Another Park, Another Tuesday..

Went for a nice long walk after mother's group catch up this morning with some of the lovely mummies, and let the babies have a play at Waverton Park.. Great spot with a great view! 

Xo

Two More Bottles Of Wine

So after a year of putting $10 a week into a Girl's Holiday Account, our weekend at the Hunter Valley has arrived!! I have mixed emotions, extreme excitement over hanging out with my besties and getting my drank on, and extreme guilt over leaving Tahli for a weekend.. Dave is all over it, but I'm going to miss her!!

Got some snacks for the road, and now on the train on my way to Thornleigh to meet SC and Kylie for the drive up! 

After settling in at Cants Cottage, we went and had an awesome five course degustation dinner with matching wines..

The next day we woke up and had a quick brekkie, then got picked up by our wine tour shuttle bus.. 

We headed home and lit up a fire and ate an awesome lamb shanks dinner that the amazing Meagan had popped into a couple of slow cookers before we left for the tour, best dinner ever! Thanks Megs!

Have had an amazing weekend with the best gals!! Xo

(All that was left of Meag's shanks!)

Hungry Man Blues

Now that winter is kicking in, so is the uncontrollable urge to eat my weight in bread and pasta. Snacking in winter is a killer because all of the delicious hot food options seem to be bad for you! When I was pregnant last winter, I was starving all the time so I found a few healthier alternatives to my favourite winter foods..

Zucchini Noodles instead of Pasta.. First I cook up a huge batch of vegetable loaded bolognaise with whatever I have in my fridge mixed with an organic tomato based stir through sauce (I add mince to my husbands batch as he's not vegetarian). Then I use a $5 vegetable spiraliser that I bought off eBay, and I twist through 2 full raw zucchinis onto a plate. I then spoon on as much pasta sauce as I want and sprinkle a little light tasty cheese on top.. The raw zucchini noodles have a nice mild flavour so I feel like I'm eating pasta with none of the carbs!

Swede/rutabaga fries over Potato fries.. Swede is a root vegetable that has half the calories and carbohydrates of potato, so is a great option for hot chips. I peel them, cut them into a chip shape, steam them slightly then drain and pour half a tbsp of olive oil over them and mix them around until they are evenly covered in oil.. I then space them out on a tray covered in baking paper and sprinkle a little Mexican chilli powder on for flavour. Bake at 200 degrees for 20-30 minutes. I like to eat them with a little bit of homemade hommous.

Carrot Soup over Pumpkin Soup.. I love pumpkin soup, or any soup really, and found this great recipe on www.rawblend.com.au . The taste and consistency is a lot like pumpkin soup but with way less carbs and more protein. Use 2 cups of stock, 6 carrots peeled and chopped roughly, 1 brown onion, 1/2 cup of raw cashews, 3/4 tsp of curry powder, 1/8 lemon (peeled), 1/2 tsp of Himalayan salt. I throw all ingredients raw into my vitamix blender and blend on high for 4mins, or alternatively, cook ingredients until carrots are tender then blend until smooth. I add a dollop of natural yoghurt to serve, instead of sour cream. I freeze it in individual containers so I always have some on hand if I need a quick snack.

Healthy Hot Chocolate.. I use 150ml water, 100ml almond milk, 1 tbsp of raw cacao powder, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp organic vanilla essence and 1 tbsp Manuka honey to sweeten. Heat it in a pan over gentle heat until it reaches desired temperature. Cures that chocolate craving everytime.

Barley Wrap Pizza.. I love pizza and now I use these yummy whole grain Barley wraps as pizza bases. I stick the wrap under the grill first, toasting on each side, then put on whatever I have lying around, the one in the picture is tomato paste, mushrooms, baby spinach, lite tasty cheese and fresh tomato. Another favourite is roasted sweet potato, fetta, rocket, toasted pine nuts and chicken. I just pile everything on and then stick it under the grill for 5-10 mins until cheese is golden brown.