Sugar-free, dairy-free energy balls - aka Totes Amaze Balls

 

Yep, all the cool kids are saying it, so these are called "Totes Amaze Balls". 

I have seen various recipes for energy balls and here is my version. It sounds a bit weird but they are yum. They are also dairy-free, sugar-free and can be made gluten-free. A really great, healthy snack.

Ingredients:

1/2 small sweet potato, diced, steamed and mashed

1/4 sweet pumpkin variety, diced, steamed and mashed

1 cup of rolled oats (or gluten free alternative)

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/4 coconut plus extra for rolling

hand full of mixed nuts - I used pecans, macadamias, sun flower seeds, walnuts

hand full of mixed fruit - I used chopped apricots, sultanas, goji berries, chopped dates

teaspoon of chia seeds

tablespoon of flax meal

2-4 tablespoons of honey 

2 teaspoons of vanilla

Method: 

1. Mix all the dry ingredients. 
2. Add in the mashed pumpkin, vanilla and half the honey. 
3. Mix in well (I used my hands). 
4. Add more honey if needed. 
5. Add more oats if the mix is too wet. Add a little water if the mix is too dry. You should be able to roll a ball in your hands.
6. Roll into balls, then roll in coconut. Refrigerate.

These can be frozen. And yes, you can add choc chips if you really want to!

I reckon a dash of baileys would make these a great Christmas treat! 

2013 in my permaculture garden

Hello 2013.

This year I had a break over the Christmas period for the first time since starting my business, ever. I feel truly refreshed and revived. Note to self; take more mini-breaks.

During my days off I did a lot of pondering and reflecting. The biggest realisation for me is to de-clutter. De-clutter my thoughts, my committments, my house, my garden, my life.

I revisited my previous posts -  very cool looking back at how much the garden has changed and the great recipes I found or created - and I came across this little gem:

Permaculture is about "...saving the planet and living to be a hundred, while throwing very impressive dinner parties and organising other creatures to do most of the work." (Linda Woodrow)

So, news years resolution; save the planet, live to be a hundred, throw very impressive dinner parties, organise other creatures to do most of the work. Sounds good.

Photos of the garden right now:

 

The whole side of the back yard has been turned into garden...

which was hard work. Obviously a cheese platter, cocktails and beers were well deserved.

 Our wedding wishing well now hangs from the tree next to our balcony. Love it.

 Rainbow chilli plants minus the leaves. Damn chooks.

 Speaking of chooks...

 we have two. They each provide one egg per day. Free range eggs with truffle salt is the best damn breakfast going. The neighbours also love the eggs and I love giving them away as it means true free range eggs for all (the chicken and egg industry is a real sore spot for me) so I'm going to get a couple more. The chooks used to roam free with the dogs... however we have since built a fenced in area for them. The sole reason being they shit everywhere! Bloody annoying.

 The orange tree. Maybe we'll get fruit off it one day...?

 A capsicum plant I'd left for dead. I found it recently COVERED in these little beauties. 

 YAY! My rhubarb is growing strong. 

 Remember this? The lemon grass has exploded and is now massive (at least 2 meter diameter). 

 Rosemary hedge still coming along. Geeze it's a slow grower. 

 We had a little visitor the other day. This (harmless) snake uses our fence line as a path for travel. It doesn't bother the chooks (or hasn't found them yet). I am not a massive fan of snakes but I leave them be.

Stuffed Bell Peppers | Preserved Bell Peppers

My bell pepper bush has exploded with these gorgeous bright red gems. The question I had was... what do I do with them? I have been asking my foodie friends and experimenting and here's what I've found out...

Stuffed bell peppers

1. Cut the top off and deseed the bell peppers. 
2. Place right side up in a large saucepan and just cover with olive oil. Make sure each one is filled with oil.
3. Poach the bell peppers for about 15-20 minutes until softened, but still in shape. Don't let them fry.
4. Let them cool in the oil, then remove. (Keep the oil for future use. It's got a good kick to it). 
5. Mix about 100 grams of soft goats cheese, 2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese, 4 tablespoons of flat leaf parsley and a drizzle of the oil you used to cook the bell peppers.
6. Put the stuffing mixture into a piping bag (or a plastic bag with the corner cut off) and fill each bell pepper with the mix. 
7. Serve with a nice cold beer or a glass of Pinot Gris.

My friend Amy, who gave me this recipe says...

"Just use your instincts on the filling. Truthfully, I use whatever I've got and have been known to add any number of stuffings:
- basil pesto and half a bocconcini ball sitting in the top (massive crowd pleaser)
- parsley, anchovy, feta
- olive, parsley, chunky breadcrumbs"

Thanks Amy - these are a winner!

 

Preserved bell peppers

 I have also preserved the bell peppers with success. This takes a bit longer to make, but it also lasts longer than the stuffed ones (the stuffed ones get eatten pretty quick!), they are nice to have on hand for cooking.

1. Place the peppers on a grill or bbq plate and grill until the skins are blackened and the peppers are soft.
2. Place the peppers into a paper bag and close, to allow them to steam. 
3. Once cool, peel, deseed and slice the peppers (yes, it gets messy!)
4. Place sliced bell peppers in a medium saucepan, with a couple of sliced garlic cloves and a few spigs of thyme, and cover with olive oil.
5. Bring to the boil, and then spoon into steralized jars and seal immediately.
6. Once opened keep the jar in the fridge. You can use the oil, as well as the peppers, in all sorts of dishes.

 I had about 600grams of bell peppers and it made one medium sized jam jar worth.

 Other uses for bell peppers...

You can also simply de-seed and freeze them to use in cooking later on. I also give them away to neighbours and friends. There's nothing better than sharing your crop for others to enjoy... it also sweetens the deal when you ask them to feed your dogs when you go on holidays!

June in the garden

 As far as gardening in June goes, I didn't do any...

   

 We were away for the whole month. I was really surprise at how well the garden held up while we were sipping cocktails and sunning ourselves on a tropical island! 

The bell pepper bush has exploded with gorgeous red bite-size gems. I love collecting them from the garden by using my shirt as a holder... it reminds me of adventures in the garden with my sister, Clare, when we were kids. I have preserved one batch with garlic and thyme, and am poaching and stuffing another batch with goats cheese, parmesan and parsley today. Yummy!

 

The parsley is lucious and gorgeous green. I will be taking some to my next girls dinner to give to the girls. Nothing better than sharing your produce with loved ones!

 This lovely plant is adding some much needed colour to the garden, now all the marigolds have died back and gone to seed. The edible flowers and leaves are a great addition to a winter salad. I got this plant from my Grandma's garden, so it makes me smile every time I see it.

 My "weeds"... corriander. I have not planted corriander for YEARS. It just pops up all over the place. This bed was left empty before I went away, and when I came back it was full of delicious corriander. It's even in the lawn, smells great when mowing!

 

"Laura's Strawberries" all the way from the Atherton Tablelands. Laura is my little sister, and she sent me some strawberry plants in the mail as little babies. They are growing well and starting to flower! 

 

Before and after...  the lemon grass is taking off.

 A shot for Mum...the 3 beds along the side fence.

 Dad came to visit a while ago, and he can never bloody sit still! So I gave him a job to do... "prune" the mock oranges. These used to be about 2 meters high. I must say, they loved the prune and so did the rest of the garden.

As a result of the garden having more sunlight, the rosemary hedge finally stands a chance!

I love succulents, and I'm experienting with making different patterns out of the various varieties. I'm thinking a stripe pattern like this will work well out the front around our mail box.

An old milo tin, covered in fabric and planted with succulents.

 
Succulents in an olive oil tin.


More ovely succulents...

This plant was a gift from the birds.

An old tree stump turned pot plant. I just dumped a head of potting mix into the centre and planted some crawling plants in. A old eye sore is now a beautiful feature.


The pot came from a flower arrangement I was given, and I got the climber as a cutting from a neighbour (they may or may not know about that part!)

What does free range mean?

Today I saw a horrible sight.

Today I saw one of those transport trucks loaded with live hens. They were visibly shivering, cold, wet and suffering. If you haven't seen one, google 'truck transport chickens' and you'll see what I mean.

This broke my heart and made me think about the whole chicken industry, and more importantly what I buy.

Is "Free Range" what we think it is? 


The chicken and egg industry have done a great job through marketing in making us beleive that this is how all hens live:

When people decide to buy and eat ethically, the words free and range are pretty important. Slap these two words on an egg carton or on the meat packaging, and people feel as though they are making a good buying decision. But are we?

Sustainable Table makes a really good point: 

"In Australia and NZ there are no binding laws that define what free range actually means. As a result, accreditation bodies, of which Australia has six, apply their own definition of free range when accrediting farmers with that all important marker of ethical farming. Factors such as access to an outdoor area, stocking density, beak trimming and pasture cover, for instance, are all up for interpretation."


There are some horrible images available of  high density 'free range' houses, beak trimming and what happens to the male chicks, but I'd rather focus on the positive, yeah?


What can we do? 

• Look for these logos when buying eggs:

• Beware of clever marketing campaigns and packaging imagery. The picture on the egg carton could be the first ray of sunshine or blade of green grass the hen or egg has ever come close to.
• Check out the Sustainable Table Free Range Egg and Chicken Guide.
• Get your own chookies. They make domestic pets, and 3 or 4 can provide your family plenty of eggs.

Thanks to www.freerangefarmers.com.au for these images.

Now, guess what I'm up to this weekend? Yep, preparing our back yard for some chookies. True FREE RANGE, guilt-free eggs, here we come!

Blogs and Websites I love

There are so many blogs that I love and visit all the time, and there are so many blogs that I love ... and forget what they were called! Here's my 'to-remember' list. You should check them out too! Please let me know of any you think I I should add to my visit-list.

http://mynewroots.blogspot.com.au/ - Sarah is a holistic nutritionist and vegetarian chef. In her award winning blog you will find one-of-a-kind recipes, amazing nutritional information and mouth-watering photography.

http://www.missfoodieaus.blogspot.com.au/ - Kirsten is Miss Foodie! You will find her blog filled with beautiful photography, delicious recipes and restaurant critiques.

http://sensiblespice.blogspot.com.au/ - Amy is an inspiration. In her blog she shares her thoughts on parenting, food, some great recipes and other things that come her way.

http://www.sarahwilson.com.au/ Sarah is an Australian beauty - we need more personalities like her! She is a blogger, journalist, TV personality and social commentator. Her views on food, life and health are inspiring.

http://www.karenmartini.com/ Melbourne chef, restaurateur and food writer Karen Martini has been cooking professionally for more than 20 years. Great recipes and truly wonderful videos!

http://crafterholic.blogspot.com.au/ So many things to add to my 'to-do' list on this blog! 

Home Made Healthy Dog Bikkies

My friend Sal brought these dog bikkies over for Sunnie and Peppa to try and they love them. I love them too because they are full of healthy oils for their nails and coat and I know I'm feeding my dogs something good. The only one time Sunnie didn't try bowl me over for these treats was when we were at the beach, and unbeknowns to us had drunk about 2L of sea water... let's just say she was like a water pistol (from both ends) for about 4 hours! Poor puppy!

Anyway, Sal's thinking she'll make these with Sascha's blend mixed in next time for her older dog Bundy (as she turns the corner into middle age) and also to make them seem less appetising to her.... they're actually quite tasty!

Sal's Healthy Dog Bikkies

 

1. Into a large bowl mix

• 2 cups wholemeal SR flour
• 1/2 cup polenta
• 1/2 cup crushed linseeds (I just wizzed mine in the blender for a couple of minutes which didn't 'crush' many of them just kind of stirred them around really fast so maybe bashing them would be better... could also be therapeutic)
• 1/4 cup quick-cooking rolled oats

2. In a smaller bowl stir together

• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup water

3. Combine wet and dry ingredients

4. Mix into a firm dough (like a biscuit dough). If too dry add water...too soft add more flour.

5. Roll out to 1 cm thick and cut into pieces.

6. Bake in oven 170'C for approx 30mins. Allow to cool slowly.

Thanks Sal!