as of late

I’ve been so busy lately. Understandably it is that time of year when things get a little crazy, but coupled with a move and some thrilling news that we will be expecting our first little bub in early May 2013, things seem to be rolling along quicker than I’d like!

Yes! We are expecting a little girl – currently 19 weeks along – and am so in love with her already. We’ve been enjoying her movements and kicks for a couple of weeks now and the feeling is just so beautiful (I know I say this now, when she’s only 250g).

She’s our little miracle. It took two years of trying, surgery, drugs and being told we’d never conceive naturally to get to this point – but here we are, a natural conception. I will do a couple of follow on posts about our story, how I healed my PCOS naturally and how ‘giving up’ can sometimes be the best thing.

So, what I have been up to lately:

Moving house.

 

Making a chicken coop – I’ve been an assistant to Joel the builder as he constructed his designed from scratch coop. Hopefully we get the chickens this weekend!

 

Growing a baby – she’s just gorgeous!

Setting up the house for Christmas – the tree has be up since the 2^nd week in November, normally it’s earlier but we were moving.

Making Christmas wrapping decorations.

Starting Christmas presents – home-grown and dehydrated lemon myrtle spice.

Amongst the above, it has been sweltering heat and I have been loving the abundance of mangos. This cooling smoothie has been just perfect snack/breakfast in this 2^nd trimester where all I crave is fruit.

Ingredients

(serves 1)

150g natural yoghurt

1 mango, flesh of

A handful of ice

Combine all ingredients in a blender and whiz until thick and smooth. Pour into a glass and top with homemade muesli if desired.

Enjoy.



smooth matcha shake

This is such a wonderful 'shake' that I have been enjoying at the moment. The summer days have really set in (with gusto), and as I am in the midst of packing and moving, a refreshing afternoon drink has been a bit of a lifesaver for me.

Yep, we're moving house and really looking forward to it. Currently we are living in a one bedroom loft style barn conversion and moving 200m down the road to beautiful stone cottage.The barn doesn't have any inside doors and extremely open plan living. It has been decided that with a change in circumstances, this may no longer be very practical, thus the change!

this little guy is looking forward to the new place

I'm really looking forward to the bright new kitchen, especially having a pantry! At the moment all our flours, nuts, cereals and grains are stored in a long narrow cupboard. It's a bit difficult to find anything as I have to reach back and feel around for the ingredients that I'm after. It takes quite a few goes before I actually find what I am looking for. So a pantry is very very exciting for me.

Enough of that, on to the recipe. This is just a delight. Refreshing, smooth, easy and best of all anti-oxidantly healthy.

Ingredients

(serves one)

1/4 c organic natural milk/alternative

1/4 c water

1 tsp matcha powder

1 tsp sugar (extra to taste)

a handful of ice cubes

Place all ingredients in a martini shaker/protein shaker/blender and shake/blend until smooth.

Pour into a glass and enjoy!

orange almond cake

Finally on the mend and back at work with only a lingering cough. Being sick is just the worst, and I was definitely very miserable.

Feeling better means I'm back in the kitchen but still feeling like something pretty simple and basic, I whipped up this orange almond cake. I can't take any credit for the recipe as I picked it up in a cookbook somewhere, the name and place evades me.

I found this cake to be just so moist and flavoursome, holding its form perfectly even with no flour. I shared with my family who was also surprised at the moistness of the cake.

I didn't have almond meal, but had plenty of almonds on hand, so I processed 200 g in the food processor until fine.

Ingredients

(serves 8-10)

2 oranges

1 1/2 c almond meal (or 200g almonds ground)

6 eggs, lightly whisked

1 tsp bi-carb soda

1/2 c raw sugar

Heat oven to 160 C and line a spring form cake dish with baking paper

Place oranges in a pot and bring to the boil.

Simmer for 45 minutes, drain and cool.

Place in a food processor and blend until smooth.

Fold in almond meal, eggs, sugar and bi-carb gently.

Pour mixture into the tin and place in oven to bake for 45-50 minutes (until firm).

Remove from oven and cool.

Serve and enjoy.