Mushrooms are up there on my faves list, alongside avocados and cheese. All three can usually be added to anything to instantly improve it. Aside from cake. Anyway, this recipe is amazing, I wish I could take credit for it (not that clever!) but I …
Faa-heaters. Fajitas. Yay! Now that you can pronounce fajitas, let’s figure out exactly what we’re talking about before we dive in and get cooking. My first fajita experience was in a popular Tex-Mex chain restaurant in the US. Piles of sizzling sliced meats, sliced, sauteed …
One Sunday morning at 4am the sun was not up, but into the bed came a very wriggly and very hungry little boy. He started to look for some food, but Mum and Dad were still sleeping. Last week they survived; 1 professional exam, 1 swimming lesson, 1 basketball game, 1 basketball practice, 1 committee meeting, 4 rugby practices, 2 GST returns, 1 rugby Club Night, 1 science project, 1 missed meeting with the bank (the bank manager may not have survived this one!), 2 PR events, 1 EMS workout, 4 blog posts, 1 All Blacks test……………and they were still tired.
Needless to say, Mum and Dad were very much looking forward to Sunday. Until they remembered Ethan had rugby rep trials at 11am ::::::::::sigh::::::::::
Many are beginning to lament the innate ‘busyness’ of modern family life, and to be honest, last week just about broke me but, our family are joiners, participants, volunteers. We like to get involved, put down roots, contribute and get to know our little community – something that doesn’t happen simply by virtue of being a ‘neighbour’ anymore.
The flip-side of this is that ensuring we have family ‘down-time’ sometimes becomes a mindful miracle of scheduling.
Eating helps. Eating together nails it.
This Sunday, breakfast became early afternoon tea for Nixon (he woke at 4 remember!) and some combo of breakfast-brunch-lunch for Dave and I and our beautifully bed-headed preteen. Keep in mind this is intentionally NOT a cereal breakfast ala Monday through Friday. This is a ‘real food meal’ that takes time to eat so we can spend as much time as possible together, around the table without anyone on a device or rushing off .
The menu varies, it could be waffles, pancakes or crèpes but this week it was freshly made cheese scones, bacon, and omelets to share. Of course, we have to be a little bit prepared, a mindful meal begins with some mindful shopping, or at the very least making sure there are some flour, milk, and eggs on hand!
The way modern families shop for food and consider their purchases is as much a dynamic process as our hectic day-to-day lives. Food innovation now often (ironically) takes the form of simplification. As parents of a 12.5-year-old, we want to know where he is, what he’s doing and who he’s doing it with. Similarly, I want to know where my food is coming from and who is producing it, but is it realistic to expect this from supermarket staples?
Surprisingly, the answer is YES. The milk we used for our Sunday breakfast this week came from a single organic farm located in Manawatu, farmed by the Flipp family. Four generations live and work on the farm along with their 600 cows and I didn’t have to drive 6.5 hrs to the farm gate to pick it up!
Kapiti Single Farm Organic Milk was in the chiller, at my local New World 5 minutes from my house.
Mindful family routines and meals begin with mindful shopping – grocery or otherwise. Investing in a product that is the end result of the Flipp Family’s 3-year journey to achieve organic certification is definitely a brand story that I’m happy to have at my table every day.
For this post, I partnered with Kapiti Single Farm Organic Milk which is now available from Supermarkets nationwide.
If the idea of traveling with your kids is enough to induce a cold sweat, or the thought of spending 4 hours (or more!) on a plane with both your toddler AND the general public warrants a stiff drink, then read on friends. Traveling with …
I’m inherently clumsy, Dave is a skateboarding, rugby playing off-road runner, Ethan is a 12.5-year-old boy who plays rugby, basketball and is allergic to long pants and Nixon is your very typical, hyper-tornado-like almost four-year-old…….who also plays rugby. My two boys (and their 40-year-old Dad!) are …
This could be my most favourite recipe EVER posted on The Best Nest Blog. I probably need to make it again, over, maybe, seven consecutive nights (I love it THAT much), just to be sure, but we’ve definitely got a hands down stunner here!
And it’s probably the easiest dessert ever.
The very best part is that your Crock-Pot does all the hard work so you can get other things rolling; maybe relax (I jest!), hang out with your dinner guests (or fold the laundry, feed the dogs, cook the fish fingers for the kids)…………whatevs, just chuck the foodie stuff in the Crock-Pot and four hours later you’re a Masterchef.
Let’s get into it;
4-6 pears, I used Beurre Bosc
¾ Bottle of red wine – I used a Merlot and it was beautiful
1 cup of water
1 slice of lemon peel
Juice of one lemon
1 tbsp honey
3 tbsp sugar (approx 50gm), + 2 tsp for syrup
1 Cinnamon quill
3 Cloves
3 Black Peppercorns
1 ½ tsp Vanilla extract
3 tsp cornflour
Blue cheese, walnuts and crackers to serve.
If you want to get inventive in the kitchen with your own amazing Crock-Pot then you’re in luck as I’m giving one away – actually I’ve already given TWO away, so this is your last chance to win! (Crock-Pot Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps Recipe here, Crock-Pot Macaroni Cheese Recipe with Dukkah Chicken)
> To win the Crock-Pot® Traditional – CHP200, leave a comment below and tell me one of the awesome features on this Crock-Pot model (psssttt, have a look here).
Competition closes 6/7/17, NZ residents only.
Thanks to Crock-Pot for making this post possible.
In came the rain this week as well as some low temps around the country. I’ve got a sore throat and am in full hibernation mode so keeping our house toasty and warm is #1 on my list of priorities throughout the day. I had …
When I was born back in the late ‘70’s, the outlook looked good; healthy baby, good size, lungs worked and I looked enough like my mum to assume there would be some legacy genetics that had been passed down from mother to daughter. At around …
Trilogy put their money where their mouth is this month as they launched limited edition packaging to support the global Beat the Microbead campaign. Celebrating World Oceans Day which was June 8th, Trilogy is championing the “Look for Zero’ initiative and urging consumers to make informed shopping decisions when purchasing beauty products. Plastic microbeads commonly found in scrubs and exfoliants are so small that they bypass filtration systems and head straight for our oceans.
Look for Trilogy’s Love the Ocean packaging for the remainder of the month as $2 from the sale of each product worldwide will be donated to the NZ Whale & Dolphin Trust.
This new range has been all over the internet this month, a big launch for Schwarzkopf and one that’s garnered a lot of attention.
Beology is a therapeutic range, addressing dry, damaged and ageing hair concerns combining science and natural actives across 8 products. Deep Sea Extract, Sea Algae, fruit juices, seed oils and herb and flower extracts care for the scalp and hair fibres while 3 types of Keratins and Proteins strengthen and repair.
Available in Beology Repair for damaged hair and Beology Aqua for normal to dry hair.
RRP $16.00 in all leading department stores, supermarkets and pharmacies.
Sukin Paw Paw OintmentA brand with mass appeal due to it’s ethical, affordable and effective beauty products, Sukin launched it’s Paw Paw Ointment this month, dubbed “The Quintessential All-Rounder”.
I’d have to agree! I took it with us to Queenstown earlier this month and was so glad I did. The dry air and constant indoor heating quickly gave us all chapped lips and Paw Paw Ointment was a great remedy to have on-hand. Ethan suffers from painful peeling around his finger-nails and is quite fussy about what he treats it with so I was happy that Sukin’s new Ointment provides an effective barrier and treatment, without rubbing off instantly and losing efficacy.
Cruelty-free, vegan, paraben free, sulphate free. RRP $9.99 at Farmers, pharmacies and health stores.
Another product I used religiously in Queenstown and is now always in my pockets and bags is Burt’s Bees Tinted Lip Oil in Misted Plum. This is my first lip oil product and I’m definitely a fan. Think awesome, moisturising gloss without the stickiness and gorgeous sheer colour. I have no idea what Meadowfoam Seed is but its oil in combination with Coconut oils is a perfect base for adding subtle shine and colour to your lips.
Just as you’d want in a lip product, Burt’s Bees Tinted Lip Oil is 100% natural.
Available in 6 shades, RRP $20 from selected pharmacies, department stores and health stores.
Knowledge of the role the gut plays in our general health is becoming more and more evident and topical, especially as we are smack bang in the middle of winter! Probiotics increase the number of friendly bacteria in the digestive system, restoring gut flora balance and promoting optimal digestive and immune health. The super-cool thing about Immuno-Biotic from Good Health is that the addition of a PREbiotic acts as food for the PRObiotic and other beneficial bacteria to feed on! Yay for increased efficacy!
RRP $29.90 30 capsules, from selected pharmacies and health stores as well as online.
I’ve been using Tangle Teezer’s exclusively on my hair as well as the boys for a couple of years now. We all have big, tangly hair with a LOT of curl going on and these are the only brushes that cut through our knots without sending E running for the hills and bringing Nix to tears.
An added bonus is that they’re super-cute and the compact styler is the perfect size to slip in your purse, gym bag or toilet bag when travelling.
RRP $34 from selected pharmacies, salons and department stores.
Dermalogica is one of my all time faves so any new release from them has me ripping into the courier package as soon as it arrives. It’s pretty rare these days to try something completely different and new. At least for me, Nightly Lip Treatment is the first product of its kind to land on my desk.
Formulated to address ageing concerns in the perioral (mouth) region such as; vertical lines in the upper lip, sagging around the mouth, skin fragility and wrinkles and folds, Nightly Lip Treatment is my new bed-side bff.
Wait until you try the metal applicator!
RRP $95, available from authorised Dermalogica skin centres and counters nationwide and online at www.dermalogica.co.nz.
Another brand fave right here. Eyes are kinda my obsession right now, I’ve realised how much I unconsciously pull that fragile (read: thinning, more-papery-every-day) looking skin around as I rub my eyes and try and squeeze in another hour of work in front of my computer zzzzzzz.
Ok, I’m awake.
There’s some major science in Atzen’s range including bio-available DNA from a natural marine origin that holds 10,000 times its weight in water = mega hydration for your skin, a lifting film that remains at ultimate levels for over four hours and peptides that mimic the neuromuscular action of viper venom, acting as a safe alternative to Botulin Toxin.
Too good right?
RRP $145, available online at www.atzen.nz, or at selected beauty therapists and health stores.
Thanks for making this post possible Naked Locals, your soups are incredible! Check out their full range of 13 flavours here. I spent a lot of time with both of my grandmothers when I was young and for this, I feel so grateful. There were week-long …