For the last 5 days I've been working with layer chickens. The first three days were on a cage hen farm, followed by a day at a hatchery and the last was a free range layer farm. It was both what I expected and not in a few different ways. Overall I was pretty happy with what I saw but my opinions on the egg industry haven't actually changed at all, and I'm going to make an attempt to explain why.
I'll start with a little bit about what we did, what we saw and my feelings and opinions when we went through it all. Then I'll do a bit of a comparison between the major types of egg production, where I would like to see the industry go and why.
So the first day at the cage farm we were taking blood samples from the hens. Every three months they give the hens a vaccine in the form of a spray against Newcastle Virus. Newcastle virus is a highly contagious disease which can be absolutely devastating if it gets into a flock. The virus can cause anything from digestive or respiratory distress to death. A few weeks after the vaccinating occurs, blood samples are taken from a number of birds out of each shed to make sure there is an appropriate immune response. The blood samples were taken from a vein in the underside of the wing. This was a little bit distressing for us to be thrown into as the needles were bigger than the veins we were taking blood from and it was very easy to cause bleeding and damage to the birds wing.
I can say though that I was a little bit surprised at how little the birds seemed to react. We didn't have to use much pressure to hold them at all and even when the needle went in not a single bird flinched.
The second day we were weighing 30 chickens from a number of the sheds. In this time we got to know the birds a bit better. They were all very alert and inquisitive, more so than I was expecting from cage hens. There was a huge range of personalities amongst the hens. There were some that tried to attack you, yet others were sitting quite peacefully against the edge of their cages while they seemed to really enjoy us patting and scratching them.
The third day we went to the grower facility where the hens are kept from day old chicks to the age of 16 weeks when they are then taken over the the main farm and introduced to the cages they will spend the rest of their lives in.
It was interesting here because there were both cage growers and free range growers. Basically the free range hens are in the same density as the cage hens (~25,000 per shed) except the cages have been removed and turned into perches. As growers they don't have access to the outside, which was interesting to learn. The free range sheds were also much dustier and you could see the same sort of personalities in these chickens as with the cage hens. We managed to catch a couple and have cuddles but it wasn't as easy as cuddling the cage hens, for obvious reasons.
Then we spent a couple of hours at a hatchery. The chicks are all sorted according to sex, hy-line brown chicks are brown if they're girls and yellow if they're boys so it's pretty easy to tell. The boys are killed using carbon dioxide, so they go to sleep and die, and are then used to make blood and bone fertiliser. The girls go into a machine where they have the very tip of their beaks lasered off and are also vaccinated.
Having been used to animal rights propaganda and pictures of hardly any beak left, most of the old hens we saw looked like they had almost complete beaks. It really is just the tip that's taken off. If you didn't know they had been trimmed you wouldn't have noticed.
Today was our last day and we had a tour through the free range hens as well as a talk with the guy who manages both of the sites we were at. The hens there seemed very relaxed and happy. They didn't have much fear of people and the ones that went outside seemed happy digging around or lying in the sun while the ones inside were perching or digging in the sawdust. Almost all of the hens we saw had red, upright combs while the caged hens were pale and floppy. They were just as bright eyed and inquisitive though. It was actually a bit of a pain trying to walk through them as they were particularly good at getting underfoot.
Now onto the comparison.
As far as costs go, caged hens are the most efficient. Free range hens require four times as much labour and eat 15% more food. They also produce around 25 eggs per hen less than cage hens. Not all of the eggs are laid in the nesting boxes so someone has to walk through several times a day to check for mislaid eggs. It's also more difficult to pull out any dead birds. The free range barns are quite a bit dustier than the cage sheds as well, although the cage sheds have a much stronger ammonia smell.
Free range sheds tend to require a bit more fiddling around to get the environment perfect which can be quite costly. It's a lot easier to get a controlled ideal environment in a shed.
The access to outside makes it much easier for the birds to be killed by predators (foxes being a big one) and also makes the spread of contagious disease with wild birds or rodents a lot easier.
There was greater bio-security measures in place at the caged site than the free range site as not having the exposure to wild animals makes the cage hens more vulnerable to disease.
Cage hens have constant access to food and water, where free range birds have to travel further and are more likely to have to compete for both if they travel outside. Having 5 hens in one cage enables them to sort out the 'pecking order' much easier than having 25,000 all in together.
The free range chickens have one ultimate advantage over the caged chickens - they get to actually be chickens. A big part of animal welfare revolves around the animal's 'right to express natural behaviours.' In chickens this includes flying, perching, dust bathing and scratching. Free range chickens are able to do all of these things while conventional cage hens can do none. The access to outside is what gives the hens the red comb and to me that's a sign of good health.
It's pretty easy for free range chickens to kill themselves by 'misadventure.' A big cause of this is when they all crowd on top of each other and suffocate or are crushed to death. They can also get stuck in the wire or the fences more easily than cage hens.
In my opinion the ideal form of commercial egg production is just deep litter barns. This is when you have chickens in a big shed with a thick bed of saw dust or wood shavings, they can perch and nest and run around but they don't go outside. It still allows the hens to express their natural behaviour but avoids some of the bio-security and disease issues. It's not quite consumer perfect, as they love seeing chickens running around in the grass, but it's a big move in the right direction. I'd love to see commercial production away from cages and towards barns, but there are still a number of benefits to cage production, mainly to workers, but some to the hens. Cages are still the most efficient way to meet market demands for eggs at a pretty constant rate throughout the year.
If we made a move towards all barn hens and no cage hens, I'd be pretty happy. As far as I'm concerned, the best possible way to farm chickens is for everyone to have a couple pet hens in their back yard, but good luck making that happen!
Friday 18 July 2014
Sunday 23 March 2014
A Rant About Being Female
Before we get started, let me just say that I absolutely believe that sexism and sexual pressure from society affects every person from every different gender or cultural identity that there is.
Every person also fits into a different combination of those groups so the pressures are different for everyone.
It's pretty easy to rant about being a young, white, overweight woman in today's society. Finding clothes that fit is challenging, time consuming and expensive. Finding shoes that fit my ladies size 10 feet is much the same. Feeling expected to wear make-up or dresses whenever I go places, only ever wanting to wear sneakers or other items of comfort. And that's all before mentioning any of the other related struggles of being a woman over a size 10.
But this is not about any of that.
This is about feeling unable to talk about various important parts of my being a woman without feeling like I'm going to be judged or criticised.
I've been sitting on this post for a while now, a few months in fact, and I think that's part of the problem.
I wish I could say that I feel free to talk to any of my female friends about anything. I wish I didn't have to sift through my friends contacts every time I have a problem wondering which one I can talk to and actually receive the support that I need.
You probably remember a while ago I wrote a post about Mooncup UK. Well my eyes and ears tell me that some of you had an issue with that post and don't seem to think that I should be putting things like that on the internet.
And here is my issue.
The Mooncup post was a risk that I took on a product that I thought could change lives for the better. I debated posting that as much as I debated posting this I also feel that they're both important in different ways.
It annoys me that I can't express my feelings and thoughts about various parts of being female without that kind of feedback. I think we've come a long way from a time when this was an offensive swimsuit:
We've come to normalise the appearance of the female body - and I think that's great. The next step will be when we can normalise the things that the female body does.
To the people that found the Mooncup post offensive - I specifically wrote a word of warning for you. I won't be doing that again because obviously there was no point.
I don't enjoy living in a world where any advertisements you see that are for feminine hygiene products basically say "Unless you use our product you will never enjoy a period again because they are horrible and disgusting and made to ruin your life!"
I don't want my friends and relatives to not feel comfortable talking to their female friends about any issues they have with their bodies or bodily functions. I'd love to be able to pick one of my female friends at random and say "here's my problem, can you give me any advice?" Without the risk of them telling me that I'm disgusting and have no place trying to talk to them about that sort of stuff.
The good news is that by putting that post and myself out there, I had quite a lot of feedback from friends that I don't often speak to, asking for advice or more information.
That's the kind of attitude towards women's bodies that I'd love to be the norm. I really hope that some day women will be allowed to be comfortable and proud of their bodies and all the gross things they do.
One day, I hope that we spend more time celebrating our young women's first periods instead of teaching them to be hateful and terrified of them.
One day, I hope that we can talk openly about these things with our sisters with no fear of repercussions.
One day, I hope that women everywhere can write things like this without having to worry what their friends might think.
Every person also fits into a different combination of those groups so the pressures are different for everyone.
It's pretty easy to rant about being a young, white, overweight woman in today's society. Finding clothes that fit is challenging, time consuming and expensive. Finding shoes that fit my ladies size 10 feet is much the same. Feeling expected to wear make-up or dresses whenever I go places, only ever wanting to wear sneakers or other items of comfort. And that's all before mentioning any of the other related struggles of being a woman over a size 10.
But this is not about any of that.
This is about feeling unable to talk about various important parts of my being a woman without feeling like I'm going to be judged or criticised.
I've been sitting on this post for a while now, a few months in fact, and I think that's part of the problem.
I wish I could say that I feel free to talk to any of my female friends about anything. I wish I didn't have to sift through my friends contacts every time I have a problem wondering which one I can talk to and actually receive the support that I need.
You probably remember a while ago I wrote a post about Mooncup UK. Well my eyes and ears tell me that some of you had an issue with that post and don't seem to think that I should be putting things like that on the internet.
And here is my issue.
The Mooncup post was a risk that I took on a product that I thought could change lives for the better. I debated posting that as much as I debated posting this I also feel that they're both important in different ways.
It annoys me that I can't express my feelings and thoughts about various parts of being female without that kind of feedback. I think we've come a long way from a time when this was an offensive swimsuit:
We've come to normalise the appearance of the female body - and I think that's great. The next step will be when we can normalise the things that the female body does.
To the people that found the Mooncup post offensive - I specifically wrote a word of warning for you. I won't be doing that again because obviously there was no point.
I don't enjoy living in a world where any advertisements you see that are for feminine hygiene products basically say "Unless you use our product you will never enjoy a period again because they are horrible and disgusting and made to ruin your life!"
I don't want my friends and relatives to not feel comfortable talking to their female friends about any issues they have with their bodies or bodily functions. I'd love to be able to pick one of my female friends at random and say "here's my problem, can you give me any advice?" Without the risk of them telling me that I'm disgusting and have no place trying to talk to them about that sort of stuff.
The good news is that by putting that post and myself out there, I had quite a lot of feedback from friends that I don't often speak to, asking for advice or more information.
That's the kind of attitude towards women's bodies that I'd love to be the norm. I really hope that some day women will be allowed to be comfortable and proud of their bodies and all the gross things they do.
One day, I hope that we spend more time celebrating our young women's first periods instead of teaching them to be hateful and terrified of them.
One day, I hope that we can talk openly about these things with our sisters with no fear of repercussions.
One day, I hope that women everywhere can write things like this without having to worry what their friends might think.
Tuesday 28 January 2014
Product Review: Mooncup UK
I'd just like to start here by saying this is probably not a post for the gentlemen. You're more than welcome to read it if you like but the Mooncup is a feminine hygiene product and I'll probably go into details that you don't want to know!
Now that that's out of the way, the Mooncup is one of several menstrual cups on the market. It's a small cup made of medical grade silicone that sits as far down in the vagina as possible and collects menstrual blood rather than absorbing it. It come in two sizes, A and B. Size A is recommended for women over the age of 30 or those that have had a vaginal birth. It's slightly larger than size B at 46mm in diameter and 50mm long as vaginal and pelvic floor tones naturally reduce with age. Size B is recommended for anyone under 30 or has not given birth vaginally and measures 43mm in diameter and 50mm in length. Both sizes have a 21mm long pull stem at the base which can be trimmed down or cut off completely depending on personal preference.
I decided to try a Mooncup after doing a bit of reading about the different styles and various positives and negatives of menstrual cups versus more 'conventional' sanitary items.
Advantages of pads and tampons:
- They're very easy to find and come in a variety of brands, absorbency, shape and size so they're suitable for just about all women at all stages of the cycle.
- Most women are comfortable using one or both of these items according to their personal preferences and needs.
- Washable pads and organic pads and tampons are also available for women that may be more environmentally conscious.
Disadvantages of pads and tampons:
- They're not exactly cheap and the costs build up quite a bit over time.
- Tampons are associated with an increased risk of Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) which can potentially lead to death.
- Tampons may also leave behind fibers when removed which can lead to irritation.
- The use of pads and tampons may encourage bacterial growth which can lead to yeast infections (thrush) and general irritation such as chaffing from pads.
- Pads and tampons often contain bleach and other chemicals which some women are sensitive to and experience rash or discomfort when they come into contact with those chemicals.
- They also have a very large environmental impact with billions of items making their way to landfills every year. Lunapad, a reusable pad company, claim that the average woman will throw away 125-150kg of sanitary items in her lifetime. The environmental impact also covers the water and resources required to grow cotton, and then all the other materials used to refine it and put together the finished product.
Advantages of Mooncup.
-It's made of medical grade silicone which is free from all of the nasty chemicals that can be found in pads and tampons.
- It's reusable for up to 5 years (although many women have continued to use them for much much longer) so leaves a significantly smaller environmental footprint.
- It collects rather than absorbs so it doesn't allow a surface area for bacteria to grow on and reduces the risk of infection and TSS.
- The soft medical grade silicone won't leave behind any fibres or cause rash or irritation.
- The other advantage of collecting rather than absorbing is that it won't mess up the natural pH and moisture of your vagina. Tampons absorb the natural lubricating excretions which can leave some women feeling very uncomfortable and increase the chance of pain or discomfort when removing or inserting a tampon.
- Mooncup can be used through any stage of the menstrual cycle and even just for women that have a particularly large or uncomfortable amount of normal vaginal discharge.
- It's able to hold more fluid than a tampon which means that it doesn't have to be changed as often and is much more convenient when going out or travelling.
Disadvantages of Mooncup.
- Can be challenging to insert and remove at first until you get the hang of it.
- Many women find the idea of menstrual cups disturbing or even downright disgusting.
- It's an expensive buy if you decide that you don't like it and don't want to continue using it.
- Not caring for it properly can cause the silicone to become hard.
For me it seemed like an obvious choice so I forked out the $45 including delivery to give it a try.
Even after only a few days use before I didn't need it anymore I fell in love with my Mooncup. At first it felt a little uncomfortable but after trimming back the pull stem I found that I could feel it less than when using a tampon. It was definitely a bit of a challenge to insert it at first but after carefully reading the information pamphlet that it came with and a bit of practice I soon found the folding method that worked best for me.
Removing it was also a lot easier than I expected, even after removing most of the pull stem. I walked the 20minute round trip to the shops with it in and felt no discomfort at all. I wore it to work and there was still no issue. When I was done for the month I cleaned it in boiling water as per the instructions and put it back in its little bag to wait for next time.
The biggest downside that I could think of is that it's a bit tricky to get in and out at first but even by the end of the day I found it was much easier than at the start.
All in all I would definitely recommend this product - in fact I already have. It really comes down to personal preference whether or not this would be suitable for you but it really is a fantastic product. I'd definitely recommend to any woman thinking about giving it a go to try it, you might just be pleasantly surprised!
At the end of the day I would say go with whatever makes you feel the most comfortable. Either way, if it is or isn't the product for you, hopefully this has answered some questions and helped you make a decision :)
Now that that's out of the way, the Mooncup is one of several menstrual cups on the market. It's a small cup made of medical grade silicone that sits as far down in the vagina as possible and collects menstrual blood rather than absorbing it. It come in two sizes, A and B. Size A is recommended for women over the age of 30 or those that have had a vaginal birth. It's slightly larger than size B at 46mm in diameter and 50mm long as vaginal and pelvic floor tones naturally reduce with age. Size B is recommended for anyone under 30 or has not given birth vaginally and measures 43mm in diameter and 50mm in length. Both sizes have a 21mm long pull stem at the base which can be trimmed down or cut off completely depending on personal preference.
I decided to try a Mooncup after doing a bit of reading about the different styles and various positives and negatives of menstrual cups versus more 'conventional' sanitary items.
Advantages of pads and tampons:
- They're very easy to find and come in a variety of brands, absorbency, shape and size so they're suitable for just about all women at all stages of the cycle.
- Most women are comfortable using one or both of these items according to their personal preferences and needs.
- Washable pads and organic pads and tampons are also available for women that may be more environmentally conscious.
Disadvantages of pads and tampons:
- They're not exactly cheap and the costs build up quite a bit over time.
- Tampons are associated with an increased risk of Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) which can potentially lead to death.
- Tampons may also leave behind fibers when removed which can lead to irritation.
- The use of pads and tampons may encourage bacterial growth which can lead to yeast infections (thrush) and general irritation such as chaffing from pads.
- Pads and tampons often contain bleach and other chemicals which some women are sensitive to and experience rash or discomfort when they come into contact with those chemicals.
- They also have a very large environmental impact with billions of items making their way to landfills every year. Lunapad, a reusable pad company, claim that the average woman will throw away 125-150kg of sanitary items in her lifetime. The environmental impact also covers the water and resources required to grow cotton, and then all the other materials used to refine it and put together the finished product.
Advantages of Mooncup.
-It's made of medical grade silicone which is free from all of the nasty chemicals that can be found in pads and tampons.
- It's reusable for up to 5 years (although many women have continued to use them for much much longer) so leaves a significantly smaller environmental footprint.
- It collects rather than absorbs so it doesn't allow a surface area for bacteria to grow on and reduces the risk of infection and TSS.
- The soft medical grade silicone won't leave behind any fibres or cause rash or irritation.
- The other advantage of collecting rather than absorbing is that it won't mess up the natural pH and moisture of your vagina. Tampons absorb the natural lubricating excretions which can leave some women feeling very uncomfortable and increase the chance of pain or discomfort when removing or inserting a tampon.
- Mooncup can be used through any stage of the menstrual cycle and even just for women that have a particularly large or uncomfortable amount of normal vaginal discharge.
- It's able to hold more fluid than a tampon which means that it doesn't have to be changed as often and is much more convenient when going out or travelling.
Disadvantages of Mooncup.
- Can be challenging to insert and remove at first until you get the hang of it.
- Many women find the idea of menstrual cups disturbing or even downright disgusting.
- It's an expensive buy if you decide that you don't like it and don't want to continue using it.
- Not caring for it properly can cause the silicone to become hard.
For me it seemed like an obvious choice so I forked out the $45 including delivery to give it a try.
Even after only a few days use before I didn't need it anymore I fell in love with my Mooncup. At first it felt a little uncomfortable but after trimming back the pull stem I found that I could feel it less than when using a tampon. It was definitely a bit of a challenge to insert it at first but after carefully reading the information pamphlet that it came with and a bit of practice I soon found the folding method that worked best for me.
Removing it was also a lot easier than I expected, even after removing most of the pull stem. I walked the 20minute round trip to the shops with it in and felt no discomfort at all. I wore it to work and there was still no issue. When I was done for the month I cleaned it in boiling water as per the instructions and put it back in its little bag to wait for next time.
The biggest downside that I could think of is that it's a bit tricky to get in and out at first but even by the end of the day I found it was much easier than at the start.
All in all I would definitely recommend this product - in fact I already have. It really comes down to personal preference whether or not this would be suitable for you but it really is a fantastic product. I'd definitely recommend to any woman thinking about giving it a go to try it, you might just be pleasantly surprised!
At the end of the day I would say go with whatever makes you feel the most comfortable. Either way, if it is or isn't the product for you, hopefully this has answered some questions and helped you make a decision :)
Friday 17 January 2014
Cooking Brownies With My Almond Flour!
If you read my last post then you'll know all about my urge to make brownies. I started by making my own almond flour and you can find the method in the blog post here.
The recipe is from Diana Keulian over at Real Healthy Recipes. Diana is a passionate real-food home cook who aims to make delicious yet nutritious meals, snacks and treats for her family.
This recipe uses almond flour instead of highly processed white flour, raw honey instead of highly processed cane sugar and coconut oil instead of butter. While all of these things are better for your body than the alternatives, you should still remember that they're quite calorie dense and should be treated the same as other snacks. A healthier alternative but it doesn't mean you can eat lots all the time!
You can find the full recipe here.
So lets get started! First gather all your ingredients and preheat the oven to 180C or 350F. I did tweak this recipe a little based on what I had available. I used 85% dark chocolate because it was on special at the shops, dark chocolate is a healthier alternative to milk chocolate as it contains less sugar, but the darker the chocolate the more bitter the brownies will be. I also used a variety of honey that tends to be a little less on the sweet side so I used slightly more to account for that.
Next step, gently melt 1/2 cup coconut oil, 1/3 - 1/2cup honey and 100gm dark chocolate. Of course, when you're in the middle of an Australian summer, the coconut oil and honey should already be liquid enough to skip this step. I just melted them over a low heat on the stove. Then stick them in a bowl and mix them together.
While that's cooling, give two eggs a gentle whisk in a bowl and add 1tbsp of vanilla and 1/4tsp of almond extract. Add that into the rest once it's cooled. You can also grab another bowl and mix 1/2tsp of sea salt in with 3/4cup of almond flour.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix thoroughly. Add half a cup of mini chocolate chips in here as well and mix them through!
Once that's mixed add it to whatever pan or tin you're cooking it in. Diane uses mini cupcake pans but I used a rectangle pan because that's all I have available. Also lightly greased with coconut oil before the batter went in. Smooth it out and stick it in the oven!
Depending on your oven, it should take around 15-25minutes to cook. My oven is a little bit evil and cooks horribly unevenly so I had burnt corners and not quite cooked in the middle. If you have a better oven than me you should have no issues, otherwise know your oven well enough to compensate :)
Once it's done take it out and allow it to cook down completely on the bench. If you don't then they'll fall apart when you try to take them out. Take my work for it, it's what I did ;)
Once it's cooled, or still a bit warm if you're too keen to try them, cut them into small pieces and enjoy :) Stick them in an airtight container in the fridge to retain freshness.
Even though I tweaked a few things and was impatient this recipe produces a beautiful moist, nutty brownie. Next time I'll use dark chocolate that has a lower cocoa percentage as 85% makes it just a tad too bitter for my preference. My oven made it cook unevenly but burnt or slightly undercooked it's still delicious. They're moist enough that you can squeeze them in together if they fall apart too. But I'll also let them cool down completely the next time I make them! It's also easy to adapt and add or change things to create a different flavour. You could add roughly chopped nuts or change the vanilla and almond extracts to different flavours. Next time I think I'll try it with peppermint extract as well, as I love a good choc-mint anything!
The home-made almond flour added a delicious nutty flavour as well as a slightly rough texture. As I spoke about in the almond flour post, I could have continued to grind the flour to make it a much finer texture but I chose not to. That didn't impact this recipe at all, in fact, I think the extra texture was great.
This is definitely a recipe that I will use again and I love that it's also better for you than many other recipes in several ways.I definitely recommend giving it a go and have a look through the rest of Diana's website or like her facebook page for updates on her new recipes and real food healthy eating adventure :)
The recipe is from Diana Keulian over at Real Healthy Recipes. Diana is a passionate real-food home cook who aims to make delicious yet nutritious meals, snacks and treats for her family.
This recipe uses almond flour instead of highly processed white flour, raw honey instead of highly processed cane sugar and coconut oil instead of butter. While all of these things are better for your body than the alternatives, you should still remember that they're quite calorie dense and should be treated the same as other snacks. A healthier alternative but it doesn't mean you can eat lots all the time!
You can find the full recipe here.
So lets get started! First gather all your ingredients and preheat the oven to 180C or 350F. I did tweak this recipe a little based on what I had available. I used 85% dark chocolate because it was on special at the shops, dark chocolate is a healthier alternative to milk chocolate as it contains less sugar, but the darker the chocolate the more bitter the brownies will be. I also used a variety of honey that tends to be a little less on the sweet side so I used slightly more to account for that.
Next step, gently melt 1/2 cup coconut oil, 1/3 - 1/2cup honey and 100gm dark chocolate. Of course, when you're in the middle of an Australian summer, the coconut oil and honey should already be liquid enough to skip this step. I just melted them over a low heat on the stove. Then stick them in a bowl and mix them together.
While that's cooling, give two eggs a gentle whisk in a bowl and add 1tbsp of vanilla and 1/4tsp of almond extract. Add that into the rest once it's cooled. You can also grab another bowl and mix 1/2tsp of sea salt in with 3/4cup of almond flour.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix thoroughly. Add half a cup of mini chocolate chips in here as well and mix them through!
Once that's mixed add it to whatever pan or tin you're cooking it in. Diane uses mini cupcake pans but I used a rectangle pan because that's all I have available. Also lightly greased with coconut oil before the batter went in. Smooth it out and stick it in the oven!
Depending on your oven, it should take around 15-25minutes to cook. My oven is a little bit evil and cooks horribly unevenly so I had burnt corners and not quite cooked in the middle. If you have a better oven than me you should have no issues, otherwise know your oven well enough to compensate :)
Once it's done take it out and allow it to cook down completely on the bench. If you don't then they'll fall apart when you try to take them out. Take my work for it, it's what I did ;)
Once it's cooled, or still a bit warm if you're too keen to try them, cut them into small pieces and enjoy :) Stick them in an airtight container in the fridge to retain freshness.
Even though I tweaked a few things and was impatient this recipe produces a beautiful moist, nutty brownie. Next time I'll use dark chocolate that has a lower cocoa percentage as 85% makes it just a tad too bitter for my preference. My oven made it cook unevenly but burnt or slightly undercooked it's still delicious. They're moist enough that you can squeeze them in together if they fall apart too. But I'll also let them cool down completely the next time I make them! It's also easy to adapt and add or change things to create a different flavour. You could add roughly chopped nuts or change the vanilla and almond extracts to different flavours. Next time I think I'll try it with peppermint extract as well, as I love a good choc-mint anything!
The home-made almond flour added a delicious nutty flavour as well as a slightly rough texture. As I spoke about in the almond flour post, I could have continued to grind the flour to make it a much finer texture but I chose not to. That didn't impact this recipe at all, in fact, I think the extra texture was great.
This is definitely a recipe that I will use again and I love that it's also better for you than many other recipes in several ways.I definitely recommend giving it a go and have a look through the rest of Diana's website or like her facebook page for updates on her new recipes and real food healthy eating adventure :)
Wednesday 15 January 2014
Making Almond Flour!
Yesterday I felt the urge to bake wash over me again. Specifically, brownies. I found a healthier alternative brownie recipe by Diana Keulian, a passionate real-food, real healthy home cook, and decided to give it a shot (more on that later).
After having a look in the shops for almond flour with my housemate and drastically failing, I sent Diana a message through her facebook page and asked if buckwheat flour would be an acceptable alternative. Diana replied saying that you can make almond flour at home in a food processor, just chuck 'em in and grind 'em up!
Luckily, I happened to have some raw almonds that I bought at a farmers market and never got around to using and so my excitement began...
First a little bit about almond nutrition. Almonds are what is referred to as 'nutritionally dense' meaning that they pack a whole heap of good stuff in a small serving. They're a great source of fiber as well as a variety of vitamins and mineral including manganese, magnesium, iron, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, vitamin A, E, K and B1-3, 5, 6 and 9 as well as many others. Not only that, they're a great source of healthy fats and an excellent addition to low carb, gluten free diets. Almonds can be eaten whole, included in recipes as a flour (what I made), made into a nutritious milk or into almond butter and used as an alternative to peanut butter for those with peanut allergies.
Making your own almond flour is a much cheaper alternative to buying it and you can ensure that there's no extra preservatives or hidden nasties that you might find in store bought. And it really is as easy as Diana said it would be!
Most recipes call for blanched almond flour, made from almonds with no skins, but I decided to keep my skins on because I was too excited to take the time to soak and take the skins off. There's also quite a lot of fibre and antioxidants in the skins and a little fibre never hurt anyone ;)
After doing a bit of googling and youtubing for any tips and tricks I decided I was ready to give it a shot!
All you need is almonds, can be raw or roasted but preferably organic to avoid any nasty chemicals, a food processor, a stainless steel sieve, a bowl and an airtight container for storage.
I used two cups of raw almonds. Throw them in the food processor, stopping every now and again to make sure it's not turning into butter and just checking the general consistency.
Run the ground almonds through the sieve to get out any chunks and achieve a consistent texture, run the bigger pieces through again!
Once everything has been ground down it's ready to use. Put any leftovers into an airtight container and store in the fridge or freezer as exposure to air and sunlight will cause it to rancid pretty quickly if left in a cupboard. I made around a cup and a half of flour (left) from two cups of whole nuts. I could have made more but by the end I had lots of little nut pieces a bit more to the consistency of meal (on the right) which were taking a long time to put through the processor and I decided to keep them separate to add to yoghurt or chia porridges etc. Seemed like a great topper to add so I kept them :)
So there you have it! Super easy to make at home as a healthier, grain free, gluten free alternative to heavily processed wheat flour. My batch turned out better than I was expecting. Still coarser than shop flour but contains only one ingredient and no preservatives. Overall I'm very happy with how this turned out! Shortly after I used them to make the brownie recipe I mentioned at the beginning of this entry and if you look out tomorrow you can see how they turned out ;)
After having a look in the shops for almond flour with my housemate and drastically failing, I sent Diana a message through her facebook page and asked if buckwheat flour would be an acceptable alternative. Diana replied saying that you can make almond flour at home in a food processor, just chuck 'em in and grind 'em up!
Luckily, I happened to have some raw almonds that I bought at a farmers market and never got around to using and so my excitement began...
First a little bit about almond nutrition. Almonds are what is referred to as 'nutritionally dense' meaning that they pack a whole heap of good stuff in a small serving. They're a great source of fiber as well as a variety of vitamins and mineral including manganese, magnesium, iron, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, vitamin A, E, K and B1-3, 5, 6 and 9 as well as many others. Not only that, they're a great source of healthy fats and an excellent addition to low carb, gluten free diets. Almonds can be eaten whole, included in recipes as a flour (what I made), made into a nutritious milk or into almond butter and used as an alternative to peanut butter for those with peanut allergies.
Making your own almond flour is a much cheaper alternative to buying it and you can ensure that there's no extra preservatives or hidden nasties that you might find in store bought. And it really is as easy as Diana said it would be!
Most recipes call for blanched almond flour, made from almonds with no skins, but I decided to keep my skins on because I was too excited to take the time to soak and take the skins off. There's also quite a lot of fibre and antioxidants in the skins and a little fibre never hurt anyone ;)
After doing a bit of googling and youtubing for any tips and tricks I decided I was ready to give it a shot!
All you need is almonds, can be raw or roasted but preferably organic to avoid any nasty chemicals, a food processor, a stainless steel sieve, a bowl and an airtight container for storage.
I used two cups of raw almonds. Throw them in the food processor, stopping every now and again to make sure it's not turning into butter and just checking the general consistency.
Run the ground almonds through the sieve to get out any chunks and achieve a consistent texture, run the bigger pieces through again!
Once everything has been ground down it's ready to use. Put any leftovers into an airtight container and store in the fridge or freezer as exposure to air and sunlight will cause it to rancid pretty quickly if left in a cupboard. I made around a cup and a half of flour (left) from two cups of whole nuts. I could have made more but by the end I had lots of little nut pieces a bit more to the consistency of meal (on the right) which were taking a long time to put through the processor and I decided to keep them separate to add to yoghurt or chia porridges etc. Seemed like a great topper to add so I kept them :)
So there you have it! Super easy to make at home as a healthier, grain free, gluten free alternative to heavily processed wheat flour. My batch turned out better than I was expecting. Still coarser than shop flour but contains only one ingredient and no preservatives. Overall I'm very happy with how this turned out! Shortly after I used them to make the brownie recipe I mentioned at the beginning of this entry and if you look out tomorrow you can see how they turned out ;)
Saturday 28 December 2013
5 Reasons I'm Grateful For My Sister
In my opinion, family is the most important thing there is. They're the ones that shape you into who you're going to be, they help structure your morals and your outlook on life. Family are the people that look out for you and support you when you need it most. Sometimes, the people that you consider family aren't blood related, they're just the people that love you unconditionally.
I consider myself very lucky to have the family that I do. Even though we've grown apart over the years we're still fairly close-knit. I'm also fortunate enough to have a fantastic relationship with my parents, we talk often, for hours and about everything that you can think of. My parents are some of the first to find out exciting things about my life and also some of the first that I ask for advice. I regularly talk to most of my first cousins and I'm confident that if I ever need help in anything, my family will be there for me.
But the one person I probably have the strongest relationship with is my older sister. She's been with me my whole life and we've managed to remain close after 20 years! Through all of our ups and downs, these are some of the things I'm most grateful for.
#5. We can laugh together.
It makes a lot of sense that we have a lot of history together, we've been together my whole life. We have so many stories from our history together that we could probably write an entire book of anecdotes. Some of my favourite memories involve my sister. Every now and then, a memory will randomly pop into my head and I'll burst out laughing, those are the best kind.
We also have a certain number of memories that we will laugh about every single time. We even laugh when remembering a time that we laughed at memories! Remember that time, sister in the car with the look the guy gave us when we were talking about dad and the wall, and Peter and the tomato?
Even better are the memories we share that only people of a similar frame of mind will find funny. Stories that normal people would find morbid or disgusting that we find both fascinating and hilarious. Like that time I used a fox as a puppet, or the heart that was... Well I'll leave the details of those stories for a better time and save you all from deciding you hate us :P
I am so incredibly grateful to have someone that I can count on being silly with me whenever we see each other. I love being able to share a lifetime of memories with someone that is filled with laughter.
#4. We can cry together.
We've had our share of misfortune in our family, divorces, deaths and other assorted sadness. When we were young our parents split up and eventually got divorced. My sister was someone that I could complain to and express my concerns and fears without being in some way biased towards the situation. She was, after all, going through the same thing. I can remember crying together when our first dog was put down, although I vaguely remember not fully understanding at the time. When our second dog got really sick and was facing being put down, I cried to her completely judgement free. When we've had family die we've cried together and comforted each other.
I can still remember one time when I was in high school and I'd just broken up with a boyfriend and, naturally, was feeling rather upset. I sent my sister a text message telling her what had happened and she came into my room to chat. It turned out that she'd also broken up with her boyfriend about a week before so we cried together again! And then we ended up laughing after saying how terrible boys were and that we were clearly just too awesome to handle.
I'm grateful to have someone that I know will always be there for me. No matter who dies, no matter how many relationships start or end, no matter what the issue is, she will always be there. As she's also older than me, there's a good chance she's been there too! My sister is one of a handful of people that I'm comfortable crying in front of and I'm truly thankful for that.
#3. We can criticise each other.
Chances are, someone that's known you your whole life knows you fairly well. Siblings have seen most of both the smart and the dumb things you've done in your life. They've watched you deal with simple problems and more difficult ones. They've seen you at your happiest and your saddest. They've probably also guided you through all of those things. So when you're being a dickhead or on a dangerous path they have the ability to recognise what you're doing and confront you about it. If I ever go to my sister with a problem she'll tell me exactly what she thinks I should do. If that means telling me that what I'm doing is only making things worse then that's what she'll tell me. Sure, that means that we've had our fair share of fights and arguments throughout our time but we've turned out pretty well so it's really all for the best.
I'm grateful to have someone who will confront me on an issue, even if she's half way across the world. I'm also grateful that I can tell her exactly what I think and even if she hates me at the time she'll always get over it sooner or later.
#2. We can trust and support each other.
Every female needs someone to talk to at one time or another. It could just to be feel like someone is there for her. It could be that something has happened and she needs reassuring that she's not going to die. It could be about every day life or it might be something incredibly personal that she can't seek advice from the general public about. My sister is someone that I can tell all my personal problems to without ever fearing being mocked or judged. I can tell her everything from the one thing that annoyed me that particular day to the detailed horrific ways that my body has decided to fail me this week. I can trust her with personal details about my life without worrying that she'll tell anyone.
When I go to my sister with a problem, I can trust the advice that she gives me. If she tells me what she would do if she were in the same place, I know that that's the honest truth. I am truly grateful that she is one of the handful of people that I can go to about anything, no matter what and no matter when.
#1. We love each other unconditionally.
My sister and I have, at times, had a very rocky relationship. But no matter how many times we've hated, hurt, lied to, insulted, left out, teased, mocked or otherwise been generally horrible to each other we will always be sisters and we will always love each other. I'm confident that if we ever go years without talking (Ha! Like that'll ever happen!) when we see each other again we'll start right where we left off. There's not a lot that I wouldn't do to protect my sister. I would happily take all her pains on myself so that she could live a day free of and stresses or pains. I'd even help her set her ex boyfriend on fire if she ever asked :P
I'm confident that I could call my sister any time of night or day and she would be there for me. I know that she will put aside her own problems to help me with mine, even if they seem pathetic in relation to her own. I know that if I ask something of her and it is in her power to help me, she will. I'm grateful that my sister will judge me for all of the things that I've done and especially the things that I tell her but love me anyway. I can only hope that she knows and thinks the same for me. :)
Love you sis, stay awesome <3
I consider myself very lucky to have the family that I do. Even though we've grown apart over the years we're still fairly close-knit. I'm also fortunate enough to have a fantastic relationship with my parents, we talk often, for hours and about everything that you can think of. My parents are some of the first to find out exciting things about my life and also some of the first that I ask for advice. I regularly talk to most of my first cousins and I'm confident that if I ever need help in anything, my family will be there for me.
But the one person I probably have the strongest relationship with is my older sister. She's been with me my whole life and we've managed to remain close after 20 years! Through all of our ups and downs, these are some of the things I'm most grateful for.
#5. We can laugh together.
It makes a lot of sense that we have a lot of history together, we've been together my whole life. We have so many stories from our history together that we could probably write an entire book of anecdotes. Some of my favourite memories involve my sister. Every now and then, a memory will randomly pop into my head and I'll burst out laughing, those are the best kind.
We also have a certain number of memories that we will laugh about every single time. We even laugh when remembering a time that we laughed at memories! Remember that time, sister in the car with the look the guy gave us when we were talking about dad and the wall, and Peter and the tomato?
Even better are the memories we share that only people of a similar frame of mind will find funny. Stories that normal people would find morbid or disgusting that we find both fascinating and hilarious. Like that time I used a fox as a puppet, or the heart that was... Well I'll leave the details of those stories for a better time and save you all from deciding you hate us :P
I am so incredibly grateful to have someone that I can count on being silly with me whenever we see each other. I love being able to share a lifetime of memories with someone that is filled with laughter.
#4. We can cry together.
We've had our share of misfortune in our family, divorces, deaths and other assorted sadness. When we were young our parents split up and eventually got divorced. My sister was someone that I could complain to and express my concerns and fears without being in some way biased towards the situation. She was, after all, going through the same thing. I can remember crying together when our first dog was put down, although I vaguely remember not fully understanding at the time. When our second dog got really sick and was facing being put down, I cried to her completely judgement free. When we've had family die we've cried together and comforted each other.
I can still remember one time when I was in high school and I'd just broken up with a boyfriend and, naturally, was feeling rather upset. I sent my sister a text message telling her what had happened and she came into my room to chat. It turned out that she'd also broken up with her boyfriend about a week before so we cried together again! And then we ended up laughing after saying how terrible boys were and that we were clearly just too awesome to handle.
I'm grateful to have someone that I know will always be there for me. No matter who dies, no matter how many relationships start or end, no matter what the issue is, she will always be there. As she's also older than me, there's a good chance she's been there too! My sister is one of a handful of people that I'm comfortable crying in front of and I'm truly thankful for that.
#3. We can criticise each other.
Chances are, someone that's known you your whole life knows you fairly well. Siblings have seen most of both the smart and the dumb things you've done in your life. They've watched you deal with simple problems and more difficult ones. They've seen you at your happiest and your saddest. They've probably also guided you through all of those things. So when you're being a dickhead or on a dangerous path they have the ability to recognise what you're doing and confront you about it. If I ever go to my sister with a problem she'll tell me exactly what she thinks I should do. If that means telling me that what I'm doing is only making things worse then that's what she'll tell me. Sure, that means that we've had our fair share of fights and arguments throughout our time but we've turned out pretty well so it's really all for the best.
I'm grateful to have someone who will confront me on an issue, even if she's half way across the world. I'm also grateful that I can tell her exactly what I think and even if she hates me at the time she'll always get over it sooner or later.
#2. We can trust and support each other.
Every female needs someone to talk to at one time or another. It could just to be feel like someone is there for her. It could be that something has happened and she needs reassuring that she's not going to die. It could be about every day life or it might be something incredibly personal that she can't seek advice from the general public about. My sister is someone that I can tell all my personal problems to without ever fearing being mocked or judged. I can tell her everything from the one thing that annoyed me that particular day to the detailed horrific ways that my body has decided to fail me this week. I can trust her with personal details about my life without worrying that she'll tell anyone.
When I go to my sister with a problem, I can trust the advice that she gives me. If she tells me what she would do if she were in the same place, I know that that's the honest truth. I am truly grateful that she is one of the handful of people that I can go to about anything, no matter what and no matter when.
#1. We love each other unconditionally.
My sister and I have, at times, had a very rocky relationship. But no matter how many times we've hated, hurt, lied to, insulted, left out, teased, mocked or otherwise been generally horrible to each other we will always be sisters and we will always love each other. I'm confident that if we ever go years without talking (Ha! Like that'll ever happen!) when we see each other again we'll start right where we left off. There's not a lot that I wouldn't do to protect my sister. I would happily take all her pains on myself so that she could live a day free of and stresses or pains. I'd even help her set her ex boyfriend on fire if she ever asked :P
I'm confident that I could call my sister any time of night or day and she would be there for me. I know that she will put aside her own problems to help me with mine, even if they seem pathetic in relation to her own. I know that if I ask something of her and it is in her power to help me, she will. I'm grateful that my sister will judge me for all of the things that I've done and especially the things that I tell her but love me anyway. I can only hope that she knows and thinks the same for me. :)
Love you sis, stay awesome <3
Monday 9 December 2013
5 Annoying Groups of Customers
Anyone that works in any job involving human interaction will have certain things that annoy them about customers. Be it individuals, personalities, specific behaviours or any number of things, I'm sure any of you that have worked in these types of positions can easily think of something that gets to you.
I work at a store called Dan Murphy's. For those of you that don't know, it's basically a liquor warehouse. My store is huge and has hundreds of spirits, wines, beers, pre mixed drinks and a number of other things to choose from. We consider it a moderate to high risk environment and it's not all that hard to break bottles and result in injury from glass shards. We also tend to be fairly fast paced. It's not about rushing to get people out the door, rather to avoid people holding 7-20kg cartons waiting in line forever.
We pride ourselves on excellent customer service, going well out of our way to be kind, helpful and polite. It's for these reasons we hold our tongues when annoying customers reveal themselves. People that disrupt the store environment both for customers and staff.
People that...
I work at a store called Dan Murphy's. For those of you that don't know, it's basically a liquor warehouse. My store is huge and has hundreds of spirits, wines, beers, pre mixed drinks and a number of other things to choose from. We consider it a moderate to high risk environment and it's not all that hard to break bottles and result in injury from glass shards. We also tend to be fairly fast paced. It's not about rushing to get people out the door, rather to avoid people holding 7-20kg cartons waiting in line forever.
We pride ourselves on excellent customer service, going well out of our way to be kind, helpful and polite. It's for these reasons we hold our tongues when annoying customers reveal themselves. People that disrupt the store environment both for customers and staff.
People that...
Use phrases you've already heard a hundred times and still think they're hilarious.
I'm putting this first because it's rather subjective. I'm sure there are people who forget they've already heard it a dozen times the last hour, and genuinely believe it's funny.
I am not one of those people.
There are only so many times I can ask someone if they would like their receipt and hear "No, you can't get tax back on alcohol!" or "No, just my change," or even "No thanks, save a tree!"before I want to start facepalm. The most common one is possibly "No thanks, I won't be bringing it back!" Yet we have to smile and laugh like it's the first time it's ever been said.
I have a red headed cousin who worked at Red Rooster where their uniforms, unsurprisingly, are red. She consistently would get comments of "Did you know your hair matches your shirt?" As if this was the biggest news in the world.
Another one that we hear constantly is when PayPass doesn't work for someone and they have to insert their card's chip. "Oh, well I guess I have to do it the old fashioned way." I'm twenty and I can remember when chips first came out on cards. It's really not old fashioned at all!
Don't know how to use EFTPOS machines.
This one applies to young and old alike. It's not people with cards that won't read properly that are the issue. It's people that don't know which way to swipe or insert their card. It's people that don't wait for the machines to be ready to read their cards and then wonder why they don't work. PayPass was supposed to make life easier, you could just tap and it would be done. But it doesn't always read the first time and people will stand there for five minutes trying to tap it before attempting to insert their card's chip. I should mention this is five minutes after you first suggested it.
Then there are those that don't know how to use either the touchscreen half or the pinpad and get grumpy when it doesn't work.
There is a little picture on most EFTPOS machines that show you how to hold the card. It also helps to know which account your money needs to come out of and know which PIN belongs to which care. If this is still too much trouble, take someone else with you that DOES know!
Make absolutely no effort to communicate with you/flat out ignore you.
I know, some of you might think "Maybe they just didn't hear you?" Almost everyone in my store has an indoor voice the same volume as most people's outdoor voices. We almost shout at everyone that comes within out visual range.
These are the people that will hear you, look at you and then say nothing. When a person approaches the register there are a series of questions that we ask. These include the basics such as whether or not they would like a receipt. or a bag, or a box, or even just asking how their day has been. Some customers just can't talk enough yet others refuse to say a word.
I have legitimately served deaf people that have made more of an effort to communicate than some perfectly capable of talking and hearing. How do I know this? They often come into the store talking on the phone. Which brings me to another group...
Won't hang up the phone.
Some phone calls are important, some have to be answered. Others, really don't. I don't really want to listen to you talking to your friend about what you plan to do on the weekend, or how annoying your boyfriend is being. If I then have to ask you something, I'm the one who's seen as rude!
It becomes slightly less annoying when people apologise for being on the phone, or for having to answer it. Part of my job involves human interaction, in fact, it's a rather important part. We're told right from the word go to be polite and enthusiastic, it's very hard to do that when it seems like you are actively avoiding talking to us.
People on the phone will also hold up lines as they are more distracted and take longer paying, sorting their things out and then taking their purchases away from the registers.
One amusing thing that comes out of people on the phone is how often the person waiting behind them will start to complain about how rude or inconsiderate the talkers are. Just shows, it's not just the people that work there!
Bring in young or misbehaved children.
This is not only annoying, but dangerous. In liquor stores there is the added risk of children knocking off bottles onto themselves or stepping on broken glass. Thankfully, that's not happened while I've been working, so far at least. I have, however, had children get their finger stuck in trolleys, seen them smacked in the face by the automatic closing gates, had them trip and fall or slide along the floor and fall. There have been children that throw or fling things, get run over by trolleys and all manner of other injuries.
Then there are those that just yell. So their parents are yelling back trying to get them to stop and holding up other customers. These children disrupt the atmosphere for both customers and staff and make it more challenging to assist customers over the din.
We frequently have children coming in that climb over things and run around all over the place. Not only do they hurt themselves but they run into other customers. The day that a child runs into an elderly customer and knocks them over in our store will definitely not be a surprising one.
To those parents that bring in well behaved, lovely mannered children into stores, we all sincerely thank you.
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