Day 327 in a Year of my Life

This is my entry for the 'flour' brief in the photo competition.

It was quite chilly this morning when I pedalled down to the bakery at 4.30am!

Adoring Husband drove the car slowly behind me, all the way, just to make sure I arrived safe n sound, then he went off to work.

I spent about 45 minutes at the bakery weaving in and out between the two bakers as they hurried through their work.  They have their work practises down to a fine art and are totally in sync with each other, knowing exactly what to do and when to do it without uttering a word.

Impressive!

There was a good morning of photography awaiting me at the river.

A beautiful sunrise.

A fish carcass on the beach attracted the birdlife.

I was very happy with my morning .. a nice reward for having to be up at 'stupid' o'clock!

So I'm pretty happy with the day so far.

Now I'm off to figure out what to make for dinner tonight .. hopefully a culinary work of art worthy of bragging about in a future post!

Today I am grateful, that both Adoring Husband and I, get to sleep all night and not have to wake to an early alarm.

Nite all.  

Day 326 in a Year of my Life

OMG

I am so tired!

I stayed awake until 2am so that I could go to the local bakery and get photos of 'flour' for the Photo competition.

Adoring Husband set his alarm so that he could drive me.

I did offer to ride my trike, but he was insistent.  Apparently, even our town isn't safe enough at that time of the night, for his liking.

So he drove me there and sat in the car while I spent about 30 minutes taking photos.

We were home in time for me to be in bed by 3am, but it took a while for me to fall asleep and then I was awake at 7am.

For the first half of the day, I felt totally hung over!

I remember the days when I could stay awake all night and still function very well the next day.

I tried a magic green smoothie and some of my new home made muesli, which helped a little, but it was lunch time before I began to feel normal again.

I need to get a good sleep tonight, because I'm going back there tomorrow morning at 4.30am.

Last night, they were making bread, so there was lots of dough, but not much flour.

Apparently, when they make pastry tomorrow, there will be lots of flour and moving machinery, so I'll have another go.

It's just across the road from the beach, so I'll try for a sunrise afterwards

Anyway, today I'm grateful to be living in a small town where everybody knows each other and are willing to help in any way for my photography challenges.  The same baker that has my photos hanging on his shop walls.  It's so nice.

Nite all.

Day 325 in a Year of my Life

Since I changed my eating habits a month ago, I have 5 favourite 'go-to' foods, that I use in most meals (not all at once of course!).

1. Home made chicken stock - I keep containers of it in the freezer.  It's great for quick soups, boiling rice in, adding to gravies and sauces and any of your favourite meat dishes like spaghetti bolognese sauce.  Much healthier and more full of goodness than the pre-packaged, watery, salty stocks that you buy in the shops.
2. Feta Cheese, which I add to salads, mashes, sauces, vegetables, pizzas, quinoa etc.  Adds so much extra flavour and a little bit goes a long way.  One of the healthiest cheeses you can eat.
3. Coconut Oil.  As an ingredient for cakes, chocolates and desserts.  Excellent for frying foods, for skin care and adding to smoothies.  I also add it to my muesli mix (recipe in this post).
4. Nuts.  All nuts (raw and you can roast them yourself).  They are full of protein, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and omega 3 fatty acids.  They have a long shelf life.  They lower bad cholesterol and increase good cholesterol.  Add them to anything for extra flavour or extra crunch.  Excellent for making sauces and creams, in place of dairy.  They are also a healthy and satisfying snack.  
5. Pure Maple Syrup (NOT maple flavoured syrup).  One of the healthiest replacements for refined sugar, full of manganese, zinc and antioxidants.  It supports reproductive health and Zinc is excellent for keeping your prostate healthy.  Maple Syrup can be used in tea and coffee, smoothies, marinades, over desserts and fruit salads.  I used it in my muesli mix today too.

I have a good supply of those 5 products in my pantry/fridge/freezer and I use them every single day knowing that they are improving the health of my body with vitamins, minerals, nutrients and other such goodness.

I've been wanting to make a nice gluten free, sugar free muesli for ages, so today, I started to do some research and looked for some recipes online.

After about 30 minutes, I couldn't find anything that I liked, and they all contained dried fruits (not a fan .. although the dehydrated fruits that I've made myself have so much more flavour and I may just incorporate them).

So I decided to experiment with all the nuts and seeds that I have stored in my pantry at the moment.

I can't give you any precise measurements, because I just threw in whatever I thought looked good!

Nutty Muesli Mix

Ingredients

• A lot of raw skinless almonds (approx one and half cups)
• 100g mix of pepitas, sunflower seeds and pine nuts
• A good swig of sesame seeds
• A good dollop of tahini
• Approx 1 cup of quinoa puffs
• A good handful of flaxseed
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut
• Less than 1/4 cup of coconut sugar
• A swig of maple syrup
• Maybe 1/2 cup of coconut oil
• Filtered water - maybe half a cup?

Throw it all in the food processor and mix it til it's all mixed up and the nuts are a 'bit' chopped up.  Lay it out roughly on some baking paper on an oven tray and put it in the oven at 200C for about 20 minutes.  Keep an eye on it because there is a point where it will start to burn .. you want it a bit golden.
When it comes out of the oven, separate it all (I used my favourite kitchen utensil - a paint scraper) til it's a crumbly, crunchy mixture.  Wait til it cools completely before putting it in an airtight container.

It is everything I hoped it would be and more!  I am going to eat it with natural yoghurt and fresh fruit for breakfast.

Tomorrow, I'll share my chicken stock method.

I can't wait to pick up our organic box of fruit and veg this afternoon - to see what lovely surprises are in there to challenge my cooking skills and get those creative juices flowing!

I have one more photo to share with you for the 'jelly' brief in the Canon Photo5 comp.

So far, after some friendly advice, this is the one that I'm using for the brief.

Today, I'm grateful for FROG.  The fruit and veg box was amazing.  We got lettuce, baby spinach, potatoes, pumpkin, broccoli, onions, bananas, apples, celery, oranges, avocado, carrots, tomatoes and mushrooms.  So happy!

Nite all.

Day 324 in a Year of my Life

It was still windy here today, but not near as bad as yesterday.

Apparently the wind will increase again tomorrow.

On the news last night, they predicted 30 storms over the coming season, three of them significant.

Doesn't that warm the cockles of your heart?  I think not.

This morning, I rose early, hoping to get a nice sunrise and experiment with the light and my jelly for the Photo5 contest.

The sunrise was a non-event and the jelly was washed into the ocean after my second photo!!

I still have another idea to try with Adoring Husband tomorrow.  I might nab him early tomorrow morning and see what we can come up with.

Full moon tomorrow afternoon.  If only I could find an interesting location to make the most of it!

A nice photo of a lovely local lady.

I've got the dehydrator working today.  Banana, strawberry, apple and tomato all on their way to dried deliciousness.

Today I'm grateful to see our garden abundant with tomatoes, all beginning to ripen.  I can't wait to make my own sun dried tomatoes with all kinds of different flavours.

Nite all.

Day 323 in a Year of my Life

O-M-G the wind!

All day, the winds have been gusting up to 59km hour.

We couldn't even sit at the Seat of Knowledge this morning because the wind was just too strong and too uncomfortable.  We said our 'good mornings' and then headed home.

Even though I have my nervous moments when the wind is like this during the day, it is much worse  for me at night.

Because the tornado hit us under the cover of darkness back in January, and we were in bed at the time, so that's when the memories come flooding back to make my heart pound.

Lying there listening to the heavy rain on the roof, or hearing the wind gusting, puts me on edge and I know that Adoring Husband feels the same.

During heavy storms over southern Queensland yesterday and last night, there was a suspected tornado near the Darling Downs.  Luckily, it didn't hit a heavily populated area and only damaged one person's property (not their home).

That news story certainly grabbed our attention.

I spent a bit of time in the kitchen again today.

My first little adventure was to make coconut rough chocolates.  Delicious, but rich!  I felt uncomfortable after eating 2 in one sitting .. they are about the size of a small cookie.

After that, for dinner tonight, I made a Smoked Cod and Sweet Potato Pie.  My own invention.

For the white sauce I used a savoury cashew cream and got the recipe for that here.

I had some leftover broccoli in the fridge (about half a head), so I cut the florets leaving most of the stems behind.  I also chopped 4 shallots and used about a 1/4 cup of frozen peas (I wouldn't usually use frozen vegetables, but I'm using up what's in the freezer).

I gently fried these in butter and then added it to the cashew cream.

I poached the smoked cod in full cream milk and butter and then flaked it and added it to the cashew cream mixture.  Stir it all through evenly and pour into a casserole dish.

I boiled and mashed 2 sweet potatoes and 1 normal potato with a dob of butter and then added a big dollop of sour cream to the mix.

I completely covered the smoked cod mixture with the mash and then put it in a very hot oven for 20 minutes, or until the mash started to brown a little.

I think next time I'd like to make some sort of crunchy crumble to put on top of the mash, for some added texture.  I tried to make croutons with gluten free bread, but that didn't work at all.

Adoring Husband didn't make any comment about the meal (I think he was secretly disappointed, expecting the usual smoked cod with white sauce), however, he ate it all, so he can't have hated it.

We both had some coconut rough later in the evening and AH wants to use the same recipe to make peanut clusters ... a much healthier option than the sugar laden peanut clusters that he buys from the shops, which are also full of other strange ingredients.

Today, I'm grateful to have a strong roof over our head.

Nite all.

Day 322 in a Year of my Life

So, yesterday, when I said "I'm grateful for random photography tutorials that trigger possible GREAT ideas for photo competitions", the idea that I had in my head didn't actually work out successfully.  In fact my attempts were pretty dull.

My list of 'fails' appears to be getting longer.

I have two more ideas that I want to try tomorrow.  After that ... who knows?

Adoring Husband and I had to go into The Bay today, to pick up a prize that he had won in a raffle.

Of all the prizes in all the raffles in all the world, why did we win this one????

Not really our cup of tea at all, and it certainly doesn't suit the decor in our home.

I think we will re-gift to another charity organisation so that she can be raffled off again and hopefully go to a home where she will be loved.

Since we had to be in town anyway, we decided to go to the movies.  We saw "Elysium" starring Matt Damon and Jody Foster.  It was quite violent and a bit graphic in parts, but aside from that (just keep reminding yourself that it's not real), I really enjoyed it.

I was never a big fan of Matt Damon, but having seen a few of his interviews, he seems like a nice, down to earth family man and I've recently warmed to him.  I've always been a big Jody Foster fan.

Our dehydrator arrived today, so this week, I hope to start dehydrating!

We had a nice baked dinner tonight and then I got to savour the last of the avocado/chocolate mousse.  Sooooo good!

Today, I'm grateful for the season of Spring, and finding a new Tawny Frogmouth nest to watch and wondering if the strange actions and sounds coming from SEB the cockatiel, is his attempt to court OB the cockatiel.  We may need to obtain a nesting box for the cage!

Nite all.

Day 321 in a Year of my Life

We have what we think is a failed attempt at making feta cheese.

However, we will wait a few more hours before we make a final decision.

*insert sad face here*

The weekend has been filled with football finals games.  The National Rugby League football finals are upon us and there were four games this weekend.

My team didn't quite make it this year, but Adoring Husband's team did, and they won yesterday, thanks to a refereeing error of major proportions.  Controversy abounds.

Next week, in the preliminary finals, they have to play the team that beat them in their only 2 grand final appearances (many, many years ago), so it will be a psychological battle to overcome, as well as a physical one.

Needless to say, Adoring Husband can't wipe the smile off his face ... and football hasn't given him a lot to smile about in recent years, what with State of Origin and his team losing (to my team) 8 years in a row (just had to mention that one and rub a little salt in) and this team not winning a game in the first round of finals since 2008.

His team suffered injuries yesterday, so we're hoping that they aren't too bad and that they don't lose major players for such an important game.

On a happier note, I made a delicious chocolate mousse this afternoon, out of avocado, coconut milk & oil, cocoa, maple syrup, vanilla extract and cream.

I ate some for dinner!

I really wasn't feeling hungry after a very delicious garden salad and potato salad lunch, and I knew if I ate dinner, I wouldn't have room for dessert ... so I had JUST dessert.  Haha!  I had my just desserts!  Pffft.

Here's one of my practise shots for the 'Jelly' brief in the Photo5 competition.  I'm only showing it because I haven't got any other photos prepared for this post.

See, I have lots of 'fails'.

Today I'm grateful for random photography tutorials on facebook that trigger possible GREAT ideas for photo competitions.  Watch this space tomorrow :)

Nite all.