Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts

Sunday, August 5, 2012

French Onion Soup Mix

The end result!

We have 2 recipes I love to use dehydrated french onion soup mix in... and I recently read the back of the package and as expected, it's full of nasties. Even just 621 and 635 are enough to make me change something. Do some serious research on what you're putting into your body with these numbers. 635 in particular changes children's behaviour around here, so I'm sure it changes mine too!... and from the diets most kids have these days, it's something many are consuming multiple times a week :-(  It's toxic. It's not legal in some countries yet our  government still allows it here. YOU don't have to allow it though. It's not something God ever meant for us to have in our bodies. Junk in, Junk out.

Sooo.... I made up a HUGE batch of French Onion Soup, with 4kgs of onions. I also used about a table spoon of Celtic Sea Salt in it. I kept the liquid low by using already concentrated beef broth & stock (and thus reducing time needed in the dehydrator), and, at the end of the process I have a 1.3L container filled with home made 'powdered' French Onion Soup mix to use as I normally would the toxic packets. It took about 48hours-ish to dehydrate the 'thick French Onion Soup Slop'

I like to do French Onion Lamb Chops in the slow cooker... 2kg or more of cheap lamb chops with French onion soup mix sprinkled over them. About 2tb for the first 2kg and then 3tsp for each extra kilo of chops. Some like to add in some tomato passata with theirs. I prefer it without. Cook on low for 'about that long' (sorry I can't be more specific - I'd say 8 hours-ish?)

The other main recipe I'll be using this mix for is Apricot Chicken. 1.6-2kg chicken thighs, 2 tins Apricot Nectar, 4tb french onion soup mix, 1/2 cup dried apricots or a 400g-ish tin of pie apricots, and one sliced onion. That's the recipe I start with... now I also add in about 800g-1kg of carrots peeled and sliced, and also 2 cups of green beans. Again, probably about 8 hours on low in the slow cooker?

And yes, I have large slow cookers / crock pots... 6L!

Crunchy on the dehydrator tray

Broken pieces ready to 'powder' in the food processor



Monday, June 11, 2012

Days 7-8

Yes, I stopped at day 7!! But the day after is always good to know about too I reckon :)

Day 7
Pretty much the same. Generally just feeling really good. If/when I do this again, I think it would be better/easier to do it with someone else IRL or online. Much better, yes.

Day 8
Total of 3.2kg down... assuming it's fluid though possibly some real weight in there too as calorie intake was not high. I'll check again at the end of another week and see what's happened with it.
I had a couple of glasses of milk to start my day - I'm liking the 'not feeling feral' in the mornings so I think I'll keep with that.
Biggest thing I've noticed is that my stomach has shrunk so I'm feeling full waaay sooner than ever before in my memory. I'm eating smaller meals than the kids and feeling great... so I think I'll keep with that too!

Breakfast ended up being 2 glasses of milk and a hash brown... that was it!
Lunch: Good ol' tomato soup and a slice of vegemite toast
Dinner tonight: Ravioli bake that I made a couple of night's ago, and some salad. VERY much looking forward to it!

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Sunday, June 10, 2012

Days 4-6

Whoa! Life has been busy - I should never think that I'll just get up and post here in the morning... I don't think it'll ever happen!

Day 4 ~ Thursday
Pretty easy again and meals for others were not getting to me so much. Over 2kg lost and  my ankles have much less of an indent from the tops of my socks, at the end of the day!

Day 5 ~ Friday
The same as Thursday mostly? I didn't need to cook meals today - just reheating leftovers for the kids lunches and heating up a meal I made on Thursday for the family dinner so that probably made the day quite bearable food-wise

Day 6 ~ Saturday
Started rudely with a MAJOR leg cramp in the wee hours of the morning. I then stayed up for about an hour till I was more certain it wasn't going to re-cramp once I fell asleep again. Back in bed just after 5am for a couple more hours sleep. Over 3kg lost now!! Ankles looking much better though still room for improvement. I'd say there's still at least 2kg fluid in the legs that could go. Food wise fine - I even managed to make Pete a favourite of mine - poached egg on muffin with cheese & tomato - just because a friend told me how she successfully poached eggs and I REALLY wanted to give it a go while it was still fresh in my mind!
I've had a small amount of Celtic Sea Salt 3 times today, to help ward off the cramps... just a small dip of the finger tip. A very strong salty flavour but not enough to be horrid.

Over these last few days, drinking quantities have remained consistent in both water and milk. I'm wondering how much fluid might come back once I stop the full time milk??
Energy levels have been normal still, which is great.
One great thing I have noticed is that I no longer feel YUCK in the mornings - woo hoo! While pregnant I don't feel great first thing, feel like I REALLY need to eat something so I do. I feel GREAT while I'm eating and then about 30min later I'm feeling horrid again. This is probably about 5 days a week. So far with the milk, I haven't experienced this once! I might feel a little off and have my morning milk but after that, nothing goes downhill - it's great! My stomach obviously likes the ease of digesting the raw milk!


Almost at the end hey! Am looking forward to Monday, and also to just doing the week's meal planning on Sunday night!!

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Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Day 3

Rather boring on the milk end (thankfully!)... still drinking the same amounts of milk / water. Still serving up foods I'd like to be eating - though possibly the 'craving' for it is a little less? Though I did start a list of meals today that crossed my mind, to make for next week when I'm eating again. Haha - maybe that helped lessen the cravings?

Energy levels fine - today a no nap day and I'm feeling good.

Almost half way through now. 4 days to go... seems like a long 4 days ahead still though!

Oh - and most importantly, I'm only getting up for the loo once a night... I was rather afraid it would be more often. It's not the getting up that bothers me so much as I go back to sleep pretty easily... it's the house being so cold at about 10 degrees!! Yeah, I'm a wuss :-)

On a totally different note, a friend popped over this afternoon for a lovely couple of hours. Best part of my day!

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Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Day 2

That's 2 of 7 days down - will I make the 7?? I seriously wonder! The preparing of foods for others is NASTY!! Think I should have put us all on the milk cure at the same time! I can't think of any boring enough food to feed everyone on, that I wouldn't want at the moment!

Drank about the same milk & water as yesterday - same total volume but about 150ml less water and milk instead.
Energy levels are fine... I'm getting up at my usual 5.30am and holding out till 9.30/10pm at night. Today I had a nap but yesterday not - but that's normal life for me anyway!
I did have a couple of small, mostly painless leg cramps last night. I usually get them late pregnancy anyway and they're usually a whole lot more painful than these. I have found that increasing my milk intake in the past has reduced the cramping, so we will see what happens this time!

Results I'm seeing so far... fluid retention seems to be decreasing... I'm 1.3kg less today which would have to be all fluid. I carry too much fluid in my more recent pregnancy's and there's more fluid I can afford to lose. So yes, I'm drinking about 4L a day and losing fluid!

What results can one expect from doing this? Seems the results can be quite varied. This article expands on what is available from a Milk Only diet. Of course, raw milk in your diet on a regular basis is sooo good for you anyway. God knew what he was on about when He spoke of a land of milk and honey being a good thing! It sure wouldn't have been pasteurised milk!!

What I'm hoping for... I'm doing it as a general detox and improvement of the gut (the most important part of our immune system)... along with the hope of reduced edema (fluid retention)... reducing the possibility of developing gestational diabetes (I've never had it but keep getting told that the older I am, the higher the risk) and I'll be following my milk week up with a low grain diet for the remainder of the pregnancy to help with this. I'll also take any of the 'beauty treatment' effects I can get! haha!

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Monday, June 4, 2012

Day 1

I have almost survived Day 1 of The Milk Cure. Minutes from now I will be in bed and that counts it as DONE!

Has it been hard? yes and no.
Milk was easy to drink of course, nothing tastes so good as a glass of raw milk! The hardest thing I had to fight was habits. This is not like a diet where you can 'cheat' with a little bit of something and then spend extra minutes exercising to make up for it... this works because ALL I'm having is the raw milk. I cooked 3 dinners tonight... one for today, another for later in the week and then a spinach & ricotta lasagne because the cheese we close to use-by. It's in the freezer for next week, when I am eating again. I don't think I could bear serving it up and not eating even a little bit! So today I couldn't take a bit of golden crunchy cheese off the top or even taste the best looking scrambled eggs I ever made, for the kids lunches and I certainly couldn't indulge in a slice of the most perfect looking spelt loaf I'd made in a while and enjoy it with butter *sigh*. I should keep a wish list of foods I want to eat next week LOL

How much did I drink? Surprisingly little. I'm wondering if it might increase in the next few days. I drank milk when I was hungry and drank water when I was thirsty. That meant 6ooml for breakfast-ish, 600ml for lunch-ish, 300ml late afternoon and 600ml for dinner-ish. I say ish because I spread it out, drinking slowly till I'm full and not hungry again.

Biggest surprise today - was how THIRSTY I was... once I was fully satisfied with milk each time, I was THIRSTY!!
Milk total today was 2100ml and water was about 1750ml... I struggle to drink that much water anyway and no way in this COLD weather we're having with the arrival of winter. Odd!

Hardest thing... the after dinner habit of something sweet to nibble on once kids were in bed and dishes done. I seriously debated with myself for at least 5 minutes as to whether I would ditch the idea of The Milk Cure in exchange for something sweet!! I didn't give in thankfully.

And so tomorrow will be another day... day 2

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Monday, July 18, 2011

Day One of Many

84 days actually; day one of 84...12 weeks, loooong weeks I suspect

For the next 12 weeks, starting today, I am deliberately working on the weight loss thing. The Homeschool Lounge has started a summer weight loss challenge so I thought I'd give it a go, even though we're in the middle of a cold wet winter.

I was going to start with everyone else on Friday but life was so hectic that I couldn't start as I wanted to, though some changes have begun... so today, Monday, is my day 1.

My starting point: I have lost 21.5kg since Charlotte was born, a total of 23.5 since I got pregnant. I ended pregnancy 2kg lighter than I began it and then all the rest has just dropped off. My understanding from what I've experienced is that I actually lost the whole lot while pregnant but all the fluid I was retaining was making up for it. So basically, while I was eating well during pregnancy I lost loads. My version of eating well is not what we have been fooled into thinking eating well, looks like though. My diet while pregnant was high in protein, animal fats like lard and butter, some coconut oil, plenty of raw milk, yummy cheese and of course a good supply of fruit & vegetables.
Since Charlotte was born - 11 weeks ago - bad habits have taken over and sugars have jumped back into my diet. Not not NOT good. They make me cranky, retain fluid AND prevent weightloss.


So... my food intake now includes home baking, smoked salmon, cream cheese, other cheeses (my mum regularly brings cheese back from her visits to King Island LOL), Coconut oil, yoghurt, eggs, lots of vegies, some fruit, plenty of meat and beans, soaked where I can.
In general I'm keeping carbs lower than the average Aussie, though not as low as the very low carb diets out there. Dinners will only have potato, rice, pasta a couple of times a week and the main focus of all meals will be the meat and low carb vegies. Carbs will be earlier in the day. Protein will be at all meals... things like eggs, sausages, smoked salmon, cheese etc. Coconut oil will be added in as a snack a couple of times a day.

My 12 week goal is to lose 15+kg and along with cutting out a lot of sugars and processed foods, I'm going to be exercising... daily? and blogging it, to help keep me focused :)

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Friday, December 3, 2010

10 tips for being organised ~ Tip #5

Tip #5
Maximise your energy

Being organised is soooo HARD when you're low on energy and focus. Lack of organisation will just make you more tired and stressed... and attempting to 'sleep it off', won't necessarily re-energise you... it just shuts off the stress for a few hours and delays the inevitable.

Here's a small bunch of things I've figured out / discovered through hours of research, that affect energy/focus levels

1. WATER - Drink lots of it. Mild dehydration is a big cause of fatigue
2. SUGAR - is evil! It destroys energy among other things. It gives you false highs and very real lows. It's said to be more addictive than cocaine. If you need more energy, avoid sugar like you would the plague. It's in EVERYTHING. Cut it out for a month and then have something sugary. Notice how ill your body feels - this is how you will have always felt... you've just grown accustomed to it. Like the frog in a pot of water analogy.
In the 1700's we ate less than 2kg of sugar a year. By the 1900's we are consuming over 45kgs of sugar a year!! A glass of fruit juice has about as much sugar as the often quoted glass of Coke. 25g. Just one glass a day is over 9kg of sugar a year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tomato sauce is 25% sugar/weight, most Jams 50%. There's a teaspoon-ish of sugar in every McDonald's burger... that's before you count the overall carb content which your body treats as sugar anyway! If you didn't change your diet and just added up all the processed sugar in a week you would FREAK OUT - I dare you, do it!!
Even avoiding all the obvious sugars, you're still consuming heaps and heaps... more than enough
3. Avoid ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS. Aside from the chemical toxicity, they wreak havoc with your adrenal system. Research your adrenal system and how it works. You don't want to mess with this. Your body assumes an artificial sweetener is the REAL THING... it releases insulin, which drops your blood sugar when it shouldn't, leaving you then craving more and the cycle goes on. Over use of the adrenal system ruins it. Stops it working effectively.Makes you a whole lot more tired among other 'not so good' things.
4. Exercise. Lack of it makes you feel blah. If doing it makes you feel blah then start and build up slowly. You don't need endurance. You need bunches of little intense bursts. This will increase your sense of well being, focus and energy.
5. Low Vitamin D... will lead to fatigue and make you susceptible to all sorts of illness and disease. I deliberately get, as often as possible, daily sun through the year. I recently tested and came back with a low Vitamin D result.... so if I'm deliberate in getting sun, how low are others?? Get yourself tested and do something about it!!

In short - quit whinging about low energy unless you are on top of these 5 things. I have NO pity on someone who doesn't pay good attention to these things yet complains about lack of focus, energy, fatigue or anything else related.

Get your energy on track - even a 5% improvement if you're really ill with something, will still help you get on top of life and be more organised!! Chances are you'll improve a whole lot more than that.




Next I'm investigating CoQ10... anyone use this? Know anything about it? 

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Monday, November 8, 2010

I've joked about having an ironing fairy

 
and the Lord has given me an ironing angel!! 

At the end of Sunday's service (Pete's baptism and Timothy's dedication), many people approached us and one lovely lady gave me a note with her phone number, saying she would like to help us with house cleaning &/or ironing!! Pete had mentioned my MS diagnosis in his testimony and this lady tells me she does house cleaning and ironing, free of charge, for those that might need a hand.
I jokingly asked her if she'd seen my ironing pile!! (it's more of a mountain at the moment, than a pile)

So today, I am going to phone her and graciously accept her offer and the Lord's provision.

With MS, I struggle mostly with fatigue and 'head space'... heaps worse than the usual lack of head space one might complain about. The children can ask me something and I need to repeat it back to them a time or two just to process it and figure out what they're asking! Sometimes I sit doing nothing, because I can't even get thought's straight enough to think about what to do next!!! Of all the things I need to manage, ironing is always at the end of the list even though I have a huge awareness that it needs doing. The person at most disadvantage because of this is Pete, so as much as this will be a blessing to me, it will also be to Pete.

God is good!



ETA a PS: I've noticed my 150th post ever, is coming up soon and I've been toying with having a give away as many of my blog friends have done... so keep an eye out... it will be in the 150th post... it's something I love to use daily and is related to cooking, gardening and babies!

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Saturday, November 6, 2010

A new way of cooking

After much much reading from researchers who do not have an 'invested interest' other then truth and genuine good health, we are pressing forward with the changes to our diet that we began a year ago.

A few things we've already done
-removed over processed salt from cooking. It's now for playdough only! We now use Celtic Sea Salt. It has 75+ minerals versus the 2 that are left in standard salt. 'Sea salt' sold at the supermarket is just dodgy marketing and is still nutrient deficient.
-We've been drinking raw milk. Milk that has not been pasteurised. Milk from healthy cows. Organic cows. Milk that has not been homogenised. Cows that don't get injected with antibiotics etc. If the milk from the supermarket was unpasteurised you'd still never get me to drink it...do you know they strain it to remove puss that is in the milk from sick cows with mastitis? Why are the cows sick? because they're not cared for and kept healthy... they're pushed to create heaps more milk than a cow was ever meant to produce in a day. Raw milk is an entirely different product. It's the milk God intended us to drink and when you know about raw milk, 'a land flowing with milk and honey' being a good thing makes so much more sense. It helps you avoid tooth decay, it helps keep the stomach bacteria balanced. It prevents crohn's disease and can even heal it.
-Honey, we use raw honey. Honey that has not been heated - supermarket honey has been. Raw honey is healthy.... processed honey has had all the good enzymes killed off. So it's just a sugar, not a health product.
-We use rapadura, not sugar. Rapadura is still a sugar. It's just barely processed. It's dehydrated sugar cane juice and again, retains the vitamins etc that the over processing removes. If you must use sugar in something, this is the best way to go.
-We soak our porridge overnight for 12 hours before cooking it. This releases nutrients and stops nutrients being removed from our body by the eating of grains that have not been prepared properly.
-We make our own bread.... yeast, celtic sea salt, rapadura, wholemeal flour, water.
-We eat much more fat. Yep - the healthy stuff. Butter, lard, coconut oil etc. A good book on this is Eat Fat, Lose Fat - amazing info in there that you'll never hear from any vegetable oil or margarine company. Basically those foods (veg oil, marge etc) are a huge part of the cause of rising heart disease and a whole pile of other health issues. In the last year I've changed fats in the house to the REAL healthy ones and more than doubled fat intake. I've not put on weight... I've lost 2kgs.
-Bone broth added to as many meals as possible. This aids digestion and helps you absorb more nutrients.


So, what now?
Having learned that the so called 'healthy diet pyramid' is actually the 'dodgy diet pyramid' and is the cause of my excess weight, we are now making more changes.
Carbs at dinner 2 x a week... Tuesday and Friday's are carb nights... potatoes or rice is the preference, especially until I can make properly prepared home made pasta - by properly prepared, I mean from soaked grain.
Protein and fat at every meal, especially breakfast.
The majority of our diet is now meat, fat, vegetables.
I'm even being good and not touching the fresh baked bread as it comes out of the oven - so delish with melted butter - unless it's baked in the morning and can be had with a decent serve of protein as well.
We are ordering bulk organic grains and will soak, dehydrate and mill our own flour (from this I could make a healthy pasta)
Breakfast now might look like:
-small serve of soaked porridge with currants in it along with a couple of slices of roast beef retaining all the fat
-Egg, sausage and toast
-Beans on buttered toast
-Home made full fat yoghurt, egg, fried potatoes
and other combination's of that sort of thing.
Lunches are pretty similar to what they have been, I'm just making a much more conscious effort to include good sized servings of meat, cheese etc.
Dinner is interesting!
I've looked at the recipes I usually use and have modified them to increase meat and remove pasta, rice and potatoes. So Kye See Mein has no noodles or rice but increased cabbage and minced beef. Busy day casserole we tried for the first time this week with no pasta... instead I increased the meat and added in a bunch of fried diced pumpkin - very popular even with our most fussy eater.

It is sooo good to eat and feel full so much earlier, so much less food! It is great to have no desire to snack in the evenings. The extra energy is WONDERFUL!

Yes, it's more time in the kitchen for both cooking and dishes. Yes, it's a smidge more expensive.
but so what. It's health. That makes it very cheap!!

We can see the extra energy and health.... and health is a multi-generational thing... in the Western world, it's getting worse with each generation. Our babies start of with the deteriorated health we have and then it gets worse being on the western diet and then their babies start with an even more deteriorated health... and so on.
It's time to stop this.

Further reading on sugar....

  • In 1700, the average person consumed about 4 pounds of sugar per year.

  • In 1800, the average person consumed about 18 pounds of sugar per year.

  • In 1900, individual consumption had risen to 90 pounds of sugar per year. 

  • on  raw milk


  • on much of the above
    and for the easiest reading on oh so much of this... the book Nourishing Traditions is a must.... borrow one from a library for just a week and you'll want your own.

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    Thursday, April 29, 2010

    What if...?


    What if there's another child God wants in your family yet because you've been raised in the culture of 'how many children do WE want?' you're turning that child away.

    How that must grieve God.

    The bible tells us that children are a blessing from God. Do you see them as this?

    or do you see them as more work, more expense, more time, less fun holidays, more school fees, more days off work due to their illnesses.... OR over and above all that, a blessing from God.

    Listen to how you talk about your children over the next few weeks, that will give some evidence of where your heart is. Do you talk about how wonderful it is to be able to have children, the miracle and blessing that it is or that he's sick again, made a crazy mess etc.

    and so back to my original question...
    What if there's another child God wants in your family yet because you've been raised in the culture of 'how many children do WE want?' you're turning that child away.

    If He had 10 planned for you, would you take them all? Which ones would you reject?

    Who rules your womb? You or God?

    .

    Sunday, April 4, 2010

    Sick Day Plans

    I'm a mum. A SAHM. Who's going to give me a sick day?!

    Ha! Not likely you say?

    I rarely ever get sick but was thinking about this after a Face Book friend commented on her hubby being sick and that him being unwell was as unpleasant as being ill herself! I'd say this goes for most men. Some won't ever take a day off when 'sick' but it's a rare man who won't let you know about it!

    Well, no one covers my work load if I get sick right? I don't have a mum or MIL that just pop in to help out as many of my friends do, So I've figured I need to get prepared myself! In fact the one time I've had kids and asked a family member to come and feed my toddler her dinner I was asked 'is it really needed?'. Can I tell you how much that HURT! (When a woman asks for help - she NEEDS it!!!! Most can't ask by the time they're desperate!! When someone asks you for help, please trust they need it unless you see a pattern that says otherwise) So yeah, not much by way of help around here.

    Anyway, things I am going to get ready...
    -Casserole in the freezer for this purpose only so dinner will be done with about 2 minutes effort.
    -DVD kept back from the kids, ready for them to watch when I need to rest (a long one!)
    -Print out some puzzle pages, cut & paste and colouring sheets for the kids
    -Make a note of Audio CD's we have on standby so I'm not doing a read-a-loud
    -Keep some healthy instant snacks on hand so I'm not caught out needing to bake
    -Get a loaf or two of home made bread in the freezer also for the above reason

    I know some mums are organised like this for the first couple of days of their period each month; I'm blessed not to need that but every now and then I'll be unwell or am just plain exhausted and the above will help keep the family running.
    I already keep up on the washing so we're never more than a load behind and I'm working on that with the ironing!

    What do you do when you're not well enough to carry on as usual?

    .

    Sunday, February 14, 2010

    Gloomy Days


    We're in the midst of a bunch of gloomy days here, and with summer on it's way out there will only be more. This zaps my energy and my moods... not good for anyone living here LOL

    I need ideas to help combat this!

    I've only come up with 3 things so far - would love to know what you do
    -fresh citrus oils in the oil burner
    -loads of lighting on
    -keep fully hydrated

    I don't want to feel cozy (that comes all to easily) I want energy!!




    Edited to add: Getting ourdoors on a daily basis is now also a goal that I think will help. I tend to avoid the outdoors when gloomy days are here but I think I need to push myself. Will see how much this can help over the coming months.

    Saturday, January 23, 2010

    What does your Sabbath look like?

    As I seek to live more and more as God would have me and my family live, the more amazed (stunned, fascinated, shocked?) I am at how far Christianity today has come down the wrong pathways. To be a Christian is to be Christ-like or followers of Christ, yes?

    Jesus said that if we love him we will obey his commands, his teachings.

    Many Christians are of the (convenient?) belief that the New Testament frees us from keeping a Sabbath. Interesting. Does that mean that we are also freed from the commandments that follow 'Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy'; that it's now okay to lie, murder steal? or the ones the precede it? It's okay to have other gods and make images of them to worship?

    I think not.

    I don't believe the New Testament frees us from this command. To me it's best summed up in this sentence I found in an article on God's Law in New Testament Ethical Times
    "If the stature of Christ is our moral standard, then the Old Testament law must be kept in Christian ethics"

    "But Jesus healed on the Sabbath" I hear too often. Sure - but He didn't live against the Sabbath. He remembered the Sabbath and kept it holy. His only variation being when LOVE dictated a change of habit.

    Oh, and the things we use to justify that what we're doing is okay on our Sabbath because it's 'different' from what we do the rest of the week so therefore it's not our usual work.
    Legalistic to the nth degree, just on the other side of the fence!

    So as I nut through all this for our family I'm quite interested in what other people do to 'Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy'.

    So far for us it means
    -church
    -limiting household chores. Tidy up what is being done but don't spend time working. E.g. make beds, clean the kitchen table - necessary basics
    -cooking a meal the day before for Sunday lunch
    -not shopping
    -spending time with family; more reading, playing games and watching appropriate movies together
    -house cleaned the day before (during Saturday); Our day is much more enjoyable when in a clean and tidy environment!

    These things enable us to have a more God focused day and a day of rest from our usual rush and bustle of life. I believe God created us with a physical, emotional and spiritual need for a day of rest.

    Would I break Sabbath? Sure, when love requires it. When someone's hour of need is on the Sabbath, the needs must still be met, as best we're able.

    Oh, and our Sabbath is from Saturday evening till Sunday evening - yes, I know others have Saturday as their sabbath and that's fine - they could probably even prove it legalistically as being the exact correct day... I though, am fully convinced in my own mind that the day does not matter. Having a Sabbath does.

    Saturday, January 9, 2010

    Our Vegie Patch - 8 days on


    3 of our baby cherry tomatoes,
    one of the benefits of seedlings when planting late.
    I love this picture


    A thin layer of mulch around the seedlings, we now have zucchini in and the bare earth is where our carrot seeds are sown. We're having very hot weather this week so on our watering days we're giving it a really good soaking as you can see. Once this hot spell is over, well add cucumbers to the empty mulched areas


    These are 2 huge organic zucchini we were able to take, free of charge from the 'excess produce' table.
    I've turned the light green one into soup and the dark green one is yet to be cooked with - quite possibly it is destined to be zucchini slice. I didn't weigh the soup one before using it but the dark green one weighs 1.2kg!!


    ... and if you're wondering how to make zucchini soup - easy!
    In a pot chop zucchini into large chunks, add a large onion (quartered), a couple of peeled potatoes and home cooked chicken stock to cover. Simmer till cooked - I just did mine overnight in the slow cooker - and then puree and salt (celtic sea salt) to taste... See - easy!

    Saturday, January 2, 2010

    Our Vegie Patch at the Community Garden


    Weeding first


    Nathaniel divided one half into 6 mini plots which will determine where different things get planted. Today we put in cherry tomatoes and beetroot. More beetroot will be added tomorrow and in a couple of weeks well add cucumber seedlings which we're caring for at home while they're tiny.
    Need to decide on a couple of other things to grow here too as we have more room that we first thought, which is nice!


    Other peoples' vegie gardens in the background


    This will be a whole other home ed subject! Covering maths, science, life skills and more :o)

    Thursday, December 17, 2009

    Yoghurt made today!

    It's the 4th time I've made yoghurt if I can count! Once a couple of years ago and twice before today from raw milk - today's is from raw milk too.

    I'm pretty happy as today's 'set' in just 3 hours - it's usually taken 3-4 times that long! I changed the way I kept it warm and also made sure it was warm right to the top. It obviously makes a good difference which is a relief.

    It's in the fridge now and I'll be making another jar...hmm, maybe while camping? That could be a bit too much fussing - so I think it will either be the day before or once we're back.

    I'm making yoghurt in a similar way to the recipe below. I'm only making about 500ml and I'm making it thick by adding 2tb of powdered full cream milk to the other milk as it's heated. So not as pure as it could be, but sure works for me and costs about $1.75 for half a kilo and a bit extra if I want it flavoured. That's 1/2 the price of what I'd pay for good yoghurt from the supermarket.

    Speaking of flavoured; that's the interesting bit...
    The first of the recent batches, I made plain and then stirred in honey once done. Tasted great for those that like honey. The second one I mixed pureed raspberries into it before it was set. Again, it tasted good but the problem was that all the seeds fell to the bottom and the last centimetre was thick with seeds - not so fun! So... this time, I am going to pour pureed fruit ON TOP of the yoghurt now that it's set, with the idea being that each time you serve some yoghurt that you're also getting some of the fruit for flavour!

    Best go and do that now and then maybe I'll have some pictures to show.

    Yoghurt Recipe

    By Joanne Hay

    You need:

    • 1 litre (2-1/4 pints) of full-fat milk (raw is best)
    • 2 to 3 tablespoons yogurt (room temperature) mixed with a few tablespoons of milk
    • thermometer

    Bring milk to just under boiling point and then pour the milk into a glass or earthenware dish. Let the milk cool to about 42°C/104°F. Pour the yogurt/milk mixture into the milk carefully without disturbing the skin that may have formed on the surface of the milk. Cover with a cloth, place in a warm, draft-free place for 8 to 12 hours or overnight, and do not disturb it until the yoghurt thickens. Drain any excess liquid and store in the fridge for 4 to 5 days.

    To make a “thick” yoghurt, remove the skin on the surface of the yoghurt just made and pour the yoghurt into a muslin bag. Hang the bag over a bowl and let drain for about 2 hours or until the desired thickness is obtained

    Wednesday, December 16, 2009

    Interesting food changes


    Over recent years I've looked at food/diet from time to time and more recently God has led me to some strongly convicted people who eat very differently from mainstream society. I've watched, I've asked questions, I've read and I've sought what God wants me to learn from each of them.

    Bit by bit I am piecing it all together. I'll never be able to explain it all here - you're best to do some googling and reading of some detailed books.

    We're far from done in changing our diet but here's what we're doing after research shows how powerful these things are

    • We've switched to raw milk - wow... what amazing health advantages God gave us with raw organic cow milk. From stronger immune systems to reduced tooth decay and more
    • We're eating more fat. Lots of it. Real fat, animal fat, virgin coconut oil. Unprocessed fats.
    • We're eating loads more eggs
    • Significant protein at every meal
    • Very reduced grain intake
    • Back to white breads and pasta as a short term measure before we head to soaking and grinding Spelt grains to make our own flour for bread, baking etc
    So what, hey? Well in short, I have noticed immediate benefits. In 3 weeks I have lost 5kg and I am soooo not hungry. Short and simple yet HUGE results.

    We'll keep investigating and keep making changes. It's all about going back to the food God gave us, and preparing it the way it was a couple of thousand years ago.


    Google & read: Nourishing Traditions, Eat Fat Lose Fat; Real Milk, Weston A Price Foundation

    Thursday, November 5, 2009

    Real Stock


    Real chicken stock is the sort you do yourself... simmer for hours and get every bit of goodness into it that you can. Real chicken stock is about health first, not flavour first.

    Something I found out about stock recently... when you put a bit of vinegar into the stock and let it sit for 30mins before heating, you get more goodies out of the bones! And no, you can't taste the vinegar once done!!!

    I cooked the chicken stock all night and woke to the aroma drifting through the house - delish.
    My stock above is cooling for freezing, the fat is starting to come to the top... tomorrow I'll start to cook with it. I got about 6 litres after reducing from about 9.

    Recipe: 4 chicken frames, 3 carrots, 2 large onions, 1/4c vinegar into the large pot and fill with water. Sit for 30mins then heat to a simmer then keep heat on a super low simmer all night.
    Strain (Not down the sink!! I've seen that done!!) and then continue to cook at a boil to reduce and concentrate the stock. Use as a soup, in risottos - anything you want stock for. Some like to include it in almost every meal as it aids digestion among other things!

    Sunday, June 7, 2009

    Food Choices

    God has been leading me to less processed foods, reducing additives etc that we eat and increasing fresh food volume in our diet.

    We've been talking about it a bit her for the last couple of months and I've come to realise I need to sit down and have a serious planning session to make it work!

    Some things are easy - cut out 'diet' products as they have artificial sweeteners in them, and so on.

    The trickier thing, since we're so used to eating everything cooked, is to find interesting raw/salad recipes that we can eat without scaring ourselves too much IYKWIM LOL.

    There's a few I've come up with - but even searching for vegetarian recipes, most are cooked - and I know some good cooked ones already!

    Another thing I am noticing is that most snacks we eat are processed, so when I sit down and plan I need to make a list of snacks that fit our new food choices.

    So many products are labeled with 'no artifical colours' etc but still have things in it that you don't want to be eating - there's quite a maze to go through and the food companies don't want to help you, just themselves!

    What are you eating that God wants you to eat? How much are you eating that is not fit for His temple?