Quinoa and Pumpkin Salad

This post first appeared on Wholefood Mum. 

Quinoa Salad is a very versatile dish. You can pretty much change the ingredients every time and you won't be disappointed.

The salad pictured above has the following ingredients in it:

• 1 cup of quinoa cooked as per the packet directions
• 2 green capsicums
• half a pumpkin- roasted and cooled
• a few handfuls of baby spinach
• some fetta cheese crumbled through it

I mixed a dressing of olive oil, honey, red wine vinegar and ground cumin to serve over it and it was delicious.

These were just the vegetables that I had on hand on the day and next time no doubt it will be a little different. I would have like to include some roasted zucchini as well, but we were all out.

Do you love quinoa? How do you serve it?



*Wholefood Mum is my other blog, but I just don't have the time to commit to it plus Actually Amy and And Sew We Craft so I'll be merging Wholefood Mum and Actually Amy over the coming weeks. 

A Wholefood Lunchbox: First Day Back to School

This post first appeared on Wholefood Mum. Our lunches have changed a little since I wrote these post and I will try and share what they mostly look like now soon. We have also changed to Yumbox lunchboxes. 



It's back to school for us finally. So 5 days a fortnight I have 2 lunches to make per day and the other 5 days I have 3 lunches to prepare.

I want to try and steer clear of the usual sandwiches and try a few different things this year.

We've never been one to include anything packaged or store bought so steering away from the sandwiches shouldn't be too hard.

Here is what was packed in our first lunch box of 2014:

popcorn with goji berries, coconut flakes, 

sesame seeds and sunflower seeds;

carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, kabana, cheese and homemade dip; 

a chicken drumstick

banana 

I'm not sure that I like that the kabana is in this lunch box as it is a processed sausage, so I will most likely swap that out in the future with chunks of leg ham or the like.

Fingers crossed it all gets eaten! My kids are always saying that the never have enough time to eat all their lunch, I don't know what to say about that, because it is so important that they do have a good lunch!

Oh and these lunch boxes are Goodbyn boxes and are available from Biome in Australia or if you are outside of Australia you can check out the Goodbyn website.

What have you been packing in lunches for school? 



*Wholefood Mum is my other blog, but I just don't have the time to commit to it plus Actually Amy and And Sew We Craft so I'll be merging Wholefood Mum and Actually Amy over the coming weeks. 

My wholefood journey

This post first appeared on Wholefood Mum. 

My wholefood journey started a long long time ago, but I didn't get serious about it all until I was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome back in 2011. As soon as I was diagnosed I read as many books on PCOS as I could, and they all pointed to the same things. Wholefoods- nuts, legumes, fruit and vegetables. I started reading more about whole foods, I did a few courses run but some blogger and watched movies like Forks Over Knives.

I chewed my husbands ear off about the changes we would be making to our eating habits, but when he heard I wanted to drastically wanted to reduce our meat intake he didn't like the sound of that, so well I had him watch Forks Over Knives.

He quickly came around after that, that is one convincing documentary! If you haven't seen it yet, please do get your hands on a copy.

So whilst we do eat meat I try to limit it to 3-4 nights per week, I would like it to be less, but it's what works for our family at the moment, so you just have to do what works for you.

And by limiting processed foods as much as possible I noticed improvements in my skin and health in general. We are not 100% strict on foods, if we are out and there are processed foods on offer, the we eat them, we don't make a huge fuss about it.

And as much as I dislike them my husband still does bring things like cheezels and shapes into the house. I don't make a big deal about it when he does, and the kids are just as likely to eat unprocessed snacks like air popped popcorn or slinky apples over his snacks too. If I did make a big deal about it I think that the kids would want them all the time.

My journey is only really starting though, and I hope you can join me. Over the next few weeks I will be sharing more about me and what our wholefood kitchen looks like. Then I'll hopefully start sharing recipes and meal plans with you as well.

What has your wholefood journey looked like?



*Wholefood Mum is my other blog, but I just don't have the time to commit to it plus Actually Amy and And Sew We Craft so I'll be merging Wholefood Mum and Actually Amy over the coming weeks. 

Soaking and Cooking Legumes

This post first appeared on Wholefood Mum. 

I've often been told that cooking with dried legumes is 'too hard'. But really it's not, it might be time consuming, but certainly not hard.

And when you think about it, it's really not time consuming either, it just takes a bit of forward planning.

The main legumes we use are lentils, chickpeas, pinto, red kidney and cannellini beans. I have just recently started introducing azuki and black beans to our mix and will no doubt be adding more as the year progresses.

The easiest way to prepare legumes for cooking is to slow soak them, so simply putting them in a pot and covering them in water for about 8 hours. Then rinsing them and cooking as required. Typically soaked legumes will need at least 45 minutes to cook, but this is dependant on the legume and the cooking process.

So, say for example I will be making something that requires 2 cups of cooked lentils, I might soak and cook 4 cups and freeze the excess for next time, negating the need to soak and cook the lentils again.

Freezing them is easy, just fill a glass jar but leaving enough gab at the top for expansion and leave the lid unscrewed until they have frozen then secure the lid.

So don't be scared about cooking with dried legumes, if I can do it, anyone can!


*Wholefood Mum is my other blog, but I just don't have the time to commit to it plus Actually Amy and And Sew We Craft so I'll be merging Wholefood Mum and Actually Amy over the coming weeks. 

Prepare: Smoothies for A Week

My hormones went haywire after I had Darcy. I lost 12ish kilograms in the first 2-3 weeks after his birth and then promptly put it all back on again in the space of 3 weeks. It was horrible! I was clueless as my diet and water intake had been really good, I hadn't been moving much, but it just didn't make sense.

I spoke to my Doctor and he ran several blood tests and it showed that yes, my hormones were way more out of whack than they should be after having a baby and it showed that my PCOS was well and truly out of control.

We are currently playing with my medication and I am now extra extra vigilant with my diet. This is where my smoothies are coming in. I try to have porridge for breakfast most days but on some school mornings that is a little hard seeing as school starts at 8am here.

So enter the humble smoothie. Just whack it in the blender/thermomix and away I go.

A grocery shopping day I usually come home, unpack the groceries and then do up a few bags of the following for some quick smoothies:

• Half a banana
• 10is blueberries
• 3-4 strawberries depending on size
• handful of spinach

I just add them to ziplock bags and pop them in the freezer. Then when it is time for a smoothie I just pull them out of the freezer and blend them up with 250-300mls of unsweetened almond milk and 2 tablespoons of oats.


You can find heaps of other smoothie recipes the I use here: 31 Days of Smoothies

School Holiday Hunger Busters

We are only half way into the first week of school holidays, but I am already so sick and tired of hearing the kids utter the words 'I'm hungry Mum, what can I have to eat?'

So this morning I cut up some fruit and vegetables and paired them with a dip and ta da! A tasting plate to last the day.

 In the platters are:

• celery
• carrot
• blueberries
• grapes
• bananas
• apple
• cheese
• water crackers
• corn relish

I have everything crossed that this keeps their nagging at bay. Now I just have to deal with the 'I'm bored' chanting. When really we have a hundred and one things we can and are doing.

What snacks do you have to beat the I'm hungry nagging? 

The vegan update

So I mentioned back here that I would be eating a mostly vegan diet for 30 days. We are about 2 weeks in and have been going well.

We aren't completely vegan. There is still cows milk and butter in the house, but on a whole we are eating more whole foods and WAY less processed crap. Not that we were eating much processed foods to begin with, but by incorporating more whole foods we seem to be 'crowding out' the bad.

I love the term 'crowding out'. Instead of depriving yourself of something you are just pushing it aside as you don't have time for it because of all the wholesome foods you are eating. It is exactly how I feel at the moment.

I can't really share the recipes of the foods I am eating at the moment due to the 30 Day Vegan Guidelines. But the food has been great. Some examples of our dinners are:

Avocado and White Bean Wraps
Pad Thai
Broccoli and Peanut Noddles
Lemon, Garlic and White Bean Noodles
Rainbow Salad
Baked Tofu and Watermelon Salsa

They kids have eaten pretty much everything, although the only thing newish to them is Tofu. We already eat a range of lentils, beans and other pulses at least once a week.

We haven't eaten meat in over two weeks, and I can honestly say I don't miss it. B has agreed with me on that too. Every night after dinner I check with him to see if he would happy to see it on the menu again and the answer has always been yes.

I think that once the 30 days are over there will be a huge change in our eating. I do plan to introduce back in fish/seafood, chicken and lean red meat, but only once a week for each (or less). The other meals will all be either vegan or vegetarian.

I can't see us erasing eggs, cows milk, cheese etc from our diets over the long term, but decreasing their presence in our diet is a certainty.

I already feel better for the whole experience, my skin is clearer (well as clear as my PCOS cursed skin can be) my digestion is better and I just feel better. The only down side has been just how 'gassy' everyone has been, but as our bodies adjust to this way of eating this will ease. In the meantime I guess I just have to live with the fart jokes...

So, I am going vegan

Well, for the next 30 days anyway! I am taking part in the 30 Day Vegan online workshop that is be run by Heather from beauty that moves

I am not sure if I will go 100% vegan, but I will be embracing the whole food aspect as that is something we are really trying to do in our house anyway. But I am really excited about it all and can't wait to share my progress with you all.

Are you a vegan? Do you think you could go vegan, even if only for 30 days?