primal cavewife

I bought the Chef Avenue 3 in 1 Slicer over the weekend from CNR and was super excited to use it this week because I can finally make my boyfriend spaghetti bolognaise! I knew that being gluten intolerant, spagbol was something he hadn't had in years, so I decided to make him this delicious surprise. I don't love spagbol that much, but I LOVED THIS! HE loved this, which really says a lot. His only complaint was that the zoodles were too long... yes... I have a newborn toothless child at home. But that can easily be fixed by cutting the noodles up.

Since we usually cook a lot to last us several meals over the week, this recipe serves at least 6. But you can easily adjust the ingredients... or just cook a big pot and bring it for lunch the next day!

Ingredients:
2 onions, diced
5 garlic cloves, minced
1.5kg beef mince
1 cup water
2 carrots, cubed
5 tomatoes, chopped
2 cups mushroom, chopped
2 tbsp oregano
2 tbsp basil
2 tbsp chives
2 tbsp thyme
5 tbsp tomato paste/5 tbsp tomato sauce, optional
grated cheese, optional
salt
pepper
4 zucchini, julienne

• Melt butter on medium heat in a pot. Add the onion and garlic and fry until cooked.
• Add the beef mince and a cup of water and heat until mince is browned.
• Add the carrots, tomatoes and mushrooms and let it simmer.
• Add the herbs, salt and pepper and simmer for about 30-45 minutes.
• In the meantime, place the zucchini noodles on a paper towel in a bowl and add salt. This is to draw the water out of the zucchini. Dab as much water as you can with a fresh paper towel.
• On a frying pan, heat the zoodles up for a couple minutes and plate it.
• Add the tomato paste/sauce in the mince mix and simmer for a couple minutes.
• Serve the zoodles with the sauce and a handful of grated cheese.

I've always wondered how people made zoodles. It always seemed like a lot of work. Then I found this machine. I've read about it on Paleo facebook groups which said that they were sold at farmer's markets. I never got around to going to that particular farmer's market. But then we went to CNR Kitchen in Northbridge...

My friend's looking for a paleo café to sell her paleo desserts, so we've been scouting around together. Solomon's in Highgate was our first destination. Then CNR over the weekend. The minute I saw that they were selling these at CNR, I knew I had to get them. At $35 for one, I knew this is one of the machines I would get a lot out of.

Tried it last night... made spaghetti bolognaise, and it is currently my favourite gadget I have in the kitchen. It's so simple, so compact, so neat. Now I can make all the noodles in the world out of whatever I can get my hands on!

I have mentioned previously that my lifestyle has changed dramatically recently.

I have stopped

• using shampoo and conditioner
• using store-bought make up remover
• using store-bought face cream
• eating chocolate

I have started

• using bi-carb soda and apple cider vinegar in my hair
• using jojoba oil as make-up remover
• using coconut oil as night cream and my own diy face cream in the day
• brewing my own and drinking kombucha
• oil pulling with coconut oil
• making sure I get 8-9 hours of sleep every night
• gardening, growing my own vegetables for the past year
• raising my own chickens for eggs

But my most recent, and biggest change yet, is crossfit.

Almost four months ago, I told my boyfriend that I wanted to try crossfit. He thought about it and said I should workout in our backyard for a couple of months before I go for the free trial that most places offer. I had already been doing 200 air squats every other day for over a year. But other than that I haven't done much exercise. I was a bit annoyed with him at first... Crossfit is meant for anyone of any level of fitness. I did what I was told anyway.

We have some equipment in our backyard. Some barbells, weights, a couple make shift kettlebells, etc. For two months, I did a short circuit that he wrote for me, three times a week. The workout was short - took me maybe 20 minutes to do it. And it was effective. I could feel myself getting stronger.

Week 1:
3 rounds of
8 tricep dips
8 ring rows
8 squats (with 10kg weights)
8 shoulder press (10kg)
8 kettlebell swings (15kg)
8 incline pushups

Not going to lie. Shoulder press was hard the hardest the first time he showed me. I have done everything else before, but not shoulder press, and my arms are very weak. But as the week progressed, I found that 8 shoulder presses were nothing and they were getting so easy. So then he decided to up my reps to 10 each by week 2.

Week 3, I was doing 4 rounds of 8 reps and week 4 saw me doing 4 rounds of 10 reps. I could feel myself getting stronger and stronger. From only a month ago, I could barely do 8 shoulder presses to now, I could do 4 rounds of 10! That feeling was addictive. In week 5, he decided to increase my 10kg weights to 15kg, and my workout went back to 3 rounds of 8.

Week 5:
3 rounds of
8 tricep dips
8 ring rows
8 squats (15kg)
8 shoulder press (15kg)
8 kettlebell swings (10kg)
8 incline pushups

Week 6, I was doing 3 rounds of 10. Week 7, 4 rounds of 8. And week 8, 4 rounds of 10.

Finally, 2 months have come and gone and I had worked out religiously 3 times a week - I was finally allowed to trial crossfit. Southern Crossfit offers free trial on Saturday mornings 9am and 10am. I signed up and went to the 9am trial. Man, it was hard. Not going to lie. I am glad my boyfriend made me do some workout in the backyard to prepare me for it. I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much otherwise. Or would I?

Either way, that workout killed me. I was sore for almost a week after that. But I loved it! I used to be a competitive swimmer up until I finished high school. I loved swimming. I haven't really found a sport I enjoyed as much since. But crossfit, crossfit is something. It's so challenging, so hard. But when you're done, it feels invigorating.

I signed up for the mandatory 2 week foundation class, and 2 weeks later, I was officially doing my first WOD. It has been more than 4 weeks since my first official crossfit class. I am still loving it. I look forward to waking up at 5:20am in winter before the sun comes up, to workout, and I'm not even a gym junkie. I love that the workouts are so short. Classes are an hour long, but the workouts themselves are usually between 8 to 20 minutes depending on the WOD. At least the ones I have done so far are. The workouts are brutal, but knowing that it only lasts for that long makes it much easier to bear. The best part is knowing you are getting better with every workout! Actually, no, the best part is feeling like all your fat is melting whilst you're doing the workout because it is that brutal!

I love doing weights. So good to see the numbers go up quickly, knowing that you are getting stronger. That, and I hate cardio. All the rowing and running kills me.

I hope I am on my way to achieving a better looking body for summer... and we will be attending a wedding in India in February. That's another five and a half months away. I will definitely check in before then about my results!

There are lots of hate on crossfit. I think it's important that you look for a crossfit box that has good trainers. They should not only know what they are talking about, but they also understand how to scale your workout to suit your level, and make sure to teach you and help you maintain good form. Most importantly though, try it out. Have a look at what the box and the trainers are like. See it for yourself. You could hate it... or you could end up loving it like me.

I have been doing single brews for a while before I found the perfect drink dispenser for continuous brew. Single brews give you a scoby each time but you have to measure out the starter tea, remove a scoby, rinse the jar, let it ferment for a week a week and a half etc. Continuous brew is more straight forward. All you have to do is take out about 25% of the kombucha, boil the tea, let it cool and top it back up in the dispenser. You don't even have to wash it out for 6 months to a year!

I had been looking for a drink dispenser for a while. You can't just use any drink dispenser because it's not safe for the scoby. You need a glass dispenser or one that's made to keep the scoby safe. I finally found a glass dispenser from Target - the Lisa T range. It was only $40, completely within my budget and I'm quite happy with it.

Brewing method is simple.

Summer's coming... you know what that means for me... More ice cream making before my freezer dies for the next few months!

I love creamy ice cream. If you are lacto paleo like us, then this is the recipe for you. You can have it without the hazelnut, but it's so good with it! I've made this recipe with just plain chocolate, but I didn't blog about it because I forgot to take a picture of it. Here it is now!

What you need
2 cups heavy cream
3 tbsp cacao powder
160g dark chocolate, chopped
1 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp stevia, optional (if you want dark chocolate ice cream, leave it, if not, add more)
pinch of salt
5 large egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup hazelnut, roasted and chopped/crushed

What to do

• Mix 1 cup of cream with cacao powder in a saucepan on medium heat. Whisk it until the cacao has blended. Keep whisking and bring the mix to boil and simmer for 30 seconds on low.
• Remove from heat and stir in the chocolate until well blended.
• Stir in the remaining 1 cup of cream, pour it into a bowl and set aside.
• Warm the milk, stevia and salt in the same saucepan on medium heat. Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl and slowly pour the milk into it, whisking continuously.
• Transfer the mix back into the saucepan and stir it over medium heat until it thickens. Stir it into the chocolate mix. Add in the vanilla.
• Set the mixture aside and when it cools, pour it in the ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.
• Once the mixture has thickened, add in the hazelnut.

Hint: Before you serve, let it sit in room temperature until it softens a bit.

I have read up a few reviews of other people ditching shampoo and conditioner and replacing them with bi-carb soda and apple cider vinegar. There were good and bad reviews, and I decided to give it a go for a month anyway to see how I go. If my hair gets healthier, I'll stick with it, if it gets worse, I'll ditch it.

About me and my hair
I am Asian, so I have straight Asian hair. My hair is pretty long - halfway down my back and bleached once a year. I used to wash my hair everyday because I would feel so dirty if I only wash my body and not my hair. Then my boyfriend somehow convinced me to try and wash my hair every other day. I did that, and finally got used to it. Then I decided to try this new routine.

My hair is not very damaged, but it's not super lush either. It's average, and it could look better. Especially with hair this long, extra care has to be taken to keep split ends at bay. I've tried olive oil mask and egg mask. Tip: if you use an egg mask, don't wash it off with hot water, even if it's winter... you'll end up with cooked egg white in your hair!

History of shampoo and conditioner use
I used to use herbal essence, and then recently started using Sukin. It's organic, and not too expensive. $20 each for a big bottle shampoo and conditioner. When I said recent, I meant recent. I haven't even finished my first bottles of Sukin before I decided to try this out.

The test
I decided to go for it and not tell anyone, apart from the boyfriend, to see if anyone would notice. If they do, then it's good news! I should probably have taken before and after photos, but I'm not very good at planning... kind of just do things on a whim, so I haven't taken any before photos. I could probably take some after photos.

Anyway, what I decided to do was only wash it on the mornings after my workout (I do crossfit now), but that's another post. I usually work out Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays before work.

Experience
It does take a bit of getting used to. With bi-carb soda, you don't get the foam, so it's a bit weird. The ACV on the other hand, makes it really smooth. It feels so nice running my hand through my hair with ACV in it.

The result
It has probably been almost a month since I started this routine. I may be biased when I say it worked really well, which is why I only posted this when people started commenting on my hair. So far only three people (not including my boyfriend) have commented on it. But hey, three is pretty good results to me... good enough to stick with it. I think my hair has also gotten shinier and smoother. With only $5 for a box of bi-carb soda and a bottle of ACV, that would last you a while.

Only downfall
The only problem with this routine is that you have to keep 'making' your shampoo and conditioner. But it only really takes 5 minutes to mix your own. So at this price and these results, why not give it a go? You probably already have these ingredients in your pantry anyway.

You will need
2 old shampoo bottles
2 tbsp bi-carb soda
2-3 drops of tea tree oil (optional)
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2-3 drops of lavender oil (optional)

What I did
Spoon the bi-carb soda into one of the shampoo bottles (use a funnel to help you). Add the peppermint oil and fill the bottle up with water. Shake it, and there's your shampoo.

Place the apple cider vinegar in the other shampoo bottle. Add the lavender oil and fill the bottle up with water. Shake it, and there's your conditioner.

I use half a bottle at a time. My bottles are not big. About 375ml each. You be the judge of how much you use.

The essential oils are optional. I use them because they were just sitting around chilling. You don't have to worry about the smell of ACV either. The first couple times I tried it without essential oils, my hair washed out and didn't smell at all. But with essential oil, your hair comes out smelling really nice. If you're worried about the smell of vinegar, the essential oil will also help cover that up.

Let me know how you go with this routine and whether or not it worked well for you!

• Heat coconut oil or butter in a frying pan. Sautee the onions and garlic for a couple minutes then add the mince and cook until brown.
• Stir in the carrot, mushroom, cabbage and pine nuts and let it cook through.
• Add the sweet chilli sauce and salt and pepper to flavour.
• Separate the lettuce leaves - try to keep them as cups. Serve

• Heat butter/coconut oil in saucepan. Add cayenne pepper, bay leaf, cardamom pods and cumin.
• Add onions and sauté until translucent. Add turmeric, ginger and garlic.
• Add tomato, stir and add the rest of the spices. Stir and add 1/2 cup water.
• Add the lamb and stir.
• Cook on medium heat for an hour with the lid on.
• Place the lamb in a bowl and add the spinach to the sauce. When the spinach is partly cooked, blend it with a stick blender and place it back on the stove for another five minutes. Add the coconut cream, flavour with salt and pepper and mix the lamb back in the sauce.