater on is necessary regardless of temperature when you are unwell (as we both are), so I made a conscious decision to wear lighter pjs tonight.  I look at my eyebrows, my gosh they need preening, too bad I am sick and can't be bothered.  My lip is cracked on the bottom, this explains the small dot of blood on my otherwise pure white bed linen.  Curse you, mega cold.

I thought of what the day ahead was bringing; nothing.  I am still unwell with The Virus from Hell and my only duty today is to get to my Doctor's appointment at 9am. I hope that the online booking system my doctor's clinic has introduced is reliable and that I'm not up at 7.30am (big deal when you're not well!) to be told my appointment did not come through.  I wonder what the results of my blood test will say and then set off down the hall to our second bathroom, my bathroom, to shower.

I hope we have hot water; M noticed a light flashing on our hot water unit yesterday with a lovely bit of text that reads 'Error' right underneath it yesterday.  A service man is coming today to look at it but we don't know what time.   I scrunch up my eyebrows for a second thinking about the possibility that he will turn up while I'm at the doctor's, but quickly decide health is more important.  The hot water is running fine, anyway.  

Out of the shower, mirror, again.  No exercise in 6 weeks really does have an effect on your body.  Can't wait to get back into it.  Notice the tan on my arms again and wonder where it came from; I am usually the last to tan.  Man, I feel terrible, paracetemol is needed ASAP.

Back to the mirror.  What is an acceptable amount of make up to wear to the doctor?  Do I not wear make up at all, because I am meant to look sick?  A bit of concealer and some cream blush later, I am happy that I look at least a little human if I have to head to the chemist for a script.  


Breakfast is not wanted, I have totally lost my appetite, but not eating is never a good option.  Home made muesli, a mix of greek and jalna vanilla yoghurt, some berries and a wheat biscuit are put into a little bowl.  Stomach is not liking this, but I don't care.  Maybe a peppermint tea will help it go down.  Not really.

Oddly captivated by Dancing with the Stars cast on Sunrise.  I've never heard of Vogue Williams, have you?  Or am I uncool?

Jeans, grey cotton top, bonds hoodie, boots and a scarf - I am out the door.  Driving does not feel good, mainly want to go to sleep.
3 minutes in the waiting room and Sonia Krueger is on the Today Show.  She's such a scrawny looking thing.  A lady across from me looks a whole lot sicker than I feel.  Note to self; stop wallowing.



Doctor is up beat as always and tells me I have a virus, secondary sinusitis and need to rest a lot and treat my body really well; eat good food, relax, etc.  Gives me antibiotics for the sinusitis and a medical certificate for another week, next week, just in case.  Bloods are normal.  Happy with this.

Off to the pharmacy, thank goodness I put on that concealer and cream blush.  10 minute wait.  Browse pharmacy aisles looking for Epsom bath salts.  I can't find any and can't be bothered asking anyone as I feel like rubbish.  I buy some eucalyptus oil instead; a whole $4, who would have thought it'd be so cheap?  Stare at new Revlon lipstick for a little too long, decide it's a bad idea as I don't have any sick leave so all this time, I am not being paid.  Go to news agency to look at magazines.  The Vogue Australia cover is pretty, and I want a holiday mag too.  Ooo, the Women's Health Training Guide looks fun, if it's anything like the Men's Health one I got my brother at Christmas, it'll be great.  Grazia has a bumper issue, what is in Grazia, anyway?  Harpers is huge.


Decide all magazines are a waste of money and am sad the the shop assistant didn't smile back when I smiled at her.  Must be because I look like crap.


"Natalie, your script is ready".  Time - ing!  I'll take this Eucalyptus oil too.  Oh crap, I just walked into the news agency with that, didn't I?  Oops.

Driving home, what an absolutely gorgeous day.  If I didn't feel like a rubbish tip, I'd go for the longest run.  I wonder how unfit I am after 6 weeks of no exercise.. I wonder if I'll be able to go back to lifting the same weights.  Mental note; start easing into work outs at home before returning to the gym.  Sad when I realise I had to suspend my gym membership.  


Love coming home to kitty greetings.  Can I take my antibiotic?  Need an empty stomach, another hour of waiting.  Take kitties for a walk in the back yard and sit in the sun.  Curse at another beautiful day being spent inside.  Damn you sinusitis/virus/run down, whatever you are.

 Heidi @ applesundermybed

Come in, the internet is boring, or I'm just not feeling it.  Read about Easter bun's Heidi made, want Easter buns, go to snack on something and realise I can't, waiting for antibiotic to have an empty stomach to rest on.  Boring.

Hot water service man comes.  Stand awkwardly in the garage after he fails to respond to pathetic conversation about the weather.  7 minutes later I pay $132 and get told my solar panels weren't connected.  Sad, but happy that our bills should now be less.

Time for antibiotic.  I am hungry.  30 more minutes until snack time.

Into my bedroom at the back of the house, which is sort of like my study - books & two desks.  Cruise around the Primped web site for a while wishing I had thousands to spend on beauty products.  Miss having stuff I don't need.  Tell myself it's just stuff and think back to when I was very sick years ago.  Promise myself when I get rid of this virus, I will live it up in new and exciting ways.

Half a piece of toast with natural peanut butter and some honey hits the spot, too close to lunch time to eat any more.


Back here, blogging time.  What is the topic for today?  How am I going to write anything interesting about that?

That's right, I'm not.

Did you read all that?  Really?  Go out & enjoy the sunshine!


Stay well,
Nat x


Other images - Flickr

Granola Bars & Day 11

Day 11 of the Writer's Challenge... 

"Theme song. Imagine your health focus or blog is getting its own theme song. What would the lyrics be? What type of music would it be played to?"


Well, I just happened to stumble across this humorous picture yesterday and, on a totally serious note, it's entirely appropriate for the above challenge. Just rename it to, "Things Natalie would never do to her body";

We have a winner

Up beat, catchy, appropriate lyrics - Brilliant!

In other news, I made these
Skinny Taste Granola Bars
on Easter Monday
(click the title for the recipe)

Like my little comment that they're low fat, but not necessarily healthy?  I can't help myself.

Full of sugar but pretty tasty none the less. As I have mentioned before, I like to bake M something every week, and these are yummy while being a whole lot better than white choc and macadamia cookies and the like.

I didn't have the oat flour called for in the recipe, so I used wholemeal plain.  I also used normal oats instead of quick oats, put less brown sugar and more pecans and less choc chips and more cinnamon.  I can't follow a recipe, I am sorry.  But they are yum!

I'm still recovering from The Virus From Hell, as is M, so we are living a life of soup, stir fry and yoghurt with way too much garlic, onion and ginger to boot.

How are you?  Bake anything awesome lately?

And what do you think of this daily blogging I am doing?  Are you reading daily?

Stay well,
Nat x