Learning how to prepare smoothie lunches

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Saturday 15th

So how many grams of protein do you need each day? From what I read, somewhere around 46 for someone like me. Recently with my high protein low carb diet, I was having 95 grams for breakfast, (zero carbs), 95 grams at lunchtime (zero carbs) and 240 for dinner with 30 grams of carbohydrate. That’s essentially a medium piece of chicken, fish or steak, with salad (lettuce, slices of avocado, tomato, herbs, lemon rind dressed with oil) and either green beans, cauliflower, broccoli or carrots. Yes, was my short term eating regime for losing weight, and getting fitter. (Slim forever, or similar to Atkins).

The downsides of that regime is lack of fibre, too much protein, lack of certain nutrients, and longer term, both kidneys and liver would be badly affected. Yes it is pretty unbalanced and yet  I found this highly effective with weight loss and having enough energy to exercise each day, and work a full day. The other downsides is its quite fat laden with proteins like duck and bacon, and quite a bit of salt. The nutrients from pulses and nuts are non-existence in the eating regime.

So, towards better health and lower cholesterol.

Breakie is tomato and avocado on vogels gluten free 5 seed bread, black coffee with cardamom from Prefab thanks for the onto it staff there.

Lunch is a protein smoothie with recipe from Maddy at www.nourishfull.com

Protein Packed smoothie 

Recipe:

Maddy’s recipe	My version
Mix a scoop of pea protein powder ·      1 banana, ·      1 cup almond milk ·      1 tbsp ground flaxseed ·      handfull frozen berry's (or fruit of choice) ·      Handful of raw nuts (hazels or almonds are great) ·      1/2 tsp cinnamon ·      If you want it sweeter you can put in a couple of dates	A scoop of swiss chocolate SCULPT protein powder 1 frozen banana 1 cup almond milk 1 tbsp ground chia seeds handful raspberries and blackberries ½ tstp cinnamon It was fab

This is high protein, low in sugar and really filling, you can experiment with different additions/spices/coconut etc   I have ordered pea protein and hopefully it will arrive during the week. Meanwhile I have a SCULPT product for today.

Visiting my friend Jeanette in Raumati we decided to head out for a meal in the village. I am keen that being vegan isn’t restrictive and have decided not to fuss if I cant get what I want with protein. The café is packed. we manage to find a seat by the open window. There’s a storm predicted but so far all is calm and still. I peruse the menu. Being vegan tonight isn’t going to work. I decided either fish or haloumi served with green salad and roasted beetroot. Jeanette has the fish. I can taste the salt in the cheese. My meal is delicious and thankfully only around 70 gms of cheese.

Later at home I halve some ripe omega plums, take out the stone, and free flow freeze, ready to go with morning cereals. At this point, I feel the pantry is well stocked, I have supplies in the fridge, and the freezer, some things to take to work for lunch, and tomorrow I might plan a menu for the week so I get the hang of this new way of eating.

Shopping for whole foods for my pantry

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Friday 14^th March

Shopping. Time to add whole food things to the pantry.

Off to Commonsense Organics in Wakefield Street, Wellington. This shop has super good looking, super healthy looking and very helpful staff. And wicker baskets to put your goods into.

So I buy a scoop of:

·      Almond flour

·      Buckwheat flour

·      Chickpea flour

·      Coconut flour (yep) and,

·      Spelt flour

I am not sure what to use them for yet, but I can imagine chickpea flour will be good for thickening tagines, buckwheat flour for pancakes. Almond flour is good for friands, I already use that, but not sure about baking without egg whites. I am sure something will come to mind, or Maddy will give me a few hints on that one.

(I am about to buy some pea protein online so I can make super duper high protein low carb fruit smoothies) cant wait.

Onto the shopping: 3L almond milk, a kilo of organic omega plums, four hearty lemons, 1 kg walnuts, resealable bags of red quinoa, yellow quinoa, nutritional yeast (to sprinkle on tomatoes); toasted coconut flakes and ordinary coconut flakes both of which looked great, a small bottle of stevia syrup (that was expensive). I already have chia seeds, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, couscous and polenta in the pantry. I also bought instant miso soup packets, 2 tins of coconut milk and 2 tins of coconut water. 

This weekend I am about to work out the grams of carbohydrate and grams of protein per serve for all of those ingredients. I am learning I need

Please note: I have not thrown out the white flour, white, brown castor or raw sugar. David hasn’t taken this on, yet. At this point I am thinking I might have an egg every now and again, and meat or cheese every now and again. Both David and I really enjoy our vegetables and salads and I grown lots of stuff over at the farm, especially herbs and green vegetables; lettuces, beans, courgettes, onions, capsicums, chillies, basil, bay leaves, mint, sage, thyme, oregano, rosemary, tarragon, parsley along with blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, lemons, and tangerines. There we go, I have found my green fingers and am slowly approaching a whole food way of eating.

Dinner:
half cup each of guacamole, humus and baba ganoush, one organic carrot and 60g of tofu soaked in satay sauce. This was way too much food. I would have eaten about half of it. All delicious, other than the texture of the tofu. It was a bit tough, tasty though.

8th March Towards lower cholesterol by way of whole foods

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Sunday: 8^th March

Deciding to reduce my LDL cholesterol from 3.7 to below 2 in the next three months has led me to making radical changes in my diet. So its out with cheese, eggs, meat and dairy, and in with legumes, grains, pulses, and nuts. 

Earlier this year I systematically dropped 4 kilos over 3 months by focusing on a high protein low carb diet. The protein was mostly from cheese, eggs, meats, and fish, and carbs from vegetables. Together with joining a gym and exercising every second day, this required focus and attention to detail (not my strongest capacity). And by mid March I am at my goal weight.

Increasingly my reading leads me to believe if I am to make inroad with my cholesterol I need to cut out fats, and reduce animal proteins. So out goes salt, bacon and cheese. While I adore salty bacon first thing in the morning, or 100g haloumi with my early morning coffee and nothing better than a small tin of salmon for lunch, or 100 grams of ham; yes I love these simple nutritious lunches and I don’t feel hungry until diner time. Well, in comes falafel and humus for lunch!

Out goes café latte and in comes long black with a shake of cardamon.

Out goes bacon and egg, and in comes cooked oats with almond milk, maple syrup and berries.

So far so good.

I have decided I need help. I want to be eating food high in nutrition, low in salt, carbohydrate and fats. My whole food coach is Maddy Bellcroft from Nelson. I’ve known Maddy for years, mostly as an outdoor adventurer. Maddy is supplying me with background materials, heaps of recipes, ideas, links, hints and tips. And loads of resources.

Over the next three months, I will eat mostly whole foods. I have decided NOT to replace meat with tofu and tempeh; cheese with dairy free cheese.  Nor will I replace milk with nut milks, well, not in coffee and tea anyway. I’m going for black coffee with a sprinkle of cardamon, and teas without milk. I have red vanilla tea to kick this off, and I’ll stick with lots of sparking water and the occasional wine. I may replace salt with soya sauce. It’s a thought. I will try coconut yoghurt, knowing it is no good at all for my plan to reduce cholesterol. Maddy tells me I can make coconut yoghurt with a probiotic and coconut cream.

So that’s a treat in store.

So here we go.

Pink porridge with omega plums

First day I began I make rolled oats with water and some blackberries I had just picked. I put 6 in while I was stirring the porridge. It went pink. Already this was fun! Pink porridge. Once it was in the bowl I sprinkled cinnamon, added chopped almonds, drizzled maple syrup and plonked in the remaining blackberries. What a great breakie along with memories of just having been in our own blackberry patch! Eating super fresh just picked berries from our own place down by the river made this breakie super special. Question? Does this need a splash of almond milk? Not really. So far so good.

Blackrock Rd Salted Olives

This year our fabulous manzanilla olives were dark red by late May. We'd picked for oil in early May, and I had left these to ripen especially for our salted olives. Richard, David and I picked the final 40kgs of juicy black and red olives. Richard and I sorted these - yes it took hours.

Above: The dried salted olives soaking in our new oil.

We stored them in layers of salt for several weeks, turning them every few days to let the bitter juices and salt run out. I have perfected this method over the past few years, copying an old Greek recipe I found and shaped by a more recent French method from Province.

This weekend, David and I have washed them, dried them, doused them in our oil and stored them in their jars. They are ready!

Getting ready to put the salted olives into their jars. the farm kitchen is in full production!

Each jar weights 203 gms and each jar holds 200 gms. We then seal this.

No surprises for Christmas this year! The olives look like raisins and taste like olives. The olives are great slightly warmed, and orange or lemon zest added, or just as they are. Feeling pretty chuffed with our Blackrock Rd 2013 pinot noir (5 cases), our olive oil, and now, salted olives. 

Catalan delights with chefs Ian and Rhett Hornblow

Moore Wilsons, Wellington's fabulous fresh deli and market, has a series of classes at present and I took  the chance to go to the one last Thursday.

Chef Ian Hornblow assisted by his son Rhett, prepared three tapas dishes for us; dates with roquefort and pine nuts, pork meats balls in red pepper sauce, and catalian creme. What a treat this session was.

Our coffee orders were taken as we arrived - a perfect treat on the chilly Thursday morning. Moore Wilson's has a great air of generosity and hospitality and this welcome was perfect. Ian began sharing some of his experiences of Catalan food, their traditions and their produce. I found his stories completely captivating. Mid winter is a time I dream of being in warmer climates and Spain sounds just fine! Ian pointed out New Zealand is one of the few countries that serves wine as an aperitif, and encourages serving small bites of food with wine. The Spanish tend to eat 3 - 4 small dishes in an evening rather than the larger main course and desert we tend to serve in New Zealand.

Rhett began making the initial tapas of fresh dates, stuffed with roquefort and pine nuts. This tiny appetiser was simply delicious.

As he was preparing the meatballs, Ian talked of dining at Ombre the inviting new and popular eatery on the corner of Cuba and Vivian streets and the Havannah Bar in Wigan Street opposite the new city lighthouse theatre. Both great places. But I digress.

Pork meat balls: Ian combined pork mince, minced bacon pieces, olive oil, panko breadcrumbs, passata, herbs and eggs. These were rolled in fine polenta. Ian recommended this as a gluten free way of crumbing fish and meat.

While Rhett was rolling the meatballs, Ian made the red pepper sauce. He blitzed scorched red peppers with his home made passata (soon to be on the shelves of Moore Wilson's). This was strained then served as a base to the meatballs. Tapas number two looked great and tasted delicious; crunchy on the outside, moist inside and the sauce was completely moorish.
 Left: Rhett rolling the meatballs.

It was great to see Rhett assisting his dad and the two working easily together in the kitchen.

Right: Ian adds olive oil to the meat mixture. 

Immediately after the class, I wandered into the fresh market areas and packed a basket of all the goodies from the recipe and made these at home. They were easy to make and simply delicious.

Next was the creme catalan. This is a custard made of egg yolks, sugar, cinnamon stick and a little cornflour. Ian added finely grated skin of a fresh limes for extra zing. Then 15 - 20 minutes of dedicated stirring with a whisk. His bain-marie was a glass bowl over a pot of boiling water, where the water doesn't touch the base of the bowl - so the whisked eggs don't over cook.

This was served in tiny bamboo tubs and eaten with a wooden stick and was smooth, silky and creamy with the zing of lime zest. Quite fantastic. Ian also showed us how to caramelise the top with sugar and blow torch for creme brûlée. This looked fantastic, and pretty easy too with the tiny blow torch, but too much sugar for me. A definate treat for some time in the future.

The class was informative, had an air of abundance and the recipes were easy to follow. I loved being able to wander the market after choosing some special treats. Almost as good as being in Spain.

The April Grape Harvest at Blackrock Rd

We were up at the crack of dawn for our first coffee and for me, a fresh juice - carrot, apple, pear and ginger with our super duper Breville juicer. This is me at the bench doing my best to look awake. We have a few things to do before the neighbours arrive. Richard is still sound asleep. WE plan to begin picking around 9.30am. David and I head out and there is a massive dew.





The grass is really wet and we have one of those much disliked jobs...David and I unclip and lift all the nets.

This means bending down, unclipped the bread clips from the nets, pocketing them, for 9 rows, 12 bays a row, 5 vines a bay. That is a lot of bending and a lot of unclipping and lifting. Fingers frozen, backs aching, and time to head inside for a coffee and some breakfast.  The good news is the grapes looks great.

 Everyone arrives around 9.30 and David leads a master class in picking the grapes. Only pick the ripe bunches, taste every now and again and if they are bitter, toss them out.

Left: Richard, Jane and Mena listening to Davo.

 Richard emerging from the cottage, ready for the day

 Left:
David letting us know what is what in picking the grapes.

We take a bucket each, choose our pruners, and pruning partner and off we go.

We pair up so we can talk as we go. Mena carefully selecting the grapes to cut.

Richard and Richards picking.

My bucket is nearly full.

 My very snazzy and very old outdoor work boots. I bought these in Rome around 1998, they have done a few miles. David refuses to walk with me when I wear these to the supermarket, but they are ideal for picking grapes.






We take each bucket filled with grapes over to the trailer with all the bins. David weighs each one, and carefully records the weight. We are heading for 200 - 300kg of grapes.

Richard  contemplating.

 By 11.30, seven of us have picked everything we are going to pick.  Time for another coffee. 
David and I take the grapes over to Martinborough to our new winemaker, James Walker. he is going to using a French method in making the wine and it could be ready by mid June! Watch this space!

Olive Picking May 2013

Neighbour Henry Sinclair took most of these photos.

Of course we had to begin with coffee and hot cinnamon scones which Jane bought over.

Jane's fantastic pinwheel scones for breakfast

The weekend of 4th May - time to pick our olives. Earlier than usual because of pending frosts - this meant the olives were greener than ideal. One third black, one third red, and one third green is preferred, however after losing all of our olives last year to frost, I didn't want to risk it. The weather was gorgeous for picking olives so Richard J, Richard M, Jane, David, Christina and I set to work.

We begin: the bins are clean and ready, the nets are laid out, and up the ladders we go. Even though it is late autumn, picking olives pretty hot work. We were lucky with the weather and we needed water frequently.

Richard was spotted being contemplative on various occasions.  Probably thinking strategy!

This is the first year with our own nets, having borrowed Paul's for the past few years. We bought these from a scaffolding company and they were fantastic.  We had cut them long enough to spread them out under 3 trees. This meant we didn't have to keep moving them.  I found it really satisfying as we gather the olives and put them into the bins. Each bin holds around 25 kg of olives so we know approximately how many kilos we have. Our olives are manzanilla, which is a table olive. This means we usually get a low percentage of oil - around 8% oil per kilo so 450 kilos of olives will produce 45 litres of oil. Other cultivars have 17 - 24% oil so our olives are not ideal for oil, however I prefer to have the oil than pickling the olives.

Christina came down from Auckland to help this year and it was great to be doing this together.

On day 3 we had picked all of our olives, and Paul from next door said we could pick some of his leccino olives. I thought these would improve the flavour of our oil so we headed next door on Sunday and we picked about 80Kg of olives.

Left: Christina taking the nets to the next trees we are to pick.

Lunch provides a welcome break from lugging nets, ladders and bins of olives. Sourdough bread, beetroot, walnut, orange and goats cheese salad, ham, avocado, and tomato and basil with of course heaps of olive oil from last year.

Richard and Christina folding the nets at the end of the day.

Great conversations are had in the trees: the impact of good breakfasts on children's abilities and motivation to learn, undesirable additives in NZ milk from imported feed for cows, the increased pollution in NZ rivers with intensive dairy farming, recent travels, the effects of super cities in increasing regional unemployment, recent apps we have discovered and books we have read.

Far right: Christina and Jane up the ladders







Right: me, spotted!


Bill down at the Olive Press had opened up for our olives. I love the moments when we pour all the bins into one of the wooden bins from the press, they are weighed and we find out how much we have actually picked, and then into the process they go. 45 minutes later our oil is swirling out, a rich dark lime green and our first taste of the season.                                                  

Bill and Richard discussing olive business down at the Olive Press.