Share Four Somethings February 2022

Each month I’m trying to participate in the Share Four Somethings 2022 link-up. I’m using the share four somethings categories of something love, something gleaned, something braved and something achieved. I’m also matching each category to a part of my tagline – body, mind, heart and soul. Here’s my post for the Share Four Somethings February link-up.

Something Loved – Body

Trying New Recipes:

With some Christmas money I bought Simply Healing Food: Nourishing recipes to boost your gut health.  Although we’re not following a GAPS diet, we are mostly gluten & dairy free in our household.  All the recipes in this cookbook are gluten free and many are dairy free or can easily be made dairy free.

We generally have an extended family dinner once a week and we’ve been hosting it lately.  My niece has worked out that tomatoes are making her eczema flare up so she’s trying not to have tomatoes.  One of our favourite dishes at family meals is Quick Chilli Beef but we’ve had to find other alternatives as this dish is very tomatoey.  This recipe book has helped.  It has suggestions for nightshade free, so is helpful for tomato free recipes.

I was worried that there wouldn’t be many recipes that my husband would like but figured my son & I could enjoy recipes for breakfast, lunch & snacks. I’ve loved every recipe I’ve tried from the book so far & my husband has tried most of them.  I’ve made Rustic Roasted Fruit Tarts.  One was apple for my husband & one was a mix of fruit that we had including pears, nectarines & blueberries.  My son & I enjoyed Stuffed Mushrooms with Macadamia ‘Cheese’.  For family dinners I’ve made Paprika Chicken with Creamy Paprika Sauce and Savoury Mince on toast.  I have more recipes bookmarked to try.

Against the Grain: extraordinary gluten-free recipes made from real, all-natural ingredients is a cookbook that I borrowed from the library & have extended the loan.  Again, we’ve loved most of the recipes from this book that I’ve tried so far.  It’s written by a lady whose son was diagnosed with celiac disease and she had to experiment to continue baking for him.  Many of the recipes I’ve tried use tapioca flour and are made with a similar method to the Brazilian Cheese Puffs which are very popular with everyone I’ve given them to.  As the recipes are American, I’ve been googling the weight of each ingredient in grams as Australian cup measures are slightly different.  I think this has helped to make the recipes successfully.

We tried Maple Walnut Squares which tasted nice but I don’t think worked out quite right.  Seeded Dinner Rolls were fantastic the first time we tried them but a bit dry the second time, a reminder to follow the cooking instructions.  The Flourless Double-Chocolate Brownies were yummy but very rich so would I add some nuts when making them again.  The Coconut Eclairs were a yummy treat for Valentine’s Day as well as my Father-in-laws birthday celebration.  They must have been good as our son ate 3 in one go for a midnight snackThe Puff Pastry Croissants were a yummy treat for Sunday breakfast with our bacon & eggs.  We enjoyed the rest for lunch.  I have a number of other recipes bookmarked but I’m not sure how many more I’ll get to.  Maybe I’ll need to give a hint to my children for a Mother’s Day gift in a few months.

Something Gleaned – Mind

I’ve been reading Slow Clothing :Finding meaning in what we wear by Jane Milburn.  In this book Jane shares her slow clothing journey which has led her to repurpose second hand natural garments to make clothing & other practical items.

Towards the end of the book, she shares some feedback from people she’s worked with.  Cr Peter Matic, Chairman, Field Services Committee, Brisbane City Council, Queensland talked about how recycling does not sit at the top of the waste hierarchy and that the preferred options before this are Avoid, Reduce, Reuse & Repair Items.  We often hear the phrase “reduce, reuse, recycle” being thrown around to help us be environmentally friendly.  This extended version helps us reduce waste & protect the environment even more.

Avoid – Do I really need it? Avoid purchasing in the first place, unless it’s absolutely necessary.

Reduce – Reduce the amount we purchase or use.

Reuse – Can I reuse this again or give it to someone else to reuse?  Or can I reuse it a different way or for a different purpose?

Repair – Can I repair the item rather than throwing it out and replacing it with a new one?

Recycle – If the item can’t be reused, repurposed or repaired can it be recycled or parts of it?

Something Braved – Soul

For the past several years I’ve lead workshops at a local Children, Youth & Family Ministry Conference – AMPLIFY.  Last year and this year rather than 1 large conference they’ve expanded it into smaller local hubs with an online option as well.  This year I offered to lead 2 workshops in person at my local hub and record 1 of these workshops to use at other hubs or online.  Sadly, my local hub is no longer happening.  However, for 2022 only churches can purchase a digital experience pack to use in their church with their leaders.

So, a few weeks ago I bravely recorded parts of my session to edit with a video I’d previously made on the topic.  I say bravely because the video I had made previously on the topic was only shared with a small group of people.  This one will be shared more widely.  As I was recording the new bits needed and editing it to put it all together, all the negative thoughts like ‘am I good enough’ etc were running though my head.  I was happy with the final outcome but I did have to be brave to upload it so that it could be shared with the event organisers.  So, I not only bravely videoed myself but bravely edited it myself as well. 

Every time I edit a video it feels like I’m starting again from scratch.  But when I’m finished, I think I need to do this more often and then it will become easier.  I have plenty of ideas but it’s a matter of being brave & stepping up to make time to video & edit.

Something Achieved – Heart

One of my goals for this year is to spend less time on social media/games by not using my phone for these things until at least breakfast time.  This may not sound like much but it’s usually several hours from when I wake up until I have breakfast by the time, we do 30 mins of exercise, I do my sciatica stretches, put on some washing, do morning pages, do a devotion, pray, read for 10 minutes and hang out the washing.  Getting distracted by social media/games or notifications was extending this process.  Mostly, I am not on social media or playing online games before breakfast.  I find I’ve decreased the use of social media/games during other parts of the day as well.  It wasn’t practical to say no phone before breakfast as I use my phone to work out our exercise route, to pray and to time my reading session.

What about you? What have you loved, gleaned, braved &/or achieved this month?