I'll be riiite back :)

For all of you eagerly awaiting this weeks Tasty Thursday, ur gonna have to wait a little more. Its a long weekend here in South Africa and I'm off to Jhb for a girl weekend :) Thats right.. no hubby from this evening until SUNDAY! Hmmm, I wonder if this is the longest we've been apart?

Anyway.. Next weeks Tasty Thursday is gonna be about some awesome cupcakes I baked recently. Extremely soft, you would hardly believe that these are eggless! I frosted it with some honey lemon icing and it was delish :) :)

Here's a teaser for it ....

See ya when I get back :)



Feedback on Ermelo Huskies

Last week I posted about the huskies that were being ill-treated and Husky Rescues Plea for Assistance. I have since received this email from Jasper at Husky Rescue thanking everyone for their support and advising us of what happened after. Thanks to all who assisted.

The story started when we received a call for help to rescue 20 huskies from a back yard breeder. Two days before we went to rescue the huskies, it was confirmed that there are only 15 huskies. We went on Thursday morning to rescue the huskies, in conjunction with the Police who handled the entire operation extremely well. They were very professional in their conduct. After the Police gave us the go-ahead to enter the property & to retrieve the huskies, we confiscated 11 huskies. It appears that the rest was sold off.All the huskies went for a general check-up the same day here in JHB. The huskies general condition is not to great, this shows clearly in quality of their fur & teeth. The two older female’s ears are badly eaten by flies & their fur was very badly knotted, which is a clear sign of neglect.


All the huskies seems to suffering from some degree of mental stress & fear behavioural issues, based on the way they respond, i.e. aggression or withdrawal. The puppies are invested with worm & clearly was never de-wormed. The only male puppy died this morning from seizures. It was also clear that he had a problem with his hind legs & could not walk properly. The only red adult male we found, is extremely aggressive & cannot be fostered with any other animals. For now, we had to move him into a kennels.


When we sent out the first e-mail, asking for help, never in our wildest dreams did we expect the response we received. It was simply absolutely amazing to see how many people out there cared and supported us and were willing to really dig deep into their pockets in order to help these poor dogs.


I would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who donated, food, money, blankets, toys & their time to make this rescue operation a massive success. Thanks to all the foster home who’s been so generous in opening their homes to these orphans. We have had a lot of offers from people who would like to adopt these huskies, please be patient, the court case needs to be finalised before we can place these huskies in permanent homes.


I would like to thank Kim, Mandy, Elke, Siobhan, Manuela, Krappies, Tanja & her dad, who drove all the way to Ermelo & back, for all the time it took to sort out the huskies. For the Vets, Glen Packer, Paulshof Vet, Fernridge Vet, who came onboard to assist us with all the sterilisations.


Lastly a very special thanks to Montego Food & Royal Canin who very generously donated food to this great course.


Jasper van Jaarsveld
Husky Rescue – Representative

jasper@huskyrescue.co.za

http://www.huskyrescue.co.za/

Tasty Thursday - Sweetcorn Filled Gems

This weeks Tasty Thursday is a favourite in our house because of its simplicity and how easy it is to make. Its delicious, doesn't require much cooking skill and it is pretty easy on the tummy. Usually after a week of heavy, rich or spicy foods, hubby and I are looking for something that will soothe our tummies and give it a chance to settle.

Also, if we've been having those rich and spicy foods, chances are its been a hectic week where we haven't been doing the cooking ourselves and eating at home. This is a meal reserved for those times when we're too tired to cook but still want something nutricious and wholesome. And most of all quick!

Ingredients

4 Gem Squash

1 tin cream-style Sweetcorn

8 teaspoons butter (to taste and optional)

Grated Cheese

salt to taste

a sprinkle of cayenne pepper/ curry powder/ peri-peri/ paprika

a sprinkle of dried mixed herbs

----------------------

Cut the Gems in half

Place in a wide, shallow microwave dish with about half a cup of water

Microwave until seeds start to pull away from the sides and gem squash is cooked (usually about 8-10 mins)

Scoop out the seeds

(you can plant them, roast them or just throw them away)

Place a teaspoon of butter in the shells and grind over some salt

Fill the shells with sweetcorn, top with cheese and sprinkle over the paprika and herbs

Enjoy!

Husky Rescue - Plea for assistance

I recently received this email from Jasper at Husky Rescue South Africa... Please help if you can..

Very serious plea for assistance:

I just received a phone call from someone in Ermelo. This coming week, +20 huskies will be confiscated from an alcoholic back yard breeder, who is apparently abusing these huskies terrible. From what I understand these huskies gets beaten to the point where they bleed. Anybody who knows huskies will know that they are not aggressive at all & all they want is to be loved. So, for a husky to be beaten is unacceptable.

I beg you to please assist in one of the following ways:

· We need transport for these huskies from Ermelo to Johannesburg.


· We will urgently need foster homes who will provide a loving home.


· We need food, lots of it.

· Some of the huskies have behavioural problems, we urgently need people who can work with some of these huskies.

· If you can’t assist in any of the above, please donate money to us, into our bank account:

Account name: Husky Rescue SA

Bank: Standard Bank

Branch: Cape Gate

Branch Code: 02 39 10

Account number: 271 474 092

If you can assist, please contact Jasper at jasper@huskyrescue.co.za

My two dogs, Shadow and Blaze, are huskies and I can tell you from experience that what Jasper says about the breed is true. They are incredibly loving and are not aggressive at all. They were bred to be part of the family and have very little territorial drive (unlike other breeds). They are intelligent and playful and incredibly caring. For anyone to treat them in such a horrific manner is unthinkable.

Blaze and Shadow having a laugh :)

Tasty Thursday - Picnic Fare - Potato Salad

Continuing our series on picnic fare, todays Tasty Thursday is about that classic american dish .. Potato Salad. As lacto-vegetarians (means we have dairy but no eggs), generally store bought potato salad doesnt work for us since it contains mayo. However, we have found a pretty good substitute - Salad Cream. Here in South Africa, there is a brand called Trim which contains low oil and no eggs making it an extremely healthy choice. There is a light version as well, so if you're watching those calories, this is the way to go! This is an excellent side dish, a meal on it own or an additional relish in your burgers, hotdogs and braaied sausages.

Potato Salad

Potatoes (peeled and cubed)

Cross and Blackwell Trim Salad Cream

1/2 cup chopped herbs - Dill, Spring Onion, Chives

1/2 teaspoon curry powder 

Salt and Pepper to taste

Microwave potatoes until cooked through.

Allow to cool slightly.

While still slightly warm, pour the salad cream over (enough to cover thoroughly) and mix - doing this while the potatoes are still warm will allow you to mix the cream in easier

Add salt, pepper and curry powder and mix through

Toss in half the herbs and mix evenly

Decorate the top with remaining herbs

Emphasis

“The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same.” ~ Carlos Castaneda

If the amount of work is the same, then why is it that so much of the time we are miserable? We constantly focus on the bad stuff - I have a headache; I'm bored/irritated/stressed at work; I'm not getting paid enough; Everyone else is having babies/ getting married/______ (Fill in the the blanks here) and why not me? - and make ourselves miserable. But here's the rub.. we are CHOOSING to allow these thought patterns to continue.

If you're like me, thoughts don't just enter into your mind and leave.. they cycle around, maybe make a home for themselves,and sometimes getting into a feedback loop that just kinda appears when you're not actively thinking about something (like when you're in the shower or driving and listening to music). This is not necessarily a bad thing, unless the feedback loop is a negative one.

And knowing that you do this is one thing. Changing the loop to a positive one, is something more difficult. A few techniques I've been trying is consciously stopping the thought when I realise I am having it and turning my thoughts to more positive ones. I have also been trying to use new hobbies as a distraction so that the thought patterns that circulate are about the hobbies rather than thing that impact my life negatively. So far, its helped a bit, but I'm far from being perfect at it. The negativity still comes and sometimes I forget to refocus my energies.

If you have any ideas or thoughts on how to curb these, please write it in the comments. We can all choose to happy, but it is a conscious daily effort.

Tasty Thursday - Picnic Fare - Baked Bean Salad

Now that the weather is warming up, I thought it would be a good idea to do a series on quick easy picnic food for Tasty Thursdays.

What I love about picnic food, is that it is so versatile. The baked bean salad listed below can also be spread on a pizza base or even just a slice of bread topped with some cheese and oregano and baked for a quick delicious pizza. Grill some Italian or French bread rounds brushed with garlic and olive oil, top with the baked beans salad and a sprinkling of fresh herbs and you have some tasty (and classy) bruschetta to serve at brunch.  Spread a cracker with low fat cream cheese, drop of dollop of this mixture on top and you have a quick, healthy snack. Or you could serve it as an accompaniment or side dish when braaing (barbecuing). You could even use it as a type of relish inside a burger or hotdog. I could go on and on. Go crazy and let your creative juices flow to come up with other exciting ways to use this versatile salad.

Baked Bean Salad

1 tin Baked Beans in tomato sauce

1 Tomato (chopped)

1/4 - 1/2 an onion (optional)

1/2 cup chopped parsley, spring onions, coriander

1 tsp medium curry powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp crushed ginger and garlic

1/2 tsp crushed green chillies (cayenne)

1 tsp dried mixed herbs

Method

Mix all ingredients into a large bowl and refrigerate until time to use.

Lunch breaks ... Part 2

So for the past 2 days I have been visiting the beach during my lunch breaks. The offices where I work is literally a 10 minute drive from a quiet sparsely populated beach in Umhlanga Rocks. There isn't much (read anything) in the way of available food there which makes traffic really light. But if you drive for about 3 minutes from the parking lot at this beach, you will come across a buzzing restaurant area. Usually, if I haven't eaten already at my desk, I will stop off at the Woolworths food market there and pick up something to take with me to the beach.

Once there, I will sit on the sand, leaning against the cool stone of the barrier wall and simply bask in the sun. Sometimes, I take my eReader with me to read. And sometimes, I just sit there and watch the waves. If there a people around (theres usually a few), I people watch. I let my mind empty as I sit there, there are no work stresses, no irritations, no fears. It is incredibly peaceful and if I'm reading, I lose myself in someone elses story, someone else's drama and adventures.

Occassionally, a seagulls cry will jolt me out of the story and I will look up and smile. Happy to be where I am. Relaxed, with my mind at peace, I am able to return to work renewed and ready to continue through the afternoon.