Why Self-care?

What is self-care and why is it important?

Self-care is often misunderstood.  Many people confuse self-care with self-improvement.  Self-care is caring for oneself in the moment, right now and every day.  Its looking after yourself emotionally, spiritually, physically, professionally and personally.  

Over the next little while I will be taking some time to blog about each element of self-care I have listed above and what I do and have done to keep myself well and some of the mistakes that I have also made along the way!

Self-care is making sure that you are meeting your own needs first and that is not selfish, it is necessary.  You cannot take care of others if you don’t first take care of yourself.  We often feel like we don’t have time to care for ourselves, I once thought this too, however, I soon realized that if I make excuses not to care for myself then I am essentially lying to myself and others.  By not taking time to care for myself I was in fact doing others a disservice too, I was also setting a bad example, becoming resentful and codependent.  

I had to do a lot of self-reflection and at first it was hard for me to take the steps to care for me.  It just did not feel right somehow.  However, you can start by simply just making sure your own needs are being met.  Every day when I wake up, I take time for myself, I take a moment and let myself just be in it.   We often perform self-care without realizing it too.  Brushing our teeth, bathing, taking our medication are all acts of self-care.  Some of us can also find those tasks daunting too and that’s ok.  

Self-care doesn’t have to be all out or nothing, you can take small steps and create a habit that you will come to look forward to and enjoy.  Self-care should make you feel successful, it is not over indulgence of things such as wine or food it’ s creating balance so that we feel better about the choices we make.

Caring for our bodies is a great first step.  I know that can be very hard for some.  I myself struggled with this one too.  I did not see myself as needing or deserving to be cared for, however, that’s another story and very important aspect of self-care that I won’t get in to right now.

What things do you do to keep yourself well?

What excuses do you make to avoid self- care?

I was once told that excuses are just well-planned lies – so now when I make excuses (which I still do), I call out the lies and question their validity.

Self-care is a process, isn’t always easy, but to me, it is always worth it.

Self-care Wheel

Winner, winner…

Chicken dinner!

Creamy Garlic, red pepper and herb chicken, with cauliflower and rosemary roasted potatoes!!  👌🏻. Yummy 😋

I used this recipe as a guide. I added some red pepper that I had left over and used fresh garlic and fresh thyme, I also used 35% cream instead of milk, which made it super rich and creamy 🙂

I roasted my potatoes, I did par boil them first and them tossed them in olive oil, garlic and rosemary and put them in some preheated hot oil in a baking/roasting tray and then popped in the oven at 425 deg until they are golden and crispy. I just boiled my cauliflower with seasoning of salt and black pepper until tender but not mushy. The creaminess of the sauce and crispy potatoes and cauliflower went really well together. I will def be making this one again. So easy and delicious.

What are you making for mid week dinners?

Who Tiramisu?

My girl has loved tiramisu since she was able to eat solid food! I have never attempted to make it up until last week! Why I waited so long to do so is beyond me, it was so easy and the best one I have tasted yet!

My daughter asked me to make it as a special request to celebrate completion of her four year at university! We ended up making it together and not only did it taste amazing, we had a hoot too! What better way to spend a snowy winters day making yummy treats with your beautiful child?

Also it was my original intention to purchase lady fingers, however, I could not find them in the store so I followed the recipe in the link below and I am so glad I did, it was so easy and so worth it!

Another great memory to add to the bank of fun times!

What’s your favourite dessert?

Want the recipe? Click here!

Gratitude.

Living life with a grateful heart.

As I sit here in my living room watching the snow flakes flutter in the breeze, I snuggle deeper into my chair sipping my morning coffee whilst contemplating the day ahead. Then I remember that we only really have this moment. I close my eyes and hear the whirr of the the dishwasher, the pitter patter of my yorkie poo’s toes on the hard wood floor as he searches for crumbs of food my kids left behind. The soft snore of my golden doodle as he sleeps next to me on the sofa, the distant sounds of working snow ploughs and the sweet soft sounds of the wind chime on the sun porch. I open my eyes and see pictures of my family looking back at me, the trees in the garden swaying in the wind as the snowflakes dance by their side.

All this in one moment, so much to be grateful for…..

“Life is the dancer and you are the dance”. – Eckhart Tolle

What are you grateful for?

Ocean Calling…

I love the ocean! Its my favourite place to go and just be!

Going to the beach for me is a huge part of self care. However, I have not always lived by the ocean so getting to it is not always that easy. But that minor detail wasn’t really going to stop my love and connection with the coast. Whenever I go to the beach I take my camera to capture the beauty and the moment. Sometimes I will lie on the sand and just listen to the crash of the waves and breath in the salty sea air. Being by the ocean grounds me and reminds me of my smallness, in this vast place we call the universe! My problems and worries seem to just wash away with the tide.

When I can’t be by the ocean I have pictures to look at and ocean sounds that I can listen to. I can close my eyes and be back in my happy place once more. Sometimes I will paint the ocean and feel the movement of the waves as my brush moves across the canvas. These small pleasures help me feel at one with myself and life as I face each day.

What calls you? Do you have a special grounding place?

Fish ‘n’ Chips

Being a Brit, I love me some fish and chips, however with the current situation its not been so easy to get out to the chip shop! Also not to be rude, but I haven’t found anywhere in Canada yet that can make them like they do in the UK. So when you can’t go to the chip shop bring the the chip shop home!

I made haddock and chips with homemade tartare sauce. It was delish!

Recipe:

  • Haddock 3-4 pieces
  • All purpose flour (1 cup approx)
  • Can of Beer/lager
  • Salt/pepper
  • Canola oil for frying

Sift flour and mix in beer salt and pepper. Leave to stand in fridge for 20 mins.

Season fish and dust lightly with flour.

Dip the fish into batter and fry (you can shallow fry or deep fry, I prefer to deep fry). Do not just drop in deep fryer, lower slowly to stop it from dropping to bottom and getting stuck.

Depending on thickness of fish it should take around 8-10 mins and will be golden and crispy.

Chips – self explanatory!

Enjoy!

Life’s Sweet!

Who likes cookies? We love cookies and we also like baking! Heres’ a choc chip cookie recipe that you will want to make again and again!

Ingredients

  • 1 cup salted butter 
  • 1 cup white granulated sugar 
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 2 tsps vanilla extract 
  • 2 large free range eggs
  • 3 cups all purpose unbleached flour 
  • 1 tsp baking soda 
  • ½ tsp baking powder 
  • ½ tsp salt 
  • 2 cups of semi-sweet choc chips 

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
  2. In a separate bowl mix flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder. 
  3. Cream together butter and sugars until combined – I used stand mixer for this.
  4. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
  5. Mix in the dry ingredients.
  6. Add chocolate chips and mix well.
  7. Depending on how large you like your cookies, you can use an ice cream scoop or use 3tbsp of dough at a time into balls and place them evenly spaced on your prepared cookie sheets. I used an ice cream scoop, yield of approx. 24 cookies.
  8. Bake in preheated oven for approximately 8-10 minutes. Take them out when they are just starting to turn brown. DO NOT OVER BAKE!
  9. Let them sit on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

These cookies do not last long in our house, however you can make this dough to freeze. I usually roll the dough into a long sausage and wrap in cling film and freeze. You can slice the frozen dough in to discs and bake from frozen – just add a couple of of minutes to the bake time.

Lil lavender

Did you know? The greens from lavender are used similarly to rosemary or combined with rosemary to flavour meat and vegetables in savoury dishes.

I love lavender, the beautiful colour and smell. I often have lavender oil diffusing in my home and it can also be used on the skin to soothe rashes and burns. It is one very versatile shrub and essential oil. Naturally with me having it all around my house, my children also love lavender and my beautiful daughter asked me to paint her a picture for her room. I recently purchased a watercolour paint set and thought I would try my hand at water colour painting. It is not something I have done that much and I like the dreamy look it can give to some of the pictures I have seen. I set about creating my first water colour painting today and I am quite pleased with it. I am not the most patient of artists, I don’t like to sit for hours doing one thing, I get antsy and quickly lose interest, This, however, I found even more relaxing, the way the paint moves on the paper and how the colours change with the water and the paint strokes had me wanting to linger longer and try more complex pictures. I will most likely study some tutorials on YouTube and learn to use my new paints more effectively. Painting and art always makes me feel peaceful and is one of my most favourite things to do for self care, although I don’t nearly do it as much as I should.

So here is my attempt at watercolour painting – I am pleased with how it turned out and I am excited to try painting more things soon!

What do you like to do for self care?

Potater Skins!

Potato, prater, tater…….or what ever you want to call them dirty balls of starchy goodness you pull from the ground! Oh and little bit of Sirloin and cheese, why not? 🙂

Earlier in the week I made potato skins, these are a favourite of my kids when we go to the restaurant. I baked the potatoes and let cool then cut in half and removed flesh. (I’m making tater tots with that). I froze the hollowed out potatoes, so the kids can make them for snacks, then all you need to do is pop in oven for 10-12 mins on 425 and when crispy, fill with grated cheese and top with bacon and pop back in oven until nicely melted! Serve with sour cream!

I also made roasted vegetable soup (no pic) and of course dutch oven bread. I used the bread to make a grilled cheese, sirloin wagyu steak and onion sandwich….. it was amazing! I like to shop local when I can and I purchased the Steak from Stillwater Family Farm.

I always find cooking helps me relax and it makes me happy when I see the faces of my children as I serve up their favourite foods.

Now if only I had made more of those tater skins, there are only three left in my freezer!

What comfort foods do you like?