Kim Archer | Mindful Living

healthy cooking experimenting

I've been experiementing with a few recipes in the kitchen lately.

Nothing overly adventurous, mainly because our oven carked it before Christmas which is really annoying and restricts what you can bake or roast! It's amazing how creative you become when you don't have an oven. We have been BBQ-ing and eating outdoors a lot of the time. And the cooktop has been getting a workout!

Anyway, I have long wanted to try and make my own coconut butter. I don't own a fancy nancy Thermomix..just an old food processor and while it took FOREVER to blend the coconut, it eventually turned out okay. So easy. Just dump the whole packet of shredded or dessicated coconut and process until the oils release and the whole thing blends into a smooth mixture.

Great buttered onto toast or added to some recipes.

I decided to make these chocolate cups after buying Sarah Wilson's I Quit Sugar Chocolate book.

They actually turned out really good.. I filled some with the coconut butter and others with crunchy peanut butter. They are not for milk chocolate lovers - they taste like dark chocolate which is fine if you enjoy a more bitter, dark tasting chocolate. I think I will ease up on the cacao in future batches. It was probably just a tad too chocolatey but I am keen to try these again.

I've also made a sugar free custard.

I used the Teresa Cutter recipe for making the perfect custard and I must admit, I had huge success. It wasn't as smooth and thick as a usual custard but I think that's because I didn't stir and boil it enough. But it was really good. I used rice malt syrup instead of maple syrup though. And I stirred it through some left over rice I had after making fried rice for dinner. I do love rice custard even if it does look like the rice cereal you give babies when they first go onto solid food. ha.

No one else in the family wanted any but I loved it!

hello thursday

hello school january.

What's been going on around here//

• Ken and I visited Bar Beach on New Year's Day - Kens tradition but this year I decided to go with him. Beach was packed!
• Capri surprised me with beautiful flowers she bought in her dinner break on one of her night shifts at McDonalds. She's been working a LOT of shifts!
• I've discovered Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and have been making over a few pieces of furniture. It deserves it's own post as I am in love with the stuff.
• Cousin Chelsea has been staying at mum and dads for a holiday and the girls have been very busy with lots of activities including the movies, shopping, swimming annnnd mum and I took the girls to Flip Out - a trampolining heaven on the central coast. They were exhausted after 45minutes of jumping, flipping, bouncing and springing around!
• We scored a few cucumbers from dad's thriving vege garden
• I have FINALLY chosen a wall colour after deliberating for far too long. I have gone with Dulux White Duck. It's nice and neutral. The dining area is about to get a much needed makeover. I have plans for the dresser and some more Annie Sloan Chalk Paint!
• We've been eating outside of a night. A lot. But need the citronella candle to keep the mozzies at bay.
• Brandt's chilli plants have been taking over the backyard!
• I have dived back into Project life for 2014.

I am loving blogging again.

While my readers have plummeted - and who can blame you all - it's been a looooong time between drinks - it's nice to record our lives again here.. I missed not having my own little corner to document the every day and jot down things..

Plus the family and a few friends still pop in to see what we are up to.

 

Issue 4 Jot - out now

Things have been busy around here lately -- namely because of one thing:

Jot.

While I love Etzcetera very, very much -- I knew that now I knew the online publishing ropes a little better, I wanted to launch a sister publication. Jot was my chance to do all the things that worked with Etzcetera and avoid the things that didn't.

I LOVE Project Life and while I don't really make scrapbooking layouts much anymore, I am a big believer in capturing the everyday in photos + little stories and Project Life allows me to pull all that info together in an easy documenting type way!

And it seems that LOTS of other people feel the same way about Project Life.

Jot was the opportunity to bring together projects, stories, articles, interviews products and ideas for the modern day memory keeper. I've banged on enough about the whole everyday photos/telling stories/pocket scrapbooking thing so I won't do that now..

But after much planning, sourcing, making, editing, proofing and work, work, working.. JOT was born 21 June 2013.

Exactly 7 months ago today.

It's been a whirlwind. A huge learning curve (because really, it doesn't matter HOW much you know, theres always new things to learn, processes to streamline and systems to set up), exciting, overwhelming, awesome and exhausting.

Each issue continues to gain momentum and our circulation figures continue to rise. Each issue sits at around the 300,000 readership mark. Which is ENORMOUS. The numbers still do my head in. I have a brilliant team of girls around me plus regular contributors who continue to inspire and amaze me with their projects and ideas. I believe the content we deliver is exceptional and of a very high calibre.

And today it's time to reveal Issue 4. 

Like with all the issues I publish, I hold my breath for just a little bit on launch day and hope that the issue is well recieved! I do get a little bit nervous!! But then the lovely comments start to come in and I can I exhale and relaaaax!

Feel free to share our new issue with your creative friends. Share it on facbeook, add it to your own blog or other social media places. We want you to share Jot with your friends and family.. we want Jot to reach as many memory keepers as possible. We want Jot to be enjoyed!

You can read it right here or click through to the Jot blog here to take a look.

 

green smoothies

I've been on the green smoothie bandwagon for about a year now.

Initially the idea of tossing in a bunch of spinach leaves with things like banana and strawberries seemed rather unappetising.

But I am a convert.

One of my presents from Ken and the kids was a nice new blender .. which has been so nice to use as my old one was starting to sound like a plane about to take off, it shook so much that it almost danced off the bench every time I blended anything and it leaked everywhere so there was a quick window of opportunity to get the bits into the blender and get them blended before half of the liquid seeped all over the place.

So it's been smoothie central around here since Christmas.

I like to experiment with different fruits and seeds and things. Mostly I have success and they taste great. And more often then not a handful of baby spinach leaves find their way into the blender regardles of the mix of ingredients. And honestly you cannot taste the spinach at all.

I'm trying out a new yoghurt called five.am which so far I am really liking!

The above smoothie is ::

• a handful of baby spinach
• 1 red apple, peeled and chopped
• about 5 strawberries
• a tablespoon of chia seeds
• a tablespoon of linseeds
• a dollop of plain yoghurt
• milk - I used to use skim, now I tend to just use lite milk ..(or I will use almond milk instead)

Blend. Drink. Mmm.

 

one little word. 2014.

This is my third year choosing a word to guide me through the year. 

My first word, in 2012 was EMBRACE and it served me well.

I chose embrace as I wanted to be open and embrace what life was offering.

I wanted to embrace new things.
To embrace life.
To embrace my family.
To embrace my friends.
To embrace my business.
To embrace myself.

And one of the major things from that year was that I said YES to an overseas holiday to the US with my family. No biggie. What's to embrace. It's a HOLIDAY afterall.

But for me, it was a big deal because I hate flying. And the idea of flying to a foreign country in a plane you can't get off for 17 hours filled me with absolute, paralysiing fear. And I had said no every time Ken had suggested we plan for an overseas holiay. For several years. Choosing embrace in 2012 meant I said, "Yeah, let's do it" instead of no way when Ken suggested (for the 100th time) about going overseas. And the trip was FABULOUS and I was so pleased we went. It was the best family holiday we have ever been on.

In 2013 I chose SIMPLIFY.

I chose that word as I felt a need to streamline things, keep things simple, not overcomplicate things or overthink..to keep it simple.

One of the main things I did in 2013 was recognise that I had a tad too much on my plate. I decided to step back and streamline things with work - which is why I chose to focus on the things that were thriving in my business (Jot Magazine - it was going off!) and step back from things that were not thriving (stepping back from Etzcetera Magazine). And while I could have done a LOT more with that simplify word in 2013, it still was a good choice for me.

So my 2014 word is...

To trust my instincts more

To trust and believe everything is okay and stop worrying.

To trust everything is unfolding as it's meant to.

I quite like my trio of words - EMBRACE. SIMPLIFY. TRUST.

I also like this post from Ali about her word for this year which features a video from another of my favorite bloggers, Elise who said that while she chooses a new word each year, she still keeps her previous years words with her. And that she would like to think they become part of her and help continue to form who she is.

And I liked that.

Christmas 2013 Wrap Up

Well another Christmas has been and gone in a wink of an eye.

Despite the kids getting older, theres still that Christmas magic in the air thankfully, including Capri "keeping the dream alive" by leaving Santa a letter, some rum balls, a carrot and a bottle of beer and Brandt declaring the day before Christmas that he just HAD to tell me one of the presents he had bought me because he couldn't wait until Christmas morning!

Highlights from Christmas Eve, morning and lunch:

• a special appearance from four Santas who entertained us to the tunes of Hi 5's Santa Claus is Coming.
• it takes four hours to wrap presents and about 20 minutes to open them!
• our kids still love Christmas, regardless of their age.
• be careful what you mention in the lead up to Christmas Day. I mentioned I needed to get some sanding blocks for a table I was restoring. Lo and behold.. I unwrapped a set of four sanding pads from Ken.
• I loved Capri's special permanent marker messages on her gifts she had wrapped.
• yes, I have a half painted wall in the front loungeroom. I've finally decided on the colour and while the rest of the room is done, one wall still has escaped my attention! It's on my to do list.
• some family members are getting better at being obliging when the camera comes out. Others are still really bad at it!Not mentioning names but it's all the people starting with J.
• I loved how the kids all chose presents for each other this year - with a lot of thought and effort. They did a great job!
• I loved all of my presents. From everyone! Every single one.
• Christmas went by so fast! My head is still spinning. Where did December go.

 Merry Christmas everyone and here's to a great 2014.

 

Snow Globes Anyone?

I love snow globes and this Christmas I was determined to make a few as gifts for my mum and sister.

You may have spotted in the latest issue of Etzcetera Magazine, the big one I made using a bell jar for my mum? Well I decided to make a smaller version for my sister using a jar and a few bits and pieces.

I bought the glass jar from Freedom Furniture, but shop around the discount stores and you may pick some up less expensive compared to what I ended up paying.

The little scene is made from somebottle brush trees I bought from Etsy here at Moon and Tree. I bought white and green trees and still hope to make a few little globes for next year (my 18 year old nephew even put in an order that he would love one for next year!)

I used the Silhouette and a cut file - theres a heap of 3D village house cut files to choose from - and ater assembling it, I painted the house with Mod Podge, sprinkling on some glitter, trying to keep most of it on the roof.

I then sprayed some Heidi Swapp ColorShine to add a little colour.

The little animal came from a $1 packet of farm animals I picked up from Big W in the toy section. He also got some "sbow" treatment with some mod podge and a dusting of white embossing powder plus a dash of glitter.

To build up the scene and give it some height (it got lost in the bottom of the jar when I first started to put it all together), I used a metal watch tin to raise it all up. A hot glue gun keeps everything in place. I let some of the elements hang over the edge of the little tin so that I could fit everything in.

Once ready, it was just a case of filling the jar with Epson salts "snow" and carefully adding the lidded scene to the jar, screwing the lid firmly into place.

Tip the jar and let it snow!

 

Merry Little Christmas

Well hello there.

A post from me.

After all this time.

I have streamlined things, made some big changes and here I am back to blogging on my old Typepd blog. And pretty excited about it too, just quietly.

I'll share what's been going on in another post, but for today, I wanted to share a little bit of Christmas.

I've been sewing.

  

I made everyone a fabric stocking this Christmas(and felt very clever doing so!)I have a new sewing machine (yay) - more about that in another post...

I used this pattern from Positively Splendid.

However, I ditched the cuff part and then followed the instructions here on the During Quiet Time blog here. However, I aded in a loop of fabric when I stitched the insides to the outsides..and I quilted (not very well!!) onto the front of the stocking. I used iron on pellon/wading for the fronts to give the stockings some stability..

and tonight...the stockings are lined up and waiting to be filled!

Merry Christmas everyone.

KIM

 

come on over

Hey, I'm now blogging over on the Etzcetera website.

Etzcetera is a fresh, fun lifestyle website for creative people who love family life, home decorating, food, craft, ideas + pretty pictures. It's also the home of Etzcetera magazine and Etzcetera creative ebooks. Come on over and check us out.

Only seven days until kickoff!

Not long to go until we officially kick off our 2011 Handmade Christmas workshop..

Here's a few more sneak peek photos!

BOOK YOUR PLACE HERE.