Sunday, September 22, 2013

kitchen scenes

Family dishes: Fish patties with shallots and green beans; Garlic and coriander chicken with baba ganoush dip; Sri Lankan curry feast with cauliflower rice.

Fortnightly cooking ritual for baby: fruit and savoury medleys for freezing using seasonal and organic produce - apples, pears, carrots, sweet potatoes. Thrown in the mix some frozen peas, corn and organic blueberries. Freshly mashed up banana and avocado. In addition, carefully selected store bought organic baby food. Keeping it simple and fresh as possible...anticipating the diversity of Spring and Summer produce!
Max (always on his own initiative) selecting and preparing snacks and mastering his knife skills.

Monday, September 16, 2013

fairy garden for boys


Max asked for help to create a mini camping scene from a book he borrowed at the library. I was so delighted because I adore the fairy gardens over here. It's wonderful when my son and I are on the same page which just so happens is quite often - usually of the sweet and crafty kind. Mini garden accessories are now on the op-shop list and the rest can be made with branches, bark and stones. Looking forward to our 'mini' Spring collaborations.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

spring family food



This year our winter food theme was homemade pies, along with the usual slow cooked meat and vegetable tagines for dinner and simple vegan soups for lunch.

For spring, we are currently cooking delicious recipes from Healing Foods by Sanda Ramacher. Thankfully we don't suffer from any of the afflictions (listed on the cover) that many people struggle with these days. I bought the book several years ago because I wanted to expand my wholefood cooking repetoire with homemade yoghurt and almond meal.

There are so many amazing cook books at the moment (like I Quit Sugar) that are grain, gluten free, sugar free and lactose free and I am so tempted to buy but can not since the self imposed 'no buying of new cook book rule' until we actually make our way through most of the recipes from our big pile of already bought cook books!

Do you find that you often use a few recipes over and over again from your cook books while many have never been tried even once?

We'll be cooking from Healing Foods all spring while we help hubby get his health back on track and get things a bit more balanced while he is doing the no carbs, no sugar thing.

Perfect family spring dishes to me are little patties of goodness such as Chicken Burgers made with macadamia and cashew nuts, garlic, shallots, coriander, grated lemon rind, egg whites and salt and pepper. Pumpkin chips (more like pumpkin hooks) baked in organic coconut oil and steam greens. I like to drench mine in lemon juice and flaxseed oil. All made with good things from our local health food shop.