my kitchen rules

This post has nothing to do with the television program of the same title, it was just a sneaky way for me to name the post and veer slightly off topic and on to the mysterious knack of keeping house with children who are still learning the 'house rules'.

I have a friend who I admire, we'll call her D, D has an almost magical ability to keep her home in impeccable order without it feeling clinical or uninviting. In fact it is just the opposite, her home is aesthetically beautiful and the order imbues it with a sense of calm making it a warm and welcoming space to be in. She has two sons under the age of 7 and you can arrive unannounced day or night and order reigns supreme.

I marvel about her to other friends "I have this friend who..." and those friends say "oh but she must spend her whole day cleaning and tidying".

I recently came clean (pardon the pun) and asked D her secret. She laughed that I wanted to know and then happily filled me in.

I thought her answer may interest you too (sorry to those who couldn't care!) I am always curious about how other people 'do' life and am eternally searching for better ways to do things myself.

D says, "I can't think clearly if the space around me is disorganised. I am just one of those people who needs things to be ordered. And no I definitely don't spend all day cleaning up".

I suggested that really all people probably function best when their space is ordered but it is the how to make that happen that is a mystery to many, especially when you have professional house messer upperers (children) to derail your order.

Here is D's strategy:

Get rid of stuff. Regularly - "less stuff = less to organise, put away, tidy etc;"
Storage - "a place for everything and everything in its place"
Morning ritual - "washing goes on as soon as I get up. Beds are made as soon as everyone is up"
Dishes - "I never let them stack up. I let them drip dry but I wash them as we go."
Toys - "I have taught my boys to clean as they go. They pack up one game before they start the next."

Sounds pretty simple, yes? Or no?

Something else occurred to me about D's secret to success: her sense of style. D has a great eye for putting things together. Some people have a natural flair for this. I'm not entirely convinced that it comes naturally to me, and I used to think that putting a lot of time and effort into how things look was er dare I say, superficial.

I've changed my mind. Creating a home that is aesthetically pleasing is not superficial, there is an organic way to go about that too by seeking out recycled furniture and fabrics rather than buying new. And because of my perfectionist tendencies I've been slow to learn that it takes time to master things, even your own sense of style and it is ok to ask for help from those you admire.

How are you at keeping house? Are you in a happy space? Or couldn't care about that pile of dishes?

chocolate honey spice cake

Let's start the week with cake shall we? It had been a while since we'd done any baking but when Autumn's cooler weather arrived on the weekend River and Sol were asking "Can we bake a cake?" 

I didn't have a recipe in mind, I wanted to work with ingredients that were in the cupboard and this chocolate honey spice cake is what Sol and I came up with after I googled around for some ideas. While Sol and I measured ingredients, mixed and stirred the cake River opted to watch E.T. for the first time but was quick to appear when the bowl needing licking. How I remember crying my way through the end of that movie when I was 6.

I had to hold Sol back from eating the squares of butter as I cut them up, and felt continually nervous as I used the electric beater that he would attempt to dive his little fingers into the bowl to pinch another butter square. Ah, cooking with children it is messy and slow and satisfying.

Chocolate honey spice cake 

Ingredients

125g butter, diced

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

3/4 cup honey

1 1/2 cups self-raising flour (I used gluten free)

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 heaped teaspoon ground cinnamon

Chocolate 'icing'

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1/4 cup honey

2 tbsp hot water

1/2 cup icing sugar

For the cake:

Preheat oven to 180C

Grease and line a small rectangular or round baking dish/cake tin (or you could make cupcakes).

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in eggs one at a time, stir in vanilla.

Beat in honey until smooth.

Fold in flour, cocoa and cinnamon.

Stir in milk until smooth.

Pour batter into prepared tin and bake for 20-30 minutes until edges are cooked and centre just springs back when you press on it. It is better to take it out a little early than overcook and have a dry cake.

For the icing

I began this mixture wanting to avoid using the icing sugar so I mixed the honey, cocoa and water together to make a sort of sauce but the cocoa was a bit overpowering so I decided to add some icing sugar just enough to keep the sauce consistency. It is quite sweet and not something I would make all the time but once every now and again is ok in my book.

You could add garam masala to the cake if you wanted to increase the spicyness.

A friend arrived just as this was coming out of the oven, with the help of my three chocolate cake lovers and our guest there wasn't much left by the time he departed. I managed to whisk a piece away into the fridge for River's lunch box. Chocolate cake isn't a usual addition to River's school lunch but in his words "mum, we're celebrating the start of term 2".

Do you have an alternative to making icing with icing sugar? I'd love to hear. Happy back to school for those returning today. And happy holidays to those just beginning, I am envious! x

silent sunday

figgy friday

I started today with a green smoothie of frozen banana, a beautiful ripe fig, a big handful of baby spinach leaves, filtered water and a smidge of raw honey. I followed that up with a walk and some time to write. Pete has taken the boys to play by the ocean. A perfect start to the day!

For those on school holidays I hope you've had a wonderful time, that everyone stayed well and sibling bickering, tears and tantrums were kept to a minimum. School resumes here on Monday. I am savouring the weekend days ahead. Autumn has been very kind to us with plenty of sunshine to enjoy park and beach plays, markets and long walks.

A holiday highlight for me was taking River to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, an excellent production not a flat or boring moment to be seen.

On with today's links:

Natural New Age mum has written yet another great post, this time a how-to on meal planning 

There is growing evidence linking gut health and autism, read about it here on Real Food Forager

In case you missed my friend Luci and I sharing our birth stories in the newspaper last weekend here is the link...keep the tissues handy it is a story of love, loss and healing.

Very excited to see Jude Blereau's latest book Wholefood Baking is close to being launched. Jude is running a competition on her facebook page where you can win a copy of her book. To enter you need to submit a favorite recipe that you would like Jude to re-write so that it is a healthier or allergy free version ie no wheat/dairy/gluten/refined sugar. You can find details here. Good luck!

Happy weekending xx

Are you a green smoothie fan? What is your favorite green smoo recipe?

book talk: french kids eat everything by Karen Le Billon

When I bought Karen Le Billon's book recently, my first thought was "how could she fill 235 pages on curing picky eaters?!"

I enjoyed every page. So much I actually slowed my reading towards the end because I didn't want the book to finish.

Aside from the tips and rules for encouraging children to eat well, it was Karen's humorous anecdotes of what it was like to be a North American living in France with a young family that had me hanging on her every word.

Karen convinced her French husband, Philippe, that it would be a good idea to move their young family from their Canadian home to live for one year in the small village in northern France where Philippe grew up. Her idea was met with resistance from Philippe and her in-laws who impressed upon her that living in France was not like holidaying in France.

Undeterred, Karen was thrilled when the time came to pack up with Sophie age four and Claire a toddler and immerse themselves in the French way of life.

One of my favorite moments in the book is when they arrive in France and attend an information afternoon at the early learning centre that Claire would attend. Karen describes in detail the trays of amuse-bouches "(a term used for cocktail nibbles that literally means "entertain the mouth")", she dived in and as she was enjoying each bite looked around to see the French parents watching her quizzically. The impeccably prepared food, featuring a selection of vegetable purees atop delicate puff pastry, was in fact...for the children. This was to be the first of many cultural learning curves Karen was to slide down.

I admired Karen's resolve to take every opportunity to embrace the French way of life even when her daughters were upset and it would have been momentarily easier to give in and hand them a North American style snack.

The book contains 10 rules for raising happy, healthy eaters but Karen also takes us into her interior world when she has many times throughout the year that she wishes she was back in Canada. The focus of the book is on children and food but it is also Karen's story of being a mother and wife and trying to find her way in France with her in-laws and socially.

Aside from the 10 rules, there were two considerations that stood out to me in the book. In France, the approach to food centres around appetite and pleasure, they go together. Without appetite, there is no pleasure in eating and one of the biggest appetite suppressants is snacking. As Karen learned, French mothers do not carry around snack packs for their children because the French don't snack and their children are taught that from a young age "it is ok to be hungry between meals". The only exception to this is the gouter which roughly translates as "snack" and is served to children in the afternoon at around 4.30pm. This may sound like a rigid approach but in reality what happens is that because there is no snacking children have great appetite for their meals and eat well at meal times.

Pleasure is a major consideration in the French approach to eating. The pleasure of thinking up the menu, of shopping at the market, selecting the produce, preparing the food, the pleasure of sitting together to share food and conversation and finally the pleasure of actually eating. As Karen learned, this sits in stark contrast to the associations of guilt and stress that accompany food for many North Americans (and may I add many others eating outside European traditions). Karen shows us that because the French diet is varied and balanced and sweet indulgences are kept in perspective there is no need to feel guilty about enjoying chocolate mousse or lemon tart on occasion. And the stress that Karen had felt about meal preparation when she lived in Canada soon melted when she changed her attitude and decided to focus on enjoying each aspect of menu planning, cooking and eating with her family.

These are the 10 rules that Karen wrote out and stuck to their fridge in France:

1. Parents you are in charge of food education
2. Avoid emotional eating - no food rewards or bribes
3. Parents schedule meals and menus. Kids eat what adults eat. No short order cooking
4. Eat family meals together. No distractions (television, computers, mobile phones)
5. Eat your veggies. Key: think variety
6. You don't have to LIKE it but you do have to TASTE it. Say this at every meal
7. No snacking. It's ok to feel hungry between meals
8. Slow food is happy food, as in - eat slow
9. Eat mostly real food. treats and special occasions ok
10. Remember eating is joyful - relax

At the end of the book you will find a selection of family friendly French inspired recipes to start your family on the way to ending fussiness and embracing the pleasure of eating real food including vegetables!

When I have chatted to friends about this book a couple of them (who haven't read it) have had the same response, "Oh the French they think they are so superior and it is all well and fine to have French rules in France but I doubt they will work outside of France." That my friends, is where you are wrong. There is much to be learned from this book and Karen writes about how she adapts what she has learnt in France when they return home to Vancouver where short lunch breaks, snacking and fast food dominate.

To read more about Karen and her book go to her website.  Bon appetit!

silent sunday

newsflash

For readers who can get their hands on a copy of The Age or The Sydney Morning Herald today, if you look in the GoodWeekend liftout in the Two of Us column you'll find my friend Luci and I sharing our birth stories. I haven't even seen it yet! The lovely Kellie from dear Olive gave me the heads up. You may need tissues handy xx

friday holiday

Driving long distances with young children is a great test of endurance and patience in my opinion. "Are we there yet?" is a fantastic picture book by Alison Lester but it is not a question I want to hear every 10 minutes for seven hours.

This Easter we drove 630 kilometres up the coast to camp and then stay with friends for a few days on their beautiful property near Bega and then drove home. I am relieved to report that the car trip was actually...easy. In-'flight' entertainment consisted of an audio story and one of those old-fashioned 'Magnadoodle' boards (where you draw with a 'magic' pen and then erase the drawing by sliding a plastic tab across the board), we didn't even play eye-spy once and we don't do technology games or in car movies but somehow the whole road trip experience was smooth.

Wholefood highlights from the trip included: a thermos of dandelion tea that we sipped at our road stops, blueberry buckwheat 'damper' on the campfire, freshly caught salmon cooked on the campfire, a chai picnic on our very own secluded beach, more chai this time from Red Cafe in Bega, organic chicken roasted with herbs and root veggies served with gravy, breakfast of homegrown garlic crushed and fried in butter with an egg fresh from the hen house cracked over the garlic and fried then served on sourdough, homebaked scrumptious spelt hot cross buns, one batch with sultanas and currants and spice the other batch no fruit just chocolate chips!

On Easter Sunday we were at my nan's house where the Easter bunny left the boys a very restrained handful of mini solid eggs.

It was a wonderful road trip adventure and now we are enjoying being back home with ten more days of school holidays stretched before us.

I hope you had a delicious Easter (with or without chocolate!) and now I have some links for you and look forward to being back here with more wholefood happenings.

Pears are in season in these parts, the Mamabake ladies have a sweet recipe for pear, almond and cardomom cake (gluten free)

I love Steph's 'from this to that' posts

Vanessa's posts on lactofermentation (One & Two) are well worth a read especially for those of us going into the cold and flu time of year...healthy guts keep our immune systems strong

This makes me smile: "You should sit in meditation everyday for 20 minutes - unless you are too busy, then you should sit for an hour" - old Zen adage.

Happy weekending xx

roll with it

I couldn't leave without saying goodbye. No it's not forever, just a week. We are heading up the coast to spend Easter with friends on their beautiful property complete with rolling hills and sparkling river.

So I am taking a break from the online world to immerse myself in real life. And I am 'rolling with' the spontaneous nature of this trip and having to change plans for writing posts this week.

Along with the tent and other camping gear I have packed ingredients to make hot cross buns with our friends. If you have never baked your own hot cross buns give it a go this year, go here for my favorite recipe. Wishing you all a wonderful Easter time, whatever it means to you and however you spend it - enjoy! xx

autumn friday

just picked greens at wholefoods cooking class hosted by Sorrento Cooking School

Eating well when you're traveling is an art in itself, for some fabulous and delicious inspiration and recipes take a look at Sarah Britton's recipes and tips for healthy travel

Looking for some natural sweetness? Check out the uber post of raw sweet treat recipes over on Michelle Schoeps Organic

Some of you may already have heard of Sandra Reynold's book 'The $120 Food Challenge' I took a look at her blog for the first time this week and think this how-to post is excellent, it details the steps to take to start feeding your family for $120 per week.

Continuing on the meal planning theme, I had the pleasure of finding Kasie's blog A Collection of Passions this week via a comment Kasie left on Jay's blog. Kasie has in incredible detail come up with a series of posts about how she plans meals for her family on a monthly basis. I was going to keep Kasie's blog a secret for a while because she has written about an excellent book that I too have almost finished reading and will post about in the next couple of weeks. The book is 'French Kids Eat Everything' I have found it to be fascinating reading. But more about that later.

Many of you enjoyed Robin's story last week about cereal wars, read about her thoughts on that other great meal time divider...tomato sauce.

Lucky me, I'm heading out for dinner tonight as a guest of Cafe Vue at Heide. Not only am I looking forward to the menu but also learning more about the life and art of Australian visual artist Fiona Hall who will be in attendance to talk about her upcoming exhibition at Heide Museum of Modern Art.


And now, for some sweet sweet music...click on over to view 'Pot of Honey' performed by the fine vocalist and guitar man Scott Collins and filmed by his equally talented and lovely lady Jay Black. 

What do you have planned for the weekend? Something delicious and wonderful I hope! x