GreeNZ Peace: Easy Livin'.

Shadows on the cottage wall

Summertime, and the livin' is easy.

Everythin's growin' and I'm feeling quite high!

My life is rich, and my hubbie's good lookin',

So into the kitchen, for a veggie stir-fry!

Or something like that.

What weather bio-rhythms! A mixed bag, or fruit salad of weather patterns. Stinking hot one day. Next day has us reaching for winter woolies. Then the monsoonal rains. Plus spectacular thunder and lightning showdowns. Sometimes all weather variables in just one day. Crazy. But the garden is loving it. Everything is growing and mimicking junglesque qualities. Weeds are as high as the proverbial elephant's eye! And the abundant harvests are kicking in.

Fibonacci's cauli and leeks can only mean one thing - leek and cauliflower soup!!

What I'm harvesting at the moment? Beans, beans and more beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, gherkins, strawberries, nectarines, lettuce, bananas and the odd cauliflower, beetroot, and radish for salads. With the warmer mornings, my hot oat porridge fettish is shelved and I like to indulge in cold-soaked oats. Sounds yuk? Hell no! It is like dessert for breakfast!

Cold-Soaked Oats Recipe

1 cup oats

2 cups plain yogurt

1 handful raisins

1/2 tspn cinnamon (can add any spices of choice or mixture: cardamom, nutmeg, ginger etc)

Mix the above and let it soak in the fridge overnight. The next morning add:

1 grated, peeled apple

1Tbspn honey

Stir all the above and serve with fresh fruit on top (strawbs, blueberries etc)

Can also add LSC (Linseed, Sunflower and Chia seed mix) or finely chopped brazil nuts if required, to the soaking stage.

A great start to the day.

Did you know?

Oats is a magical food. It lowers cholesterol, acting like a giant sponge to remove it from your system, and thus reduces heart disease, lowers the chances of diabetes type 2, colon cancer (because of the high fibre content) and strokes. Constipation? Irritable bowel? Try oats to cure the problem! Oatso Easy! Gluten intolerant? Check your oats aren't processed and therefore contaminated in a factory that processes other gluten-containing products and you should be okay.

Another experimentation process that has begun, is ginger beer making with water kefir granules. What a revelation! I used to make ginger beer and it would take me at least 10 days, feeding the "bug". Water kefir granules reduce this process to one day! And it makes damn fine ginger beer! It becomes a fermented beverage teeming with beneficial bacteria. Good for you, and it's delicious! Water kefir granules are a little like kombucha - the beneficial bacteria and yeasts process the sugar in the water and turn them into beneficial enzymes and micro-organisms and B vitamins. Great for making a fizzy-type lemonade or ginger beer (just add lemon juice or ginger). The granules were gifted to me (they grow each time they are used) but they can also be bought online.