Update

We're chugging along, getting rid of stuff and packing the rest away.

I finally got the lounge clear yesterday- I haven't been doing as much "usual" tidying, just moving-related stuff, so it was a tip.

I made fruit loaf with sourdough, and Princess loved it- said it was "the same as the one at the shop!"

I made it in a similar way to the hot cross buns- I never write things down, just add a bit of this and that.

Basically the usual sourdough, and at the kneading stage- added sultanas, xylitol, nut meg, mixed spice, cinnamon and a bit of salt.

I just made it again this morning (we were nearly out!) and added some melted butter as well, and forgot the salt, so we'll see how that one turns out.

We ate butter chicken for tea last night- a favourite with everyone. When I wasn't eating meat, I made butter chickpea instead- noone else liked it, but I thought it was pretty good!

Butter Chicken (or chickpea)

Saute some chopped onions and little snippets of carrot in butter, when they're nearly done add some cinnamon.

Take out half of that mixture and put it in with the rice to cook.

Add more butter, and cook the chicken (or skip that step if you're using leftover chicken).

Add two tins of Indian tomatoes (or ordinary tomatoes, with garam masala, cumin, coriander, turmeric- anything really to get it indian flavoured), and let it simmer.

Add 2T (or so) ground almonds, and coriander (preferably fresh, but whatever) and cumin seeds (if desired).

Simmer until the tomato juices reduce. Before serving, add sour cream or creme fraiche or just plain cream.

I got creme fraiche, because I want to try to make my own after or next trip to the farm.

Phew...

I packed over 60 boxes last week, which is why you haven;t heard from me :0)

Still, it doesn't look like anything has been done- the place is a pigsty.

Plenty more to do.

But, and I'm really proud of this "but"...I haven't just thought "oh well, we'll eat whatever".

Yes, there were easter eggs, and yes, we even bought a loaf of bread on Saturday (mostly for the sake of our poor cousin M11 who probably didn't know what him him when he saw what we now eat!), but mostly, mostly- the diet has remained the same.

My sourdough started to go al l funny, and I suspect this is because our house is like a fridge (no, I'm no exaggerating!). It;s sorted now though, and as the photo above will show...

It actually rose for the first time ever!

It was sooooo lovely and bubbly, I couldn't believe the difference. It's like "ahhh- so that's what "bubbly" means!"

Previously I'd only had the odd bubble here and there. And this coincides with what I read, that sourdough gets better and better- this will be my 4th loaf of bread I think.

Princess has requested fruit toast, and I think after the success of the hot cross buns- I just might be able to pull that off!

It's payday today- but we haven't been paid...silly boss not sorting stuff out for Easter (again!), but it doesn't matter in the slightest. I have a chicken casserole (leftover) in the freezer, a tray of chicken breasts, some steak which I will throw in to the slow-cooker.

Got heaps of apples, carrots, enough lettuce, plenty of spuds...a half loaf of sourdough ready to eat, another whole one in the oven now, a bag of mini sourdough rolls in the freezer. It wouldn't matter if we weren't paid for three more days, except that the rent is due today.

The only thing we are out of is raw milk and cream- we didn't go to the farm this weekend. I made a bavarian cream (gourmet dessert) but the cream was smelling a bit iffy- and it wasn't good. It was OK, but not good.

Rather than adding a whole 'nother post- I wanted to say what this is like so far...

Princess, aged 6 and a half has amazed me...she has perfectly adjusted to a new diet. She sees all sorts of possibilities, rather than noticing all she can;t have. (And we don't really use the word "can't), I don;t want her being denied anything she is hankering after).

She loves the bread, loves eating more meat, isn't asking for anything "bad"...is basically very happy.

She is lactose intolerant, and her speech is a bit muddly atm, and her nose permanently blocked- but, it was like that before we switched to raw milk, so I can't be sure if she reacts to that as well, or not.

Tombliboo just fits in- his main food is breastmilk, so he's cool :0)

J-Man (10) is not at all happy...he is bemoaning the lack of "real" bread, and "real" milk, and "real" ice cream and all sorts of other bits and bods. He has spent over $30 (of his own money) on McDonald's and rubbish food in the last few days. He wakes up wanting chips, which is the only snack food he knows we have in the house. It's hard work. Hard to know what to do.

DH didn't know what to do with himself last wek about lunch..his lunch in the weekends has always been sandwiches. But he seesm to be coping just fine. He just wants to be full...he would like more icecream, and I will work on that- but it's not cheap when you make it yourself with *real* ingredients.

Me...well, I love it. I felt like Coke in a major way yesterday- and had dh bring some home. I haven't had it in the house for weeks...but it's the thing I have (and chocolate) when I am hard-out on a mission (packing the house). I found it really sweet, still love it though...alas.

I love being able to make bread with no yeast- in fact only flour and water! I love eating (small amounts) of icecream with nothing nasty in it.

I even like the raw milk in my tea- which I never did before.

Now for the gross bit...for the first time in I can't remember how long, I had my monthly without bleeding right through my clothes. It was light. Possibly normal even. Like it was when I was dairy and wheat free when Tombliboo was a baby- but i wasn't dairy or wheat free this month...hooray!

Hot Cross Buns!

I made hot cross buns from the sourdough! They were good!

It was on a bit of a whim really, though I had thought of it earlier in the week. I suddenly realised if we wanted to eat them on Good Friday morning (as we usually would), I would need to get them started on Thursday night.

With all the busy-ness around here my sourdough has not been fed properly, and it was all turning to rubbish...there were no bubbles, and only a slight sour smell. I didn't have any hopes of the buns rising, but hoped it wouldn't matter.

It really didn't...sourdough, Karen assured me, and I am discovering for myself is very flexible :0)

We had our first date since my 30th birthday last night, so it was a rush to get them organised....but i did it.

This is what I did...At the final stage, I added flour, cinnamon, mixed spice, nutmeg, a pinch of salt, a little xylitol (sugar replacement) and some cocoa. Kneaded as usualy, then made little buns out of them. Left them in the oven overnight.

This morning, I added crosses, baked them for 30 minutes, then glazed them.

They're not overly pretty, but they tasted great.

J-Man wouldn't try one, Tombliboo said, I 'fraid I don't like dis" (but he has never been in to bread of any sort), but Princess, dh and I loved them!

Sorry I'm late...

I know my three readers must be wondering where I disappeared to- it's frantic here.

Looks like we'll be moving sooner than we thought, much sooner...and with the added stress of not having an income in 4 weeks, there just seems no time for the puter (naturally).

Then I've been out all day today with the tinies, having lots of fun...I'll try to write in the next day or two.

Meanwhile, the sourdough is dead easy...basically it's this.

Get some filtered water...if nothing else (and this is all I did) make it un-chlorinated by leaving water in a glass jar or jug uncovered in the fridge.

Mix equal quantities of (preferably) wholemeal flour and filtered water in a glass jar.

leave for a day or two...the website I saw said two days, mine was ready in one (however, it's suddenly got much colder). Leave the lid loosely on, or (as I have done) a large-mouthed jar with a towel over it.

The bacteria necessary to "catch" a sourdough starter is already in the bread- it doesn't need to be open to the air.

When it starts to smell sour, and this is a judgment call really- I wasn't sure initially...out 1/2C flour and 1/2C water in the jar and mix.

When that gets bubbly, or sour-smelling and rising, add another cup and leave that a few hours to get really bubbly.

If it doesn't bubble you get a hopeless loaf, which is pretty good for mousetraps- but not right, lol.

Once that's ready, add more flour to knead it, then leave it *again*, this time in a loaf tin, oiled and lightly floured. Bake for 35-45 minutes in a moderate oven.

Sunday, Day 6, Week 3

Breakfast: Omelette (for the boys and I), weetbix for Princess
Lunch: Cruskits with chilli sauce or marmite and cheese; hot chips from the shop,
fruit
Dinner: Domino's Pizza...bought 4 pizzas so we can put 2 in the freezer and not pay
the surcharge on Easter Sunday (next week), and homemade boysenberry ice
cream (yum!)
Snacks: Homemade sourdough and jam, popcorn, cruskits, apples, pears

What did I do today?

Baked Sourdough...Check.
Made Boysenberry ice cream...Check.
Made yoghurt...Check (won't be ready until 6pm tomorrow)
Got flour ready to make muffins tomorrow...Check.
Got porridge ready for hte morning...Check.
Made sugar-free tomato sauce...Check.
Made Chicken Casserole for dinner tomorrow...Check.
In the kitchen basically all day...Check.

But at least I'm organised :0)

It worked!

Oh my goodness...the sourdough worked!

It tasted yummy... I had been warned the kiddos might not enjoy it for some time- but Princess liked it right away (with butter and strawberry jam,sweetened with concentrated fruit juice).

I am like the sourdough queen...going to pinch the title of Karen before I know it.

I've got one half-eaten delicious loaf there, and another one ready to bake in the morning, and my starter just needs to get bubbly and then I can get that ready tomorrow as well.

I can;t quite believe how easy it is...I was sure mine wouldn't work first time, but it did!

So I don't need to buy yeast any more...how cool is that? (Actually, nearly every jar of yeast I've ever bought, I've needed to tip out before I finished it all).

J-Man hasn't tried it yet, dh enjoyed it- though is still bewildered by all the changes around here.

It's all happening here...

See my kitchen bench, lol...

It has sour dough waiting to rise...2 dessertspoons of last week's yoghurt, waiting for the milk to get warm so I can make some more...another lot of sourdough just at stage 2 (added 1/2C of water and flour)...3C wholemeal flour mixed with 2C of homemade yoghurt, soaking for 12 hours so I can make blueberry muffins tomorrow...

And then there is what you can't see...I have another boiler chicken in the crockpot with onion, garlic, kumara, carrot, celery, bay leaves, lemon and salt & pepper.

I also have homemade custard (well, egg yolks, raw milk, raw cream and xylitol) and sieved and reduced boysenberries getting ready to make ice cream.

There's a loaf of sourdough bread waiting for it's final rise...not sure if it will rise though- I only just realised I haven't been using the non-chlorine water after the first addition...DOH!

We've had omelette for breakfast, and Princess is still getting to her weetbix (11:30am) because she is busy making Easter cards for all of us. Tombliboo is enjoying a Curious George movie, stopping every few minutes for more milk, or to check what I'm up to.

dh has taken J-Man off to the Games Workshop with his friend J12 to paint LOTR figures. It helps that it's daylight savings today (we got an extra hour), and also that I have been up since 6am, but still I'm tickled with how much I'm getting done :0)

Oh, I've even drawn up a shopping list for Tuesday and done some tidying, checked e-mails, played my little game, and all sorts...but I am tired!

Saturday, day 4 week 3

Breakfast: Porridge with honey (and cream), and xylitol for the littlies...dh put half
as much honey on twice as much porridge as I did and declared it delicious.
Mine, otoh and rather obviously probably, was disgustingly sweet and tasted
only of honey.
Btw, our honey is from a friends' bees...it has all the good bits still in,
including propolis which has almost magical healing properties. I hope to
find ways to get that in to the kids to avoid winter coughs and colds.

Lunch: At a birthday party...there was masses of barbecued meat which the kids
(especially Princesss) thoroughly enjoyed. They also ate cucumber,
lettuce (J-Man), carrots and cherry tomatoes. Without any discussion on
the matter they avoided white bread rolls, which surprised me somewhat.
It got a bit worse with birthday cake to follow, and jelly, but they ate
very little since they were having too much fun on a bouncy castle.

Then it got really bad with a party bag overloaded with mini chocolates
and biscuits etc. It would have been a lot to share between 3 kids, but
they got one each!

I felt a bit gutted that we have tried hard to avoid treats this week, and
it's a bit undone...but then I got real, and remembered they have eaten
rubbish for years and one more day won't be any worse..except it's not a
day's worth of treats (more like a month's, lol).

The dentist I used to work for said it is preferable to eat loads of
lollies at once than a little over a long period...so I tried to encourage
them to eat as many as they liked...and also offered to buy the sweets off
them for 50c each. Josh took 50C and Princess took $3...her's are nearly
gone now- hooray :0)

Dinner: Nachoes
Snacks: lollies all over the place

In other news, my first attempt at catching a sourdough starter is going great! If I have done it right (and I think I have) it is dead easy...

I've taken off the first lot, and added flour to it, kneaded it and rolled little mounds into mini pizzas. I've cooked them in an electric fry pan, and don't have nay idea what they taste like, but hope it will be something snackified for having with jam or honey.

I added more flour and water to the starter, and am waiting for it to increase in size by 50% and get all bubbly...then the next time it does the same, we'll be ready to make our first loaf of bread :0)

More tWeAKinG...

This week I've discovered, well it's not entirely new to me, but this week I know for sure, my children prefer plain. That is, they like meat, spuds and three vege (well, not J-Man)...but generally speaking, if the meat is plain it will be eaten, if it's not- it won't be...or it won't be eaten by the children.

So the next plan is to buy more meat. The meat I buy is such a small amount fora family of 5 that I make it go further by adding sauces and so on- I think I'll try just buying more meat, also in the hope that there will be leftover met for lunch the next day- particularly for Princess who seems to need it.

Or at least, it is something she loves to eat, and won't hurt her teeth...so best to have it in larger amounts. I'm a bit conflicted about that, and not sure how long the *next* new regime will last, but there it is...

Next thing...dh came home last night with the news that his job will not exist in around 5 weeks. My first thought was that it wasn't so bad since we plan to move soon anyway...but realistically we are not ready to go even a week wihtout a job. The savings we do have are for a small, cheap car, and the holiday pay he will be owed was air-marked for our movers (we are moving 3.5 hrs away).

Obviously all the money-saving ideas in the world won't come up with rent for us or enough to buy groceries, so we need a job...asap.

dh never as much trouble getting a job, but getting one for 5-9 weeks is something different. He will look at possibly getting a contract. I could work at the local shops, but again- who would hire someone just for a few weeks (when it's not Christmas, lol)?

I am welcome back at my old job any time, but with an hour and 15 minute drive each way (best case scenario) it really isn't worth considering.

The best idea I can come up with at the moment, is that dh moves up north after his job winds up, gets a job there, and we come when the house is done.

That of course isn't very good family-wise, or even a guarantee that there will be a job for him in the little town we are moving to...but it seems the best solution to me (less than 24 hours after the news).

We'll just keep thinking of plans, and get more info on the final details about the last day of work at a meeting next Thursday. Right now the aim is to not spend anything if we can help it...and yet, there are things we *could* buy immediately that all seem very valid, so we're not sure how that will go :0)

Friday- Day 4, week 3

Breakfast: Porridge...with raw honey/blueberries/xylitol...Princess doesn't like the
sweet of the honey, or the taste of blueberries in porridge, but is happy
with xylitol. She had a big cry over no more brown sugar, but I think
it was more a culmination of grief over all the proposed changes. She
knows we're in it together- that she doesn't have to do this alone, and
there are plenty of things she can have that she likes to eat, and won't
hurt her teeth. I cooked her a piece of bacon and she had it in our last
piece of bread.
Lunch: Salad with chillibeans, cheese and sour cream for me (yum!), salad for
Salad for J-Man, salad veges and fruit for Princess and Tombliboo
Dinner: Creamy Pasta with onion, bacon and mushrooms...was going to be on brown
rice, but got some bad news and felt like we didn't need to try something
different tonight.
Snacks: Cruskits with marmite and cheese (grilled...yum!), popcorn, apples,
pears, nashi pears, frozen blueberries, dried cranberries

Had a hard time today knowing there are chocolates in the cupboard (for Easter) and thinking it wouldn't hurt to have some of them (there's tonnes)...but persevered- veyr cool :0)

Thursday, day 3 week 3

Breakfast: Porridge with brown sugar (and cream)...noticing a pattern?
Lunch: Salad for J-Man and I, salad veges and fruit for Princess and Tombliboo
Dinner: Steak, homemade chips and salad (or salad veges)
Snacks: Apples, pears, frozen blueberries, cheese, cruskits

Wednesday, Day 2 Week 3

Breakfast: Daddy and J-Man had a glass of flavoured raw milk before heading out
early, Princess, Tombliboo and I had raspberry jam on toast before
rushing out too
Lunch: Oporto...yeah, pretty well stuffed
the whole thing- took the tinies out for lunch
Dinner: Pork Mince Noodles, since it was already ruined thought I may as well use
up the noodles
Snacks: chocolate, apples, nashi pears, bananas

We were out all day, and once home there was all the day's work to do, plus it had been mildly hellish at the shops, and then carrying a sleeping Tombliboo home on a train and a bus, and a short(ish) walk. I was terribly tempted to get takeaways, so happy to have avoided that, even if we didn't avoid refined grains...and really after the garbage we ate while out, I doubt it will make much difference!

I realised today I need to lose weight, fairly urgently...I've know it for ages, but haven't managed...I think two weeks of not walking up to the shop nearly every day has not been good. Today I puffed going up stairs. Granted, I was wearing a bakpack full of library boks ,and carrying a full reusable bag and a 28 month old toddler...but I should be able to do that without puffing- I always used to, unless Tombliboo suddenly got a whole lot heavier. Or maybe eating meat makes me more sluggish? That seems the opposite of how it's meant to be, and yet I do wonder if I feel better without it...I've heard others say that, I'm just not sure....I'm not aware enough.

A man commented today about my still feeding Tombliboo- he said, "Oh he's 2 and you still breastfeed!? Oh then you're still eating for two." I said "I eat for 5 more like it." It shouldn't be so hard to lose weight...it feels like I'm juggling so many things at the moment, but it shouldn't be hard to eat less- hopefully when we cut all the bad bits, it will fall off...oh, and when I start getting to sleep for more than an hour at a time.

Excuse the pity party, I'll be right tomorrow :0)

Tuesday (Day 1, week three)

Breakfast: Rice Bubbles and Raw Milk (Daddy and Tombliboo- this is the first time
Tombliboo has had milk on his rice bubbles); Muesli and Yoghurt (Princess),
Creamed Corn (J_man) and an apple and a *cough* easter egg for me (on my way
home with all the shopping).
Lunch: I made kebabs for the kids with a Kransky sausage, cubes of cheese and a
cocktail onion (which they wouldn't eat), rings of cucumber, carrot sticks
and pieces of nashi pear
Dinner: (Crockpot) Chicken Casserole and mashed potatoes
Snacks: Nashi pear, pear, potato chips, popcorn, banana, apple, raisins, carrots,
sandwiches, cruskits with marmite

Chicken Casserole

I added far too much water to the crockpot, and still didn't cover the big boiling chicken (which really grossed me out, being so used to meat nicely prepared at the supermarket), chopped onions, a lemon (squeezed and cut in to 4), a few carrots, 2 sticks of celery, some paprika, salt and pepper and mixed herbs.

It wasn't looking good...there didn't seem to be any meat on the carcass, and it was way too watery...but my good friend N said to pop it in a pot and reduce it, and add some rosemary. I thickened it, and added more salt and a bit of xylitol, then some chilli powder once the kids' meals were dished up. It was pretty nice, and surprisingly there was loads of chicken.

Princess liked it, except for the cooked carrots (lol), but J-Man wouldn't touch it. Tombliboo hadn't slept so he missed dinner completely.

While the stew was cooking, dh started making some ice cream, but he put the egg whites in with the xylitol instead of the egg yolks. I thought I'd fix it by making meringues, but just guessing. When I checked the recipe, I realised I had put vinegar in when none was required...so I thought we;d make pavlova instead. Then checked *that* recipe, and saw it needed cornflour and water, so didn't have high hopes of it working out. I also noticed (too late) that I only had half the amount of sugar in that was required...it was pretty horrible, but at least now I understand how my low-carb friend N (a different N, lol) makes bread from egg whites!