why I’m a lazy blogger and some good simple food we’ve eaten this week

I have a confession to make. I’m a lazy blogger and I don’t plan on changing. I don’t do any of the things you’re supposed to do.  I don’t comment on other blogs very often at all. I don’t proof test my recipes. Sometimes I don’t even write the recipes very clearly. My grammar is patchy.  I waffle on about random things. I don’t style the food. I don’t style anything actually. I’m not consistent. I don’t index my photos so they can be picked up by search engines. I don’t send witty and original tweets. I don’t link up very often. I am still baffled by widgets (possibly why I don’t link up much). The thing is, that all the ‘blog’ side of the writing feels like a bit too much like work. I really just like messing around with food, and messing around with words.

My mother had (and still has) numerous postcards on the wall of the downstairs loo. They made a big impression on all of us (my two brothers and I). I know this to be true, because we still reference them. One of them said ‘Life’s too short to iron your underpants’. I’ve always vaguely had that in my mind, but the last couple of weeks have really reinforced it. Another one said, ‘Women need men like a fish needs a bicycle’. That one I’m not sold on. I like a man around. In fact I like having five of them around (and I count myself beyond lucky that I have all my boys .. big and small, in my life).

Why am I writing this post? Because a few things have happened recently. Big things. Things that make you realise that every second is precious. That it’s OK to carve your own way. To please yourself. There is no formula. No right or wrong. It’s just putting one foot in front of the other the best way you know how.

Enough waffle for you? Ready for some actual food.

How about some creamy, spicy, roast pumpkin, chicken and corn soup with fresh parsley.

Pop a whole chicken in a pot covered in water and simmer slowly for a couple of hours with some salt and pepper, a little turmeric (why not) and perhaps a stalk of celery, a carrot, and some fresh herbs if you have them to hand.

Roast some small chunks of pumpkin. Take the chicken out and shred it. Strain the stock. Chop some onion and garlic and fry with chilli powder (to taste, I used about 1/4 teaspoon). Add some shredded chicken, the pumpkin and the chicken stock. Throw in some corn and cook for a few minutes. Stir in a couple of spoons of sour cream and chop over fresh parsley.  Perfect for an autumn day – It’s spring here of course, but I sometimes find myself eating for the English seasons rather than the NZ ones. I’m a little weird like that.

And now for a salad.

Buttery pan fried sweet potato chunks, raw raddish, pear, raw courgette, a few garden greens (baby spinach and parsley). Dressed with olive oil mixed with pomegranate molasses and a little apple cider vinegar.

The final offering of the day is this. Excellent with simple roast chicken.

A couple of cloves of chopped garlic, a little chili powder and turmeric, 2 fat shaved courgettes, a handful of bean sprouts, a cup of frozen peas, the juice of a lemon and some crumbled feta cheese.

Just before you go, here’s another little ‘thought for the day’. My six year old has a sweater that has ‘think of your own ideas’ printed across the front. I hope he grows up to realise you don’t need to run with the herd. Being your own person is the biggest favour you can do yourself.

soup, glorious soup

Parsnip, pumpkin, yam and sweet potato with garlic, onion, red lentils and sour cream…and a good shake of turmeric.

the sleep deprivation diet

I have lived under the haze of chronic sleep deprivation for the last  six or seven years.  Having four young children very close in age is the primary cause. For four of those seven years I’ve been breastfeeding; all my boys have been keen night-time feeders ( one – three feeds a night until sometime around their first birthday).  I’ve chosen to do this (I don’t live under a rock, and am well aware that there are other approaches to parenting that might be more likely to give me uninterrupted sleep – but this post isn’t about right / wrong parenting choices … it’s about coping with sleep deprivation when that becomes your reality, for whatever reason).

For the first five(ish) years of this new life, this life in which a full night’s sleep had become a mythical thing of the past then, there were two words that described me perfectly – ‘run down’.  I was the picture of exhaustion; anxious, erratic moods,  chunks of each day where I could barely keep my  eyes open. Every bug that was cruising the playgroup circuit would settle upon me and wipe me out. Every sniffle would lead to acute sinusitis / tonsillitis etc. This came as quite a surprise because I’d always been pretty robust, rarely ever ill and generally quite energetic and healthy.  The kids were thriving, shaking off any snuffles way more quickly than I could, and so I decided my poor health was due to a combination of all the ‘kiwi’ bugs invading my foreign English immune system, and the repeat pregnancies zapping my reserves.

I self-medicated with a mix of coffee and chocolate (in various forms but more often than not just straight creamy milk slab,by the kilo – literally I would probably eat a kilo over the course of a week).  Aside from the excessive chocolate and coffee  my diet was (I thought) pretty good. It was certainly in line with what I had grown up to believe was a healthy diet (plenty of carbs / whole grains / salad / fruit etc). I would make big homemade pasta dishes for our evening meal, hoping to fuel myself up for the night ahead.  If anything, despite all that chocolate, I struggled to keep weight on (I do have pretty lucky genes .. thanks grandma!). and as I have a big appetite I would just eat more and more (even sometimes  sending the man of the house out to the kitchen at two am to make me a couple of pieces of toast!).

Then around two years ago we started to change the family diet quite significantly. This was in part due to the man of the house being diagnosed with a chronic inflammatory condition which (through trial and error) we found was helped by eliminating gluten from his diet). Around this time I also started working with a fantastic naturopath / nutritionist (Helen from Nourish-ed) who opened my eyes to a completely different way of looking at healthy eating (based around the principles outlined in Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions).

Now, after gradually making some changes I can step back and see I am way healthier and better able to function, despite the birth of baby number four, and the continuation of the chronic sleep deprivation.  I am not bullet proof, getting up several times a night to breastfeed (calm nightmares / fetch water / take wandering toddlers back to their beds etc), is tiring. I still get a bit grumpy from time to time. But, I am way better. I have hardly been ill (no doubt I am totally jinxing myself by writing this) aside from the odd cold. I haven’t needed antibiotics in over a year and a half (the year prior to that I had to take 4 courses), and I’ve even started popping out for the odd jog. I can think beyond the basics of work and family, and am on occasion able to hold a reasonably sane conversation. I write this blog, for fun, and I have even played a couple of games of scrabble without falling asleep.

So what’s the secret? Here are my top tips for a diet to minimise the impact of sleep deprivation on your body and soul.

• Lots of fluids that are not coffee or tea. I still treat myself to the odd coffee (a couple of times a week) and have one or two cups of earl grey tea a day but the bulk of my fluid is not caffeinated and I never start the day with caffeine. Previously I would rely mainly on  tea, with the odd glass of water, which I would never finish. Now, I drink mint and cardamom tea made with fresh mint leaves and cardamom pods by the bucketful. It’s just my thing. I love it and I always have a pot on the go. I like it hot / cold and every temperature in between.
• Less carbs and more protein. I haven’t gone totally gluten free and do still have the odd slice of bread / toast but I try and ensure my meals are based around protein.
• Lots and lots of bone broth. I always choose meat with bones in if I’m making a casserole / curry, and I roast a whole chicken a couple of times  a week so that stock is always plentiful around here.
• Introduce lacto- fermented vegetables. Gingered carrots are the favourite.
• Found a breakfast that suited me. Which is this. Previous I’d dabbled with various / cereal / yogurt / toast / porridge combos that never seemed to keep me going very long. Everyone is different – this works for me.
• Lots of homemade soup. Especially for lunch.
• Less chocolate / more baking. I was addicted to chocolate until recently. Really seriously, I had a massive chocolate addiction, and had to ‘come off’ cold turkey – headaches / withdrawal etc.. It was harsh. Now I eat it in moderation. Mainly in baking. I bake a lot (as you’ll know if you read this blog) but I make good, nutrient dense cakes that satisfy my sweet tooth without excessive sugar or empty calories.

Those are the main things I’m doing differently. I was already eating lots of live yogurt , fruit , vegetables, oily fish etc ; so I didn’t have to change any of that. Aside from chocolate,I have always kept away from processed food.. it wasn’t enough!

So that’s where I’m up to. I’m still very much learning about a more nourishing diet – I am yet to experiment with a bigger range of fermented foods (but I’m kind of intrigued to), and I’m still holding on to a few old habits and treats… but I’ve done enough to feel a whole heap better. If I keep eating like this who knows what I’ll be like when my kids are all finally sleeping through the night – I’ll probably be running ultra-marathons or something.

roast garlic, pumpkin and turnip soup

More pumpkin soup this weekend. This time with extra roasted garlic – a whole bulb of fresh local garlic roasted until sweet and then each clove popped out of it’s skin.

A whole pumpkin made enough for two weekend lunches. Saturday topped with roast beetroot  and goat feta and Sunday topped with crispy bacon.

creamy pumpkin, yam, red lentil and baby spinach soup

This is just garlic, onion, cubes of pumpkin, whole yams and red lentils covered in water and simmered with some salt and pepper (and optional spices – I used turmeric and chilli) then add some baby spinach and sour cream just before blending.

chicken, chili, corn chowder with bacon, red lentils, leeks and celery

Chopping vegetables in the relative calm of the early afternoon when at least some of the kids are out of the house has benefits that go beyond the obvious. The most important from a nutrition perspective is that garlic activates if it’s given time to sit at room temperature after it’s chopped. I don’t know about the science but if you’re interested in you can google it. I heard it from the naturopath I work with (Nourish-ed). Also , on a more frivolous note, if you preparing some of the food in a calm environment rather than the chaos that is often as known as ‘witching hour’ the pre-dinner hour in a house full of small children then you can just enjoy it a little more and that kind of makes it all a bit more of a positive vibe. If you’re a frustrated artist you can even put your veg into colour contrasting bowls and take a moment just to marvel at how beautiful they look.

For the soup I used a base of garlic, chili, celery, leeks and bacon, then added leftover roast chicken from last night, chicken stock, chopped potatoes , cup of red lentils and quite a bit more water because I cooked it long and slow and lentils kind of dissolve but absorb a lot of water. Add the corn closer to the end of cooking and also some sour cream and parsley if you like that kind of stuff.

(Inspired by Nigel Slater’s Chicken and Smoked Sausage Chowder in Real Food)

summer carrot, orange, ginger and coconut soup

Made a stock from last night’s chicken bones and would usually make a risotto but was inspired by the spices to use it as a soup base. Started with onion, garlic, orange zest and juice and grated fresh ginger fried up in coconut oil – then added the stock and a decent amount of carrots – about 8 medium sized organic (scrubbed not peeled). Also chopped in a sweet potato because it was lying around and the right colour. Simmered it for an hour or so and then added a tin of coconut milk and blended. This was seriously the best soup I have made in a long time and definitely a recipe I will enjoy mucking around with in the future.