make-up (a bit off the subject, but relevent to me)

For the longest time I've had heyfever, ALL YEAR ROUND. I take every possible drug to feel 'normal' everyday, it rarely works. Recently i've gone back to work as a Dental Assisstant, I have to wear a sugical mask most of the day. My allergies seemed to have gotten worse when I re-started back at work. It just occurred to me the other day, it might have something to do with my make-up, foundation mainly. So I didn't wear any for a whole day. This was extremely hard, as I have promenant dark circles all around my eyes.
Guess what?
NO HAYFEVER! and my dark circles faded dramatically. Speaking to someone who knows a little about chemicals revealed, it was probably the micro-minerals in the foundation that soaked into my pores and caused the allergic reactions I was having. Isn't it crazy?!?
One little change of thought can create a whole new life for yourself!!

Burrr its cold outside

I am sitting here blogging while I am enjoying a bowl of my Pea and Ham Soup.
I made it last night and was surprised how simple it was compared to some of the recipes for it I have encountered over the years. 5 ingredients and minimal preparation I actually got the soup on while my daughter was awake! I just made a small version of it so you can increase as you see fit rather than the other way around. Two tips though, don't use stock instead of water because effectively the bacon bones are the 'stock' and for the love of God DON'T add salt - again the bacon bones will take care of that!
I added some thyme to my mixture, but it is really up to you which herbs you put in.
I might add some more peas next time to thicken it up some more, some of the best pea and ham soups I have had one could practically stand your spoon up in!
Anyway must get back to mopping up the bottom of the bowl with my buttered toast, mmmmmmmmmm

Thought on cordial...

Just had a thought about cordials, I remember when I was little and had cordial that the top was always sticky (like the one I just made) - oh that's right we had sugar in our cordial then!
The other interesting thing I noticed is when we used to get invaded by ants they would always be swarming over the cordial bottle, funny how they don't touch it anymore...

When life hands you citrus fruit, make cordial!

mmmm, mmm, mmm, mmm
I finally ran out of bought cordial so I made some of my own!!
Orange and Lemon Cordial is my first attempt at cordial and I am so chuffed with the results. It took a total of 30mins to make and was soooo simple even kids could make it.
In my haste to taste, the fact that it is a concentrate slipped my mind and I had a great big spoonful, much coughing and spluttering later.....
The recipe I got ended up making 3 litres which I think is a bit much for one family so I am going to put a halved version up for everyone. If you have family who will take some lovely fresh cordial off your hands by all means double the recipe.
I am not sure how long something like this would keep so please let me know if you find out (or drink it before then!) - I am going to keep mine in the fridge just in case.
Now I know there is a lot of sugar in there but look at the label on your 'normal' cordial - I certainly don't know half of it AND this was how cordial was originally made! My 'label' says fruit, sugar, acids and water. The actual amount I used in the glass was slightly less than 'normal' cordial - it is pretty strong, oh and wait till you see the colour! It looks like it IS already diluted! Made me think about the amount of colour in commercial cordial which is nearly opaque!

Eating Organic Meat

Dinner tonight was with my first purchase of 'ethically produced' meat. I bought Chicken to make Enchiladas. It was pretty expensive, but I realised with this meal, the meat was the main dish basically.
I can honestly say, the chicken really did seem different, not as fatty when cutting it, not as slippery and I kind of felt 'happier' when I was eating it. Don't think my partner can really tell the difference, but he's just eating the food!! Tomorrow night is Spag Bog with grass fed mince. Can't wait!
Suppose I should post the recipe....

First visit to Feast! Fine Foods

I did my grocery shopping this week - much lighter without all the processed foods, but it felt like forever reading the labels to see what is least processed etc -  I got to the last aisle looked at my trolley and wondered what I had been doing for the last 2 hours!!
Anyway I went to the butcher and started taking it all in - I hear a lovely 'hello' and I meet a lady affectionately called "nanna" by the other staff.
She told me she was new and still learning so I bought mainly based on the things she was sure about. We got chatting and she told me she has been on a diet for a few weeks and only lost a couple of kilos, I started telling her our story of wanting to eat like our grandparents and she shared some wonderful anecdotal snippets from her childhood. Neither of her parents were fat - yet when her mum cook chops in the pan WITH DRIPPING her and her dad would come and mop up the fatty meat flavoured leftovers with bread! Even she said she can't understand why she looks this way and proceeded to tell me she had only 2 cruskits with avocado for lunch - blerk! How boring.
For one thing no one can say we aren't trying - women especially. The crap we *torture* ourselves with to be healthy and a healthy weight is ridiculous!
Our grandparents never tortured themselves, they ate well, with pleasure and without guilt.
I for one would love to go through life never seeing a cruskit or rice cake again.
Even if I don't lose any weight - I would be happy to stay the same if it meant eating good, whole food without guilt. Just a subnote though I have lost 2 kilos...

Food Inc - movie

hmmmm...what can I say....watch it!!
It really makes you think, feel and take action.
We all 'really' know how animals are treated, we just keep it way, way back in our minds. But this movie really shows you how unethically animals are being treated, before they get slaughtered and sent to our plates.
Besides this being one focus point in the movie, it also shows how the meat is treated after its been killed. This is almost scarier, as cows for example are sent to slaughter covered in their own faeces, it doesn't get washed off!! It basically goes straight into our beef hamburgers! Oh but wait, they wash the meat in chlorine and amonia to clean it! mmmmm tasty.
Then my partner walks in with maccas in his hand, and I'm balling my eyes out!! Organic chicken was on the menu tonight.
Please watch this movie...