Easy Ways to have a diet high in Omega 3

It’s not always possible to eat fish every day, nor would you probably want to. One easy way we add omega 3 to our diet is to eat Soy and Linseed bread, as linseed is one of the highest sources of omega 3.

Canola oil is also high in omega 3 so we use margarine with canola oil in it. Although olive oil and rice bran oil are good to cook with, we also have canola oil as a choice. We also take fish oil capsules when we remember, not that David is in particular need of a diet high in omega 3. Finding simple ways like these to add omega 3 to our food means we don’t have to think about it much, it’s just part of our daily routine.

It’s good to skip the meat and have a vegetarian meal regularly, which I’m so grateful my husband doesn’t mind. Today we had toasted cheese and tomato sandwiches for lunch which were spiced up with our Awesome Sauce! So we add these into the Calorie King, as well as the daily exercise we’ve started doing, to work out your daily calorie intake. Yes, we are now on a diet and exercise regime, which is well overdue – the final straw being the Wii Fit told me I have now crept over into ‘obese’, WTF! Diet time!!!!

Pink Coladas, Pink Porridge

There are oh so many ways to bring pink into your life! Even a little splash of pink in food and drink can help! Here are two examples I use regularly.

My husband and I are in a very romantic phase at the moment. We’ve been together over three years now and I’m so happy our love is not diminishing like you’re sometimes told it will. We keep ‘lovey-dovey’ ice cubes in our freezer, and pop them into our drinks all the time, although now winter is coming, maybe not so often anymore! One of our favourite drinks is “Pink Colada”. Its just a normal pina colada, but instead of using pineapple juice we use apple and strawberry juice. Last night we made some, but this time we used Lychee Liquor instead of rum, and I served them in my special pink wine glasses, so these were some yumscious cocktails!

Now the weather is turning cooler, its time to use up the last of our porridge before I buy some more. I try and keep some raspberries in the freezer, buying them when they are on special, so we can throw a handful into our porridge, making it a very cute pink! Sometimes, we might have forest berries instead, or blueberries which are very healthy, and the porridge still comes out a rosy colour. Having pink porridge for breakfast is always a cute way to start the day, and my husband doesn’t mind at all! (and I rather like the messy dribbles, they make my foto more artistic, kk? lol)

We were going to visit my family today but aren’t going now. I’m disappointed because I got some gifts for the children, including this cute litte book, which I just noticed is Pink!
PS. Happy Mother’s Day for tomorrow!

And don’t forget to stop by Beverly’s blog for more details on Pink Saturday!
http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Each Sunday morning I like to visits lots of Pink Saturday posts, its a great thing to do while I have my morning coffee (as I’m in Australia, most of the posts appear for me during the night). I visit everyone who comments on my blog, and today I also visited all of our new Pink Saturday participants. One new blog I’d highly recommend a visit to is A Gathering of Thoughts by Rebecca, its a simply gorgeous site and very PINK!
❤ ❤ ❤

Anzac Biscuits and Rosella Jam

Today is a very sacred day in Australia and New Zealand, which we call ANZAC Day. ANZAC stands for “Australian New Zealand Army Corps”, and the annual holiday is to celebrate and remember all Anzac soldiers who have fought in any war.

There’s lots of ways to celebrate Anzac Day, in the least most get a day off work! Recently, there’s been a rise in those who attend the Dawn Service and Parades. The Dawn Service traditionally is a solemn military occasion where wreaths are layed at Anzacs memorials (there’s almost always one in major cities and towns) and the Last Post is played by a solo bugler. In the past, I’ve attended these as a member of a performing choir which sang spiritual songs. The Anzac Day Parade is often held in the streets of major cities and towns, where returned soldiers, their families and descendants march in a parade. These are usually held later in the morning, and are followed by drinks at the local RSL club.

David loves to bake and makes a mean batch of Anzac biscuits, this year they turned out fantastically!  These were traditionally made by wives and mothers during WWI and sent to the front-line in food parcels. They are sweet, nutritious and filling. The recipe David likes to use calls for macademia nuts, a native Australian nut, but we didn’t have any so he used cashew nuts instead. The Anzac biscuits with macademia nuts recipe is from http://www.taste.com

Another thing we did for Anzac Day was to make up a batch of Rosella Jam. Now, I’m not sure if the hibiscus rosella bush we got from the local nursery is a native plant, it might be, or it might the introduced species. It’s in a pot, scrawny and about as tall as David. It was laden with fruit which we picked this morning, and made into jam. We used the Rosella Jam recipe from Eumundi Papers. Thankyou heaps to Wendy for the recipe on your blog, it turned out a treat! The red from the rosella fruit was very bright and beautiful looking, too.

Like the biscuits, the jam turned out deliciously, and we are very proud of our Anzac Day cooking adventures! At least David isn’t that keen on the Anzac Day sports match, watching it is apparently a very popular pastime for Anzac Day celebrations. It’s very common to hear boisterous males in neighbouring homes enthusiastically cheer for their team, whatever it is, playing whatever they are, just like we could hear today! Thank goodness for my non-sporty, clever husband! ❤ ❤ ❤

Awesome Sauce

And so here we have it, Awesome Sauce.

We’ve become dissatisfied with the hot chilli sauce you can get from the supermarket as we find them too mild. So there was nothing left to do but to make our own using our bumper crop of home-grown chillies. And is this sauce Hot! Just the way we like it! /nomnomnom

David made this using a recipe for hot chilli sauce at taste.com. And who’ve known it, that maple sauce bottle I saved for no good reason has come in handy after all!

Hollandaise Sauce and Rosy Pink Meringues

On Saturday 13th February, the day before Valentine’s Day, one of the many things we baked was David’s yummy hollandaise sauce for our salmon eggs benedict. But what to do with the left over egg whites? Why, my Rosy Pink Meringues, of course!

I helped David with the emulsion step of the hollandaise sauce, which has to be done very slowly, adding one cube of butter at a time. We then refridgerated it in a jar over night. To heat it up the next day, you have to warm it very very slowly over the double boiler. If you do it too fast, the emulsion will break and the egg and butter will seperate. It is possible to do this, but on Sunday morning, it was heated a little too fast and it did break. All you have to do to save it is, put a tablespoon of lemon juice in a fresh bowl to use as a double boiler. Then add one tablespoon of the broken emulsion, mix until it’s the correct consistency, then slowly add the rest of the broken emulsion one tablespoon at a time. We also discovered that hollandaise sauce, it’s main ingredient being butter, makes a very yummy buttery spread on bread when it’s cold from the fridge! No need to warm it over a double boiler, it’s yummy cold. I reckon it tastes a bit like the kraft cheese spread.

Because hollandaise sauce uses three egg yolks, you are then left over with three egg whites. We don’t make hollandaise sauce often, its a special treat which I love, so we usually make some meringues with the egg whites. I use a very simple recipe I found in my “Australia the Beautiful Cookbook” by Hayes and Gorrick, 1982, page 168. You only need the eggs whites and a bit of sugar. I also added a drop of red food dye, which I clumsily splashed on my fingers, and a drop of vanilla essence. David whisked these up using our new handwhisk, so these turned out the best so far due to the proper whisking they got! I had considerable fun playing with the gorgeous pink mixture that spooned onto the tray so delightfully. When they come out of the oven, the pink had a rosy tinge to it due to the browning from the cooking, which I think looks rather lovely. When we were eating our love heart icecream cake on Sunday, David thought to crumble one of these pink meringues over the top of it, and it was scrummy!!

The Herbs in Our Garden

One of my greatest simple joys at the moment is our cute little herb garden. Although it was a challenge to get established, it’s finally starting to become productive.That might be because our companion plants like basil and lavendar are growing nicely and their smelliness is discouraging pesky pests. Taking care of these herbs is a sure-fire tonic for keeping the blues at bay.

Growing your own herbs is a very simple and satisfying way to save money too. If you love good food, you would know having fresh herbs at hand is always best. Buying a bunch of herbs from the supermarket is wasteful, expensive and just not as good as growing them in a pot at your back door and taking a sprig or two as you need it. The absolute essential herb as far as I’m concerned, which is the first one we were able to successfully grow and harvest, is parsley. It’s very healthy, versatile and hardy. But now we have a bunch of other herbs that are turning out to be real joys, for example, having three types of basil and mint on hand is just wonderful!

Here is a quick break down of the herbs currently in our potted garden and what they are good for. Many also have traditional ‘magic’ properties too, which I think is nice to just keep in mind, even if you don’t fully believe in that kind of thing. After cross referencing several websites I found common themes amongst them using various words meaning basically the same thing. So I came up with three practical catergories that are meaningful to me.

aloe vera – skin (burns and rashes), “health”
basil (thai, all-year-round, sweet) – relative to peppermint, antioxidant and antibacterial, add last to hot food, “health & passion”
chamomille – flowers make a relaxing tea, also good for the skin “health & sleep”
chilli – antibacterial, good for nasal congestion, migraine relief, high blood pressure, good in winter, increases metobolism, “passion”
chives (garlic, onion) – like garlic and onions, antibacterial and antioxidant, but milder, fresh is best “health”
coriander – wonderful fresh herb for salads, “health & passion” (weddings)
lavendar – relaxing tea, migraines, insect repellant “health, passion & sleep”
lemon balm (a type of mint) – relaxing tea, stomach aches, pre-menstrual cramps, headaches, overuse can cause insomnia “health & passion”
lemon myrtle (eucalyptus, part of the myrtle family) – a relaxing tea, good for headaches, used in cooking for a mild lemon flavour, antioxidant “health, passion & sleep”
marjoram – food preservative, relaxing tea, good in cooking, upset tummy, headaches, mild antioxidant and antifugal, dried is best, “health & passion” (weddings) “add to food to share with your object of affection to strengthen love”
mint – good with peas, juices, punch, tea, icecream “health & passion”
oregano – antioxidant rich, antibacterial, close relative to marjoram, makes a good tea for nasal congestion, dried is best “health & sleep” (weddings)
parsley – high in iron, good for high blood pressure, tummy upsets and uti, breath freshener, toothache, constipation, detox, salads “health & passion”
peppermint – tea, indigestion, tummy upsets, IBS, cough suppressant, morning sickness, relaxing herbal bath, “health, passion & sleep”
pineapple sage – tea (with lemon balm), anti-anxiety, “health, passion & sleep” (weddings & wisdom)
rosella hibiscus – native bush fruit for making jam “passion”
rosemary – food preservative, cook with lamb, good for upset tummy, relaxing baths, may protect against cancer, use liberally in food, “health & passion” (weddings & memory)

resources
http://www.global-garden.com.au/gardenherbs.htm
http://www.scribd.com/Herbs-and-Their-Magickal-Properties
windspirit57.tripod.com/id4.html
http://www.earthwitchery.com/herbsa-g.html
http://www.sunion.warwick.ac.uk/pagan/articles_magass.htm
http://www.gardensablaze.com/HerbMarjoramMag.htm
http://www.herballegacy.com/Branca_History.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_4436311_oregano-tea-rid-sinus-problems.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrtaceae

The Best Way to Serve Nachos

Whenever we’ve eaten nachos at restaurants or elsewhere, David and I are usually disappointed by how it’s served. You have to eat all the dip before getting to the chips at the bottom which are almost always soggy by the time you get there.

I made my version of nachos for David last week and here’s a picture! We have a separate small bowl each which has some nacho salsa in the bottom, and I serve this with a fork. On top of the nacho salsa I put a sprinkle of grated cheese, a dollop of sour cream and some sweet chilli sauce. Some plain corn chips are then stuck in the top where you can get to them easily, the rest of the corn chips I serve in a separate bowl.

I’d forgotten I had bought some prepared nacho salsa, as its been ages since I’ve made this and thought I might need it. But I went on auto pilot, this being a common recipe from my past. I made a vegetarian salsa for the nachos, with a red kidney bean and tomato base. Here’s a photo of the ingredients before I began. I also added some soy sauce and sugar later to taste.

Vegetarian Nacho Salsa
1. fry a finely chopped onion, a diced capsicum and some mushrooms, a fresh chopped chilli with seeds removed, a teaspoon of garlic, some olive oil
2. move the mixture to one side of the pan while you add a drained can of red kidney beans and squish them lightly with a potato masher
3. add a can of chopped tomatoes, stir it all up well
4. add fresh herbs like oregano and basil, also soy sauce and a tablespoon of sugar to taste
5. serve with plain corn chips, grated cheese, sour cream and sweet chilli sauce