Salt and Pepper Quinoa crackers

I made myself some yummy crackers this morning.  I used a recipe from Jennifer Katzinger's book "Gluten Free and Vegan Holiday".

I've made these salt and pepper quinoa crackers a few times and just love that salt and pepper flavor. I'm a big fan of pepper - but use very little salt so I reduced the amount of salt somewhat.

Don't you just love my salt and pepper bunnies!

It's very easy - just quinoa flour, coconut oil, water, baking soda, salt and pepper.

When it comes to rolling the dough out, Jennifer suggests cutting shapes and lifting them onto the baking sheet. However, I find the dough too soft for that. So I roll it straight onto parchment paper, cut to the size of the baking sheet. When rolled, I then cut into lengths, but don't move them.  They cook all together and come out perfect every time.

Here's the recipe.

I also made some lentil pate to go with them. I'll share that with you soon.

Put aside our differences

Good old Charlie Brown!

Merry Christmas

I wish you all a very merry Christmas.  May you find peace, love, health and joy.

White Christmas

My favorite Christmas song:





I'm off down to Grace cathedral in San Francisco to sing the service there now.  Shame we don't get to do this one - with reindeer!!! But some lovely other music instead. If you are in the city, do join us this evening.

And a Happy Christmas to you all.  Have a wonderful day.

Christmas Dancing Policeman

I just read about Tony, the dancing policeman in Providence, Rhode Island.

As he directs traffic, he adds a few dance movements into this job!  Initially, he thought it might not go down well with his boss, but so many people phoned into the police station and said how much they loved seeing him, that he became quite the Xmas attraction!

Truth be known, Tony is no longer a policeman, however he became so popular in Providence and people missed him when he left, so the Police department now offer him a 10 day contract each Christmas time to come and direct the traffic!  He's been coming back for his 10 days of dancing for the past 10 years!

He says it takes some chiropractic work to keep him going - but he loves it!!!  Here's his little wiggle!
 Hope Christmas makes you feel like dancing too!

A pocketful of pecans

Harvesting continues....since October we've gone from grapes, to figs, to persimmons.....sort of missed the guavas when we were away....to olives and today, to a pocketful of pecans.

Yes, our pecan tree is still small so we both picked a pocketful. There were 17 in all!

Yeah. 17 pecans!  They now "cure" - i.e. dry - for 2 weeks before we open them up and see the goodies inside.

And did you know...pecans are the most nutritious nut with amazing antioxidant content.  I always thought walnuts were healthier than pecans...hmmm....our little tree better get growing! 

Check out this little video from nutritionfacts.org and see if you know how to rank nuts.

"What's next to harvest?", I hear you ask.... Citrus. Our citrus harvest is in mid flow...more on that another day.

Imagine a hug

Give yourself permission to just take a couple of minutes with this blog post.

Sit down comfortably and take some deep breaths.

Breathe in for 4............1...........2...........3.............4

And breathe out for 4 ...............1.............2............3...............4

Take the time to do this for a few breaths...........

Now picture yourself receiving hug from your loved one.  Imagine their arms around you.....the hug lasts more than a second so give yourself time to imagine this as a real hug would be from your loved one.  Your bodies close, arms around each other, ....that feeling of safety and love.....

Next picture yourself being hugged by one of your parents.  Imagine how that feels.  How long does it last?  Are they long hugs?  Think about the different emotions that come to mind.  How your body fits that of your parent.  All those years of knowing each other....

What about the hug from a little child....maybe your child, or grandchild, or your friends little kids.....maybe you are bending down so they can reach around your neck...or you have lifted them up......how their head goes on your shoulder...those sweet little arms trying to encircle you.

And what about a hug with a dear friend. How does that feel.  Picture that in your mind now.

Or hugging your favorite pet, be it a dog, cat, bird.......

Just think about how those hugs feel.  Each hug we imagined, felt different from the previous one.  The person makes a difference, even in our imagination.

I hope by taking a couple of minutes, you can see that just imaging receiving a hug can be pretty powerful.  Emotional and physiological changes occur. A hug can make us feel loved, supported, safe, touched - just when it is in our heads.

So hug imagery is something to remember.  I have many clients and friends who, because of going through chemotherapy, have been told not to hug anyone for fear of getting an infection from someone.  People miss these hugs.  But they don't have to.  They can use hug-imagery instead.  Next time you meet someone who can't hug, both close your eyes and imagine that hug.  It will still mean something to that person - and you -  and they will feel they have been hugged.

And if you can't be there to give someone a hug, send them this blog post and help them to imagine the hug you are sending them. Maybe they live far away, maybe they just need your hug today.  Suggest they take one minute and imagine a hug.  It can do wonders!

And as you finish reading this, close your eyes and imagine me giving you a big hug, right now.

Shining Light

We spent Christmas and New Year in Mexico a couple of years ago, in San Miguel de Allende.  We had a wonderful time there with family.  While we were there, we bought some colorful stars as decorations.  We just put them up at home this year for the first time.  They bring such brightness and joy to the room.

So today, I want to spread some shining light and send brightness and joy to all those who aren't doing well this Christmas season, especially to:

• all the families and friends affected by the CT deaths
• my family and friends who are in hospital at the moment - Uncle Dave and Diane - and their loved ones trying to support them
• our friends overcoming or going through illness
• our friends in anguish and sadness
• and to all those that need our love and support right now

When I drove home last night, the moon was a crescent shaped smile. I couldn't stop looking at it - a shining smile to light the world.

Spread some light today. We could all do with some.

Pay it forward - a little bit of love

Kindness

Let's make this the season of kindness - a time to love and care for each other.

Friendship

Bookclub Xmas luncheon

It was our book club Xmas luncheon today.

Always a lovely day :-D

We choose our books for next year and what month we want to host, we have a Yankee swap where we each give a book, and then we have a yummy potluck lunch together with champagne and wine.

I took dessert and made a sugar free, dairy free and gluten free lemon cheesecake.  I was wondering this morning how to decorate it, so I decided on making some raw sugar free chocolate to go on top.  I had a lovely Christmas tree and reindeer chocolate transfer sheet so I put half of the raw chocolate on the sheet, then broke it into large piece and placed on the cheesecake.

This time I used "sweet freedom" as the sweetener for the chocolate.  It is a brand I bought in England. It is a natural sweetener made from apples and grapes. It worked wonderfully with the chocolate and was much easier to combine than the sticky coconut nectar. I'll be using it again!  If you live in England - give it a try.  It's great.

The rest of the chocolate I made my favorite strawberry and pink peppercorn flavor in little triangles.

It was a lovely day and I'm looking forward to all our book choices for next year.

Do you have any books you plan on reading next year?

Food as Medicine Group

In my "food as medicine" groups this week - Tuesday and Thursday - we discussed the effects of sugar in our diet, sugar substitutions, insulin resistance, diabetes, glycemic index, glycemic load etc.

(Gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free, grain free) walnut roulade with pomegranates

For the cooking part of the class we learned how to bake desserts with low glycemic load foods, for those special occasions when we have treats.  Even when desserts are made healthier, they are still foods you shouldn't eat every day...but when an occasion arises, it's nice to eat something that is made from nutritious food.

The groups made some delicious food including a walnut and pomegranate roulade, a cranberry and pear tart, choux puffs and individual citrus and chocolate cakes.  They looked so beautiful too.

(Gluten free, dairy free, egg free, refined sugar free) Cranberry and Pear Tart

They were good sessions and people seemed to enjoyed the end result!  I wonder what they'll make again at home for Christmas and friends and family.

(Fat free, gluten free, refined sugar free, dairy free) Individual Citrus Cake

All the dishes were gluten free, dairy free and refined sugar free.  In addition,

• the walnut roulade had no flour in it - only walnuts 
• the cranberry tart also had no flour, and used almonds and walnuts instead, it used flaxseeds as an alternative to eggs, and used dates as its sweetener
• the citrus cake used oat flour and replaced fat with applesauce
• the choux buns used sorghum flour and coconut milk for their cream

Which one would you chose?

Neal Barnard on Diabetes

Here is the latest talk, published this month, from Neal Barnard on Type 2 Diabetes and how is it curable. Recorded at the TED Talks in Fremont.

This research has been available for some time now, yet so many are still ignoring it.  Hopefully this talk will help share the information to those who need it.  I ran a Food as Medicine group yesterday - and another tomorrow which was all on this subject.  More people need to know.


If you are interested, read his great book :Reversing Diabetes  and check out the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine website for more information.  They lead an online 21 day vegan kick start program - in many different languages.

Truly Scrumptious - Hazelnuts

My "truly scrumptious" delight this week was a humble hazelnut.  I was cooking with some and one got away and I ate it - just raw.  Gosh - the taste was fabulous.  I rarely eat hazelnuts just as they are - but that will change now.

My first revelation about hazelnuts came when I was lucky enough to go to the French Laundry for dinner one night.  One of the courses they served had three raw hazelnuts on the plate.  When I ate one, I couldn't believe how wonderful it tasted.  I figured they must have an incredible secret place where they source them, as I'd never tasted such a fresh, flavorsome hazelnut...but then, there in my kitchen this week was another one!

Pure delight!  Go out and buy some raw hazelnuts and give them a try.  They are so delicious.  I think too often we get old rancid or salted/roasted hazelnuts and it masks their delicate flavor.  It's got to be the tastiest nut out there!

Hazelnuts are rich in unsaturated fats - which are shown to lower LDL and raise HDL.  They are also high in magnesium, manganese, Vitamin E, and B Vitamins.

You will be seeing more hazelnuts in my future!

What was the most truly scrumptious food you ate this past week?

Olive Harvest

We harvested our olives on Saturday. Just John and I.  Harvesting olives isn't nearly as glamorous as harvesting grapes, so it's rare we get anyone to help!

But it is still fun....And it was a lovely sunny day. Much nicer than harvesting in the cold and rain as can be the case with a crop that ripens in December!

We were out there for about 2 1/2 hours.  Not too long.  One of the reasons it didn't take too long is that most of our trees are too tall and so most of the olives are unaccessible.  We therefore pick those that we can easily reach by ladder, without risking life and limb and then stop.  The previous owners of the property had planted some olive trees and let them grow tall, so it's only the one's we've planted that are of a reasonable height for harvesting.

There were a lot of olives on some of the trees. They are alternate year crops so tend to have olives one year and none/very few the next...but we have about 13 trees, so there are always some with a crop.

The time to pick olives for pressing for oil is when about 70% are black and 30% are green. They change from green to black.... apart from one tree that always just has green olives.  This is an anomaly - olive trees shouldn't do this, but this one does for some reason!

We took them to Figone's Olive Press in the village.  They will press them and we pick up the oil next weekend.

We picked 111lbs - in just over two hours.  Pretty good going.

Should be enough oil to last us a few years.

But it is tiring and makes your shoulders and neck ache being up the tree and raking them. You can see in photo of me that I have a collecting vessel in front of me that you rake the olives into.  (The hat and sunglasses are protective from swipes of branches!)

This last photo gives you an idea of what we did when we got back from the olive press, to help those aching muscles!

Driving dogs

Watch what dogs are being trained to do now!  Designed to show us that rescue dogs can easily be taught new things ;-D


Just so long as a squirrel doesn't run in front of them!!!

My next tree house

You may already know that I've always wanted a tree house...we looked into it relatively seriously a few years ago, but it just wasn't going to work out....

But now I've found a great design for one.....

and it's something  I can share, not only with friends and family, but also....

with the birdies :-D

Yes the tree house is for birds and people. There is a wall separating the bird part with little peep holes so you can watch the birdies!

How cute is that!

This one is in Japan.  Designed by Nendo.

When do I get mine?  Just imagine sitting in your little treehouse and being serenaded by the little birds on the other side....  My sort of place.

New food of the week - Samphire

When I was in England last week, I had a vegetable that was new to me - Samphire.  It was served in a restaurant to accompany some fish.

I don't recall ever eating before.  It is an edible wild plant found on the coast of England and some areas of Europe.  It is now also cultivated in some areas of Britain where it grows in a light rich soil.  The removal of the wild plants is now considered illegal in UK, but harvesting is permitted.

It is a little crispy and goes well with fish, as it has a taste of the sea. It looks a little like skinny small asparagus.

It can be used raw, but the one I tasted was steamed.  It was a lovely bright green color.  Use the stems and leaves - not roots and don't add salt as it is already salty.

I liked it. Not something I'd have all the time, but it definitely did go well with fish and had a different texture.

Have you ever tried it?

Strawberry and pink peppercorn raw chocolate

I've been making raw chocolate today.  Yes, chocolate that has health benefits and is refined sugar free, dairy free and gluten free!

The recipe needs a little tweaking still, but the taste is wonderful.  I don't think reworking the recipe will be too much of a hardship!

You may recall at the gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free dessert class I taught a couple of months ago, I did dried strawberry and pink peppercorn cookies. I just love the combination so tried that as one of my raw chocolate flavors.

It is yummy. I used coconut nectar as the sweetener and it didn't combine completely with the chocolate so I'll try reducing it a little next time....maybe tomorrow!

I love this new mold I bought in England. It make a perfect sized bite...4cm x 2.5 cm. And the chocolate tempered well, with a lovely glossy sheen.

I'm hoping the recipe will be good for my Food as Medicine classes next week.....

Watch out - strawberry and pink peppercorn will be a flavor combination popping up everywhere soon. Remember you heard it here first! :-D

What's your favorite flavor?