Time Out

Time out...

This has been a crazy week. Cookbook deadlines are zooming by, so I've been stuck at the computer with hardly a break. (Except to homeschool, do housework, cook, go to a wedding, answer lots of phone calls and messages, and deal with all the other interruptions that are part of everyday life around here!)

Then at about 11pm the other night I realised someone had decided to steal my Facebook identity, so I was madly trying to sort that out and didn't get much sleep. (And it's still ongoing... so please don't accept a 'friend request' on FB from 'Quirky Cooking' because it's not me, despite the fact that they're using my photo and covershot and have also set up a Quirky Cooking 'Health & Beauty' page. This is my page, by the way ---> Quirky Cooking... not the other one.)

Stress. I was tingling with it that night and the next morning. And quite a few times in the past week. You know that feeling? I hate it. Sometimes the feeling of "so much to do and I don't know where to start and I don't know what to do" totally overwhelms me. I don't want to talk to anyone, I want to hide in my bed, disconnect the phone, and pretend I'm not home when someone knocks on the door. But you can't really do that when you have a home business, a family to look after, and you're behind schedule with the book you're writing.

I find it helps to focus on a job that needs doing, and start working on that in slow and steady steps, bit by bit, til it's done. (It feels so good to tick something off your to-do list, no matter how small, doesn't it!)

And I also find it helps to give myself the reward of some 'time out' to look forward to, as the jobs are ticked off my list.

Time Out...

As my mum says, it's imporant to 'take some time out to let your soul catch up with your body.' I'm not talking about big chunks of time spent alone in blissful quietness - I mean just making the most of little moments, little snippets of time, and letting that quiet moment completely soak in and relax you. 

One of my favourite writers said this,

"It is in quietness that we are fed. Sometimes it is not possible to get long uninterrupted quiet, but even if it be only ten minutes, “hem it with quietness.” Enclose it in quietness; do not spend the time in thinking how little time you have. Be quiet. If you are interrupted, as soon as the interruption ceases, sink back into quietness again without fuss or worry of spirit. Those who know this secret and practise it, are lifted up."       (Amy Carmichael)

It can be as simple as...

- Getting up early to have some peace and quiet to read and think and write before the kids wake up.

- Going for a short walk and bringing home some flowers you picked. (Or weeds, if you're anything like me.)

- Baking a cake.

- Playing relaxing, happy music while you work. 

- And maybe dancing around the kitchen a little bit. And singing.

- Sitting outside in the sunshine with a cup of tea for 10 minutes.

- Kicking off your shoes and sitting on the grass to eat your lunch.

- A chat and a laugh with a friend. 

- Stopping to notice the beauty that is all around you, and taking photos of what you see.

- Hugging someone you love.

And for me, a big one is...

Driving.

If I'm feeling really overwhelmed and my brain is tired of thinking, and all those little 'time outs' just aren't enough, I find it really helps to go for a drive.

I've been feeling really frustrated the past couple of weeks, because I have this absolutely beautiful car sitting in my driveway, and no time to drive it. And I have only two weeks til they take it back! Noooooooo...

(For those of you who don't know, Ford sent me a Territory Titanium to test drive for six weeks (yeeehaaaa!!) as part of their "Choose Your Own Adventure" Challenge. I was picked because Kidspot awarded me a place in the top 25 "Food & Wellbeing" Bloggers for Voices of 2013 this year. And yes, I'm truly loving this car. And I don't want to give it back.)

Anyway, today I had so much to do, and a wedding to go to, and the 'overwhelmed' feeling was building up again. So when my husband said, "Let's drive home from the wedding the long way - around the lake," my answer was, "I'm driving!!"

I know, I know, I had lots to do. I probably should've said, "No we'd better get straight home as I need to keep working." But after the stress of the past week, hugging the cat just wasn't going to cut it. I needed some time out to drive 'my' car, to sit back in air conditioned comfort and relax and watch the scenery go by.  I could honestly sit in those soft, leather seats all day, meandering through the countryside enjoying the view, music on, air conditioner blowing in my face, thoughts drifting, stopping to take photos whenever I want to... I dream of doing that when I'm stuck in front of my computer for hours.

So that's what we did. We went for a drive on a winding dirt road, and stopped to watch the sun set over the lake. And revelled in the comfort of driving such a lovely car. And it really helped. Now I'm feeling much happier and more relaxed, because I've had some time out, away from the computer and housework, driving this lovely car and enjoying the scenery. Bliss.

So tell me, what do you do to help yourself relax, refocus and de-stress? I'd really love to know. Please leave a comment - your ideas may help someone else!

Have a great Sunday, guys, and don't forget to...

♥ ♥ ♥

"Thank You" Giveaway!!

Know what? I think you guys are awesome.

Today my facebook page reached 50,000 likes, so to say THANK YOU, here's a chance to win a very quirky prize!

Loving Earth has donated a big mixed box of my favourite coconut sugar raw chocolates, including their newest addition - a dairy free white caramel chocolate!!! Eeek, I'm so excited, I can't wait to try it!!

And that's not all... The winner will also have the opportunity to get some healthy cooking advice with me via a Skype call (or you can call me via phone if preferred), or in my kitchen if you're local. Help with bread making, chocolate making, allergy friendly cooking, meal planning, bulk buying, cooking on a budget, cooking for kids, Thermomix cooking... Up to an hour of one on one help.

If this sounds like something you'd like to win, please comment below! 1 comment per person, and the winner will be drawn randomly on Monday 14th October at 7pm, via random.org.

Thank you everyone for joining in and making my page a great place to be!

And the winner is...

AMANDA MARTYN!

Congrats Amanda, I hope you enjoy the chocolate and get lots of inspiration from our chat! :)

Road Tripping, Expo Cooking & Finding the Balance Between Stop and Go

Black's Beach, Mackay

I love a good road trip, don't you? I grew up in a road tripping family and I have so many wonderful memories of travelling together for hours, days, weeks, even months - around half of Australia, the USA, down into Mexico, up into Canada... 

As teenagers, we were packed into the car like sardines, suitcases bumping the backs of our heads as we bounced along, a banjo and a guitar sandwiched between us in the back seat, portable electric typewriter on my lap so I could type out my school assignments as we drove. Endless roads, new friends everywhere we went, beautiful scenery, singing together and telling stories, cooking Australian treats like pavlova for our American friends and trying their foods, and taking photos of wildflowers and canyons and lakes and snow. Once road tripping is in your blood you just can't get rid of the addiction. I dream of spending a whole year travelling around Australia with my family, showing the kids this amazing country of ours.

Sadly, my husband does NOT have any desire to pack up all our earthly goods and set off into the sunrise, living the gyspy life on the road. He's totally not interested in packing four noisy kids into the car with a bunch of luggage and food and a Thermomix, and driving endlessly just to see what we can see. He's so practical. I'm a bit of dreamer. Like my dad. But I DID manage to get him to agree to a one week road trip to Mackay and Townsville in the second week of the school holidays, and I think he actually enjoyed it! Well, most of it. Maybe not the bit where I got really sick with a tummy bug and he had to cook and look after the kids who were constantly wanting to go to the beach when he just wanted to sit inside with a book. But hey, I didn't enjoy that bit either.

Okay, so in case you're wondering, here's how I convinced my husband to do this whole road trip thing. Ford picked me (along with 19 other Voices of 2013 bloggers) to take part in their "Choose Your Own Adventure Challenge," test driving their newest, sparkliest, most top of the range Territory Titanium! (Yeah, I know, awesome huh!!) We've been given this brand-spanking-new car for 6 weeks, and it even came with $400 worth of fuel vouchers and a full tank of fuel! Well that just shouted 'road trip' to me, and hubby had to give in to the pressure.

Picking up 'my' car! Woo hooooo...

I have to say, my 'totally not interested in cars or road trips' husband is now as much in love with this car as I am. After driving it for two weeks, including a 10 hour drive in one day, we are completely smitten. As we're driving along, hubby will turn to me and say, 'I love how the electric windows can still be rolled up after the motor is turned off - make sure you mention that on your blog!' and 'It's so comfortable, and so smooth to drive' and 'The POWER!!!'... ha ha! I think we're both loving the quiet, smooth, panther-like power the best - we've never driven a V6 turbo diesel before, it's awesome! 

My front seat office!

We've never had such an easy road trip with our four kids as this one was. It was so quiet I could write, and chat with hubby while we drove. The GPS kept us on track, the kids were comfortable, no one felt squashed or cramped, and the built in DVD player kept them distracted for the 10 hour drive. We only stopped twice. This does not usually happen!! Big win for the Ford.

Morning tea break...

...and a tailgate lunch. 

I brought some homemade roast beef, some spelt bread rolls that I baked quickly before we left in the morning, a jar of my homemade tomato sauce, and some salad, and we made lunch in our makeshift 'kitchen' by the road. I also took fruit, chia puddings in jars, and a homemade trailmix. Easy, and lots cheaper and yummier than buying greasy roadhouse food!

The only negative was all the road works we encountered on the drive. No, that is not some strange kind of tattoo, that's my hubby keeping track of how many road works we'd passed through. Ha ha!

We really enjoyed catching up with old friends in Mackay, and I had fun cooking with the Thermomix girls there. (A big thanks to my lovely friend and recipe testing guru, Lauren, who invited us all to her house.) I made them a few recipes that will be in my book to see what they thought, and everything got the thumbs up - woo hoo! I have sworn them to secrecy, so don’t try and get the recipes out of them, Mackay peeps!

Some of the Mackay Thermomix ladies

And this is where things went a bit pear shaped. I got really sick with a tummy bug. Maybe because I'd been a bit careless with my eating when visiting old friends, and it got me all out of whack, I don't know (no one else in the family got it), but after a day or so in bed I managed to get back on my feet and the holiday continued. I had to take it pretty slow, and we didn't do all the 'stuff' we'd planned to do. But that's okay. Just being able to rest and relax was probably exactly what I needed. Sometimes when you won't stop, your body MAKES you stop. Right?

I think my body was telling me it was time to slow down...

I spent some time resting, walking on the beach, and preparing myself for the next leg of the trip, which I knew would be very busy. I find I can handle the crazy, hectic times as long as I intersperse them with quiet, rest times. And it really helps to have some alone time now and then, too. It's all about finding the balance between stop and go. 

"Cultivate Solitude." It's good for the soul.

So after a rest, it was on to Townsville. I spent Friday afternoon at Sprout, prepping the food for my cooking demonstrations the next day. (That was pretty cool, being given free rein to use anything in the store, as Sprout were the sponsors for my demos. Love that shop.) Then Saturday it was off to the Townsville Plant & Garden Expo to do some Quirky Cooking demos. It all got a bit chaotic, trying to set up and cook and speak and pack up and wash up with a make shift camping sink, then start all over again after an hour or so break, but with the help of my good friend Bron and a couple of others who pitched in, we managed it. Thanks to those of you who came to watch and chat, and especially to those who helped out with the serving and cleaning up when we were running out of time - you're awesome!! :)

Here's a little snippet of my demo, taken by my friend Felicity...

A few of you have asked for the recipes from the demos - so here they are:

     Coconut milk: as made in this recipe.

     Chicken & Veges with Coconut Rice and Macadamia Satay Sauce: similar to Chicken & Cashews, but with macadamias replacing the cashews, and the addition of the juice of half a lime to the sauce. Also used long grain brown rice which was soaked overnight, making the cooking time 30 mins.

     Beetroot Salad: same as the one in the Thermomix Everyday Cookbook, served on a bed of baby spinach and sprinkled with crumbled sheep's feta.

     Tangello Sorbet: Tangello zest blended up with 100g coconut sugar, 10 sec/speed 9; add 350g ice and blend 10 sec/speed 9; add another 350g ice and blend 10 sec/speed 9; add the peeled tangello (I froze the portions, didn't remove seeds) and an egg white, blend 30 sec/speed 9, using spatula to help mix. Top servings with 'ice magic'. 

     Ice magic: 100g dark chocolate, grated 10 sec/speed 8, plus 50g coconut oil, cooked 2 mins/50C/speed 2. 

     Raw Vegan Chocolate Mousse: made with frozen avocado to make it thicker like an ice cream.

Macadamia Satay Chicken & Rice with Beetroot Salad

Tangello Sorbet with 'Ice Magic'

Now we're back from our epic road trip and the holidays are over. Today I started back with the homeschooling and book writing and house work and everyday life, so things are back to normal here, except for the shiny car in my driveway... Hopefully I'll be able to sneak off on a few mini road trips to make the most of 'my' car before I have to give it back. Hey, do you think Ford would notice if I disappeared into the sunset with the Territory for an 'around Australia road trip'?

Quick & Easy Pancakes - 3 Ways

Someone mentioned to me the other day that they love my Blender Batter Pancakes recipe, but that sometimes they're in too much of a rush to do the whole 'prepare the night before' thing, and they needed a simple pancake recipe for times like that. I agree - I don't always soak the grains the night before, because pancakes are sometimes a spur of the moment thing. Like last night.

We arrived home from our road trip to Mackay in the afternoon, and I managed to scrounge through the fridge and freezer to find mince and veges for a quick dinner. But by 8pm I was hungry again. That's when it dawned on me that while I was away my mum had stocked up the big freezer with half a pig (homegrown by a friend and butchered locally). AND I had just bought a litre of organic pure maple syrup from Sprout in Townsville. Perfect. Pancakes, bacon and maple syrup, coming up! (Yes, I know, soup for breakfast and pancakes for supper... I'm weird like that.)

I used to work at a roadside cafe for a Canadian lady when I was 18, and she found it very strange that I didn't know how to make pancakes just off the top of my head. It made her quite impatient when I'd ask her 'How much flour was that again? How much milk?' So I soon learnt, and nowadays I don't usually measure, just chuck in a bit of this and a bit of that until they look right. But just in case you are like my 18 year old self and need a recipe, I've written out the measurements for you. Feel free to tweak to taste - more milk for thinner pancakes, less milk for thicker. And I've added a few variations, so you can pick between spelt, gluten free and grain free coconut flour pancakes. If you need an egg free or nut free variation, check out the notes below the recipes.

Enjoy!

Quick & Easy Pancakes

250g spelt flour (white and/or wholemeal) or 220g plain gluten free flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
300g rice-almond milk or coconut milk (or alter amount depending on preferred thickness)
30g macadamia oil or soft butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg (optional - see notes)
coconut oil for cooking pancakes

Place dry ingredients into mixing bowl and blend 5 sec/speed 5.

Add remaining ingredients (except oil for cooking) and blend 10 sec/speed 5.

Heat a heavy based frying pan over medium-high heat and add 1-2 Tbsp coconut oil. Once it melts, pour in 10cm circles of pancake batter, and turn heat down slightly to make sure the pancakes don't burn.

Cook until bubbles are forming and popping in the batter, and edges are becoming crisp. Turn over and cook until lightly browned.

Remove pancakes to a plate, add another 1-2 Tbsp coconut oil, and continue cooking pancakes until batter is finished.

Serve hot with butter (opt) and pure maple syrup, or sprinkled with Rapadura or coconut sugar and freshly squeezed lemon juice. Leftover pancakes can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days and served with jam as pikelet, or reheated under the grill.

This batter also works well for waffles.

Notes:

To make these egg free you can use egg replacer, or chia eggs (1 Tbsp chia seeds + 3 Tbsp water), or half a mashed banana, or just add a little extra milk.

For nut free, use olive oil, coconut oil or butter, and coconut milk instead of rice almond milk.

Coconut Flour Pancakes

5 eggs
170g almond milk or coconut milk
70g coconut flour
30g macadamia oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp fine sea salt
2 tsp baking powder

Place all the ingredients into the mixing bowl and blend 10 sec/speed 6. Scrape down sides of bowl and reblend briefly on speed 3 if needed.

Cook as above.

Notes:

To make almond milk, just mill 100g raw almonds 10 sec/speed 9, add 500g water and blend 
1 min/speed 9. No need to strain the milk for this recipe.

Coconut flour really needs the eggs to work, although maybe banana would work instead. 
I haven't tried that yet - let me know if you do!

For nut free, use soft butter or coconut oil instead of the macadamia oil, and coconut milk instead of almond milk.