Coming Into Chocolate Zombie Season....

I wanted to wade into the melee here on the subject of chocolate - that's right, that dark, sugary, sweet stuff that we are told is supposedly the nectar of the god's. Well, I for one don't eat it, don't believe it and have been there done that - when it comes to all manner of it.

It bothers me quite a bit to read people's blogs and then read published research again and again on how good this 'food' is for us. How full of this vitamin and that mineral chocolate tends to be and the many options we have to 'take our chocolate'.

If you want to know what I think about it - from a Medical Intuitive perspective, well, keep reading. Otherwise, stop now - because I am going to get graphic.... LOL. Just kidding - but I would like to give you some idea of the energetics of this bean.

So, we have the cocoa bean from which chocolate is derived. It grows on a tree - all you've got to do is watch Dora the Explorer to know you can shake that tree and get chocolate bars raining down like manna from heaven.

And that's one of the problems I have with this so-called treat....it is pushed, peddled, plied, spoon-fed, and even bottle fed to our children starting in the cradle. Everyone is a chocolate pusher - your first birthday cake should be triple fudge and dripping with sugar.

You with me so far? 

Then we move on from there to our teens - munching chocolate for the odd treat until hormones, self consciousness and personality confuse the body and mind. Then, as we 'grow up', for many of us, this 'treat' becomes a meal, a craving and a means to an end in itself.

Chocolate is a drug. Yes it contains caffeine (I am told it is less then coffee) but that's not the point - the point is it contains several ingredients which, when combined within the bodies of many of us, act to stupify, numb and otherwise feed into addictive patterns.

I know and meet many people who cannot stop eating chocolate - have drugged themselves silly every night for years, waking up the next day feeling like a stoned chocolate zombie. This cycle has been stuck on 'repeat' every time they feel they can't cope with...well, anything.

I said I would mention chocolate from an intuitive perspective; what it does is push down human sexuality. Not a bad thing you might be saying...well, it is when sexuality comes with and is linked to,  creativity, life force, spirituality and all those little chemical messengers related to health and well being called hormones.

To be honest, I get tired of reading the merits and benefits of eating 2 squares of chocolate a day. And I hardly know anyone who can keep such an addiction at that level. Besides, just because a drug is legal, doesn't mean it's good for us - 

Personally, I don't touch it - I wouldn't let anything interfere with my experience here on this journey. And I certainly don't want to spend my life in a drug induced haze or looking like a chocolate bunny...

April 

Cat watching from the shadows...

Roasted Guinea Fowl - A change from chicken

While I don't eat chicken and haven't for many years now, recently I have been interested in guinea fowl. It is similar to chicken and I am told the taste compares somewhere between chicken and pheasant. Which makes for quite an interesting tasting meat...

Last night - with nothing else to do (LOL) I decided to slow roast one in the oven to see how it would do. It doesn't smell exactly like chicken nor does it smell gamey - but it does smell like fowl. And it smells very good!

The way I ended up cooking it is also a little different - there isn't much fat on these birds so I wanted to add a little olive oil, but then it's also nice to have some interesting fresh tastes when slow roasted together bring out the best flavours of the meat.

For roasting I chopped shallots, garlic, an apple and half a leek - these were added to the roasting pan. Then I sprinkled some rubbed sage, thyme, sea salt and pepper all over the vegetables and the fowl - this was then placed into the pan.

Once the bird and veggies were ready to go I drizzled olive oil and then some water over top and placed it in the hot oven for 2 1/2 hours. We could smell it cooking away for the next while and it filled the house with a lovely homey odour.

Once it was fully cooked - I took it out (I basted it several times during the process) and had a look. It is lovely and very fragrant for such a small little game bird. And tender on top of all that...if you would like a change to something nicer - give it a try!

April

Oven roasted guinea fowl in shallots & apple 

Return of Life - In the Garden

At the end of this week there is a feast - Imbolc - one of our most wonderful celebrations and in many ways the beginning of the season for us. It is the signal of the Celtic spring and a festival of ewe's milk apparently.

It appears to have had it's origins in the return of lambing, milk and the early rites of spring - so, naturally to follow on from that the best foods to enjoy this coming weekend would be lamb, sheeps and goat's cheese and early spring vegetables.

Right now I am busy planning our menu for each day - making this the most fun time of my entire fast! LOL. We are all looking forward to moving on from this fast and can't wait to eat and shift into this next phase.

One of the most important aspects of this time of year has to do with the return of life - both inside and outside of our bodies. As with the earth, our guts' should also be coming back from it's semi-dormant state with gut bacteria flourishing.

Spiritually this is a time of awakening - animals are bred and expecting baby goats and lambs, the earth is expecting new growth and is busy sending up the first shoots towards the lightening sky. The days are growing longer and we can get going with our kitchen gardens.

There is not a better time of year to plan and contemplate life as it swirls around us. Perhaps in ancient times after the long dark days of winter have shortened with the promise of spring to come - such a re-awakening as this needed it's own special day.

Then again - it's a few weeks since Solstice and Yule Season - it's about time for another celebration....cakes and cookies (all sugar free!) are on the agenda this week. I will keep you posted on my progress.

April

Oregano in the garden

Sage & Coconut Biscuits

Well, once again I find myself with things sitting around my cupboards and I want to be using it up....but also I like to expand my recipe base at the same time. Often we find ourselves stuck in with the way we cook, bake or go about preparing food.

When we venture out of that box and go back to the drawing board some interesting points tend to be raised. First of all you can do nearly anything - with what you've got. I am not one for special ingredients or strange stuff I will never use again or in anything else.

Secondly, we can tend to have some types of food we enjoy but only prepare it one or two ways. I was like that with cabbage, which I posted on yesterday with a lovely slow cooker recipe. But, I am also like that with coconut.

I love coconut - and use it shredded in several dishes such as muesli, cookies and cakes. I also like the coconut milk in rice dishes and a couple of soups I make. But that seemed to be it really - so yesterday I set about playing around in the kitchen with blocks of creamed coconut.

And the results were quite interesting! I ended up with a lovely biscuit that the kids loved and I can't wait to taste. It looked very much like a scone but I was told it was sweet and creamy tasting with a different texture from a floury scone.

To make these biscuits I did the following!

2 1/4 cups spelt or barley flour 

200 g creamed coconut

1 tablespoon rubbed sage

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 cup water (hot)

1/2 cup goat's yogurt or sour milk

sea salt

In a saucepan I poured the 1/2 cup hot water and added the coconut block - this was gently heated on the wood stove while being stirred until it was uniformly melted. In the meantime I preheated the oven to 180C and placed a piece of parchment over a baking sheet.

Next I measured out 2 of the cups of flour into a deep mixing bowl and added the other dry ingredients (soda, salt and sage). This was sifted around to mix thoroughly. In another small dish I placed the goat's yogurt - I ended up using half yogurt and half sour milk. (add 1 teaspoon cider vinegar to make the milk sour).

After mixing the milk mixture in with the coconut I added this to the flour in the deep mixing bowl. It will blend nicely into a soft ball which you can then turn out onto a floured surface. Use the extra flour to handle the dough sprinkling a little over top to keep it from sticking to your hands.

Flatten it down a little and start punching out round circles (sort of like cookies or scones) and placing them onto the cookie sheet. Once the dough is used up, sprinkle some more sage over top and put them in the oven for about 15 to 17 minutes. 

They turned out wonderfully (I made them twice with different flours) and smelled like they had butter inside - but they don't, it's just lovely coconut!

April

Sage & Coconut Biscuits 

Slow Cooker Red Cabbage, Apple and Onions

One of the only vegetables I get kind of stuck in a rut with, is cabbage. I really enjoy it - but sort of always cook it one or two ways and that's it. Usually I grate it into a coleslaw type of salad or roast it in the oven with veggies.

But we also like it as part of a stir fry too and often throw it in there. However, we don't eat near enough of this lovely vegetable and I have been mulling over how to use up the two I had in the vegetable box for the last week.

So, today I decided to pull out my handy slow cooker (what a godsend that thing is!) and see what it does with my red cabbage. Right now I am enjoying the smell of it - mostly because I am not eating right now, but also because it does smell very nice.

To make this most simple dish I chopped up the cabbage (not too finely) and started layering it with chopped apples and sliced onions and garlic. This time I used both red and white onions because I wanted to use them up.

Once the vegetables were in the crock pot I added about 1/2 cup cider vinegar, 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar and 1/4 cup of olive oil. Then with the pot on high - I started adding some spices. The ones I usually use with cabbage are coriander, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. 

Next I sprinkled on some sea salt and ground black pepper then added in 1/2 cup of water because it seemed like it needed something to keep the cooking process going. Lastly, 2 tablespoons of honey and 2 tablespoons of butter to sweeten the dish and that is it.

It's a very simple but lovely tasting side dish to have with nearly any meal and goes really well with meats, especially goose and any wild game such as pheasant or venison. 

April

Red Cabbage dish

A Day With Food....

It was a food day today....we had food everywhere and I loved every minute of it! Of course, I did not taste anything, but I have made these dishes long enough and often enough to know exactly how to get them right. 

Even though I am still deep into my detox, it is no deterrent to cooking, baking and appreciating others' enjoying good food. Cooking is an art - or at least it should be and in some places it is considered as such with only those who truly have an affinity towards it, handling and preparing the meals.

Yet, I remember times in my own life where I would have lulls in even wanting to prepare and handle food. There were days (months) when I could not imagine chopping vegetables or spending any time preparing something nourishing.

And so I did not - instead I would have ordered a take away, or had some other prepared meal that was more salt, sugar and preservatives then any real ingredients. Not to mention being made entirely by machines in factories churning out 'product' by the metric ton.

A day like today served as a gentle (fun!) reminder of how far I have come in my own life and along my food journey gaining a real education in not only preparing great food from only vegetables and a little fish or meat - but also knowing where this food comes from.

Perhaps my next step in this process is to expand my own garden now, to endeavour to grow and produce even more of these items myself. Only then will my learning be complete. 

Next Cookery Class this Sunday!!

April

Rosemary Sea salt bread....

Come on, Be a Rebel - Cookery Class with April Danann!!

Again this year I am happy to be offering a few cookery classes for anyone who would like to know a little more about what I am baking, making, cooking and eating. If you are in the West Cork, Cork or surrounding areas - come on out for some fun in the kitchen!

I refer to my style of being off the food grid as Rebel Food - because I make as much as I possibly can from scratch. In fact if I can't make it, we usually don't have it. But, as most things are so easy to make ourselves, this is rarely an issue. 

We eat very well without sugar, processed foods, chemicals, toxins or preservatives while gaining a deeper connection to the energy of the land and our own spiritual selves. Our food is the vital link to sustain us and build that bridge inwards.

Food is a dynamic thing - the seasons change, our tastes change, our physical needs fluctuate throughout the year....and the food we are eating should also shift and change with those requirements. Ours is such a basic approach to a healthy diet and really all about common sense.

When it comes to food in in the winter I like warming soups and stews, for instance. I also love hearty breads with cheese, jams and nut butters. Any of these dishes can be made day in and day out with variety, abundance of flavour and packed full of nutrients.

If you are needing a little boost to your routine, some recipe ideas to try out, wanting more support in the kitchen with your own creations - come on out and cook with me this week on Thursday or Sunday in Leap, West Cork.

Perhaps it's time to find the Rebel in you!

April

24 January 1pm to 5pm Leap, West Cork

27 January 11am to 3pm Leap, West Cork

Why Eat Organic? Food Consciousness....

Over the years I have been one of those people who have insisted on sourcing and eating organic food as much as humanly possible. And my body has thanked me for it. I know it has made a difference in my health, my life and it a far better choice of food for my children. 

Yet....

Every now and then I see in the media (or mass-mis-information system) how there is either little difference between organic and non-organic foods, some study or piece of research will pronounce how little health benefits there are to be gained and any other negativity they can send forth.

So, why do I intuitively feel better mentally, physically and spiritually when I eat organic foods, grow my own as much as possible and enter the entire scene of rising food consciousness? Perhaps there are a few reasons and each of them very important.

One of the most important things I see in my own life, is how because I am seeking out organic vegetables and fruits I am far more involved in where my food comes from. I speak (in many instances) to those who grow it and I ask where it is from - choosing Irish grown when available.

It also means I frequent local farmers markets and some local farms who produce some vegetables of their own. Leading on from there, I then also require seeds compatible with my region (and also locally grown) for encouraging a few plants to come through the soil in my own garden.

Yet, this is not all - over these many years of eating only organic, natural and back garden sources of food - my palate has become far more discerning and sensitive. I remember a few years ago having wanted grapes so badly at Christmas time, being unable to find organic ones (it must have been one of those years) we ended up with 'ordinary' grapes from a supermarket.

Our tongues burned after eating one grape and they were quickly abandoned to the compost heap. At the time it left us wondering what we had been eating all those years which was now missing from our food - and how toxic was it!

This is just the tip of an iceberg for me here - I could go on about organic foods. Especially when it comes to re-esestablishing a connection with your food, spiritual and otherwise. There is just no comparison to eating foods produced with care and thought given to the soil, the local area, the plants themselves and most of all health benefits of the consumer.

This alone completes the cycle of sustainability - when we look after our environment, feed our bodies well, nourish our minds and spirits - they take care of us. 

April

It's a little snow day in West Cork! 

You Are the Key to Change....

Right about this time many people are either just beginning their New Years resolutions made about their health, eating and lifestyle or feeling ready to give up after only a few short days. It's a tough thing to do - especially if you have not done anything to work with your mind.

Including your mind in the process of any changes you make ensures a higher degree of success. Once I started to figure that out for myself, my own life changed in many positive and eventful ways. But, it also meant one of the biggest things in my current life.....

I had to start accepting responsibility for what I was doing, what I was eating, how I was choosing to live and then work at making changes accordingly. It also meant I had to be big enough to let things, people, relationships and negative patterns go when necessary.

I guess the most important thing I would say to anyone who has made a positive change in the New Year and who is wavering or to someone who is about to embark on a new path - do not give up easily. There will be times when you feel down, deprived, moody (and whatever else) - however, most of this will be coming from a fractured mind...

Your mind has been overly influenced by years of toxins, rubbish food, machine made meals, chemical water, antibiotics, medication and whateverelse they can throw at us. We have been breathing it in, eating it, drinking it, walking in it and bathing in it.

Now, it is going to take some time to break through these chains that bind and tether your mind to the mass consciousness (I call it the over mind) and hold you in this negative pattern of eating, thinking and believing. 

Don't be easily pushed down. Do not give up without a fight. Press on - the only thing you have to lose is - fear of change. You have absolutely everything to gain.

You are the key....

April

There is a rainbow - always!

A Little Horse Sense....But in a Burger?

Well - this is an interesting development - horse and pork found in with the beef burgers...and God knows what else. It's funny, I stopped eating these things many years ago for these very reasons. However, since I left the meat industry it was supposed to have changed for the better.

So, this can be put down to something quite simple really - you cannot trust the food (nothing prepared especially) or the water (who knows what is in that!) and we all really should be growing, raising and preparing as much of our own foods as possible.

A few days ago I wrote an article called 'Cheap Food for Slaves' - this situation is exactly what I was referring to. Us poor working slobs, those at the lower end of the food chain - can eat what is left over after the cream has been picked clean.

This situation doesn't have to exist at all. If we trust ourselves, take the time and make any effort at all, we can eat like kings and queens each and every day. How? Well, set yourself up with a few seeds, get a few pots or some land, if you have a garden perhaps some ducks, a goose, some turkeys or a goat.

Or, share with a family member, a neighbor and so forth. Next, buy your fruit and vegetables local, in season, organic if you can and at your farmers market. When apples are a good price buy enough to make extra pots of jam (canning is so easy!). 

The only difficult part of any of this is getting over the resistance (it's a mindset) and some strange belief that food comes from a shop and not from our own hands. Another obstacle is this food won't taste as nice or it's too much trouble.

Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, it's so easy to make and can (in jars) jam that I am doing it nearly every other week with left over fruit. My left over veggies? Before they go off I make a big pot of stew and store any extras in the freezer.

All it takes is a little determination and you will exit the food grid that has been feeding us lies, rubbish and anything, but what it says on the label, apparently.

April

Lemon & Butter Scones - delightful with a cup of herbal tea...

Goat and Root Vegetable Stew....An Adventure in Cooking!

Off on another tangent today --- I am cooking goat meat! I never would have thought about eating goat, actually come to think of it, I must have tasted kid when I lived in Toronto years ago, however, I certainly haven't gone looking for it since then.

Until I had an opportunity to get some, that it and so this is it - I personally won't get to taste it today because I am still on my Master Cleanse, but I will put some in the freezer for when I am done. It smells and looks very interesting so far...

Apparently goat meat tastes a lot like a cross between lamb and beef, but is very lean, and not gamey like lamb can sometimes be. It is also considered a low in fat meat which will not raise cholesterol (not an issue here but..) or give any of the other nasty side effects.

There are so many ways to cook goat meat too - when I did a little bit of research I came across tons of recipes, ideas on how others eat it and was surprised so many people out there ARE eating it. Actually, it is considered the most widely consumed meat in the world.

I think it's only in these western countries where people are stuck on beef and chicken or chicken and beef! 

To cook the goat meat I decided to do another crock pot meal to be on the safe side as I have never cooked this before. But even as I was putting it into the pan to brown, it seemed so much like lamb I probably could have done anything with it.

I browned the floured stew meat in a little olive oil, onion and garlic and then added it to 2 cups of boiling water along with several cups of chopped root vegetables. Today I had a huge celeriac to use up so that is what makes up the bulk of the stew.

Next I placed in generous teaspoons of cumin, ground coriander, turmeric, a little cinnamon, bay leaves, thyme, sea salt and pepper and the juice of a lime. After it had been cooking on high for about an hour I turned it down to a low heat setting - and it has been stewing away now for several hours. 

So far the meat looks tender, the stew smells great and I can't wait to taste some once this cleanse is done...very interesting day altogether! 

April

Looks and smells divine!

Guinea Fowl - Crock Pot Recipe

Today I have been cooking a guinea fowl in the crock pot - mainly to see how it turns out but also in the hope of creating a new dish for us to all try. Although it is years since I have cooked one - it all comes back fairly quickly!

A guinea fowl is not like a chicken in that it is closer to it's wild cousins, has a completely different attitude and outlook on life and it's actually a useful animal. I remember them on the farm years ago, where they would behave like watch dogs alerting us to any foxes or strange goings-on.

Because they are very lean they also make a great addition to your Pagan Diet as well as give some other flavours and tastes in meals where you might have used chicken. Although the meat is mostly darker than domestic birds, it is far tastier.

I decided to cook this guinea fowl in the slow cooker in order to get the best flavour but also to ensure it wasn't tough in any way. I started out my adventure with 1 tablespoon of butter melting on the wood stove, then stirred in 1 tablespoon of spelt flour.

Next I added 1/4 cup of water to the butter mixture and kept stirring until it was all uniform looking. I placed this aside and prepared the bird for the crock pot. To do this I just washed and salted it inside and out and placed it on the bottom of the pot in 1 cup of boiling water.

Then I added the butter mixture and 1/4 cup of olive oil over top of the bird. Next I sprinkled 1 teaspoon each of dried sage and thyme and a few grains of ground black pepper. The slow cooker was on a high heat setting - this was left for the next 2 hours or so and then turned down to low.

Every hour I carefully basted the entire bird inside and out with the liquid in the bottom of the cooker and left it to simmer for another 3 hours. Once the meat was falling off the bones (each bird might be different depending on age and size) I turned it off to let it cool.

Now, there is lovely cooked guinea fowl meat for sandwiches, casserole, soup or stew or for just picking! My taste testers loved it added in to their chilli....

April

Guinea Fowl roasting in the crock pot

Venison Cassoulet

I might as well refer to this dish as accidental Venison Cassoulet, because I never intended to make a cassoulet when the day started. However, I did have a bowl of beans soaked and ready to cook, some veggies that needed to be used and most of the meat in the house right now is wild game...

So, at the beginning of my day, I wanted to make a favourite around here - baked beans. I started out making a veggie sauce in the slow cooker while I cooked the haricot beans in some seaweed. My bean sauce is night shade free - as these interfere with spirituality and contain toxins.

However, I still make a great tasting sauce using a base of beet root, carrots, sweet potatoes, herbs (and a few others on this particular day that needed to be used up!). Once the sauce was made, and the beans were cooked I combined these into crock pots and slow roasted them in the oven with a little cloves and bay leaves. 

The beans came out smelling and looking great - the kids ate them, the dogs and cat had some - but there was still a crock pot left over! I was cooking a venison roast for another as yet undetermined dish and had the bright idea of just cutting up this nicely done piece of meat (it was slow roasted with shallots, garlic, leeks, onion, broccoli and honey mustard marinade) and adding it to the beans.

Once I put the now several large pieces of meat and vegetables into the pot of beans and sauce - it closely resembled and smelled very much like a wild game cassoulet... which is a very hearty meal for this time of year.

This is a dish I will definitely be making again and can't wait to try it when I finish my cleanse...

April

Crock Pot of Baked beans

'Cheap Food For Slaves'

These weeks and days post New Years are usually the time of new beginnings and change - well perhaps none need to be more understood and changed then the food we  are buying and eating. I have long wondered about the specific reasons behind all of this rubbish foods....

And then I watched Mutiny on the Bounty. One of the lines in the opening credits tells about the history of the ship and why she was traveling to the South Seas. The actual words used were to find 'cheap food for slaves' - and it almost knocked me down.

This is exactly the same situation we are dealing with at the moment!! We are expected to go out into the world and follow someone else's dreams (or work as slaves) while being fed food that is little better then garbage.

The worst possible combination of ingredients which when combined are so toxic as to create new compounds inside the body. At the moment with this exposure to nearly everything from GMO monster foods, an obscene amount of additives, preservatives, fillers and colourants - we are being poisoned from the inside out!

Yet, they keep cranking it out (and I know because I studied at some of the places where this stuff is developed) and placing it on shelves. Then we go into their humungous stores and are actually led to believe we have choice...

There is NO choice. Anything processed, manufactured, denatured from the way it was intended to be eaten is no longer food. And what is far worse about this entire situation is that it does significant harm to our bodies (not to mention the mind and spirit).

Or in other words - cheap food for slaves....

It is long past the time to make the changes to the food you put into your body - start with choosing organic, unprocessed and take it from there. Use good, real food to lift you up and take back your dreams...

April

Sunrise this morning....

Soul Food - Dining on the Wild Side

We hear these words and this phrase, Soul Food mentioned around seemingly good food or supposedly great comforting food yet do we use it too loosely? Might it mean something far more, much deeper then the connection we make between feeding ourselves rich foods?

Perhaps when it comes to food, eating and diet in general this term goes back to a distant time when we were more in touch with who we are and what the consequences of eating a poor diet would be. What if this really has to do less with the type of food and relates to the place the food comes from?

When I think of a spiritual connection to my food, these days I seem to gravitate towards wild game, herbs, vegetables and berries I grow in the garden and meat I raise myself. All of this would be organic in that no chemical would knowingly be supplied to anything.

Our food is something that has gotten away from us. We have been taken down a path of resistance to real, earth grown produce towards trusting and placing faith in clean, 'safe' (sterile) foods manufactured, treated and processed in some way.

This alone destroys the intended meaning of our food - it is meant to build strong healthy bodies, also contributing to strong willed minds. But, we must also take this one step further because we are spiritual creatures, our food is meant to maintain this connection we have with the earth and all her forces.

For me, this has come to mean keeping the cleanest diet possible, and seeking out wild natural sources of basic foods that are alive with nature vibrating inside of it. I have mentioned how the first time I ate venison (after many years) I dreamed of the foods the animal had been eating - wild apples, grasses, trees - as if I was becoming a part of some hidden landscape.

But then again, I was not becoming anything - this wild animal was now leading me inward, towards an ancient original aspect of myself - my soul. They have not forgotten who we are....

April

Roast Venison cooked in clay pot

If You Think Changing Your Diet Is Too Much Trouble...well...

If you think changing your diet is too much trouble and too much work to cook, eat at home, peel vegetables, learn a few recipes, get organised in your kitchen...

Wait until you are sick or ill because of the way you have been eating. Then trying to back track and reverse all those years of playing Russian roulette with your body - well, that takes far more, time, energy and effort then making a few small changes right now.

The beginning of a new year is just that - a fresh start. A time for renewal and with that possibilities. Absolutely everything that makes life worth living is stored deeply within our bodies. And the only way in is through treating your body well with good clean food, water and of course exercise.

A few years ago when I started making changes (and I had just as many to make as anyone else) I took things one at a time - literally week by week until I had completely reoganised my lifestyle, my diet and myself. Once I knew and felt I was on the road to better health, then I was able to relax.

During that time, each week I would take an area of my life and make a change for the better. I even remember spending a weekend getting rid of everything in the house that was not organic. We were left with a clean slate and started over.

Then another week I stopped buying boxed cereal and have only ever made breakfasts since with things like porridge, home made muesli, kippers and toast, roasted sweet potatoes with nut butter (lovely by the way!) and so forth.

Moving forward into the next week I got rid of the dairy, meats and animal products. That may not be for everyone, but at the time, I wanted to really clean out my body - so we spent the next 6 or 7 years vegan and vegetarian. 

We replaced these foods with beans, lentils, peas and other great sources of protein. We kept going until we all felt, looked and knew we were in much better health. And I have never looked back...

The difference is - you have to stick with it. You have to alter your lifestyle, your habits, set up your life to provide a framework supportive of good health. Otherwise, you end up frustrated and going back to old habits.

Once you make each of the changes you are needing to make - reorganise your life to suit your new way of living.

It really is this simple...

April

Homemade Hazelnut butter - Yumm!!! 

It All Begins with A Change in Attitude....

At this time of year there are always a couple of things on our minds - the top one being how to get healthy and stay healthy - perhaps you have been thinking long and hard about exercise, diet changes, or firming up your spiritual walk. 

Any one of these might require of you a stronger constitution - but that is exactly what is missing... so how about a change of attitude? It's often such a small thing - a slight alteration in your thinking can then work wonders on the rest of your life.

For me, it was the fact that I wanted to be fit enough to carry on with living my life...and to not ever experience sickness again like I once had. That was motivation enough and it still gets me out of bed every morning to this day.

With this change in attitude in mind - what if you were to start replacing anything nasty in your diet with something good for you - but you would still get to enjoy yourself. And who knows, you might even be surprised and actually like it! LOL

For me there are many things I no longer eat (and have no desire to) but have replaced them all with a far healthier version.....here is a list of some items for you to get started on in your own life:

Still drinking the drugged stuff? Try dandelion coffee, chicory or nut coffee, aids digestion, detoxes the liver and tastes great.

Tea is not much better and is very addictive - in place of tea why not indulge in herbal drinks such as lemon & thyme or chamomile flowers and fruit?

Next, change out that yukky yeasty bread for some homemade organic spelt soda bread...when you make it yourself you can add anything you like - cinnamon and raisin, herby rosemary or seeds and nuts.

Then get rid of those whites - they are sitting on your spare tire - instead of white potatoes have sweet potato, pumpkin or squash, in place of white sugar try honey, maple syrup and apple concentrate, and there are so many lovely kinds of rice to use such as basmati, brown long grain, brown jasmine, red rice, wild rice and black rice. 

Any of the treats (and let's face it, we've eaten enough during the holidays!) can be replaced with homemade versions of cakes, cookies - or something simpler such as a few dates, figs or my favourite, dried mango....

As you can see, this is only the beginning - but all it takes are a few changes such as these and before you know it - not only has your attitude changed, so have you.

April

Hot Apple, Pineapple, Ginger and Cinnamon juice during the holidays...healthy and delicious!

Wild Rabbit Stew - A change for the better

Today I made Wild Rabbit Stew - it is one of my favourite meals from way back in my childhood and I still feel it is such a wholesome meal. What is more, it is simple to make and rabbit is fairly easy to come by, especially this time of the year.

Wild rabbit is lean and being wild caught, not full of medicated feeds or even weird GMO grains. I can taste and feel the difference whenever I eat something wild caught (or organic) as opposed to the heavily treated type of meat or fish.

And there is a huge difference in flavour, texture and perhaps anything else you might be expecting in meats. I ate a lot of wild rabbit when I was growing up - along with other game such as sea ducks, and moose.

Including wild game into your diet, certainly when it is in season is a healthy idea...there are no unhappy bunnies in the wild. They are free to live as they should and this means an important source of superior food for us.

To cook wild rabbit it is best to marinade it overnight first. I use something simple such as balsamic vinegar, honey mustard, bay leaves, olive oil, salt and pepper - with a little water. I also use a slow cooker to cook the rabbit first before I put the vegetables in to make a stew.

Rabbit is full of tiny little bones and I have small children - so the meat is cooked first, then taken off the bones, lightly floured and added to a ready stew of seasoned (sage, thyme, rosemary, lovage) vegetables.  I check the liquid from the rabbit carefully before I add it to the stew as well.

Once all is assembled, let it cook for another hour or so and then stand in the slow cooker to cool down. This makes a most delicious meal for the whole family which is both nourishing and low in fat. We all enjoy our rabbit stew in the winter months.

April

Wild Rabbit Stew - lots of herbs and veggies!

Make Up Your Own Mind, BUT.....

I have been keeping a bit of an eye on the articles that come out this time of year - you know the ones - 'how to lose 10 pounds by next week' or 'how to detox completely by cutting back on wine 2 nights a week' or the old standards 'Don't detox, don't exercise, take this pill'....

So, you may have already guessed what I think and feel about some of this total load of rubbish being sent around the internet. There is one new one these last couple of years though, which completely dismisses water fasting as a form of detox.

And that one sends me into a bit of a rant...LOL

Yesterday I was reading a not very insightful article written by someone who talked with 2 dietitians to gather information for their report. Of course, one recommendation for a New Years detox was to cut back on alcohol to only drinking 5 nights a week (I am so not kidding) - leaving me wondering if she was thinking how low were her expectations of the people reading the post.

The other piece of sage advice was to keep things in moderation - but to include everything. Right. Well, I can tell you from a lot of personal experience that is how most people set themselves up to fail in the first place.

I don't know many people who can eat one square of chocolate or one cookie or one crisp - walk away and not hear the bag calling their name for the rest of the day.... And, what about the fact that this is the problem - these 'foods' and their poisonous ingredients (sugar, caffeine, alcohol) are addictive?

Of course, then there is the dismissal of fasting and using water to cleanse your body. Imagine! How could anyone do such a thing - what on earth does water have to do with cleaning, clearing and removing the built up debris from the inside of our cells?

Just because it is the universal solvent, has a somewhat neutral pH and we use it to clean everything else, doesn't mean anything....Perhaps you can tell, these so-called experts have never done a detox, altered their diets and at least one of them is an alcoholic....

Nuff said

If you are ready to do a fast, change your diet and get your life back - here's a great place to start

To Detox or Not to Detox...

So, you spent another Solstice/Christmas/Yule/New Year's laying about, over indulging in sugar, alcohol, chocolate - just fueling some bad habits and feeding the mold, yeast and other nasty critters in your gut. You wake up 2 days after the new year feeling heavy, yukky and wondering how and if you can ever feel 'good' about yourself again.

But right now you feel like a bag of sh** and you are seriously considering doing something about it. Perhaps a change in diet or a detox, or some exercise....

For the life of me, I can't understand why this is such a dilemma! I mean, what on earth holds you back, keeps you stuck in that place and won't let you go? We can read about it, talk about it, cry over it - and yes there are many energetic, spiritual, emotional, fear based reasons that you are still doing all the same things; over and over again.

Ultimately, it is up to you and only you to break these patterns. You are the only one who can stand up (get off your arse) and place one foot in front of the other one and take those first steps towards making the most important decision of your year and perhaps your entire life.

If you are still addicted to anything, you need to detox. If you do not exercise, you must detox. When you spend days, weeks and months over eating the wrong types of foods - your body needs a break, you need to take some time to clean and support your internal digestive functions. 

If you are sick, unwell, have taken anti-biotics (or drugs) of any sort over the last little while - you need to rebuild your system from the beginning using clean water and real food. And you must find a way to exercise, get out side and follow your dreams.

Now, for those of you who are wanting to follow a higher path, pursue your own spirituality and embark on the single most important journey of your life - there is no time like this moment. And no better way to begin then to clean up your diet, start a detox (water fast) and change your life.

What you need, is here

April

The Pagan Diet - a great place to start... also available on Gumroad in pdf 

New Years' Food Resolution

I haven't posted much about how to cook a turkey - I just assume most people would know how to do that and wouldn't need me to go on about it here...but I did see something over the holidays that got me thinking differently...

One rare day, I opened up the newspaper (we buy them for arts projects!) to a food section which caught my eye and saw how the writer of the article was explaining in great detail how to make a stuffing for turkey.

In particular she was talking about how to make stale bread, using the white stuff from a shop. Well, to say the least - it got a chuckle out of me!! LOL

Who needs to know how to make stale bread...any left over bread (after 2 or 3 days) will be 'stale' --- and if it's not, it's most likely the kind that doesn't rot and you should not be eating that rubbish anyway. And certainly not ruining your turkey with it.

As a matter of fact there appears to be quite a few things that people are 'needing' to be told about this time of year, not the least of which is what, how and when to eat. I don't know where this is all coming from, it's as if something has switched off inside of everyone's brains and now, no one remembers how to cook.

If you are wanting to remember how to cook or to get back into this age old art - start with something simple. Or better still, something you like (and no, sugar and chocolate don't count) such as a soup, stew or baking some healthy muffins.

In fact, this is a marvelous place to begin your new year - perhaps in the form of a resolution - be determined to cook far more, to make more meals from scratch and to get reintroduced to your kitchen. It really is the centre of the home and all good feelings should stem from this place...

Your gut, your digestion, your mind, body and soul will thank you for it,

April

My daughter waiting for her dinner!