Congratulations on three Months Jess & Joe

It's been three months today since Jess & Joe said their vows and made the commitment love, cherish, care for, protect, encourage and serve each other before their loved ones and God. 

We couldn't be happier and she couldn't have been lovelier.  I barely had 2 seconds to spare between doing everyone's make up and the Brides hair (and getting ready myself) but I did manage to quickly snap this shot before we flew out the door. 

So proud of you Je-Je.  Thank you for having us be a part of your special day as we are blessed to be a part of your life.  I'm wearing my necklace today in honor of you making it one month so far.  My prayer is for many, many, many more years of love!

xx

100 Years

Aside from that I absolutely love this I have no other reason for sharing it.

Watch it. You'll see.

Oh - and life has returned a to a form of normal here so maybe blogging will too...

Favorite era?

80's for the denim overalls

20's for the flapper dress and

40's for the drum

What's Yours?

Banana & Almond Milk Smoothie

I woke up around 5am this morning dreaming of a milkshake.5 hours later, after more sleep, our morning run some fruit and general fluffing around I managed to pull together the ingredients in my imagination and make the most delicious, creamy milkshake I've had since giving up dairy.


Banana & Almond Milk Smoothie

1 x Large Banana
1 cup Almond Milk
4 ice cubes (and an extra one for the puppy)
1/2 cup or so of pot set Greek yogurt (the pit set stuff doesn't have any numbers)


Blend it all together in your blender, pour into a tall class and drink with straw.


Delicious.  You could probably add some cinnamon for extra flavor but it really doesn't need any sweeteners  because the almond mil is so sweet already.


I was aiming for a non-dairy milkshake but because my stomach seems need a bit of extra help with digestion the cultures etc in natural yogurt are really helpful for me at the moment.  You could certainly just cut that out and have it as a vegan drink.

Andrew & Rachel's Wedding

Andrew is Blake's cousin and Saturday two weeks ago he married the gorgeous Rachel Devine. No really, her last name is Devine! And yes, she's a Rachel.  For those not in the know -  Andrew's sister is also Rachel - so now there are 2 of them: Rachel Esther & Rachel Ann.

Anyway, on Saturday Rachel joined Blake's family and everyone couldn't be happier.She is sweet, funny, loving, good for Andrew  - in short, the family all like her a lot and are thrilled to have a new sister and daughter in the family. Not to mention she is totally gorgeous!

Their wedding was beautiful.  There was laughing, tears (not going to out anyone here but most of the crying was on our side of the church...!) the most amazing message! ), stunning music and so, so much love and joy. It was a truly a blessing to be part of such a love filled day.

May God grant you joy, strength and wisdom as you discover the love that only marriage can hold.  Much love to you both. We are so proud of you! xx

It was quite lovely to only have pre-wedding tasks but great to have a front row family seat for getting a few good shots.  A few of my favorites:

Veggie Juice Dinner

My Running, Workouts and the onset of warmer weather makes me particularly dislike eating.  I can be starving hungry but nothing will strike my fancy so I usually end up eating fresh veggies out of the crisper yet    Again.


Last night I was hot, hungry and not interested in food but knowing I hadn't come anywhere near my intake of good nutrition of the day.  So I grabbed some celery, a carrot, half a giant cucumber, 2 plums and 6 oranges.  This all went through the juicer and straight into the blender where I added some ice, 2 big handfuls of baby spinach and a splash of blackcurrant and apple juice.  After blending it made just over a liter of juice for my dinner.


Delicious and nutritious (anyone finish and place the quote?!).


And now I'm hunting down more excellent juice combinations.  Any you can recommend?

Addicted to Ruby Red

Ocean Spray's Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice.  I love you.   So sweet. So tangy. So delicious.  And so much Vitamin C to make me feel good about you.  (250ml = 93% of the RDI of Vit C.)

Aldi - I love you too.  You make my addiction possible.  2 bottles for $5?  When certain supermarkets sell one bottle for $5.90?  Expect to see a lot more of me.  At least until I buy you out of juice. Then you might need to come up with something else.

I think I need another glass...

Tell her you love her... tell her tonight

While you're young, take the time if you love her
Tell her you love her... tell her you love her
If the dream in your heart needs no other
Tell her you love her... tell her tonight

If there's a place for her warmth and her splendor
tell her now before it's too late
And before she belongs to another
Tell her you love her... tell her tonight


If there's a place for her warmth and her splendor
tell her now before it's too late
And before she belongs to another
Tell her you love her... tell her you love her

Tell her now as you hold her tight
Tell her you love her... tell her tonight

~Frank Sinatra~

Roasted Tomato and Pumpkin Salad

I bought an enormous box of sauce tomatoes the other day. I think the only thing that made these delicious looking Roma's 'sauce' tomatoes is that they are on the ripe side of ripe and not perfect.  To other people.  To me - perfection in a $13 box.

They left the shop with me without any real plan except to use them before they die.  I could make sauce out of them but that takes time I don't have.  So far I've made Tomato and Cashew Pasta twice, eaten it on every sandwich, fed it to Andrea and made this salad. As it is there will be more than one repeat.

Give it a go and let me know what you think.




One good size butternut pumpkin - diced into bite size cubes
8 ripe Roma tomatoes - quartered length ways
1/2 packed cup of fresh basil - chopped
Olive Oil
Salt
Palm sugar
Baby Spinach
3-4 stalks of spring onion - sliced into little bits (I could write a cook book with instructions like that)

Preheat oven to 250ºC
Toss the cubes of pumpkin in oil and lay out on a baking tray.
Oil a second tray and place tomato slices skin side down.
Sprinkle tomatoes with salt and sugar.  Just enough to touch each slice and give it flavor.
Spread the basil over the top.
Place both trays in the oven until the tomato is a bit crispy and pumpkin is good and brown.  Stir pumpkin once if you want.

It takes about 45-60 minutes depending on the size of your pumpkin and tomatoes and your oven.

When it's done lay out your baby spinach on plates or bowls, add the pumpkin and tomatoes then sprinkle with spring onion.

It was pretty delicious without any dressing because the tomato is so nice and juicy but I'm a big believer in taking things up a notch and dressing salads with something.  So I made a yogurt dressing to go with it.

Dressing

1 1/2 cups Greek yogurt
tablespoon of honey
tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
splash of oil
4 garlic cloves - crushed (we keep garlic in the freezer and then grate it.)

Mix ingredients together and add as much as you want.

And there you have it.  A little bit of delicious.  Veggies that you will crave.



I have a strong suspicion that I've promised some of you recipes for things at different times but don't really remember who or what.  So now's your chance.  What do you want to hear about? A recipe I've mentioned that you'd like to try? or something else?

Let's do this.

Vegan Chocolate Orange Balls

You know how you find something super delicious and think 'I want to eat this every day'?  And sometimes it's even a healthy thing? Like Mangoes?

I discovered these little chocolate orange bars that made it to that 'eat every day' list.  Except for the price.  $4 or something crazy.  But they came from the health food store and list of ingredients were all things I could buy myself.  Cashews, sultanas, dates, raw cacao and cold pressed orange oil.

Did you know that cold pressed orange oil is about $75 a litre?! Even a little bottle of that stuff is outrageously expensive.  So I figured that oranges are kind of oily if you zested the skin and substituted the oil for zest.

Since making this first batch we've experimented further and discovered all other flavor combinations.   They're a hit with pretty much everyone who tries them. My hairdresser even makes them.

Go on and get your chocolate fix the healthy way.


Chocolate Orange Balls

1 cup raw cashews
1 cup sultanas
1 cup dates
1/3 – 1/2 cup raw cacao (depending on taste)
1 orange

1.     Place dates in a bowl and cover with water for 10 minutes to rehydrate.  Drain and set aside.
2.     In food processor blend cashews for a few seconds being careful not to blend too fine.
3.     Using a fine grater grate the zest from the orange.
4.     Add dates, sultanas, cacao and orange zest to cashews in processor.
5.     Blend until mixture holds together.
6.     Roll into bit size balls and eat or keep in fridge.

Variations

1.     Lime zest instead of orange zest.  Limes are not as oily as oranges so you might need to use some of the lime juice as well.
2.     Freshly grated ginger instead of the orange zest.
3.     Replace sultanas with raisins.
     Vanilla or peppermint essence.  Go easy though.

Vegan Pumpkin Risotto

You know risotto right? That rich, creamy, cheesy rice dish?

 That one. That risotto.

 Well now we have it.  Without cream or cheese but with plenty of flavor.

My recipes are instinctual so just go with the flow here and please accept this for what it is: genius at work. Kidding.  Not really.  Just give it a go.  It will taste different from the one I made last night but then I never make it the same way twice.  And it's always good.


Aborio rice.  Or brown rice if you want the whole grain option but be prepared to take a lot longer getting the gluggy goodness.
Vegetable stock.  Plus some water.  Depends on how much of this stuff you want to make.
Pumpkin.  Cubed and roasted.
Onion
Garlic
Oil
Fresh herbs roughly chopped: chives, thyme, oregano, parsley.  A combination of these works great. I use a good handful in total.
Nutritional Yeast Flakes.  But only if you want to.


Sauté onion in oil until nearly clear and add garlic at the end.  Stir in your rice to coat with oil.
Pour in some stock and get stirring.  gradually add more stock and water until just about done.
Mix in your chopped herbs and roasted pumpkin cubes.
Smash it all around a bit.
Stir in the Yeast Flakes. about 2 tables spoons.  Start small and add until you get it to how you like it.

Add some salt and pepper if you like.   And don't burn your tongue.

Having written that out I feel embarrassed to call it a recipe.  It seems particularly lame and easy.  But give it ago.  The flavor is ginormous.