Food Hoarding

I was having a discussion with someone recently about hoarding.

Adoring Husband's mother was a hoarder and it took us a LONG time to clean out her house of 30 years worth of hoarding. At least she was a tidy hoarder and everything was stored in boxes which were neatly stacked against the walls, albeit six boxes high and three or four deep!

AH shows signs of being hoarder material, but isn't too bad. I must admit that I too have the makings of a hoarder, but tend to pull in the reins just in the nick of time.

I do admit, however, to being a food hoarder! I only just realised this morning that I do have this problem.

I guess it's worse because we live fairly remotely and we don't have instant access to 'uncommon' foods like the organic nuts and seeds, coconut in it's various forms, raw cacao, non-grain flours, quality himalayan salt, fermented foods & vinegars, some herbs and oils.

So when I buy it, I buy large quantities and store it in our increasingly shrinking pantry. Our pantry is not a walk-in and has very deep shelving, so when I need to find something, I'm often completely emptying it, to access the particular item I require.

I try to make a list of what we need, but sometimes, I'll see something and can't remember if we are running low or not, so buy it 'just in case', only to discover that I still have plenty at home.

This means more storage containers and more space filled and less room available and great difficulties seeing what I'm actually looking for at any given time.

My future plans involve renovating the kitchen to include a large walk-in pantry with enough shelving and power points to permanently set up my blender, food processor, dehydrator, juicer etc., so that I don't have to be dragging these things in and out of cupboards every time I need to use them.

I use my blender and food processor almost daily and I would use the others more regularly, if I wasn't put off by getting down low to drag them out of their storage spot, because they can be quite cumbersome.

I have many ideas, which simply makes it a jumbled mess in my head. I need to find a professional who can make ordered sense of my jumble and who can create my dream kitchen.

Anyway, I'm writing this in my study break, so I'd best get back to it.

Here is a photo from the archives. One that I have never shared before ..

Afternoon all.

Sleepy Me

I slept in.

I woke at 8.30am and stayed in bed until 9.30am.

Adoring Husband had bought my coffee and delivered it to my bedside, but I slept until it had gone cold. He was good enough to reheat it for me and I lazed around until it was study time.

I did go for a trike ride and I checked the mail before discovering that it was a public holiday for the Post Office due to the Fraser Coast show. That was a shame because I was expecting a parcel today.

I missed a birthday .. one of my boys celebrated his 78th birthday today and I thought it was tomorrow. I even have a gift for him .. I guess it will now be a belated birthday gift.

It's a chilly night tonight, so I'm off to snuggle down under the doona.

Nite all.

It's All About Food.

I'm going to try this on the weekend. My mouth waters just thinking about it!



More study today.

My first assignment (chronologically) is an 800 word essay about physiological processes that occur during neuron function, and I have to include stuff about action potentials, axon terminals, components of a neuron cell and describing how structure is related to function.

Yes, it's all gobbledy gook to me too!

Lots of research and youtube videos and google searches and text book reading and study site tutorials. Taking lots of notes and creating simple sentences to describe complex details. From what I've read so far, there aren't going to be too many simple sentences!

Anyway, I've created a time line so that I can study efficiently to make the most of the time leading up to each exam and assignment - hopefully my nemesis, 'procrastination', doesn't defeat me. I've made a late start to this semester already, so I have to run a steady race.

Adoring Husband is on SES duty again tonight and I am enjoying Masterchef on TV. I think that I'm a pretty good cook, but I would never make a chef, let alone a masterchef!  Their attention to detail is way better than I am capable of, and their final results mostly look like 'fine art' on a plate. The pressure is also pretty intense and on more than one occasion, I've shed a tear with one of the contestants, Georgia Barnes.

She's my favourite.

I have 1kg of almonds in the dehydrator as we speak, after soaking them for about 15 hours yesterday (activating them) and I will probably put them in the oven briefly, to give them that final roasted flavoursome crunch. AH and I just finished the chocolate tart that I made on the weekend with the last of my recent batch of almonds in a crumbly nut base. Very delicious.

I adore that crumbly nut base and I need to figure out what sort of filling I will put in the next tart!

Anyway, into bed early for me.

Nite all.

Just Briefly

I've been going through some old photos and came across this one from two years ago. One of my favourites.

... and a sunset photo, also from 2013 ...

I had a morning of study and then an afternoon catching up with the last season of Nurse Jackie, so it's been uneventful.

Time for bed.

Nite all.

Wishing I'd done that.

It's difficult to find 'short' stories from the people currently undertaking the paleo lifestyle. Most of them have so many health issues that their stories are too long and detailed to post here (I know you would be bored with them - astonishing as they are!), but here is a nice short one with obvious results.

*Note to self-smile when taking selfies (took me until week 5 to do so!). When I started the 10 week program, I was too frightened to get on the scales, so I decided to take weekly selfies to see if I could notice any changes. I rarely weigh myself as I prefer to go by my clothes and how I am feeling. I am starting week 12 this week along with my husband. We haven't been 100% but have made big changes to our diet/way of life and are gradually introducing it into our children's diet as well (aged 9 & 11). I am sleeping better, my severe headaches have all but gone, I definitely have more energy and most importantly FEEL better within myself

These photos were taken on weeks 1,3,5,7 and today at the start of week 12.*

I wish I'd thought to take 'before', 'during' and 'after' photos during my paleo lifestyle change.

Something that I found interesting today ...

A large study coming from researchers at the Uppsala University in Sweden found that drinking milk led to an increased mortality rate and actually made bones more prone to fracturing, not less.

The study was recently published in the peer reviewed British Medical Journal, and was specifically conducted to examine whether high milk consumption is associated with mortality and fractures in both men and women.

The study took place across three different counties in Sweden, and used data from two large Swedish cohorts, one with 61,433 women aged approximately 39-74 years old and one with 45, 339 men aged approximately 45-79 years old. They were all administered food frequency questionnaires. The study used “multivariable survival models” that were “applied to determine the association between milk consumption and time to mortality and fracture.

To see the results and more of this story go here.

Anyway, I got some much needed study done today.

My first assignment is to create a 'Materia Medica' .. I know .. right?

Materia medica (English: medical material/substance) is a Latin medical term for the body of collected knowledge about the therapeutic properties of any substance used for healing (i.e., medicines).

The first assignment is a Materia Medica on a given selection of Vitamins and the second one is on Minerals.

I like it and I think it will be very interesting. So far, the only vitamin I've researched is Thiamine and there is a lot to learn, and record, about each vitamin. Apparently, this will be a very useful tool to refer to in my future, if I choose to become a professional Nutritionist or Naturopath, so I'd best do a good job of it!!

Had a great morning tea with three of the girls.  Mardi was there to celebrate her new status as grandmother and we were joined by Cuddlepot and Cuddlepie. Cuddlepie has sold her house and will be moving away soon, which is sad because she is well loved by many people in our circle. She's a laugh and a half.

Maid Marian and the Leggy Blonde didn't turn up, so I will have a bone to pick with them next time I see them!! You know who you are!!

We had our stove top replaced today, so all is right with my cooking world again :)

The two psychotic dogs who partook of the bird that they caught in the back yard are seriously struggling with their digestion at the moment. I'm hoping that the trouble will pass and won't require a trip to the vet, but they are feeling very sore and sorry for themselves right now. I doubt that they will have learned their lesson, but I hope I catch them BEFORE they consume it next time!!

Nite all.

Loving the Fat

Big news out of the USA. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, which represents 90,000 registered Dietician Nutritionists (RDNs) have released the following statements in relation to the new US Dietary guidelines:

Saturated Fat: "the Academy supports the decision to drop dietary cholesterol from the nutrients of concern list and recommends it deemphasize saturated fat from nutrients of concern, given the lack of evidence connecting it with cardiovascular disease."

Sugar: "the evidence is strongest that a reduction in the intake of added sugars will improve the health of the American public. The identification and recognition of the specific health risks posed by added sugars represents an important step forward for public health"

Many of you will already be doing this but basically this means lower your sugar intake and enjoy cooking with butter or coconut oil. Yay!!

Here is our dinner from the other night with recipe and instructions (for most of it).

... and some more photos of my little Chicklet ...

I did a lot of cooking today (again). I packaged the second batch of chicken broth, made a chocolate cheesecake slice (paleo style), roasted some more vegetables to have with the leftover chicken and gravy (from the photos), made some chocolate energy balls and then cooked crispy skinned chicken with salsa salad for dinner.

I have to congratulate Mardi on the birth of her first (blood) grandchild, a boy, Cooper - congratulations to 'The Lifesaver' too! I can't wait to have a celebratory coffee with her tomorrow .. and eventually a wine or two and clink glasses in a big rejoicing cheers!! Lots of Love xox

We will miss 'Lady Lynn' at our morning tea tomorrow, who is hopefully relaxing and lazing about on a short beach side holiday. 'Beauty' is also gallivanting over the countryside on a long caravanning holiday. 'Maid Marian' is jaunting about for a couple of months as well, so our numbers are reduced for a while!

That's it. Must go to bed before I get involved in this movie that just started.

Nite all.

Late Call

I was just about to go to bed when I realised that I haven't posted here tonight!

An interesting day today.

I sat in bed for a good part of the morning .. til about 9.30am and then I spent the rest of the morning cooking.

I packaged the chicken broth and placed them in the freezer, then pureed the chicken necks with most of the vegetables from the stock for dog food. I prepped a chicken to roast in the oven and then prepared the vegetables (photos tomorrow).

Everything was running smoothly, so I put on another batch of chicken broth in the slow cooker, because I had some veg in the fridge that was almost ready to toss.

At some point, I needed the coconut oil, which always sits beside the ceramic stove top. Unfortunately, as I lifted the jar, it slipped out of my hands and the bottom edge of the jar landed on the stove top and smashed it!!

A lot of swearing was to be had! This is the second time in less than a year that I've smashed the stove top. This one was supposed to last until the kitchen renovation, when we plan on installing a gas stove. Ugh.

After lunch, Adoring Husband walked out to the kitchen to clean up, and discovered two of our psychotic dogs with feathers around their mouths, but one in particular, appropriately nicknamed 'the smiling assassin' by one of my cousins, had blood on her mouth and feathers attached to her fur.

We discovered a mass of feathers outside in the outdoor area, a trail of feathers through the house which led to a dog bed under my desk, which was also covered in feathers!

It was like a horror movie!

I wanted to edit the photos from my time down on the Sunny Coast, but had all sorts of trouble with the new editing program on my imac, so finally I used the old one on my laptop.

I only have one to share for now. My cheeky possum obviously not interested in having her photo taken!

Time for bed.

Nite all.