by Krista | Aug 23, 2013 | Bits 'n' Bobs
Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that some day I’d be working quietly one moment and the next be catching a goat mid-air, tackling it to the ground, and pinning it there until Bear could stop laughing long enough to help me.
Good heavens.
Such was my life last weekend and I’ve been hobbling and moaning ever since. Apparently goat tackling uses unusual muscles and when you combine it with being kicked, head butted, rammed, and spat on by goats, it makes for a very achy self for a few days. OK, a week. 😉
Every few months we set aside an entire day to give our goats deworming medicine (for some reason they don’t fancy having the foul stuff squirted down their throats) and trimming their hooves (another activity they apparently liken to Armageddon). Most times they’re fairly decent about the ordeal. They don’t like it or anything, but once you get them secured in the goat crush, they generally behave themselves.
Not this time.
Merciful heavens. I swear someone stole onto our farm in the middle of the night and replaced our herd with the wildest most feral goats they could find! I’ve never seen them so feisty! Bear and I wrestled with the little blighters all day long and finally, FINALLY got the last ones done by the light of the full moon. Ayiyi.
We’ve been absolutely knackered ever since. 🙂
But it was worth all the hassle for the little dears are back to their amiable selves and are prancing about happy as can be.
Good thing too, for this morning I opened the pen to discover our very first baby goat of the season!! She is teeny-tiny and cute as all get out. I got in a few cuddles while transferring her and her mother to the nursery and it made all my bruises, scrapes, and muscle aches absolutely worth it.
When you’re aching from head to toe, there’s really nothing better than a scrumptious dessert to make you feel better.
Bear and I are absolutely smitten with this one – a luscious, fruity, light as air Strawberry Cream. Dairy-free, sugar-free, and gluten-free it is so delicious you’d never guess you were actually behaving yourself in eating it.
So far we’ve been eating it as is, straight out of the bowl, but I think it would be marvelous as a filling for buckwheat crepes, frozen as a berrylicious creamsicle, or used to top a berry crumble.
What is your favorite healthy dessert?
PS – Don’t forget! You still have three more days to enter my Wood-Burning Giveaway! Click here for details. 🙂
Strawberry Cream
Ingredients:
2 punnets strawberries, washed and hulled (about 3 cups)
1 3/4 cups coconut milk (or rice/almond/cashew milk)
6 tbsp real maple syrup
3 tsp gelatine powder (add more if you prefer it firm like panna cotta)
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup coconut milk
Directions:
- Blend strawberries, coconut milk, and maple syrup in a blender/food processor until very smooth.
- Sprinkle gelatine over 1/4 cup coconut milk in a small bowl and let stand 2 minutes to soften.
- Bring second 1/4 cup coconut milk to a boil in a small pan. Remove from heat and add gelatin mixture, stirring until dissolved.
- Whisk warm mixture into strawberry blend and pour equal amounts into 6 small serving dishes. Chill 6-8 hours.
by Krista | Aug 17, 2013 | Bits 'n' Bobs
A few weeks ago I told you about my wood-burning projects and today, after weeks of designing and burning, I’m delighted to announce the opening of my Etsy shop: ramblingtARTica
Click here to find an array of original designs by yours truly featured on wooden spoons, spatulas, and rolling pins.
In the months to come I will be adding cutting boards, bowls, picture frames, and some gorgeous kitchen knives made by Bear and decorated by me. If you fancy a custom-designed item for yourself or someone you love, let me know and we’ll make it happen.
In honor of this happy little event, I’m hosting a giveaway for you dear folks.
The giveaway is open to anyone, anywhere and one winner will receive a special wood-burned red spatula from my collection and a few surprise goodies from Australia.
To enter simply visit the shop – http://www.etsy.com/au/shop/RamblingTart – and leave a comment here, on Facebook, or via email telling me the item you like best. That’s it!
For an extra entry you can share this link:
http://www.etsy.com/au/listing/158164244/wood-burned-wooden-spoon-with-scrolls
on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, or Google+ (just leave an extra comment letting me know you’ve done so).
NOTE: please make sure you include in your comment an email address where I can contact you if you win.
The Giveaway will close Monday, August 26, 2013 and the winner announced shortly thereafter.
Good luck! 🙂
by Krista | Aug 15, 2013 | Bits 'n' Bobs
“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”
Marcus Tullius Cicero
I love walking through my garden just after the sun comes up. Everything glistens and glows and I see details etched with light that I would otherwise miss.
Just being in there inspires me and sets me dreaming of roasted fennel salad, peppery nasturtium vinegar, and big, frosty glasses of lemonade spiked with pineapple sage. Mmm.
The chicory is just waiting to be sauteed with healthy homemade sausage and tossed with gluten-free pasta for a no-fuss wintry dinner.
My mustard greens have just started sending up spiky yellow flowers above their delicate purple and lime green leaves and I love how stately they look.
As usual the mint is running rampant, sneaking under borders to infiltrate nearby tomatoes and purple cauliflower. But I don’t mind. If it gets too wild I can just trim it back and use the trimmings to make mint iced tea or medieval deodorant.
My favorite part is picking fresh asparagus every day. It shoots up overnight and is wonderful tucked into omelettes, added to salads with a lemony vinaigrette, or eaten right there on the spot.
After letting all the birds out to forage in the grass, I went up to the house for brekky.
This morning I had creamy scrambled eggs topped with a garlicky, lemony white bean salad tossed with ripe Roma tomatoes. It’s such a scrumptious and hearty way to get lots of fortifying protein into me along with the vitamins and minerals from the garlic, parsley, and Romas. Mmm.
What is your favorite nourishing breakfast these days?
Scrambled Eggs with White Bean Roma Salad
serves two
Ingredients:
1 bunch fresh parsley (about 2 Tbsp), chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 lemon, juiced, pips removed
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
sea salt to taste
2 cups cooked, drained and rinsed white beans (I like cannellini)
2 ripe Roma tomatoes, cored and diced
4 large eggs
2 Tbsp coconut milk (or cream)
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
sea salt to taste
olive oil for pan
Directions:
- In medium bowl whisk together parsley, lemon juice, olive oil and sea salt until emulsified.
- Add beans and tomatoes and stir gently until everything is coated with dressing. Set aside.
- In small bowl whisk together eggs, coconut milk, minced garlic, and sea salt.
- Drizzle olive oil in small frying pan and heat over medium-high heat for 1-2 minutes until hot.
- Add scrambled eggs and cook to desired level of doneness.
- Divide eggs between two plates and top with white bean Roma salad. Serve immediately.
by Krista | Aug 12, 2013 | Bits 'n' Bobs
“Do you see that out there? The strange, unfamiliar light? It’s called the sun. Let’s go get us a little.” Nora Roberts
Spring has arrived early this year in a glorious display of light and blossom and warmth. Taking the goats out for their daily ramble is sheer pleasure, strolling through waist high grasses, getting my first suntan of the year. It reminds me of my childhood on the Alberta prairies when my brothers and I would go exploring in the fields, imagining all sorts of adventures that necessitating hiding, sneaking, and living off the land.
I would gather seed pods and flowers, mixing them together in old tin cans to make “soup” that looked rather marvelous but no doubt tasted utterly dreadful.
It’s so pretty out here, especially from down among the grasses looking up to the sun. I find the most lovely silhouettes, delicate weeds etched against the blue, blue sky.
Luna loves burrowing down into the thick grass, making cozy little nests for herself out of the wind, shady nooks for when the blazing sun gets too hot.
I do my best thinking out here. It’s peaceful and open and the only sounds are natural ones that are wonderfully soothing: wind in the grass, rustling gum leaves, goats munching, birds swooping and singing. It calms all the busy thoughts and lets the creative ones bubble up to the surface.
I’ve been thinking a lot about healing. Healing food, healing relationships, healing activities, and it feels so good to hit on things that help me and mine feel better.
One of those for me is avoiding gluten. Although it heals my insides and takes away my pain, it has been difficult since I dearly love good bread, pastries, all sorts of baking.
Determined to make gluten-free a delicious part of my life, I’ve been thinking through recipes and techniques, experimenting with different flours, grains, nuts, and seeds, trying to find the right variations that work for me. I’m so excited with how they’re turning out and can’t wait to share more of them with you.
Today I’ll start with my favorite gluten-free bread. It’s using a technique I learned through Le Creuset – that of making a simple dough and allowing it to sit overnight so that it bubbles and foams, resulting in a crusty exterior and moist interior.
The best part is that it’s easy as can be. The fun part is that it changes from day to day. Day One of the bread it is light and beautiful cut into thick slices. Day Two the crust is a bit harder and the interior more dense, almost like a rye bread or pumpernickel.
From Day Two onward I like to slice it thin for open-faced sandwiches or toast it for a scrumptious bruschetta piled with garlicky tomatoes tossed with parsley.
What is your favorite food that is healing for your body?
Crusty Gluten-Free Bread
makes one loaf
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups gluten-free baking flour
1 cup buckwheat flour
1 3/4 tsp Celtic sea salt
3/4 tsp yeast
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup gluten-free baking flour
Directions:
- In large bowl, stir together flours, salt and yeast.
- Add water and stir until a wet, shaggy mixture forms.
- Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place for 12-18 hours. I like to make the dough at night and bake it in the morning.
- When ready to bake bread, heat oven to 450 degrees F. Place a lidded baking dish in oven to heat for 30 minutes. I like using a small cast iron pot with a lid.
- While pot is heating, dump remaining 1 cup flour onto work surface and scrape dough from bowl onto it. Dough will be VERY wet. Flour dough on all sides. If it is too wet to hold a ball shape, add more flour and knead lightly. Form into ball.
- Return to bowl and cover with plastic wrap and let set while the pot is heating.
- Remove hot pot from the oven and drop in the dough. Cover and return to oven for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes remove the lid and bake an additional 15 minutes.
- Remove bread from oven and place on a cooling rack to cool.
- Slice and use bread while warm and store remaining bread in airtight container.
- Day old or older bread is best when toasted or sliced thinly.
by Krista | Aug 8, 2013 | Bits 'n' Bobs
The weather has been so crazy here lately – a mix of invigorating Spring mornings, sultry Autumn afternoons, and downright chilly Winter evenings. Such wonky weather inevitably makes me think of London where you can also experience every season within one day, if not a few hours.
It makes me wish I could hop aboard a flight heading for Heathrow where I could meet up with some of my England-based friends for good old visits in a cozy pub or tea house.
We would wander the streets at our leisure, people-watching most happily and stopping to buy the prettiest flowers we could find.
We wouldn’t be able to resist nipping in to every bookshop we came upon. Just for a look, mind you. Though if I had to leave bearing armloads of John Buchan hard covers, I wouldn’t complain one bit.
When we got tired of exploring we’d meander over to Hyde Park and find a sunny spot to rest our bones a while.
What would you like to do if you had a day in London?
(Click here if you fancy more information on flights to London. This post sponsored by Emirates.)
by Krista | Aug 6, 2013 | Bits 'n' Bobs
Some trees are at the best when you look at them from far off – like oak and cypress – but I think poplars are best viewed from underneath when they’re back lit by the sun.
I love the ones that line our drive. The leaves dance and rustle like petticoats when the wind blows while the silvery trunks shimmer in the sunlight and glow in the moonlight.
They never fail to make me happy to be alive.
Spring is coming early this year and is nearly here. We can see it in the prematurely budding trees, the asparagus shooting up overnight, and the chooks laying eggs almost every day.
It’s so warm that Bear and I get to eat our lunches out on the veranda, basking in the sunshine streaming in.
Instead of coffees and teas we’re sipping mango juice and maple cream sodas and starting to crave salads instead of soup.
It’s lovely.
This weekend we were able to start on a few wood-working projects, sanding down the wood we found last week so we can turn it into shelves.
This week I continued the theme by refinishing a few more old wooden chairs. I cleaned and sanded them then painted each one a rich, cherry red. They’re all different styles and shapes but the color unites them. They’re so glossy and cheerful I can’t help but feel happy when I see them.
For the past week we’ve finished off each dinner with maple roasted pears topped with whipped coconut cream. They are such scrumptious little desserts without a hint of sugar, gluten or dairy. The roasting brings out the sweetness of the pears and caramelizes them beautifully while the richness of the coconut cream balances the sweetness.
How was your weekend? Do you have a favorite project you’re working on?
Maple Roasted Pears with Coconut Cream
Serves 2
Ingredients:
2 pears, washed, halved and cored
2 Tbsp real maple syrup
1/4 cup coconut cream
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 C).
- Line baking tray with baking paper.
- In medium bowl, gently toss pears with 1 Tbsp maple syrup.
- Place pears half side down on baking tray.
- Roast for 30-40 minutes until pears are well caramelized.
- Remove from oven and let cool for ten minutes.
- Top with lightly whipped coconut cream and drizzle of maple syrup.
But it was worth all the hassle for the little dears are back to their amiable selves and are prancing about happy as can be.
