Today I went to the Crystal Castle and something wonderful happened. I felt such a sense of peace.

Near the Soladite rock was a sign which said:

"It has been said that the longest distance you will ever travel is the journey from your head to your heart."

So often when you go to an attraction you expect your mind to be wowed but my heart was wowed and I left with such a sense of lightness and peace.

It has reminded me of how really important my environment is to me and how much simpler life really is than my mind makes it.

I am not really sure how it happened all I know is that it did and it was special.

So this week I am going to gently focus on creating a nurturing environment at home in a gentle way.

25 Friendly Living Ways For Spring

This post is inspired by a post I saw on Mark's Daily Apple which is an inspirational site dedicated to paleo living but really good food for thought for all non-paleos too!

As my energy increases, and I am learning not to push my body so hard, I am trying to incorporate more joy into my life. Here are some ideas of things which are joyful and economical that I will try:

Star Gazing.  It is full moon on 1 September so a good time to watch the night sky.
Fresh Sheets. Add essential oils to the fabric conditioner, hang them out in the air to dry, and iron them.
Wind Chimes. Hang some outside my bedroom window, sleep with the window open, and fall asleep.
Fly a Kite. I bought one years ago and it is still sitting there!
In Season Produce. Shop at the farmers market and pick 1 in season recipe and try a new recipe.
Picnic. Set up my picnic basket and sit on the beach and have a picnic and read books.
Sunrise. Get up at sunrise and go for a walk on the beach and mediate.
BBQ. Learn how to REALLY use my new BBQ and experiment with healthy recipes.
Backyard Tennis. Set up backyard tennis and hit it when tense! Saw them at Kmart for 12 dollars!
Living Garden. Set up a living garden of edible plants - start small maybe lettuce & herbs.
Outdoor Dining. Set up the dining table outside and eat consciously away from the tv!
Walk in Nature. Visit a new park each weekend and build up a variety of places for long walks.
Hammock. Buy a hammock and have an afternoon nap at the weekend.
Morning Ritual.  Establish a morning ritual that sets up my day for joy.
Buddhist Offering. Pick a flower on my walk and put it in a bowl near the front door with my Buddha.
Meditation. Join a buddhist women's meditation group and really commit to meditating daily.
Baths. Relearn to relax in a bath with epsom salts, crystal salt, ginger, and some essential oils.
Creative Visualization. Walk into the water and feel the waves pulling and pushing against my body and visualizing it taking away  the illness from my body.
Aromatherapy. Try new blends and burn in my sitting room.
Library. Go to the library and take out a book on something I dont know much about.
Music. Fill the house with music not the television!
Blog. Reflect, share, and resolve by writing on this blog.
Snuggle. Have a snuggle with the cat and connect with the rhythm of his purr.
Inspiration.  Collect inspirational images and put them above my desk.
Gratitude. Really take the time to listen, feel the love I have for them, and resonate it back to them.

Here is something that bought me joy today - This is the view from my front balcony. I walked down that path. Down the beach to the shops, and back along the path. It was beautiful. What brings you joy?

Try This: Inflammatory Tracker of Foods

Graphics Credit: Greatist

I have been doing some research on histamine free diets, the gut and pscyhology (GAPS) diet, and the PALEO diet as I develop my style of eating. 

I am not a diet sort of person (those should should should never really worked for me). What does work for me is swapping out things for better choices and embedding them into my lifestyle. It really does.

In doing my research I have stumbled across a nutrition calculator that includes an inflammation marker (as well as histadine!! At last something that puts some science behind those lists). 

Whilst it is of course a ranking tool I am struck by the usefulness of aspects of the GAPS and PALEO diets to moving forward and I have decided to shift my eating as follows:

1. Continue to restrict histamine/histadine rich foods

2. Eliminate all grains, legumes, and sugar - this is not strict paleo because I have decided to keep limited amounts of fruits, sweet potatoes, full fat milk, and butter).

3. Introduce anti-inflammatory whole foods into my meals. 

Find the Inflammation Tracker here. They also have an apple app.

Find the Nutrition Calculator (including histadine) here. 

Sweet Potato, Celeriac, Pear Soup

This soup was a bit of an accident born out of what was in my refrigerator but absolutely delicious.

It has reinforced my new love for celeriac which despite being possibly the most ugly vegetable has the most subtle celery and parsley overtone which making it one of the most versatile.

The celery, pear, and ginger ads a softness to the flavour of the sweet potatoes which surprisingly compliment and enhance one another. 

Ingredients:

1 Small Sweet Potato, Peeled and Roughly Chopped

1/2 Small Celeriac, Peeled and Roughly Chopped

1 Pear, Cored and Roughly Chopped

2 Teaspoons Fresh Ginger, Peeled and Finely Chopped

0.5 Litre Chicken Stock

0.5 Litre Water, Bottled

I made this in the soup maker on setting 1. Verdict. Delicious! Using 1:1 chicken stock and water meant the stock did not overpower the subtle flavours.

Beetroot, Fennel & Ginger Soup

Photo Credit: Dollipopprincess

This soup packs a powerful punch both vegetable wise and flavour wise. The flavours roll on so that you get the earthiness of the beetroot, followed by the licorice of fennel, and the ginger lingers. You could say it is a licorice all sort.

The soup is actually a WeightWatcher's recipe. Whilst I am not into strict diet regime's (having been there and not done that) I am struck at how many sensible good soup recipes are accredited to weight watchers. I have modified it slightly but here it is:

Ingredients
Serves 4

750ml Chicken Stock
1/2 Small Cabbage (I used Red Cabbage)
500g Beetroot (peeled and roughly chopped)
1 Small Fennel Bulb (trimmed and roughly chopped)
1 Large Clove Garlic (Russian)
2 Teaspoons Fresh Ginger (peeled and roughly chopped)
1/2 Teaspoon Lemon Juice
Salt and Pepper to Taste

I put all ingredients into the soup maker and used setting 2. If you wish to make it using more traditional methods then you can follow the weight watchers recipe above. Verdict: Delicious.

Zucchini, Pear, Thyme Soup

Photo Credit: Canberra Times

Pears are amongst the friendliest foods or at least  one of the fruits with the least amount of natural chemicals and are in season at the moment.

I have never been a huge fan mostly because they are so tricky to get ripe - either they are rock hard or overly ripe - with only a short span in between.

Yet with a lot of favours unable to be eaten I was intrigued by this Mark Bittman Recipe. It sounded intriguing and I want to experiment with pears as a source of flavour.

Zucchini are one of those vegetables that is packed with nutrition and yet takes on the flavour of what accompanies it. I made the mistake of using chicken stock in this soup which meant that the flavour overpowered the subtlty of the pears. I will make this again with vegetable stock or water (and have reflected as such below)

Zucchini, Pear, Thyme Soup
Adapted from Mark Bittman's Recipe Above
Serves 4

1 Tablespoon Butter
1 Medium Carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
1 Medium Onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 Small Potato, Peeled and roughly chopped
1/4 Teaspoon Fresh Thyme
2 Medium Zucchini, trimmed and roughly chopped
1 Medium ripe but firm Pear, cored and diced
3 Cups Vegetable Stock (preferably home made)


Put in soup-maker and set to program 1. Well the recipe is that simple with a soup maker! Did I tell you it really does make a mean soup. For those wishing to make this a traditional way follow Mark Bittman's recipe and enjoy!

Fennel, Celery & White Bean Soup

This soup is inspired by Maggie Beer who is somewhat of an icon here in Australia. What I love about Maggie's cooking is that she is often bringing back into fashion ingredients that have fallen out of fashion. Her TV series 'The Cook and The Chef' has just come to an end. So this is an homage to Maggie.

She has a soup range which all sounds delicious but which I have not tried because she uses her own verjuice (which she has pioneered here) and I am not sure if it has histamines in it. It says it is unfermented but it is from grapes so I am nervous.

I have also altered the recipe to include more vegetables and this is where I ended up:

Ingredients (Preferably Organic):


1 Litre Chicken Stock
2 Small Fennels (bulbs only)
3 Stalks Celery (trimmed)
1 Clove Russian Garlic (2 - 3 if using traditional garlic) peeled
1 Tin Cannellini Beans (Drained)
1 Tablespoon Butter
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
1 Teaspoon Fresh Thyme

Serves 4

I made this in my soup-mixer so I put all ingredients in and used setting 1. This was extremely delicious and had a very light licorice flavour from the fennels which seemed to be beautifully balanced by the acidity of the lemon and freshness of the celery. Delicious.

Parsnip & Parsley Soup

Photo Credit: Wedding Chicks

When I am looking for recipes I often just search the images and then look through if my eyes are drawn to it. That is how I found this next soup which is from Simpy Recipes.
Ireland is called the green country - and this soup is definately green. The author says that the soup is inspired by Ireland's green meadows and rolling hills which is Ireland.

Reading this recipe brings back very found memories for me of doing a staying at Ballymaloe and doing a pastry course with Darina Allen and then doing 'the Ring of Kerry.' Good times.

Ingredients (All Preferably Organic):

500g Parsnips (Peeled and Roughly Chopped)
1 Leek (White Parts Only Roughly Chopped)1 Strip of lemon zest Plus 1 Tbs Lemon Juice
1 Tbs Butter
2 Garlic Cloves
1 Litre Chicken stock
1 bunches Parsley
Salt & Pepper to TasteServes 4 People

The recipe for the soup maker is quite straightforward. Put everything into the soup maker (other than the parsley) and set to setting 1. The soup is ready for serving 25 minutes later. Add the parsley and process a further 20 seconds. Parsnips are often seen as old fashioned these days but the sweetness of the parsnips contrasts perfectly with the tartness of the lemon juice and parsley to make this a truly delicious soup. 

Sunshine Soup

This soup is inspired by Nigella Lawson's Happiness Soup which I have adapted to make it anti-inflammatory.

Nigella is known for her love of food, vocabulary, and life and that is what you have in Happiness Soup. For those without a soup maker you can do no better than to start with her recipe.

I am calling my version Sunshine Soup because just a few minutes of sunshine in winter makes the world seem like a better place.


Ingredients (All Preferably Organic):
Serves 2

280g Summer Squash (Roughly Chopped)
1 Small White Onion (Roughly Chopped)
1/4 Lemon (Zest Peel & Juice)
1 Large Russian Garlic Clove
1 Tsp Butter (Unsalted - Good Quality)
3 cm Tumeric (Peeled & Roughly Chopped)
120g Sweet Potato (Peeled & Roughly Chopped)
2 Cups Chicken stock
Salt & Pepper to Taste

For Serving:
1 Tsp Pesto Per Bowl or Fresh Basil (mine is straight from the garden).


The recipe for the soup maker is quite straightforward. Put everything (other than the pesto or basil leaves) into the soup maker and set to setting 1. The soup is ready for serving 25 minutes later.

The butter (or oil) and sweet potato (or oats) gives the soup a cohesive velvety texture. The lemon, garlic, and pesto or basil helps what is otherwise a fairly colourful but bland vegetable with big punchy flavours.

All of the ingredients are histamine free with the exception of the lemon juice which is controversial. Some lists include them. Some don't.  Personally I find I can tolerate lemon juice in small quantities.

All left-overs should be frozen immediately to prevent a histamine building.

The 30 Day Soup Challenge

Winter has come and it is dark so early now and my mind body and soul wants soup.

My childhood memories of cold days are football and soup. Lately, I have been inspired by a lot of the research on the role of stock in restoring the gut which is also known as the second brain.

Last week I saw a post on Sarah Wilson's blog about the Tefal Soup & Co soup maker. Sarah writes on autoimmune issues (not histamine intolerance) and is a constant source of inspiration.

Despite my initial hesitation to buy 'yet another electrical appliance' I purchased one today. 

The verdict: I love it. The huge plus is you get chef worthy results without the effort or mess. I came home, plugged it in, threw in ingredients, and left it. 25 minutes later I had a silky soup ready to pour and serve. 

So I am setting myself a challenge. 30 days. 30 soups. Starting today. 

The Value (and Savings) of A Good Butchere

A good butcher has been essential for me.

Key to eating with high copper is eating more meat for the zinc. Key to eating with histamine intolerance is ensuring that it is very fresh (no discolouration) and no chemicals to preserve it.

It took some time to find a butcher who actually butchers on premises and will cut to order. It seems strange to say that but that is the reality of the post supermarket world.

And making friends with your local butcher has other benefits. They will put aside the chicken carcasses for me (which still have so much chicken meat on them) and it makes the most delicious chicken stock.

Three huge carcasses cost me only $2.06 and has made the most amazing golden heart warming stock that not only adds flavour to any dish but nurtures the gut.

Who have you made friends with in your journey to wellness?

Planning For Joy

Part of the healing journey for me is reducing stress and that means not only dealing with the difficult bits but also fully experiencing joy.

As I have got older joy is no longer something I hope for but something I plan. As I open my eyes my mantra to start my day is "I am creating joy in my life"


Joy is something I take time to savour. When I experience it the feeling cascades through my body as a feeling of well being.It is a massage from the mind. 


On those days where joy feels so hard to find I pick up the cat and he will always oblige with a purr. That is my image of joy ... a purr with that full body contentment that joy brings ... which never disappoints.


As I fall into bed at the end of the day I reflect on '3 moments of joy' during the day. It reminds me of what makes me happy and makes me conscious to seek out those fleeting moments and savour them. 


What brings you joy?

Abundance

Abundant Organics

For me part of living with the reality of the 'no' list of foods is finding enjoyment in the 'yes' list.

Having grieved for a respectable time the removal of tomatoes from my diet (not to mention pumpkin, eggplant, and spinach) I am now inspired to find flavour and enjoyment in other vegetables.

Today I received my first delivery from Abundant Organics and it was abundant indeed. This is what greeted me this afternoon.

I now have a new obsession, some heirloom organic 'purple'  carrots (just see peeking out left bottom) not to mention those incredible spring onions! Purple carrots anyone?

[Since writing this post I have tried another organic delivery service Lettuce Delivery with a slightly wider variety but sadly not this freshness]

Pea, Potato, Zucchini & Chicken Soup

During the winter months I find there is no better way to get lots of vegetables into me than to eat soup for lunch. Soup is simple, filling, delicious and can be done with as much effort as I have at that time.

In order to get flavour into the soup (as most seasonings make me very ill) I find the best way is through home made chicken stock. I make condensed chicken stock and freeze it in ice-cube trays. I can then pull it out and make a soup in about within 20 minutes.

Although there are lots of ways to refine the soup given my limited energy and time I have simplified this to maximize the taste whilst minimizing the effort. Here is a recipe from today:

Ingredients (2 Serves):

Shallot Onion 1, Small, Grated
Garlic Clove 1, Crushed
Potatoes, 1 Large, Peeled and Grated
Zucchini, 1 Large, Chopped
Chicken Stock, 0.5 Litre (Diluted with Bottled Spring Water)
Frozen Peas, 1/2 Cups (1/4 cup if Freezing)
Chicken breast,. cooked & chopped roughly

Grate onion, potato, and zucchini. Crush garlic.

Dilute chicken stock in 0.5 litre of water. Add onion, potato, zucchini, and garlic and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer covered for around 15 minutes until vegetables are soft.  Divide the soup in half  and freeze as soon as cool for future use.

Add the peas and the chicken breast, and cook for a few more minutes until heated through. Then enjoy!