Gluten Free Apricot Cherry Cobbler Heaven

I've been avoiding gluten for well over a year now and feel so much healthier. I sleep better, my boils disappeared (after 10 years), I have more energy and just feel better all round. Interestingly, the boils started after the birth of my first child so maybe childbirth/pregnancy hormones had some effect on my body and it's ability to deal with gluten. Food for thought. {Pun intentional. :)}

I spent some time in the UK/Europe recently and ordered meals which I didn't realize were pasta based. I chose to eat them anyway and didn't suffer any ill effects from them at all. Since I returned I've been experimenting with Australian flours and breads with no success. From the research I've done and the experimenting with different recipes and combinations at home I'm pretty sure it just boils down to the fact that the wheat crops in the UK/Europe are a different strain than the Australian/US wheat that is grown. My body handles UK/European wheat better. So I've come to terms with being mostly flour free unless I can get my hands on some UK/European wheat at a reasonable cost.

I like to cook and I like to bake. Especially if we have friends over. No one leaves my house hungry. :D I've been experimenting with cobblers and hit the jackpot! I liked the simplicity of this recipe and adapted it to be gluten free. I tried it with pears but find them a bit bland. This is my favourite version of cobbler. Delicious flavours, crusty cakey top and absolutely easy to make.

Gluten Free Apricot Cherry Cobbler

I use:

• 1 large (825g) can of apricot halves, drained of syrup/juice
• 1 (425g) of black cherries, drained of syrup/juice
• 1/2 cup raw sugar
• 50g butter
• 3/4 cup plain gluten free flour (bought from supermarket in a packet)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 egg

How I make it:

Preheat your oven to 180 deg C.

Rummage through your baking gear and find something about the size of a casserole dish. I have a pyrex casserole dish about 20cm diameter that I like to use.

Place the butter into the dish and pop it in the oven.

While the butter is melting, grab a mixing bowl and mix all the dry ingredients together.

Make a hole in the dry ingredients. Crack the egg into the hole and pour the milk in with the egg. Beat them together with a fork or whisk. Then mix them into the dry ingredients until you get a batter consistency.*

Pour the batter on top of the butter. Don't mix or stir.

Place the apricots on top of the batter.  Don't mix or stir.

Sprinkle the cherries on top of everything. Don't mix or stir.

Put the dish into the oven for 50-60 mins.

What you will end up is delicious goodness that I love best when served with vanilla ice cream. Divine!! Enjoy!!

*Be mindful that gluten free flour blends can contain different flours and different ratios of flours in their blends. If you find your batter is too thick, add a little milk until you get the right consistency. I used Orgran fluten free flour mix in this recipe.

**Edited to add:

You can easily make this recipe dairy free. Replace the butter with Ghee and use almond or rice milk in place of the cow's milk.

Creating. For Enjoyment.

I love to create. In particular, I adore scrapbooking. It's an activity guaranteed to make time, worries and cares disappear into a vortex. Covered in ink, glue and paint and surrounded by a menage of paper, fabric, chipboard, ribbons and embellishments I was in heaven.

Then it went pear shaped. The scrapbooking world I loved so much became less about sharing and more about competition, putting others down and outdoing each other. It tainted the whole create process for me. I took a huge step back, looked at it and decided I didn't want to be a part of all that.

I took some time off creating. I dabbled in some card making though and a little teaching with friends but I mostly ignored it.

I've found my groove again. I discovered some websites that celebrate all scrapbookers and all styles. I found that there were scrapbookers out there who, like me, weren't into competition and outdoing others. They were happy to share techniques, bare their souls and open themselves willingly so that they might share their art and receive in return.

I'm scrapboooking again and thoroughly enjoying it. It's time to get the camera out, revisit my enjoyment of photography and get scrapping.

You can see my new creations at: Raptural Reveries

Mothers Day

Mothers Day is about more than just being a mother. It's about being with and enjoying your family. I had the most delightful, enjoyable day.

It wasn't that a delicious breakfast was cooked for me.
It wasn't the gorgeous gifts chosen so lovingly from the Mothers Day Stall at school.
It wasn't the fabulous book about simple living obviously chosen with much thought by my husband.
It wasn't the board games we played.
It wasn't wandering around the markets in the sublime Autumn sunshine.
It wasn't the scrumptious Indian food and Moet and Chandon champagne for dinner.

It was that I experienced all these moments with my family. All of us.  Together. Enjoying each others company. Laughing, interacting, playing and loving.

THAT is what Mothers Day is all about. ♥

Perseverance, Believing In Yourself and Fighting For Your Kids Because They Don't Have A Voice In Our Society.

To save you the long, drawn out saga I'm going to try and restrain myself and keep this brief. Wish me luck!

Sept 2010:

One school morning, not for the first time, our then 7 year old daughter was curled up in foetal position on our bedroom floor sobbing and begging me not to make her go to school. This is not normal behaviour for our girl who loves to learn, read, write and socialise. For this to be happening again sent alarm bells ringing in my head.

I had noticed a few other things too. She had started to chew her fingernails. Her usual thumb-sucking when tired was now almost constant. She was breaking off bits of her hair. And she had developed a nervous, long eye blinking. I'd also noticed that the eye blinking had disappeared during the 2 week school holidays and returned after resuming the new school term.

So I talked to her. "Tell me why. Tell me what happens at school."

It's really noisy. The teacher has to yell. Other kids interrupt the class all the time. I can't get my work done. The teacher says, "No more questions. Hands down.", and I don't get an answer to my questions.

I want to say here that I spent a lot of time in the classroom and I knew that what she was talking about did in fact happen. After spending a hour helping out in the room I was glad to escape it.

So she had a day at home and then returned to school. At the end of the week, after school had been let out a few parents were gathered chatting when a student from her class threw a handful of bark chips into her face. A lot went in her mouth. She was understanding upset and he stood and laughed at her. This was probably the straw that broke the camel's back. The culmination of a whole lot of little things that make a crappy everyday into an "I can't take it anymore" day.

At that point I promised her that she would never have to go back to that class. And I kept that promise.

So we explored our options. We looked at other local State Schools. We found them mostly overcrowded, with room for one child but not the other. One of the Principals suggested we go back to the school Principal where the kids were currently enrolled and try to sort out the problem. Ask for counselling and ask for a meeting with the teacher and the Principal.

So we did that. We submitted a detailed letter with out concerns and requests and organised a meeting with the Principal. What ensued was disheartening. To say the least. The Principal asserted that the class in question was a "normal" class. He refused our request for guidance counselling to assist our daughter. He insisted that changing schools was playing our "trump card" and presented an action plan to ease our daughter back into the classroom. In other words he discounted all our concerns and had a preconceived plan for us to follow. Only problem was the plan was built on the flawed foundation that nothing was wrong with the classroom. The attitude that he presented to us was that our daughter was manipulating us to get out of going to school.

At this point I feel it's important to say that I believe his assessment of the situation was completely, totally incorrect. I know my children and I stood by my convictions that something is wrong in the classroom.

Our son had a history of being bullied at the school so we pulled both our kids out of the school and embarked on Distance Education for the last term of the school year. Which meant an awful lot of work for me, being the at home parent supervising lessons and organising everyone. There were a lot of benefits though. I could see where our son has missed some basics along the way and could work with him and his teacher to catch him up. The kids discovered that I actually have a pretty good knowledge of the world. All our work was done between 8am and midday and the rest of the day was free time.

The problem was that although we went to the museum and other outings with home based families, the kids wanted to experience more and missed having other kids to play. So we again investigated our options and set up a meeting with the Principal of a local Catholic school. Which irked me because I'm not religious at all. But the kids were accepted and to date it is one of the most positive decisions we made for our children.

The very first week of school our son said, "We did the right thing."

Some of the kids observations:

There are no bullies.
The teachers listen to us, even if another teacher comes up to them to ask a question.
Everyone smiles.
There's so many interesting things to do.

After an initial few weeks of settling back into a school routine our daughter has bloomed into a confident, happy child. She learning so much, has been accelerated in her learning, has some great friends, has lost all her nervous habits (except for the nail biting) and enjoys going to school.

The only complaint I've received about the school is that they have to say a prayer each morning.

I figured if saying a prayer is the biggest issue you have at school, it's a pretty good school.

Don't give up on your kids. Don't discount their unhappiness. Keep trying to find a workable solution. Don't take on board what other people say when they don't know your child.

Our WHOLE  FAMILY is less stressed because the kids are happy. I feel confident that I can drop my kids at school and they will be cared for. They feel respected and they feel safe. That's all I ask for.

Powerful Vs Empowered

Gaining something someone else covets can give a sense of power. That sense of power can only be held for as long as someone else covets whatever it is you have. Therefore it is not empowering. It is transient. Maintaining that perceived power means ensuring that other people covet whatever it is you have.  If they dont, that perceived power is lost. Therefore it was never empowering.

Not Quite Creamy Potato Bake

There's a really great recipe here for potato bake that I've cooked before and loved. A few months back I decided to tweak it a little with what I had on hand and it ended up becoming something that very slightly resembled the original recipe if you turned sideways and squinted at it.

Each time I make it I forget to take a pic and by the time I remember it's pretty much been demolished and looking a shadow of it's former divine glory. So I'm going to give you the recipe and hopefully remember to take a picture.

Vicki's Creamy Sweet Potato/Butternut Pumpkin/Feta Cheese Bake

I use:

A small carton of pure cream (300ml)
Please use pure cream. Thickened cream is pure cream beaten with a whole lot of additives added to keep it thick. If you ever need thickened cream buy pure cream and beat it for a few minutes. It will taste ever so much more delicious without all the additives and your body will thank you.
A mixture of diced sweet potato and butternut pumpkin

Usually half a butternut pumpkin and a small sweet potato. Or feel free to have all sweet potato or all butternut pumpkin. Use what you personally prefer or have on hand.

A large onion (or couple of smaller onions) sliced
180g package Goat's Milk Feta Cheese diced or crumbled
Grated Cheddar Cheese and Parmesan Cheese

Again, use whatever cheese you personally prefer. A note on grated cheddar cheese: it has added flour to keep the pieces separated so be mindful if you are gluten intolerant. If you grate it yourself you know exactly what's in it.

This is what I do:


Preheat the oven to 170 deg C. If it's too hot the cream will separate so don't be tempted to cook it faster at a higher heat.

Grab a casserole dish (preferably one with a lid).
Throw in the diced vegetables, the sliced onion, the feta cheese and mix it around. Get in with your hands. It's great fun.
Pour over the cream.
Sprinkle over the cheeses.

Put the lid on the casserole dish or cover it with foil/whatever heat tolerant cover you have.

Bake for one hour. Take the cover off and bake for another half hour.

Done. Simple. Delicious. Eat it. Thank me later. ;)

A few other combinations you might like to try:

Throw in some diced bacon/prosciutto/ham/salami.
Add some pine nuts.
Basil would go beautifully with this.
Make it a one dish dinner and add some broccoli and diced chicken.

Enjoy and keep cooking!! Pure, simple food as close to natural as possible.

Managing Menstruation Mindfully

Menstruation.

Half of the World's population will experience it and yet it is shrouded in shame by many. Viewed as dirty, only discussed in whispered voices with a nod towards the offending area and never in polite company.

Billions of women across the world are menstruating. At an average of 4-5 days 13 times a year for 40 years. That is about 2600 days in a lifetime. 7 whole years.

Menstruation is natural. It's a healthy process of a functioning female body in preparation for childbearing.

What does bother me is how we deal with it and the devastating effect we are having on the environment and our bodies because of the way we choose to deal with it.

"Female Sanitary Products" are, for a start, not sanitary. They are NOT required to be manufactured in a sanitary environment. Whatever contaminants are in the factory are in the products. Bleaching does not sanitise. It only makes the products white thus making them look sanitary. The wrapping they come in is not there to provide a sanitary environment until you open it. It is provided for convenience (so you can pop them in your handbag) and to give the illusion of being sanitised.

Tampons cause Toxic Shock Syndrome. Google it and see exactly how devastating this disease is to the body. It is a large enough threat for each packet of tampons to be required to carry a leaflet telling you that tampons can make you sick.

But aside from the health issues there is also the landfill issue. Each menstrual cycle most women will use 4-5 tampons a day along with a few disposable pads for night use or maybe more as a back up for tampon leakage. Let's assume 2 a day. Given that they will menstruate for about 2600 days in their life that is about 12,000 tampons and 5,000 disposable pads. That is about the equivalent of a whole garbage truck's capacity for every woman who used tampons and disposable pads. And there are billions of women!

What about the cost? In Australia tampons attract a luxury tax. Yep, you read right. A luxury tax. A packet of 16 tampons cost about $5 (31c each). A packet of 14 pads costs about $5 (35c each). So over a lifetime that is $3700 in tampons and $1750 in disposable pads. A total of $5450 per lifetime.

Let me show you some alternatives.

A menstrual cup such as Diva, Lunette or Keeper Cups are made of medical grade silicon. They can remain in place for up to 8 hours. You can wear them overnight. There is zero risk of contracting Toxic Shock Syndrome from them. They are reusable and from first hand reports will last in excess of 10 years. For the initial outlay of around $55. Over 40 years the total cost would be around $250.

If menstrual cups aren't your thing try reusable pads. They come in all different sizes, some really funky patterns and need a simple rinse out, throw into a bucket of water to soak and then in with the normal wash. At around $12 each they will last until they wear out at around 3-5 years. If you have a stash of 8 pads that will work out at about $400 over 40 years.

The big bonus with these is that if you are so inclined you can make your own. There are many free patterns available on the internet along with full instructions from the materials required to how to construct them.

Neither of these products will create any landfill apart from the usually biogradeable packing they arrive in through the post.

Neither of these products will make you sick.

Neither of these products attract a luxury tax.

My personal thoughts and feedback:

The first thing I noticed was that the cloth pads and menstrual cups do NOT smell. So I can only assume that the smell that is normally associated with menstrual flow is caused by the menstrual flow reacting with whatever the disposable pads and tampons are made of or made with.

They are very easy to use.

I love that you can use the menstrual cup overnight.

I have NEVER had leakage from the menstrual cup.

The cloth pads do not irritate genital regions as disposable pads might for some. The cloth is very soft and absorbent.

Cloth pads could very easily be used for bladder leakage.

So before you reach for the next packet of tampons or disposable pads think about the alternatives. Be kind to your body and be kind to the environment. There IS another way.