Not much to contribute but wanted to drop in and say hi. Have been snacking on turkish bread and dips the last few days too tired and lazy to be bothered which is really bad, I know. Going to make a chickpea and potato korma for dinner though.
Urgh.. do you eat fish? um no... I think we have all been there. Mum has finally stopped offering me prawns at xmas time, and DP's mum has given up too("go on love, have a chicken leg I wont tell anyone" )
Hope your all well*
NaNa Gympie is surprising sometimes! I've been there a few times and had to eat something, if all else fails we order garlic bread, chips and a salad! I'm not sure where your old cafe used to be... Give me more info, I'd love to check it out... I didn't get to make the beetroot dip on the weekend, dh 'bless him' surprised me with a fresh juice and used it all up I'm off shopping tomorrow as there is nothing in the hosue to eat and I've resorted to packet pasta for dinner
SnugBug You make me laugh with almost every post you make, dh and I use the word lame (with love) all the time and it cracks me up
Peach* hello honey! your Korma sounds YUMMMO, I love korma, good to hear from you
OK now for my question... Does or has anyone grown Kefir at home? I understand you put a culture in a jar or something (if so where do you get that from) and than add other stuff like milk etc... I really don't know much about it but I understand it's a good probiotic and the vegetarian dairy free probiotic I buy is expensive so I'd like to grow kefir if I can and would it work using oat milk or rice milk or do you need to use regular milk??? Thanks to anyone who can help with this
Chez - I know you can do kefir with soy milk, we used to do it in Melbs all the time. I think we left our kit down there though so have never done it here in Brissy.
I made pizza last night - usually anything dough related is DH's domain, but he is so LAME that he sprained his wrist in a bike stack the other night and can't knead. Anyway, it turned out really well, and I am chuffed. While I had the apron on, I also made some apple and cinnamon muffins, and this chocolate slice:
Nanna Kath's Crunchy choc slice:
200g tea biscuits (I used McVities Digestives)
1/4 cup golden syrup
60g Nuttelex
150g chopped chocolate
Melt together syrup, nuttelex and chocolate over simmering water. Stir in broken biscuits. Pour into tray, refrigerate until set.
So I was thinking I could probably add chopped glace cherries and desiccated coconut. I was also considering adding some whipped silken tofu, because the vegan chocolate makes it SO rich, and the tofu might take the edge off it. I'll experiment, and advise.
Krys - thanks! They did a great job of it, and it looks surprisingly like me (but my beret is black!).
Cherished - do you know the BiLo in Pacific Paradise? Around the corner towards the school there's a dentist, Soul Foods and a post office. I haven't been in there since we sold it tho, so I can't say how good it is anymore! I went past it the other day and it felt so wierd to see my design painted on the front window and all the signs... The only place in Gympie that's above the average is probably Emilia's deli. Though it's not really a deli anymore, since they don't have cheeses or anything as of last week!
snugglybean - thanks for the offer of the book. I'll see how I go when I'm back in my little kitchen, but I think I'll be ok. I'll definitely let you know if there's something I'm struggling with tho! Because DS is still BF, I'm unsure how much I need to eliminate in order to really have the effect I'm after. I think I will die without spices! Cooking for him will be less difficult, but I need to make sure it's nutritionally balanced and still at the right texture for his finicky tastes! He is such a pain when he's teething, spitting out anything he doesn't like the feel of, even if he loves the taste.
On our recent trip overseas, my DP (who is a carnivore but only when eating out) got so frustrated with everyone automatically assuming that vegetarians eat fish that he started losing it and ranting at wait staff in french about how fish is not a vegetable... bless him. It took him long enough to understand my plight! I don't think I'll ever manage to make him convert, tho.
Well its been quiet here! How is everyone going? We are all sick in my household so Ive been trying to cook things with lots of garllic and chilli to flush it out. Tonight made a big vegie and lentil pasta and put a whole bulb in and so much chilli I could barely taste anything
Last night made sushi for dinner, which was tasty and the good thing about making it at home is its so cheap to gorge on.
Cherished1- What is kefir??
So I have a confession to make... dont judge me Ive never tried tahini. So I got a jar at shopping the other day and opened it and.... it tastes almost like peanut butter, is this what it should be like???
Hope your all going well
Hey Peach - watch out, tahini can be a bit addictive! It does taste a little bit nutty, a bit like sesame. Start on the lighter coloured one, then if you're feeling hardcore, move to the unhulled stuff, it has like 10 times more calcium.
I am quite happy to eat it out of a jar with a spoon.
I really don't like tahini. But I know many people love it.
I have heard along the grape line that there is now a soy condensed milk. Someone found it in a Woolworths in Brisbane. Thought you vegan cheesecake lovers would be interested.
We had a BBQ in the park today and got lots of side comments about the nice smell - always good.
yes, tahini should be oily. Give it a good stir coz it's always thick and sticky at the bottom of the jar! Tahini and honey mixed together is pretty awesome... unless you're of the vegan orthodoxy that doesn't include honey. I always have some in the house, but DP is from Lebanon so it's a pantry staple. Can't have hommus or baba ganooj without it. It makes a good substitute for peanut butter, so I used to use the tahini-honey mix at the childcare centre because nuts and nut products were prohibited. Sadly, sesame seeds are not on my list of suitable foods in this stupid elimination diet. I'm hating it already, and I haven't even started properly! argh!
I've seen kefir, years ago. Probably when working at Tofu Shop... I don't understand the difference between that and laban, or other middle-eastern style drinking yoghurts that I can't remember the names of now! I've made yoghurt with Bonsoy before too, but don't love the texture!
soy condensed milk?? where?? where??
oops about the apples! hope they were nice and caramelised, not carbonised!
What is the elimination diet for if you dont mind me asking and how does it work? Did you say it was for you DS in a previous post?
The apples actually turned out ok amazingly.... thanks to our ****house oven that wont cook a thing, for once it worked in my favour. I scraped the soft apple for DD's brekkie and picked at the yummy caramelised apple leftovers. I give her the one flavour for 5 days but it hardly made any unfortunately, nevermind!
um, yeah, the elimination diet is mainly for my DS. He's pretty hyperactive and can be defiant, doesn't sleep, and had lots of reflux and wind troubles when younger.A lot of his health/sleep/behaviour issues could be attributed to salicylates, or intolerance to them. Or so I've been told by our herbalist/homeopath/nurse. Doctors, MCHN, paediatricians and sleep disorder specialists all told me to try medication like phenurgan (sp?) -of which the side effects are hyperactivity!!- to get him to sleep. Sleep deprivation in infants can lead to diagnoses of ADD/ADHD when older. I'm trying to reduce the chances of DS being a wild child, or at least get some sleep so I can handle it!! The reason I'm trying to start on this low-salicylate diet too is that DS is still breastfed, and apparently there's some transfer thru BM. It's complex... but I'm so glad I might have found a cause to some of our troubles and therefore improve things now.
There's lots of info available, but I just haven't had the time to do much research into it until now because I've been so exhausted and busy. Turbo-baby! He's never slept well, and even though I thought I was doing the right thing by giving him lots of fruit and vegetables, it could be that he has a sensitivity to some of them or is intolerant. It's not an allergy, and therefore allergy testing is pointless.
Salicylates are found in most natural foods but also synthetically produced for food, medication and skincare products. Aspirin is a salicylate. It's also found in Nurofen, which I had used briefly for DS when teething because it doesn't contain sorbitol like infants panadol does, and sorbitol tends to stain DS's cloth nappies.
The things that are high in natural salicylates are all the things I love, like broccoli, tomatoes, spinach, lemons, berries, sweet potato and spices.
NaNa, the cookbook I have has some information on salicylates, amines and glutamates, the big three of food intolerance! I am sensitive to glutamates - they used to make me really sick, but since I've known about it, I can keep it in check, and I can actually eat them pretty easily. I'm also sensitive to dairy, and now that I know about that one, I feel so much better all the time.
Growing up, mum thought I was just a fussy eater - wouldn't eat most vegies. Then, when I lived in Bolivia when I was 16, I ate everything because it was so rude to refuse any food in a nation so starved, and I discovered this world of taste; I ate everything, but my intolerances also started to show up. So all my life I had naturally rejected these foods. At 18 I started an elimination diet, which showed up glutamates as being an issue (although not dairy, oddly enough) So anything with flavour enhancer (MSG) or yeast extract is particularly an issue (also explains why rum makes me vomit, almost instantly! Well, that's my excuse...) but now that I know about that, a strawberry here and there or a few cherry tomatoes is not the big deal it used to be.
That's my story!
I've got the best lentil salad for lunch - brown lentils, home grown cos lettuce, grape tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, dukkah, fresh mint, sunflower seeds and a tahini and sumac dressing. Yummm!
Wow, well I hope it works out for you and your DS NaNa.
Snuggly- you are a regular jet setter! It sounds like you have been to some amazing and interesting places. Your lunch sounds delish. I made avo, hommus, tomato and mixed lettuce sandwiches.
NaNa I do know where you are talking about in Pacific Paradise, I will check it out next time I am there :P the elimination diet sounds like a great thing to do. have you tried chiropractic too?
Peach kefir is a pet you keep in your kitchen na just kidding!!! I think it's like a culture you grow in your kitchen and you can keep it going (living) for years, it has probiotic in it etc and you feed it milk etc, I have since found out from snuggly that you can use soy milk and there is a kit you can get???? And it's like other yogurts etc from NaNA... I belive you can use the kefir as a millk substitue or as yogurt etc btw I don't like tahini either not sure why... I want to like it! maybe I need to use it more in cooking etc etc....
Snugg bugg, I have an allergy to tomatoes too but find I can eat hem in moderation now after cutting them out completley for a few months and what were you doing in Bolivia???
krysalyss you must be a messenger from heaven, soy condensed milk!
AFM well I've been reading skinny B1tch and I am so happy I am already vegetarian! But now I want to be vegan! we pretty much are now except for the cheese we eat but apparently there is vegan cheese out there? I'll post more later on how this transition is going....
Who wouldn't go to Bolivia? I went there on exchange for twelve months in 1998. I certainly didn't eat many fresh vegies - living at 3800m altitude there's not a heap that grows well, although I lived with a rich enough family that we got the odd lettuce, cucumber or capsicum, all washed in lovely cholera-laden water. Mmmm. I had salmonella poisoning while I was there, so I have a bit of an iron gut now One thing they had that I miss like pants was freeze dried potato. They would leave potatoes out in the Andean winter to dry, then they press them (grape-stomping style) then they get all the bits and leave them out to dry some more. Sounds gross, but MAN did they know how to cook it! And broad beans. I fell in love with broad beans over there.
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I'm off shopping tomorrow as there is nothing in the hosue to eat and I've resorted to packet pasta for dinner
hello honey! your Korma sounds YUMMMO, I love korma, good to hear from you
Ive never tried tahini. So I got a jar at shopping the other day and opened it and.... it tastes almost like peanut butter, is this what it should be like???
na just kidding!!! I think it's like a culture you grow in your kitchen and you can keep it going (living) for years, it has probiotic in it etc and you feed it milk etc, I have since found out from snuggly that you can use soy milk and there is a kit you can get???? And it's like other yogurts etc from NaNA... I belive you can use the kefir as a millk substitue or as yogurt etc btw I don't like tahini either
I went there on exchange for twelve months in 1998. I certainly didn't eat many fresh vegies - living at 3800m altitude there's not a heap that grows well, although I lived with a rich enough family that we got the odd lettuce, cucumber or capsicum, all washed in lovely cholera-laden water. Mmmm. I had salmonella poisoning while I was there, so I have a bit of an iron gut now
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