Hunter Gatherer - The Cost of Organic Vegetables

Have you ever wondered about the cost of organic vegetables? Do the additional costs involved in organic farming practices really justify the hefty price? Are organic vegies a rip-off? I don't think so!

We live in a farming area and are surrounded by vegetable crops - some of which are organic. We are fortunate where we live that we are able to observe the farming practices around us and take note of what is happening on a daily basis. Two farms in our area are currently growing spring onion crops. On the non organic farm the farmer has sprayed the crop regularly (every ten days it seems). It takes the farmer about an hour to spray the large paddock and we don't see him at the crop in between sprays.

On the organic farm a team of 12 farm workers were employed last week to work alongside the farmer weeding the organic spring onions (allowing them to grow unhindered). It took the twelve workers 16 hours of back-breaking work to weed the crop. The organic farmer visits the crop most days and walks through checking it all. The organic farmer must still maintain a heavy tractor to plough the soil and sow the seeds, it is only the spray attachment that he doesn't require.

Imagine the costs involved in employing 12 people for 16 hours. This weeding may even be repeated before the crop are harvested. Just amazing! Having coughed and choked my way through a mist of vegetable spray once before (I got caught outside at the clothes line on a windy day - grrrr), I know which farmer I will be supporting. This is just one example involving one crop! :-)

Hunter Gatherer - Waste Not, Want Not!!!

When I did weight watchers years ago they had a slogan that went something like "Waste It. Don't Waist It". At the time I thought that it was quite a nifty little slogan and one that made a lot of sense. At the time though I hadn't travelled through Ethiopia and fallen in love with a country that has such a tragic history of famine and starvation. In light of what I have since seen I can honestly say that that slogan sickens me. When you see poor farming communities with failing crops that are hundreds of kilometres from the major centres, you know that the people will most likely perish before the season is over. And our country has an organisation that advocates wasting food. It is nothing short of disgraceful! Shouldn't the slogans be saying "Just don't buy it in the first place"???

Even in my day to day living I see huge examples of wastage. I have known a lady all of my life who will not eat left-overs. Beautiful salads are thrown in the bin straight after BBQ's. The remains of roasted chickens are thrown away after enough meat for two adults (just one meal) has been sliced off. It makes my blood boil!!!

Now don't get me wrong I am certainly not advocating us all eating every single thing in our fridge regardless of how long it has been there for. During our second trip to Ethiopia (despite being extremely careful) I contracted a rare middle eastern strain of salmonella that plagued my poor body with gastro-like symptoms for over 6 weeks. When I eventually recovered (thankfully with all major organs unharmed) I decided I would do everything in my power to avoid food poisoning again. So I am certainly not going to be feeding my family anything that is even remotely dodgy.

Despite these food hang-ups though I still manage to make use of almost all of our fresh produce and leftovers. Having a thermomix is an awesome way to use up fresh produce that has seen better days. In no time at all I can turn rather tired looking fruit and vegies into delicious soups, stocks, sauces, jams and fruit compotes. Very little goes to waste in our household now that we have our precious thermie! Of course having a few chooks and a compost bay in the yard helps with this also. :-)

Using up left-overs is a bigger challenge and often takes a little more "nutting out". Of course many things can simply be reheated and eaten in the same form, but some things can be reworked and turned into something completely different. Here are some examples of this:

* Leftover mashed potato can be turned into fish cakes.

* Leftover mashed potato and steamed veggies can be turned into Bubble and Squeak.

* Leftover cooked sausages, meatballs, rissoles, chicken and meatloaf can all be chopped and frozen in small bags or containers for pizza toppings (much healthier than processed and artificially preserved meats).

* Leftover roast chicken can be used in delicious curries and pasta bakes.

* Leftover Spaghetti Bolognaise can be spread on pizza bases and sprinkled with cheese for a very child pleasing meal.

* Leftover Meatloaf with Red Sauce (recipe from the EDC) can be turned into Italian Sausage Gratin (using the sauce, meat and extra boiled eggs) or the sauce and meatloaf can be spread on pizza bases and sprinkled with grated cheese for an easy meal.

There are so many great meals that can be made using left-overs - these really are just a few.

Using up all of the food that we buy and grow each week is quite a challenge for me as head chef of our family, but I honestly find it very satisfying to head off to the market or store knowing that my fridge and fruit bowl are completely empty from the week before. I encourage you (and challenge you :-)) to only buy and grow what you truly need and to use it all up (even if you freeze what you make to use another day or give it to somebody in need). It is a great way to save money, to teach your children about excess and to know in your heart that you are not being wasteful when there are people in our world who are starving. xox

Filling Tummies with Yummy Whole Grain Crepes

Today was such a busy day at our house. Hubby and I decided to do a makeover of our little man's room in honor of him moving from his cot to a big bed (sniff, sniff). Our youngest son's room was one of two rooms in our renovated farm house that we hadn't got around to painting and sprucing up. We painted the walls and ceiling, washed and mended the curtains, packed up the cot, assembled the big boy bed and then put the room all back together. It all looks so lovely and fresh now and little man was admiring it all as he snuggled down in his bed tonight. He did look so little in that big bed though!

You may be thinking how on earth did we get the energy to get through all of that in one day. The answer my friends is a delicious breakfast of purple smoothies (see notes for purple variation) and wholegrain crepes with pure organic maple syrup. This was my first experimentation with whole grain crepes and they were sooooooooo good! Aside from the fact that they were ridiculously filling, there was no possible way of knowing they were made with whole grains. Just perfectly lovely crepes (light and delicate) with the goodness of milk, eggs and of course soaked whole grains. Yum!

Whole Grain Crepes

Ingredients:

390g non-homogenised milk
150g spelt, wheat or khorasan (kamut)
1 tbsp organic apple cider vinegar

30g organic oil (mild flavoured)
3 free range eggs
pinch Himalayan salt

Method:
Place milk, grain and vinegar in bowl and blend for 2 minutes on speed 9. Scrape mixture down half way through.

Scrape mixture into a bowl (or leave in TM), cover with a tea towel and leave to soak at cool room temperature for 24 hours (I really do recommend this amount of time).

After the soaking period add all of the ingredients into the TM bowl (including the soaked flour) and blend for 3 minutes at speed 9.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes before making the crepes.

I make six large (and extremely filling) crepes using my crepe pan. I season the pan with butter before making the first crepe and then do not add any more butter to the pan.

Serve as sweet or savoury crepes - with lemon and rapadura, pure maple syrup, fruit and cream, chicken curry etc.

My Dairy Dilemma!!!

I feel terrible!!! My nose is running, my throat is itchy and my sinuses may explode at any minute. If I went to a Chemist I have no doubt that they would send me off with some anti-histamines for hayfever, but I know what the real problem is. Dairy!!!

We don't have a lot of dairy in our family diet. Our breakfasts are dairy-free and we drink and eat very little dairy other than what I use in my cooking. Sometimes however we will sneak in a round of milkshakes, a batch of homemade ice cream or perhaps even some custard or rice pudding. That is what we having been doing a bit this week and that is why I feel so terrible.

I have known for quite some time that I don't tolerate dairy well and it makes me snuffly. I have also known that overloading on dairy will bring on hay fever symptoms and make me miserable. Other than cutting right down on dairy though I haven't really done anything about it though. I certainly haven't been brave enough to cut it right out like my blogger buddy Quirky Jo. I think if it wasn't for the cheese factor (I love cheese!!!) and perhaps my terrible sweet tooth (I love chocolate!!!) I possibly could cut it out. I know it isn't necessary for a healthy diet and that there are a lot better foods to eat for the absorbtion of calcium and other important nutrients. Big sigh!

Something that I have been thinking about lately though is the whole A2 milk revolution. I have been researching all about it and have started to wonder if perhaps A2 milk and dairy products are the answer to my dilemma. There is so much info on A2 milk out there but I really don't think you can beat this succinct explanation from the fed up website:

"A2 is the name of a milk protein that was in all dairy herds until a natural mutation occurred in the European herd thousands of years ago.

Milk from Jersey cows, Guernsey cows, camels, sheep, buffalo, yaks, donkeys, goats, and Asian cows naturally contain mostly these A2 beta casein proteins, whereas milk from cows such as Holsteins usually contains mostly the protein variant called A1 beta casein. In the 1970s, Australian dairy herds switched from using Jersey cows to Holsteins and at that time some dairy farmers’ families noticed effects on their health, keeping a Jersey cow for their own use.

Milks containing mostly A2 proteins are often said to be better for ‘allergies’ (such as gut, skin rashes, hayfever, cough). There is also research to suggest that A1 beta casein may be associated with serious health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes type 1 and autism."

I have decided to trial A2 milk and A2 dairy products for the next fortnight whilst monitoring my snuffling, sneezing and itchy throat. I am going to try to cut out A1 milk and milk products completely for the fortnight. Our local organic farm shop sells Elgaar dairy products made from 100% Jersey milk so I will still be able to use cream, quark and mozzarella (only a little though because it is SO expensive). I will buy A2 milk from the supermarket though, as the Elgaar milk that is sold is now blended with 20% Holstein milk. The supermarket milk is homogenised, but it is the only other option for me here (that I know of) and may only be for a fortnight. I have heard that Lindt do a dairy-free chocolate so I will probably have to check that out at some stage during the fortnight also.

Fingers crossed that there is some huge improvement and I really don't need to give up dairy altogether. :-)

Filling Tummies without White Pasta and Rice!!!

I love my thermomix dearly and really do believe that using a thermomix can lead to a greatly improved family diet. There is one area though that worries me a little and has done right from the start. I have noticed that many of the quick and easy family meals in the TMX cookbooks are white pasta and white rice based dishes. Whilst they are certainly easy and most are very yummy, these dishes really do need to be eaten in moderation. In her book "Wholefood for the Family" Jude Blereau says "I have nothing against pasta - I love it! - but it's not something to be eaten every night for dinner. Unfortunately that's what I see a lot of people doing. At the end of a busy day, pasta is a quick and appealing option."

I would hate to think that in the quest to eat a healthier preservative free diet people may actually move from basic meat and three veg meals to "healthy" TMX meals that are actually packed with harmful white carbs (pasta, risotto etc). Not good! In an effort to maintain balance in our diet I try and limit our main meals to one white pasta and one white rice dish per week. This gives us some special treat meals each week, but also keeps the meal focus on lean meat, legumes, and vegetables.

Here are some of our favourite TMX white rice/white pasta free meals
(although some do contain a small amount of bread crumbs and corn flour):

Curried Pumpkin and Lentil Soup

Bangers and Mash

Versatile Beef Stew

Meatball, Vege and Bean Soup

Lentil Bolognaise (served with jacket potatoes)

Baf's Award Winning Creamy Chicken and Veg

Spiced Chicken and Sweet Potato

Chicken Kiev

Filling Tummies with Curried Pumpkin and Lentil Soup

I know it is nearly summer and most of you have probably moved on from soups, but it is still quite chilly down here in Tassie. Still perfect weather for soup!!!

I came across this curried pumpkin and lentil soup recipe on taste.com and when I read all of the wonderful reviews I just had to try it. I must say it is one of the best pumpkin soups I have ever tasted and so ridiculously easy. Seriously thick and yummy!!! I have converted it for the thermomix below, but if you don't have a thermomix check out the original recipe here (it still looks quite easy).

Curried Pumpkin and Lentil Soup

 Ingredients:
1/2 onion, peeled and halved
1 clove garlic, peeled
40g organic olive oil
1 teaspoon curry powder (or to taste)
700g butternut pumpkin, peeled, seeds removed, and roughly chopped
100g dried red lentils
620g vegetable stock (600g water and 1 tbsp stock concentrate)
natural yoghurt, to serve

Method:
Add onion and garlic to TMX bowl and chop for 3 seconds on speed 5.

Add oil and sauté for 3 minutes at 100 degrees, reverse speed 1, adding the curry powder in the last minute.

Add the pumpkin and chop for 5 seconds on speed 5.

Add the lentils and stock and cook for 20 minutes at 100 degrees on reverse soft speed.

Blend for 20 seconds gradually moving the dial up to speed 9.

Serve with a dollop of natural yoghurt.

Filling Tummies with Sally's Yummy Tomato Sauce

Whoops I just realised that I had promised to post this wonderfully easy and yummy sauce recipe a couple of days ago. Sorry folks! Thanks again to Sally for giving me permission to post her relish and sauce recipes here on my blog. :-)

Tomato Sauce

1 kg tomatoes
200g apples
200g onions
150g sugar
150g vinegar
2 tbs salt
tsp each of cayenne pepper, allspice & cloves (can add more or less depending on personal taste)

Cut tomatoes in half and place in TM bowl. Chop on speed 7-8 for 2-3 seconds, just enough to reduce the size to fit the rest of the ingredients in.

Quarter apples & onions & place in tm bowl. Chop for 4-5 seconds on speed 7-8.

Add the remainder of the ingredients.

Cook for 30 mins, temp. 100, speed 1.

If it gets too hot and bubbles over reduce the temp to 90. I place folded paper towel into the mc hole (wrapped around the MC) about 20 mins into the cooking to help thicken the sauce.

At the end of cooking puree the sauce to desired consistency & place into hot sterilized bottles.

Scarves for Ethiopian Children

Many of you would have read my recent post regarding my challenge to make 90+ polar fleece scarves as presents for Ethiopian children this Christmas/Genna. I would like to thank all of you who have pledged to help me (especially as the number of scarves needed has climbed to over 130). I will email my postal address to those who have offered to help or send you a PM on forum thermomix if I don't have your address. I am hoping to send off the scaves at the end of November. If you would like to assist and haven't contacted me please leave a message below.

Our scarves are well underway here. I found some lovely bright polar fleece on special at Spotlight for $7.50 a metre. I asked the lady to cut it into lengths of 1.2m (each 1.2m length is enough fabric to make 10 scarves). They are very easy using a metre ruler (or something large with a straight edge) and good fabric scissors.

Here is a photo of my eldest son modelling one of the scarves:

I recently was asked a very good question about the scarves by one of my good friends and I thought I should probably include it (and my answer) here on my blog. My friend asked why I have chosen to make scarves and not blankets or clothing if the children are so destitute. Such a good question CG!

My answer was simply that the scarves are a gift and not aid. Aid is desperately needed of course (and we help as much as we can) but I truly believe that there is also a place for the giving of gifts that will bring a little joy to those who lead such terribly difficult lives. I haven't always thought this way though. During our first trip to Ethiopia we spent time at a HIV/AIDS orphanage in the capital. We played soccer and tag with the older children, carried the babies outside for some sunshine and cuddles and we gave the very poor centre specialised formula, powdered milk and birr (Ethiopian $$). It was honestly one of the hardest times of my life and I had to find a lot of courage deep within myself to be able to hold some of the little orphans who were completely covered in open lesions but so desperate for my affection. I can tell you that I have never felt more wonderfully alive in my life though and I can't wait to get back and do more!

During that time we were amazed to see the children (who were basically wearing rags and fighting AIDS related illnesses without any medication) wearing sparkling hair clips, bright plastic sunglasses and beads. When I spoke to one of the workers she told me that an American couple had come and given them to the children (with a small amount of birr). I was enraged. I thought surely those stupid people could at least bring some food and powdered milk for the children. As the time progressed though I began to notice how much the children treasured their "bling" and how happy they were wearing their sparkly trinkets. My husband also noticed and we decided that next time we visited, we too would take a big bag of bling for the children! Even though they were extremely sick children who had suffered enormous losses, they were still just children at heart.

Scarves are used in Ethiopia as shawls, neck scarves, head pieces and tied around waists in traditional dancing which is why I thought a colourful scarf would be culturally appropriate and greatly appreciated. The cooler climate in that part of Ethiopia (even getting frosts) is why I decided on the polar fleece fabric.

Hope this helps to explain the project a little more!

Chelsea xox

Filling Tummies with Sally's Yummy Relish

Nothing beats a fresh pot of tasty relish served with homemade sausage rolls. Yum! With tomatoes starting to naturally ripen in the northern states of Australia, it is time for many to start getting stuck into some preserving.

My friend Sal has given me permission to post her very yummy and very easy relish and sauce TMX recipes on my blog. Here is the relish recipe and the sauce recipe will follow in the next couple of days. My apologies for no photo. We have been struck down by gastro at our house and I am sticking to no-frills blogging until things settle down!

Sally's Yummy Relish

Ingredients:

1kg tomatoes

1 large onion - peeled and quartered

1-2 apples - quartered

150g sugar

1-2 tsp mustard

1-2 tsp curry powder

pinch of cayenne pepper

1-2 tbsp salt

150g vinegar

Method:

Place tomatoes into TM bowl and chop for 2 seconds on speed 4-5.

Place onion and apples and place in TM bowl. Chop for 2 seconds on speed 4-5. Do not over chop.

Add remainder of ingredients and mix for 10 seconds on reverse speed 3.

Cook for 30 mins, temp 100, reverse speed 1.

I place a paper towel around the mc in the hole to thicken the relish. You may need to cook longer if it is not thick enough.

Pour into hot sterilised jars.

Enjoy!

Putting My Feet Up!!!

Hi All,

Just thought I should let you know I haven't fallen off the earth. My in-laws visited from the mainland and kept us all very busy for the week. The boys really loved having their Grandparents over for a visit (more people to boss around).

In the next couple of days I should have a new recipe for you to try and a few reviews from the TMX Budget Busters Cookbook. Stay tuned.  Until then I am putting my feet up - I am exhausted!

Chelsea xox