A little reminder

Why blog?

My brother from another mother told me, "You need to write more!"

He is right.  In the past I didn't really write - I chose to pick up a pen, paint brush or piece of charcoal and create some art instead.  However I have been pleasantly surprised that I enjoy writing and I should do more.
Do more of what makes you happy, right?! :)

It also got me thinking, why did I start this blog?

I started writing and blogging for a few reasons, but mainly because:

1) I was so happy to have found other blogs by people who had been through the same thing as I was going through.  Reading their story, how they coped and being able to actually get in touch with them was a huge support to me so I decided to share my story in case it could help someone else.

2) I wanted to write down every small detail and thought as it happened, as I knew that in a year or decade from now the memory would stay but the details may fade.

3) Writing became my therapy.  Some people take up painting, music or any other creative outlet when they are diagnosed with a disease.  I took up writing.  This blog became a place where I could write and say all the things that I may not have actually said to friends or family.  Looking back, I don't think I would have told many about "How Mario was going to Save Me" or 'Repressed Emotions' but my blog became a safe haven where I could write my feelings and parts of the story freely.  It was a place that welcomed my honesty with open arms, gave me the time to speak, never asked anything in return and never judged me.

4) Since most people follow their friends and families lives so easily and efficiently via social media (mainly facebook) I thought writing a blog would be a good way to share all the details of my story, my thoughts and "where my head was at" since I no longer had facebook.  Rather than go into the nitty gritty details personally I thought this would be a good place for friends, family or anyone searching for more info to read more if they wanted to.  Not everyone wants to know the full story so this way they could choose.

Over the past few weeks of my recovery writing has taken a bit of a back seat whilst I built a healthy relationship with clean eating and in turn finding my "happy place" with food.  (It feels great to make guilt free nutrition decisions,  I cannot recommend it enough.)

"I check your blog every day" Bro said, and this means a lot to me - that someone has taken the time to read my blog.   So the least I can do is honor his request.  I will continue to write more (plus post healthy eating recipes) :)

Thank you Bro for your honesty.

Gluten Free Pizza's

Pizza's are well loved in our household, a year ago we should have been sponsored by New York Pizza.

As a treat I wanted to make gluten free pizza's with Curious Kid.  He loved deciding on what he would have (salami and cheese), getting all the ingredients and creating it.

So simple!

Total time: 25 mins (10 mins prep and 15 mins in the oven)
We used gluten free pizza bases and added our own homemade tomato sauce:

- 6 tomatoes

- 4 cloves garlic

- Oregano

- Basil 

- Pepper corns 

Chuck it in the processor and done
Then add your own toppings

15 mins later - a very yummy (and healthier) pizza :)

Food for thought

Aubergine and Mushroom Quinoa

Quinoa, gluten free and packed full of protein & goodness. One of my fav food stuffs right now. You can do so many things with it - add to salads, have as a healthy breakfast instead of oats, use in main dishes... The list is endless.

Cooking is creativity to me and I like to try new dishes and come up with new flavor combinations. Today that new thing was an Aubergine and Mushroom quinoa dish. I was pretty happy with the result if I do say so myself and went back for thirds #phatty

Total time: 30 mins (10 mins prep - cutting everythining) and 20 mins cooking.

Ingredients:

1 big spoon of coconut oil

1 onion (roughly chopped)

4 garlic cloves (put through the garlic press)

Half lemon (squeezed juice) 

Ginger (about 2 tablespoon fulls finely chopped) I'm a little addicted to ginger so I added quite a lot

8 mushrooms (thinly sliced)

1 big Aubergine (cut into big chunks) 

1 tomato (roughly chopped after peeling.)  You can easily remove the skin by putting the tomato in just boiled water, leave for a few mins and then peel it off

3 sprigs of rosemary

Half a handful of thyme 

10 basil leaves (roughly chopped)

Himalayan salt and pepper to taste 

Method:

Add all the veggies to a big pan and bring to the boil.
Add half a cup of water and leave to simmer for 20 mins

In the meantime rinse 150g quinoa and then let it boil for 10 mins.   Drain any remaining water and add the quinoa to the big pan of veggies (the quinoa will soak up the left over tasty juices). 

Serve and sprinkle some pumpkin seeds on top.

Ta da, done! :)

Sunrise & Sunset...

Creamy Mushroom and Avocado Spaghetti

Today's mission - how to make a creamy spaghetti without dairy products and eggs.  Mission succeeded in the form of a mushroom and avocado spaghetti.

Total cooking time - 15 mins (5 mins prep and 10 mins cooking).

Ingredients:

Half lemon (squeezed juice)

3 garlic cloves (I recommend 4 actually.  Put through the garlic press)

1 onion (roughly chopped)

8 mushrooms (roughly sliced)

1 avocado 

100g gluten free spaghetti

Himalayan salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Bring water to the boil and add the spaghetti and mushrooms. Boil for 10 mins.

In the meantime put all the other ingredients into a blender / food processor until creamy.

Once the spaghetti and mushrooms are cooked - drain the water, put back on the stove and add the creamy avocado sauce.  Stir and mix in for a couple of minutes, until all the spaghetti is covered.

(The heat from the spaghetti and mushrooms will warm up the creamy sauce).

Enjoy!