After 3 minutes pop in stock, veggies, lentils. Mix in the Vegemite and any extra water you may need. Cook on low heat for 20minutes until stewed together.
Mash the potatoes with the cheese.
Preheat oven to 180degrees.
Place a few big spoons of the mixture into an oven proof dish and then top with the potato mash. Use a fork to push the potatoes to the side. This also helps the top to go crispy.
Bake for 30 minutes in the oven.
Enjoy 😊 . This would be great for meal prep too. Serve with some greens.
I am absolutely pumped to be bringing back the #behindthebusiness segment again, that you all loved in the past. I am so excited for you all to read this months interview with Hannah, from Bam Loves Boo, she is someone that truly inspires me. I know she will inspire you too.
I won’t give to much away, but Hannah has the most divine Bamboo Organic Cotton Babywear online boutique. The pieces are timeless so can be passed down from sibling to sibling. They are unisex too which is a huge win for me, meaning you will get more wear again if you have a mixture of girls and boys in your family.
Hannah has carefully thought out the whole process of her business, to be as kind as she can to Mother Nature. From the sweet little post cards that can be used as a print in your nursery, to the mesh bags the clothes come in that I love to use to put my fruit in at the markets, to even the biodegradable post bags that the goodies come in.
Anyway enough from me, let her to know the lady “behind the business” – Hannah from Bam Loves Boo.
Favourite Drink?
Good English cuppa – even though most of the time its cold.
Can you share with us a brief description about your business?
Sure, Bam Loves Boo is a conscious collection of Bamboo + Organic Cotton baby and children’s wear. Clean and neutral colour palettes, coordinating prints and unisex pieces are our design mantra – Our pieces are timeless, versatile and made to last with sustainability at the core of each design.We use chemical free dyes & non toxic inks as well as organic fabric to ensure our pieces are eco-friendly and are then ethical made.
Share 3 things about YOU the woman behind the business?
I’m a Mother of two Beautiful girls earthside and a little boy above.
I’m English and moved out here 12 Years ago after meeting my now husband backpacking and went home!
I’m a Children’s wear designer by trade graduating Fashion degree in England and working in London before continuing my career here.
What motivated you to create your business in the beginning?
The Birth of my daughter and the aim to build something flexibly to allow me to work from home. Before having my daughter I was working long hours, long commutes, overseas travel and high pressure design roles and the only way I could see to stay in the design industry but to work flexibly was to work for myself. Our design mantra is also motivated by the lack of gender neutral eco friendly options I experienced at the time, the eco friendly and ethical options were very plain and uninspiring so I really wanted to create something more interesting, trendy but also gender neutral, timeless and most importantly quality made.
You have a beautiful community that follow along your beautiful business and connect with you online?Apart from your honestly with you audience, can us how you created this connection?
Thank you, I really am blessed to have such a wonderful audience who are always so supportive. I really do enjoy chatting to my lovely network and getting to know them and I guess this just naturally builds a relationship, I’ll often reach out to some of my best customers when designing and ask their opinions and thoughts and trust them more than myself sometimes haha. I think too my community are just like me, we are mothers or mothers to be and can all relate in some way or another and have this instant connection and being real with one another.
Why Bamboo?
I could write an essay on this as there are soooo many benefits to bamboo. But in brief its buttery soft and so breathable making it perfect for that delicate baby skin. It’s also Thermoregulating meaning that it helps to regulates the body’s temperature so keeps bub cool when its hot but then keeps them warm when its cold too making them great core layers during these cooler nights or also cooler in hot sweaty summers. As well as these amazing qualities it’s also great choice of fabric for our environment. Bamboo is very sustainable as its the fastest growing plant on the planet, our Bamboo is also organic so doesn’t require any chemicals or pesticides to grow it. We then blend it with Organic Cotton to make even more softer and washes and wears so well, it’s a beautiful blend that we think we have got just right. So hard to condense into a paragraph so if anyone’s interested I do have lots of information on our website around the magic of our fabric.
Favourite piece from your latest collection?
Our Terrazzo Leggings – my youngest is crawling everywhere so living in these at the minute. they just wear so well and offer great protection on the knees but don’t bag and sag like just cotton leggings do, plus the simple design means they go with everything!
Something you do daily for you?
Is it sad that this is the hardest question of them all to answer ha – when my little one has a nap I sit down for ten and have a cuppa before going again – does that count?
On the 6th February on a sunny Saturday afternoon we welcomed our darling Arlo into the world. We attempted to have our planned VBAC, however our darling had other ideas. He was our biggest bub yet. Compared to our 6 pound babies, he was our 9 pound bub. Little Arlo could not quite manoeuvre his shoulders though my pelvis. He was born via a blissful c section at 1541. We instantly fell in love.
Over the next few days we spent some time on the ward and in the special care unit. We feel very grateful to have asked Tahlia, our family photographer and friend to capture Arlo’s first few days earth side. We hope you enjoy the photos of some of these raw and real moments captured in time.
The place where your life began ✨
Thank you for sharing these precious moments in room K18 with us.
Tahlia Fiedler is a professional photographer, specialising in Newborn, Maternity, Family & Wedding natural light Photography. She is up to date with all vaccinations and is ever so gentle while handling your little darlings. You can see from the sparkle in her eyes that she enjoys what she does, this also shines through in her talent and you can see the creativity in her work. She adds her own signature to the moments she captures. Her work is destined to stand the test of time, giving you endless days of flipping through photo albums of organic, natural and light filled photographs of that special moment in time.
Written By Alice Bingham on behalf of Medela Australia
Just under two years ago, I had a wild experience with my third birth.
I went between three hospitals in just one day.
I had an ambulance with sirens, a 20hr breach labour which then transitioned to an emergency c- section under general anaesthetic and welcomed our baby girl at just 35 weeks. All while having heart symptoms going on and a possible Pulmonary Embolism.
I ended up spending the week in hospital with heart monitors on myself and tests run all week, all while trying to care for our newest addition who had a few health things going on herself with being a premie. It was quite the experience, one that I will never forget. When I look at my happy little 21-month old now, I pinch myself that we are both okay and doing well.
In fact, we are expecting our fourth child in February 2021.
This has had me reflect a lot on my experience with birth and breastfeeding my third baby in 2019 – how can I use this to prepare myself and my baby for a beautiful breastfeeding experience after a year where nothing’s gone to plan?
A reminder to embrace the chaos with presence.
The first 12- weeks of any newborn’s life can be a bit of a blur for any mum. And mine was no different. I had two little ones to care for, and was also recovering from a c-section and a feeding schedule for our preemie baby.
I was given the Medela Symphony pump immediately and was told to pump a minimum of eight times in 24 hours.
So, I was very grateful for the Medela double breast pump in the hospital as it was fast and efficient, which I needed as the feeding routine was extremely exhausting for me.
On day three, my daughter’s blood sugar level remained low. I asked to speak to a Lactation Consultant and a Paediatrician to see if a different feeding routine would help her blood sugar levels stabilise. Our current schedule of 10 minutes on the boob topped up with expressed breast milk, then pumping again wasn’t working. The team and I decided to change her feeding schedule to give her expressed breastmilk (EBM), then 5 minutes on the boob and then double pumping again for top-ups. I would also set alarms for breastfeeding and alarms for pumping using my Medela Harmony breast pump. The beauty of pumping was it made me sit down, which is essential for recovery.
My two children, then 3.5 years and 18 months, would also come and sit with me or play on the floor near me. Some days they would all be crying at once; I just had to take a deep breath and remind myself I was doing my best. The days were long, but the weeks would fly by, it was all a bit of beautiful chaos. And this is one of the most important lessons I’ve learnt with motherhood and breastfeeding – embracing the chaos, with mindfulness and presence.
For any other mum or mum-to-be who may be finding motherhood and breastfeeding difficult – I hear you.
But if you can take time to find your breath and come back to this moment, it’s one of the most powerful ways to find strength, peace and joy in these moments of chaos. I found great comfort in journaling too. A simple way to practice gratitude and reflect on the day. Plus, my journal is filled with many raw and wonderful memories of those postnatal days. I often look back on these pages to see how far I have come.
Lean on your support army wherever and however you can
The year 2020 has brought some great uncertainly for a lot of us in the Australian community, with restrictions and lock downs. Postnatal after our third child, we required a lot of appointments once we left the hospital. We ended up seeing lactation consultants, had daily weigh-ins at the hospital, saw midwifes and child health nurse practitioners for the first 12 weeks of our little girls’ life.
This had me thinking after everything happening right now, would we receive the same support if we required that care again with this child? During this pregnancy I haven’t been allowed to have my children at antenatal appointments or my husband at the scans or appointments. I also had to have emergency surgery a few months ago when pregnant, we were given some news that meant our baby may have not made it, I would have loved to have had my husband there with me, but due to COVID-19 restrictions, he was not allowed at the hospital with me. So, I had to take the news by myself and just chat to my husband over the phone during my hospital stay.
Thankfully, this baby is still doing well though post-surgery and as I write this, I am 26 weeks and filled with gratitude. There have been some positives though, during this pregnancy, I have been lucky enough to have the support of my own midwife. She has been able to come to our home for visits for my check-ups, if I have my other young children at home. Plus, David can be here as well.
Baby Bump #4
I have seen some great improvises from our local hospital and the staff doing their best to support families and the post-natal care they provide for them. Now thankfully with restrictions easing, I feel a lot more positive about having our fourth child next year. Wherever you can – call on your support networks – from experts and loved ones. But if you are having trouble – telehealth is a great avenue to find support from a lactation consultant. Or engage in online communities where you can find and talk to likeminded mums. Rely on breastfeeding aids if you need it
Next time I hope to give the brand new Medela Harmony breast pump ago.
I think having this will give me the freedom to pop out a little more in the earlier days to my close friends and families houses. Or even to pop in the car and drive to the waterfront. Pumping with a view is oh so blissful! The Harmony Manual Breast Pump is light, compact and portable making it easy to pop into your nappy bag and go.
Being on a time schedule with breastfeeding a premmie can be challenging if you need to be back home all the time to do it. I think this will allow me some more freedom. I am highly impressed with the 2-Phase Expression technology as it can mimic your baby’s natural suckling rhythm, which is ideal for going from baby to pump for your breasts. I think this pump will make my life a little easier, with four children in five years, I am up for anything that will guide that! So, as a final prompt to myself and other pregnant and breastfeeding mums today, in this extra time of change – take life slower, more mindful and be kind to ourselves – and always call on help when need it.
Together, we’ve got this – and whatever life throws our way.
ABOUT MEDELA AUSTRALIA
Medela exists to enhance mother and baby health through the life-giving benefits of human milk. Medela has actively been supporting Australian mothers, babies, and their families in Australia for more than 19 years.
As Australia’s hospital breast-pump innovator, Medela, has launched their Harmony™ manual pump at $69.95, to their Medela Flex™ technology range which adapt to fit every mum’s personal breast shape and lifestyle needs.
Developed and clinically tested with a team of research scientists and breastfeeding mums, the Medela Flex™ family help mums produce up to 11 percent more breast milk, more comfortably.1
The Medela Flex™ technology range is now available from major pharmacies and retail outlets including Baby Bunting and Chemist Warehouse, as well as via the Medela Store Online.
On Tuesday last week, just before I ticked over to 35 weeks gestation, we welcomed the beautiful, Danielle from Your Sacred Space into our home. David and I completed the first day of the Positive Birth Course a couple of months ago with 4 other couples (you can read about that HERE) . We choose to do the second half of the course in our home. It was everything we imagined plus so much more.
Danielle came so prepared, she catered the course to suit our wishes. This is our fourth baby and she made sure we were externally educated and informed surrounding the excitement of this journey we are about to embark on together as a couple.
Like last time we met Danielle, we were blown away about how much we took from this session, how much we learnt about birth, but most importantly how much we learnt about ourselves and each other. Danielle spent the time to listen to our previous experiences, chatted about what our wishes are for this birth and is just so easy to get along with. David really enjoyed this whole experience just as much as I did.
As Danielle was leaving she requested I share 5 things that I took from this experience. These were my answers.
1️⃣ How important this was for David and I to do together. Weather it’s your partner, your mum, your best friend that you are planning to have as a birth partner. I realised how important their role is in birth today. How important it is to connect together. How important it is to rebuild that trust before such a life changing moment is about to happen in our lives.
2️⃣ Something that is extremely simple, however we all forgot about is our breath. When you were doing some breath work with me during the meditation today, it took me my surprise how quickly I tuned into what I was doing because of my breath. I felt so calm and ground.
3️⃣ I found learning about the placenta fascinating. The anatomy and physiology was mind blowing. Feel grateful for my knowledge behind knowing why we do cord clamping.
4️⃣ The power of visualisation. During the fear release to day, Danielle used this empowering technique for me to visualise letting go of my fears surrounding this pregnancy and birth. Just like manifesting for our future, seeing it helps me to believe it’s possible as morning as that may sound.
5️⃣ Knowledge truly is powder. That being educated is a huge part of preparing for birth and helping support and believe in my wishes for our babies entry into the world. Knowing that I am, or David is okay with making informed decision for our baby.
Learning how to create space for our baby, connect as a couple and release any tension in my back
Want to get in touch with Danielle from Your Sacred Birth?
A few weeks ago David and I did part one of the Positive Birth Program (Hypnobirthing) with Your Scared Space. But before I tell you all about it I want to share how amazing the universe is about connecting you with people when you ask the universe to have your back.
Talk about alignment, before I was even pregnant I was having thoughts about how a fourth pregnancy would look for me mentally. Given my experience with our third pregnancy and birth, I wanted to do some research about how I can feel more emotionally supported and educated. Funny enough she came up in my feed, die to a friend recommending her. I decided reach out to Danielle from @your.sacred.space before I was even pregnant, months before if truth be told. I told her I was planning my fourth pregnancy. I knew that if we were to welcome number four, this would be our journey. After our third bubs birth, this was something I wanted for David, I and our little family.
If you haven’t been following this blog Alice In Healthyland for long, in a nut shell this was my experience with our third child. I had two vaginal births first off and with our third child, an emergency c section under a General Anaesthesia, I had a query PE and had some heart issues going on. We had a week long stay in hospital and my daughter was also born at 35 weeks and required some special care. All of my births have been completely different, because every pregnancy and every baby is different. My third birth, took time to process and I spent months trying to replay a few things that could of been etc. in my mind.
David and I really enjoyed the Hypnobirthing Class with Danielle, it was truly something else. Having experienced birth already 3 times I was taken back by how much I had learnt on the day. On the day we sat with 5 other couples and we explored the world of hypnobirthing. We each got our own yoga mat, ball to sit on and seats. Plus a goodie bag and a portfolio to follow the day. The day was broken up into different parts of learning from Danielle, birth videos, education on the anatomy and physiology of birth, and engaging with your birth partner. As a couple, I felt extremely close to David that day, and he really enjoyed the whole experience as well. All the men in the room were entertained and were constantly made to feel apart of the process.
It was magical, empowering and honestly like a fear release around the topic of birth. We laughed together, we got in the zone and we became educated about some topics that are often taboo.
Feeling humble for this experience and educated about this little ones journey earth side. No matter the path this little one chooses to join us, I know David and myself feel informed and supported by each other. ✨
Since the workshop, I have been implementing the tools given by Danielle into my daily practice planning for birth. I have put up birth affirmations around my bedroom. I have written in my journal what I am manifesting for our birth journey and I am playing the Hypnobirthing tracks and affirmations tracks most nights as I drift off to sleep. All part of the process to feeling positive around our future experience and feeling educated to take on the knowledge and have a say in how we welcome our little one.
At 29 weeks this pregnancy my body started to experience contractions for 3 weeks. I spent numerous days in this time at the hospital for hours a day. I found that instead of laying there anxious alone with my thoughts I would put my phone on speaker. Listen to my hypnobirthing tracks to calm my mind for sleep. To try help my little one and myself relax and welcome the calm back from the news that day at the hospital.
31 weeks with contractions.Listening to my hypnobirthing Birth Tracks ✨ Affirmations placed around the mirror to read daily.
I look forward to our private session with Danielle in a few short weeks. I will keep you updated on how we go.
Want to get in touch with Danielle from Your Scared Birth?
I recently did a poll over on my Instagram account @aliceinheathyland about if you had a playlist of songs you listened to during labour or your child’s birth 87% off you said yes. I then requested your favourite songs on your birth playlist and this is what you shared. I also threw in some of mine too.
Music can spark a beautiful memory in your mind every time you hear a song. It can tug at your emotions and bring a tear to our eyes. If you are a mumma to be pull out your Spotify app and start downloading some of these tunes that speak to your soul. You can replay the playlist throughout your life to take you make to this magical moment of meeting your darlings.
1. Thank God I Found You – Mariah Carey
2. Liquid Love – Jack Botts
3. Angel Of Mine – Monica
4. Days In The Sun (Acoustic) – Ziggy Alberts
5. XO – John Mayer
6. I Won’t Let Go – James Morrison
7. Higher Love – James Vincent McMorrow
8. Heaven – Ziggy Alberts
9. Snow – Angus & Julia Stone
10. Holy – Justin Bieber feat Chance The Rapper
11. You Are The Reason – Olivia Penalva
12. Push It – Salt N Pepa
13. Soldier – Destiny’s Child
14. Your Song – Ellie Goulding
15. Make You Feel My Love – Adele
16. I Won’t Give Up – Jason Mraz
17. This Year’s Love – David Gray
18. Days Like This – Van Morrison
19. You Give Me Something – James Morrison
20. Just Breathe – Pearl Jam
21. Sunrise – Nora Jones
22. Follow The Sun – Xavier Rudd
23. Under Pressure – Queen , David Bowie
24. Blessings – Chance The Rapper
25. Only Love – Ben Howard
26. Love Me Now – Ziggy Alberts
27. You & Me – The Dreggs
28. Light On – Maggie Rogers
29. At Last – Etta James
30. September – Earth, Wind & Fire
31. When You Believe – Whitney Houston feat. Mariah Carey
32. What a Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong
33. Sunrise – Norah Jones
34. Isn’t She Lovely – Stevie Wonder
35. The Best Is Yet To Come – Frank Sinatra
36. Somewhere Over The Rainbow/What A Wonderful World – Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
37. SongBird – Eva Cassidy
38. Paradise – Coldplay
39. Hold You – Jack Botts
40. Into The Mystic – Van Morrison
41 . Fireworks – Jack Botts
43. Surrender – Natalie Taylor
44. Breathe Me – Sia
45. Miracle Love – Matt Corby
46. Stand By Me – Florence + The Machine
47. Holocene – Bon Iver
48. Deep End – Birdy
49. Lonely – Justin Bieber with Benny Blanco
50. Us – James Bay
51. Bloom – The Paper Kites
52. If You Ever Want To Be In Love – James Bay
53. Georgia – Vance Joy
54. Forever – Ben Harper
55. Watch Over Me – Bernard Fanning
56. Resolution – Matt Corby
57. Sunset Lover – Peit Biscuit
58. Pusher – Alt – J
59. Stuck With You – Justin Beiber
60. Beyond – Leon Bridges
61. Halo – Beyoncé
62. How Long Will I Love You – Ellie Goulding
63. Perfect Duet – Ed Sheeran + Beyoncé
64. Truly Madly Deeply – Savage Garden
65. Endless Love – Diana Ross + Lionel Richie
66. You And Me – Lifehouse
67. The Power Of Love – Celine Dion
68. When I Fall In Love – Nat King Cole
69. Crazy Love – Van Morrison
70. Beautiful Flower – India Arie
71. Night Changes – Travis Atreo
72. Magnolia – Gang Of Youths
73. Thank You – Stan Walker
74. Lady – Brett Young
75. I Guess I’m In Love – Clinton Kane
76. Mirror – Madison Ryann Ward
77. Latch (Acoustic) – Disclosure Cover
78. Here Comes The Sun – The Beatles
79. You Are My Sunshine (Version 1) – Elizabeth Mitchell
Optional by great for feeding – 2 Tbsp. @milky.mumma Chocolate BF smoothie blend.
🍪 Preheat oven to 180degrees. 🍪 Mix all ingredients in a bowl. 🍪 Roll cookies dough into call and place on baking paper and into the oven for 15:20minutes. 🍪 Store air tight container.
½ cup 100% Peanut Butter 2 tbsp Peanut Butter Powder by @macr0mike 1 cup Oats 5 large Medjool Dates, presoaked in ¼ cup Boiling Water ¼ cup Almond Meal ¼ dried Cranberries 1 tsp coconut oil 1 tbsp Manuka Honey or Maple Syrup ¼ tsp vanilla essence
Method 😋
Blitz all ingredients in a food processor until the mixture can rolled out into bliss balls. If you like them really smooth, blitz oats into a flour first.
Roll into 10 large bliss balls or 20 small ones. Allow to set in fridge then store in a glass jar or container in the fridge.
Enjoy 😉 . Thanks to my girl @wyldefolkstudio_ for taking these snaps 📷 and letting your adorable pup “Teddy” (swipe 👉🏼) join me in the kitchen.
I am totally digging anything with Peanut Butter at the moment. Like literally obsessed. I may be eating it from the jar 🤔. The kids and I made these a while back and you kept asking me to get my 🍑 together and give you the recipe 😂.
Ingredients 🍪
1 cup of flour (I used spelt but you can use what you wish) 1 cup oats, grounded 1 tsp. baking powder 1 pinch of salt 1/3 cup of peanut butter powder or 1/2 cup peanut butter. (I used @macr0mike powder) 1/4 cup coconut sugar 1/2 cup almond milk (or milk of choice) 1 egg or chia egg for vegan option 2 tbsp. maple syrup 1 tsp. vanilla extract Toppings of choice to decorate. We loved vegan choc, sultanas or hemp seeds.
Method 🍪
In a bowl mix all dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl mix all wet ingredients.
Create a little hole in the middle of the dry ingredients and slowly combine until cookie dough like.
Preheat oven to 180degrees.
On a baking tray roll out 12 cookie balls and then flatten with a fork. Add the toppings.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.
Consume within 4 days. Store in air tight container.
Notes – you can swap to cashew butter, almond butter etc. Any will work. You will need a little more milk though as these butters aren’t as oily when combining the mixture.
aliceinhealthyland 