HEALTH HACKS FOR OPTIMAL HEALTH AT CHRISTMAS

If you hadn't noticed (or perhaps you like to bury your head down a bit this time of year), Christmas is literally around the corner. With that comes many mixed emotions and they are different for everybody.

I love Christmas time. I love present shopping. I love planning and prepping (and eating of course) all the meals, treats, and food we have this time of year. I love decorating the (real) tree. I love laughing til my abs, my cheeks, and my brain hurts with my sisters at mums place. I love the travel to get to mums. I love making rum balls. I love beach swims. I love lazy snoozy afternoons.

However... I'd be lying if I said I didn't get stressed at some point by everything going on.

HEALTH NON-NEGOTIABLES OVER THE FESTIVE SEASON | DO YOU KNOW YOURS?

It's only a few weeks til Christmas already (where did the year go?) and already, I'm feeling the madness.

It was only last week that it culminated in chronic fatigue rearing it's ugly head again... My sister came to stay which was awesome, and B was away which is great for getting stuff done, but I do miss him obviously. I was eating out more with my big sis (not great for my tummy or my credit card), I had extra shifts at work, but these helped pay the incoming bills right... then I was bedridden all of Wednesday and so sick I couldn't keep water down, and had to lie horizontal all day resting. It hurt to read so literally nothing was done, although that's (obviously) exactly what I needed. 

5 TIPS FOR AN EASY CLEANSE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (CAKE)

For us in the southern hemisphere, we're gearing up for another out-of-this-world-amazingly-hot Summer. Am I right? Isn't Summer what we live for down under? I know I do (hence why I moved to the tropics... all year round baby!) 

I want to give you a regimen that will gently cleanse your system to have you feeling and looking your best come Christmas Day. I know it's still a little while off but these changes don't happen over night.
Why go on a full on detox only after all the cake and eggnog when you can prepare your body beforehand, to easily work with the extra goodies we like to indulge in over the silly season? No brainer.

NOURISH: RUM BALLS EVERYONE WILL RAVE ABOUT

Who doesn't love a good rum ball? Boy o boy these have to be one of my favourite Xmas treats by far. I used to buy them from the supermarket and mum and I would slowly but surely demolish every last morsel, oohing and ahhing over how much we loved them - no one else in the house did.

But when my interest in nutrition hit, I realised that most pre-packaged ones are full of crap. A little bit of choc, rum flavour, and a whole lotta preservatives, additives, sugar, fillers, and junk.

So I made my own. And continue to do every year.

2012 End + 2013 Beginnings

As I sit here munching away on a brekkie bowl of Coyo yoghurt, acai, walnuts and buckini muesli, looking out at the sunny day it has already bloomed into in Cairns... I feel inspired to (finally) write this post.

It's been over a month since I last posted and as much as I would have loved to keep in touch more, well Summer, Xmas, New Years and 5 weeks on the road all came first. But now I'm back, have begun my year full swing (with assessments and an exam in there as well), back to work, trying to find a new place to call home - again - (minor stress there) OUR NEW HOME HAS JUST BEEN CONFIRMED!!! now to begin moving in!!! That's the fun part tho and I am so excited! College begins in a couple of weeks, and I've also been hugely excited about a few other things in the pipeline but I'm struggling a little finding the time to put my focus there at the minute, so fingers crossed I'll get my schedule sorted a little better when I've got a place to call home now I've got a place to call home :)

So since we last spoke, Brock and I have been from

Cairns to Sydney to Cairns

and everywhere in between

We left here December 13th and got back January 20th. In that time we swam in oceans and rivers, slept under the stars at Prosepine and Hervey Bay, ate at my favourite cafe in Brissie, had amazing smoothies in Byron, visited my mum and step-dad twice, met new born babies of friends, stayed with Brock's 94yr old nan in Alstonville, picnic'd in Rockhampden, celebrated Christmas with four separate food feasts across Sydney and to Bowral, laughed with family, spent New Years with our best friends in Bondi,  visited the Hunter Valley and had a little too much vino, trained, ran, drank way too much coffee, tried to catch up on what seemed like never-ending-lost-sleep, spent 2weeks on the Sunshine Coast with mum, and the rest of the time in our little Toyota Corolla hatch back - filled to the seams with clothes, boxes, yoga mats, water bottles, food snacks, my teddy bear, sleeping bags, a (busted) tent, (then) a new tent, and loads more... driving the east coast of this beautiful country of ours, tunes pumped, horrible singing voices on... with no air-con. Yep. From Cairns to Sydney and back again - no air-con. We had a ball!

But like I said, we're back in Cairns now where it's freakin hot and deliciously sunny! We were very lucky getting here when we did as if were a week later we would have potentially got stuck with bushfires somewhere, definitely been bogged in by floods somewhere else, and quite possibly have experienced our first cyclone - crazy country of ours.

I've got a lot of ideas for my little blog site this year as well so little by little you might be catching some of those changes. As for my posts - they're usually varied as to what I write about but please email me or let me know on the Facebook page, if there is anything you would like to see. I will be sure to inform you all of how my own health issues are going as well - hair mineral analysis results are back today! Bloods have come in also. I'm back seeing my TCM guy, as well as an osteo and physio for other issues I've got going on, and have begun with a few other little things that I'm loving also.

Until next time,

Peace and Love

Christie

Fancy a Rum Ball? Oh Yes please!

Well you don't need me to tell you that Christmas is just around the corner (although in a round-a-bout way I just did) and from here on in you'll no doubt see more and more people getting crazy leaving gift buying, family arrangements, food prep and more til the very last minute. Personally, I like to think I'm pretty well organised each year however I'd be lying if I said it was totally cruisey for me - I think I just go crazy a little earlier on as my default mechanism to then later cruise through the finishing line to the 25th. 

That's my personal life though. I know in past years my blogging life has not been so well thought out; posting photos of what I HAD for lunch and what I MADE for Xmas AFTER all the festivities were had. So... this year I wanted to give you guys one of my favourite recipes early so you can save yourselves a little time and a little sanity by making this ahead of time; even then they will only take you 15 minutes to make. And what's great about these are they are
gluten free, wheat free, sugar free, dairy, free, egg free, vegan and raw! You can make them nut free too buy substituting the nut meal for coconut flour.


You will need:

1/4 cup nut meal (almond and cashew work great)
1/2 cup medjool dates (pitted and chopped)
1/4 cup raisins*
1/2 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp rum
1 Tbsp cacao powder
2 Tbsp other dry ingredient (I have used oat flour, coconut flour, even additional nut meal works)

In your food processor throw in your nut meal, dates, and raisins (*if you'd like little chewy raisin bits in your rum balls only put half the raisins here and pulse or hand mix the rest through at the end) and process until bitsy. Then add everything else and process until the mixture forms and is well combined. If you decided against the delicious rum in this recipe you will need to substitute another liquid so the balls are moist enough.

Taste test - I'll be honest here, with this recipe it is so hard not to eat half the batch.

Roll the mix in the palm of your hand into any size you like and then roll in cacao powder, chocolate sprinkles, coarsely ground cacao nibs, coconut or leave them naked.

This recipe makes 12 small rum balls so by all means do as I always do - and make MORE!

If you're making these now for Xmas, store them in a well sealed container in your freezer to prevent them from drying out. Then after that fridge or freezer, and they are able to last for a month or so - but as if that's going to happen!

Take them to your family Xmas get together or wrap them up and gift them to work colleagues, friends, family or your nan - I know she'll love them!

I would love to see photos of your rum balls when you make these so please comment below or share your pics on our Facebook page Eat.More.Plants

Enjoy these scrumptious little morsels of joy and happiness

A Christmas Stuffed

 

Hello Summer Sunshine!!
The season did begin almost a month ago, but better late than never right?

How was your Christmas? I hope you all had wonderful big lunches or dinners, family gatherings, friends around, present swapping, hugs, smiles and laughter. I had all that that's for sure! Christmas is my favourite time of year and I always get very much into the decorating and present buying and kitchen creations and this year was no different - except much more exhausting! Did anyone else find that or was it just me? Actually I know it wasn't only me as I've heard similar things from others around me. I was working more hours leading up until Christmas as my boss was on maternity leave (and gave birth to a beautiful baby girl at 11.50pm Boxing Day - yay), making Christmas cake orders for the shop and more for the markets, present shopping, and all whilst we had more people living in our place and my grandmother just passed away. So it's been full on, busy busy, hectic, stressful, and wonderful all at once, but I am in desperate need of solo time, quiet time, and reflection on what has been...

But before I get there I'm here to show you what my Christmas was - and say thank you again to everyone that ordered and bought my cakes. Big success :)
PS. Serious food porn ahead!

Deliciously Christmassy

Pre-orders lining up

So my Christmas morning began early as my dearly beloved and I wanted to get to the beach and in the surf. And WOW was it deliciously refreshing, with a gentle breeze, warm sunshine, and a few other people eager to catch what had been the only sunshine of Summer so far. No guesses as to how AMAZING we felt afterwards, as we were ready to face the day of eating to come!

Sydney's North Curl Curl - the best beach on the east coast :)

So back to mums' place by 830am, and surprised to see most of the house already up and about (I'm always the one waking everyone else at 6am to open pressies and make brekkie). Big hugs for mum and then upstairs to jump on my older sister still in bed who funnily enough said she was waiting for me - Christmas wasn't the same without me jumping and waking her!! Haha! Mum had set the table, and was cooking coconut pancakes while I made my banana-nog and sandwiched (pre-done) raw banana pancakes with fresh fruit and a drizzle of maple syrup. With Michael Buble playing in the background, a perfect Christmas morning :)

Raw banana pancakes with fresh fruit and maple drizzle

Banana-nog

Then it was opening presents time!! Santa still comes to mums place so we all get spoilt! And boy oh boy this year was no different!! New books, dvds, music, clothing, candles, bags, a turkish bowl I adore, a massage voucher (yum), choccies, the list never ends!! But what I love most is actually sitting down to share a meal with my whole family, and dancing around the house with mum and my sisters. And furthermore having and spending time with all my extended family in the space of a few days, as it's one of the only times we all get together these days.

All the cousins!!

The rest of the day was as follows:
Lunch with my man's family out near Dural - big salads and fruit and I took over a raw xmas cake to share as well. More presents given and received, big hugs and we were off again. Driving south to Bowral for dinner at Dad's - a huge spread of food and the table looked like something out of a DJ's catalogue (haha sorry Dad) !!

Garden Salad

Hot Spicy Tomato Salad

Fatoush Salad

Avo halves (eaten predominantly to counteract the copious amounts of chilli I ate in the tomato salad)

Raw Fruit Mince Tarts (made especially by my wonderful step-sister)

After mains, pre-dessert, pressie time

The best nectarines I've ever had!

The best blueberries I've ever had - hand picked by my step sister and step mum

My little plate of goodies

We crashed at Dad's and got up early to drive back home to get organised for the Big Relo's Boxing Day Bash happening at mum's place. Sleeves up, carrot juice had, then onto making salads! Once again, a huge spread of food with 20 people there; there were fresh prawns, roast beef, ham, smoked mussels and oysters for everyone else, then a whole table of salads (a few other organic ones for my man and I), later followed by French cheeses and breads, then desserts, then teas and coffee. Phew! Time to digest!

Green salad, potato salad, grilled vegie salad, avo mango salad, noodle coleslaw salad, and my zucchini pasta!

Voila! Raw pasta a big hit!

My cousins amazing mango-avo-macadamia-rocket salad!

Mango salsa, organic greens, other salads and raw carrot falafels

Carrot falafels with sweet tahini smoosh

Ever had passionfruit on your green salad? So good!

And once done on salads (cheeses and breads if you wish) it was dessert time! Always a highlight on Boxing Day. And this year was no different -

Mums mango amaretto ice cream cake, and a big pavlova

The Bouche de Noel - traditional French Christmas Cake we have every year

But for the raw foodies... none of the above as delicious as it all looked - I had made a special version of my Christmas cake. A raw chocolate-choc-chip Christmas cake (dare I say I think it's better than the origianl!). Mmm so good! With a choc-mammey ice cream I had made (after altering my good friend Omid Jaffaris' recipe here), one of my girl Kristina's beautiful luvbites (new flavour - omg) and the best blueberries ever, I don't think I could have had much better!!

Herbal tea after digestion took place, then crashing on the floor, another Christmas done and dusted!
"We did it" said mum and I. And now I totally deserve some R&!

Peace love and mung beans dudes and dudettes. Happy New Year if we don't speak before, be safe, and I'll see you all next year!

Raw Xmas Fruit Cake

Fancy yourself a RAW VEGAN XMAS CAKE this year?

Made with love and 100% raw organic ingredients

Individual 200g cakes - $12.50 each   

Family 700g cakes - $40.00 each

Ingredients: organic almonds, organic cashews, organic coconut, organic medjool dates, organic sultanas, organic dried cranberries, organic turkish apricots, organic walnuts, organic pecans, fresh organic orange juice, fresh organic lemon juice, organic orange rind, organic lemon rind, organic ginger, organic dark agave, organic cinnamon, sea salt

If you live in Sydney and would like to get your hands on one of these delicious cakes, this is what you have to do: 

1. Email me at christie@christiefischer.com 

2. Be sure to include the size and quantity you would like 

3. I will email you payment details, and once that has come through, I will confirm your order with you

4. Your cake/s will be ready for pick up from Crows Nest anytime from Monday December 19th

Orders need to be placed by Friday December 9th, and cake pick ups from Crows Nest will be ready from Monday December 19th.

100% organic

100% raw

100% vegan

100% good for your soul

Christmas Part 2

Time for cake!

So I gave you guys a sneak peak at what I had lurking 'round my kitchen the few days before Xmas and now you get see the whole lot! And more!
Last year I made my first raw christmas fruit cake and much to my LOVE of it, this year I made it again.

Isn't it just beautiful? (If I dare say so myself) But this year I decided to go one step further with it so everyone could try it, and made a second lot into tiny mini-christmas-cakes. All individually topped with a cinnamon maple pecan. I was really happy to find that everyone liked them as much as I did (provided they were fruit cake lovers in the first place of course).

I also tried out these babies - Raspberry Belgium Chocolates (a recipe I got from here) And they melt in your mouth! I do love the look of chocolate covered truffles (and go gaga over Heather's ones) but to be honest, I don't really get alot of enjoyment out of making them. A few here and there for sure but I've got to give it to Heather - these morsels take alot of time and patience - something I didn't have alot of left come Christmas Eve when I was still in the kitchen creating all these gems.

Then there were rows and rows of chocolate-peanut brownies with cashew frosting...

Mini fruit mince tarts (raw too) made from an oat and nut crust and filled with an ooey-gooey-yummy-scrummy date, apple, spices, etc filling! Ooh baby! These were delicious!



And then the Piste resistance. RUM BALLS. Ever since I can remember I have ADORED rum balls. Everytime I hear those tantilising words - RUM BALLS - my taste buds take me straight back to when I was younger. It was what I always bought from the bakery - any bakery, every bakery! So when I decided to make a raw version (with added rum of course) it had to be perfect!

It had to be moist and slightly chewy... with a cake-like texture though... a subtle melt-in-your-mouth and chocolate overtone with a distinct delicious rum scent... I had a look at a recipe for some inspiration but it was so far from where my taste buds were reminiscing. I had to add some cacao, taste it... still not right, add more oat flour for the 'cakiness'... a bit of this, a bit of that, let it chill and taste again...

And Oh My Golly Golly Golly Gosh.

Ladies and gentlemen we have a WINNER! Perfection! WOW!
(I'll admitt I kept most of these babies for myself) And then I arranged all my little gems into into about a dozen different shaped and sized boxes for gifts.

There's also rum truffles floating in a few boxes (not raw but definatley vegan) as my sister and mother are die-hard fans and I would be beated up if I didn't make them. Not cake-like at all but imagine pure rum chocolate ganache. They are divine. And ever so rich.

There are also some raw marzipan balls dusted in cacao. Here's one bigger box for one lucky man...

So after my smoothies, big green salads, and morning workouts, I definatley deserved to have my cake and eat it too! Infact... I'm still eating it ;)