Last week I attended an evening presentation by Cyndi O’Meara in conjunction with Thermomix Australia.  Cyndi was fascinating to listen to - a bundle of energy and enthusiasm and such a wealth of information.  She reinforced a lot of what I believe about food, and introduced a few new ideas as well…

This Australian nutritionist encourages us to eat whole foods of the old-fashioned variety…  Cyndi gave us some great tips which I’ve passed on to our kids with regard to label reading, number of ingredients and when to eat which foods.

If you’d like to learn more, check out her website.  And if you can hear Cyndi’s presentation sometime, I highly recommend it!

For the next couple of months, whilst Cyndi’s running a free teleseminar series, you can get her best seller Changing Habits for only $19.97. And if you click on Free Products, on her site, there’s a free report. Enjoy!

We made this in my friend Jo’s Thermomix a couple of weeks ago, and I made it at home in my food processor.  The thermomix was a lot faster and didn’t create the pile of dishes I had from using the grater and food processor at home.  I have a basil plant, so am making pesto to use more of this prolific herb.

1/2 cup raw cashews (pine nuts or macadamias would be fine too)

1/2 cup parmesan cheese, finely grated

2 cups basil leaves

1/2 cup olive oil

squeeze of lemon juice

2 cloves garlic, crushed

Grind the cashews into small pieces.  Add basil, garlic, grated parmesan and blend.  Add the oil and squeeze of lemon juice until the texture seems right.  Serve with pasta, on crackers, on toast with cheese grilled on top…  Keeps well in fridge.

6 Chokos
2 carrots
1 onion
Fresh beans
Water
Salt, pepper and curry powder
Peel all vegetables and dice.  Place into a saucepan with enough water to just cover and boil until tender.  Add curry powder, salt and pepper to taste.  Puree to serve.

1 kg chokos
1 tablespoon white vinegar
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon freshly crushed garlic
1 medium onion finely sliced
salt and pepper
Heat enough water with a pinch of salt in a large saucepan and boil all the chokos for about 20 minutes or until tender. Remove from boiling water and allow to cool. Peel and halve the chokos. Discard the seeds and cut into slices. Mix together the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper to taste, and sliced onions. Pour over the sliced chokos and carefully mix without breaking the choko slices. This salad makes a good addition to any meal as a side dish.

1 onion
1 carrot
1/2 capsicum
1 cup green beans
440g tin pineapple pieces, with juice
1 tblspn tomato paste
2 tblspn lemon juice
2 tblspn rapadura sugar (or brown sugar)
1 tblspn tamari (soy sauce)
1 tblspn cornflour + 1/2 cup water, combined

Heat oil, saute vegies.  Add pineapple juice, tomato paste, lemon juice, sugar, tamari.  Bring to the boil and reduce heat.  Add cornflour and water mixture.  Stir until thick.  Add pineapple pieces and heat through.

500g dry lima beans

800g tin diced tomatoes

2 medium onions, chopped finely

1/3 cup olive oil

1 1/2 cups hot water

2 tblspn fresh parsley, chopped

1 tsp dried herbs

salt and pepper to taste

Soak the lima beans overnight.  Rinse and simmer in fresh water for 50 minutes.  Heat a little oil and saute onion.  Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 5 minutes.  Mix with rinsed beans and place in lightly greased baking dish.  Bake uncovered at 170 degrees C for 30 minutes.

This recipe makes a lot and freezes well.  Serve with crusty bread and salad or steamed vegetables.  Very hearty!

1 medium avocado

3/4 cup water

1/2 tblspn olive oil

juice of half a lemon

3 tsp fresh herbs (1/3 tsp dried herbs)

sprinkle of salt to taste

In blender or with stick blender process avocado & water.  Add oil, herbs, salt, lemon juice.  Process until creamy.

lasagne sheets
500g chopped pumpkin
olive oil
medium onion, chopped
clove garlic, crushed
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
1/3 cup tomato paste
3/4 cup mozarella cheese, grated
1/2 cup tasty cheese, grated

Cook & mash pumpkin. Add olive oil, onion and garlic. Place a layer of pumpkin, lasagne sheets, half the ricotta… Then lasagne sheets, tomato paste, etc, etc until ingredients are used up and dish is topped with cheese.

Bake at 180 degrees C for around 35 minutes or until pasta sheets are cooked through.

*Tip* Frozen pumpkin, cooked and mashed when in season, is fine for this recipe too!

900g pumpkin, sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbspn olive oil
6 eggs
1/2 cup cream
40g spinach leaves
sprinkle of parmesan & grated cheddar

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Bake pumpkin, brushed with oil and garlic, till tender. Line baking dish with paper. Whisk eggs and cream and season. Layer ingredients in dish & bake for 25 minutes.

250g butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed pumpkin
2 cups wholemeal flour + 1 tsp baking powder
250g mixed fruit of your choice, diced

Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and beat well one at a time. Add the pumpkin, flour with baking powder and fruit. Mix well and bake at 170 degrees C or until brown on top and inserted skewer comes out clean.

*Tip*  At harvest time, boil or steam pumpkin, mash and freeze in 1-cup portions in the freezer. Then you have pumpkin for this cake (and other recipes) for months to come.

Not healthy, but delish!

1/2 cup organic cocoa powder

450g icing sugar

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 cup dessicated coconut

Mix cocoa and icing sugar in a microwave safe dish.  Slice butter on top.  Pour milk over but do no mix.  Cover and cook on High for 2 minutes.

Add vanilla and coconut, stir well to combine.

Pour into a greased 18cm square pan.  Chill for one hour and cut into squares.  Keep refrigerated.

3 eggs, beaten

180g raw sugar

250g dessicated coconut

Mix ingredients together in a bowl.  Form into balls about 2cm in diameter and place onto 2 greased trays.  Bake at around 180 degrees C until golden brown.  Enjoy!

I’ve been making this for over 10 years.  I’m not sure if it was a Jackie French recipe I first used, or another book or article…  I’m so grateful for this recipe as it has saved us thousands of dollars over the years, costing only 20c/L to make at current prices!  I found that when we went away to stay with family recently, some of us got mild skin irritations.  It could have been the soap, water or washing powders (I’m not sure).  But now we’re back to our rainwater, mild soap and “washing goop” the rashes are disappearing.

(more…)

Here’s another beauty from Simple Savings…

This is just like the sauce on curried prawns etc you get from the Chinese take-away.  We had it on mixed steamed vegetables - kipflers, sweet potato, choko, cauli, broccoli, zucchini, etc.

2 large onions, sliced

dollop of butter

1 tbspn curry powder (or to taste)

3.5 tbspn cornflour

3 tbspn raw sugar (less would be fine)

1 cup water with 3 tsp Massel Chicken Stock Powder

1/2 cup milk

squeeze of lemon juice (optional)

Melt butter in a saucepan.  Fry until onions are transparent.  Add curry powder and fry for a few minutes.  Remove from heat & cool slightly.  Add flour & sugar.  Mix until combined.  Slowly add stock/water and milk until combined.  Heat, stirring occasionally until sauce thickens.  If using, add lemon juice (I had none, so didn’t).  Serves 4-6.

We got some new cutters for playdough and clay.  But before we took them out to the art area in the shed, we made a batch of these…

2 tsp natural vanilla extract

250g butter, softened

1 cup raw sugar (or less, or rapadura)

1 egg

2.5 cups plain flour (wheat or spelt both work, wholemeal or white)

Using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and vanilla until pale and creamy.  Add egg.  Beat until combined.  Sift flour over butter mixture.  Using a wooden spoon, stir to combine.

Place dough on a lightly floured surface.  Divide in half.  Shape each piece into a ball.  Chill until firm.

Roll onto a floured surface with a floured rolling pin.  Cut with floured cutters.  Place biscuits, 3cm apart, on prepared trays.  Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until light golden.  Cool on trays for five minutes.  Twist if stuck or simply slide onto a wire rack to cool completely.  Freeze well.