RECIPE | RAW Coco-Nutty Rough "Truffles"

These little bite sized balls of goodness are deceivingly healthy! You will think you are eating something very naughty when in fact there is nothing bad in them! I made these tonight with my 5 year old (who loves them!), they are super easy and quick to make and impressive to serve with a cup of tea after dinner!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup almonds

1 cup walnuts

1/2 cup organic raisins

3-4 medjool dates

1/2 cup shredded or dessicated coconut plus a little extra 

1 tablespoon cold pressed organic coconut oil

1 teaspoon filtered water

Directions:

Mix nuts and coconut in food processor until fine. Add remaining ingredients until it all resembles the texture of breadcrumbs. 

Roll them into balls, they will make 10-12 larger pieces or around 20 smaller bite sized pieces.

Once done, roll them in the extra shredded or dessicated coconut to serve.

Refrigerate for at least an hour to set.

That's it! Easy peasy deliciousness!

Tip: When rolling them into balls they may fall apart a little, if this happens just pick up the mixture, squeeze into a ball shape then gently shape, once they are rolled in coconut and put in the fridge they will set and hold together.

Enjoy!

Bee xx

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Being healthy doesn't need to cost a fortune!

Today's blog is about eating healthy on a budget because a lot of people think that to eat on a budget you need to buy processed packet food. 

This is not true! When you add up how much you're spending on processed food it probably works out to be more than it would be if you bought fresh! Not to mention the long term costs of eating processed foods (illnesses, lack of energy - I could go on, I will save that for a another day!)  While some speciality items can be expensive, these are not essentials and if you can't afford them then don't buy them!

If you plan your weekly meals or at least have a fair idea what you want to cook for a few nights, the grocery shop can be easy and cheap!

I put myself to the test with this because at one stage I was spending a ridiculous amount of money on food (over $450 per week for 3 people - 2 adults and a 5 year old -craziness!). I wasn't looking at the price of items and must have been buying random unnecessary items. At the end of the month I was wondering where all my money had gone and when I looked through my bank statement I realised it was all of the little shops in between my big weekend grocery shop that was making it all add up. If I had just planned my meals before my shop and purchased everything I needed on the weekend then there would be no reason to go to the shops at all during the week. Plus it didn't help that I was going to the markets, then to the butcher then to deli... When going to all these different stores it's easy to lose track of how much you're spending. 

So with better planning and my budget cap on I went to Aldi to do my weekly shop (I think I am converted) and can happily say I am spending under $150 per week on groceries - this even includes fresh fruit and vegetables, meats and other house hold items. While no fresh produce compares to an organic farmers market, sometimes it just isn't convenient or accessible so just make sure you wash your produce really well before consuming to remove some of the toxins entering your body from the pesticides used. I always wash mine if non organic in solution of water and apple cider vinegar. (quick tip: you can do all of the washing of the produce all at once and dry it and put it away for the week so you don't have to do it each day).

I like my family to eat whole, clean, organic (when possible) foods, and while I thought it was necessary to buy all fancy items, it really isn't! You can have a yummy wholesome dinner each night for under $15 easily!

Some examples of dinners I will be making my family this week (all from Aldi - btw Aldi has a great selection of organic foods - just not fruit and veg yet).

- Stir-fried grass fed organic beef strips with broccoli, carrot, capsicum and brown rice

- Grilled chicken breast (marinated in garlic and dried herbs over night) with roasted root vegetables, mixed with quinoa topped with goats cheese feta

- Organic grass fed lean beef mince spaghetti bolognese with vegetables (enough for two nights) can be made with gluten free pasta (tastes the same!)

- Quinoa risotto (recipe on blog)

So things to remember when doing your shop- 

- First have your list with you so you know exactly what you are there to buy

- Make your dinners a little bigger so you can eat the left overs for lunch the next day to save buying it

- Buy nutritious side dishes that fill you up such as quinoa or brown rice)

- Actually look at the price of food (this sounds silly but I never did and the food that is expensive is usually not in season!)

Let me know if you have some good recipes or tips on eating healthy on a budget!

Bee xx

image sourced from: jcnn.com.au

RECIPE | Super Porridge! Full of brain power!

Sometimes on a cold day it's nice to have something to warm you up in the morning. After a warm lemon water I usually have a green juice but sometimes I like to have something heavier and warmer...Enter porridge.. The already super healthy steel cuts oats are great on their own with almond milk (or milk of choice) but I like to add a few little extras... I make them with extra almond milk and water so there is about double the amount of liquid I need. Then after they have finished cooking I add a tablespoon of chia seeds and mix them in and wait until they soak up all the milk and water (the longer they get to swell, the more nutrients they release), then I top it off with a sprinkle of bee pollen, banana and a little raw honey... Super easy and super DELICIOUS!

Bee xx

RECIPE | The Cheeky Taco (that really isn't a taco!) Tuna, Cherry Tomatoes, Carrot, Avocado, Cabbage

Something light, quick & easy to make when you can't be bothered to make anything at all!

Tonight my hubby has taken our son to a footy match which leaves me home to relax and not having to cook for anyone! Exciting yes, but I am hungry! So, what to cook when (a) you can’t be bothered to cook and (b) you have no food in the house?

Deciding I was hungry enough to look for something to eat I searched my fridge and pantry and realized that I actually did have food it was just time to be a little creative with the limited food I could find so I made a healthy Crunchy Tuna, Avocado, Carrot & Tomato ‘Taco’, it was delicious and took about 5 minutes to make!

Ingredients:
1 tin of tuna
½ Avocado - sliced
1 carrot – grated
small handful of cherry tomatoes – each tomato cut in half
large cabbage leaf or wrap

Dressing Ingredients:
½ teaspoon dijon mustard
half a lemon – juice squeezed
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 large cabbage leaf (for taco) otherwise a wrap would be nice too

Directions:
Mix all dressing ingredients together with a fork

Mix tuna, carrot and tomatoes together, pour in the dressing ingredients and combine
Place sliced avocado along middle of cabbage leaf
Top with tuna mixture & voila a delicious Crunchy Tuna, Avocado, Carrot & Tomato ‘Taco’!

 

Inspirational clean eating food blogs

I have started living a cleaner life. In doing so I am trying to eliminate heavy foods that don’t nourish my body. I am trying to make each food choice about the nutrient content and not just the taste of fatty processed foods. There a few blogs that I LOVE and am addicted to reading as they are so insightful.  One of my favourites is Kimberly Snyder http://kimberlysnyder.net/blog/ she is a nutritionist and such a great inspiration and her book The Beauty Detox helped me to better understand the importance of diet. Her blog got me started on green smoothies http://kimberlysnyder.net/blog/ggs/   and just an overall diet change.

A really good food blog I have been getting into lately is My New Roots http://mynewroots.org/site/, just on the weekend I made her Raw Cashew Dreamcake http://mynewroots.org/site/ which is a non-dairy, non-heavy version of a cheesecake – raw style using cashews instead of cheese- genius! It tasted amazing! The only thing I would change is I would double the recipe or use a smaller tin as I felt mine was too thin.

Another blog I love is The Raw Food Kitchen http://therawfoodkitchen.com.au/ - even though I don't follow a completely raw diet, and I think it is important to have some cooked food, there are some really great ideas on how to incorporate more raw food into our current diets.

Share with me the food blogs you love to read to get good tips!

So important to do this

RECIPE | Quinoa 'Risotto' - Eggplant, Cherry Tomato, Baby Spinach, Kale

This yummy quinoa 'risotto' is so quick and easy to prepare and takes about 5 minutes of cooking! Gluten free and can be dairy free if you omit the goats cheese feta.

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked quinoa

1 eggplant cut into big cubes

10 cherry tomatoes halved

3 kale leaves slices

handful baby spinach

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 red onion, diced small

1 teaspoon coconut oil

Goats cheese feta to crumble on top

Directions:

Heat skillet, add coconut oil

Once warm add garlic and onion, cook until the the onion cooks slightly

Add eggplant cook for 2 minutes

Add cherry tomatoes, cook until warmed through

Add spinach, kale, cooked quinoa and mix through.

Season with sea salt and black pepper

Crumble on goats cheese if using

Serves 2 people

So easy.. So yummy!!

TIPS: When I cook quinoa I always cook the whole packet (about 2 1/2 cups) and save what I don't use in the fridge to just throw into a salad or heat up for a quick meal like this. It stores well in the fridge once cooked for about a week.

Goats milk is much easier for the body to digest than cows milk which is why I use goats cheese feta. I try not to eat too much dairy but this is one exception!

Bee xx

Keeping my manic on the down low

By nature, deep down I am a manic person. I used to suffer from major anxiety and would have panic attacks at the drop of a hat. I was 16 when I was first diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and was given Xanax by my doctor to help me relax. I always hated taking the medication and the only time I took it was at night to help me sleep because if I didn't I would have an attack so bad that I felt like I was having a heart attack and could barely breathe (other sufferers of panic attacks will easily relate to this feeling).

For my own health, I have had to learn how to keep my calm on and the manic on the down low. I came to the decision that I didn't want this disorder to over run my life like it had been. On some days I was too scared to leave home in case I began hyperventilating.

One day I decided to tell myself that nothing was wrong with me and decided that it would not be an issue for me anymore. I decided I would surround myself with happiness, most importantly the people around me. I began taking note of when I felt an attack coming on and was able to breathe through it and it would go away.

I have now reached a point now in my life where I am happy and content and more or less calm. Although like all people, there are times when I find myself in a situation that is stressful – usually when I haven’t thought things through properly - I become a completely different person compared to my usually now relatively calm self. I become flustered, start yelling, pacing and freaking out. It happened this morning because my darling hubby booked my car in for a pink slip. That shouldn't be stressful I know, but because I hadn’t thought about how I was going to get to work once I dropped my car at the mechanic I became a crazy person. It also happens sometimes when I am cooking. I love cooking, but on some occasions I really don’t feel like it so at these times I should stick to cheese on toast because when I attempt anything more impressive than that I almost end up having a divorce. I fluff around the kitchen, dropping things, my head is spinning, and more often than not I burn myself on anything and everything. Most of the time the food ends up in the garbage and we eat cheese on toast anyway. There are many other times when things go bad, such as after an argument with a loved one when I can feel the manic in me creeping out to say hello but instead of letting it take over me I let myself be aware of it and then breathe.

I have simple tips listed below which I follow when I feel the crazy coming out and not before long I am back to the calm me.

Breathe - breathe in breathe out slow deep breaths for 6 seconds each way (a good tip learnt from yoga)- I found some good tips on how to breathe in the following bloghttp://thehealthylivinglounge.com/2009/11/23/how-to-breathe-better


Take time out – when things get overwhelming and you can feel the manic creeping in, take 10 minutes away from what you are doing. If you are at work, go outside and walk around the block for 10 minutes. The fresh air and the exercise will get you to a calmer state. It gives you time to put into perspective that what you were doing is maybe not that stressful and you can get back to work in a clearer state.

Exercise – I prefer yoga, it keeps me centred and relaxed and gives me time to reflect. Walking on my own is a good time to relax as well.

Meditate – When I have a free night alone or if everyone at home is asleep I try to get in a good ten minutes of meditation. It has been proven to reduce stress levels. Even major companies are requesting their staff to meditate to increase efficiency.

I feel a great sense of accomplishment when my husband, friends or colleagues tell me how calm I am, as it has taken great effort for me to get to this point where I don't get stressed out.

Life is what you make it...

RECIPE | My Favourite Green Smoothie

There is so much talk about green smoothies these days, and for good reason.. They are so good! They are a great way to boost your energy levels first thing in the morning (after a warm lemon water of course), they are jam packed full of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals such as iron, magnesium, vitamins C, E, K folate and so on and so forth.. These smoothies are just fab! When I started drinking them years ago my husband turned his nose up at 'the gross green sludge' (his words) that I was drinking.. now he loves them so much he asks me to make extra for him!

I used to have quite a heavy breakfast such as toast or cereal, now while I still have these things occasionally I prefer to drink the green smoothie because of how energetic I feel afterwards!

There are many recipes, and you really don't need to follow one exactly but as long as you are packing in the greens and mixing up some fruit you should be good to go! 

I have made many different types with all different kinds of greens and fruit such as kale, spinach, swiss chard, cucumber, apple, pear, mango, banana, celery, strawberries, raspberries, any berries! You get the idea.. but my absolute favourite is listed below! If you are new to green smoothies this might be good one for you to try because the flavour of the coconut water really disguises the 'green' taste!

Bee's Glorious Green Smoothie

1 cup of coconut water (preferably from fresh young coconut, or bottled is fine if you can't find it)

1 cup kale (leaves only, no stalks - makes it bitter)

1 cup baby spinach

1 apple 

1 banana

1 cup strawberries

1 stalk celery

juice of half a lemon

Mix coconut water with greens first until very smooth, I turn my blender slowly up to full speed, then slowly add the cut up pieces of hard fruit until they are all smooth, then last add the banana, strawberries and juice of half a lemon. Blend all until very smooth, I keep it on for a minute or so to make sure. The more blended it is - the easier the nutrients can enter your system! I make a batch big enough to last a few days so I am not having to do it every day.

Enjoy!

And don't forget if you are using a fresh coconut to scoop out the delicious soft fleshy goodness inside! Some reasons for eating a young coconut are for the antioxidants, the good fats that we need to eat, magnesium, potassium, manganese just to name a few! Oh.. and it is delicious!