Month: May 2013

I [sort of don’t] Quit Sugar: Granola

I [sort of don’t] Quit Sugar: Granola

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On the advice of a sensible friend who recently quit sugar and has not cried into her vodka soda once about it, I picked up Sarah Wilson’s new cook book in the flesh the other day. I already had her book on kindle but since I decided to catch up on six seasons of Mad Men I don’t even know where the kindle is. There’s nothing like flicking through an actual real life book when cooking.

It’s called I Quit Sugar which I know is going to put some of you off and draw others like a bear to honey. Perhaps, like me, you fit into both categories.

This is a fantastic cookbook although I am not sure about the name. While it will immediately appeal to the anti-sugar purists (I tried and failed this and am now simply anti-purist) it has loads of really gorgeous recipes suited to the committed sweet toother. Some of the really beautiful ‘sweet’ recipes in it that are actually sweet enough on their own, or alternatively lend themselves really well to a few glugs of maple syrup or coconut sugar (my two favourite sweeteners).

Coco-nutty Granola Sarah Wilson

This is my own version (very close to the original) of Sarah’s Coco-Nutty Granola as I have made it twice now – the first time it was quite easy, the second time it was ridiculously easy and “ridiculously easy” is a pre-requisite for getting a recipe up here. I’ve linked the title above to Sarah Wilson’s recipe at her website.

Coco-Nutty Granola Ingredients
These storage jars make finding stuff in the pantry and fridge easy – from IKEA.

Coco-Nutty Granola

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups unsweetened coconut flakes (or shredded)
  • 2 -3 cups nuts (I used almonds, brazil nuts and cashews)
  • handful chia seeds
  • handful goji berries (optional)
  • 1 tbsp spice (cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg)
  • 80g coconut oil
  • big splash of maple syrup (optional)
  • 1/2 – 1 cup raw muesli (fine without this)
  • a few apricots

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 120* C.
  2. Use a food processor/thermomix to chop nuts, apricots – not too fine.
  3. Combine all ingredients and spread on a baking tray covered with baking paper (it doesn’t matter if it’s a little deep).
  4. Bake for 20 mins, toss and turn, keep baking till golden brown.

coconutty granola

Sarah’s recipe calls for a total baking time of 20 mins but mine took closer to 40 so just keep an eye on it.

Brazil nuts are a good inclusion if you want to up your selenium intake as they are a very rich source. If you’re having trouble finding unsweetened coconut flakes, try the link in the recipe or here and check out Supercharged Food, it’s a great site for whole-foodies and a flat shipping fee of $10.50.

Easy Peasy: Persimmon Brekky & Stuffed Spuds

Easy Peasy: Persimmon Brekky & Stuffed Spuds

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Food Prep: Hate it (mostly).

When I want to paint a room, the only way to do it is buy a big tin of paint and pour some into a tray, roll a roller into it and start painting. I have not left out a single detail. My husband Rob boringly always says “preparation, preparation, preparation” and says it the three times, irritatingly. So now we only use Barry who does all our painting for us. Being in a very old house with a lot of timber there is regularly some painting to be done.

It’s the same with cooking – because I do not want and could never afford to have Barry do all our cooking and food prep, I will spend a day having a Condiment Day, where I make all the things that are so nice added to food like pesto, tomato sauce, béarnaise, mayonnaise, pasta sauce, umami paste and so on. All so that the rest of the time I don’t need to bother with all that.

In light of all that here are two meals that have pleased us all here and are perfect for the busy working/stay-at-home/unemployed mother:

Baked Spuds Stuffed With Whatever’s Handy

No one needs a recipe for this – it’s just more of a reminder.

Bake however many potatoes you like, takes about an hour and can be done the day before if need be.

Once well-baked cut in half, scoop out the soft potato and sit skins on baking tray.

Bake skins to crisp them up a bit sprayed with oil and salt/pepper for 20 mins 180 C

In a pan saute onion and bacon with maple syrup, salt and pepper, then add fresh vegetables, chopped and herbs.

Mix with the potato, stuff the skins, sprinkle with cheese and bake for 15 minutes.

stuffed potato skins stuffed potato skins before stuffed potato skins cheese

The other one is the result of The Local Grocer. I had a Seasonal Box delivered and with it came two persimmons which I have never before bought or eaten.MSF persimmon

I chopped one up in my food processor (thermomix) along with some shredded coconut, gogi berries and chia seeds (superfoods alert!) and it was amazeballs. Try it with a few macadamia nuts as well.

persimmon brekky persimmon brekky 2 persimmon brekky 3

Mothers Day in Matte

Mothers Day in Matte

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Mecca Cosmetica is doing a matte leather-look nail varnish trio that I bought yesterday while entertaining a couple of six year olds (“you can look but don’t touch anything and don’t come in the shop until your ice creams are finished” is my idea of a craft activity).

I’m liking it. It’s an interesting shift from the shiny reds. The matte takes a bit of getting used to.

Mecca matte nail polish leather

 

Even the clear top coat is matte. It’s quite a solid look. If the matte is too dull for you, you can always top it with a clear gloss. Alternatively if you would like to matte up your existing shiny polishes, Rimmel, American Apparel and Opi all do a matte clear top coat.

Apologies for the crappy photos – I have lost my battery charger for my camera so am taking photos as fast as I can knowing that at any moment the battery will die and I will have to seek out a new charger (and spare battery). Why I don’t do this before the battery goes I do not know.

Nail Polish Mecca Leather

 

msn mecca nails leather

 

The cost is $50 and you can check it out at Mecca Cosmetica. Just in time for Mothers Day. My kids don’t know it yet but they just couldn’t go past a pair of Julianne Jean silk pyjamas for me for Mothers Day.

You Are So Beautiful

You Are So Beautiful

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Sometimes when I get on the Internet I feel like everyone is young and beautiful.

So a sensible, successful, beautiful friend said to me this morning and it got me thinking (kids back to school today so finally for the first time in two weeks I can think rather than just do). The world-wide web is like an insidious competition for who is doing it better than us. Often, rather than feel energised by dropping off the edge of reality and wandering for an hour or so in the world of the almost-real we can be left feeling a little….inferior.

I’d heard that being a middle-aged woman could leave one feeling a bit invisible, but never really believed it. I thought all those older women were being a tad whiney and precious.

They’re not.

I waited at a bar recently for ages while hordes of gorgeous young things got served either side of me. Then the next row of them got served, and the next. I was halfway sober by the time I finally got my vodka and soda.

And yet I look around at my sensible friends and their friends and I see a sea of truly beautiful women whose beauty is born of the experience that lies comfortably in their faces. I don’t love that my triceps rock to their own beat when I am waving at someone, but I do love that I really don’t care all that much.

My oldest daughter is seventeen, so the house is often filled with strapping young lasses with praying mantis figures wearing tops they call dresses: God they are gorgeous! But in their eyes is a wide-eyed innocence that lacks the beauty of a life lived, with all its joy and sorrow.

At my mother’s seventieth birthday party on the weekend all her friends lit up the house with their laughter and wonderful stories and anecdotes. They came bearing platters of food, genuine warmth and fun: now that is beauty.  What’s more they didn’t have to wait a second for the next drink.

I was the only one waving though, so still a few tricks to learn…

Age is something that doesn’t matter. Unless you are a cheese.

~ Luis Bunuel

 

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