Advent Tick List

So our advent calendar is up - tick.
Our baby Jesus and nativity scene is out - tick.
Our christmas cards are ready for the postbox - tick.
Transfer addresses to address book - to do still.
Our jesse tree crafts and devotions are under way - tick.

For those of you who don't want to give your kids choccies for advent to start the day off with sugar, we have made our own calendar here where I pop in some sugar free lollies from the health shop or a note to look in a secret hiding place for a gift or a special outing.

For our nativitiy scene we have a knitted and a porcelain nativity that the children love, I have seen on se7en that they have made a pipe cleaner people nativity which is a great idea, but with nature baba in my arms it is not possible.

The christmas cards were lots of fun, we made Eric Carle inspired paper with textures and painting. Then when it dried we cut out and posted on the christmas trees. Then we glittered and stuck stickers and addressed and they are ready! Included is a family photo with no writing. I am taking the saying "a picture says a thousand words" to heart as I don't have time right now to write in cards with nature baba in my arms.

Aaaah, now to the jesse tree, what a wonderful idea and I wish I had done this as a child. We have used the jesse tree pics and devotionals from here and here and we were inspired by the jesse tree from here

Decluttering Delux

Well I am so motivated by the 20/20 cure that I have been cleaning and decluttering my house like a mad thing and really enjoying it. It is amazing how a clean and tidy home can make us all feel lighter and more in control of our environment to declutter. If you have not seen this 20 day challenge with a daily 3 or 4 minute video download check it out, it will really inspire you to shape up before christmas.

Jo-i's buckwheat crackers

Recently we went for a raw lunch at good friends, we were served these delicious crackers so I had to have the recipe and share it with all of you...

To get your sprouts ready:
Soak 2 cups of buckwheat for about 20 minutes. Rinse and drain. Sprout for 48 hours.
Then put into dehydrator for 24 hours. You will be left with crunchy sprouts. Store in a glass jar.

Crackers:
2 cups crunchy sprouts
200ml almonds
200ml sunflower seeds
1 TBS salt
1 TBS honey
1 onion
Enough water to make a paste.
1TBS of garlic powder

Take all dry ingredients and grind to a powder in blender. Add other ingredients. Spread onto dehydrator sheets or oven pan if you will dehydrate in oven and smear thin. Dehydrate overnight, turn over and dehydrate for a further 2 hours.

Weekly eating

A good friend has asked me to post a weekly menu plan....well I am not ready to do that yet, but it got me thinking to really expose to you what I plan to eat in a week, what we buy at the shops and hopefully as my thoughts get more organised over these series of posts I will get to an actual menu plan!

So what we plan to eat this week:
I always shop once a week on a thursday. I shop at the health shop, woolworths, pick n pay and the Organic Food Zone in Lakeside.
So this week our menu has and does look like this:

Breakfasts:
1 raw flapjacks with nut cream and maple syrup (takeaways from earthshine)
chocolate superfood smoothies x 3
kale green smoothis x 2
Nut milk x 1

Lunches:
Homemade Jo-i's buckwheat crackers (recipe to come soon) with avo, and sliced tomato
Rice cakes for the children with almond nut butter and marmite, avo mashed or tahini and honey.
Orgran gluten-free bread made in my bread machine
Salad for me, Cucumber and carrot sticks for the kids
Fruit

Supper:
organic meat kebabs with baked butternut and steamed spinach.
raw pizza takeaway from earthshine
Corli's flatbread with tomatoes, guacamole, fruit, and rawilicious chewy mushrooms and tuna with a homemade raw mayo for the boys on a platter. (this was a weekend dish)
Hot chips with salad
raw pasta with a nut cheese sauce
organic cornflakes and rice milk (sunday night supper for kids) with banana sliced in and for me and hubby raw carrot soup.
millet and salad with a nut cheese.

Snacks:
Me - nutmilk, tea with honey, fruit, nuts, crackerbread, raw chocolates
Boys - nutmilk, fruit, raisins, raw chocolates, fruit ice cream from my juicer, popcorn or corn chips.

What we have been up to here....

Busy sewing a mobile for nature baba...

... and some felt spring flowers...

If you want to sew some of your own spring flowers

you can see the you tube tutorial here.

Our nature baba is grateful for the sewing in our house.

She is benefiting from all our needlework.

The end product, a beautiful felt spring flower.

Painting spring pictures.

Candle-dipping with friends.

Forrest Folk that we made with instruction from se7en's pipecleaner people.

The tutorial is here.

Saying goodbye to bestest of friends!

Bon Voyage means.... till we meet again!

Addicted to rawing it!

I must say I am totally addicted to raw food. I have been totally raw for weeks since my baby has been born, I have had days when I eat some cooked food, and I find we don't sleep as well and I have less energy and amazingly I am enjoying cooked food less and less. My body recognizes that it needs these live enzymes and rewards me for the good choices I make.
So the question I am always asked is.... "so... do you just eat salad?" this is not a dumb question as there was a time my husband and I did eat salad for a few months and we were not healthy... so the answer is no, this is what I am eating at the moment

Morning breakfast would consist of :
1) A superfood smoothie - by superfood I mean cacao powder, maca powder, hemp powder, spirulina, banana, brazil nuts, raw honey and organic orange juice
2) A green smoothie - this is a divine recipe for one person take 4 kale leaves, 2 Tbs of tahini, 2 TBS honey, 1 -2 bananas and 1 cup orange juice and half a cup of spring water. Blend. This is delicious - kale is amazingly healthy and available from organic food stores like the Organic Food Zone in Lakeside.
3) Nut milk - blend 1 cup almonds, 1 cup dates , 1 teaspoon or vanilla powder, 5 cups water - strain through a nut bag.
( I then use the nut pulp and mix it with some honey or maple syrup and dehydrate in small flat patties as biscuits - you could do this in the oven too)

Lunch is:
Some raw crackers - I buy mine from Soaring Free Superfoods, with avo and baby tomatoes. Some nut milk mixed with hot water for a warm drink.

Snack: Dried mango, or nut milk, or a raw biscuit or raw chocolate

Supper: Spiralized pasta - will post a recipe soon, or a raw soup and crackers, and salad....now the salad is worthy of mention as I have discovered the most stunning lettuce and herb and prepared salad packs from the Organic food Zone in Lakeside it has transformed my salad eating. My favourite salad dressing at the moment is equal amounts of water, mustard, tahini, lemon juice and a pinch of salt and some dried herbs. I mix this in a bottle and pour over the salad. The raw soup of the day is....(and I live on this... thank you Natasha!)

Natasha's carrot soup:
1 - 2 cups of carrot juice
1/2 a juiced orange
1 - 2 avo's
1 TBs of dried herbs ( I mix basil and oreganum)
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp of himalayan rock salt

What we are up to....

.... Loving our precious baby...she is 6 weeks now... Making dress up gingerboys... inspired by se7en
Making mudpie kitchens in our sandpit.... presenting a birthday cake and pasta!

Then for some real baking...well not really these are raw biscuits... with raw chocolate icing.... imagine something so divine being good for you!





Zoobing with friends...

And plastacine moulds of the earths core...
And some volcanoes to add to the earths core...

Now for that biscuit recipe....

Take your nut milk pulp (which for us at this stage contains almond pulp and dates and vanilla) , put it in a bowl and add maple syrup to taste, make some patties and dehydrate them for 24 hours. Then make a chocolate icing of equal amounts of cacao powder and coconut oil (like 4 Tbs of each) and add 2 TBS of agave nectar or honey) ... drizzle over the cookies and put in fridge to set and enjoy...

How we do what we do.

People often ask how we do what we do in a day.... homeschooling, raw food, devotions, sports, crafts, life, baking etc....so here it is ...

In the mornings I wake early with our nature baba's first feeding (anywhere between 5 and 6:30) After that I generally get up, if the night has not been too disrupted. Sometimes I will read my bible - I am reading one verse per week. In other words I choose a verse like Psalm 27 V8 and just read that one verse each morning when I get up, I also leave it open on the kitchen counter and try and read it in the day. Say a quick prayer to dedicate my day and up I get.

My wonderful glorious hubby does a raw smoothie for me each morning so I take my

vitamin, probiotic , barley green, just carrots and beets first then I have 2 glasses of smoothie.

Then I have some free time while the boys play and do their chores until nature baba wakes up. When she does we go straight into my bedroom with my basket of schooling resources and we school for 1 - 2 hours there on the bed, this enables me to breastfeed, rock and keep nature baba happy so I can read and do stuff with the older children. This works for us at the moment and I am sure will change when nature baba changes her needs. We then break for a snack and to finish up any chores still not yet done, like dressing, teeth, tidying up etc. We have a snack then free time for me to blog, phone, chores etc. During this time nature baba is in a carrier for me to achieve as much as possible.

We generally have lunch at mid-day which is rice cakes with nut butter or avo, or honey or raw oatcakes from Superfoods, fruit , dried fruit and nuts depending on the day. If it is warm we have water if it is cold we do a carob hot chocolate with nut milk or rice milk.

Then we are on to the afternoon activities, I have help here with an au-pair who is fetching and carrying. I do try and have 1 hour "down-time" if possible, (I say if possible because we only achieve this now and again) I will feed nature baba and lie on my bed with her on my chest to have a sleep and I set up my laptop on my bed before to have some inspiration time or I read.

Then we start the evening routine at 3pm. I make sure supper stuff is ready or begin preparations. We then do half a feed , bath nature baba and do second half of the feed between 3:30 and 4:30 again dependant on where she is at. Then I put her in another carrier and make the supper while bigger boys bath and get themselves pyjamad. I also make a fire, the boys will often watch a dvd in this time too. Generally when nature daddy arrives home at 6, we have bathed children, supper is made and mostly eaten, even sometimes we manage to get the supplements for the evening done too.

He then helps with preparing my bedroom and brushing big teeth, reading a bible story and rocking nature baba so I can have a blitz (and I really mean blitz!) bath or shower. We all are in bed by 7 for the evening with lights out and nature daddy cleans up the kitchen for us. We just love him! Generally this is how we get it all done in a day.

Spirali the spiralizer

Welcome....raw pasta on winter nights! This is the best machine, you can use butternut or sweet potato to spiralise into raw pasta, you soak it in lemon juice and salt to soften. Wash off in warm water and toss with a raw pasta sauce. They are on special at Superfoods for R350 at the moment and worth every penny. It is a really easy way to get raw food into kids and some raw suppers in the evenings. Gotta run, nature baba needs me...

Our precious Nature Baba

Ok here are some photos. I have promised and promised and finally here we are.

Our baby is one month old and we love her so much, our hands are on her all the time.

She loves breastmilk, her mamas arms, her brothers voices, her big brothers arms, her daddys voice and his shoulder.... and she has smiled and laughed at us already!

Mary-Ann's cooking course with Myli

Well we had so much fun this last Saturday, we had a wonderful cooking course with the super inspiring Myli. All vegan dishes and these 10 recipes were just delicious, and it was so much fun. If you are interested in a cooking course with Myli you can contact her on myli@hem.org.za

What I ate again yesterday:

Well yesterday was a public holiday so here is what we ate:

Breakfast: A smoothie with 1/4 papaya, 2 handfuls of soaked almonds, a banana, a big handful of frozen strawberries from the Berry Farm, a teaspoon of hemp powder, raw honey, water and half a cup of Ceres Secrets of the Valley Juice

In the morning we went to the MTN Science Centre where one little boy won a prize for his rocketship design, he got a new cap, bag, t-shirt and magazine sponsored by National Geographic Kids (which they love by the way and have a huge collection of the movies)
For a snack I took some spring water and apples in my bag, but we didn't have them cause we left the centre without washing hands first so the smoothie sustained us till we got to Granma's house for lunch.

Lunch: A quiche made with spelt flour (for the wheat free people) and mini quiches with gluten free flour for the gluten free in our family. The filling was made of organic eggs, butternut, red onion, sage and chives and cream. It was delicious with some homemade GF bread and organic wholewheat bread from the Foodbarn, hummus, salad and sliced avos.

Afternoon Snack: Granma made some glutagon chocolate muffins with whipped orley whip (non-dairy creamer) ontop and they were delicious.

Supper: Was fruit skewers, almond nut milk and a big glass of spring water.

Evening Snack: We had the last lesson of our nutrition 101 course last night so I made Colleens Halva balls from Mary-Ann Shearers Recipe Book 1, which you can buy online at her website. If you become a member which is for free you get 25% off all your purchases and you can earn loyalty points if you sign up members.
I also made some roasted red peppers, and put them onto squares of bread spread with hummus, a slice of avo and a roasted pepper drizzled with olive oil and fresh chopped parsley and a turn of salt and pepper.

Then lots of Barley Green before bed to drink, and that was it!

What I ate yesterday:

People often ask me what I and the kids eat in a day so once a week or so I will blog what I eat in a day... and no I won't choose the days I am being "good" it will be random I promise!

Thursday Menu:

Breakfast:
Smoothie of banana, tahini, orange juice, goji berries, frozen berries and honey and almond milk.

Snack:
Organic Ryvitas (from Woolies) with macadamia nut butter and a grinding of sea salt.
Big glass of sring water

Lunch:
Brown Basmati rice (which I put on in the morning in my slowcooker with some organic veg salt and filtered water, after I had soaked it the night before) with chopped avo, baby organic tomatoes, flaked tuna bits and some left over cooked carrots from the night before.
Over this I poured some Tamari sauce (which is basically wheat free soya sauce ) and olive oil.

Also a glass of carrot juice for me and for the kids carrot, pine and apple juice.

My one child had to take a lunchbox to afternoon classes in this was:
1 banana, 2 ricecakes with marmite and tahini, 2 raw coconut sprout biscuits (from Wellness warehouse) with some St Dalfour rasberry Jam inbetween (this jam is sugar free and delicious)

Myself and the little one went to Kauai in the afternoon and he had a dairy free "C monster" smoothie and I had a carrot, ginger and orange juice.

Supper
Rice Pasta and tomato sauce (which was made up of 1 tin organic tomatoes from woolies, 1/2jar organic tom puree, 2 Tbs Mary-Ann's stock, 1 tsp Mary Ann garlic powder, 1 tsp Mary-Ann seasoning) once cooked we put a Tbs of organic cream into the pasta bowls those of us who are not totally dairy allergic. (For myself and my husband we had a small amount of cheese ontop , because I have it left over from entertaining last weekend - not healthy at all....but SO delicious.

Ok that was it...... definitely not enough salad on this day, but today will be better!

Another fabulous smoothie.

This week I made up some almond milk and stored it in a 1L glass bottle in the fridge to add protein to my smoothies.

So here goes:
2 Bananas (for banana free double the strawberries)
1 big handful of frozen strawberries
1 small handful of goji berries
1 shake of cinnamon
1 Tbs of Hemp Powder (for protein)
1 big handful of almonds
1-2 Tbs of Honey
Half fill to the top of the fruit with almond milk
Fill the rest up with Ceres orange juice (or Liquifruit)
1000mg vitamin c (open the capsules and pour in - excellent for antioxidizing the body)
3 capsules of probiotic powder (open and pour in - very good for good gut flora)

Blend and savour. My youngest child said this was one of his favourites , so that is why I am blogging this recipe.

Grandma Lugt's Crunchies

Dry Mix:
159 g coconut
200g buckwheat flakes or rolled oats (use buckwheat for gluten-free)
250 g gluten free flour mix (or rice flour)
300 g of honey or xylitol (I use 150 g of each)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup of mixed seeds or any seeds.
Mix all these together in a big bowl.

Wet mix:
In a pot on the stove melt
200g of gie or coconut oil
2 Tbsp of honey
When melted add 1tsp of bicarb to the mix and 2Tbs water.

Mix the wet and dry together.
Press into a flat baking tray that has been greased with coconut oil.
Bake for 45 minutes at 150 degrees. Take out , cut into squares and put the inside squares on the outside and vice versa. (The outstide ones cook faster) Then bake for another 10 minutes.
Cool on a rack and enjoy.

Carla's Apple Pie

Ok, this recipe is so divine, we didn't get a picture of the finished product.

Step 1 - the crust (if I am rushed I may do this the one day or early on and only make the pie later)
1 and a half cups of rice flour
5 T honey
5T gie or coconut oil
Dump all of these into the food processor and blend till it forms a ball then put in some cling wrap in the freezer.

The filling:
1 cup of dates or more soaked in warm water (enough to cover)
Peel and chop apples, enough to fill your pie dish 3/4 up.
Put some organic raisins or sultanas over the top.
Take the soaked dates and water and blend to make date jam. Spread over top of apples

Now take your crust pastry out and slice or grate it to cover the top of the pie. Add a few pecan nuts for garnish and bake on 190 degrees for as long as it takes till the top turns golden brown.

Serve with Orley Whip or Cream or Nut cream. Enjoy!

Mom what's for SUPPER?

I find that I go through fazes with suppers. So at the moment it is a mixture of a few meals. They are starchy meals as we eat alot of nuts and seeds and juices and smoothies during the day.

Potato Bake
Slice potatoes to fill dish , every few layers add some grated carrot and end up with some grated carrot ontop. In a measuring jug fill up with rice milk, add herbal salt, pepper, paprika and a bit of cayenne pepper if you like the zing. Pour olive oil over the top of the layers then pour over the rice milk mix. Cook in oven on 180 degrees for half an hour or more. My oven is quite hot so it is half an hour but you can check it with a knife. The top pieces go crispy and inside is delicious.
Serve with a salad.

Baked butternut and sweet potatoes with Mary-Ann's red pepper mayonnaise and a bit of cream, if dairy free use olive oil rather. Put potatoes and whole butternut into oven on 180 for half and hour to 45 mins depending on how your oven is. Test with a knife to see if it is cooked. Serve with a salad

Potato wedges and salad. This is STILL a family favourite and so quick and easy.

Rice or Pasta Salad
Cook your rice or gluten free pasta according to instructions.
Take 2 big tomatoes, half a pack of organic lettuce, quarter cucumber and 2 big carrots - food process into tiny tiny pieces.
Add this raw salad mush to your rice or pasta once cooked. Pour over olive oil and applecider vinegar or Tamari sause, herbal salt and if you want to chop herbs in that is also fine. You can add or take away from this according to your family's preferences.

Pasta & sauce

Nachos

Raw cheesy salad sprinkles

Aaaahhh these "cheesy" sprinkles are great.

You take a quarter cup of pine nuts or sunflower or sesame seeds (or a mixture) and a quarter cup of nutritional yeast, add some Herbamare salt, black pepper and if you like some paprika. Wizz in the coffee grinder and voila! you have little sprinkes that taste a bit like parmesan for your salad. Very delicious. Oh yes and nutritional yeast does not affect you in the same way as normal yeast and is safe.

Breakfast Fun and Games

Well this is how we have breakfast in our house. The boys are building towns with elaborate details, whilst having their nut milk.

Nut Milk Recipe:

1 cup almonds, 2 bananas, 2 Tbs honey, 1 cup dates, 1 cup ice cubes, 4 cups water and a teaspoon of vanilla powder. Blend. Strain through nut bag and enjoy.

To Market for Raw takeaways!

On Saturday we went to visit Gayleen and Carol's Raw food stall at the Portabello Market in Tokai. We bought lunch. It is not cheap, and cost us R200 but we got an assortment of goodies (some not pictured here as they had mysteriously disappeared!!) So what we got for that was:

3 pieces of chocolate pie, a chocolate truffle, a chocolate banana, a biscotti, 3 pieces of pizza, 2 packets of essene bread, red pepper pesto and veggie burger patties. We then visited the organic veggie stall up at the top of the market (don't be fooled there is a Rogers Fruiterers stand , which is DEFINITELY NOT organic - so if you are unsure ask) and also the organic olive stand. Aaaaahhhh....so delicious we were all happy!

Raw Hot Chocolate

First make cashew nut milk:

1 cup cashews

5 cups water

Blend and strain through a nut bag.

Hot Chocolate:

Half a cup of nut milk.

Pinch of nutmeg

Pinch of cinnamon

Pinch of vanilla

1 tsp of carob or cacao powder

1 Tablespoon of honey

Fill up with hot water

This should be warm, not too hot to put your finger in - to ensure it is still raw.

Enjoy.

Raw Carob Fudge

This is the raw carob fudge I will be making for the nutrition course I am running tonight.

To find the recipe go to the Hallelujah Acres Holiday Recipes

1 cup rolled oats / buckwheat flakes

3/4 cup of carob powder

1/4 cup sesame seeds (grind in a coffee grinder first)

1/4 cup sunflower seeds (grind in coffee grinder first)

1/2 cup almond butter or tahini

Handful of soaked dates

1 cup pecan nuts or hazelnuts

1 cup of macerated dates

honey to taste

Put all in food processor then with wet hands shape them into balls and put into fridge or freezer.

Enjoy.

Birthday Celebrations

Well I really enjoyed my birthday this week. I got my first pair of organic Think! shoes. These shoes are amazing. They are 100% organic and recycled materials from Austria, they are orthopaedic shoes that are super funky, super comfortable and come in a range of amazing colours that are made from natural vegetable dyes. I just LOVE them! Oh yes in the other box was my first Le Creuset pot, but more on that later...oh yes and in my hands is a bottle of organic Blue Sky Chilli Olive Oil..... mmmmm yum.

Green Smoothies

I want to start by saying that this tastes delicious, like a dessert

so don't be put off by the colour. I for one, think the colour is fantastic!

We had this smoothie for supper tonight, it has in it:

2 organic mangoes, 1 pineapple, 2 frozen bananas, 3 dollops of tahini, 1 dollop of honey, a teaspoon of spirulina, a cup of ice and 2 cups of water.

It fed the whole family and was delicious and healthy.

Spirulina is a superfood - a fresh water algae that has many of the nutrients needed by every human body in near-perfect ratios.

It is 65% complete protein with all the essential amino acids needed.

It rebuilds nerve tissue in the brain and throughout the body,

it is massively high in antioxidants, it is high in chorophyll, it contains vitamin B12 and is an excellent detoxifyer.

It is a natural appetite suppressant, helps with poor digestion and helps in anaemia and fatigue.

Clay Play

It has been such beautiful weather here and we have had free clay play outside, while I read them poetry from this book which I found in the library.

Mosaic snakes

Mosaic snakes. We cut out magazine and cardboard squares and glued them onto paper. When it was dry we drew snakes on the back, cut them out and glued and eye on. This was inspired by a story from the Usborne book called Stories from Around the World

Then we had some free play with clay outside while I read some animal poetry to them. I found this poetry book in the library.

Gluten free pita breads

This is a regular lunch or dinner item in our house.

These photos are actually the wrong way around, so from the top are;

1) The finished cooked pita breads with smoked salmon, avo and mayo and cucumber slices.

2) In the second picture it is the ingredients waiting to go on the pita breads.

3) And in the third picture you will see the mixture.

Now here is a really precious gem of information.

There is a home-based company, in Cape Town who will post their product mixes to you. They offer gluten, dairy, egg and sugar free Pita Bread mixes, muffin mixes, bread mixes, ready-made biscuits and other scrumptious delights.

Here are their details

(ps: they are good prices compared to buying at health stores, and you can buy in bulk too)

Abundant Life Foods

Tel : zero, two, one - nine, zero, three, four, four, two, two

Email: rwearne@telkomsa.net

A precious ruby is born

Almost one month ago a precious little gem was born into our community in the Deep South Peninsula of Cape Town. Number 4 in this amazing missionary tribe and with such destiny and purpose. God was faithful in each and every prayer of ours, in her birth and in her calm, happy, sleepy, easy-going demeanour. We welcome you little one. Your price is above rubies.

Homeschoolers Co-Op

For those who don't know us we have a homeschoolers co-op where the children get together once a week and explore different mediums and play, and learn and listen to stories and do experiments, and bake and have outings together. Here we were at a clay day and a park day. Many people seem concerned about homeschooling children being "socialized" but my findings when I was researching the homeschooling option was that, in general the homeschooling children were better socialized, and more polite than their school-going counterparts, and able to socialize appropriatetely with children accross the age spectrum. Ofcourse these children are being brought up by families living in the city and are exposed to sports, culture, friendships, co-ops, clubs and more. Anyway we enjoy going to our co-op.