Quinoa, Teff and Corn Cornbread (and a catch-up)

I know, I look brown – please don’t judge me – when you cut me, I have golden corn, green basil, red capsicum –  I’m delicious and need to be served with other things… you can see inside me down below…

Where to start ? A thank you to you all for emailing me and saying how much you enjoy the blog when I have posted so rarely in 2013? A thank you for continuing to send me photo’s of your children smeared with food – giggling and laughing with their favourite recipe from Wholefood for Children? A thank you for the friendship and privilege that comes from knowing you trust me and have me in your homes? A thank you for welcoming the new book WHOLEFOOD BAKING with open arms? How about we just start with it all and go from there. I start each year with the best intentions of keeping a regular blog, and I didn’t do too badly until the WHOLE AND NATURAL FOODS CHEF TRAINING PROGRAM which started in August- lots of things went by the wayside!  When it stopped, I stopped and have had very little desire to take any responsibility for my life whatsoever since then!! I couldn’t have made a decision if my life depended upon it !! But a little bit of going very slowly after Christmas and up to right now, has done wonders. Lets catch up shall we? And I’ve also got a really simple, delicious gluten free cornbread for you later on.

2014 was a full and wonderful year – my fourth book Wholefood Baking was released and I’m incredibly excited to share that it has just been announced as one of the Australian winners of the GOURMAND BOOK AWARDS. Oh my goodness, that hasn’t quite sunk in yet. The best part of this book though was travelling Australia with afternoon tea launches, meeting so many wonderful people (including you) and seeing the community of people returning to real food that is being built. It was wonderful also travelling Australia for Wholefood Cooking classes with THERMOMIX, a good collaboration I think :)

In August we began the 3rd intake of the Whole and Natural Foods Chef Training Program, and this was quite the special group. Amazing, gutsy people in this group that I know are going to go on and make a difference. It’s not an easy course – it’s intense and pushes you to your limits – but, it’s there at the limits that we often discover who we really are or get to eyeball the things (most often our minds) that stop us from being all we can be. There are some photo’s I’d like to share with you from the course:

The course does not happen with the legend and wise woman that is Holly Davis. I chose this picture as I think it expresses us best – me, exhausted and unable to keep it together, Holly who as soon as I loose it is not far behind. I also have to include this photo below – seriously not the best photo of either myself or Holly (she will probably kill me for putting it up – seriously we look old and haggard). This is us completely loosing it during taste testing of final practical exams – something tasted unbelievably terrible, and Holly and I were profoundly unprofessional and just couldn’t stop laughing – every time I look at it I just crack up again.

I’ve made many speeches this year and turned 60 in November and one thing stands out for me – we are never an island, and when we become who we want to be, it is always because we are loved and supported. Interestingly I was listening to a interview with Catriona Rowntree yesterday, and she was saying that to be unconditionally loved is the most empowering thing in life (for her, it was her Nanna). I have long wanted to be the person I am now (no not the achievements, but how I feel each day – empowered, trusting, joyful, aware of this gift that is life, alive and on purpose) and for me, those that have enabled that are varied – the most important thing and person in my life (my daughter, Nessie) would at the head of the line, but family, my cousin Fran, best friend Nene, and Holly is not far behind. I think my higher self has pushed me to my limits and it’s there I found who I really am –  I love most that I’ve got to this place with compromising my principles – I it’s a deeply organic sense of self worth.

Over summer I’ve had had some wonderful people to breakfast in my kitchen – for once

the eastern states are coming west – here I am with Jo Whitton 

Jo Whitton, Quirky Cooking

And here with Jane Grover

Jane Grover

And, for the life of me – with my technological skills (poor) I can’t get the photo of Alexx Stuart and her son Benjamin on here.. but you can see that wonderful woman on my Instagram feed. It was such a treat to have time with these inspiring women and hear their stories.

Which brings me to Instagram – I’ve used it more than Facebook towards the end of the year because it was so easy – hence the lack of lots of photo’s on FB !!

So for this year, it’s a whole new website (should be up about March) and there will be lots of goodies for you there. I’m working on a new book, so it will be head down, not too much travel and very few CLASSES. I do have a NOURISHING WISDOM INTENSIVE  happening for Perth (this one comes with a pantry pack of grains, legumes, sea vegetables and other treats). It’s a 4 day rather than a 3 day, as this is it – we have extra time to do some of the things you would like to do. You can find information for that here. 

As a final note, in case you are looking for some reading? Whilst I actually didn’t end up reading a lot last year (which is a tragedy as I love reading, but was too busy most of the time) my favourites were:

Deep Nutrition: Why your Genes Need Traditional Foods Catherine Shanahan MD and Luke Shanahan
Cooked by Michael Pollan

The books I’ve just bought / am really looking forward to buying or being published this year:

The Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen (love her stories)
Whole -Grain Mornings – New Breakfast Recipes to Span the Seasons Megan Gordon
Emma’s book – www.mydarlinglemonthyme.com
Michelles book – www.hugoandelsa.com

I wish you the most joyous and wonderful 2014 – may you be unconditionally loved, nourished, inspired and delighted often. I look forward to sharing more with you over the coming year – and if that is with a cup of tea and we happen to find ourselves having breakfast, morning or afternoon tea, all the better.

x Jude

 

 

 

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