Strawberry Cream Pie recipe

I made this Pie yesterday, before lunch.  I had a piece for lunch, then a piece for afternoon tea, then a piece for dessert and then a piece for morning tea today.  That's how much I like it!

It's light and creamy and melts in your mouth.  It is also super healthy!!  You can eat as much as you want 'guilt' free :)

For the crust:

• 3/4 cup pecans
• 1/2 cup almonds (I used blanched) - I think you could use any combination of different nuts.
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut
• 3 T butter softened

Grind all of these ingredients in your food processor until they are like a crumble, then press into the bottom of a 9 inch pie plate, building up the sides slightly.

For the Filling:

• 2 cups of fresh strawberries
• 1 cup raw cashews
• 1 T vanilla extract (not essence)
• 1/2 cup raw honey
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 cup coconut oil

Place all the filling ingredients into your blender or food processor and blend until smooth and creamy.  Carefully pour on top of the crust and refrigerate for 3 hours.  (I put it in the freezer for an hour and it was set)

Serve with fresh whipped pure cream.

I have two other pies that I'm going to try in the next couple of days.

A Chocolate Hazelnut Pie and a Lemon Slice.  I'll keep you posted.

Before I went to bed last night, I took the dogs out through the laundry door to do their business, and look who was waiting for me on the fence!!

Aren't his eyes amazing?

Well, I'm off to do some cooking .. my kitchen awaits!

Nite all.

Lazy Friday

High tide was interesting this morning.

Even though the cyclone isn't even near us, this morning's high tide, to me, seemed worse than last year when the cyclone was much closer.

This is what our waterfront looked like ...

The weather bureau has predicted three cyclones forming next week.

One in Western Australia and two in the Coral Sea, which will affect Queensland and it will, apparently, be an extreme weather event.  *insert worried face here*

Let's think positive.  Let's hope for the best.

After I came home this morning, I made a strawberry tart, which I will show you tomorrow.  Adoring Husband thought it was a bit rich, but I LOVED it and I'm not even a strawberry fan .. unless they are cold and fresh in my bowl with freshly whipped cream!

I will post a photo and the recipe tomorrow .. it's so easy to make!

Off to bed for me.

Nite all.

Fracking Cyclones

Ever heard of 'fracking'?

It's been in the news a bit lately.

Don't worry, Adoring Husband hadn't even heard of it.

If you're interested, go here, and slowly scroll down the page to follow the story with just enough detail that is very easy to understand.  The information you read, is from USA stats, but it happens in Australia too, and Queensland is the worst affected state.

Go here to see some interesting maps and read some interesting information provided by SBS about CSG and fracking and broken rules.

On the weather front at the moment, we have a cyclone to the north which should be crossing the coast between Townsville and Mackay in the early hours of tomorrow morning (by the time you read this, it will have already crossed).

To give you an idea of where Adoring Husband and I are, in the big picture ...

We should get some nice rain out of it .. which we need, but the cyclone is playing havoc with the tides, which are much bigger than normal and it's even possible that we could get our feet a little wet at the Seat of Knowledge tomorrow morning as the tide reaches it's peak.

The spiel with this map warned of impending water spouts and tornadoes between Townsville and Mackay and also on the western edge of the cyclone .. which kind of puts a chill up my spine .. for obvious reasons.

My sister lives in the area to the west.  She is annoyed that the people in her town have begun panic buying, because the shelves were bare in her local supermarket.  I just hope that she will be ok.

My brother is on the northern edge of the cyclone and has received approx 350ml of rain in the past few days and currently has storms rolling through to the north.  He seems to think that he won't be any more affected than that.

A cousin is on Magnetic Island and right in the thick of it.  Uncles, Aunties and cousins in Mackay and Townsville.

Good luck to you all and I hope that you will be safe and secure during the next couple of days.  I know that it's of no use to you, but you will be in my thoughts!

I got to have a little chat on the phone with my Chicklet today.  She will celebrate her 3rd birthday next month, so I'll be heading down that way at the end of next week to be there for the big party!

That also means that this blog will celebrate it's third birthday on 10th February!  Who'da thunk I'd still be committed to writing here after three years?!  Amazing.

Nite all.

Positively Great

I was introduced to a blog, ages ago (and by ages, I mean at least 2 yrs ago), by Vegan Chickie.

The blog is called 'Yes and Yes - because yes is more fun than no'

If I recall correctly, one of Vegan Chickie's photos was selected for the 'Yes and Yes' calendar that they issue every year.

Admittedly, as my life has filled with lots of other interesting things like photography, cooking, health and nutrition, visiting the Sunny Coast regularly,  I haven't followed the blog for over a year, even though I still receive the posts through my RSS feed.  I kind of just ignore it.

HOWEVER .. today I just happened to have a look, and Sarah Von, the writer, shared something that she does every day, and which I think is a great idea.

She keeps a note book beside her bed and at night before she goes to sleep, she writes down five great things that happened to her that day.

It could be something as small as enjoying a take-away coffee from the local cafe or as big as the birth of a grandchild or something like 'I bought a nice sharp pair of scissors today'!

Then on the opposite page, she writes a list of five things that she has to do tomorrow.  It could be cleaning the toilet, attending an important meeting, paying a bill, climbing a mountain, visiting a friend .. whatever!

She says that it makes her feel good about the day that she just had and helps her relax about tomorrow so that she can sleep more soundly.  She even mentioned that her brain conjures up ideas in her sleep, so that things run more smoothly the next day!

It just so happens that I bought myself a lovely little notepad while shopping with Adoring Husband yesterday.  It has a black cover with three words #EAT #PRAY #WRITE written on the front.  I have a bit of a 'thing' for stationery .. much the same as my 'thing' for shoes and handbags lol.

I buy notepads and journals and diaries, but don't like to write in them, because that would spoil their crisp, clean beauty!

I bought this one, telling myself that I would use it .. for something!  Now I've found the 'something' that I'm going to use it for and it will go on my bedside table, starting tonight!

I logged into Google+ today and look what I discovered!!  Google+ played with the Mickey photo to make it snow!

Pretty cool huh?

While I was sitting at the Seat of Knowledge this morning, I noticed a husband and wife walking along the river path, when they stopped, and were looking intently up between two houses nearby.  They edged closer and closer to the houses and kept whispering to each other.

After about 10 minutes, they continued on their walk, and as they got closer to the SOK, I caught their attention and asked what they had noticed between the houses.

They told me that there was a large goanna standing on it's hind legs, so I grabbed my camera and went investigating.

He was a mighty find specimen!

I think he liked the feel of the warm concrete on his belly.

An interesting thing happened today.  A facebook friend, from my 104 photography group, requested, via a facebook post,  a volunteer to help her with an assignment.

She is studying the Higher Dip in Nutritional Medicine and needed a volunteer to provide their diet details via a daily diary, which she made up and emailed through to me.

It will be interesting for me to see exactly what I consume in a week too, so I'm very keen to help her.

She also gave me a couple of recommendations for nutrition courses that were not on my list, so I will follow them up too.

I might get to bed before midnight tonight!  Wish me luck.

Nite all.

Another Date Day

We had the choice of five movies at the cinema this morning.

The 9.30am screenings included two animated children's movies, two very emotionally intense dramas and an action movie that had terrible reviews, which Adoring Husband had read to me a couple of nights ago.

There were a LOT of children at the cinema for the two animated movies .. it seems that not all ages returned to school today .. so those movies were quickly crossed off the list.

I really didn't want to start my day in emotional turmoil and with tears streaming down my cheeks, so the dramas were crossed off the list.

Movie critics annoy me, and more often than not, they are way off the mark, so I was willing to give the action movie a chance.

I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit"  It had me sitting on the edge of my seat for most of the movie and one of it's stars is one of my favourites, Kevin Costner.

Chris Pine and Keira Knightley were great, and Kenneth Brannagh acted in it, as well as Directed it!

We relaxed with a coffee in the cafe before the cinema opened and then during the movie, we enjoyed some popcorn, water and a nice little bag of grapes that I snuck in my handbag.

Afterwards, we had some heavy duty shopping to do because the stores in my pantry were very low, so a trip to 'Nana's Pantry' and 'Go Natural Foods' just about emptied our bank account!  But now I'm all set for a couple of marathon cooking days!

The most exciting part of my shopping day, was finding some Kefir Grains!

I've read so much about Kefir and I just wasn't confident about making my own, but now I have a starter and I should be able to keep up a regular supply!

Kefir is a drink made from kefir grains and it has the consistency of a drinkable yogurt but is much more tart and is actually effervescent.

Kefir has 35 different strains of beneficial bacteria and yeasts which actually colonize our digestive tracts and therefore boosts our immune system by keeping the healthy bacteria there.

Next on my list is finding a Kombucha 'Scoby'.  I'll explain that another day!

On the way home, we had to make way for a couple of Rural Fire Brigade trucks and we could see that they were headed for a rather large fire, but by the time we got home, there were warnings on the radio telling people in the area that if they didn't have a plan, they should get out of their homes now!

The warning was being repeated every ten minutes on the radio for at least two hours.

We've had such terrible winds, including today, so I imagine that the fire got out of control pretty quickly.  It's classed as 'A Major Fire Incident' on the Rural Fire Service website.

I hope that no property has been damaged or destroyed and that nobody has been hurt.

In case you're wondering, it's nowhere near here and it's heading in a direction away from our place, so we are in no danger.

That's my day in a nutshell and now I need to catch up on some recorded TV shows!

Nite all.

Good and Bad

Table Salt = BAD!

Table salt, which is 97% Sodium Chloride (NaCl) is chemically produced, bleached and devoid of most other nutrients. It also contains Aluminium, which has been linked to Alzheimer's disease and other problems in the body.

This type of salt is not naturally occurring and in fact, when salt-water fish are placed in salt water made with table salt… they die.

This type of salt is also devoid of the many trace minerals that the body needs… so it is a wise decision to avoid it.

If you have any of this type of table salt around your house, I’d recommend that you stop using it immediately. Don’t throw it out though… you can use it in natural cleaning and stain treatment. (Just don’t eat it!)

Real Salt = Good!

To the degree that table salt is bad, real salt is healthy, necessary and good.

Consider this: the body contains high concentrations of many minerals and nutrients, and while it needs water, it also must have the proper concentration of these nutrients in bones, blood and organs to function properly.

A person can’t be given an IV of plain water- it must contain a careful balance of minerals, including salt!

Here are five reasons I personally make sure I consume enough healthy salt each day:

1. For Insulin Sensitivity:  Research is showing a link between low salt consumption and insulin resistance (and moderate/high salt intake and insulin sensitivity).  With the rising rates of blood sugar related problems, this is an important factor to consider.
2. Hydration:  Drinking 'Sole' (a specially hydrated salt water) every morning for an energy boost, a reduction in allergy symptoms and for hydration, will give your body lots of trace minerals which are essential for proper hydration.
3. Longevity:  Low salt intake is actually linked to shorter life expectancy.
4. Hormones:  Real salt clears cortisol from the blood, which takes your stress away.
5. Digestion:  Salt activates an enzyme in the mouth, called 'salivary amylase'.  At this point, the salt allows your taste buds to taste the food.  Salt also plays a role in digestion, by helping to break down food.  Salt also creates hydrochloric acid which is a very important digestive secretion, which lines the stomach walls.

Himalayan Pink salt is my favourite.  It has a milder flavour and has 84 trace elements and iron.  So toss that table and cooking salt away and be kind to your body with some nice healthy pink Himalayan salt.

We've got a double challenge in flickr again this month.  

I haven't been out and about with my camera much this month, except for the road trip, and to be honest, I didn't even think about using those photos *forehead slap* so I've used a couple of 'desperate situations, call for desperate measures' photos.

The first challenge is "Can you hear this sound" and I used the Village Voices photo for that ...

The second challenge is 'Weather'.  The only weather we've had for some time is WIND!  So, this morning, I got this photo, of the sand blowing erratically across the beach ...

I don't expect that either of my photos will do any good this month, but it's good to submit photos, to keep the numbers up, and to keep the competition honest.

I've started compiling a list of 'Questions that you should ask your parents before it's too late'.

The reason for this compilation is because of a conversation with some friends yesterday morning.  A couple of us no longer have our parents living, so when we have questions, there is nobody to ask.

I'll probably post a few questions each day, because there will be too many to post in one day!  Stay tuned.

I'm off to watch "MKR" - first episode of the season.

Nite all.

Australia Day 2014

My goodness, the weather wants to remind us about last year, by providing us with 48kph winds and 70kph gusts!

There are strong wind warnings all along the Queensland coast from as far north as Townsville, all the way south to the Gold Coast.

As if we need to be reminded!

During the week, I got a call from 'The Artist', advising me that our friend 'The Beauty' would be presented with a special Australia Day gift from the town of Burrum Heads to acknowledge and recognise her value in our community and to thank her for her friendship and continued involvement in community activities.

This presentation was to remain a secret and my job was to contact her husband 'The Beast' to make sure she attended the Australia Day celebrations at the Community Hall.

So I conspired with 'our group' and we planned to all go together, inviting 'Beauty and the Beast', for the Australia Day sausage sizzle breakfast, the raising of the flag and then the entertainment in the hall afterwards .. which would include the presentation for 'The Beauty'.

I must say, it's a little bit stressful trying to organise surprises like this, without letting the cat out of the bag!

But we were successful and The Beauty appeared to be very surprised and very happy.

It was an interesting morning and I got to meet our local member, Cr Rolf Light and the Fraser Coast, Mayor Gerard O'Connell.  They were very friendly, making small talk about the weather, comparing it to last year, and Rolf Light even shared photos of his beloved dog wearing a diamonte tiara!

These are just a few photos from our morning at the Community Hall.  A pleasant time was had by all.

Adoring Husband and I visited some other friends for a couple of hours after lunch.  By the time we got there, everybody was very merry with a few drinks already under their belts and then we left just before they went over the edge with drunken festivities.

I enjoyed catching up with a few people .. those that we only get to see three or four times each year.

Tonight we met friends at the local Bowls Club for dinner.  Unfortunately, half an hour after we'd placed our orders, one of the kitchen staff came out to tell me that they couldn't provide that meal gluten free and would I like to choose another meal.

That was annoying, because then I had to wait for another 40 minutes for my meal, by which time, everybody else had received and eaten theirs.  So they were all waiting for me to finish before they went home.

Still, it was a nice meal which I enjoyed and the company was special.  I sat with two of the most polite, courteous and genuinely friendly teenagers that I've ever had the pleasure to meet.  So I thoroughly enjoyed that part of the evening.

So our Australia Day was full of friendship and smiles .. just the way Australia Day should be.

Nite all.