healthy chocolate cake and a rainy day

It's raining here today.

It's the perfect day to stay inside and potter around.

I've got some essential oils burning in my oil burner.

I'm planning on making this healthy chocolate cake.

Maybe a bit of yoga too.

What do you like to do on a rainy day?

xxoo Julie

healthy chocolate cake

Wholemeal Apple Chocolate Cake

I love taking recipes and making them healthier. A while back I took a Chocolate Cake Recipe and changed a few ingredients to make Wholemeal Apple Chocolate Cake. The ingredients I used were:

1 cup wholemeal flour (I used spelt)
1/3 cup plain flour (or you could use all wholemeal)
1/3 cup cacao or cocoa
3/4 teas bicarb soda
1/2 teas salt
1 teas vanilla
1 tab apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup coconut oil (melted)
1/2 cup honey
3/4 cup water
1 grated apple

Sift the dry ingredients. Melt coconut oil and add to the wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Add apple. Mix. Pour mixture into a 20cm cake tin and bake at 170 'C  (150 'C  in a fan forced oven) for 35 - 40 mins or until cooked.

This makes a nice moist cake. Do not over bake. This cake passed the taste test by me and my 11 and 14 year olds.

tacos and nachos

Last nights dinner, tacos for the boys and nachos for me.

In this little family of mine, the boys and my husband eat meat, but I don't. For a while we ate vegetarian meals only, but the three men in the family really craved meat. In my studies I have learnt that food is an individual thing. Food that suits one person may not suit another. 

As a result, I cook meals with meat in it for the boys every two or three days and the rest of the time we go vegetarian. This won't work for every family, but it works for us. 

Last night the boys had tacos. I browned the mince and blended a can of tomatoes with a little bit of celery and spinach. I then added the blended tomatoes to the mince and simmered it for a while. This allows some of the water from the tomatoes to evaporate off and the mixture thickens. I then added some organic tomato sauce. After heating taco shells, spoon some of the meat mixture into the shells and add a little bit of cheese, grated carrot and lettuce. This is a great way to get kids to eat more salad. 

For my nachos, I put some organic cornchips on an oven proof plate and sprinkled some cheese over the top. This went into the oven to melt the cheese. After removing from the oven I put layers of salad ingredients over the top, lettuce, rocket, grated carrot, capsicum, cucumber, parsley. This was served with sour cream and salsa. 

Two meals, one with meat, one vegetarian. Both meals based around salad. It wasn't difficult, but it catered to two different eating styles. 

weekending

* soaking and cooking white beans

* making Carrot and Ginger Soup

* sorting seeds ready for planting

* breakfast outside on both days.....soaking up the sun and it's beautiful warmth......watching and listening to our girls (chooks)......listening to the birds.......enjoying the view......checking on the newly planted seeds and feeling happy that a couple of rocket seeds are up.....thankful for rocket, the seeds sprout and pop up in only a few days after planting, always reliable, tasty and so good for you.....watching my husband and youngest son get ready for a morning of cutting and delivering wood......feeling thankful that my big boy gets his plaster off tomorrow and hoping he is back on both feet very soon, he is missing his daily walk

* perennial basil

* planting seeds in these boxes.....they don't dry out as much, it's less fiddly and it's quick

* carrying my favourite cup around with me.....sipping on water...... always sipping on water.....it makes me feel  good

* made Broccoli Pesto

* enjoying the rhythm of my days.....a little bit of work, a little bit of rest......some time inside, some time outside

Hope your weekend was a lovely one.

xxoo Julie

bread making tutorial

Ingredients: makes one loaf

1 cup warm water

1/4 cup honey (or maple syrup or sugar)

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/8 cup oil (your preference)

2 1/2 - 3 cups whole wheat flour

Method

In a glass measuring jug, combine warm water, honey and yeast. Whisk to dissolve. Let this sit for about 10 minutes until yeast becomes frothy on top. (see below)

While you are waiting, measure the flour ( 2 1/2 cups) and salt and place in a large bowl. If you have one, use a bowl that is plenty big enough, so you can later knead it in the bowl instead of on the bench. This makes cleaning up easier. Mix together. 

Form a well in the centre of the flour mixture and add the oil and the yeast mixture when it is ready.(proofed)

The mixture will be a little bit sticky. 

With clean hands, knead the dough in the bowl until it comes together, adding more flour as needed.  Use just enough flour so that it comes together. You don't need to knead the dough for very long. I knead ours for about 1 minute. Form into a ball in the bowl.

Take a little bit of oil in the palm of your hand and lightly coat the bread dough. Cover with a damp tea towel and place in a warm, draft free spot to rise. In winter I put ours in front of the fire. Leave to double in size (approx. 1 hour). 

When the dough has doubled in size ( above) press the dough down to remove the air. I just press it down, rather than  'punching it down' as it's usually called. 

Using a little bit more flour, and working in the bowl, knead it a little longer and form into a loaf shape. 

Place the loaf into an oiled, glass loaf pan or a lined metal tin. ( approx.11cm  x  22cm - it doesn't need to be exact ). Cover it with the damp tea towel. Place this in a warm spot to rise until it has approximately doubled in size.(approx 35-40 mins.). 

Loaf before rising and doubling in size....

Loaf has doubled in size......

Bake in the oven at 180 ' C ( approx. 350 ' F)  or 160 ' C in a fan forced oven for about 25 - 30 mins. When the loaf is ready it should be a nice brown colour ( as below) and when tapped it should sound hollow. Leave it in the pan for about 5 mins. before turning out onto a cooling rack.

 Loaf after baking.....

Enjoy!!

this week i'm loving

 homemade bread.....

homemade yoghurt.....

 this honey and it's presentation......

the sunlight that comes into our home in the mornings....

 my morning ritual. Rolled oats cooked with banana......

knitting and doing a bit of yoga.....

I have changed my blog name back to the original name. No big reason, I just prefer it. 

So...... what have you been enjoying this week? 

Weekend

We had a fairly quiet weekend which was nice. I spent Sat. morning doing some housework followed by this yummy lunch. Homemade flatbread with salad greens grown by us, grated carrot, quinoa and lentils drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice.

I've been making some changes to my smoothie recipe over these past few weeks. To the usual kale, almond milk, frozen blueberries and banana I've added some tofu, cinnamon and some superfoods:

- 1 heaped tab. cacao powder
- 1 tab. raw honey
- 1 tab. goji berries
- 1 teas. maca powder

When adding new foods to my smoothie I added one new thing at a time, starting with small amounts and adding to them gradually. I have found that this works best for me. In the past I have added larger amounts of new ingredients and at times haven't liked them. Whereas this way you can gradually try new ingredients without the smoothie being ruined.

On Sat. afternoon we visited some friends who were staying in a holiday park near us.  This was the view they had outside their cabin.

 Brad and Josh had a lovely time playing on the jumping pillow.

Today I have been doing some housework, putting some of the new soap out (it's not quite ready to use yet though), and getting some pots ready to plant some Cyclamens in. 

As you can see, we haven't done anything terribly exciting, but it was nice just being together and pottering around. 

What did you get up to over the weekend? 

xxoo Julie