Enjoy...

... the simple things in life

An African pot filled with seed pods and a Pheasant feather - treasures found in nature. 

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Coffee prayer

W&N watercolour on Amedeo 200gsm watercolour paper

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Caffeine is my shepherd;
I shall not doze.
It maketh me to wake in green pastures,
It leadeth me beyond the sleeping masses.
It restoreth my buzz,
It leadeth me in the paths of consciousness
for it's name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of
the shadow of addiction,
I will fear no Equal
for thou art with me;
Thy cream and thy sugar
they comfort me.
Thou preparest a carafe before me
in the presence of Thy Starbucks,
Thou anointest my day with pep;
My cup runneth over.
Surely richness and taste
shall follow me all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of Mocha forever.
Amen! Amen! Amen!
- Author Unknown

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Blissful collecting

Joseph Campbell said, “If you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.” 

Following your bliss means different things to different people - for some it means spending more of their weekends and time off doing what they love, for some it is playing with their grand-children and for others climbing Kilimanjaro. What we all need is our own personal recipe for bliss. 

One blissful past-time for me is collecting - Collecting feathers, old vintage glass and glass bottles, things found in nature, antique silver, crystals - Collecting the Moments... one by one...

Vintage glass bottles and two new cough mixture bottles, just because they're pretty...

Antique glass and silver... a cut-glass cruet set, cut-glass perfume bottle, cut-glass glass dish, silver and enamel hair brush set, to the far left an antique silver chain mail purse, small gold hand mirror inlaid with turquoise beads and on the left, a 1901 silver star pendant with inlaid seed pearls 

Vintage and antique silver cutlery, some with bone handles, some with mother-of-pearl 

Vintage cutlery with bone handles

A small part of my crystal collection   

things found in nature - seed pods and some Impala dung... 

A collection of vintage brass locks, animal skulls and insect exoskeletons

So, "Nothing is more important than reconnecting with your bliss. Nothing is as rich. Nothing is more real." 
- Deepak Chopra

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Green Tip #10 How to Cook Asparagus

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Asparagus, one of my favourite vegetables and I just LOVE it with pasta! In fact, I love it with anything.

Asparagus is best when bought in season as they lose flavour and crispness within days after being harvested. 

If the ends are woody, cut or snap them off and gently peel the harder skin of each spear off using a vegetable peeler or sharp knife. 

Make bundles - as much as you can hold in a hand - and tie them together at the top and towards the bottom with some string or an elastic band. 

Steam the asparagus over boiling water for a couple of minutes - they will be done when you can easily stick a sharp knife into the woody ends. 

They should be firm, not floppy, and a bright green.
(From Woolworths "TasteMag")

Asparagus, raw or cooked, is OK to feed your chickens, but is not usually a favourite. 

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Simple living - what does it mean?

Is the measure of a simple life how small your home is? Whether or not you have a yard? Whether or not you have money?

Living a simple life doesn't mean giving up all or any of your luxuries. It doesn't mean you have to live like a pauper and not enjoy art, books and travel or living in a beautiful, big home. It doesn't mean living in a small, cramped space. It doesn't mean that, if you have money, you must give it all away in order to "live the simple life."

Living simply is a state of mind. To me living a simple life simply means not having UNNECESSARY, not-beautiful or not-useful stuff in my life. It means cutting out useless, time-consuming activities that serve no purpose.

It doesn't mean doing nothing. It could even mean taking on extra activities, like planting your own vegetable garden, free of hormones, insecticides and pesticides and reducing your carbon footprint on our planet. Living simply means living with purpose, on purpose and being passionate about life.

Any time that is not spent on loving what you're doing is waste.

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Craving greenery

For the longest while now I've been craving green, leafy food - green vegetables have always been my favourite above carrots, pumpkin, beetroot and most of the 'red' vegetables (the only thing I DON'T eat is green peppers!), so I'm always on the look-out for tasty ways to prepare the greenery. I love preparing simple and easy meals, nothing too elaborate for me, and I found this steamed green beans recipe at the Woolworths TasteMagsite. As it also has broccoli in it, it has turned out to be one of my favourites.

I know that cravings are a way of your body letting you know where to get some vitamin or mineral that it is lacking and leafy green veggies are full of vital nutrients like Beta Carotene, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, B complex, Folic Acid, Iron, and Calcium. Seems like my body is missing a lot of vitamins...

STEAMED GREEN BEANS WITH CRISPY SAGE BUTTER

Recipe by: Abigail Donnelly

Serves: 6 - 8

Dietary considerations: Low carb

Category:Vegetarian / Easy / Great value / Quick

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:
700 g green beans, trimmed
460 g tender broccoli stems
150 g salted butter
1 bunch sage, leaves picked
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cooking instructions:

Cook the beans and broccoli in salted boiling water for 2 minutes, or until tender. Drain and refresh under running cold water. Set aside.

Place the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat and stir until melted. Add the sage leaves and gently cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until crispy. Add the beans, broccoli, sea salt and pepper, and toss to heat through.

Arrange on a plate and spoon over the sage butter to serve.

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Everything should be made as simple as possible

Green tip #9 - Honey and Lemon

Drink warm water mixed with honey and  lemon juice. It will bring you in shape and clear your body and skin.

"The medicinal value of the lemon is as follows: It is an antiseptic, or is an agent that prevents sepsis [the presence of pathogenic bacteria] or putrefaction [decomposition of tissue]. It is also anti-scorbutic, a term meaning a remedy which will prevent disease and assist in cleansing the system of impurities."

 Due to the digestive qualities of lemon juice, symptoms of indigestion such as heartburn, bloating and belching are relieved. By drinking lemon juice regularly, the bowels are aided in eliminating waste more efficiently thus controlling constipation and diarrhoea.

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Wishing you lots of laughter and coffee for 2015!

"For I will exult in the gift of coffee, it wakens each human sense with joy. Its aroma is deep, with palpable comfort, its percolation speaks promise. It warms the hands of even those unloved. Without the state of heightened awareness it provides, I might forget to be thankful of a morning."

Here's wishing you lots of laughter and coffee in 2015 and may your new year be filled with LOVE, JOY and INSPIRATION!

Happy New Year!

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The BEST Spaghetti Bolognaise!

One of my favourite dishes is Spaghetti Bolognaise because of the ease with which it is prepared and also the fact that one can have many variations and come up with something different every time!

Ingredients

• 500g Fresh Beef Mince.
• 400g Dried Spaghetti.
• 4 Rashers of Smoked Streaky Bacon, finely diced.
• 2 Tins of Plum/Chopped Tomatoes.
• 6 Fresh Cherry Tomatoes.
• 2 Medium Onions, peeled and finely diced.
• 2 Sticks of Celery, trimmed and finely diced.
• 2 Carrots, trimmed and finely diced.
• 2 Cloves of Garlic, peeled and finely diced.
• 1 Medium Chilli (optional), seeded and finely sliced
• 75g Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese, plus extra for grating over.
• 2 tbsp Tomato Puree
• 1 Beef Stock Cube.
• Glass of red wine (optional)
• Herbs:
• 2-3 Sprigs of Fresh Rosemary.
• Handful of Fresh Basil, plus extra for Garnish.
• 1 tsp Dried Oregano.
• 1-2 Fresh Bay Leaves.
• Olive oil.
• Sea Salt and Black Pepper.
• Crusty bread, to serve.

Method

1. Get yourself a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, and place it on a medium heat. Add a good lug of olive oil and gently fry your bacon until golden and crisp, then reduce the heat slightly and add your onions, carrots, celery and garlic. Next remove the leaves from the Rosemary sprigs and add them to the pot, discarding the sprigs. Move everything around and fry for around 8-10 minutes until the veg has softened.
2. Next, increase the heat slightly, add the mince and stir until the meat is browned all over.
3. Stir in your tins of plum/chopped tomatoes, (plum tomatoes are best as they contain less water, but either will turn out great!). Add your remaining herbs, tomato puree, stock cube, chilli and if using, the wine. Slice your cherry tomatoes in half and throw them in aswell.
4. Give everything a stir with a wooden spoon, breaking up the plum tomatoes as you go and bring to a gentle simmer. Reduce the heat to low-medium, put the lid on and leave it blipping away for about an hour and 15 minutes until the flavours develop into a wonderfully rich tomatoey sauce. Stir occasionally to make sure it doesn't catch.
5. Just as the sauce is nearly ready, Add the parmesan and season to taste. Meanwhile add salt to a pan of boiling water and cook the spaghetti according the the packet instructions. Once the spaghetti is ready, drain it in a colander and add it to the pan with the sauce. Give it all a good stir, coating the pasta in the lovely tomato sauce. Serve with a little grated parmesan and use the extra basil leaves to make a great little garnish. Beautiful!

This recipe is from Good Food 

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