Caponata, a job interview and house hunting report.

Let me start by showing you one of the several sunrises you have missed out on since my last post. Frankly, with the busy days, a virus and not great sleep, I am quite amazed I am able to bring you this many :)

From orange to subtle and golden, I'm always amazed at the rapid transformation of each sunrise.

Now onto some adorable little leaf buddies. These guys were happy chillin' on a leaf together after I brutally pruned their vine. The intense heat and huge rainfall has caused and epic amount of growth this year. I pruned, then carefully rescued little froggies that stayed clinging to disconnected branches. It's a labour of love :) 

This gorgeous guy was one of the many sharks my German teen encountered on Saturday during her 16th birthday present from us: a tropical reef snorkel at Seaworld.

Another glorious morning to wow you.

To break the scenery monotony, here is last night's dinner. My diet has been all over the place with birthdays, visitors, a hectic week and then viral yukiness. This dinner was my attempt to get back on track.

The fresh beans were steamed to leave a hint of crispness. The cauliflower and pumpkin was partially steamed prior to placing in a greased baking dish, dotted with cream cheese, butter and topped with a little breadcrumbs, seasoning, covered and baked. Simply delish!

The meat was needed, by my non teen and myself. Simple meatballs with gravy. Sooo good.

I also made a yummy caponata yesterday-someone had once again forgotten about the egg plant in the fridge and needed to cook it asap.

I didn't have capers, or olives, yet it still tastes soooo good. I don't use brown sugar with mine either. I feel that cooking it with butter then adding vinegar adds enough sweetness to the dish.

I enjoyed a serve for brekky topped with salmon this morn...satifying :)

I have just made this babies for brekkies during the week: coconut cream chia cups. The recipe will be at the end of this post.

Look at this morning's sunrise! Just beautiful! I love the gorgeous colours, and am so grateful I get to catch it at this stage before it fades to a less subtle greeting.

I am sure you may be wondering what has happened with our house hunting and my job interview. Wonder no more, dear readers, for I shall tell all...

Let's begin with the house hunting. I fell in love with the place. Hubby isn't as keen :( As it stands, it is, in essence, a share house. As the landlady's grandson is still occupying the largest bedroom, it's currently not suitable for our little family. By share house, I mean that, even though we have our own space, the bathroom does come off the laundry, meaning that we may run into the upstairs dwellers, or flat resident on occasion. Other than that, I really love the feel of the place. It has high, exposed timber beam ceilings, like my landlady's mother's house, which I originally rented. The floor space is huge, and would mean no annoying gates to keep bubby in. The yard, though shared, is lovely, and has an abundance of grass, trees-fruit ones as well, and chooks. Sigh. There is a vacant lot next door with a huge poinciana tree in it-my fave. And, it's opposite my older girls primary school- a smaller primary surrounded by farm land. For me, it's ticking all the boxes, even before telling you the rent is $70 less per week, includes power and we don't need to pay a bond! Ok, there are negatives, but the positives outweigh it for me.

Slight catch. The grandson is refusing to move into his nan's house- which is down the bottom of the double block, and its a huge, modern house with only 2 occupants. Plenty of room, but he just won't budge.

That means we have to wait. And that wait could take a year as he finishes his uni degree :( A lot can happen in a year. Including my teen moving out. These plans have already started. Slowly, but the process has been initiated. One way or another, our living circumstances are changing. 

In the meantime, I am waiting to hear how my job interview went. I know it's not the end of the week yet, but I am busting to hear from them! Personally, I really enjoyed the actual interview. For the first time ever, I wasn't nervous, just my chatty, bubbly self. We talked for over 20 mins, with much laughter, and I left feeling confident. The more I think about it, the more I want this opportunity. If not, I will be happy with the knowledge that the right door will open, at the right time. Maybe I won't get the job but we move, which will save us money? Maybe we stay, and I get the job, and save money? Really, who knows, but I believe in knocking on every door until the right one opens. I shall keep you posted!

Now, here is the promised recipe. Thank you my family wellness for the inspiration...

Chia Cups

Ingredients:

1 cup coconut cream

Half cup water

5 dried apricots

vanilla

4 tbsp chia seeds

Topping:

Juice of half a lemon

4 heaped tsp shredded coconut

8 drops stevia liquid

Method:

Blend coconut cream, water, apricots and cinnamon until smooth.

Add chia seeds and blend some more. 

Spoon mixture into 4 cups. 

Place 1 tsp of shredded coconut per cup.

Juice half a lemon, add to cups. Place 2 drops of stevia per cup.

Chill.

By making this recipe, I discovered that, if chilled correctly, coconut cream does go hard. Wished I had been more patient when making the vegan carrot cakes of my previous post.

I hope to enjoy these babies for brekkies over the coming days. They are small, but concentrated, low sugar goodness. 

And there you have it, a bit to keep your curiosity satisfied for a little longer. Thanks for reading, and hopefully, I shall be back with more soon :)  

An interesting few days, raw vegan carrot cakes and pizza overload.

Welcome to a stunning, but way too hot start to the day. It's late March! You know, autumn, that the season after summer where it starts to cool down, not do the exact opposite! 

Hanging out for cooler days! Still, this kind of greeting is stunningly beautiful. 

Small blessings :)

The past few days have been filled with interesting events. Hubby and I had our amazing church pastors over for lunch yesterday. Hubby and I shared our heart and vision for helping build connections over way too much pizza and carbs. It was a great lunch all round, and left us feeling as encouraged as we were full.

I managed to go for a long needed walk and talk yesterday evening with a dear friend, and one of bubby's Godparents, beautiful Margy. Love this woman too bits, and I always find our brief walks uplifting. It's just been way, way too long between catch ups. So annoying when life gets in the way all too often, and we forget what matters, like connecting with friends. Real friendships are healing.

While on this walk, I ran into my previous landladies daughter. It was quite amazing I did, as I had been thinking of her lately, and turns out, she had been thinking of me too. To keep it short, tomorrow at 10am, hubby, bubby and I are looking at a potential, much cheaper rental. I hear it also has a large yard! Fingers crossed it's suitable. I'm busting with excitement just to look at it! This lovely lady, and her family, own several rentals. Because I'm a respected previous tenant, I am first in line for when a house becomes vacant. There is hope!

I also took a leap of faith and applied for a casual job! I'm still in shock that I did, and got asked to attend an interview based on my 'be myself' cover letter. I don't have a large amount of specific experience for this role, however, I am extremely capable and do pick things up quickly. The job involves being around arty individuals- another reason I'm so keen! I am nervous/ excited to attend- change is a leap of faith at times. Three hourly shifts are manageable, but returning to work with a bubby is always going to tear at heart strings. Honestly though, without an overseas teen, and based on our current rent, we need a little extra coming in. We shall see what transpires after Friday afternoon at 2 pm!

All I really want to do is lament about the heat. I am not a huge summer fan, so when we are still getting 30 degree days (Celcius people!) in late March, I just want to hide. A walk to the shops pushing bubby today was torture. It's way too hot. Instead of continuing my whine, take a look at my past few days...

Mondays veg brekky feast: lightly fried zucchini, marinated tofu, tomatoes topped with avocado balls. Deeee-Lish!

Had to throw this in. Babette left us a massive pineapple. It took over half an hour, much mess and lots of containers to chop and store this baby! Well worth it :)

Monday night's dinner- another version of my cauliflower pizza. This time, I topped it with sweet potato puree as a sauce, some steamed pumpkin, fresh corn, basil, onion, tofu, fetta, grated cheese and a hint of lemon juice. Nice, but not as 'wow!' as the last attempt.

Now, here is my attempt at

Raw Vegan Carrot Cakes

Ingredients:

3 cups finely grated carrot

1 cup chopped, pitted dates

1 cup walnuts

1/2 cup coconut flakes

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 tbsp coconut oil

Icing:

1 chilled can coconut cream

pinch of cinnamon

vanilla

few drops of stevia liquid.

Method:

Process all the filling ingredients until well combined.

Press into molds and chill.

Whip icing ingredients together. Pour over chilled cakes.

The bases, pressed into a coconut oil greased muffin tray.  

I didn't find they set well, so I removed them and placed onto a plate before icing.

I found the icing a dud. I only used the actual cream, not the liquid in the coconut cream, but it still looked like water. Tasted great though! Here is my feeble attempt at a recipe (tweaked, of course!) I found on Face Book!

I am rather impressed with my first homemade, yeasted pizza base. Considering it has 4 cups of flour in it though, it won't be making itself into family dinners too often! 

The flour, yeast, warm water, pinch of sugar and olive oil made a small ball of dough...

which quickly rose into this a little over half an hour later.

I spread the dough out over a well greased pizza tray, spread it with some tomato chutney and baked it for 3 minutes in a pre heated, 200 C oven. Then I piled it high with topping!

It was deep pan pizza heaven for lunch yesterday, but believe me, way, way too much dough! 

I shall leave you lovely people with this, yesterday's sunrise. The humidity does make for pretty greetings to the day :) 

Until next time, thanks for reading!

Vegan friendly cashew mayo and current struggles.

It is with a heavy heart I attempt this post. Its absolutely bucketing with rain. A large part of me is grateful, yet another part is looking at the washing pile and groaning. Thankfully though, this rain is cooling things down a degree or two. It's been ridiculously hot for March. 

I have been extremely upset and snappy lately. Numerous reasons, hormones a big one. My body is changing. Face it, I'm 4.5 yrs off 50. Bound to happen sooner or later. I don't feel like myself. I'm also sad that, other than my beautiful non teen, I have no close friend to share this with. I know I'm loved, and have friends, but I still don't have close friends- or an available close friend. No one to have a 'Help! I'm going nuts and need to talk now!' coffee catch up with. No one to share my joy of fitting into my freshly washed jeans easily after only one week of gym. No one to talk to about the challenges of married life with. That's a burden my non teen doesn't need to share with her mother. 

I am lonely. Heart-breakingly, soul crushingly lonely. I was tempted to do a barista course just to get a Saturday cafe job and have people to talk too. Sad, but true.

I know I live in a house full of people, in a complex of people. That isn't the same. My neighbours...some of them live by their own rules, which makes town house living, well, special. I am so used to sleeping with a pedestal fan and ceiling fan going, with ear plugs. I don't hear much then. It's lovely. Not sure what to do when winter finally hits though. Two fans may make things rather chilly.

Living in a tiny townhouse ill designed for noise control and privacy is a challenge. We have the tiniest yard out of the 6 units. Private conversations are not likely to occur if you are sitting out back. We hear everything, and the neighbours can too. This we know too well! Even a normal volume conversation in our lounge room can be clearly heard outside by all nearby. Its quite depressing at times. Then there is the too tiny kitchen, and back yard. Breaks my heart to realise that my sweet bubby can't play there. We have rough, uneven bricks. Though I have gym mats down, of course, like any curious little one, she wants to explore her surrounds. The bricks leave her skin red raw. Then there are the vicious green ants...

It's all just too much. But, though it's cheap for the area, it is as much as we can afford. Looking for another home sounds lovely, but not realistic. I have honestly run out of ideas. 

And as for my home... I am actually my teens legal carer. Long, drawn out story, but that is how it stands for now. It is at times an extremely tough journey, but one I believe will keep improving. I have a busy hubby who relies on me, a bubby, and the third different German teen since getting pregnant. In fact, my sweet bubby has had three different teens in our house in her short life. Each one comes with their own family values, and brings their own set of challenges. It is rewarding, but requires, at times, a huge amount of emotional and physical energy expenditure. I am honestly tired now, and looking forward to discovering what life with my little family feels like.

There you have it, a condensed version of my struggles. Hope this makes you appreciate the emphasis I normally put into seeing the positive in every post. 

Now, let me show you, in random order, the past few days...

Friday's brekky, a simple (but messy) 2 poached eggs and a nectarine.

My sweet bubby, enjoying her first taste of tofu. She loved it!

Yesterdays brekky: a flour-less pancake topped with natural yoghurt and pawpaw.

Last nights dinner (the fams, not mine): home made pumpkin and potato soup topped with fried bacon and sour cream.

Let me show you a little something I've been dying to try...

CASHEW MAYONNAISE

Ingredients:

150gms (or 1 cup) raw cashews, soaked in warm water for at least 2 hrs.

1/4 cup water.

1 heaped tbsp coconut flakes, soaked with cashews.

Juice of 1 lemon.

2 cloves garlic.

1tsp salt.

1/2 tsp white pepper.

1/4 cup olive oil.

1 tbsp coconut oil.

Method:

Drain cashews and coconut.

Place in a processor with all ingredients except olive and coconut oil.

Blend til smooth. May need sides wiped down as you go.

Slowly drizzle oils in while blender is on.

Check consistency. If it's too thick, add a little more water and check after each addition/ blending.

Store in an container in the fridge. 

Enjoy! I certainly do :) It's so yummy!

The simple first step: soaking the cashews and coconut.

The finished mayo, ready to be spread over my lightly fried tofu. Yes, I'm going through a tofu phase again :)

My lunch at Mandala Vegan restaurant on Friday. Ahhhh- Mazing!

Taken by my non teen...love this pic. My sweet treasure and her mumma. So blessed :)

Can't forget the sunrises! Here is this morning's.

And here is this morn's brekky: half an omlette made by moi for me and hubby. Bubby had some too :)

A well needed cappuccino with my non teen this eventful Sunday (that's another story!).

And lastly, tonight's dinner: super easy veggie full quiche. Puff pastry is my friend. 

And there you have it, a bit to ponder, and hopefully, a recipe to try. Thank you for your time. I hope to be organised enough to post tomorrow nights veggie feast dinner. When hubby's away at uni, the meat goes into hiding! 

Until next time :)

Veggie curry, pumpkin scone wedge and a sad farewell.

As you will see, I have a good enough excuse for not getting back to my dear readers sooner. Our family has had a busy, wonderful few days. Our Babette left yesterday, so we wanted to ensure her last few days were as memorable as we could manage. 

Saturday was wonderful. We all headed off to Macadamia Castle, with a detour to Ocean Shores first. Babette had visited here years earlier during her first stay with us, and it was lovely to venture back, this time with a hubby and bubby too :)

My loves, hubby and bubby, heading up to the lookout at Ocean Shores.

At Macadamia Castle, Babette and my other German teen were keen on a kangaroo feeding experience. It was a pretty windy day, and sadly, the kangaroos didn't come down during the scheduled feeding time. There were scores of noisy kids who finally left bit by bit when 20 minutes of waiting couldn't lure the roo's down from their bush retreat. Then it happened, with barely anyone left save 3 other adults, and of course, hubby, bubby and me- the kangaroos came down, giving the girls an almost private hand feeding experience. It was amazing! Patience really is a virtue!

After a great day looking at amazing Aussie wildlife, and some adorable farm yard friends, we all headed to the Reptile Show. After the show, us 3 girls (Babette, my German teen and me) posed for a photo holding one reptile each: a baby croc for my German teen, a blue tongue lizard for me, and poor Babette, her arch nemesis, a snake- or a python to be more precise. Apparently, we were the most fun the keepers have had with photos for a while. Babette took great photo's with her clenched smile and tense body. I could feel the snake coiling as she was sitting right next to me- then my lizard looked back at me, and I was afraid it may bite! It was fun/scary and a day none of us will forget for a while.

My sweet bubby got her first kangaroo kiss and pat- she loves animals. I got my wildlife and nature fix for now. Sigh, money and time well spent.

Babette was excited this little guy held her hands for a feed.

Hubby and bubby, my German teen and Babette getting up close with these gorgeous animals.

Our brave photo. Personally, I can't believe how feral and wind blown my hair is while the girls just look fabulous! Seriously though, it was a brilliant day and experience :)

Now I shall calm things down by showing you a lovely morning sky, like this one...

...and a beautiful morning beach scene, like this. 

Let's get onto some cooking now. It almost feels like autumn, which means, baking (without dying of heat exhaustion) again. Yay! 

Babette's last main meal with us required something special. I knew she had never tried pumpkin scones, so I got my thinking cap on to work out what I could make that would allow her to enjoy this treat with dinner. But first, here is the pumpkin scone part...

PUMPKIN SCONE WEDGE

Ingredients:

30gms butter

1 tbsp rice malt syrup

1.5cups drained, well mashed, cooked pumpkin

1 egg

2 cups whole wheat, unbleached SR flour

1/4 cup shredded coconut

pinch salt

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 200 C.

Grease and line a baking tray.

Beat together butter and rice malt syrup.

Mix in pumpkin and egg.

Add flour, salt and coconut- mix well.

Turn onto a floured board and knead gently for 2 minutes. 

Gently shape into a round ball. Pat the top down slightly.

Using a large knife, cut 1/3 the way through into 8 sections.

Bake for 20-25 mins, or until golden and hollow when tapped.

Can be served hot or cold, toasted too. Or in my case, saved for a dinner accompaniment.

The finished product. Must say, I was a bit pleased with this attempt :)

And now,  the main feast...

VEGETABLE CURRY:

Ingredients:

2 cloves crushed garlic

1 tsp grated ginger

1 tbsp finely chopped glace ginger

1/4 cup coconut oil

1 brown onion, thinly sliced

1 tbsp curry powder

1 tsp chilli flakes

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp rice malt syrup

3/4 cup coconut cream

1/2 cauliflower, broken into florets

1 can drained chickpeas

1.5 cups frozen veg (I used peas/corn/carrots)

2 large tomatoes, cut into wedges

Method:

Heat coconut oil in a pan and cook garlic, onions and both forms of ginger until golden.

Add the curry powder, chilli flakes, salt, rice malt syrup and coconut cream. Cook for a few minutes more. Add the cauliflower, chickpeas, frozen veg and tomatoes. Stir through, turn the heat down slightly and cover.

Check regularly, stirring, and adding more liquid if needed. Cook until cauliflower is soft.

Serve with pumpkin scone wedge (or rice). Enjoy! 

This curry was an absolute winner with the pumpkin wedge. Comfort food taken to a healthy new level :)

Of course, what farewell would be complete with a farewell cake?! 

From left, my non teen, Babette, me and my teen all gather for last photo's. 

Happy/sad time.

Before emotions overload, I'll quickly divert with yet another beautiful sunrise. This was taken yesterday. 

Yesterday evening was very emotional. Babette leaves us again, all too soon. Here is a family snap at the aiport. There were plenty of tears after this shot was taken.

It's not good bye, but see you later :)

I will end with another gorgeous morn, taken bright and early today. Pre- sunrise is my absolute fave time of the day- the colours are amazing.

This isn't bad either. Though not as colourful, it is definitely still beautiful.

There you have it, another installment of my life and food. Until next time, thank you for reading :)

Baked steak with mushrooms, date day and more.

What a beautiful greeting :)

No matter what the day before has delivered, each sunrise offers new hope, the chance to regain strength and move forward.

Grateful for every single new day.

The past 24 hours has looked like this...

A long overdue, date day with hubby led us here, to beautiful Jack Evans Boat Harbour to enjoy some food and each other's company. 

Even an hour or two set aside with our valued ones is so special and builds relationships.

Dinner last night was this, a simple, easy- peasy baked steak and veg.

Its a great way to use budget cuts and a no fuss dinner for the family.

BAKED STEAK & VEG

Ingredients:

minimum 800 gms of budget steak,

mushrooms, sliced,

brown onion, sliced,

2 tomatoes, sliced,

small amount of butter,

1 heaped tbsp gravy powder (the cheats version) or add a mix of spices with flour and coat meat,

1/4 cup warm water.

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 180 C.

Grease a baking dish.

Layer steak along the bottom. 

Cover with gravy powder or spice/flour mix.

Layer mushrooms, onions and tomatoes across the top. Dot with a little butter. 

Pour water over.

Cover with foil and bake for 1.5 to 2 hours.

Juices will form a gravy. It can be thickened if needed once cooked.

Serve with mash.

While dinner was cooking, hubby, bubby and I went for a walk along the remaining boardwalk. 

We had forgotten the old, wooden section was being ripped up, so it was a brief trip. 

Still, look at the scenery! Just so stunning at this time of the day.

When back, it wasn't too long before the mash was made and dinner was served.

Everyone enjoyed it. My teen even said I should put tomatoes with hot food more often. I consider that a win! Nothing beats hearty, comfort food at times. 

After dinner, I prepared my brekky for the next few days. Soaked chia, plain yoghurt, raspberry, passion-fruit and a pinch of organic coconut parfaits-soooo yummy. I managed to score a fresh passion-fruit from an abundant vine growing near by. They made it taste divine, and one passion-fruit was enough to add a sweet, tangy hit to all three parfaits.

I also prepared raw veg salad out of the abundance of slicing and grating of veg I did earlier in the day. They include raw corn, zucchini, green beans, celery, spring onions, beetroot, red capsicum and more.

I have one of these bowls now topped with some tuna in olive oil, and a large dollop of beetroot hummus, also made fresh yesterday.

So excited for lunch!

I received this beautiful greeting this morning. On Instagram, I titled it 'Brand New Beginning'. I so needed it too after not a particularly good sleep. Not due to bubby, but family stresses. 

We have a teen facing serious issues about her future, and a lot of unhappy rels being themselves after a recent member's passing last week. 

Stressful times.

But I can pray, be grateful, and ensure I eat well.

This too shall pass.

I hope you have enjoyed another glance into my day. I hope to be back soon with some exciting new things. Until I do, thanks for reading :)