You may well wonder what on earth happened to make me 5 days late with the next post? Wonder no more. I reached the peak of my coping ability and had a mild implosion. Nothing quite like weather that makes you sweat the second you step out of a cool shower and keeps the night time temperature a lovely degree of severe humidity. Add to that a very painful reminder of what happens monthly when you aren't pregnant and Yipee! Coincide this with a teen leaving our home (the one on loan from Germany), a party to attend, a hubby manning an exhibition and a final monthly BBQ to organise... what a slightly hectic several days!
With all of this happening, I chose to focus each day on something positive. Here is the result of that...
I was awake before the sunrise one morning. Look at the reward I got! Stunning colours.
The sun's nearly up- and how beautiful is the sky! Grateful I witnessed it from my back yard :)
Early mornings rock! The sun is brilliant this time of the day.
An evening walk by the creek- such a relaxing place.
Appreciating my little garden, and how stunning the palm leaves looked with the sunlight hitting them.
A vine flower after the rain.
The same vine with a burst of sunshine making it glow.
A walk one morning a few years ago saw me bring home a discarded (well, dumped actually) clump of bromeliads. They are now taking over an old palm tree in the corner of my garden and make great homes for baby frogs.
Lastly, taken this morning, is a snapshot of my little outdoor table setting, my respite from life for 5 minutes at a time. Grateful for this space.
Now, during all of this busyness, it's perhaps a tiny bit fair to assume my eating wasn't particularly fabulous. In an attempt to fix this, and acknowledge that I did just need something sweet, I attempted to make a healthy nutella. May I say how spectacularly I failed at making nutella. Out of this failure came a most pleasant surprise however. See below for details...
My no bake, vegan, choc almond slice :) I'm hooked! This is how I made it (of course, it's a variation of a recipe I found online)...
2 cups raw almonds
half a cup shredded coconut
2 tablespoons of coconut oil
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 tablespoons of cocao
1 vanilla pod, insides scraped out for use
1 tablespoon of rice malt syrup
1/4 cup of water (or coconut water if preferred)
In a food processor, blitz raw almonds and shredded coconut until it makes as pasty a mixture as possible- approx 5-8 minutes. Mine just wouldn't turn into butter and ended up looking like sticky crumbs. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Press into a lightly greased and lined slice tray and place in fridge to set. Cut into slices and store in the fridge.
I am addicted and have found a healthy, nutrient rich way to cope with life :)
Another way I am coping is by planning ahead. I have decided to cut out recipes from magazines and even grocery catalogues that are sugar free and filled with simple, real ingredients. These pages will be stuck into a blank writing book I have spare so that when I am at a loss for ideas, instead of ripping out several cook books, I will have what I need at a glance.
An hour well spent last night collecting recipes from mags and catalogues, ready to be glued into a book for easy access.
Many good things are happening currently too. Hubby has received incredible feedback from the art community about his work, and been asked to exhibit again. My first ever German teen informed me two nights ago that she is visiting us next year! I am so thrilled. In fact, we all are. My little bubby is starting to sleep better again, and is also now officially enrolled to start swim school next year. And currently, it's several degrees cooler, has just stormed and is raining. Bliss.
Hubby has a long day and won't be home for ages, so family dinner is simple tonight. Me, my teen and non teen shall enjoy some grilled chicken skewers and a healthy salad. Time to get the positive, fresh, healthy eating back after a slight detour this past week.
And that is sadly your lot for today. I will aim to bring you far more frequent updates this week- I promise!
Until then, thanks for reading :)
No comments:
Post a Comment