Marinated Kale Salad

In Mr O's veggie patch we have a large amount of Kale growing which is one of the healthiest vegetables that you can eat.

This link tells you just how good for you it is:
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=38

But I must be honest and confess it is not too tasty all by itself.
So I have been wanting to learn how to make a beautiful Kale Salad.

I just started doing an evening course called Vegan 101 with a lovely lady called Alice Leonard from the company Angel Food. www.angelfood.co.nz.
In the first night she taught us how to make a beautiful marinated Kale salad.
Here is the recipe which Alice slightly adapted from: www.melomeals.blogspot.com

Marinated Kale Salad

Ingredients
6 leaves of kale, destemmed and cut in a chiffonade
1/2 teaspoon best quality sea salt
Juice of half an orange plus zest of half an orange
1 1/2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
½ teaspoon garlic powder or one garlic glove crushed
2 cups shredded carrots
1 cup chopped red cabbage
2 Tablespoons minced red onion or 1/4 of a red onion
½ cup chopped green olives (optional)
1 cup toasted sunflower seeds
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
Pinch nutmeg
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup of dried cranberries
1/4 cup coriander leaves and stems , chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons of soy sauce
Salt/pepper to taste if needed

Method:
 In a large mixing bowl, add the kale, salt, orange juice, vinegar and garlic powder.
Massage well with your hands for several minutes.
Add the rest of the ingredients and massage well
Let salad sit for 10 minutes; taste and adjust seasonings and enjoy!

This Moment

{this moment} - A Sunday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Pixieland

One of my favourite things is to go Op Shopping.
I love finding a wonderful find or a bargain.
Last year I went Op Shopping down in Tauranga and in a small shop in Dee Street I found this little book called "Pixieland" which I bought for 50 cents!
I have since learnt that it is a collectors item.

The book was printed in the Netherlands in the 1950's/60's and has the most beautiful pictures.

 I was unsure what to do with such a lovely book and then it dawned on me I should get the pictures framed.

Here is my beautiful new art work.

This Moment

{this moment} - A Sunday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Meryl Bunnies

In August last year my neighbour Meryl started to feel unwell with dizzy spells.
She went to the doctor and after several tests was diagnosed with stage four brain cancer.
Meryl died 4 months later, the week before Christmas.
She bravely fought the cancer to the end.

Meryl was in her early 60's a Plunket Lady a Lay Preacher in her church, a very busy wonderful woman.
I find it hard to believe we will no longer be having cups of tea and talking over the fence.

In her spare time she loved to sew and she made her granddaughters beautiful dresses.
Meryl kindly left me all her fabric and I have used some of it to make these Easter bunnies that I have named after her.

Easter is a time of death and rebirth.
I know Meryl is up in heaven and will be looking down happily knowing that her fabric lives on in the birth of new creations.
God Bless you Meryl.

With Bunnies its starts with one

Then two...............

Then Three.....................

Then four......................and believe it or not I think there are even more to come!

Off to market we go.

Detox

Last year I changed my diet and I started off with a detox.
There are a number of Detoxes out there and its hard to decide which one to do.
I did Juliette's 7 day Detox which I found on line:

http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/diet/detox/plan-track.htm

I found this detox to be very straight forward and I ended up doing it for several weeks.
I now try 90% of the time to follow her principles.
The first few days of the detox I felt terrible I had headaches and mad cravings for sugar.

I even had to lay down on day 2 for a couple of hours as I felt so awful.
But by days 4 and 5 I was starting to feel great.
Not so stressed and I slept amazingly well.
If you are looking to detox I highly recommend Juliette's Detox Programme.

Bliss Balls

Today I made Bliss Balls.
I discovered this recipe last year and I cannot get enough of these lovely Bliss Balls.
They are gluten free, sugar free, dairy free.
They are my new answer to chocolate.
Each night after Master O has gone to bed and all my chores are done, I sit down with my cup of tea and a Bliss Ball or two!

Ingredients:

- 400g pitted dried dates
- 400g almonds or macadamias (or 200g almonds and 200g macadamias)
- 5 heaped tablespoons of cocoa powder
- Juice of 1 small orange (and a little rind grated, if organic, for extra orange flavour)
- Desiccated coconut for coating

Equipment:

- Food processor

Steps:
- Place dates in a bowl and cover with hot water (almost boiling). Leave to soak for 15 minutes.

- Grind the nuts in a food processor, until of a fine consistency. Take them out and place in a bowl.

- Take the dates out of the water and blend in the food processor with the cocoa and orange juice (Save the soak water in case you need to add some if the mixture is too dry. It’s also good idea to squeeze the dates as you put them in to check there are no date pips in hiding in them).

- Slowly add the ground nuts until the mixture becomes firm enough to roll into balls that hold their shape. If they're still too gooey you could add some coconut, if they're too dry add some of the date water.

- Coat the balls in coconut.

-Store in the fridge for up to a week. They also keep well in the freezer.

-This recipe makes 40-50 Bliss Balls.

Enjoy!

This Moment

{this moment} - A Sunday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Mr O's Green Thumb

Last year Mr O went on a bio dynamic gardening course.
He came home all excited about Moon Cycles and wanting to plant Cows Horns in our back yard!
I left him to potter in his veggie patch and this summer we are reaping the rewards.

Here are our first tomatoes and a bit of rhubarb.

We had friends coming over so I made Guacamole with the tomatoes.
I  put the Guacamole in this lovely new Dish that my friend MJ gave me for Christmas.

Raw Lemon Cheesecake

Since August last year my family has changed what we eat. We try not to eat meat, wheat, dairy, and sugar 90% of the time.
This has taken me on a journey to find new foods to eat. In December last year my husband (Mr O) and I went on a raw foods desserts course with Renata from  the company FROM GREY TO GREEN (http://www.fromgreytogreen.co.nz/). We learnt how to make some great desserts for christmas.

However I did not have a recipe for a raw Lemon Cheesecake so I went searching online and I found a great dessert that I have tweaked a bit and now it is perfect for us.
Friends came over Saturday night so I just had to make one.
Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
CRUST
1 1/2 cups of Nuts (your choice of nut but I prefer Almonds but you could use Hazelnuts, Walnuts, Cashews).
1/2 tsp of Salt
1/2 cup pitted Dates (soaked in hot water for about 15 minutes to soften and then drain off water)
1/4 cup shredded Coconut

FILLING
3 cups of raw Cashews (Soaked overnight or for at least 8 hours then drained and rinsed)
1 1/4 cups of fresh Lemon juice
3/4 cup of Maple Syrup
3/4 cup Coconut Oil (Liquid form)
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Zest of Lemon (optional) I have a juicer so I juice my lemons whole with the skin on so I don't need to add any zest.

Method:
* For the crust: Process the nuts into small pieces with the salt in a food processor. Slowly add Dates and mix well, then mix in Coconut. Press crust into the bottom of a cheesecake dish or pan (8 to 9-inch size pan), and place in refrigerator until needed.

*For the filling: Blend Cashews, Lemon Juice, Maple Syrup, Coconut Oil, and Vanilla (and Lemon Zest , if using), in your blender/ food processor until it blends to a smooth creamy mix.
Pour onto the crust in the dish and place in the freezer for about two hours until firm. Then refrigerate until serving.
It keeps for about 5-10 days if you have not eaten it all by then.

For those people who love Lemon it is a slice of heaven.
Enjoy

This Moment

I would love to say I thought of this but unfortunately I did not. One of my favorite blogs is by Amanda Blake Soule (http://www.soulemama.com/) every Friday she loads a picture A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment she wants to pause, savor and remember. 

I too want to do this and I will be loading my moment on Sundays when I get the chance to hopefully sit back and reflect on the week. Above is this weeks moment.

*** *** *** 

And so it begins................................

Those who know me know that I have been toing and froing for a while now about starting a craft blog.
Today I finally did it!
I am not sure where this journey will take me, but I know if I don't give it a go I will never know.


Yesterday my name labels turned up in the post.
Now I am nervous but also very excited as I have to start creating.
Luckily I have a number of  ideas running around in my head.
Do I start with a doll, a stuffed toy, a bag or a completely new idea........................