The end of the year, lamb stock, a lamb moussaka inspired dish and no more ham!

How beautiful is this sunrise! I took this, with my enthusiastic dad watching on, Boxing Day morning. I have been once again enjoying sunrises, mainly due to a sweet little bubby sleeping brilliantly. Thank learning to roll over for that- I certainly am! Now she can get comfy all by herself, with minimal wake ups, if any. Best Christmas present ever :) 

I ate way too much over the week. Even healthy food can be heavily calorie laden, and my portion sizes definitely went up. My sweet Dad stayed for 2 nights. He spoiled us with a large leg of lamb, and too much ham. Waaaay too much ham. I have flashbacks of last year while pregnant. Ham nightmares. Thankfully, those days are over. But if I never see ham again, I'm fine with that.

This is our boxing day breaky: leftover ham, smoked salmon, grilled haloumi, pesto, nectarines, camembert  cheese and whole egg mayo. So very nice. So very salty. 

The next day, hubby got ham for breaky: a ham steak, topped with cheese then grilled, and topped again with pesto. He enjoyed it, even though we were all over ham by this point.

The ham distracted me from the fact we had a huge leg of lamb half eaten. So again, I had to make use of meaty leftovers. Thankfully, lamb is a bit more user friendly, and healthy. The above is a lamb stock base ready to go: Trimmed lamb bone (meat set aside for another dish), spring onions, carrots, whole onions, chopped in half, carrots, fresh rosemary and thyme, salt, pepper and bay leaves. It is just brought to the boil, simmered for a few hours, strained and ready to use o freeze. I have 3 large and 3 small containers of frozen stock now. No waste, great nutrients :)

The leftover lamb meat made a loose style moussaka. I fried the diced lamb with herbs, olives, added a tin of diced tomatoes (no sugar added), a few spoons of gravy powder, pepper, water and then simmered it. That mix was transferred to a baking dish, and topped with grilled eggplant (sliced length ways, brushed with olive oiled then grilled til soft and lightly golden).

This is the dish cooked. I layered the eggplant onto the lamb base, drizzled a little whole cream over the top, and crumbled some fetta onto that, then oven baked until golden- a 200 degree oven for approximately 30 mins.

We all went for a walk Christmas night. We all felt so full and needed to walk in the cool of the evening. It blessed me to have my Dad and girls with me. Its the simple things.

This plant was one I noticed on my walk. I love the colour of the flowers, and also the texture in the leaves- so beautiful.

I really love this picture. It's an enlargement of a flowering plant photo I snapped. It is going to be immortalised in art soon- i love it that much :)

This dish is an experiment with chicken. I cut up one double chicken breast, placed it in an oiled baking dish, then covered it with crushed macadamias (and some whole), salt, pepper, paprika, shredded coconut, some dried apricots and butter. I covered it in foil, then baked for 30 mins in a moderate oven.

This is the result- served with a little rice and steamed broccoli. It was a hit, but next time, hubby suggested that it would taste great with the apricots covering the chicken like the macadamias did too. I agree :)

Before I leave you with the last post of 2014, here are some more snapshots. I love this one above- it looks like an explosion above the house. Stunning sunset to capture.

It's hot, balmy weather. These clouds rolling in on evening look stunning, and are keeping the heat in like a blanket.

This is your last sunrise from me until next year. Taken today, New Year's Eve. Welcome a beautiful day, and a promise of things to come.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

Sleep, glorious sleep, sunrises and scenery, a cupboard cleanse, avocado ice cream and more!

As this is my last post pre-Christmas, I have made it a biggun. And what a big couple of days it has been. Yesterday, I couldn't cope one second longer with being so sleep deprived. I think I cried to my sweet bubba while I was feeding her breaky. Make that pleaded with her through tears. She must have listened, as last night, she went to bed at 7pm and woke up at exactly 6am. If it wasn't for my bladder, I would have slept the whole night straight too. I have just got her down now after giving her a 2nd dinner, and a full bottle, so fingers crossed we have a repeat of last night. 

This is what I woke up to yesterday morning- a stunning pre-sunrise.

And here, the sun breaks the horizon.

I love how the sun looks over my back fence. 

I must say, I have become a bit addicted to snapping sunrises of late, but this morning, I couldn't have cared less. I got sleep!!!

I have been trying my hardest to eat well leading up to Christmas. Today went a bit pear shaped, Lots of sampling of cooking will do that. Yesterday, however, started well.

Plain yoghurt, defrosted frozen strawberries and oats for breaky...

And a simple, divine lunch I made for me and my non teen: steamed green and yellow beans, topped with sauteed asparagus, topped with a few thin fried slivers of bacon, topped with a soft centred poached egg and parmesan chunks. 

Dinner yesterday was a simple, tasty, easy meal: a BBQ chook, some salad, a large avocado to share, cheese slices and wholemeal bread rolls, all on paper plates with disposable knives and forks. Best family dinner night for a while- no big clean up.

Today. Well, let's just say it was rather productive. Considering I still feel tired- one nights sleep, though lovely, won't make up for months of exhaustion, I am amazed at what I got through.

Follow the photos to see what I managed on better sleep...

Fresh spinach and coriander pesto ingredients ready to go...

The blitzing is complete...

and so is the bottling.

Hubby did the hard work, but I did assist. Now we have a vertical hanging space, and a great screen so I can't see the clothes line or hubby's mess when he cuts wood.

A giant batch of zucchini slice ingredients ready to go. No flour this time- but I did add 2 more eggs than usual, and just almond meal in this batch. This will be ready for mine, and my non teens, healthy eating post Christmas regime.

I made an easy lunch from some leftover salad, a tin of tuna in olive oil, and some cottage cheese. I then followed that with a left over, wholemeal bread roll.

This is the start of my cupboard cleanse. What a horrid job. Horrid because i have neglected it for years, and because you don't realise how much you need your knees when one won't allow you to get down onto the floor properly without pain. This job took 3 hours. Yep, three whole hours! Lucky hubby took bubby Christmas shopping with him.

When I showed hubby my hard work, and the 3 Aldi bags full of now unwanted plastic clutter, he said it didn't look much better. I'm not sure how I resisted throwing something at him. I think deep down, I didn't want to mess my hard work, and plastic doesn't leave much of a dent anyway.

This is my proud new achievement- avocado ice cream: I blended 1 can of coconut cream, 1 large avocado, juice of a whole lime, the scraped contents of a vanilla pod, 2 teaspoons of rice malt syrup and a pinch of ground ginger. Then it was simply a matter of putting it into moulds. I distinctly think the last ice block handle is now in an Op-Shop bin, but after the effort to sort through a mountain of plastic, I wasn't going to raid the 3 large plastic bags for the darn thing, so a plastic spoon will suffice as a handle. Then  freeze these treats.

When the little shapes had frozen, I popped them into a container in the freezer for later.

This is our Christmas day treat- for those of us not wanting lots of processed sugar anyway: Choc Cashew shapes. they were meant to be balls, but somehow, i must have got the quantities wrong, cause these things were gooey and definitely not roll-able. However, once set, they taste amazing! The link to the recipe is here.

After all of that, I needed time out. So, it was off to Kingy creek for an evening walk. This is the beach from the rock wall looking back. 

I love seeing pelicans on the creek. 

This water was so cool and felt so good on my toes. Bubby agreed. She loves the water, just not waves- yet. 

And there you have it, 2 days, done and dusted. I won't blog tomorrow. It's Christmas Eve, and I have the thrilling jobs of vaccing  and washing to do before my sweet dad arrives in the afternoon. Then, I'm going to enjoy my family, maybe our neighbour too, and watch my sweet bubby enjoy all the attention, even though she really has no idea what is going on. As long as she is included though, she's a happy girl.

Merry Christmas guys. Thanks for reading. I'm looking forward to sharing with you next year! 

It's nearly Christmas! Sunrises, flowers, scenery and Hawaiian frivolity.

I am sure, if I may assume here, whether you support Christmas or not, that many of you are perhaps a tiny bit busy. For those who feel distaste towards this season for personal reasons, you probably aren't escaping the hectic pace, ridiculous bombardment of advertising material, noticed certain products increase in price, and the frantic nature of many around you. For me, with a little bubby, Christmas this year feels special again. I went through years of sadness at this time of year. Sure, I had my girls, but with such a scattered family and hectic shift work schedule, Christmas became a season to endure, not enjoy. I do like making people feel good, and though I don't think anyone should go into debt for Christmas (so so glad I cut up my credit card several years ago!!!), I am looking forward to seeing eager faces this coming Thursday morning. Even though this year is on a budget, I don't think it has affected the quality of giving at all. If anything, it made it quite fun. 

As I touched on in my last post, each day, I must focus on something positive, snap it, and post it. I have been continuing with that and it is helping me see beauty everywhere. Look below for some examples...

A little smiley face I almost overlooked one evening on a walk.

An overcast sunrise a few days back.

Ok, a self indulgent post, I know. This was me on my way to a Hawaiian themed party last week with hubby, and bubby- who flatly refused to sleep beforehand. It felt so good to put on bright colours, a fabulous wig, too much make-up and go out for a bit. I need to remind myself, that even though I'm not my ideal weight, I am still beautiful, and allowed to feel it too. Self confidence goes a long way in reaching your goals. Self loathing is basically self sabotage. 

I know, another overcast sunrise. I'm up early, so why waste the moment.

This is a photo I took from our holiday a few months back. I ran a filter over it and then I decided I wanted this in my own garden.  Our garden is going under a massive reno at present. It's getting ready for a new post edging and having a back gate put in, making access out with a pram and bike much easier, and  crawling baby friendly too.

Beautiful, heavenly scented flowers on the tree in my front yard. I love this perfume wafting through my house.  

A great find- a single water droplet on a nasturtium leaf.  Little discoveries like this delight me! 

A beautiful, sunny late afternoon for a beach walk. This is 7 minutes from home- I'm pretty blessed.

More stunning flowers I nearly overlooked on the last leg of an evening walk. They are beautiful flowers growing against ordinary bricks. Love them! 

A quick visit to Tweed Regional Art Gallery at Murwillumbah meant I couldn't go home without snapping this view.

I love trees, and the patterns found in bark. This one, edited of course, is from a stunning, large Leopard Gum at Murwillumbah. Sigh, hanging for a tree change.

Lastly, my church had an amazing Christmas spectacular tonight at Murwillumbah  Civic Centre. This was my food contribution. Yes, regular readers should recognise this- a zucchini slice :)

Christmas is nearly here. I have regained a kilo. Groan. I am over being so darned sleep deprived. I read a great bit of info on sleep deprivation and it summed up exactly how I feel. I'm not tired because of my age, as some well meaning people kindly? suggest. I'm just not getting enough sleep. Period. What I have been starting to do again is eat lots of carbs for energy. White bread today, I must confess. 4 slices. Oops.

I can also let you know how limited my knee function is. Kneeling is out. Deep squatting is out also.  Sitting crossed legged on the floor- nearly but not quite- as long as one leg is out straight. Running- only if it's in a dead straight line with no sudden turns, and not for long. Walking, same as running, but I can last longer. Bike riding- all clear! 

This all means I need to take a serious look at my diet, my exercise regime, and work it for my current circumstances. I want to be well again, in every way. So, no New years Resolutions- those things are destined to be broken by 98.9% of the population by day 3! I, however, like to have goals. Boring, sometimes slow to reach, but character building goals. Who is with me?! 

If I do not get around to blogging pre- Christmas, I hope it's a good one for you all. I am shopping for food with my non teen tomorrow. Then I hope to do little until the Big Day. Who knows, I may re-blog yet!

Until next time, thanks for reading :) 

Lost days, cottage cheese protein balls, baked whole cauliflower and stunning scenery

Where did the days go?! I am so sorry to have made you wait oh so long. Somewhere between my last post and now, I vaguely remember a very rainy, overcast spell of weather that saw a little bubby sleep lots of a day only to stay up more at night. Oh what fun! I also have a vague recollection of doing stuff, like catching up with my bro, my sweet sis-in-law and their adorable bubby boy for an early Christmas celebration before they depart for Japan. Other than that, it's just been a tired, mile high pile of washing kind of gray drabness in my memory. Or maybe that was why I am forgetting. So. Much. Rain. We know what that means for those of us without a clothes dryer. So. Much. Washing. 

Looking at the photo below makes me remember another treat- a brunch out with my non teen. How could I forget- the food was divine!

I ordered the vegetarian delight, or something similarly named. Oh my, It Was Good! Fried haloumi, the nicest mushrooms I can remember eating, tomatoes, super runny poached eggs on sour dough...drool. Definitely ordering that again from Choux Box cafe in Kingscliff :)

I made a decision a few days ago that I am sick of being angry after waking up in a vile mood. The rain and lack of sleep was getting to me. Correction- I allowed the rain and lack of sleep to get to me, instead of finding the joy in the situation. To combat this, I have been going Instagram crazy. Each day, I have to focus on at least one thing beautiful, then snap it, and post it. I must say- its helping! I am so excited to find the beauty in even the ordinary, and my backyard has provided most of my recent inspiration. I'm even finding my faith is growing again, as gratitude is a natural conduit for re-connecting with God. I am feeling lighter inside already :)

A ray of light on a rainy day with my geranium in the foreground- simple and beautiful.

Hubby and I did manage a brief date last Thursday morning while my non teen watched bubby. We were fortunate enough to get in some stunning scenery before the heavens opened in the afternoon.

How stunning is this view! Cabarita beach looks amazing from up this high :)

My back yard again- mint on the bottom reaching up towards bromeliads. I love this pic, and sitting here to have a cuppa. Learning to be grateful, and making room for it, is so worth while.

Another steamy, overcast morning, but how beautiful! Love the colour contrast and the stormy sky.

My little herb garden, flourishing well in its new spot. 

My humble little garden has been the source of so much inspiration of late. i'm starting to see it with new eyes :)

This morning- I captured this by angling my iPhone differently. What a result! 

A little later, I took this. I love how light plays on the palm leaves. Beautiful.

Back to today's cooking. I did a bit actually. I made hubby some of his protein balls yesterday. His are higher fat and use his new, blokey, thermogenic protein powder. I am leaving that stuff to him. I made a bit of an experimental batch for myself today. They sort of went something like this...

Cottage cheese Protein Balls:

2 heaped tablespoons of cottage cheese.

1 large tablespoon of no sugar/ salt peanut butter.

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

1 tablespoon of cocao powder.

1 teaspoon of rice malt syrup.

1 tablespoon of chia seeds.

1 heaped teaspoon of shredded coconut.

1 heaped teaspoon of coconut flour.

1 tablespoon of blitzed oats (raw oats that have been shredded in a food processor til they resemble crumbs. I am weaning bubby from rice cereal to oats. So far-so good!).

Almond meal- for coating.

In a food processor, mix the above til it all comes together. It should make a reasonably sticky mix that rolls together well. Roll small amounts into balls, coat with almond meal, store in fridge. Note- you will need warm water on hand to get the excess of your hands between rolling. The little I sampled was a bit bitter, but with a morning coffee after an all too early wake up- yum!

I then made 3 breaky parfaits...

Natural Jalna yoghurt topped with frozen strawberries, soaked black chia seeds and topped with walnuts.

Today was beautiful, especially after so much overcast weather. Honestly, I was so utterly exhausted, but determined to walk and enjoy being outside at some part of the day.

This made it worthwhile. The creek looked like paradise today. 

I love walking this boardwalk. Today didn't disappoint. Hubby, bubby and I enjoyed our stroll in the sunshine.

Now, back to food. A friend had posted a dish that got my interest- a marinated, whole baked cauliflower. I knew I had one sitting in my fridge, alone and forgotten. I had to make this! 

I made mine like this: 

To approximately 1/2 a cup of dijon mustard, I added a tablespoon of honey and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When it was mixed well, I spooned it over a cleaned, trimmed cauliflower that was sitting in an oiled cake tin. I allowed it to sit while i heated the oven to 220 degrees.

The dinner tonight was simple. My non teen was coming over for family dinner night and though I didn't feel like heavy food, I wanted a satisfying, nutritious meal all the same. To accompany my roasted cauliflower, i finally decided a cooked chicken salad may work. After cooking a double, cubed chicken breast in coconut butter, adding a little salt and pepper once cooked, i put together a simple salad: Mixed green leaves, cherry tomatoes and herbs from my garden :) The salad was put down first, then topped with cooked chicken, and then, I added some malt vinegar to the chicken cooking juices, and poured it over the salad.

Tonight's healthy salad.

The cooked cauliflower. It received some interesting comments! And yes, it does look like fried brains. The whole thing took an hour an a half to cook- my oven is slow. I did need to cover it and turn it down for the last 20 mins. 

The cauliflower was tender and the topping tasted great. I am keen to experiment with different toppings now. Almost everyone, except my teen, devoured their serve. 

There you have it, your lot for today. I hope that keeps you satisfied for now. I hope to be a lot more efficient and post regularly. Praying my sweet bubby lets me sleep!

Until next time, thanks for reading :)