Natural Remedies

My littlest one is sick today. She's running a high temp, and not even a bowl of glistening strawberries could induce her to eat breakfast today (they're her favourite- she scavenges them straight from the patch in summer). NB, she's wrapped in love courtesy of her "Arentie" Shay, who patched this gorgeous quilt for her before she was born.

So, I've just made a fresh lemon juice, and blended it with organic berries and a heap of Manuka honey, which I'm setting into little ice blocks in the hope it will cool her down and soothe her ills. Our house smells of eucalyptus and peppermint oils, too, which is gorgeous, and hopefully helpful. 

Do you have any natural remedies you swear by? 

Bad food day

Last night, I realised my kids hadn't eaten a single bit of fruit or veg all day! This rarely happens to us because well, I'm a planner. Also, I am obviously a little neurotic about kid nutrition. 

But yesterday, we seemed to lurch from one random thing to another, so that the kids had eaten:

2 pieces of rye toast (breakfast)

2 pieces of spelt raisin toast (morning tea)

Tuna sushi (lunch)

Popcorn (afternoon tea- home popped)

A Freddo frog each 

Ravioli with cheese (dinner).

As I mentally recounted their days' menu, I couldn't believe how stodgy their diets had been! A reasonably tragic scene ensued, one that will probably only be familiar to fellow parents, in which my husband and I ferried little bowls of strawberries and sliced banana into the kids- to eat while they bathed! Oh dear. 

The odd day of crap food is fine. Obviously! But I swung the other way today... Smoked salmon scrambled eggs with kale for brekkie (more on this later- it's one if my kids' favourite brekkies but it can be expensive unless you shop smart), nuts and fruit for lunch, a smoothie for afternoon tea, and now a dinner comprised of natural snacks. Busy lives make it tricky to keep an eye on their diets but it's so important to get it right, most of the time.

bath fizzies

These bath fizzies have become a favourite part of our weeks' activities. It's the gift that keeps on giving! 

Making them is a bit of fun, and the kids are learning to read the numbers on the scale, and then at night, they adore dropping one into the bath and watching it fizz and bubble. 

For me, they're fantastic because they have enough bicarbonate in them to act as a cleaning agent on the tub. No rims like you get with commercial ones and you control the quality of ingredients, eg, food safe and organic. 

Here's what I have done over the last few weeks, whilst firming up my own technique and recipe. The main thing is to use organic and food grade products to avoid allergies and irritation. Also, when adding the liquid to the dry, dribble it in so slowly, or else they'll fizz on impact and the jig is up. 

Dry Ingredients 

225g bicarbonate soda

113g Citric acid

113g Epsom salts (or other therapeutic salt)

113g organic corn flour 

Wet ingredients 

3 tablespoons coconut oil, melted to liquid

1 tablespoon filtered water

1 teaspoon fragrant oil - I use food grade oils, such as organic rose or orange, or vanilla.

Optional, a natural food colouring- just a couple of drops.

Combine the wet ingredients in a small jug and set aside.

Combine the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Use your hands to make sure any lumps are broken up completely.

So slowly it feels unnatural, dribble to wet mix in and stir constantly. If it starts to fizz, quickly mix in more dry ingredients- this will halt the reaction.

Once it's all mixed in, you will be able to form the mix into balls. Shape them and set aside for about 20 minutes while they dry out and firm up. Store in an airtight container and use at will. 

Sometimes, inexplicably, I find the mix isn't liquid enough to form. Add a tiny bit more oil if this is the case.

Beans

I love home made baked beans. They're so easy to make and a truckload better for you than their tinned counterparts. Don't mistake me; I have relied on tin beans in the past and will again. For quick, always-eaten dinners, they never fail to get my kids chowing down. But with a little more time up my sleeve, I love to make my own.

I blogged a recipe a little while ago. However, I've tweaked and improved it. So here's my baked beans, the 2014 version.

Ingredients

1 tin organic butter beans

1 tin organic kidney beans

1 small white onion diced

2 rashers free range bacon, diced (NB, replace with a teaspoon of mild paprika for a vegetarian alternative that's still bursting with smokey goodness)

1 celery stalk, finely cubed

2 fresh tomatoes, diced roughly

1 tablespoon good quality tomato paste

1-2 cups filtered water 

I tablespoon extra Virgin olive oil 

Herbs (optional- my master three currently won't eat any "salad", eg, anything green.)

Choose a heavy based pot with a lid- I use my le creuset Dutch oven. Over moderate heat, sautée onion and celery, then add bacon and cook for a few minutes, until a little browned. Strain and rinse the beans and add to the pot. Stir to coat in the onion mix. Add the chopped tomato and enough filtered water to cover. Lower the heat and cover, then cook for around twenty minutes. Remove lid, stir through the paste and cook for a further ten minutes to so. Check seasoning and adjust with a little coconut sugar or honey if necessary. Your beans are ready when the water has become a thick coating and the smell is making your tummy rumble. 

Here's the beta version in case you're wondering.

http://littlelunching.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/home-made-baked-beans.html?m=1

healthy doughnuts

With all the furore over Crispy Creme that's erupted lately (and possibly it's a very localized furore because a Crispy Creme has opened, for the first time, in my city of Adelaide), I thought this a timely post to make. 

When we lived in the UK, I used to indulge in Crispy Cremes very occasionally, and I have to say, if you're to buy store bought, they do have a soft spot in my heart. I know, it's not patriotic, and I know they're pretty awful for you, but once in a hardly visible blue moon, I think they're yum. However, as a rule, I make my doughnuts from scratch. Usually, by baking, but now, I've discovered something even better!

I have found the easiest and quickest way to make doughnuts, and they're relatively healthy, too! This is essentially a churros batter, but made to doughnut shape and fried in butter. I used spelt flour and coconut sugar, so they're low carb, low GI and most gluten free people can eat them. 

Ingredients

1 cup filtered water

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 tablespoon coconut sugar

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 cup spelt flour

Cinnamon for dusting and extra coconut sugar for dusting

150 g butter for frying

tablespoon olive oil for frying

Combine cup of water with salt, coconut sugar and coconut oil in a sauce pan and bring to the boil. Meanwhile, sieve spelt flour and baking powder in a large mixing bowl and stir to combine. Once the water mix has come to the boil, add to the flour and stir until lumps are removed. This won't be a runny batter, like when making a cake, it should be perfectly pliable. 

Set the butter and oil going in a large frying pan. Shape the doughnuts with your hands and carefully place in the frying pan. Cook over moderate heat - they'll take about five minutes in total, and you want them to be cooked through without burning. After a couple of minutes, carefully flip to the other side and continue to cook for an additonal couple of minutes. Once nicely browned, remove from the pan and sprinkle with the extra coconut sugar and cinnamon. 

Super Cookies (vegan, spelt, organic, 3 ingredients!)

I was so excited by the idea of these cookies that I didn't stop to properly measure out my ingredients, sorry! This recipe is just a guide- I'll do it again soon but in the meantime, if you are comfortable just wading in and giving these a go, I can highly recommend them!

Recipe 

(Approx!!)

2 tablespoons sweet coconut spread

3 tablespoons coconut oil

1 cup spelt flour

Preheat oven to 180'c fan forced.

Combine in a food processor until you have a breadcrumb consistency then dribble about a tablespoon of filtered water in and combine until it forms a dough.

I used superhero moulds from my kids' play dough set but you can obviously shape them however you'd like. These are really yum. Bake for around 12 minutes, then leave to cool (if you can!)...

Sunday Lunch

Today's Sunday lunch was pretty special, if for no other reason than that we had nanny with us.

I made a French onion soup, and my mum made her famous beef burgundy which she served with a garlic and EVOO mash and a crisped piece of prosciutto.