Fevers and Duplo

Well, when we have fevers and life is going slower , DUPLO is the thing to do....

Valentines Day Cards

Butterlflies

In preparation for our butterfly world outing.....paint splotch butterflies, a butterfly magic schoolbus movie, a butterfly book...and for our preschooler .... Acting out the lifecycle of butterflies to classical music! And a Very Hungry Catterpillar necklace. 

Art Appreciation

Today we are Appreciating the master painter Miskin. This painting hangs in London and we are using Come Look With Me books from sonlight to do this. We will reproduce this in pastels and collaged animal pictures. 

Poetry Tea

Poetry Tea is so much fun. Last night we made some coconut macaroons. I found the recipe at Elanas Pantry which is a great website for sugar free and gluten free and dairy free foods.  http://www.elanaspantry.com/coconut-macaroons

I had my homemade chocolate and we made some rooibos tea. The children set the table and off we went with a poetry reading. They will sit for ages like this listening to poems and it is so much fun and spans the ages! We must do this more often!

What we are up to...

.... and baby makes 6! 

well it has gone really well with baby 4, she is indeed blessed and all the Arthure Burke cds we listened to and blessing the "nightwatches" has indeed come to fruition! 

People aways ask for info on baby products, what I use etc... So here it is....

1. She loves to sleep on my chest (even as i write this!) , she will only be washed at nappy change time with warm water and we found a flask of rooibos tea next to the bed for cleaning the nappy area really works. 

2. Mother Nature bum balm. And after a nappy rash we wash her at every day change. 

3. Change nappy before a feed. 

4. Have a night light. Never turn on a big light at night. 

5. doo doo dust for restless babies and Cramp and colic powders from Eirene health shop, super cheap and very fantastic. 

6. Magen drops by Natura  for indigestion, i took this alot when she was first born. It goes through the milk to baby. I saw a big difference with this and used it every half hour if I was gassy to stop her from getting this too. 

7. linnies diet to prevent colic and reflux. This has worked so well for us. 

8. Victorian Garden powder for neck and arm creases to dry out after a bath. 

9. Pure beginnings baby wash (now available at Baby City)

10. A wrap or a sling to wear baby

11. The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding book. 

Sumptuous Strawberries....

So we found some organic strawberries this week at the Organic Food Market where we shop. This is such a golden find, as strawberries are one of the most toxic sprayed crops in the world unfortunately. So yesterday and today we have had really thick strawberry smoothies which we eat with a teaspoon like yogurt, they are gobbled up too quickly for a photo sorry! But cheer up here is the recipe:

Add to your blender
strawberries (any amount)
Chia seeds (really high in Omega 3 oils and thicken the smoothie)
Frozen bananas (about 1 per person) for those who cant do banana add paw paw here.
Juice of 2 organic oranges
Spring water to fill up to top.
Dates (I use organic dried dates and soak them overnight then I add the date water too.)
If you are not allergic to nuts add one handful of any nuts in.
Blend and enjoy, this can be thinned down with more water if needed.

Also today in my dehydrator are buckwheaties, I have sprouted buckwheat and soaked the sprouts in tamari and salt which I am now dehydrating they make an awesome crunchy salty addition to a salad, sprinkled on the top.

Spring is a time for cleaning out....

So its spring and I am totally motivated to eat more raw food and be healthier, slimmer, calmer, fitter and all those good things.

What is in my dehydrator at the moment?

Pineapple slices, apple slices coated in cinnamon, honey and ground almonds, my almonds which are presoaked to get rid of enzyme inhibitors and are now drying out to be stored for smoothies and muesli and nut milks.

What is in my sprouter?

Peas, buckwheat, fenugreek, onion, and lots of sunflowers for micro-greens and some for the garden, I hope to harvest my own seeds to store for next spring.

What is on the menu today?

A chocolate superfood smoothie for breakfast including mesquite , lacuma and wheatgrass

Snacks on homemade trailmix of goji berries, dried mulberries, cashews, sunflower seed and organic cornflakes.

We did have some junkfood chips for an afternoon snack and some rice crackers too....ahemm.

And leftover sweetpotato soup for lunch

Supper will be a salad with sprouts, nuts, olives adn avo and some bread to dip into olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

What I am learning?
Is all about being "earthed" you can see it here on David Wolfe's talk. For anyone with inflammations, sickness, depression or stress you MUST watch this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te4WPdIsBtQ&noredirect=1

I am not exercising yet as I have injured my hip and bum muscle (which is why I am such a pain in the butt at the moment) but doing my physio exercises and taking my msm, astaxanthin to get rid of inflammation.

Tonight we are giving our little princess some Valerian to help her sleep and thankfully our go-go granny will be making up some valerian and chamomilla oil to massage her with at night.

Ok off to have a glass of spring water and have a playdate with my 2 year old.
Hugs to you all.

5 ways to get motivated to be more healthy.

1. Watch this cool interview link here on 4 health drinks that will change your health and beauty:
Dr Oz interview with Kimberley

2. Try a new recipe from Linnies blog for wheat free crispy apple tart here
http://backtoancientways.blogspot.com/search/label/wheat%20free

3. Try out the raw lemon tart from here http://www.rawlicious.co.za/blog/category/recipes I made one for Mothers day and it was so delicious!

4. Buy something from the Rawlicious shop or website and win. Here are the details:

Bundles of GIFTS in abundance!

Simply shop online, http://soaringfree.cmail4.com/t/y-l-jltyjjl-xhkjdhyg-i/ or in our Superfoods-Rawlicious Shop in Westlake and you will automatically be entered into the following: MAY-JUNE LUCKY GIFT DRAW

Gift 1: 3x Tickets to David Wolfe 1-Day Seminar in 2013
Gift 2: 5x Places on our Rawlicious 1-Day Seminar
Gift 3: 5x Rawlicious DVD's
Gift 4: 5x Rawlicious Recipe Books
Gift 5: 10x Goji Berry-Cacao Nibs Superfoods Combo packs
Gift 6: 10x Chia Seeds - Maca Superfoods Combo packs
Gift 7: 10x Spirulina - Hemp Seed Combo packs

So, all you have to do is shop with us!
5. Drink more water, either plain or herbal tea or in smoothies. But we all live in a state of chronic dehydrations, there are studies that show that most illnesses are linked to dehydration. So get drinking, each time you go for a wee go immediately and drink another glass of water. This is an easy way to remember to drink more.

Well it has been a long time since i have blogged, forever infact but also for a long time i have been wanting to blog again, so I am here and going to tell you about some of the things I have been busy doing. In the meantime HELLO again and I look forward to sharing some of my life with you again.

Loving Lego

Divine GFCF, yeast free, egg free Hotcross buns

Dry Ingredients:
3/4 cup sorghum or buckwheat flour
3/4 cup self raising gluten free flour ( I use glutagon)
1/3 cup of potato starch
1 teaspoon bicarb
1/2 teaspoon rock salt
1 1/2 cinnamon
1/2 nutmeg
1/4 allspice
1/4 cup fructose (optional)
1 cup raisins
1 Tbs lemon zest

Wet Ingredients
2 tsp no egg + 2 Tbs water
3/4 cup milk (nut or rice)
3 TBS oil ( I use grapeseed)
6 tsp honey
1 tsp squeezed lemon juice

Add wet to dry (which was all seived) and beat for 1 minute. Take a 1/3 cup measure and measure out your buns. Roll them in your wet hands. Use the back of a wooden spoon to make the cross indentations, wet the handle. Then into oven on 190 degrees for 20 minutes.
Cool on a rack.
Make icing with 3/4 cup icing sugar, and 1 Tbs lemon juice in a warm pan mix and fill the cross indentations. Eat and enjoy.

What to do about easter....

So I am plotting and planning for easter..... we dont just go out and buy easter eggs, no siree..... so here is the plan if it helps you at all: 1) Some lovely easter pinatas from se7en. 2) Some chocolate orange truffles from Elana's Pantry. 3) Some choccie bonbons from Spunky Coconut. 4) A box of honest chocolate if possible. 5) A passover meal..... will have to post separately for that..... 6) ok maybe some sunbutter fudge too from Spunky Coconut ..... so far.

Nature Baba

We love you , you are cute, we

love you , you are cute cute cute!

Frozen Banana treat.

Frozen banana treats - definitely a hot weather thing!

Ok take some ripe bananas, cut them in half.

Pop a skewer through the middle.

Pour some honey and nuts over and then sprinkle some carob powder.

Freeze and eat when you want a treat.

The beauty of this is the children can make it themselves.

Simelas truth about coconut oil!

Coconut oil has antibacterial, antiviral and antimicrobial properties. Next to human breast milk it has the highest immunity properties of all substances. It is a stable GOOD fat, that helps you lose fat! Gotta love that...
Coconut oil does the following:
* lowers cholestorol
*counters fatigue
* restores sagging skin
* reverses tissue damage
* improves circulation in teh skin
* is an excellent antioxidant
* restores thyroid function
* is a natural tanning lotion
* good for cooking at heat because it is stable and does not become a trans fat
* decreases adrenal stress
* normalises blood sugar levels
* increases energy and
* increases the metabolism which leads to weight loss..... and I can hear it.... HALLELUJAH!

5 Ways to use coconut oil:
1 - Put a tablespoon per person in your smoothie each morning
2 - Make chocolate with it
3 - Use it for roasting and frying
4 - Use it in place of butter or marg in baking
5 - Use it on cuts, skin irritation , hair for moisturizing, for tanning, for dry skin to stop hair loss.

Where to get it :
You can buy coconut oil from any health shop, make sure it is virgin coconut oil and if you can choose a glass jar as you will want to put it in a basin of warm water to make it liquid.
In its solid state it is white and looks like butter, but if you add it to anything you must make it liquid first by placing the jar in warm water and the contents will turn clear and liquid , this can then be added to smoothies or recipes, it will emulsify and not leave you with coconut lumps that you would get if you add the coconut oil in , in its solid form.

Ok gotta run, enjoy!

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.