Anzac Biscuits
Anzac biscuits are more than just a tasty morsel- they represent those who have sacrificed a lot for our country.
Spend time with your family and make these over the weekend – or better yet, get the kids to help make them!
Details

• 20 serves
• 20 min prep time
• 10 min cooking
• 105 calories per serve

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats (150g)
• 
1/2 cup plain flour (75g)
• 
1/2 cup desiccated coconut (45g)
• 1 teaspoons ground cinnamon (4g)
• 
1/4 cup brown sugar (55g)
• 1/4 cup golden syrup (85g)
• 
1/4 cup olive oil (60g)
• 1 teaspoons bi-carb soda (5g)

Method1. Preheat oven to 180 C. Place oats, flour, coconut, cinnamon and brown sugar in a large bowl, stir to combine.
2. Place golden syrup, oil and 60ml (1/4 cup) water in a medium saucepan. Heat, stirring, over a medium heat until all ingredients are well combined. Stir in bi carb of soda (mixture will bubble and foam), remove from heat.
3. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stir until well combined. With slightly wet hands, roll tablespoons of the mixture and place 3cm apart on prepared tray. Flatten slightly with a fork dipped in flour.
4. Bake for 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove and set aside to cool completely on the tray. Store in an airtight container.
​

This video was so much fun to make, I hope you enjoy it as much as Reg, the cats, Tabby and Valentine and I enjoyed making it. The cats have been using it for a few years now and it has made life easier for us humans. If you would like to know more about the amazing Litter-Robot III Open Air, its available in Australia. If you do make a purrchase, add in our Advocat code rynshell for a little thank you! https://catevolution.com.au/litter-robot-iii-open-air.html?tracking=rynshell, I'm a happy customer and thrilled to give a shout-out for family friendly, ethical products.

Are you a gardener?

What is giving you pleasure in the garden at the moment?

My favourite exercise, since settling down to grow roots instead of travel, is gardening. Reg and I ate a fresh home grown garden salad with dinner after a harvesting stroll around the garden together.

I harvested the last of our butternut pumpkin today. It is cooking right now in the slow cooker. Lamb shank and vegetable both comfort food when I get home from the dentist tomorrow. 

Tonight I used a whole head of cauliflower to make Cauliflower cheese bake. Oh, yummy. It is my favourite non-meat meal. 

I need to layer well-rotted compost over my three vacant vegetable beds and plant them up for early spring harvest. I'm seventy, and my body has retired, even if my mind hasn't. So I just tackled a small amount of work at a time. I have raised garden beds, and I have chairs dotted around the garden which are well used when I need a rest, which is often these days. 

I use a yard man for heavier work such as cutting back spent perennials near the ground or for tying rose canes over arches. I've needed to get tough and remove plants that become too heavy maintenance. ​

Cauliflower Cheese Bake

• 1 large cauliflower
   (leaves cut off), broken into pieces
• 500ml milk
• 4 tbsp flour
• 50g butter
• 100g strong cheddar, grated
• 2-3 tbsp breadcrumbs, if you have them

Well, that is the recipe ingredients. I don't follow recipes. 
I skip the flour use for thickening and use about 100 gram of strong tasty cheese per person. Se, 400 grams of cheese per cauliflower, and no flour. I use a smothering of breadcrumbs and lots of dabs of butter on top to ensure it makes a crunchy topping. ​

Boil the cauliflower flowererettes until tender. Drain the water into the stockpot and add the cauliflower sharks. There is no need to throw half your edible vegetable scraps away, they make excellent stock, soup of stems. 

Add tho drained cauliflower to a lightly buttered (to stop it sticking to the sides) ovenproof dish.

Heat oven to 200C

The recipe says: Put the saucepan back on the heat and add the milk, flour, and butter. Keep whisking fast as the butter melts, and the mixture comes to the boil – the flour will disappear, and the sauce will begin to thicken. Whisk for two mins while the sauce bubbles and becomes nice and thick. Turn off the heat, stir in most of the cheese and pour over the cauliflower. Scatter over the remaining cheese and breadcrumbs.

I scrap all of that information. It is my kitchen. I create. 
My plan is delicious, nutritious, and easy to prepare and clean up after. 

Lightly fold the 400 grams (not measured, just tip from the packet) of grated cheese over the cauliflower and fork through. 
Pour a little will over the top. Cover with more grated cheese, add a breadcrumb topping. Add dabs of butter on top ef the breadcrumbs. Put in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes until the cheese and breadcrumb crust is golden and crunchy. 

The recipe says that this serves four. 
​

​Beans - broad beans, fava beans 
(also Fava bean)Plant in garden.Harvest from mid Spring.
Compatible with (can grow in same bed): Dill and Potatoes. 

​I have potatoes growing I leave a few in to from on from the previous year's crop. 

Culinary hints - I pick them while tiny and sweat. cooking and eating Beans 

Cabbage 
Plant out seedlings.Harvest from August. 
Winter is the best time to grow these. Get them picked and eaten before white butterflies are about in springtime to destroy the crop. 

Compatible with (can grow in same bed): Dwarf (bush) beans, beets, celery, cucumber, onions, marigold, nasturtium, rhubarb, aromatic herbs (sage, dill, chamomile, thyme) Marigolds and nasturtiums are deterrent to insects but will not grow through wither in my area where we get frost. 

Garlic Plant in garden.Harvest from November. 
​An easy way to remember when to plant garlic, is to plant it on the shortest day of the year and harvest it on the longest day. 

Compatible with (can grow in same bed): Beets, Carrots, Cucumbers, Dill, Tomatoes, Parsnips

I have my garlic growing with onions, leek, chives and shallots, and I plant these in a different bed every year. 

Kale 
(also Borecole)Plant out (transplant) seedlings.Harvest from August.
I find kale easy to grow. It is one vegetable that does not need full sun. 

Compatible with (can grow in same bed): Dwarf (bush) beans, beets, celery, cucumber, onions, marigold, nasturtium, rhubarb, aromatic herbs (sage, dill, camomile)

Lettuce
Plant in garden. Harvest from early spring,

Compatible with (can grow in same bed): Carrots, Onions, Strawberries, Beets, Brassicas, Radish, Marigold, Borage, Chervil, Florence fennel, leeks.

Onion
Plant in garden.Harvest from early summer

Peas
Plant in garden.Harvest from early spring.

Snow Peas 
(also Sugar Peas, Mangetout, Chinese Peas)
Plant in garden.Harvest from mid spring,

Strawberry Plants
Plant in garden.Harvest from mid spring

It is time for me to remove my strawberry runners, and replant them. They will take root to form new plants. Cut them off and leave the parent growing.

A very fast short walk (20 min) is better for bone than a long slow walk of 1 hour.

SparkPeople had a great article today that reminded me to of the importance of my weight workouts.  
Strength training for older adults.  The article is worth reading.

Regular physical activity on a long-term basis has been shown to be particularly important in maintaining healthy bones. Exercising to maintain and increase bone strength by increasing bone mass or by slowing age-related bone loss is something I have an interest in.  Muscle strength is also increased, which is important for supporting the joints and preventing falls.


Exercise has also been shown to improve co-ordination and balance, which helps to prevent falls and to improve general physical health and well-being.

Be aware that any positive gains in bone strength are lost when you stop exercising, so that it is important that your exercise is regular and ongoing.

Caution: Someone who has established osteoporosis (one or more fractures) may not be able to do as many types of activities as someone without osteoporosis. Talk to your doctor and physiotherapist about activities you can do.

Examples of weight-bearing activities are jogging, walking, tennis, dancing, golf and netball. Swimming and cycling are not considered weight-bearing exercises (but are good for muscle strength).

Examples of weight-bearing activities are jogging, walking, tennis, dancing, golf and netball. Swimming and cycling are not considered weight-bearing exercises (but are good for muscle strength).

Planning Your Exercise Program

Before you start, it is important to talk to a doctor or physiotherapist about the best type of resistance exercise for you.

Exercise Tips for Strong Bones

• To have an effect on bone, exercise needs to be regular, fairly vigorous, have variety (put different loads on it), and include short, intense bursts.
• The amount and type of exercise will vary depending on your age and bone health. Overall, most people should aim to exercise for 30 to 40 minutes, four to six times each week, and include some weight-bearing and resistance exercises in the program. You can build up to this level over time.
• Start slowly and progress gradually. Try to get into an exercise routine. You can break it up into several smaller amounts throughout the day.
• Set short term goals for what you want to achieve. They must be realistic, achievable and measurable. For example, adding 50 jumps to your regular walk over a 3-month period.
• The process of bone building is slow, it starts to happen as soon as you start regular exercise but it takes at least 6 months to be able to measure the effects.
• Good exercises for bones: fast walking, jogging, dancing, tennis, volleyball and lifting weights. Choose exercises that you enjoy and vary your program to keep it interesting.
• If you are having pain while exercising, stop and talk to your doctor or physiotherapist.

Exercise: if you have osteoporosis

If you have been diagnosed with osteoporosis and/or have already had a fracture, you should see your doctor or physiotherapist about starting an individual exercise program.

• Your aim is to maintain bone strength and reduce the risk of fractures and falls by improving posture, balance and muscular strength.
• Because of the higher risk of fracture, exercising at a level high enough to produce stress on the bones is not recommended.
• Appropriate exercises include Tai Chi for balance, flexibility and muscle strength, gentle weights for muscle strength, water-based exercises (hydrotherapy) and walking.
• Avoid high impact activities (eg running).
• Avoid jarring & twisting movements (eg golf swing). Reg had to give ip golf, it was doing him more harm than good).
• Avoid heavy lifting and lifting objects some distance from your body (eg picking up grandchildren).
• Avoid abdominal curls (sit-ups).
• Avoid bending forward from the waist.
• Avoid sudden, abrupt movements.
• Don't overdo it (especially if you have not done any activity for many years).

Yesterday was my second day of the 12 week body transformation program I am doing.

That is Reg, beside the campfire at our camp, eating the Thai Curry, I cooked as our evening meal, yesterday. It was delicious and HOT.

With Reg and Indigo relaxing today beside Tarra River and our caravan home, I did three sets of fifty step ups on to those caravan steps in the photo, holding those weights.  Reg was most impressed, reminding me that a few years ago I could not have stepped onto those steps without holding on to the door handle and hauling myself up to them, or asking for help.

I also told myself that if I thought three sets of 50 step ups and down, were hard to do, I would need to be fit enough to do 2,500 of those step ups if I was to be fit enough to climb to the top of the Pinnacle in the Grampians Victoria, ever again :-). Wouldn't that be a thrill to achieve once more?

I did the series of upper and lower body weight exercises; I have been doing on alternate days, since last May, I just upped the intensity a little, doing three sets of eight each.

This is what is taught in medical school about the effect of low-calorie dieting on metabolism.  This is why 'diets FAIL, why most dieters regain the weight they lose.  This is why weight management is about long-term, healthy, living, lifestyle, NOT going on a diet.

When you do not eat for a day or any other prolonged period, your body produces the energy it needs to live and move by "eating" your muscles instead. Muscle weighs more than fat, so when you step on the scale, you will see that you have lost weight.
When you are not consuming adequate nutrition, minerals, and vitamins, your body leaches these from your lean tissue body mass, effectively reducing even your bode density. 'Osteoporosis, the thinning of the bones, is often called, 'the slimmers disease,' for a good reason. The human body needs calcium and minerals for the function of it are vital organs including the heart and if insufficient nutrition is consumed the body will draw nourishment from the bones to protect the vital organs. When calories are reduced the quality of those calories is more important than ever before.

Consider, that muscle takes the most energy for your body to maintain. A person with a lot of muscle mass burns more calories per day than a similarly built person who has less muscle, even if both are just sitting on the couch watching TV.

So, when someone stops fasting, he or she will have lost weight because they have lost muscle mass. However, his or her body will now burn fewer calories per day than it did before they started fasting. If that person were to start eating again as they did before the fast, he or she would now gain weight, whereas, before the fast, they broke even and neither gained or lost.

It is quite possible that the same is true for when you eat an extremely low amount of calories per day. Your body needs energy to keep moving and living. It is not getting that energy from food, so it burns up some muscle because muscle a) provides more nutrients than fat, and b) requires more energy to maintain, energy that your body no longer has.

The belief that your body goes into starvation mode, is a simplistic way of explaining the lowering effect on your metabolism of low-calorie diets. Your body does not think "oh, no food, better lower my metabolism for a while." Your body is a machine really; it does not think much of anything at all. Eating too little, however, does lower your metabolism because your body is eating up its muscle mass. This is not a temporary change, though, as the words "starvation mode" may lead you to believe. The lowering of your metabolic rate will be permanent until you exercise to build back the muscle you have lost.

This video was so much fun to make, I hope you enjoy it as much as Reg, the cats, Tabby and Valentine and I enjoyed making it. The cats have been using it for a few years now and it has made life easier for us humans. If you would like to know more about the amazing Litter-Robot III Open Air, its available in Australia. If you do make a purrchase, add in our Advocat code rynshell for a little thank you! https://catevolution.com.au/litter-robot-iii-open-air.html?tracking=rynshell, I'm a happy customer and thrilled to give a shout-out for family friendly, ethical products.

I first tried this recipe fifty-six years ago; only we called it mince on toast, as it was served on toasted bread rather than bread rolls. It was a favourite.

I cook large quantities of a recipe similar to this when my home grown summer vegetables are in season. I freeze them to eat the best of my tomatoes through winter. 

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil,
• 1 medium, finely chopped onion.
• 1 ¼ pounds/200g Lean Beef Mince
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 Teaspoons Ground Coriander (5g)
• 1 garlic clove 
• 1 cup of diced mushrooms 
• 1 Zucchini (114g), chopped
• 1 medium red capsicum (bell pepper) chopped
• 1 X 400g cans Diced Tomato
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 4 crusty multigrain bread roll
• 
  

Method
Heat the oil in a pan over medium-high heat and brown the onion and meat. Add spices, vegetables, and pasta. 
Simmer, uncovered, occasionally stirring until the mixture thickens.
Split the bread rolls and top with the mince mixture.
Garnish with sliced tomatoes.
Serve with mashed potato, or for these cutting carbs, cauliflower and or sweet potato 

Checked out my Prevention Magazine today and I was delighted to find that five of my favourite foods are there at the top of the list of the top foods to build our immunity to viruses like the flu

1/ Yogurt.  I love my yogurt, have it for breakfast every morning.  Yogurt has been a well know food used by many cultures famous for the percentage of centurions (people over 100) in the population.

2/ Garlic. I knew this would have to be high on the list, it was chewed by the monks, who tended plague,  victims and they were the few who survived the close contact.

3/ Mushrooms.  These I also know to be a great food, high in a vitamin 17 which is not found in other vitamins so a must for the vegetarian, it also tastes meaty and is great used in meals to help cut back on some of the over consumption of meat, in the average civilized country, diet.

4/Oily Fish, example Salmon.  I LOVE adding salmon to my diet, regularly, this fish is also high in calcium especially if you eat the edible bones. I am a strong believer in including portion controlled healthy oil into any weight reduction meal plan and we must have oil in out diet to absorb fat soluble vitamins and to keep all our body functioning well.  Our gall bladder is dependent on daily oil in the diet to keep it functioning, gall bladder disease results form yo yo very low fat to high fat diets and it is mostly preventable with a regular low to medium low good fats added diet, just watch the portion control.  The fat soluble vitamins maintain the health of so many organs from the vital ones like heart and lungs and digestive tract through to the reproductive system and skin. All nutrients are required in a balance to maintain body health, don't fear adding some fatty fish to your diet even if you are trying to lose weight, it's not what you eat but when and how much that affects your weight.

5/Black Tea.  I like that one.  I still use a cup of tea, to offset a desire I still get, to eat when not hungry.  It is something I have learned to use and enjoy as a substitute for fattening suppers and afternoon snacks too close to my evening meal.

This video was so much fun to make, I hope you enjoy it as much as Reg, the cats, Tabby and Valentine and I enjoyed making it. The cats have been using it for a few years now and it has made life easier for us humans. If you would like to know more about the amazing Litter-Robot III Open Air, its available in Australia. If you do make a purrchase, add in our Advocat code rynshell for a little thank you! https://catevolution.com.au/litter-robot-iii-open-air.html?tracking=rynshell, I'm a happy customer and thrilled to give a shout-out for family friendly, ethical products.

You can substitute fresh or tinned fish such as crab, salmon or tuna. This is great with calamari.

Ingredients for two seniors. Increase quantities if you have a higher calorie requirement. 

• 80g Wholemeal Pasta
• 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil and one teaspoon of butter.
• 1 crushed clove of garlic
• 1 thinly sliced zucchini
• the cups or chopped tomatoes.

• 185 grams of crab meat.
• The juice and finally grated zest of one lemon.
• 30g low-fat or regular, grated or crumbed cheese. I used Feta for this meal
• Two sprigs of fresh chopped parsley. 

1. Lower each crab into the boiling water with its legs facing down. Cook for approximately 15 minutes.
2. Remove cooked crabs, plunge into chilled water to cool and use the same large (to save excess dishes to wash)  saucepan filled Smith boiling water to spaghetti in a large saucepan of boiling water to kook the whole grain spaghetti, according to the directions on packet. Drain once cooked.
3. While spaghetti cooks, remove the usable (body and large claws) crab meat from the shells-rice and plate. 
4. Meanwhile, heat the better and oil over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds or until aromatic. Add zucchini and cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes or until just tender. Stir in tomatoes, lemon and crabmeat and bring to heat-but don't over cook. 
5. Add the vegetable, cab mix to the saucepan containing the wholemeal spaghetti and toss to combine.
6. Plate up, and sprinkle with cheese of your choice and parsley. Season with freshly ground black pepper, a side salad of greens and any remaining crab legs. 
   
   This looks and tastes delicious. 

In too much of a rush to get back to fish on the evening tide to cook spaghetti and vegetables? 
No worries.
Put the chilled cooked crab, fresh buttered bread and salad in a picnic basket, and head back to the beach. 

I am back from a very long nature work, very tired, will sleep so well tonight.

Great exercise, today I bought myself a Sony Walkman DVD payer, with a jog-proof action so I could listen to talking books while I exercise. Because of this I was able to increase my walking exercise to an extra three hours for the day.

I took our dog Indigo with me, she also got more exercise than she usually gets for the day and will sleep well too. 

We called to check on Reg’s fishing just as he was catching me a blue spinner crab for my dinner.

Chicken & Broccoli Soup
 
Chicken soup has been a favourite of mine. My mum made a great chicken, onion and rice soup which has become another of my favourites. I was introduced to chicken and broccoli soup when visiting a friend for lunch. We were in the same weight management forum and had become good friends through it. I was managing my weight and she wasn’t, which I couldn’t understand as she said she ate this broccoli soup for lunch, and there was nothing in this soup or in her lunch and dinner menu, that should cause weight gain.

Things aren’t always as they appear. I discovered why this soup was fattening. It was the magnificent crunchy, and lavishly buttered dinner rolls and home cooked cakes that followed.
It was a wonderful visit and introduction to broccoli soup. I’ll be eating it again this week, but without all those extras.


 This recipe is a great way to use up leftover roast chicken.

Shred around 125 gram per person of chicken breast or lean chicken. 250 gram for a two person serve.
500 gram of broccoli
3 spring onions
2 ½ cups of chicken or vegetable stock.
If using a bland stock, add 1 Tablespoons Basil Pesto.
Note: Instead of stock, you can even use a packet of chicken noodle soup or Dutch curry and rice soup with water. I skip these as I like to eat low-salt.
 
Cook the broccoli for 3 minutes or until just tender. Add shallot and spinach. Cook for a further 2 minutes. Leave the  vegetables chunky, or mash or blend, as you prefer. Add the shredded chicken and heat. Serve with crisp rye biscuits or sour dough bread.

I have been asked 'Has the Michelle Bridges 12 weeks body transformation, transformed my body? ' 
"Judge for yourself."

The latest photos of me show a senior woman radiating good health, and the results speak for themselves.

Fitness strength and stamina results assessed yesterday and blogged.

I went from running for a 1-minute maximum to 7 kilometers without stopping and speed at an intermediate level, not bad with scared lungs, osteoporosis and almost 64 who had never really run in her youth.

I went from swimming 200 meters maximum to being able to swim 1,000 meters.

Push-ups per minute from 15 to 35 (advanced level)

Wall sits (lower body strength test) from zero to 1 minute.(intermediate level.)

I succeeded in doing a hamstring stretch for the first time in my life.

I hiked, climbed and rock scrambled  up seven mountains, had not been able to do that since I was 21

Flexibility was a -14cm in a sit stretch reaching to my toes and this is now a -3 cm

I have lost cm and kilos, but I had been doing that before 12wbt (Without dieting, I do healthy lifestyle, not diets ), I do not lose weight fast, as I am deliberately strength training as I have osteoporosis and I do not focus on weight off,  I focus on excess fat off, while building fitness.
 
I achieved a lot of fitness improvement and excess weight loss on my own through the healthy lifestyle, tried other forums, but they were weight loss focused not fitness focused and were not for me.

This Michelle Bridges 12wbt worked for me because I was prepared to trust her. I knew she had a good knowledge of what was a healthy diet, (as I do too) and I now know what I need to do to continue toward my goals as she knew a lot more than I did about exercise

This video was so much fun to make, I hope you enjoy it as much as Reg, the cats, Tabby and Valentine and I enjoyed making it. The cats have been using it for a few years now and it has made life easier for us humans. If you would like to know more about the amazing Litter-Robot III Open Air, its available in Australia. If you do make a purrchase, add in our Advocat code rynshell for a little thank you! https://catevolution.com.au/litter-robot-iii-open-air.html?tracking=rynshell, I'm a happy customer and thrilled to give a shout-out for family friendly, ethical products.

​On a day-long drive, I do my best to maintain fitness, by packing whole grain bread, easy to eat vegetables, like tomatoes, and individually wrapped low-fat cheese, bananas, mandarin, almonds, and lots of water, in the car with us.

I wear a pedometer and take frequent walk breaks and still try to clock up my 10,000 steps for the day, even on long driving days.

I portion control, by eating when I am hungry, stopping when satisfied, and keeping an eye on the calorie portion size, thinking of ideal meal and snack size for me.

I eat 100 to 150 calorie fruit and nut snacks x one or two times a day, and I have a 300 to 350 calorie allowance, for my meal. 

With the makings of the meals in the car, it saves a lot of money by not buying take away food, and I know I am continuing to eat the way I like to, even on the drive.

I usually start the day, with my oatmeal-based, muesli with berries and non-fat unsweetened yogurt.

When I arrive at my destination after a day's driving, I find fish and salad, even using tinned salmon, is an effortless, meal to prepare, and the simplicity of making that allows me a little extra walking around the campsite time and a few exercises.