Gluten Free, New Toys and Nappies, and More Marilyn...

My friend Amy is on a gluten free diet.  This is generally thought to be a bad thing, if you are into food - gluten free 'imitations' of regular food, such as bagels, tend to be really tough and wrong.  I don't know much about gluten free eating, however I thought I would share the recipe for the delicious nut-based 'museli' that Amy is eating for breakfast lately.  It is incredibly yummy, healthy, and works equally well as a museli as it does as a topping for yoghurt or sprinkled on top of muffins, cakes or fruit crumbles prior to baking.

• 1/4 cup of flaxseed
• 3/4 cup of almonds (toasted or raw)
• 1/2 cup of sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup of shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup of pecans
• 1/4 cup of walnuts
• 1/2 cup of dried apple (you could certainly add other dried fruits such as dates or dried cranberries)
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon powder
• 1 - 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Combine all of the above in a food processor, and give a fair few pulses to ensure everything is chopped and combined.  Amy came over and did a batch with FOUR TIMES the above quantities - see below photos, and know that my food processor is massive.

Store the mixture in the fridge, because otherwise the ground nuts will go rancid.  If you would like to 'lighten up' the mixture for breakfast cereal, you could combine it with some puffed rice or bran (obviously bran is not gluten free).

For a warm Bircher-style breakfast, soak one cup of mixture with 1/2 cup of milk or soy milk overnight.  In the morning, heat in a pan or microwave, and add more hot milk or soy milk to taste.

Another gluten free must is the incredible and inspirational blog Gluten Free Girl - http://glutenfreegirl.com/ .  Honestly, her blog and book are well worth a look, even if you are a fan of gluten (like me!) because most of the recipes are completely delicious, and a far cry from the 'fake gluten' type products you find in health stores.

In other news - Tabitha and I went to Chadstone shopping centre yesterday, to run some errands, and I bought her some new toys (now that she is crawling, sitting and even pulling herself up to STAND UP, she is ready for different types of toys).  She really enjoyed playing with the Fisher Price Peek-a-Blocks during our stay at the O'Connell Centre, so I got some of them, as well as some cute musical spheres and an activity cube that she can stand up and lean on while she plays.  The Peek-a-Blocks are clear blocks, each with a moving scene or object within - for example, a train that turns around through a tunnel, a puppy with a wagging tail, a snowman with little loose 'snowflakes' or a chicken that squeaks when you press the top of the block.

Predictably, Tabitha was more interested in playing with the little cardboard box that came in the pack, as opposed to the actual toys.  Kids huh?!

I think I mentioned that my garden is going brilliantly - see below one of the MASSIVE zucchinis which we have grown.  For scale, the tomato in front of it is just a regular cherry tomato:

The nappies we use are Itti Bitti d'Lish (mostly All-in-Ones with some Snap-in-Ones).  About a week ago, Itti Bitti released some of their coveted Limited Edition prints, and I quickly snapped up a couple.  Below is one of the LE prints which arrived during the week - so cute!  If you are interested to try out modern cloth nappies (MCNs), a good way to start is to buy an Itti Bitti Trial Pack, which contains one of each of the d'Lish styles.

I will dedicate a whole post to MCNs soon.

Last but not least - a couple more photos of our new baby Marilyn the Diamond Python.  She is so pretty, and already calm and placid despite being a baby:

Look at how incy-wincy and delicate she is: