Another Easy Slow Cooker Soup

Another quick and easy soup in the slow cooker - with hardly any chopping!

Corn and Leek Soup

Add to slow cooker;

• 2 leeks chopped very fine (pale part only)
• 1 can of corn kernels (or two corn on the cob's worth of corn kernels)
• Chicken stock (3 cups+)

Cover and cook for 6-8 hours on LOW or 3+ hours on HIGH. 

In the last hour, add 1-2 cans of creamed corn (depending on how thick you like your soup). 

When cooked through, blitz with a stick blender or put batches through a food processor for a smooth finish. This stores well in the freezer - simply heat up in microwave or stove top. 

GF with GF stock and vegetarian/vegan with vegetable stock. 

Nom.nom.nom. Have I mentioned I love my Slow Cooker?

How I Made 3 litres of Winter Soup for under $5

My Mini Kitchen Garden

Colds. They are annoying.

Home sick today and thought I had better get some cooking done to get ahead in case its one of 'those' winters. I thought I would get my appliances working for me and make some soups for the freezer.

I think this one is my favourite - it was super cheap!

While shopping at Aldi last night I noticed Soup Packs of veggies for just $1.99. The pack contained two carrots, one swede, one parsnip, one potato, and two sticks of celery. bargain.

I chopped all this up and added;
- 1/2 cup of red lentils
- 3 teaspoons of crushed garlic
- A sprinkle of sea salt
- 1.5L of chicken stock (you might need more to cover the veggies)
- Some leftover BBQ chicken I had in the fridge
- A handful of chopped basil and oregano from my mini kitchen garden.

5-6 hours on LOW or 2-3 on HIGH in the slow cooker. Way. too. easy.

Use GF stock and its a GF soup. Vege stock and minus the chicken and you have a vegetarian/vegan option. Everyone wins! The principle for the slow cooker is the same. If you have one and are scared to use it, give this a go. You will not regret it.

Someone who is much much better at cooking than I am, and whose recipes are somewhat more accurate, check out my beautiful friend Jessica's blog home.

Feeding Time at the Zoo

polkadotmom.com

I reached breaking point one night when Awesome scraped most of his dinner into the bin. Again.

"Any chance we could have some time to plan decent meals for a change?" He asked. I wasn't offended. It was an honest question, and he was right, we had been eating a lot of toast, and throwing out a lot of perfectly good food that I hadn't taken time to cook. But that night, I knew I needed to make some changes to save us from eating over/under cooked creations of who-knows-what mixed together and called Dinner.

printable.tipjunkie.com

So I did what every modern wife does when trying to come up with a plan. I hit the 'net. I know how to cook. So that wasn't the problem. I own a large collection of pristine-looking recipe books. So that wasn't the problem either. It was planning. Or rather, failure to plan.

Someone should coin a saying about that.

Anyway, I google searched "menu planner printable" and there are a LOT to choose from. There are some very creative people out there with expensive publishing software. I graciously allowed them to do the hard work for me. I searched until I found something that met our needs exactly.

Here are our exact needs;
- One week at a time. Monthly planning scares me. And I already tried it and it just didn't work for me.
- No amount of colour-coding, or fancy scrapbooked tags that you stick up with blutac, is going to make me try harder in the kitchen. At the end of a long day at work, I need two things, a clear picture of what I want to achieve, and everything already in the fridge. I hate to shop on the way home from work (I'm allergic to people), so I have to have everything already in the house. Or we eat toast. I picked a simple planner that just covered the basics.
- Dinners only. Awesome gets his own food during the day, as do I, so I only wanted a dinner planner. I have a problem with empty boxes and lines. Its an Type A personality thing. Deal with it.
- We are not home every night, and frequently only one of us is home, and it can change, so a pen and paper list was not going to work for us, and I really didn't want to have to print a new one each week.
I picked a list that could be printed A5 and stuck it in a frame with glass - I use a whiteboard marker to write out the menu and make any last minute changes by rubbing it out with my finger. Classy.

Here's what I do;
1. We shop on sundays on our way to church. I'm not sure why. It's habit.
2. Because Awesome sleeps in on Sunday mornings, after quiet time in the morning, I grab my diary and menu planner and plan for the week. I work out what nights we are out and how many dinners need to be made at home. I also update the Google calendar (which IS colour-coded - see not totally slack) for Awesome so that he knows what is happening during the week.
3. I plan out what meals we are having, and then adjust my weekly vege and fruit box order online (it gets delivered to my work on Tuesdays so I plan around that and can tailor the order down to the last carrot, which is helpful for minimising waste.
4. I write out the meals and a quick shopping list for later reference, so that I know what to pick up and so that we don't spend one zillion dollars at the supermarket. It works well - I rarely spend over $80-$100 a week at the supermarket. Keep in mind that that is mainly dinners, lunch fixings and some minor breakfast foods - we do eat out of the house 1-3 times a week out of necessity, so that's where the balance of our grocery budget goes.
5. I then put it all away and move on with my day and don't have to think about planning a meal for the rest of the week.

Working full time in a job that has variable hours, and with a number of outside committments, I can safely say that I could care less most days about cooking when I get home. But I have been using this system now for three months, and most of the weeks have been so easy. Some times things come up, sometimes I'm just too exhausted to cook and we eat toast, or order-in. That's life and we are ok with that. But I can understand the kajillion women on the internet who post their meal plans each Monday. It actually does make sense. 

Because I'm sure that you care (!) here is this week's menu for us.

Monday: Polenta chicken homemade 'nuggets' and salad (the link is to Alana Chernila's website Eating From the Ground Up - but her recipe is in her book The Homemade Pantry - which I purchased recently and I am in LOVE with).
Tuesday: Baked zucchini and sweet potato chips with steak
Wednesday: Greek Turkey Meatballs with tzatziki and vegetable sticks
Thursday: Slowcooker Minestrone
Friday: Leftover night
Saturday: (store bought) Veal ravioli and napoletana sauce
Sunday: Cold wraps

We are actually home most nights this week, so this is a very 'fancy' week for us. Usually you would see a steak and salad, a chicken dish, a beef dish, pies made in the pie maker and toasted wraps. That's a standard week for us. This week I am also moving back towards a low GI diet and so I am including more low GI meals. 

Can you see how much I love food? How crazy long is this post????

Sadly I can't locate the exact printable I am using, but its best to find something you love any way, so get googling!

Lunchboxing

My Actual Weekday Lunch Box

I've been a lunch-from-home gal for a few years now, but not every day. With the way I am currently eating, to loose weight gently, I am taking my lunch from home everyday. That way I commit to only eating what is in the lunch box, in any order I like. Once its gone, I'm done till I get home.

Lunch Boxes are easy to do. Truuuust me! Even if you work full time and you are allergic to planning like me!

1. Find a lunch box you really like.
   I use the tupperware one above because I love the size, shape and sections. Find one that fits your portions and foods you actually can be bothered to eat. ie.e don't buy a fancy salad bowl with dual layer freezeable cheese sections and 38 pieces of cutlery attached if you don't eat salad. Sounds like a no-brainer, but in the quest to want to be healthier, sometimes I buy things that I think will make me healthier by magically changing my life. Um. No. 
2. Do your main first.
   I have either a salad wrap with some shaved ham or chicken, or a large garden salad (I bring the dressing separate and add at the last minute, because I have issues). Your 'main' should include a serving of protein. Here is a random photo of healthy looking protein-rich foods:
3. One serve of fruit minimum.
   Whatever it takes, cut it up, buy it in little tubs, whatever floats your boat. Dried fruit doesn't count sorry. If you get hungry in the arvo have another fruit serve in your hand bag. Don't preach at me about the pitfalls of fruit sugar and having too much fruit. Let's face it, does anyone really eat too much fruit? I think not. Go for 2 a day. 
4. One extra serve of vegetables.
   In addition to whatever lettuce, beans, carrot etc that is on my wrap or in my salad, I include either a cut up carrot or cucumber, because I can munch on this in the arvo mindlessly and I feel full rather than peckish for that all-too-tricky-drive-home. That's already 2 out of your 5 recommended serves a day. 
5. Whole grains 
   If I have a sandwich for main, it will be on whole grain bread like 5 seeds etc. I have been eating whole grain for years after being diagnosed with PCOS and insulin resistance, as it is low-gi and easier on the pancreas. You gotta take care of your pancreas. Otherwise I include whole grain crackers - just 2 - don't go getting excited now and putting 38 crackers in your lunch box ok? 
6. Something with taste!I can't go without something tasty. I am a sauce girl ok? So the wrap will have a small serve of whole egg mayo (seriously, if you are going to have sauce don't pouncy around with the fat-free stuff - just have a small (1 teaspoon - yes, get one out and measure it ok? - you will guesstimate larger than a teaspoon - I promise you) amount of the good stuff and call it a day. Otherwise I might have a small tub of light cream cheese for cracker and vegie dipping purposes. Whatever. It can be a small piece of chocolate if you like, just don't add the whole block and don't eat the rest while you are packing your lunch. 

Ok, go find your lunch box and tomorrow I'll let you know how I fit in making lunch every day. 

Getting It Done. Gently. Week 2 Wrap-up and Update

Current Weight: 78.2kg
Waist: 106cm

This week was not a good week. In fact, I think in some ways it was even worse than last week.

I found that without constant organisation in regards to planning out my food and having the right foods available, I started to crumble into my grab anything, eat too much, crave crappy food habits again. Add to that the fact I avoided the pool this week (two reasons; I killed my back again at work on Monday/Tuesday and by the time it was better I needed to shave my legs again... who could be bothered?), I'm surprised I managed to even maintain last week's work, let alone loose a tinsy tiny, not even really countable bit of weight.

So what is going wrong?

Well, things got busy last week, there was a few days of unexpected interruptions at work and the back pain interfered with my sleep, so things were harder. But reality is that I just stopped being consistent.  I have always struggled with self-control. Its the thing that drags me down.

There is a famous experiment where children were placed in a room with one marshmallow. They were told they could either eat that marshmallow now and get no more, or wait until the scientist came back and they would get two marshmallows.

I was the kid who would really stick it out, I mean really, til the almost bitter end... then I'd just eat the first marshmallow, because hey, "One marshmallow in the hand is worth two possible marshmallows when that guy comes back" ...right?

If there is anything that needs to improve in my weight loss system, its not my knowledge, or my understanding of how the body processes food, the value of good nutrition or the benefits of exercise... No, for me, its learning to say NO. Pure and simple, even when its just me saying it to myself in the grocery line. And not booking a 5pm physio instead of a 6:20pm one just on the off chance the fruit shop that sells the chocolate dipped strawberries would still be open!?! Who does that?

Self-control.  Prayin' for that!

Did you know you can freeze...?

"Oh Lord Girl, your freezer looks amazing." ~ Why thank you, but its not mine - its from  myrecipes.com

A few days ago, I was chatting to someone about an apple sponge cake I had cooked that had turned out rather well. I mentioned that the apples were frozen.

"Hold up.  You mean pureed?" The friend asked. (Okay, they didn't say "Hold up.").

No, no, they were just chopped and frozen.

She looked incredulous. She didn't know that. I looked incredulous. I thought everyone knew that.

It was awkward.

But it did make me think for us busy working and non-working wives, there are some extreme freezer shortcuts that you can take to make life much, much quicker.

For me it started because I was always throwing so much food out as it spoiled. For the two of us, it is a balance between buying smaller quantities of, say, tomato paste, at ridiculously inflated prices (why do you have to pay more for less??) or buying the bigger jar and throwing half of it our because we can't get through it. Not ideal.

What you need: an ice cube tray (or two) that you don't use for ice - you can buy cheap ones at the dollar store, ziplock bags, freezing containers (I use tupperware Antarctica or rock n' serves), glad wrap.

Right, so here are some things you can freeze that you might not know about.

Tomato paste, fruit purees, vegetable purees - freeze in ice cube tray and then place in ziplock bags. An awesome system we use at Kindy for bubbas who are starting solids is to freeze stacks of cubes of different types, like say pumpkin, rice, cooked meat, etc, and then when you need a meal for a bub, create a combination of cubes and reheat. It works a treat and makes feeding stacks of bubbas in one day just a tad easier. I use this for pumpkin puree at home to make pumpkin scones. E-asy.

Cut vegetables - we eat capsicum, just not stacks of capsicum. So I chop the whole thing in one go (one takes and extra minute or two) and freeze the rest in ziplock bags for use in stir-fry and pasta bake. We do the same with onions, broccoli, carrot, beans, cut corn (you can apparently do it on the cob too, but I haven't tried that), and even canned beans like four bean mix or kidney beans that have been washed of all their brine and then transferred to a ziplock bag.

The secret is that the less moisture goes into the bag before freezing, the less things clump together and stick. Now I can simply tip a bit of veg into a pasta bake or whatever and I don't have to use the entire bag.

The apples. Yes, just chop them into cubes and whack into a freezer container. If you don't have any, wrap a few layers of glad wrap to protect them from freezer burn.

None of this stuff would be ready to eat fresh after this, you understand. Its for use in cooking okay? It's not going to taste the same. Its just supposed to make life easier. As much as pre-cut vegetables can...

So tell me - what do you freeze for later?

Getting it done. Gently. Week 1

Today is it. Getting started.

Tonight I will post my measurements, and some completely embarrassing before pictures. Because my blog readers deserve a laugh :p

Before I rush off to work (and yes, it is 6:30am), I thought I'd leave you with my food plan for today, just so you can have a little peek at the torture healthy eating I will be putting myself through for the next 10 weeks.

Breakfast: 1-2 slices of grain and seed bread with natural peanut butter
Morning tea: 1/2 punnet of strawberries (which is like, 4 strawberries ya know).
lunch 100gm chicken and salad on wrap
Arvo tea: yogurt (deviating from the plan slightly here which is no dairy, but need to use up the yogurt
Dinner: 200gm steak with salad

Its not so bad really. It's just a lot less than I have been eating the last couple of weeks!

This afternoon it's off to the local pool for some walking laps. Surprisingly I'm not allowed to swim yet as my back can't handle the slight arching necessary to swim. Go figure. I'm allowed to backstroke but seriously, who backstrokes? I just run into things (walls, people, aqua aerobics classes...)

How's your Monday shaping up?

Loosing weight the gentle way

Spring is almost here and there is work to be done!
Not just any kind of work, weight loss work!

Currently my back is giving me serious issues. I have disc issues in L3, L4 and mainly L5/S1. For the last two months I have done no exercise at all other than those that my physio has recommended. It has not been good on the weight loss front. But I am determined to start august differently.

Want to join me?

I'm taking the next 10 weeks to kickstart my sluggish metabolism again. Working on the dietary recommendations from the dietician I saw last year, working with my physio to build my physical health and prevent further back damage.


I am very limited in what physical movement, but given that I haven't been doing everything that I could be to keep my body healthy food wise, there is lots to be done there.

So what is my plan?

I'm using calorie king's 10week calorie counter book. There is an online program www.calorie king.com.au where you can enter all your food online. I have used the online version before but found it too hard to remember what I'd eaten at the end of the day. The booklet set me back$4.95 and I can carry it everywhere. Bargain.

Week 1 I will not make drastic changes to my diet for week one. I will simply record what I would normally eat. This is an important step as I need to make sure that I have a clear picture of where the major problem areas and times of the day are for me so that I combat them effectively. This might seem like a strange way to start a health plan, but you can not fix what you do not understand.

I am aiming to do my pilates based physio stretches (20mins) each day and cycle for 10minutes a day for the first week as per the physio's recommendation. As my strength builds and pain subsides in my back, the physio will add more exercise to my routine. I will be allowed to start running again when I can arch backwards without pain (had no idea that you were supposed to be able to do that without pain!).

Each Monday I will update my blog with my fitness update and progress in exercises. If you want to join me you can link up to your blog or leave your stats in the comments section. We are going to make some gentle changes :) We are not going for crazy, hard to stick to diets, or out of control exercise plans. They can be great and they can work, but for me right now, I can't sit or stand for 10minutes wihtout pain, so let's start gentle. Attainable.

It doesn't matter what plan you use, as long as you are happy with the method and can commit to 10 weeks concentrating on sticking to it!

This Monday I will put up:
my start weight
My goal weight
My current measurements for bust, waist, hips, thighs and arms
Maybe even a 'before' photo!

Feel free to only write up what it is that you feel comfortable with.

It might be as simple as, I'm going to walk for 20minutes twice this week.

Have a think and on Monday, be ready to join me with your goals. We are going to make gentle changes that work!

From The Recipe: Making A List

   Sometimes when I go to the supermarket, I walk out wondering where that extra $20 went. I didn't really need 4 bottles of orange and lime juice, but they were next to the apple juice and they were on special for a $1 off. So I only wasted $6, not $7...


I am a pretty conservative shopper by conventional standards, but I have found that even I have difficulty ensuring that I only walk out with what I intended. Being a working wife, I find that I have a haphazard approach to shopping. I only get groceries when I have to, or when I have a large block of time. But this means that I often don't have on hand everything I need to make an entire meal.  So I get creative and that's where I fall down. 

Enter the Shopping List


The shopping list can save you money. IF YOU STICK TO IT!  There is no point having a shopping list that you see as a basis for buying other things. That's how you will come unstuck. 


There are some awesome resources for menu planning and shopping lists. 


I bought myself an A5 folder and printed out a bunch of free menu planning and shopping list printables. You can find some of my favourites below.

For this week, I sat down and picked the recipes I wanted to cook. I wrote out a list of the ingredients I didn't already have at home. If one recipe called for mushrooms and another recipe also needed mushrooms I would just write (times 2) next to the item on the list so I knew to buy more. I'm sure you could get technical with quantities, but its only early days for me! 


Then I organised my list. I shop at two different supermarkets. Aldi because the staples there are cheap, and the big supermarket down the road for the 'other stuff'. The simple way to do this is to go to Aldi first and cross off what you can get there as you go, and get the other stuff afterwards. But if the idea of that does your head in, then stick with the one supermarket. You pay for convenience these days! 


To make the Aldi portion even easier, you could use their phone app to plan, or their online shopping tool to pre-prepare your list. 


Once you are at the supermarket - STICK TO YOUR GUNS! I find it helpful to organise my list in sections in the order I will walk through them at the local supermarket. That way I feel like I'm buying things in order and don't get side tracked. What ever works for you!


The goal is to use up what you have, to focus on only buying what you need and to make a system that works for you. For me, the extra 30 minutes planning (even less as time goes on) is well worth the $20 saving each week. 


For more info on menu planning: 


Organizing junkie has great info and a weekly link up
Info on menu planning and batch cooking from Simplemom.net
Free printable pages for menu planning and shopping lists - Organised Home.com
More Free Pages from The Household Planner
If you want to get serious, pay for a membership here - I had one for 6 months and it was great - Listplanit.com

Disclaimer: This is an unsponsored review and link up, I do not have any affiliations with any of the above companies or pages.

From the Recipe

Dear Readers, 


What kind of cook are you? 


Are you a peel and press, microwave-loving kind of person?


An exact-measurement-to-the-letter chef?


A we'll-just-chuck-it-in-and-see-how-it-goes type?


I am of the latter variety. I love to look at a bunch of ingredients at the last minute and make it up as I go. If I was a cooking show, I'd be Ready, Steady, Cook. And I thought I was pretty good at it. 


But after yet another hmmm.... not so good meal, Awesome pointed out that perhaps it was time for a change in strategy... 


So, I began to look through the 30 or so cookbooks I have on my shelves. I thought about great websites I have read like http://www.bfeedme.com/ and http://www.101cookbooks.com/ who cook and review recipes from cookbooks they come across. 


I'm not aiming to attain their status by any means, but I have decided, that for the next couple of weeks, I will try to plan the majority of our dinner meals at home from cookbooks. And, I thought you might like to join me :) 

My Cookbook Collection

Here's the rules:
- Plan 1-4 meals per week from cookbooks you already own
- Create your shopping list and stick to it
- Cook your meal following the recipe
- Blog your experience and then come back to Eyes Above to share your success (or area of potential growth!!). 


You can blog and post as many meals as you like, but try to aim for at least one meal a week for the month of June. 


I'll be back on Monday to share how I went with my slow cooker Potato Bake recipe!

No S[ucess]Diet

So I thought I'd try the No S Diet.  Its pretty easy: No snacks, no seconds, no sweets except on days that start with 'S'. 

It was going very well. Until Awesome dropped home for lunch today and mentioned the packet of choc chip cookies he had in the cupboard.

I knew they were there. I knew they were his. I was avoiding them and do very well at it thank you.

But then... I caved. And I opened the packet.

And I ate... well... ok I'm going to be honest here in the privacy of the World Wide Web... half.the.packet.

That's 11 biscuits for those playing along at home.

For the statisticians among you, I have consumed my entire daily quota of kilojoules in 20 minutes.

That's ridiculous.

I'm calling today Sunday and starting fresh from here on in.  No more.

And instead of going and buying a replacement packet of biscuits and hiding the other packet and pretending that I didn't open them ( not that I have done that in the past or anything...) I will fess up when Awesome gets home and apologise for eating his stash.

I am going to last until Saturday and then I am going to weigh myself and see if four and half days without snacks makes a difference.

Choose Your Choice

I drove home today from my dietician's appointment - 1 hour in the car in traffic right on my usual dinner time...


AND I DIDN'T STOP FOR CHOCOLATE! 


That, my friends, is a very big deal! 


Oh I thought about it. The entire. way. home.
But I made it impossible by staying in the 'wrong' lane on the road so that I couldn't pull off into the petrol station for a quick bite. I played little videos of my desperate self just running in for a chocolate bar in my head. When I was only at most, 45 minutes away from dinner on the table. It seemed a bit pathetic. I even contemplated stopping at the milk bar which is just outside my house ...  


Changing a habit is not about change. Its about choice.


You already know the right thing to do.  My 2 and a half hours including travel time to visit the dietician who weighed me, asked me how I was going and then chatted for a few minutes, before charging me $98.00 and asking for another appointment in 3 weeks (I'm done - I know exactly what I need to do, and I'm doing it - without her) - was a waste of time and money, when I already had all the tools I need to finish this!


Choices. Don't choose that lane, that servo, that chocolate. 


Choose to get up earlier, go for the run (its never as bad as you think it will be), pack the lunch and then actually eat what you have packed.  Make a choice. Make a good choice. 


And motivate yourself in a way that suits you. For me its boxing gloves. I really want my own pair of boxing gloves. So my hubby said 200 good choices earns a pair of boxing gloves. I made a chart on the computer. I found some star stickers (you could just draw stars too) and every time I make a good choice, I'm a step closer to my goal. Not buying the chocolate is a good choice. Going to the gym is a good choice. Eating well for the entire day (not just one meal) is a good choice. 


Choose your choices. Say that out loud - choose your choices. Don't just do something and think "Oh, I shouldn't have done that/" When you have a choice to make, choose your choice - don't let your choices just happen to you!


Paul write about discipline in Hebrews 12. Here is referring to the spiritual discipline of obeying God. God's desire for obedience is absolute, so this passage should inspire us in many ways, be it what we eat, what we focus our trust on, what we read, how we pray and how we live.. 

⁷ Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? ⁸ If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. ⁹ Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! ¹⁰ They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. ¹¹ No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

How are you exercising your will power today?

Starting again. For Good.

It's laziness.


It's fear.


I think it might actually be sinful...


Monday afternoon will be my 'follow up' appiontment with the dietitian. The very expernsive dietitian. The dietitian that my doctor said 'Is good, but charges way too much.' The dietitian that is supposed to be helping me loose weight, feel great, and make babies...


Its been two months. Its already cost me gulp... over $300 dollars for the first two visits.


And I've wasted it.


I didn't follow the diet plan. I ate whatever I wanted. And even though I've been working out a lot, I have lost... nothing.


Nothing. Not a scrap in two months.


Its not that I don't believe it will work. In the two weeks that I first followed the eating plan carefully, I dropped two kilos straight away.  (That's 4 1/2 pounds for our imperial friends). It works. I should actually be at my goal weight right now.


But I'm not. So what went wrong?


The Eating Plan Autopsy


1. No prayer. Nope, not one bit. I did this for myself, I thought nothing of committing this journey to God. "Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails." Proverbs 19:21  - I believe that when we don't include God in those plans, we have already failed.


2. No organisation. I did nothing to change the way our meals are organised. When I got busy in the morning, I didn't make lunch, so I would just buy... well... icecream mainly...


3. Hiding the plan and goal from others. In the past when loosing weight, I have told family and friends of my methods, and they have supported me by checking what food I can eat and serving good stuff when I eat with them. Less chance for cheating when others are watching...!


So. I start again. Not on Monday. Today. I have already wasted enough time and money. It's time to honour God with obedience.


What do you know you need to do and have all the tools to do, but hold back for fear and laziness? (Oh, please tell me someone else out there is like me!!). 

Peppermint Bark Tutorial

In the spirit of Making Shorter Lists, I am not going to share my tutorial for peppermint bark.

Courtney at Women Living Well has already posted hers, complete with photos! So head over there to check it out!




Right, I can cross that off the list for today then :)

Christmas Recipe Highlights

All my favourite blogs are sharing beautiful Christmas recipes.

Here is some link love!

Laura at Heavenly Homemakers shares her Gramdma's recipe for Peppernut Bites 

Lindsay at Passionate Homemaking shares a recipe for Cranberry Orange Coconut Cookies

Courtney at Women Living Well wins the prize for me - these Soft Sugar Cookies look fantastic!

Share me some link love!!

Yummy Christmas Food!

Why is it that we wait until Christmas to bring out all the yummy stuff?!!


Here is the recipe from taste.com.au that I am making this year. 


Christmas Cookies

Makes

24

Ingredients

• 125g butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup (115g) caster sugar
• 1/4 cup (60ml) milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups (225g) self-raising flour
• 1/2 cup (70g) custard powder
• Silver and gold sparkling cachous, to decorate

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
2. Use an electric beater to beat the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Beat in milk and vanilla extract. Fold in the flour and custard powder.
3. Press the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to rest.
4. Divide the dough into manageable portions. Roll out one portion on a sheet of non-stick baking paper to about 1cm thick. Use Christmas cookie cutters to cut shapes and place on the trays. Decorate with cachous.
5. Bake for 10 minutes or until light golden. Cool for 5 minutes on the trays before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

Notes

• Children cooking should be supervised by an adult.
  
  
  The rest of my Christmas cooking plan looks like this:
  - Jars of homemade Lemon Curd 
  - Peppermint rock (this was such a hit with everyone last year and so, so easy.  Tutorial to come!)
  - My very special version of Rocky Road
  
  
  Notice how the recipes are simple and I won't be slaving for days on end. I'm looking forward to a relaxed cooking day! 
  
  
  What are you making this year?

Menu Plan Monday

I don't regularly take time to plan ahead for meals, but this week I want to make sure that I have things organised as there is a lot going on in my family that I don't have control over.


Here's this week's menu plan:


Monday: Mini-Roast Beef with roast potatoes and vegies


Tuesday: Beef and cheese wraps with Lebanese bread and salad


Wednesday: Out of house night for me so cold sliced beef sandwich. Mr. Awesome is having soup and crusty herb bread from the freezer


Thursday: Slow cooker chicken drumsticks in a cacciatore sauce using sugarless tomato sauce


Friday: Chicken and pasta (leftovers!)


Writing it out might actually help me stick to it! 


Linking up for Menu Plan Monday at http://orgjunkie.com. If you are visiting from Laura's site a huge hello and welcome to Eyes Above. I am working on creating a sugarless lifestyle, and I am no longer consuming fructose or artifical/natural sweeteners including honey. Read more here.

Homemade Sugarless Tomato Sauce

This sauce has a think rich texture and is suitable for using in baked dishes such as lasagna and spaghetti bolognaise. It is suitable for freezing and you can substitute whatever vegies you like to use up left-overs in the fridge. 


Ingredients

- diced or grated vegetables - I used carrot, onion, celery 
- 4-6 very ripe to over ripe tomatoes
- 500ml of gluten/sugar/dairy free vegetable stock
- 1 bottle of passata (check the label for one with no sugar added. There will be a small amount of sugar in the percentage box as tomatoes contain natural sugar. 
- handful fresh chopped basil


Method

1. Heat a little oil in saucepan, add hard vegetables and sauté until soft
2. Add herbs and tomatoes, cover with stock, reduce to low and allow to sweat with the lid one for 2-3 hours
3. Remove from hotplate and allow to cool
4. Put vege mix into a blender and add 3-4 cups of passata, one cup at a time as you mix, until desired consistency and colour is achieved. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Store in an airtight container for 3-4 days. 
6. Store in freezer for 2 months in zip lock bags that can be thawed in the fridge overnight. 

A yummy alternative to commercial tomato sauces. 

No Sugar Update

After originally stalling on my no sugar plan (see here), I have finally managed to adapt my lifestyle to no fructose and I have been (pretty much) clean for just over three weeks!

So far I can see the following benefits:

- Massive reduction in acne on my face (have had this since I was 11 years old)

- Reduction in bloating (although I still need to watch my salt intake as most sugarless foods are high in salt). 

- My moods and energy levels have stabilised and I no longer expereince the hyperactivity 

- I am not as hungry!  I just don't roam around the house grazing any more!

Now, I don't think that everyone in the world is addicted to sugar. But I know I have been. Several days ago I walked through the lolly (that's Candy for the US!) aisle at the supermarket - not trying to be cruel to myself - the wrapping paper was at the other end! I COULD SMELL THE SUGAR. It literally hit me like a wave!  I have never expereinced that before!  And yesterday someone offered me a glass of dry white wine, and all I could taste was the sweetness! It was totally undrinkable to me.  

It's been unbelievable. I am the person who can eat a block (not a bar - a block) of chocolate on my own in one sitting and not even blink!  And now just smelling it makes me feel sick! 

If you are thinking you would like to know more about giving up sugar, (specifically fructose), there are some links below. 

The I'm Not So Sure But Would Like to Start Cutting Down Info

• Keeper of the Home: Attitude towards Sugar and 21 ways to eat less sugar
• Just how much sugar are you eating? Find out here. 

There is lots more information on Keeper of the Home and Passionate Homemaking. Just search within the sites for 'sugar'.  Please note that both these websites use natural sugar substitutes and honey, as well as processed sugar substitutes like Stevia, which I am not using. I am using pure glucose powder and dextrose powder as I can not tolerate sulphides or phenylalanine. 

The I'm Ready To Go The Whole Way Info

• I read The Sweet Poison Quit Plan by David Gillespie
• You can watch more info by the same author here

If you would like more info, please comment below and I'll do my best to help you out!

Super Easy Cheater's Sugar-Free Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni

I left the generous gift of spinach that a friend gave me at their house, but still wanted to go ahead and make this!

Ingredients
2 cubes frozen spinach - reheated according to packet directions
1 small tub of smooth ricotta cheese
Cannelloni tubes to fit your small baking dish
Homemade sugar free tomato sauce (recipe to come)
Parmesan cheese

Mix the ricotta and spinach together in a small bowl
Use a small zip-lock bag with the corner cut out to make a piping bag. Fill with spinach mixture and pipe into tubes, laying them flat in your dish when each is done.
Cover with tomato sauce
Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and pop in over until pasta is cooked through (depends on size of dish - around 35-40 is a good guide) on 200 degrees C.

Enjoy some now, some for dinner and some in the freezer for later :)