The light in Australia is unlike any I’ve ever seen. It is clean and bright and feels so alive.

I love it.

In the afternoon it softens to the most intense gold, glowing and warm, even in the dead of winter. This is my favorite time to go for a walk on our farm: Citadel Kalahari.

I’ve started taking our goats out for a daily trek through the bush. They love it! Dashing from one succulent bush to the next, stretching up as high as they can to nibble off tender leaves.

This little fellow loves eating so much that he gets utterly absorbed in it and never seems to notice when the entire herd wanders off. I keep an eye on him and laugh every time he suddenly realizes he’s all by himself and hoofs it off through the grass to find his mother.

I take them for their walk in late afternoon, simply because the soft winter light makes it even more pleasurable.

While they’re munching along, I get to explore a bit too.

This week I nearly scared the liver out of myself by almost stepping on an enormous (but harmless) yellow and black blue-tongued lizard. Yipes!

A while later I had the unnerving sense that someone was watching me, and looked up to spot a lone kangaroo peering at me through the grass. 🙂

I’m very happy we have so many gum trees for the winter light to filter through, so many meadows of long, golden grass for the setting sun to glimmer through.

I feel lucky every single day to live in such a beautiful place. It may not be Paris or Amsterdam or even my beloved Italy, but it is infinitely precious to me.

On such beautiful days I feel the need to spoil us a little.

Turnips may not be the first thing that springs to mind when it comes to food indulgences, but they may be after you try these little beauties. 🙂

I often have a surplus of vegetables around my house, mostly because I get so excited at the Warwick Farmer’s Market that I forget I’m only cooking for two and come home with BOXES of plum tomatoes, Lebanese cucumbers, and silverbeet.

This week I had an abundance of root vegetables: turnips, parsnips, potatoes, etc., so I decided to make root veggie pancakes. I didn’t want plain ol’ pancakes though, so I jazzed them up a bit with Feta cheese and sun-dried tomatoes, and added a dollop of garlicky plain yogurt and a drizzle of roasted tomato puree.

I love when healthy things taste so good you feel like you’re getting away with something. 🙂 That’s the case with these little pancakes. We had them cold and plain for mid-afternoon snacks, piled them high with the aforementioned yogurt and tomato puree, and warmed them slightly with a sprinkling of Worcestershire sauce. All of them are good, especially eaten in the glow of the setting sun.

What is your favorite healthy indulgence?

PS – If you’d like to know more about life on our Australian goat farm, visit us at our blog: http://www.citadelkalahari.com/or our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/citadelkalahari

Feta Root Veggie Pancakes

Ingredients:

6-8 small turnips, peeled and cubed
1-2 parsnips, peeled and diced
3-4 small potatoes, peeled and cubed
salt and pepper
1/2 cup Feta cheese, grated
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
3-4 green onions, sliced
4 eggs
olive oil for pan
Toppings:
plain yogurt mixed with minced garlic, green onions, and salt.
roasted tomato puree (roasted tomatoes whizzed up in the blender until smooth)

Directions:

1. Dump turnips, parsnips and potatoes into large pot. Cover with salted water and bring to boil over high heat.
2. Reduce heat slightly and simmer 20-30 minutes until vegetables are tender enough to mash with a fork.
3. Drain vegetables and let cool 5-10 minutes.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste, Feta cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and green onion. Mix well.
5. Add four eggs and mix very well.
6. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat.
7. Add spoonfuls of vegetable mixture to make disks about 2-3 inches wide.
8. Cook until disks bubble on the edges (like pancakes). Flip and cook another 2-3 minutes. Flip again if necessary to ensure even browning.
9. Remove cooked pancakes to platter and cover to keep warm while you cook the remaining batter.
10. When ready to serve, arrange three pancakes on a plate, top with garlicky yogurt and/or roasted tomato puree, or eat plain.
11. While good warm, they are also good cold straight out of the fridge as a snack.