Tales from the cupboard

We Home educate.  We have done for many years of my sons life and all of my daughters.  There has been so much misinformation on the news and tv lately about home education with words like radicalisation, child abuse and unseen banded about.  I can only speak for myself, my close home ed friends and the hundreds of friends i have met through social media when i say that i know of no home educated kids who fit any of those phrases.  My children are the happiest, fun loving and most definitely well socialised kids i know, hell, we are never in, let alone have time to lock em up under the stairs Harry Potter style!  They have the freedom to choose how they spend their days, they have a say in their lives without it being dictated and micro managed to the Nth degree.  They can choose to exercise the most basic of human needs such as toilet, food and drink, whenever they need it, and for the most part, experience a fun, exciting and stimulating childhood.  I've seen various discussions of late on tv, most notably the discussion on BBC look north, where people with absolutely no idea how home education works, were discussing and showing their disgust at the very idea.  That would be akin to me discussing rugby and stating how disgusting it is on live TV when i don't know the first thing about it!  So here are some wonderful images of my children at their local Forest school This Green Moon being unseen, abused and clearly miserable!!!!

According to youngling these were hay Highlights!

The Curry Formula

I have a simple formula to make a great curry that even those that say they can't cook will have success with.  You could say you can't go wrong:

Any kind of onion (leek, red, white etc.)
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garam Massala, turmeric and oil

Fry it all till the onions soften and are covered in spice.  Then:

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Any veg you like ( great store cupboard clear out recipe)

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Free range Chicken or quorn

Fry a little to mix up with the spices and brown the meat then:

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1 x tin of tomatoes (healthy and delicious) and/or 1 x tin of coconut milk (decadent and creamy)

Next ensure there is plenty of liquid and let it simmer away till it thickens and the liquid is much reduced.(If there's loads of liquid then add some dry red lentils to soak up and thicken it)

Then Serve!!!!!!

This was my simple curry for tonight's tea with carrots, broccoli and quorn with coconut milk.

This is great formula for a can't lose curry in a hurry but from here, you can add and add to create a million different flavours.  This makes a very mild curry but adding chillis and chilli powder would add a real kick.  Likewise using only coconut milk and adding fragrant ingredients such as fish sauce and lemon grass gives a thai flavour to the dish.  The longer you simmer the thicker the sauce gets.

  I have stated Free range chicken here.  I feel strongly about always using free range.  I personally would rather opt for quorn than buy none free range.  And if money is tight, you'll be amazed how far you can stretch a single chicken breast by cutting small.  Likewise legs are cheaper and are great in a curry.  if you've ever stood in an actual battery chicken shed as i have, its not an experience you ever forget, but thats for another post.  Anyway i defy even the most ardent meat eater not to enjoy quorn chicken chunks in this recipe.  Its delicious.  Paneer also works well.  Enjoy!

Gratitude v's "be grateful"

Just a short post this morning on something i've been thinking about alot.  I am a big advocate for being grateful but at the same time i was always told growing up "be grateful for what you've got"  These two things appear to say the same thing but infact say very different things.

  When you say the phrase "Be grateful for what you've got" what you're really saying is stop wanting more, be happy with your lot and get on with it.  Get your head out of the clouds and quit dreaming.  Now as a child, i was a real dreamer.  I would stare at the clouds and make out exotic city scapes i was sure i would visit one day, i would draw unicorns and magical places, I was confident i would travel the world and have adventures.  Then as my teens came upon me i heard phrases such as "Be grateful for what you've got", "Grow up", "live in the real world", "you're living in a dream world" (Said with scorn). I think all of these things really affected me, they stopped me pursuing my dreams, stopped me wanting more.  I certainly for a while tried my hardest to be grateful for what i've got.  But as i've grown older, i realise that to be grateful is a wonderful thing, but never, ever settle for less, always strive for more, to make your life better.  In the words of Hal Elrod, i want a 'level ten life'.  I will never tell my children to accept their lot.  I will tell them to always be grateful for what they have but also strive for more. They deserve the best their life can give them and they should always work towards that.  Little steps every day.

  As i said before i am a great advocate for gratitude, so i wanted to say a final note on my daily gratitude rituals.  I keep a journal, every day i write in it 10 things i am grateful for today.  This helps me so much to appreciate the good things in my life, especially on the difficult rubbishy days.  Its like a tonic on those days.  I honestly believe what you think you attract and if i start my day thinking "I've got loads to do", "Nothing ever gets done", "I have no money", "I'm crap at everything", those thoughts will be with me all day long dragging me down.  Maybe this week is tight and i have very little spare cash.  Dwelling on it is not going to change that fact and will only make me feel worse.  Instead i choose to think of something else entirely like how nice the weather is, how great my health is, how i'm losing weight and slowly become a happy, healthier me.  So i do my gratitude journal every day at the start of the day.  Then every evening i use my gratitude stone.  Its a little heart shaped rock that i got from a national trust gift shop.  It has the word 'believe' on it.  Just a tourist gift really.  But i hold it each night before bed and think of one great thing i did today.  I need the physical stone there to remind me to do it but its not really important.  the important thing is to find something awesome that happened that day and say thanks for it.

Being grateful is so so important, but always strive for more!