CURRIED BEANS ANYONE?

Okay, not the most inviting name for a dish I must admit but I made up this recipe and they are delicious, in fact, I'm trying them out as we speak.

I'm learning so much with my 30 day vegan course and after watching how a pressure cooker can very quickly cook up dried beans I knew I had to have one. I found a pressure cooker for 1/2 price at Woolworths, used it for a quick soak method for the beans, then cooked in it.

Want to know how I did this? Well read on.....

I put 2 cups of rinsed white beans (navy) in the cooker and double the amount of water of the beans. Sealed the lid and put it on the stove on high until the pressure was up. Turned back to a simmer for 3 minutes and took it off the heat. I let the beans stand for 1 hour then rinsed them under water.

Recipe for curried beans

1 Tbls olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1/2 capsicum, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 carrot, sliced
quick soaked white beans
1 can of diced tomatoes
2 tsp tomato sauce
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp plum sauce
2 tsp chutney
2 tsp curry powder
salt and pepper
water to cover
parsley to decorate

Heat olive oil in pressure cooker, add onion, capsicum and garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Take off heat and add all other ingredients. Add double the amount of water to ingredients, seal the lid and when cooker is up to pressure, cook for 15 minutes.

Take off heat and let sit until pressure comes down.

Enjoy.

YOGA

I have turned to yoga at different times in my life, be it taking classes, learning from books and DVD's at home and becoming a Les Mills Body Balance instructor.

I have many things that occupy my time but the one thing that is constant in my life is health and well being. I need to nurture my body and soul and yoga makes me feel calm yet energised, happy and confident.

There is so much to learn, it's not just about the poses as some may think, I have been considering taking on a preparatory teaching certificate for a while now, not neccessarily to teach yoga but for my own personal interest and growth.

Today I decided to start my mornings like I used too, with yoga. The sequence I used is from an edition of Australian Yoga Journal.

1. Urdhva Hastasana (Upward Salute)
2. Uttanasana (Stranding Forward Bend)
3. Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog Pose)
4. Adho Mukha Svanasana, variation (Three-Legged Dog Pose with hip open)
5. Anjaneyasana (Low Lunge)

These 5 poses awaken your body. Upward Salute stretches the front body, forward bending brings blood to the brain and Downward Dog enlivens your limbs and spine. The three-legged Dog stretches the hips and Low Lunge opens the heart.

I repeat this sequence 3 times, following with Sun Salutations.

VEGAN PIZZA

I have to admit I had a few reservations about making a pizza without cheese. I nearly caved, especially when I made the rest of the family the pizza below.

I was really suprised with the taste of my pizza and I have to say, I didn't miss the cheese at all.

SOAKING AND COOKING

That's the theme of today in the kitchen.

burghul and chick peas soaking

School snacks are made for the coming week.

Muesli bars

cakes made with CWA's basic cake recipe. Sophie says they are delicious.

3 DAYS IN

with my 30 days as a vegan and I'm loving it. The recipes are fantastic and I'm feeling very positive that I can do this.

I finally have my grains etc sorted out and my pantry looks fantastic. I was showing the pantry to Darren at lunch today and said how different it looked from 5 years ago. There really isn't much in there that is processed, it's all good, healthy whole foods that I use every day to make nutritious meals and snacks for our family. We have shelves of preserves, pasta sauce and tomato sauce, buckets of bread mix and flours, glass jars full of grains, nuts, pasta and flour. There are some tins in there, like tuna, beans and other vegetables and up the top is a shelf with the sweet snack ingredients eg. choc bits for treats for the kids.

Tonight for dinner I had fried rice, we have swapped to an organic brown rice and it's really yummy, but the one thing that made this fried rice the best rice I've ever made is instead of regular soy sauce I used tamari. I don't think I will ever go back, it's delicious.

I can't wait to try out some more recipes tomorrow.

30 DAY VEGAN

Being a vegetarian that all too frequently falls off the wagon, I've decided to join in on being a vegan for 30 days. I'm signed up and am now doing some prep work like sorting out recipes for week 1 and organising my pantry ready for my 30 days to begin.

I am hoping that after the 30 days I will continue down this path or at least as a vegetarian that doesn't stray.

Yes I am aware that it is the summer series and we are definately in winter but not to worry, just some seasonal changes in foods and it's all good.

OH YUMMY!!!!!

I purchased this ice cream maker with the money I made from selling a quilt this week and I have to tell you, it makes THE BEST ice cream I think I've ever tasted. I made vanilla today and next time I want to make fresh strawberry ice cream.

The main reason for buying this machine was to cut out the additives like anti-freeze, price had a lot to do with it also, I can't believe the price they ask for ice cream at the shops.

We don't eat a lot of ice cream, but I can see that may change a little as the kids are already asking for lots of different flavours. It's a treat in our home and what a yummy treat to have.

THIS WEEK ON BROWN'S AANAARDEN

I'm trying to be clever, is it working? Aanaarden is dutch for hill, my dad is dutch and I like to learn new words.

:: Payed $30 for 17kg of Pink Lady apples, washed them to remove residue and am using the dehydrator non-stop.
:: After waiting a week for donated lemons to juice up, I am busy squeezing and freezing the juice.
:: Making delicious grainy bread to feed the munchkins after school each day.
:: Cooking up yummy snacks to fill their lunchboxes.
:: Grateful for a warm cozy home that is filled with love.
:: Smiles on Sophie's beautiful face before and after her tap exam
:: Dreaming of a wood fired pizza oven.
:: Happy that the girls are all laying again.
:: Waiting for some sunshine so we can eat once again from our garden.
:: Hoping that Daniel's ear infection improves quickly.
:: Feeling so blessed to be able to stay at home for most of the week to take care of my family.
:: Trying really hard to work out a new plan that keeps us in fresh food from the garden all year round.

How was your week?

WHAT AM I WAITING FOR?

To feel better would be a start.

Work your magic chicken noodle soup.

WINTER NEWS IN THE PATCH

photo source
I really want to try this method for growing my squash this summer. I plan to put up a wire trellis roof from the chook house to the yard fence, this will provide more shade in summer for the chooks as well as provide hanging space for the squash.

We bought in another trailer load of compost soil for the last of the round raised beds yesterday. It has gone right up in price and we got a lot less for our money this time round. Thank goodness this is the last load we have to buy. After work I will barrow it all in from the driveway.

I finally got around to planting out my garlic, I just hope I haven't left it too late. I bought a few bulbs from the nursery to plant and the rest is my garlic from last year's crop. My asparagus thinks it's spring, I have a small crop to cut for dinner tonight.

CHRISTMAS CAKE BAKE ALONG

Over at Down to Earth we are hosting a Christmas cake bake along. I am about a month behind as I had to wait for Darren to make me my brandy for soaking. I am making 2 cakes as Darren insists that one cake simply won't be enough!

My fruit is happily soaking and will stay that way for another 4 weeks. All I have to remember to do at the moment is give the containers a good shake every day.

WEST GAMBIER ROOS

Today was Dan's last game for the under 14's West Gambier Roos. Sadly the team did not make the finals but Dan is all smiles as next season he is back with all of his school mates in under 16's. He got a taste of playing with the 'big boys' a couple of matches ago when he lined up with his friends to play under 16's.

Dan was the only year 9 playing in the team this year, the rest were year 8's. Unfortunately because of where his birthday is, every second year his school friends leave him behind in footy and cricket to go up a grade.

It seems strange but Dan starts cricket training for senior grades tomorrow night. He can't wait to get back to his first sporting love.

Lachie's under 12A's team went out on a high today. Under 12's don't play finals but Lachie's team won for the second time for the season. Last week was their first win, there's been a couple of games where they have lost by 1 point so these kids were all smiles today.

Lachie will play in a display match before an under 14's semi final in a couple of weeks so he doesn't get to hang up his footy boots just yet.

Both boys have played awesome seasons and should be very proud of their achievements.