A day of delish

After shopping up a vege storm this past weekend I was filled with loads of inspiration for today's meals!! A middle eastern feast for lunch, and a touch of Mexican for dinner. Along with trying to cut out quite a few things we're also trying to add lots of new stuff to our diet. New foods and new recipes. These are both new recipes for us and the eggplant is a new food! Yesterday I tried my first fig and OH MY GOD I am in love!!  

For lunch we had homemade hummus, tomatoes, a flatbready thing, Moroccan spiced zucchini scrambled eggs (failed fritters) and a chickpea and eggplant stew. It was sooo good and will be a definite regular. Easy as too!!

Chickpea and Eggplant Stew

1 medium eggplant
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
2 tsps cumin
1/2 chilli powder
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 can chickpeas

Chop the eggplant into 1cm cubes and brown quickly in oil, put aside. Remove the eggplant and set aside. Saute finely sliced onion and garlic along with the spices in oil. Add chopped tomatoes and chickpeas along with half a can of water. Put the eggplant back in, cover and cook on low for an hour.

Tea tonight was rump steak, wedges, and baked Mexican eggs on a spicy bean mix. It is my new absolute favourite and I'm gagging to grow some chilli's and peppers so we can have it all the time! Also a super easy slap up tea, could be a takeaway replacer here. Have always loved the look of mexican baked eggs and the chillis and peppers I bought at the farmers market inspired me to whip some up.

Baked eggs on beans

half a large onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 hot chilli
1 medium heat chilli
1 sweet pepper
2 tsps cumin
1 can kidney beans
2 tomatoes
4 eggs

Saute the onion finely sliced and  finely chopped garlic along with the cumin. Add the deseeded sliced chilli's and pepper (adjust to your spice level liking). Throw in the kidney beans and chopped tomatoes, cook covered for 10mins. Put the mix into an oven proof dish, the mix needs to be a few cm deep in the dish. Make 4 slight dips in the mix and crack an egg into each. Bake in the oven until the eggs look done to your liking.

Takeaways, oh sweet takeaways!

My crutch is takeaways. At the moment I'm addicted to Subway. You know, the "healthy option". We tend to have a full day in town, get groceries too late and then need something to eat on the way home. Stupidly though we always come up with something decent for Barclay to eat, but for ourselves it seems easier to buy something ready to go.

Last night there was no getting Barclay to sleep, he was wired. After numerous attempts we resorted to the old drive in the car trick. One lap around  a decent sized block he was still yelling nose from the backseat. Sam and I looked at each other and said Burger King. So we drove 15 mins into town and got a couple of bloody amazing burgers, and fizz even though I've been doing so well off it. Fail...but he did go to sleep!

So the next thing I aim to quit is takeaways. Fish and chips, Subway, BK. The lot. I'm already a bit stressed by it, will have to researching easy freezer meals I can defrost and bung in the oven on those nights where I have no time to prep anything!

My diet is still a major change from my pre kids one, the one that caused a good amount of weight gain too. It involved about one cooked meal a week, a lot of cheap pies, a lot of Indian and Mcdonalds, hungover Sunday KFC, pizza deliveries when there was no car, loads of Thai lunchdates and litres of budget fizz.

Don't even ask how my after dinner sweet quitting has gone, lets just say no tea has been consumed and a lot of the unallowed have :) Ill get there eventually, I still have 11 months, but things are improving slowly!

My first recipe worthy creations

This was tonights feast, currently clearing out the pantry of all our unecessary pantry bits so excuse the chilli beans and tortillas. Am loving not having the stuff for whole select meals that we eat all the time and coming up with new stuff each day. We're also aiming for 2 meat free meals a week as our first change.

My lentil dip was so good,. heaps more flavour than hummus! I was dipping in the tortilla chips while feeding Sylvie but it was also awesome in place of a sauce in the "wraps".

Chuck all this in a food processor until almost smooth. Easy as!

2 cups of cooked brown lentils
3/4 cup of greek yoghurt
2tsps of cumin
1tsp of chilli powder
a couple of glugs of olive oil
salt and pepper
and the juice of a lemon


And the for the beetroot and cabbage salad, this makes heaps. Sam ate oodles and we have enough to have with lunch tomorrow.

Shred quarter of a cabbage and one beetroot in the food processor. Drizzle over about 5 tablespoons of red wine vinegar. Then salt, pepper and quarter of a small block of feta (about a matchbox size) and a couple of handfulls of sunflower seeds!

This will be a definite regular and yes its inspired by my beetroot and pear salad I stole off Jamie Oliver but I have a massive cabbage I need used up.

Just call me Mrs Glutton

For me the first key to weightloss is to squash the reasons I eat. Boredom and habit. Habit is the first to tackle. Not sure where to start, to quit cold turkey or just pick healthy satisfying snacks I can have!

The lead up to todays crazed after dinner food need.

 We did a quick top up groceries today, more vege and breakfast from the farmers market then a few things from the supo. I spotted the ice cream, a post baby staple for me. Had been having about a sixth of a tub of ice cream everynight after tea. Resisted, and thought screw it Ill cut this shit cold turkey. After a hot afternoon with a more than irritating toddler I said to Sam while cooking tea "if I can have him asleep by 8pm (the time when the shop shuts) you can go get me pudding". Well I did it, Barclay was asleep at 7.30 and I felt instantly happy. Husband toodles off to the shop, and returns. She was f***in shut early. Instant irrational anger kicks in while I desperately rack my brain for something to make. Nothing, I'm drawing major blanks and nothing will satisfy me. Then, I click. French toast with maple syrup, will take all 5 mins and such sugary goodness. I mention it to Sam, and he says those words. DO. YOU. REALLY. NEED. IT. Well those words mean I'm not going to make it, just to prove I can resist and instant silent treatment. Still sitting there simmering inside. I am so unreasonable in this need, its been literally an hour since I ate the delish tea I made. Tomato salad, greens, wedges, eggs and glorious amounts of steak.

Sam fell asleep in the chair and headed to bed and I got Sylvie to sleep while scouring whole food blogs, looking for next weeks recipes to try and watching cupcake wars which is totally not helping. Salivating. Desperate. Huzzah, toast. Jam on toast. Its something remotely sweet. I reconsidered, thought ANOTHER plum (would be about number 6) maybe but alas not what I'm after. So I head off to make it. Yes, I risked waking the baby sleeping contently on my chest for toast, I am that food crazed!!

And you know what, I ate that measly piece of toast, and it was shit and totally not the taste I was after. So I have decided, a nice tea will be my new after dinner habit. Wish me luck!

Marry me Jamie....

Jamie Oliver is not only my biggest celeb crush he is also my new foodie inspiration, hence revolution in my blog title. Clever huh! I want to acquire all his books and dvds so we can eat him for every meal. Maybe that'll be next years resolution!

I looove his shows and the kitchens he cooks in, and his family, and his food, and his gardens, and his mannerisms and the way he talks. You get the point, I love him!!

This summer I've made this recipe for nearly every occasion and we eat it for days. For the small amount of ingredients it goes a really long way. I change up the dressing and use coconut oil, salt, pepper and quite a good amount of apple cider vinegar.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/crunchy-raw-beetroot-salad-with-feta-and-pear

And this would be my last meal, our absolute favourite. Loooove it, best with nutty brown rice!!

 http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pork-recipes/spicy-pork-and-chilli-pepper-goulash

Summer treats!

I am officially a frozen banana ice cream convert!!

We've had a stinking hot day at the beach today, my dad sneakily tried to give Barclay some Mr Whippy and I started to feel guilty he was missing out. Especially on something which I strongly recall from my own childhood being soooo awesome! So when Barks woke from his afternoon nap I set to making him the new craze, frozen banana ice cream and I always have bananas in the freezer ready to go for baking so it took 2 minutes.

I whizzed a frozen banana (microwave it for 20 seconds so the skin removes easily) with a pinch of chia, a couple of teaspoons of LSA and the same of coconut for 30 seconds until smooth. Then mixed a teaspoon of melted coconut oil with a teaspoon of raw cocao and poured it over, finishing it all off with more coconut. The coconut oil sauce sets and turns a treat into something super exciting!! Barclay's a skinny wee dude and we never managed to get him to gain much weight, along our journey I learnt from a group of amazing friends about the wonders of coconut oil and we now use it for everything.

101 uses for coconut oil, you'll be surprised but its not all food related!!  http://wellnessmama.com/5734/101-uses-for-coconut-oil/

My husbands on holidays at the moment so after scouring for a fishing spot and failing for an afternoon we stopped and got massive punnet of strawberries from a local berry place. After the kids went to sleep we had cut strawbs topped with coconut cream that had vanilla extract and coconut sugar mixed in. Just pop a can of coconut cream into the fridge for a couple of hours and scoop the top solid white half into a bowl and whip!

I also have this in the freezer as a more adult treat (although Barclay loves it too) ready to go for the nights when I'm craving something sweet after tea. It tastes so good and takes 5 or so minutes to make. Nabbed the link from a friends facebook page! http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2011/06/chocolate-banana-freezer-pie.html

Really need to get some moulds for ice blocks so I freeze the leftovers when I make smoothies and eventually juice when I get my juicer. The tupperware ones look really clever so am saving for those! I am a total tupperwhore, much to my husbands delight ;)

So it turns out my kids will not miss out on summer treats, they get not only a treat but something jam packed with goodness!! Guilt free. Happy kids and a happy mumma!

The journey begins

Grocery day today

Gathered all of the ingredients for some delicious bread to be made tomorrow, just need to find a new recipe as our last was producing fairly stodgy bread. Jenny gave me a tip on my fb page about citric acid and ginger as a raising aid so will have a bit of an expeeriment with that. Cant believe how cheap our groceries were not buying shitty supo chicken and premade yoghurts and pasta sauces and hopefully once we've built up a good pantry they'll get cheaper!

We have plenty of raw milk on hand so attempted to make yoghurt and sour cream last night but failed. Now sure how we will cope without for the weekend so will try again tomorrow. Pasta is the next on the list, we tend to eat 3 or 4 pasta meals a week so will have a session making a bunch for the freezer. Forgot to buy muslin today to make our own ricotta for ravioli filling, thinking a cheese making kit might be worth getting!!  Yes I am a dairy product addict!!

Feeling great about the changes we have made so far, buying herb garden supplies this weekend to plant up and hoping to invest in a dehydrator in the next few weeks to dry and store my own.

Keeping an eye on the scales too, hoping this will help with the post baby weight loss. 

Day 1's dinner

I'm a little bit proud but it could be better! Looks feral, tasted amaze.

We have Moroccan salad!! Lettuce, tomatoes and red onions could have been home grown, instead supo bought. Yoghurt for the dressing and feta could have been homemade. Buuuut the chilli and garlic are farmers market beauties, the meat is homekill, the eggs with the meat are from my grandparents chooks, the mint in the yoghurt dressing is from my mums and the quinoa underneath it all is organic :)

The dirty before pics....

Whats lurking behind my fridge and pantry doors?? Crap, with a touch of "we're getting there"

Mission one, is to eat and donate the last of the junk. And clean my pantry. 

 Condiments galore, a newfound addiction that must be stopped. As a child tomato sauce was it, the be all and end all. Now I've got a taste for the rest, the dressings, the mayos, the sweet chilli sauce and THE SOUR CREAM!!! The pantry is full of canned chilli beans from winters chilli addiction.... I wonder if the foodbank will appreciate those.

Happy New Years

A New Years spent with inspiring friends was just what I need to kick off my 2013!!

I'll paint you a picture....

We pulled up to a paddock with tents pitched, a caravan set up and a sleep out ready to be made up for us for the night. Seven families, all linked by facebook. Some familiar faces and some new. Bliss being surrounded by my fellow hippy mamas. Bonfire burning, spit roast cooking, babies on boobs, kids frolicking and the Noah's ark of animals cleaning up the crumbs they left behind. Perfection. The next day involved a lazy morning, swimming at the river, afternoon naps, rounding up pigs, fish and chips and train rides at the carnival!

Did I mention it was the best NY ever??

A little about us....

Here we are, the Fenwick Family. There's me Dani. I'm 22 and already homemaker extraordinaire ;) Gentle mumma of toddler Barclay and new baby Sylvie. You'll find me in my chair most days, on facebook stuck under a child with a boob in their mouth, and when that's not happening I'm doing housework, dancing with Barclay or EATING RUBBISH!

Then there's Barclay ^^^ in the sweet orange tie die! He's a 20 month old crazy cute kid! Loves kicking, throwing and bouncing balls, being nude, his chickens, cats, ducks, pressing his diddle on things, fun times with dad and booby cuddles with mum.

Our newest family member Sylvie, 3 months old! She is the most placid sweet thing, loves sleeping (long may it continue), being terrorised by her brother, snuggled by her dad and boobs.

And lastly my husband Sam. This picture sums him up! Cows and babies are his life, I tried to write more about him and his personality and how much I love him but it was all far to sappy.