Muffin, muffin, muffin! Oy, oy, oy!!

What do you do on a public holiday when the rain just won’t give up?

You and your Mr drag the futon mattress into the middle of the lounge room floor, along with every pillow, cushion, blanket and doona you can find. Drink endless cups of Madame Flavour peppermint and lavender tea, watch hilarious dvd’s, devour a block of Lindt mint choc, listen to the Hottest 100 Countdown, play Scrabble and oh, BAKE MUFFINS!!

Here is our recipe! Totally wheat and dairy free with MEGA amounts of antioxidants!

Spelt Blackberry and Choc Muffins

3 cups (375g) Spelt Flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 free range eggs, beaten
1 1/4 (310ml) cups rice milk
125g butter, melted
1 tsp real vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups frozen blackberries
2 huge teaspoons of ground cinnamon
1 300g block of Lindt blueberry dark choc
½ cup shredded coconut
1 sliced banana for the top of the muffins

What to do:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 C. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin or place a muffin paper in each slot.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt into a large mixing bowl and stir in the sugar.
3. Place the eggs, milk, butter and vanilla into a separate bowl and whisk together.
4. Fold the egg mixture into the dry ingredients, add the coconut and broken up chocolate and then gently stir in the blackberries. (Don't stir the berries too much or you will get purple muffins!)
5. Spoon the mixture into the muffin cups, and slice the banana and put a slice on top of each muffin. Place the muffin tray on the top shelf of the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the muffins are well risen and lightly browned.

Happy Aus Day boys and girls!!

WE love LOVE.

Oh man. Don't you just hate it when you're single and you see couples EVERYWHERE! Holding hands in the supermarket, making out on park benches, looking into each others eyes in cafes...

There are twelve sleeps till I become a Mrs and I'm nauseatingly in love... So shield your eyes people, because true love is a big f***ing deal xx

Ps. Congrats Hayley!!

The Late For Work Smoothie.

I am not by any means a morning person. I always say that I endeavour to be one, but I just have so much fun doing things at night time. Needless to say, my morning routine is rather hot footed.

I was already running 5 minutes late for work this morning and realised that I still hadn’t had breakfast.

So I grabbed my blender and threw in:

300ml of coconut water (super high in magnesium to relax muscles)
8 or 10 frozen blackberries (contains antioxidants to reduce cell ageing)
1 Tablespoon of LSA (protein, good fats and fibre)
1 heaped teaspoon of spirulina (rich in chlorophyll to cleanse the blood)

Poured it into my new Cheeki stainless steel coffee mug and hit the road.

Happy Friday everyone xx

You wish jellyfish.

Not a dull moment goes by at Essential Health.

A young lady bought a tub of spirulina powder last week for her pet moon jellyfish. You read correctly.

“They’re so cute! Like little lava lamps!” She then excitedly went on to tell me that the spirulina is the food for the krill which the jellyfish eat –which are actually sea monkeys! This consequently turns the sea monkeys green.

You can’t just sprinkle the green sea monkeys into the tank for the jellyfish to eat. You have to suck them up with a pipette, chase the jellyfish around the tank until it’s upside down, and then squirt the sea monkeys into it. The jellyfish have four stomachs which give them a four leaf clover appearance when you look down on them.

I was absolutely enthralled as these facts were relayed to me at 100 miles an hour as the customer gushed about her little transparent friends. Not because I too have a secret jellyfish fetish, but how consumed she was with energy.

I LOVE listening to people talk about what they are truly passionate about. I love seeing their face light up, their eyes grow wider, the wild hand gestures and instant enthusiasm that arises from a topic that is close to their heart. Whether it’s the epic wave they got in the surf this morning or the elaborate meal they prepared from scratch or a tank full of jellyfish.

Listen mindfully to people. Don’t just hear the words they say, mindfully tune in to how they say it and what feelings it evokes.

What floats your boat? What flicks your switch and tickles you on the fancy? xx

Twenty-twelve.

Last year I made an agreement with myself that I would have a life outside of the business. So I fell deeply in love with pilates, joined a new yoga class, took more road trips North and met some awesome new friends.

As a result, my life is now richer than before.

I’m a huge believer that every decision we have ever made has lead us to exactly where we are in our life at this very point. The strength of our relationships, our job, our health, how much money we make, the person we’ve become, but most of all: how happy we are.

So this year (2012) I endeavour to:
*get married to my other half and travel to Fiji
*run 10 km
*have more dinner parties
*buy a 12ft board with my man so we can surf tandem and stand-up paddle board
*be true to myself by letting go of old ways of thinking that don’t serve my life in a positive way

Oh and get lots more reflexology treatments!

Happy New Year everyone xx

Have a read about how I got a life in 2011 here!

Hummus from home.

We’ve received a swag of rad engagement presents over the last couple of months. One if particular being a snazzy little food processor! My latest culinary creation is homemade hummus! Those plastic tubs of hummus in the supermarket just don’t compare to the flavour, texture, smell and how filling the real stuff is!

I’m always trying to discover ways to become more self sufficient to improve my health and reduce the amount of packaging I use. Eg growing my own herbs, mixing up our own muesli, buying toilet paper in paper packaging rather than plastic so it can be popped in the recycle bin.

So I’ve stopped buying crackers and started using mushies, snowpeas, zucchini, cucumber, red capsicum, carrots as my dippers! Also by putting the dip into little glass containers you’re cutting down on the foil and plastic packaging of the commercial stuff.

Here’s what to do:

1 x 400g tin of organic chickpeas, rinsed and drained (packed with protein)
½ tsp pink Himalayan salt (rich in minerals)
1 garlic cloves (natural antibiotic)
2 Tbs fresh lemon juice (vitamin C)
2 Tbs tahini (high in calcium)
2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil (essential fatty acids)

Whiz everything in a food processor then store in an airtight container in the fridge for about 5 days.

There are heaps of variations you can make like pumpkin hummus, spiced beetroot, mint and pea, etc. So get creative!

What new dishes have you made lately? How can you cut down on packaging around your house to reduce your carbon impact? xx

Oh yeah and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!