Is what we eat making us ill?

I am definitely not going to pretend I have the answer to this contentious topic but some feedback would be most welcome!

As you know, I have a rather loopy side that takes me in some out of the way directions... For the last couple of years I've been obsessing about growing stuff and farming in general. This has lead to much reading and research which has left me feeling insanely bleak about life in general. Now I'm not talking about getting all down on myself and going crazy or anything, it's just that I've realised just how much "extra" stuff goes into our mouths unknowingly every single day. Sugar has been the topic of a previous rant and just yesterday I heard a report on the news about how much salt we consume on a daily basis (it's over 9g!!!). These are things we can read on the label (if you ever bother which I highly recommend getting into the habit of doing - all the time - you'll be horrified!)

It's the other stuff I'm worried about: food labels tell us how many stablilisers, flavour enhancers, preservatives, etc. there are in any given item but what abou the fresh produce? Im talking about strawberries (that let's be honest, don't really even taste like strawberries), apples, lettuces... this is all produce that has been grown on commercial farms that use synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, etc. none of which are on any label but that I'm 100% certain I wouldn't bring into my house if they weren't on my veggies in some residual form.

I've been horrified to read recently how pasture land is grown (I was all warm and fuzzy buying pastured meat until I realised it's just as crazy!). To egt maximum yields, GMO (admittedly not all  the time) seeds are planted and then sprayed... the beef or lamb or chicken we buy is then fed on this turbo charged grass/feedlot crop and we consume all the added 'stuff' in secondary form which is way concentrated... That's not even mentioning the antibiotics and additives in their feed.

I'm sure you can understand how I've managed to go a little mental and get down on myself...

How are you managing the 'extra stuff' in your shopping trolley? Has anyone got any thoughts on the topic?

Winter seems to be over let's braai!

I wish I could take credit for this one all by myself but I have to admit it wasn't a typical South African braai where the girls do (pretty much everything) kitchen duty and the men claim credit for making dinner because they got the meat off the fire just right... :-)

My involvement was extensive however - I chose the main ingredients and we assembled them together. I decided on lamb kebabs because I think they just work a million times better than beef. We didn't use a recipe with dried apricots but I absolutely had to add them!

Lamb Kebabs:

500g lamb steak cubes / cubed lamb
8 dried apricots dumped into a bowl of boiling water to rehydrate
1 onion, blanched and cut into chunks
1 red pepper, cut into chunks
My man isn't up for sharing his marinade recipe but I've done these kebabs with a ready made marinade from Woolworths and it's tasted fantastic!


Chicken Kebabs: This is a Jamie Oliver inspired recipe

500g chicken breast fillets
5-6 courgettes, sliced thinly lengthways and blanched to soften slightly
2tsp crushed garlic
1tsp chopped fresh chili
bunch of coriander
small bunch of mint leaves
1 lemon, zested and juiced
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Cut the chicken into cubes and put into a large bowl. Blitz all the ingredients except chicken (duh!) and courgettes in a food processor but leaving the mixture chunky. Pour over the chicken and mix around to make sure it gets coated. Lace the chicken onto skewers with the courgettes zig zagging through.

Pour the marinade over the kebabs and set aside until you're ready to cook them.

Sunday Caesar Salad

After our great Sunday morning mountain bike ride I was ravenous... My awesome man whipped up this delicious Caesar Salad for us for lunch :) How lucky am I?! The only variation from the norm was the addition of avo which we needed to clear out of the fridge.

Full Flavour Food

It will suffice to say that we eat out excessively... Not in the amount at each meal mind you, it's more the realization at the end of a week that we've eaten every evening meal and half our morning and lunchtime meals out for the last week-and-a-half that make me stop and wonder if we're still sane. I have to admit I was absolutely blown away by our final meal out for the week (and the next few weeks I hope!). I've got the mother-in-law staying with us from Joburg so we've been heading to a few places that are a little more out of the way than our once-a-week pizza and pasta spot (which is sooooo yummy and feels a lot like an extension of our home). 

Fillet on mash with mushroom sauce

Lazy Sunday lunch took us to the South Hill Wine Estate in the Elgin/Grabouw Valley. We are madly in love with the area and will hopefully some day call it home. It's not further to travel from Cape Town than the

Paarl/Stellenbosch/Franschoek Valley Winelands area which made it a perfect choice to share the splendor of the Cape with a local tourist! 

Chef Gordon Manual owns and runs the restaurant and his food is amazing! The menu is limited and there's a set price for either two or three courses. I chose the beef fillet whilst my man and his mom had salmon - both we equally impressive!

Salmon on Risotto

On the up side, I have got some brag pics from our first braai of the season (the braai's at my folk's house don't count as the fireplace is able to be used year round...) which I've been pathetic at downloading onto my MacBook Air (thank you baby!). 

We made the most deliciously exotic kebabs - lamb with warm spices, onion and dried apricots and chicken with courgets, chili in a lemon marinade... definitely worth the effort!

Sugar Sugar

I like sugar. A lot. I didn't realise how much it didn't like me though! You see, I (like much of the world) added a spoon of sugar to my tea and coffee without really thinking. I work from home most days and my mom and I probably have a minimum of 6 cups of tea or coffee a day... add a spoon of sugar to each cup and we're talking quite a lot of sugar every day - without thinking and without feeling like I was overloading in any way. After all, it's just one spoon of sugar in my tea, right?

A couple of months ago I stopped putting sugar in my hot drinks. I didn't really think about it and it turns out that I actually prefer the taste sans the sweet stuff! It wasn't for any specific reason - thank goodness it wasn't because I had early symptoms of diabetes, it was merely a flippant decision on the spot. 

The hard decision was to cut out super carbohydrate loaded drinks... I used to have a Grapetizer with meals out (we eat out a few times a week) until my dear man pointed out that there are enough carbs in 330ml to cover an entire meal's needs! Oh, dear... I will admit I miss Grapetizer terribly but given the facts, how could I possibly continue to drink them? This posed the problem of what can I have with a meal out? It will suffice to say that I have made friends with Rock Shandy's and sparkling water with lemon does the trick most of the time... I'm not a total kill-joy though. If I really feel like a sugary drink I'll have one but it's actually become easy to make the healthy choice :-)

The unintended consequences of cutting out sugar have been my waistline and energy levels... My friends know that I'm super sporty and I've never struggled with my weight in any way - I'm genetically predisposed to be skinny (this shouldn't be confused with healthy though!) but since skipping out on sugar I have noticed a MAJOR difference in my body shape: I have toned abs (without any extra training) and the cellulite I saw creeping into my bum has vanished (yes, it was there and it stressed me otu terribly but I'd made peace with it's existence) and all that for sacrificing a spoon of sugar in my tea and coffee! Best part was that i didn't even do it for that reason. Energy-wise I feel great: no mid afternoon slump and my mood is way more stable and I feel happier and less stressed. Again, this wasn't my reason for sutting out sugar - but it sure is a major benefit!

There are a few areas I feel I'm still sugar overloading: ready made foods, cakes and my weakness for sweets. In the beginning temptation isle (the queue area at Woolies) was pretty much impossible - all those yummy fruit gums and chocolates and nougat and jelly beans and yumminess... I was worse than a toddler (mainly because there was no mommy to say no and I was armed with my credit card!) and would start nibbling while I waited for my turn to pay. I'm pleased to say that the tempation is now limited to Lindt chocolates (chilli, pinch of sea salt and 60% dark) which I feel much better about adding to my basket because they get shared after dinner as a treat (I wouldn't dare to open one in the queue and thankfully I haven't felt the need!)

I managed to cut out the extra (high GI) carbs, so can you!

I know it's still winter, but.............................

Cape Town had a cold front last week (I know you're thinking "it's winter, of course you had a cold front" but we've had the mildest winter I can remember and most of it hasn't felt like winter at all...) which promted mom to light the coal stove in the kitchen. This is such a treat and all of our cooking and baking happens as it would have a hundred years ago with temperatures at the mercy of whoever takes responsibility for stoking the fire.


The house is divinely warm and we all spend most of our time crammed around the kitchen table. I still have to venture outside to feed the chickens and on one such morning the gardening bug bit. Hard. I dug the seed box out of the garage and finally put to use some of the toilet roll inners that I'd forced the family to collect for me for months! I only planted a small seed tray but it's got some basics that I can't wait to get into the veggie boxes once the threat of cold fronts has passed... the tray has pride of place next to the stove but gets moved around the kitchen during the day so as to catch as much sunlight through the skylight as possible.

Authentic Farm Experience

I'm not normally one for promoting stuff through my writing but it may just happen this time :) This is mainly because I had such a great experience that I felt I just had to share it!

Prompted by uploading photos from my camera (I have this nasty habit of forgetting to upload them as I have 6 massive memory card's which I swap in event by event...) I was reminded of an absolutely fabulous day we spent on a very special farm. Aunty Karen (coming from an Afrikaans family this just happens...) and Oom Michael have been family friends for many years - they used to live in Cape Town before they moved to Lelieblom Farm in Darling. Karen has an amazing sense of style and has translated this into a farm restaurant. We spent Father's day being spoilt rotten with the yummiest of plaas kos (potato and bacon soup with homemade bread for starters, roast goat meat with sweet potatoes, pumpkin fritters and veggies for mains and an amazing chocolate mousse and coffee for desert). The menu is decided based on what's fresh on the farm (yes, the meat is from Michael's goat herd) and in the village.

Lunch was a lazy affair - don't for a moment think you'll stop by for a quick meal! In the country there is no such thing... After lunch Michael decided to test my horse riding skills (he says I'm OK for a city girl!) and we were shown around the extensive property before being plied with yet another cup of coffee... The potbelly pigs get the lunch leftovers at the gate which was fun to watch and chickens free-range through the garden (they've been banned from the dining room!) The restaurant is open on a booking only system and Karen and her daughter Nicolette buy and cook accordingly. They're open every Sunday and are more than happy to open during the week for functions - the farm would make for an amazing small, exclusive wedding venue. All in all a fantastic day and a truly authentic farm experience. 



Check out Lelieblom Farm here or call Karen on 082 573 7736