Tasty Thursday - Baby Garden Pasta

Better late than never, right? Sorry guys for missing this weeks Tasty Thursday. On Thursday we had a group therapy session at work to help us transition to the new company branding. It was about 4 hours and we discussed things that we like and dislike about the company. At times it was fairly tension filled and I was exhausted by the end of it. And on Friday there was a baby shower for one of our co-workers. This was stressful for me. Just when I think I'm making progress, I discover that I have another stumbling block.

In this case, I just couldn't go to the baby shower. The thought of seeing all those baby clothes and all the excitement and happiness made me feel extremely anxious and I ended up not going. Part of the problem was that the lady in question was due in the first week in December and that was when my second lost baby would been born. It was good that I didn't have another big emotional storm, but I was still extremely uncomfortable.

****************TMI AHEAD*******************
The good news is I think I O'd this week. And hubby and I have been trying to BD regularly (after a long dry spell). I think we might have timed it correctly, so now its a question of whether I O'd on the correct side where my tube is still intact. I don't have confirmation of O yet, I'll probably only get that by Monday, but I feel like I O'd. My temps for the last 5 days have been 36.2, 36.2, 36.2, 36.3, 36.4 .. If it continues to go up then I will know that I have O'd. And then will be time for the 2WW during which I will be anxiously biting my nails until either AF comes or I have a confirmed pregnancy. And then the real worry begins.. LOL.. who wants to be me??
*********************END OF TMI*******************

This garden pasta is quick, easy and good for stress since it has lots of wonderful green veggies. Excellent for the health conscious or TTC'ing mommies :) Credit goes to our very own T'alicious for this wonderful recipe.



Baby Garden Pasta
Baby marrow
Baby corn
Sugar Snap peas (Mange Tout)
Tri-colour pasta
1 mini can of tomato paste
1 can Italian tomatoes - (Pomo D'Oro)
garlic, chilli
salt to taste

Boil Pasta in salted water until al dente

Slice veggies diagonally (very important to the flavour) and pan fry in a little Olive oil and salt

When veggies caramelise, add about 2 tablespoons of water to the mixture to keep all that smoky sweet flavour.

Cook tomatoes with garlic, chilli and salt

Mix vegetables into pasta

Add tomato

Serve with a tablespoon of sour cream on the side.

Tasty Thursday - Juice

We all the know rule about nutrition, right? To get all the nutrients, vitamins and minerals our body needs to function optimally, we should be eating about 6-9 servings of fresh fruit and vegetables. As a vegetarian, I know I get a good portion of this, but what about all the non-vegetarians out there? And besides, if we have a bit extra, its not going to hurt us, right?

But I know what you're thinking. Ugh, vegetables. How am I going to manage to eat that much fruit and vegetables? And the easy and tasty answer is "Don't eat it. Drink it!" If you prepare fresh juices and do not add any extra sugar or preservatives, it is as healthy as actually eating the fruit and vegetables.

Here are a few of my favourite juice recipes that are healthy an delicious. You never have to add any sugar since they are super sweet. Drink a cup or two of juice with your meals and you will not only eat less (it is filling!) but gain in the massive amount of nutrients. And if your body is getting more nutrients and you are eating less unhealthy food, a wonderful side effect is that you lose weight! The extra fibre will also keep your body working well and have you feeling great :)

Tropical Mix
1/4 pineapple
2 yellow apples
1 orange
1 banana
1 mango
a handful of strawberries

Zesty Carrot
4 carrots
2 green apples
1 thumb sized piece of ginger

Mixed Fruit
1/4 pineapple
2 apples
2 orange
1 guava
2 kiwi

My Rights

So we all know about human rights and our constitutional rights, right? But do we really think about them in our daily lives? I'm guessing not. I recently read this article on the Pretty Powerful website and it made alot of sense to me. If we all implemented this into our daily lives, maybe we wouldn't allow ourselves to be taken advantage of and we would stand up for ourselves even if it means not being the good girl.

I know I post alot on this topic  (here and here), this is something I have been struggling with for a while now. How do we stand up for ourselves and our feelings when we have been conditioned to being the peacemakers and doing what we're told? Have you ever been told "But you're the girl. You shouldn't behave that way"? I spent years trying to live up to what was expected of me, sometimes forgetting who I was in the process. Its incredibly easy to fall back into those thought/behavioural patterns. I believe repeating these rights to yourself every day will help combat that. I have reposted the article below for your reading pleasure. Maybe it will help us remember that our feelings are valid too.

My Rights  By Anne Dickson

 My happiness tips this month are simple, empowering and focussed.

I offer you a set of rules that I discovered in the 80's in a book called A woman in your own right. That book revolutionised my view of myself. It shaped what I taught my children. It guided my daily interactions. Not only did it help me become empowered, but my children too. As a working mom I needed to give my children tools to keep themselves safe when I wasn't there. So I set out to teach them the rules too - off by heart - to make sure they would be an ever present guide for them. As we recited the rules each night at bedtime, and chanted them on the way to school in the car, they not only learned them perfectly, but 'authorised' by their Mom, they believed them too!


I remember going to parent's day to see my eldest daughter's teacher. She was about 8 at the time and as I chatted to the teacher she told me that she really enjoyed teaching Louise as 'Louise challenges me when she doesn't agree with me!' Imagine that, an 8 year old with enough confidence to challenge an authority figure in a classroom. The truth is that, 20 years on, both my daughters can still say many and most rules from memory, and have used them as a touchstone for empowered living. (Excuse me, sometimes they are so good at standing their ground they even make me quake in my boots!!!)


Empowered living is happy living. Those who run around trying to please everyone lead frustrated and unfulfilled lives. And, as women our natural instinct is to create harmony. Combined with the fact that most girls are socialised to be 'nice', there's probably a lot of inner resistance to taking these on board. So it takes some practise (and scary moments) to stand on these rules, but it's worth it.


Learn them by heart yourself, even teach them to your children. Once deeply imbedded in this way you will find you start to use them as an automatic touchstone for your responses, choices and behaviours. Yes, there will be some challenging moments where you will be given opportunities to decide where you stand. Those closest and dearest to you will hate the changes they see in you, after all they have gotten used to you going along with them. Now things will be different. But the truth is this - respecting and honouring yourself is the starting point to respecting and honouring others. So say hello to the rules that help you respect and honour yourself. Say hello to genuine respect for others. Say hello to long term happiness.


MY RIGHTS

I have the right to state my own needs and set my own priorities as a person, independent of any roles that I may assume in life.
I have the right to be treated with respect as an intelligent, capable and equal human being.
I have the right to express my feelings.
I have the right to express my opinions and values.
I have the right to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ for myself.
I have the right to make mistakes.
I have the right to change my mind.
I have the right to say I don’t understand.
I have the right to ask for what I want.
I have the right to decline responsibility for other people’s problems.
I have the right to deal with others without being dependant on them for approval.

Tasty Thursday - Honey Lemon Frosted Cupcakes

As promised, todays Tasty Thursday is about cupcakes. Specifically, ultra-soft delicious eggless cupcakes with a divine honey lemon frosting.

What I find interesting however, is that the day I decide to post a recipe about cupcakes, I come across this article in the U.K Version of The Guardian. It was published about two years ago, but I believe it is still relevent today. The title is "Do good feminists bake cupcakes?". In the article, the views of a few 20-something women who have taken to the domestic arts are juxtaposed against the views of modern day feminists. The discussion basically comes down to the following 2 arguments.

"... what makes this modern domesticity very different to the old-fashioned kind is that it is done out of choice, not out of duty or an attempt to impress men ... "

"... There are problems associated with domesticity because, in the past, there was the assumption that it was just 'what women did'..."

The core of feminism to me, is the ability to choose what is right for you and not be dependant on anyone else to make your decisions for you. I am a working woman, a wife and hopefully one day a mother. My husband is a working man, a husband and hopefully one day a father. We both share equally in the responsibilities of owning a home and living together. We are both breadwinners in our family, we share food preparation duties and we look after our doggies toegther. If feminism is about equality, then I am a feminist and so is my husband. But if I choose to bake and cook and knit (yes, I went through phase where I knitted myself some lovely scarves), and if that makes me happy, that doesnt change anything. Choosing domestic arts does not automatically make a woman not a feminist just like a man choosing woodwork and vintage cars does not make him a chauvenist.

So bake cupcakes if that takes your fancy. You dont need to be a 1950's housewife to do so :)

 Honey Lemon Frosted Cupcakes

For the cake

1 3/4 cup (200g) self raising flour

3 level tsp baking powder

3/4 cup (115g) sugar

1/2 cup (125ml) vegetable oil (I mixed sunflower and olive oil)

1 cup cold water

4 tsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (375F)

Whisk dry ingredients together in a bowl

Add wet ingredients and whisk

Place paper cups into muffin tray and or individual cupcake molds

Fill mixture in cups

Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean

Wait 10 mins before removing from tins and placing on cooling wracks

(Makes 17 cupcakes)

For the Frosting

3 1/2 cups icing sugar

1/2 cup butter softened

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 tbs honey

2 tbs lemon juice

Cream butter, honey and vanilla together

Add sugar half a cup at a time

Once all the sugar is added, continue to cream until it reached the right consistency

Add lemon juice and any colouring if you are using

Decorate cupcakes

 

(Depending on how much frosting you use, you will have plenty left over. I have frozen the leftovers for next time)

No More Ms Good Girl

Ok, so I'm a little late to get back into blogging. I have reasons (and excuses) which you're probably not too interested in anyway. Too bad. Stop reading here if you not interested. Its been a tough week for me. Who knew I needed to get away that badly??

I completely and thoroughly enjoyed my girl weekend away. It felt was amazing to leave all my problems and issues behind and just let loose for a few days. The unfortunate downside to that is that when I got back, I was a) exhausted and b) dismayed to find all my baggage waiting at home for me to shoulder it once more.

Picking up all that weight again threw me into a bit of a tailspin. I went from being kindof manically happy to being completely down and depressed. I started seeing a therapist as well, which, while helping, is also making me dredge through the pain and trauma I went through.

Add to this some drama with my family (where I was told Im being selfish and I need to just get over it) and and item that was to me a symbol of my hope, being ripped away from me by these same people, and you begin to see why I've been AWOL. Its been a lot to deal with and I'm still not quite at the point where I can say its over.

What I do know is that I will not take the item back. Even if they try to give it back to me, I dont want or need it. I will not allow myself to be treated like crap any longer. I am tired of being the good girl, and letting others stomp all over my heart. In the course of this thing happening, others have said to me that they wouldn't have intentionally hurt me.. but if you know that something your are doing is upsetting/hurting someone and you insist on doing it anyway, then that is intentional hurt. it disregards the other persons feelings in favour of your wants. And I will not allow people to do that to me any longer.

So look out world. Its no more Ms Good Girl.