De-stressing and nurturing myself with a Comvita Antioxident Challenge & Olive Leaf

Health is Wealth -Virgil

Such a profound saying.

One of the most important things I have learnt in life is just how important it truly is to take care of yourself and your health, and even more so when you become a mother.

As mothers we so easily put ourselves last and let our health not be a priority without for a moment realising just how important and vital our health truly is.
We can sometimes feel it is selfish to spend time and/or money on ourselves but after all if we suffer bad health through stress, illness or disease how can we truly care for our families then?

We live in busy times, we have busy lives and more and more we are exposed to toxins all around us even in our work and home environments.

We need to take our selves but we also need simple ways of doing so. Ways we can actually stick too and see real benefits from.

I am doing a few things for myself at the moment, yes, things just for me and my health because I have seen and felt the face of bad health and it is terrifying and not a road I want to go down in my life if I can help it. And I am not waiting for New Year's Eve to start taking great positive steps either.

I starting right now and I am loving being a part of the really fun Super Antioxident Challenge With Comvita

Each day I am:

• Taking the Comvita's Olive Leaf Extract ( and this olive leaf extract has no unpleasant taste, sickly mint flavour or artificial sweeteners - making it wonderful in my book!)
• Taking 5 minutes to myself to sit in silence out in the garden and just let the world get real quiet as I
  allow myself to just be, and to just feel and relax.
• I am turning off electronics during the day for short periods to have a break, yes, even my phone!
• Having a nature outing with kids every Sunday at least where we will go out into a forest, go bushwalking, climb a mountain, go look at a waterfall, swim in the ocean. 
• Eating real, beautiful food.
• Mindfully being CALM
• Making myself at least one meal or snack a day that I have spent time making it just because it is something I will enjoy, something that will fit in with the great benefits of the Mediterranean theme.
• Going for a walk, a pram walk with my kids and getting out into that great fresh air. 
• Indulging a passion in some small way be it some writing, art, dancing, music, cooking...

The challenge I am thrilled to be taking part of is based on the very successful and healthy Mediterranean diet and taking lessons from the recognized ' blue zones' around the world, whereby people are living longer and experience less disease by using the properties of the olive plant in their diets to maintain a healthy, fulfilling and energetic lifestyle.

Anyone that has been following my blog, facebook and recipes would know how much I LOVE Olives so

Comvita Olive Leaf Extract -find out more about it HERE

you can imagine how perfect this challenge fits into my lifestyle and I am really looking forward to sharing with you how it goes!

You can find out all about this fun health challenge here:

http://go.comvita.com/super-antioxidant-challenge-AU

AND by being a art of the challenge you could WIN a YEARS supply of Olive leaf extract, books and more!
It is absolutely worth checking out.

Here is to health.
Don;t forget to take care of YOU this Christmas! XXX

Olives! Olive tarts, Olive Bread, Olives Direct

Olives

It's funny how your tastes can change.
I remember strongly not liking olives as a child, just as I remember my mother saying, "Just wait until your older, you'll love them."
And you know what? She was so right.
I love olives now. I love them in salads, on a pizza, with cheese and crackers, baked in breads and muffins, so many ways and real olives are that zing of flavour that makes certain recipes burst with flavour in your mouth.


You can almost feel warm Mediterranean sun on your skin as you enjoy their rich flavour.

Olives - Olea Europaea were always one of my favourite plants, long before I liked their fruit.
They are hardy and strikingly beautiful.
Their thin, hard silver grey/green leaves are a beautiful contrast in landscaping.
They make great feature trees, hedges, wind breaks and topiaries as well as being a food source.
A small growing tree that can also be grown in large tubs they originate from the Mediterranean and are also said to be traced back to the Middle East and also Africa.

Throughout history olive branches are said to represent abundance, glory and peace and olives are referenced and symbolic in many cultures.
They even found olive branches in Tutankahmun's tomb.
It is said to be one of the oldest of all cultivated trees and it is a species that can live for thousands of years, while tolerating drought, salt spray, storms and even poor soils.

Olives were popular throughout history for good reason, they taste wonderful but have many health benefits too and olive oil rich diets, such as those from the Mediterranean are said to be amongst the healthiest in the world with places like Crete having the highest rate of olive oil consumption per person and  also having the lowest rate of all heart related diseases.
I was truly fascinated recently to visit a local olive producer, where I live on the Sunshine Coast in Qld, called Olives Direct - The Olive Drop. I first discovered the company when creating a recipe suitable for Christmas time around their dried balsamic olives for the Maleny Supa IGA and their local product local recipe - recipe cards.

As we pulled up the (very steep) driveway you were transported by the sensational smells of just baked olives.
It smelt warm and delicious all at the same time.
We got to see the mouth watering just cooked olives ( and we got to taste some!) as they were being put into the jars and talk to the cook.
We met the lovely owner and heard about the family behind the business, the family history that is so entwined with this gorgeous, real and tasty business and all about the wonderful traditional recipes, techniques and knowledge about olives.

One of the things I love most about eating and supporting local food is discovering the families and the stories behind these entrepreneurs. Hearing where they started and what inspired them to start.

Olives Direct also got behind the Edible Sunshine Coast events and participants got to taste test these gorgeous olives and some lucky people even got to win some!

What impressed me greatly was the ranges they produced.
Not just what you first think of when someone sais olives, they had olives preserved in many different ways and using their traditional names too, not just green,black and blonde.
You see they not only create these beautiful products but they also love to share their knowledge and expertise.

They produce olives but also olive oil, flavour infused olive oils, glazes and more.
As a foodie your imagination runs wild with ideas and recipes.
These gorgeous little olive and goats cheese tartlets are part of the recipe collection for the Maleny Supa IGA's local product local recipe cards which if your on the Sunshine Coast or visit here you can pick up in store. You can all find all the gorgeous Olives Direct products in their gourmet section in store.

Olive and Goats Cheese Miniature Tartlets

With beautiful Olive Drop dried olives in aged balsamic glaze, fresh herbs and goats cheese these Hors d'oeuvres are perfect for entertaining and special occasions like Christmas day, your next dinner party or just a really tasty snack at home.

Makes approximately 12 miniature tartlets 

Ingredients
• 100g The Olive Drop, dried olives in aged balsamic glaze
• 100g Billy goat cheese, cut into cubes
• ¼ cup Kenilworth mild cheddar cheese, grated
• 6 Essensual Tastes semi dried tomatoes, chopped
• 2 Rawganix free range eggs
• ½ cup Maleny Dairies cream
• 8 fresh basil leaves
• 3 stems of fresh chives
• 1 stalk spring onion, sliced thinly
• 1 cup Maleny IGA plain flour
• 75g chilled butter, cut into cubes
• 2 tablespoons soy or Maleny Dairies milk
• ¼ teaspoon Karom Himalayan salt
• Black pepper to taste
• Miniature muffin or tart baking tray

Method 
• Using a food processor combine flour, butter and salt, until it looks like breadcrumbs.
• Add in milk and process until it comes together.
• Kneed into a ball.  Wrap in cling wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 180’c.
• Grease miniature muffin or tart tray.
• In a bowl whisk eggs lightly, add in cream and then cheddar cheese. Season with black pepper to taste.
• Cut olive flesh from the dried olives in pieces, removing the pips as you go.
• Roll out pastry onto a floured bench with a lightly floured rolling pin.
• Cut out pastry circles with a biscuit cutter or by tracing around the outside of a small glass. Ensure you make them slightly bigger than the size of the muffin/tart holes.
• Place pastry circles into the greased or lined muffin/tart tray.
• Place a cube of goats cheese and a couple of small pieces of olive in each one
• In the base of each one put a piece of torn basil leaf, sundried tomato, a cube of the goats cheese, a bit of olive and a little spring onion.
• Carefully cover each one with some of the egg mixture, careful not to overfill.
• Top with a piece of dried olive and a small amount of freshly chopped chives. Bake for 15 minutes of or until filling is firm.

Notes
• A very tasty entrée that looks great too
• Can be served hot or cold

Toddler Tips
• These are perfect sized for little hands, making them very appealing to children.
• These dried olives have a delicate subtle taste that kids will like and all the flavours combine together well to make for a tasty snack they will love.

Another of my favourite ways to enjoy some of these gorgeous flavoursome olives is also in freshly baked bread like my
 Olive, Onion and Rosemary Bread 
pictured here.

Made with beautiful rich olive oil, kalmata olives, red onion, thyme and fresh rosemary.

Perfect accompaniment for soups, stews picnics and great cheeses.Want the bread recipe too?
Leave me a comment or let me know on Facebook 

Happy cooking!

Rebecca XX
text, recipe and photography (c)RebeccaMugridge2013
(excludes any linked up material  or comments)

Do you have a great Olive or Olive oil recipe?
Join in the Olive love and link it up here for some communal olive loving Xx