The breakfast of champions!

My cousin said to me the other day when I shared how much we "cheat" on Paleo: "100% Paleo, 80% of the time" and this does describe how we are at the moment. I do love fresh homemade bread, delicious pasta dripping in traditional sauces, sticky puddings...but these are eaten only intermittently now.

My Superman's breakfast of choice ever since he was knee high to a grasshopper is a piece of white toast smeared with marmite. Topped with two slices of tomato, a doorstep slice of cheese, a slice of ham (bacon will do) and two fried eggs. This makes him a happy man. I treat him with this every now and again, but have had to find other ways to serve eggs at breakfast time with a low carb diet that he must follow.

This one is my favourite:

Our bacon is free range, our eggs organic either from our own birds or from Funky Chickens and the kale (or spinach) from the garden. The onions were bought from bees in boots.

Get your bacon frying and remove once done. Keep warm and retain the bacon fat in the pan.

Add one chopped onion, 4 peeled chopped garlic cloves and some chilli flakes. Fry until soft.

Add your washed chopped kale to the onion and fry until slightly softened and darker in colour. Make four holes and crack an egg into each. Place a lid on the pan for 2 minutes for soft eggs and 3 for hard.

Warm the bacon again and serve with a scoop of eggs and spinach. Enjoy!

Summer ~ Sunburn ~ Salads

Yip...summer is here.  I took my first swim today so it must be summer. We have also taken our first doggie walk on the beach. This was a habit we got into last summer - early Sunday morning walks with the dogs. They love the freedom of the beach.

Today my son, daughter and I went on a wonderful homeschool outing to welcome in summer. A group of homeschoolers met up at a local marine reserve and spent the morning studying God's creation. It was neap tide so the rock pools were awesomely exposed for the young ones.

Anenomes of many colors

A cuttlefish graced us with its presence

Beautiful starfish and cushion stars were prolific

I thought I was prepared but I forgot our hats and we did not have enough protection for our arms and necks. My daughter and I are both sunburnt and I am not pleased at my mistake. I need to figure out what our modus operandi will be for summer in terms of sun protection.

Tonight's supper was a glorious one to enjoy the later sunset and freshly delivered produce from a new organic food supply that I am trying out to fill the gaps in my garden produce.

 Lovely small tomatoes sliced in half, partnered with mini mozarella balls and basil from the garden.

Drizzled with olive oil and basalmic vinegar.






 Thinly sliced baby marrows sprinkled with salt and pepper and drizzled olive oil. Grilled until brownish. Toss into a bowl and drizzle with a berry basalmic reduction.

Top with thinly sliced red onion from the garden.

 The fresh beetroot we recieved in our bag was boiled until soft then peeled under cold water.

Quartered and drizzled with olive oil, rosemary leaves, pressed garlic and some coarse salt.

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Some lamb chops were tossed onto the gas BBQ and thoroughly enjoyed while the sunset.


Aaah...summer!

Quick easy weekend chilli

Super quick easy supper tonight....here's the recipe:

 2 - 3 avos
1 onion, 2 cloves garlic and some grated ginger
1 can organic red kidney beans
1 can organic chopped tomatoes
1kg mince (or less if you fam is smaller)
2 cups sweetcorn

Plain yoghurt
1 tablespoon cumin and 1 teaspoon chilli powder

 Brown the chopped onion, garlic and ginger

Add the mince and brown well.

Add the spices and mix in then add the tomatoes, corn and beans. (The point here is quick!)

Allow to simmer while you make the quesadillas.....

 1 packet of tortillas
2 cups grated cheese

Lightly oil a hot wide pan, place one tortilla in it and a handful of cheese spread over. Add another tortilla on top and press down. Flip after 2 - 3 mins and brown the other side. Do each pair in turn then slice into quarters.

Finish the meal with some homemade guacamole and some fresh yoghurt and chopped coriander.

Total prep time about 20 mins....Enjoyment eating it...pricelss :)

Like a merchant ship...

On Mondays I do a quick weekly shop now as it fits into my week better than a Saturday morning. Over the last 4 years I have gone down from having a "two-trolley" monthly shop to a 1/4 trolley weekly shop. I never noticed the reduced amount in it until this past Monday and was quite surprised and pleased. I wrote an article a couple of months ago entitled "Does Your Grocery Trolley Reflect Your Green Values?" and I didn't feel like a hypocrit pushing my trolley around Pick 'n Pay.

Our chickens, we have 10 and delight in them.

In the book of Proverbs in the Bible a wife of noble character is described as being and doing many things. But verse 14 says: "She is like the merchant ships loaded with foodstuffs; she brings her household’s food from afar." This is not talking about "food miles" but rather the ability to source the best she can for her family. So as I was pushing my trolley the Lord brought this verse to mind.

Broad beans about to come into full swing

A few days ago I shared that we eat free range pasture fed meat, chicken and pork so for those in Cape Town I thought I would share a little bit about these sources and then for those elsewhere you may be inspired to try and reduce how much you buy from the store but rather get straight to the source of your foodstuffs and build a relationship with the local farmers. I am also going to briefly touch on how else you can reduce your dependence on shops, so if I ramble a little, forgive me and enjoy the rabbit trails :-)

Food can be broken down into a few places for our household. The first is fresh foods. My first place to "shop" is obviously the vegetable garden. I see what is in and plan to use it that week. So for this week we have cauliflower, spinach, peas, Asian greens and herbs. Whatever else I need in the fresh department I get from the veggie man who comes to my door each Tuesday. When I pop into Woolworths for their specials and our drinking milk I will pick up any other seasonal veg we need. I do not buy at Fruit & Veg as their stuff is generally below standard and goes off quickly. Of course our chicken's give us lovely eggs - about 15 a week but we need more.

I drive to fetch milk (from 10 - 20 liters) from Lou Docker in Noordhoek every second week to make into yoghurt and soft cheeses. It's a lovely drive and I use it for thinking time if alone or take along a kiddo or two for company. I don't like to use this milk in tea and coffee, not because there is any wrong with it, but it does taste quite wild due to their feeding on the marshy land and scrub. For baking and yoghurt it is wonderful.

Our beef and lamb is ordered and delivered monthly via Alicia at Go Natural and have for the past 3 or so years. You can go to their website and subscribe to their newsletter and be notified of the dates for ordering by email.  All the regular cuts of beef and lamb are offered. We have found the beef mince to be superb and knowing that this is grass fed beef/lamb and that we are supporting a local farmer gives us peace of mind when we enjoy the meals made with it. We also get our nuts, seeds, sprouting seeds, honey, spelt grain and toothpaste from them.

The happy hogs

Pork comes to us monthly from Happy Hog Farm. Either my folks bring it through for us when they visit as they travel past the farm from their home on the Garden Route or we get a courier to bring it to us. Linda at Happy Hog is a gracious lovely woman who is passionate about her pigs and as we have been to visit the farm we know exactly what the conditions are for the pigs - and they are good! No sloppy pens and rubbish for food, really the best living conditions she can give them. As I write this blog post, one of her deboned shoulder roasts is slowly cooking away in a sage and garlic rub, filling our home with the most delicious aromas.

One of the chickens my son supplies. You pay for what you get, no brine, no fat.

Chicken is also eaten with relish and while we used to buy either the Woolworth or Elgin free range chickens we now only use my son's chickens which he gets from a farm on the Garden Route. I buy whole chickens from him and joint them for casseroles and use the carcasses for stocks and soups. He also sells bulk chicken breasts which we use a lot of. We also buy the eggs from him as and when we need them.

Indigenous Boschveld Laying Hens eggs.

I don't cook a lot of fish due to my sons allergies but when I do we try to get from The Little Fisherman always choosing sustainable species.

Our other basic staples are the dry foods which we get around the corner from us at Health Connections and we buy our supplements and oats, organic dry beans and a few other spices from them. These kind ladies are down to earth and appreciate our approach to eating food as close to it's natural state as possible and don't push weird esoterical philosphies on us.

We don't each much bread these days - maybe 3 loaves a week - but that I make myself from the spelt or Eureka Flours.

50% rye load made for lunch today.

As for the rest of the trolley, well we make our own cleaners now with the exception of dishwashing liquid. So I buy Earth Sap for our dishes, and we use soap nuts in the dishwasher. I must still write about soap nuts but I want to see if I can sort out some of the problems we are finding with them first. 


We make our own soap so I miss that isle, but I do buy Earth Sap shampoo and conditioner.

The lavender soap I made in May. We just started using it - rich and creamy.

We have a lady who delivers 100 toilet paper rolls to us straight from the factory and we don't use other paper products, so I miss that isle too.


So what fills my trolley at the end of the shop? A few speciality items, the few toiletries we need, some stationary sometimes, if my one daughter is with me she will sneak a small sushi tray in that I will pretend not to notice! There are some products which I buy that are not organic like tomato sauce to feed one child's addiction, mayonnaise as my children don't like my attempts, coconut milk, rice and some good red wine :-), obviously vinegar, bicarb, Sunlight soap and other things needed for cleaning, but that is pretty much it.

Lucky doing her daily garden inspection

As they too are part of the family, our dogs are also given the best we can and that is a raw diet. We did cook for them for 3 years but Zeus just got thinner and thinner. In January we switched them to Dog Matters which is premade raw dog mince, raw carcasses and pork bones. The mince is either chicken, beef, ostrich or venison in season. For breakfast they get 3 and 1 chicken caracesses each, at lunch Zeus gets a pork bone, Lucky finishes it off for him, and then at supper Zeus gets 2/3 of a mince pack and Lucky the other 3rd. This is delivered to our door every 2 weeks and stored in the freezer. We defrost as we go and it is super simple to implement. 

Newlands Spring

Lastly, this is not possible for everyone, but it is for Capetonians...we do not cook with tap water and distilled water is too pricey to use. Weekly my son and I, sometimes Superman, will go to the Newlands Spring for 75l of water...this is for drinking, mainly cooking...and its FREE!

Can we afford to eat free range, organic and fair trade food?

It's late, much later than I would usually find myself sitting here writing a blog post, but I have this question burning in my mind that I need to get out into cyberspace. Incase you missed the title the question is: "Can we afford to eat free range, organic and fair trade food?"

You see the more I look at mass food production the more I know that my conscience and my health cannot carry the cost and that frugality can never be an excuse for me to buy food that I do not trust. Perhaps I should say what spurned my needing to put my feelings into words, yet again, about knowing the source of, if not all, most of your basic foods.

Eggs - fresh and glorious.

When we started growing vegetables in 2008 we realized how long it takes to actually produce a decent carrot, a healthy butternut and a harvest of spinach. Doing it with only natural soil, compost and worm tea takes a whole lot longer and as we decided to not use any pesticides the produce almost never looks perfect. This makes one question what is actually happening to the food that is grown and that we buy off the store shelf.

We soon found a source for free range pasture fed beef, chicken and pork and got to know the farmers and could trust their word. This makes another question surface - how do the rest of the creatures live and die? We quickly formed the opinion that if we were going to eat meat we would eat only that which we know has lived a good life and died humanely. Now vegans may have a problem with this completely and I understand your viewpoint, but we choose another way.

Celery giving us a second round!

With the beginning of my son's chicken and egg business we again affirmed that we really need to know where our food comes from and whom we are supporting with our hard earned cash. He recently had to do a report for his school work and he wrote a piece on battery chickens (see his blog in the link above).

Further to this, yesterday I had the most delightful visit from a woman who is busy with her thesis at Stellenbosch University on sustainable agriculture and wanted to see what we are doing here on this tiny scale. While we were chatting again God was confiming in my heart that we have not "lost the plot", we are not "slipping off the deep end" but that this is part of His plan for our family. Why? I don't have all the pieces of the puzzle, but we continue on under His guidance.

Handmade pastry - getting up close and personal with food

This meeting helped me cement in my mind that we can afford to eat free range, organic and fairtrade produce because not only is it right for us to support those who are being wise stewards with the earth and it's creatures, but it is also the best thing for our bodies that He gave us to take care of.

So how do I know that we can afford free range meat, organic and fairtrade products? Well this is how I think:

1. We make our own cleaning products - soap, vinegar and bicarb for the house, laundry soap or liquid.

2. We cook from scratch every day 3x a day.

3. We hardly ever eat out - it always leaves us feeling greasy and gassy and yucky...reason enough.

4. We do home based entertainment, anything else social for the kids they pay for with their own earned cash.

5. We grow as much of our own veggies as we can.

6. We keep chickens for their lovely eggs, companionship, bug removal and manure.

7. We are careful about using our car on a whim....

Which means that there is more disposable income for good clean food, organic products and far trade items.

Stock - using up leftovers, offcuts and giving us nourishment

I am sure there are more, but this is off the top of my head (and late at night for an early bird). Perhaps for others there may be more hints that you have and will care to share, so please leave your comments for other to read.

Links:
The short unnatural life of a broiler chicken
Notes from the frugal trenches
Down to earth simple living series

The only way to make spaghetti bolognaise

For some, spaghetti bolognaise is entry level Italian cooking...for others they slap it together in 1/2hr...in our house spaghetti bolognaise is a much desired, savoured nutritious treat. I have been making it this way for more than 10 years, I do hope you will give it a try.

Italian purests make it with sweet meats like veal and pork mince, I use our organic beef mince. But beyond this it depends on a few good basics....1 cup of good red wine...

Homemade tomato & vegetable sauce - make this ahead and keep in the fridge or freezer.

Real beef stock, also made ahead.

Time....

So here goes....once you have those basics above, chop 1 - 2 onions really finely and fry them gently in some olive oil. Add 4 cloves of garlic. Then add your beef mince and brown breaking it up into an even texture.

Add your cup of wine and then put the lid on the pot for about 5 mins.

Stir it up and add 1 liter of beef stock, 500ml of tomato sauce, 1 teapsoon of dried Italian herbs. If you have fresh basil and origanum add these later. Once the food has come to a simmer, turn the stove plate right down to low. Leave it for about 2 hours on low.

We make our own fresh pasta which would fit in now.

About 1/2 before serving add 1/2 packet of chopped bacon. We get real smoked free range bacon which adds a lovely smokey flavour to the food. This is when you will add your fresh herbs too and a teaspoon of salt and some black pepper. If you like a bit of decadence add 125ml of fresh cream now. Stir and leave on low until your pasta is ready.

Add a good ladle onto your fresh cooked pasta, top with freshly grated parmesan...and enjoy with the other 3 glasses of wine...hic...hic :-)

I was invited to enter Heidi's Cooking Challenge...why don't you?

Journey to health through food.

It's been 9 years since we began a journey to understand how food impacts our health. I thought our journey would encourage others so I am sharing it today.

9 years ago when our 4th baby was born we decided that we would not immunise him. The other children's immunisations were ever completed due to different circumstances for instance our 2nd child had 5 ops in his first 18 months and on an already compromised immune system, we could not load more.

Shiitake mushroom, bacon and sage risotto

But when our littlest one was born we had investigated immunizations more thoroughly and made a quality decision not to do any. This then left us with the repsonsibility to make sure that our family's immune systems were strong to fight what the environment may throw at us.

A dear friend at the time, let's call her "Doc" introduced us to The Natural Way by Mary Anne Shearer. So for 2 years we followed her every word, did the food combining thing, ate raw, low or almost no animal protein and felt really good. Our health improved dramatically and our baby grew strong and healthy. Of all 4 children, he is the one who has been the healthiest. He has never had antibiotics and gets over a cold in a flash.

Like all things, there are grey times, and there was a time when we changed cities that things took a dip and we headed back to more conventional eating but kept up a lot of raw eating and organic food as far as we were able.

Chickens on the lay - 14 eggs this week.

Fast forward a few years ago when my Superman was diagnozed with Type 2 Diabetes and high cholestrol. We have been told many things about this "disease" from it being a lifestyle disease to it being a precursor to full blown diabetes.

Either way we sought the counsel of a dietician and she put him onto an eating plan of no wheat, no dairy, no beef, no pork, no sugar and a whole host of food supplements.

He ate like this for 3 months and went onto cholestrol medication and when have bloods taken again we found that his sugars were under control again and cholestrol lower. In 2008 - at the height of this time - we started our garden. I feel like this was when we truly started learning about food and health.

Fresh salad greens, buffalo mozzarella and basalmic reduction

Last year he started showing side effects from the cholestrol meds and we decided it was time to see if we could do without them again and after a weening off process we put him onto a natural product - Red Rice Yeast. At the same time we continued our self study of food, health and disease.

Please understand that I did not set out to purposefully study this - I truly believe the Our Loving Father in heaven led us on a journey starting 9 years ago and we are still being led by Him. But the time we decided to bring homegrown organic vegetables into our lifestyle, we seem to have taken leaps and bounds into new things. Like my herbal journey (even though I do not have time to post on that blog - I am still learning!).

I met with Johan Jacobs from Go Natural in December to learn from him too. If there is a story to be told, then Johan's is one to listen too! There were two immediate changes he recommended - water and grains. This was when we bought our distiller and mill and haven't looked back on those choices.

Baked breakfast oatmeal

I also bought the book "Nourishing Traditions" and continue to learn from that. And then most recently I stumbled onto GNOWFGLINS and the learning continues.

This year I have watched two family members struggle with the horrific disease of breast cancer which makes me even more determined to stay on this path with the Lord leading us all the way. A quote that hit home last year: "the multiple maladies caused by bad eating are taking a dire toll on our health - most tragically for our kids, who are predicted to be this country's [USA] first generation to ahve a shorter life expectancy than their parents." Barbara Kingsolver (Animal Vegetable Miracle)

So while this is a long post, and not really a HOW TO one, I do hope my testimony - however vague - will encourage others to "keep on keeping on" and to take those little steps each month, year or season to improve your health through the food you put into your body. For now our philosophy is simple - the closer to the way God made it the better or if I can quote a friend: "If it comes in a can or packet - don't eat it!"

A special dinner

There are two things that when I prepare them I feel like we are having a special dinner. The first is a really good pasta, salad and bread. The other is a roast with ALL the trimmings. Last night our garden obliged and gave us a nice little harvest...we couldn't use all of this but we ate the beans and gems with an organic pork shoulder roast.

I made sage and onion gravy as well as apple sauce to go along with the meat, rice and veggies.

I added some stick cinnamon and nutmeg which filled the house with a delicious fragrance.

A little later today I am going to grate up the 5 huge marrows we picked and freeze almost all of it. The one will go into a chocolate zucchini cake...if it's a success I will post the recipe here.

Piggin' Out :-)

If you are a vegetarian...you are excused from reading this unashamedly carnivorous post!

For a very long time we have not eaten pork. I know some people have objections to the friendly pig due to the possibility of parasites in the flesh and for the piggish way they are raised. Of course these are concerns, but that was not the reason we stopped eating it.

Most animals who are bred for food have the most horrendous lives. Chickens raised in battery cages are often de-beaked and de-clawed. Their world is a tiny cage, they are overfed to reach maturity quickly and as a result their legs cannot support their weight. Most beef is raised in feedlots on corn rather than giving them green pastures to graze. They are transported in inhumane ways to the abatoir and have a very sad ending.

My green conscience and my frugal wallet never stretched to Woolworths organic meats so we had to search for another option. About 3 years ago we started getting our free range lamb and chickens as well as grass fed organic beef through Go Natural, but no pork.

Last December on the way to visit my folks I saw a sign for the Happy Hog Organic Pig Farm. Thus began the thought...and this weekend my parents stopped in there on the way to us to get us a supply of pork products.

Last night we had the most delicious bangers with our home grown spinach and baby potatoes.

This morning we had french toast with home made blueberry sauce and Happy Hog bacon. Very yummy! To make the blueberry sauce you need 2 cups of blueberries, 1/2 cup sugar heated together. Add to that 1 tablespoon cornflour mixed into a 1/3 cup of water. Simmer until thickend.

While I enjoy eating meat products, I know raising animals for meat requires intensive land use and this makes it very "ungreen" to eat. But by making sure that our food is produced in an eco friendly way it alleviates the pressue on the environment as well as helps to bring the price of organic meat down. A simple thing of demand and supply - if more people choose organic products over feedlot meat, then the more farmers will change their habits.

What if there were not meat? Well, I could happily go without and I have proven that to myself. About 8 years ago we ate vegetarian for 2 years for health reasons. I felt great, we weren't hungry, but the kids and Superman did miss their meat.