a theme for christmas 2011

Christmas is fast approaching but I'm breathing a sigh of relief because I've finally settled on this years theme! Have a sneak peak and try to guess the theme...

Hey, Rudolph! Yes, Rudolph is his name and he and his entourage of reindeer will be my inspiration in 2011. 

Do you have a theme this Christmas? I'd love to hear about what you have planned! But in the meantime, be sure to check my blog throughout December for sneak peaks on how I'm celebrating Christmas in my home.


Michelle xx

handmade engagement cards

I'm extremely excited about celebrating the engagement of a great couple next weekend - so much so that I made their card, and a few others, a week early! What do you think?

 
Michelle xx

celebrating 1000 blog views!

I published my first blog post on the 1st of September 2011 but I actually created my blog account over a year ago! The inspiration was always there but sadly I lacked the confidence to put it out to the world. Nevertheless, I eventually mustered up the courage and here I am, after only two months, and Lil' Feet has attracted over 1000 views!!

The original intention was to create a space where I could create a record of everything I made for those of my family and friends who liked to be updated on my latest project or wanted the recipe for something they'd tasted at my house. I also needed a safe place to write my favourite recipes, hints and tips because I have a habit of writing these on scrap bits of paper, only to lose them to the abyss... never to be seen again!

But to my surprise, this blog has become a great deal more. It has provided me with an outlet to escape from the chaos of day to day life; it has brought me new business opportunities; it has inspired others to create or follow their own dreams; and it has given me the courage to share some of my own experiences and difficulties in the hope that it will encourage others to face and survive their own.

I am humbled by the opportunity to share this with you and hope you've enjoyed my blog so far. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you all for your continued encouragement, support and feedback. 

Until next time, bye for now...

Michelle xx

nutella hot chocolate and marshmallow dippers

I've been trying out some ideas to serve up to my guests during Christmas and I think I've stumbled onto a winner! It's Nutella hot chocolate and I guarantee that once you've tried it, you'll never go back to boring old hot chocolate ever again! For each serve you'll need:

 1 cup milk

2-3 tablespoons of Nutella

1 teaspoon cocoa

a tiny pinch of salt

 

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and whisk until hot. Pour into your favourite mug, add homemade whipped cream and a sprinkle of cocoa - or if you're feeling indulgent, use Cadbury Flake like I did!

But if you're the type of person who prefers a traditional hot chocolate with marshmallows, then why not try this? Insert a flavoured wafer stick into a marshmallow and then dip it into melted chocolate. I prefer milk chocolate, but you can use dark or white chocolate if you prefer. Again, if you're feeling indulgent, dip the chocolate coated marshmallow into Cadbury Flake. When dipped into your hot chocolate, the chocolate melts into the milk and you're left with the wafer stick to enjoy while your marshmallow melts a little.

Michelle xx

kourabiethes

Kourabiethes would have to be the staple sweet of any Greek Christmas, Easter, Birthday, Name Day... actually, any day is a good excuse to indulge in these sweet treats! But like most European families, there is always a recipe that eludes the younger generation, and this is one of them! 

Be foolish enough to ask the older women in the family for their recipe and surely you'll get the evil eye. Everyone knows these recipes, which have taken decades to perfect, are never to be shared and will surely go to the grave with these women! Or you may feel fortunate enough to come across a Greek woman who offers her recipe... but beware! The recipe will always have something missing... usually the most critical ingredient! My grandmother will lovingly demonstrate her recipes but when you turn your back, she'll be hiding behind the cupboard adding her secret ingredient to the mix!

So with many failed attempts using many *altered* family recipes, I realised desperate times call for desperate measures! It was time to throw icing sugar to the wind, ad lib and trust my baking instincts... and what do you know? They turned out to be pretty darn delicious! 

Now here's the dilemma... every time there's a function, I'm asked to make kourabiethes. I rarely get the opportunity to make something different and I'm getting bored! So I'm going to break the Greek chain and public expose my recipe! Tag, you're it! You have the recipe now, so I can make something different for the next function!

But seriously, try these for yourself. They're super indulgent, so not an everyday food, but definitely worth the effort and the calories!

500 grams unsalted butter at room temperature
2 egg yolks
4 tablespoons caster sugar
25 grams vanilla sugar
2 cups sifted plain flour
2 cups sifted self raising flour
1.5 cups almonds (crushed in a food processer)
1 tablespoon ouzo (optional)

a whole heap of icing sugar!  

Preheat your oven to 170-180 degrees (depending on how strong your oven is!). Using an electric mixer, cream the butter then add the egg yolks, caster sugar and vanilla sugar. Now, using your hands, mix in the almonds, ouzo and 1/2 cup of each flour. Work the mix, while continuing to add the flours, 1/2 cup at a time. If you need more flour, add plain flour only. What you should end up with is a sticky dough that is too sticky to roll but not so sticky that it sticks to your hands.

Roll your kourabiethes into balls and crescent shapes and place them on lightly greased non stick baking trays.

Place the trays in the oven and bake for around 25 minutes. Now, I say 'around' because I've baked these in 3 different ovens and each time, they've baked for different times depending on the strength of the ovens. I would keep a watch on the kourabiethes from 20 minutes onwards and take them out as soon as they have changed color (but not browned!) and appear cooked. They will seem tacky, even soft, to the touch. If your kourabiethes have cracked, don't panic because the icing sugar will hide all of your baking fau pas! When cool, sift a ridiculous amount of icing sugar onto the kourabiethes. This is a crucial step... don't omit or go stingy on the icing sugar!

So the kourabiethes are ready to eat... Greek tradition dictates these delectable treats crumble with every bite and leave a conspicuous trail of icing sugar on your shirt! Enjoy!

Michelle xx

homemade dog biscuits

I absolutely adore my mum's dog Lily - with her stumpy legs, chubby body and buck teeth, who wouldn't love her! But recently she's been sick a lot... you know, the kind of sick that comes from licking the shower base or eating Christmas tinsel or the nose off her favourite toy! So when I recently read pumpkin can help with stomach irritation in dogs, I knew I had to get onto it. But I knew from past experience Lily would turn her nose down at plain old mashed pumpkin so I added some to my homemade dog biscuits instead. Here's the recipe I used:

1 cup wholemeal flour

1/2 cup oats

1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup mashed pumpkin

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 tablespoon apple puree 

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl, then mix in the wet ingredients until well combined. Knead the dough and roll out to 1/2 cm thickness. If the dough is too wet, add more flour before attempting to roll. Cut out the biscuits using a cookie cutter and place them on a non-stick baking tray. Bake in a 175 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned.  Simple as that!

When Lily spotted me holding something she knew it had to be for her...

And she just couldn't wait to snap the treat out of my hands...

And snap them up she did - three in a row!

These are great treats, sick or not sick, so try them for your lil' friend the next time you have left over steamed pumpkin.

Michelle xx

ransacking mum and dads vegetable garden

Nothing tastes or smells better that organic homegrown produce and I am fortunate enough to be given the best of the season every time I visit my parents. They live on a ten acre hobbie farm and in their free time they work tirelessly to maintain acres of vegetable garden, orchard, vineyard and olive grove - yielding beautiful, fresh organic produce all year round. 

But I dare say they are a little disappointed in my brown thumb and my ability to kill everything... even the cacti I received last year! Every time I visit, dad, eager to start me a vegetable patch of my own, questions me about the progress of the outdoor component of the renovations. Has the site been excavated yet? When are you doing the concreting, the paving, the decking? When are you doing the landscaping... you know it's too late now to plant the tomatoes! Eeeek!! I'm dreading his visit this weekend when he realises I've also killed the herbs and chilli plant mum grew from seed!

Oh well, we can't all be natural born gardeners... And if I was, who would be at my parents house every weeked ransacking their garden? No doubt their property would be overgrown without me! *haha*
  
Look what I got this week - snow peas, spinach, garlic and broad beans...

Three kinds of lettuce...

Thyme, chives and oregano...

Lemons and mandarins...

And from Ash and Mark's - a kilogram of mulberries...

And grapefruit...

I can't wait to start cooking! See you all soon...

Michelle xx

words for the week...(6)

Yesterdays post took a lot more out of me than I had anticipated. It was difficult allowing this 'petunia' take a hold of my thoughts for the twenty minutes it took to write the post, however it did confirm for me the reasons I chose not to allow it to consume my thoughts given it has already consumed my body. A day on and I am pleased I finally had the courage to share my experience. Not only did I share this post in the hope you would gather your own courage to make changes in your life (be it your health, relationships, pressure at work, stress, overload... anything) but also as a reminder to me that I must keep walking this path I have chosen for myself, despite slipping a little over the past few months.

It has been just over a year since this 'petunia' moved me to begin living my life more consciously and less from habit. It has opened my eyes and changed my life in ways that make me think this was always meant to have been. And to stumble upon this quote last night after having finished my post... yes, this is what is meant to be for my life. I will take this 'petunia' and do with it the best I can possibly do. No longer a curse, but a blessing.

Michelle xx

Image credit - Tumbler

my health and a move toward organic living

Baby blanket's and cake pops aside, I'd like to begin sharing something on my blog that has become very important to me over the last year... organic living. 

But where do I start? For those of you who don't know me personally and for many of you who do for that matter, it is time to share something very personal about my life and hopefully it will put this move toward organic living and therefore my upcoming blog posts into better context.

I have been very unwell for many years now. Since 2005 I have experienced many unrelated, often debilitating symptoms and my doctor (and many after him) could not make head or tail of what was happening with my body. Not even an emergency admission to hospital could solve the puzzle. After years of poking and prodding, many misdiagnoses and much self doubt, I gave up on ever knowing what was happening to my health. But amidst it all I had a rock who felt my desperation and never let me give up. My rock recommended a doctor and urged me to give it one more try. Surely I was worth it, they remarked. So I fought for those additional tests and this new doctor was finally able to put all of the pieces together. Finally. There was more than one diagnosis, and perhaps this was the reason for many of the previous doctors giving up. Nevertheless, it was an answer. Finally.  

I wasn't prepared to hear what I heard and the first few days left me feeling shell shocked. The usual thoughts ran through my mind... Why me? How will I live with this? What does this mean for my future and all of the hopes and dreams I had for my life? I finally had the answer to all of my questions, yet there were more tears and questions than ever before. But a week or so later I was able to look upon this devastating news as a blessing. Life was going to be somewhat of an uphill battle but knowing certainly felt better than wondering and doubting myself and my symptoms. I knew I would never be without this 'petunia' (an affectionate term my sister has bestowed upon me to describe what is happening with my body) but I knew I had the power to make changes in my life that would render some of my symptoms void. 

Even for some of my closest family and friends, I have chosen not to disclose the true extent of this 'petunia'. Not to be ignorant or deceptive, but because I don't want nor do I need this 'petunia' affecting everything I do and every interaction I have. I want a rich life with God, family, friends and all of my treasured God given gifts. I do not want pity, sadness or grief interfering with what I share with those I love. I do not want to live life by a label. So for this reason, my 'petunia' will be left unspoken and unnamed, at least for now.
 
So with that, I intend to share with you in my blog, ways in which I have managed my symptoms rather than dwelling on this 'petunia'. The symptoms of almost every condition, disease or disorder can be lessened a little, or a lot, just by relying more on what nature has to offer rather than what man has artificially manufactured. I am not writing this post to preach about how you should live your life, but rather to share my experience in the hope you too will become more conscious of how you feel, how you live and how what you do may be affecting your health, your life and your earth.

Since my diagnosis a little over a year ago, I have made many, many changes. I cleared out all of my cosmetics and personal care items (much to my sisters delight who subsequently became the beneficiary of my vast nail polish collection!) and traded them for organic alternatives. I did the same with my cleaning products and linens. Then there were the changes to my food and food practices. Overall, some were small changes while others were rather radical in the eyes of some. Some were easy while others have been excruciatingly painful (namely my addiction to Mc Donald's fries and Hungry Jack's whoppers... both of which I still regularly indulge!) and will take time to overcome. A lot of time! But no matter what some have had to say about the changes (without knowing the reason for it, of course!), I will not let their comments sway me. These changes have made a world of difference for me and that is all that matters to me right now.

I love that with these changes, I am very slowly creating a new and better me. I am becoming conscious of the effects chemicals have on me and the world and with each small change I am protecting another small element of my health and the earth's future. I also love that my changes have made an impact on the life of many people I love. Some have chosen to use stainless steel water bottles rather than reusing disposable plastic bottles while others have chosen to buy glass lunch containers rather than reheating their lunch in reusable plastic containers that leech harmful chemicals. Some have chosen more natural body products while others have started to grow their own herbs or eat grain bread in place of their usual white loaf. 

So there it is. My secret has been shared with the world. And my message to you is that you don't have to change everything as I have attempted to do. ONE change in YOUR life will undoubtedly benefit you, your health and the earth. So why not make a change today? I can show you how!

Michelle xx 

homemade liquid hand soap

For years now I've used an all natural goats milk body soap but have struggled to find an all natural goats milk liquid hand wash that I like just as much. I've tried using organic liquid hand washes but they were ridiculously expensive ($9.95+ for 200ml) and I just couldn't justify that expense. 

I knew there had to be a way to make my own, so I scoured the web and came across a few recipes that seemed relatively easy. Unfortunately, none of the recipes worked quite as well as the maker had promised - they were either too runny or too solid to be passed off as a liquid hand wash. But with a few changes, I've made a mix which resembles and works just as well as any commercial liquid hand wash. Here's what I did:

10 cups water

1 bar of soap ( a better quality bar will yield the best results)

1 metric tablespoon of vegetable glycerine (found at the supermarket near the calamine lotion or at your local health food store)

optional - your favourite essential oil if using a fragrance free bar soap

Grate the soap using the fine side of your cheese grater and set aside. In a medium/large pot, add 10 cups of water, 1 tablespoon vegetable glycerine and 1 cup (tightly packed) of the grated soap. Cook on medium to low heat until the soap dissolves, remembering not to let the water boil otherwise the finished product will be watery. Once the soap has dissolved, remove from the heat and allow the mix to cool completely. At this step, you may add your favourite essential oil if you have used a fragrance free bar soap. 
  
If the finished product is too watery and does not resemble liquid hand soap, you have probably overheated the mix. But don't despair... add a teaspoon of table soap and check on the mix in 10-15 minutes. If the mix is still runny after this time, add another teaspoon of table salt.

After a quick whisk, what you should end up with is a silky liquid hand soap... just funnel the mix into your soap dispenser and you're done! You can pour the remaining mix into an airtight bottle, remembering to leave some room for you to shake each time you need to refill your soap dispenser. 

The bar soap I use lathers beautifully due to the goats milk, so I get a great lather with this liquid hand soap but some soaps wont have the same result. But don't worry... the sudsy lather isn't what makes soap the great cleaner that it is!

Using my all natural bar soap, it costs me about $6 to make 2 litres of liquid hand soap. If you're using a regular bar of soap or the mini soaps you got during your last hotel stay, then it will cost you less than $2 for 2 litres of the stuff! A great saving for only 5-10 minutes of your time!

Have a try yourself and if you have any questions, feel free to comment or email me!

Michelle xx