the humble onion ... a natural earache remedy

In our house, we thankfully haven't had too many earache experiences, however, when we have we've used onion juice in the ear to clear the inflammation and act as a natural antibiotic...  it does hurt momentarily, but it clears it up so very fast!

We had a restless night a couple of months back with my little 2 year old,  Eli.  Just before dinner  he said "Mummy I not very happy, my ear hurts", with his gorgeous little red feverish cheeks ... he really wasn't happy at all.

I warmed a quarter of an onion (red,white or brown are fine) and squeezed a tiny amount of juice into a syringe and squeezed it into his ear.. It took about half an hour of cuddles, and Bindi the Jungle Girl,to settle him down ... it does hurt a little bit when you do it (quite a bit really, but it settles down fast), but it is so very worth it!

After about half an hour of restless cuddles and sadness, he settled down  I knew he was going to be fine when he asked for some manuka honey and he ate some pear and blueberries and a big glass of oat milk followed by water.

He didn't settle properly until midnight, and had a fever all night.  He slept quite soundly until 6am and woke this morning with nothing more than a runny nose. 

A trip to our wonderfully amazing chiropractor to help with the healing process, who confirmed his ear is still red and in need of more onion juice over the next couple of days .. and hopefully the end of the ear infection.

For the next few days, he requested some onion juice in his ear, as even he is aware of the wonderful benefits!

And, no need for a doctor, panadol or antibiotics .. everybody is happy!

tortilla .... a little bit of spanish love

I was a lucky girl growing up, one of my very best friends is Spanish and I spent a lot of time eating, sleeping and hanging out in the Lopez abode .... Not only a beautiful family to share time with, but a great introduction to my still all-time favourite cuisine.

Tortilla is one of our staple favourites in Rumble de casa.  There is almost always one in the fridge.. it's a delicious snack, the perfect Sunday night dinner, and Noah loves it instead of a sandwich in his school lunch .

INGREDIENTS
1/2 an onion (whatever you have in the crisper)
6 - 8 small potatoes (I use organice sebago or dutch cream - thinly sliced or in small cubes)
olive oil
6 organic eggs
S & P

METHOD
Sweat out onions in a generous amount of olive oil.   I cheat and lightly steam my potatoes before panfrying them in the olive oil with the onions, adding some salt & pepper..  Whisk the eggs in a bowl and when the potatoes have softened, toss this mixture through the eggs in the bowl and place back in the well oiled pan with a sprinkle of fresh parsley if you like.
Cook over a low heat with the lid on, and when the egg looks cooked, use a plate to turn the omelette out onto and then slide back in to brown the top... slice in pizza triangles and eat as you wish!

spiced apple crumb muffins

I wandered into the kitchen to make myself a nice chai latte, and left having made these for an after school snack ...

They are so deliciously yummy, and rather healthy, with all natural ingredients.  I found a similar recipe in a macrobiotic cookbook and have slightly altered it over the years.  I do all of my baking with spelt flour as it has higher nutritional value and is much easier to digest.

They are a bit messy to eat, but so worth it...

CRUMBLE TOPPING
4 tablespoons white spelt flour
4 tablespoons whole spelt flour
4 tablespoons whole rolled oats
4 tablespoons unrefined dark brown sugar
2 teasoons ground cinnamon
pinch sea salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon soy milk

MUFFINS
1 tablespoon cornflour
2 small organic apples peeled and finely diced
110ml vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing muffin tin
150ml real maple syrup
150ml soy milk
100g white spelt flour
125g whole spelt flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
60g chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 180, grease a 12 cup muffin tray with vegetable oil.

For the crumb topping, combine all the dry ingredients in a small bowl and then add the oil and soy milk and rub together with your hands and set aside.

For the muffins, in a small bowl add the diced apples and toss with the cornflour.

In another bowl whisk together the oil, syrup and milk then sift in dry ingredients and then fold in the apples and walnuts.

Evenly distribute the batter in the muffin and top with crumble mixture.

Bake for around 25 minutes.

Devour with a nice warm drink and re-energise..

slow cooked beef and gremolata ...

I have been eating more red meat than usual and I don't like how it makes me feel, so I am going to go back to eating a lot less ... after tonight!

I had some beef in the freezer, not sure if it was my butcher's usual mixed cut, gravy beef or another cheap cut, but I put it on this afternoon and let it cook nice and slowly for a few hours.

SLOW COOKED BEEF
1 kg cheap cut of beef - diced
2 onions
3 carrots
2 zucchini
1 celery stick
1 punnet cherry tomatoes or 4 chopped and blended tomatoes or a can of chopped tomatoes
a handful of mushrooms (if you have any that need to be used)
3 cups stock or water
bay leaves
S & P

Cook off the vegetables until softened, then put in beef and lightly brown, add the tomatoes, the the stock, the bay leaves and the salt and pepper.

Put on the lid and cook slowly, checking often, and adding water as you need to.

You can also add red wine and any other of your favourite herbs or vegetables.  Potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, white beans, whatever you like.

Cook slowly until meat is tender and season to taste.

I love slow cooked meat dishes served with a zesty gremolata to give it a kick!

GREMOLATA

Parsley chopped finely
Lemon zest
Olive oil
Lemon juice

Mix everything together and the serve with your beef, and maybe some rice or your warm bread on the side.... and a nice glass of red, of course!!


Bon Appetit ... a late dinner for me tonight!

happy snacks ...



I do a little happy dance, in my mind, when I see my boys go for the fruit bowl or ask for carrot sticks when they feel like a snack ... it's the little things that make this mum smile!

After staying with a friend with very different ideas on what we feed ourselves, and our little people, my boys ate a lot more empty food (my word for food with no nutritional values and usually full of preservatives) than usual.  Even they thought that nutella on white toast wasn't a great idea... well, not for a complete meal anyway!  I cringe at the thought of it passing their lips, although I admit that I thought it tasted good as an afternoon snack at my best friend's place after school, before I truly understood about food and nutrition.

Although the first couple of days of returning home, the boys were still craving the sugar they became accustomed to, they have only asked for fruit, nuts and raw vegetables for the last few days. It's good knowing that their little bodies are craving the good stuff to clear out all of the sweet and junky food they ate. 

This morning for breakfast we all enjoyed a big bowl of warm porridge with oat milk and maple syrup, and today for lunch, Noah enjoyed three raw carrots, a big crisp green apple and some almonds.  Eli isn't feeling well, so barely has an appetite, but enjoyed his porridge this morning and has nibbled on nuts and raspberries for the rest of the day, and enjoyed a big warm cup of oat milk with manuka honey, and this afternoon asked for some 'yummy pumpkin" and eggs.


ROASTED PUMPKIN

Pumpkin
Olive Oil
S & P (to season if you like)

Cut the pumpkin of your choice into small squares and put in a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and toss around so that all pieces are covered, then place in a hot oven (around 190) and bake until golden brown.


We like them quite well done, once they are ready let them sit and crisp up or enjoy them soft and deliciously sweet.

I love the skin myself, so I generally leave the skin of a few larger pieces and leave them in the oven a bit longer. 

This is great to keep in the fridge as it's a great snack, excellent to add to salads or pastas or as a side for dinner.

Beat the Winter Blues ...

In case you haven't noticed, it's that time of year where the many dreaded lurgies rear their ugly heads, and the cycles of colds and bugs make their way around our schools, work environments and neighbourhoods ...

Although I don't enjoy feeling miserable or seeing my boys unwell, I also get a feeling of delight when we are sick knowing that our bodies are having an obviously much needed clean out ... getting rid of all of the gunk and toxins we no longer need in our bodies to slow us down!

I have, very proudly, a drug-free household.  We fight off our colds with a good diet, warm lemon & honey, olive leaf extract, extra sunshine, beach (when it's warm enough, of course) and extra rest.

On the first sign of a cold, we try to eliminate all sugars from our diet, including fruit, unless it's oranges and strawberries the boys are craving at the time, which is usually the case.  Our bodies know what we need!  Sugar, even in it's natural form, really depletes our immune systems, so to keep our immune systems strong, we want to eat foods that really help.

Here are some foods that, if eaten regularly in our diets, will help to keep our immune systems strong and fight off colds:

OATS...
Porridge on a Winter's morning is delicious... it's warming and nourishing and tastes great with maple syrup or honey.  The highly processed easy or quick oats don't have the same nutritional value, so try and opt for an organic wholegrain variety.  I know if we have a bowl of porridge for breakfast, we'll be satisfied for hours and with their slow-release energy, the boys moods are always calm and relaxed (most of the time).  The oats are high in antioxidant properties and they boost immunity and speed healing.

GARLIC...
I put garlic in almost every meal we eat ... it's so good for us!!
Garlic fights bacteria and infection, and in one study, it was found that people who consume garlic were two-thirds less likely to catch a cold than non-garlic lovers... raw is best, but no thanks, not in this house.  Cooked is better than not!

CHICKEN SOUP...
It's not an old wives tale... chicken soup is one of the best things for us to help fight off a cold.  Not only does it stop the movement of inflammatory white-cells into our bronchial tubes which causes our cold-symptoms, but it's basically a form of cough syrup, as it has the amino acid cysteine which chemically resembles the bronchitis drug acetylicysteine, so the broth helps to keep your mucus thin... So, don't go and give the drugstore your hard earned money for cough syrups and lozenges, that may cure the symptoms but not the illness ... cook up a big pot of chicken soup! (I will post my favourite chicken soup recipe soon).

SEAFOOD & FISH...
Fish high in omega-3 fatty acids like salmon and mackerel help to reduce inflammation and fight against respiratory infections, as does the selenium in shellfish which helps to develop proteins in our white blood cells which clears out flu viruses.... seafood vatapa .... yum!! (Another recipe for me to post!) Or a simple pan fried crispy skin salmon fillet with stir fried vegetables in soy and garlic.

TEA...
Black Tea and Green Tea can both increase our immunity, and any herbal variety just makes us feel all warm and cosy on the inside.. curl up with a nice cuppa and a book in a spot of sunshine pouring in the window and feel the winter blues fading away ....

YOGHURT...
We all know that yoghurt is good for our tummies.. the live active cultures are healthy bacteria that keep our tummies and intestinal tract free of germs that cause disease ... the natural variety is best, sweetened with fresh or frozen fruit or agave syrup... it's not good to have too much if you already have a cold, but eat it daily in your diets to help keep the bugs away!  We love Meredith' Sheep's Milk Yoghurt.

ONION
It may sound strange and not very nice, but onion is amazing to help our immune systems and also a natural anti-inflammatory. When we're sick, I put a cut onion in the bedrooms when the kids go to sleep and rub their feet with onion ... it doesn't smell that bad, just air out their rooms the following day.  A little drop of onion juice in the ear is the best way to fix an ear ache, it's not very comfortable, but the fastest form of relief for ear aches... give it a try!


So, next time you are feeling a lurgy coming on, don't reach for a quick-fix drug to make the symptoms go away ... just let your body fight it off naturally with the help of some good nutritious foods.  Sure, you may feel tired and miserable for a few days, but you'll be sure to fight it off properly if you let your body do it's amazing work all on it's own!

Chicken Sausage Rolls .... cold day comfort food

It's a bit chilly outside ... the fire is on  and I am craving some warm comfort food ...

These sausage rolls are absolutely delicious and they are a great snack or you can serve them with a salad or vegetables to create a lovely and fast meal.

Tonight I will serve mine with cauliflower gratin and brussel sprouts in lemon and pepper, and the boys personalised larger rolls will be served with chunky sweet potato chips.

INGREDIENTS
700g organic free range chicken mince
(my butcher always has it in his freezer)
1/2 red onion
2 finely grated carrots
1 finely grated zucchini
1C chopped coriander
1C chopped parsley
1C breadcrumbs (I simply food process 3 slices of organic multigrain)
1 organic free-range egg
S & P to taste (it doesn't really need this at all, depending on your taste)
4 sheets Organic Puff Pastry
1 organic egg beaten to brush pastry

I use Careme pastry as it's just like homemade, they have no artificial ingredients and are both made with real butter ...  delicious!  Sure, it's quite expensive in comparison to the brands that you find in the supermarket, but this recipe is going to make at least 48 mini sausage rolls so will still be cheaper than buying the same amount from the bakery.

METHOD

If you have a food processor, simply mix the chicken, crumbs and one egg until well combined, then put in the rest of the ingredients and whizz quickly, or you can just stir everything together with a fork.

Each sheet should be cut in half and place some chicken mixture along the whole sheet in the centre, fold the pasttry in to the centre and brush some egg mixture to join the pastry.. roll over and cute each roll into six mini sausage rolls.  Brush with egg mixture, and if you like, sprinkle soms sesame seeds and place on some grease proof paper on an oven tray. Put a small incision in the top of each one to stop the pastry from splitting when cooking.

Cook in an oven preheated to 200, for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown.

I usually freeze a few of the rolls, before I have cut them, and simply cook them fresh from frozen or once they are thawed.

Wow, looks like a long recipe, but they are really healthy and simple, and taste delicious.  Great for a party, good to take to a BBQ, picnic at the park or just to enjoy at home.