Pure Spirit Wellness - a path to peace

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May the Gods bless Ukraine and the wonderful people of Poland who have opened their borders, cancelled all requirements and stand ready to welcome their neighbors with open arms and hearts. 🙏❤️❤️❤️

Look and learn, Mr Johnson!

Donate to:







for.ukraine

Meet Powder, the ever present, four-pawed member of staff in charge of “meet & greet” 😁. Powder takes his role very seriously and guarded my wonderful refill purchases with his usual diligence ( swipe to see).

Drop in to this fabulous zero waste refill store in the heart of Shaftesbury high street and buy one of these completely beautiful baskets made by the evocatively named Frafra people of Ghana ( swipe again) and fill it with sustainable goodies to

Happy Weekend 💕

And an auspicious day.

This beautiful video is worth a watch and some thought ❤️❤️.

https://youtu.be/wB0h5w1kU2M

🧽ZERO WASTE 🧼

If you are shopping in or near Shaftesbury tomorrow ( or any day for that matter) please pop in to the fabulous new shop of on the high street. Filled with gorgeous, eco-friendly, sustainable products for kitchen 🧴🧼🧽, laundry 🧺 and bathroom, 🛁 🧻, you are sure to find lots to take home. Georgie’s encyclopedic knowledge means all your questions will be answered whilst you admire the fantastic Percy Lizzard painting gracing the wall.
See you there !!

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💕💕

🍰CAKE!🍰

I’ve been quiet since Christmas due to buying a house ( now completed 👏👏) and starting some actual paid work ( long time coming, but very happy 👏), so posting recipes had to take a break. Going forward I’ll try to post twice a week.

So today, I’m back at my desk and taking a break for coffee and cake 🍰😋😋 - specifically date and stem ginger cake which improves with each day and reminds me of parkin!

So easy to pull together.
Soak 200g of pitted dates in 260ml of boiling water or hot black tea and leave to cool, then blend to a purée ( including the water/tea).
Beat together the purée with 160g coconut sugar, 150g soft butter, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, cinnamon and cardamom .
Add 3 eggs 1 at a time, beating as you go. Add 180g whole meal flour, 1 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt. Mix to combine and pour into a lined square tin. I then chopped 3 balls of stem ginger in syrup and sprinkled this on top.
Bake at 180C for 40 mins (cover with foil if it browns before it is ready). It’s cooked when a skewer comes out clean.
Cool in the tin, then on a rack and wrap in foil to keep it moist.

With nothing but bad news in papers and online, these moments of pleasure are all the more worthwhile.

🎄 VEGGIE BOXES 🎄

🤦‍♀️😱😳. I know, I just can’t help myself, so apologies for another post about the excellent fruit/veg boxes.

This week’s was heavy on the fruit, all of which was wonderful so you are spared days of recipes 🤣

The grapes were the best I have had in years. You could easily freeze these as they are then eat them with good chocolate and sweet wine after Christmas dinner. The high sugar content means they freeze to sorbet texture and are delicious 👏

I used the cabbage, shallot, carrot, tomatoes and mushrooms for the stuffed cabbage leaves in pics 3&4. DISCLAIMER: it’s not easy to photograph stuffed cabbage do take it from me they were delicious.

Salad and fruit eaten as they are, parsnips roasted for use with salad and broccoli will become a green Mac & cheese along with some frozen spinach.

Stuffed cabbage mix was shallot, carrot and celery minced then sautéed with the mushrooms ( minced). I added chopped dill ( as I had some - any herb works) seasoning, garlic, tomato paste. Add a drained tin of lentils plus some cooked rice/breadcrumbs if you have them. I blanched the large outer leaves of the cabbage and chopped the rest, adding it to the stuffing.

For the tomato sauce I blitzed the 2 fresh tomatoes with some dill ( any herb will do). Sauté some garlic in oil, add some chili and dried oregano, then the blitzed tomato mix and a tin of chopped tomatoes, salt, pepper and a little pinch of sugar. Simmer for an hour. Add a splash of balsamic.
Put half the sauce in a baking tray. Spoon the stuffing onto the blanched cabbage leaves, roll up tight and put in the baking tray. Top with the rest of the sauce, cover and bake at 160C for 40 mins. Serve with yoghurt and some fresh greens 😋😋.

Intermittent posting this week due to life and it’s vagaries!

X❤️X

Not terribly festive, I admit, but I’m just putting it out there as, having been called “ difficult “ many times by both men and on occasion women, I know that this time of year brings many challenges, including abuse and coercive control.

Having an opinion, believing in yourself and your truth does not make you difficult. It makes you strong.

Wishing everyone a happy and peaceful Christmas.

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🎄CHRISTMAS TREATS 🎄 This is my third attempt to post this , and I’m at the end of my tether thanks to IG/meta and the whole damn family of FB making ridiculous and incomprehensible changes 🤬🤬🤬 I may just take the gin bottle to bed and give up on today! SO! As it is #throwbackthursday and by popular demand (@dianarae1960 ), here are my Festive Flapjacks. In a bowl mix together 250g oats, 100g coconut sugar, 85g whole meal flour, zest of a lemon, 1/2 tsp each of bicarbonate of soda and ground ginger, a pinch of salt and combine. Add 85g each of melted butter and coconut oil and combine. Line a 21x21cm baking tin with parchment and pour in half the flapjack mix. Press it down. Top with half a 400g jar of mincemeat, a grated apple or carrot and the zest of an orange. Add the rest of the oat mix and press down with a spoon. Bake at 170C for 30 mins. Cool in the tin. Eat! I am now so wound up by technology I may eat the entire tin!🤬🤬🤬 Mincemeat hotcakes for breakfast? Oh yes - coming to your screens this weekend 😁😁 X❤️X #beatenbytechnology #sendgin #stressedoutandspiraling #festiveflapjacks #flapjacks #christmas #sickofhashtags

😳 MORE VEG BOX USES 😳

I know it seems as if I had more of a skip of vegetables rather than a mere box, but I promise you this is the last of them ( until the next box 😂).

A quick salad of roasted beetroot, apple ( both from the bargain box) and walnuts with a dressing of dill and yoghurt.

Roughly chop a few roasted beets, chop an apple and toss in lemon or orange juice ( I used a satsuma from said box 🙄). Scatter the apple and beet on a bed of salad leaves with some broken walnuts.

For the dressing mix 1 tsp cider vinegar with 3 tablespoons plain yoghurt, 1 teaspoon maple syrup, salt, pepper and some chopped dill. Mix and serve on the side. If you mix it into the salad it all looks rather unappetizing 🤢.

Great on its own or with salmon ( smoked or baked) or with a quiche of strong cheese. 😋

X❤️X

😋 VEG BOX USE # 3😋

I had 6 fresh beetroot in my discount veg box last week.
The two largest went into this festive looking beetroot hummus 😋😋

I’ve made it many times, and it works brilliantly as a dip, a sandwich base, a sauce for pasta or as a side dish to roast veg or fish. AND it will freeze 🙌

Roast or boil the beets and peel once cooled. Chop roughly and put in a blender. Add a drained tin of chickpeas, 2 peeled cloves of garlic, 1&1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1/2 tsp salt flakes, juice of a lemon, 2 tablespoons tahini, and a big glug of good olive oil. Add a splash of water and blend adding more water/oil as you may need. Taste and season.

Another beet dish tomorrow which will finish off the box ( the satsumas were eaten and the apples went into my mincemeat flapjacks which I’ll post about on Thursday 👏👏).

X❤️X

😋VEG BOX USES # 2 😋

I promised you Gemista, and I bring you Gemista - looking very festive and tasting delicious.

Now, more than once I have commented that life is too short to stuff a mushroom, but then again……. 🤷‍♀️

Lots of veg lend themselves to this recipe and you can throw in different things to the stuffing as you see fit.

I used the tomatoes, pepper and aubergine from my veg box and used up the pak Choi in the stuffing.
Peel the onions ( I used 1 red & 1 white) simmer in water for 30 mins. Drain/cool.
Cut a lid from the pepper (discard the seeds) & the tomatoes (scoop the insides out and keep in a bowl. Halve the aubergine, scoop out some of the flesh, chop - add to the bowl of tomato flesh.
Place all the prepped veg in a baking tin.

Save the 3 outer layers of each onion (you need to cut into them to get them out), chop the rest & add to the tomatoes bowl.
Finely chop a stick of celery and sauté in a little oil, add 2 cloves of garlic, sliced. Sauté for 1 min. Add the tomato flesh mix and stir, add 1 tablespoon tomato paste, a handful each of raisins& pine nuts, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 2 tsp dried mint, 1 tsp dried dill, & a sprig of chopped fresh rosemary. Stir and cook for 2 minutes. Add 130g long grain rice and stir well to coat. Season with salt /pepper and leave to cool.

Once cool fill the tomato shells, pepper and aubergine with the rice mix (leave space for the rice to swell). Add tablespoons to the saved onion layers one at a time and roll up. Place in the baking tin.

Pour over 500 ml veg stock mixed with the juice of a lemon (pour some over the aubergines as they don’t have “ lids”) the stock will come about half way up the veg. Cover with foil. Bake at 200C for 1 hour. Remove the foil and bake for a further 10 mins.
I served with yoghurt and the pomegranate seeds from my veg box and some of the coriander, but fresh dill is best 😋😋. Such a simple and fantastic dish! God bless the Greeks 🙏🙏 and Lidl!