It’s bean chilli tonight.  And it’s been chilly today 🙂  I love the English language, you can have so much fun with it.

Ok, so I am on a major mission to rid myself of the sugar cravings that resurface at every single opportunity I give them.  I have a sugar overload, such as the lovely tea-party on Friday, and I then battle really strong sugar cravings.  It’s so hard.  To knock them back down again, I am having a week of no added sugar and low carbs.  So I will try and avoid starchy carbs like potatoes, rice and pasta all together.  I will however eat pulses, beans, lentils and vegetables and some fruit.

I started well with a 2 egg omelette with 40 g Halloumi cheese and some wilted kale.  That came to 11 WW points (2 for each egg, 4 for the cheese and 3 for 2 tsps oil).

I went shopping at lunch time for some black trousers because my old ones are just too baggy 🙂 .  I am having lunch with a friend in the City tomorrow and even though I have known her for donkeys years and she won’t care what I wear, I want to look smart, not like some country bumpkin.  I bought some.  What was particularly exciting about my new trousers, was the fact I bought them in a regular High Street shop.  Not a glamorous or expensive shop but an ordinary shop.  This is exciting to me because for years I have been restricted to shops that sell clothes in larger sizes.  Not any longer.  I was thrilled and am looking forward to wearing my ordinary trousers tomorrow because to me they are really special.

I got back later than I had planned so I just had a quick lunch of 110 g ham (5 points) and an orange.  I had some Brunswick ham which is a smoked German ham.  It’s very lean and tasted delicious.

The orange was lovely too.  Citrus fruits are fantastic at this time of year, sweet and juicy.

I then set about cooking supper.  I got out my beloved copy of Veg Every day! and flicked through until I found a recipe I hadn’t made before and fancied for today.  On page 23 I found Pinto Bean Chilli.  Adapted, as usual, to use the ingredients I did have, I made:

Aduki Bean Chilli

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 2 tbsp rapeseed oil
• 3 onions, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 10 mushrooms, chopped
• 1 red pepper, cored, deseeded and chopped
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 400 g tin of tomatoes
• 400 g tin of aduki beans, washed and drained (or any can of beans you happen to have)
• 100 ml red wine
• Handful each of parsley, coriander and oregano, chopped
• 200 ml water
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Heat oil in a saucepan, add onions and sweat, stirring occasionally until soft.
2. Add the garlic, cumin and cayenne.  Stir and cook for a minute.
3. Add the mushrooms and red pepper and stir to coat in the spices.
4. Add the tomato puree, tinned tomatoes, aduki beans, red wine and herbs.
5. Pour over 200 ml water and season with salt and pepper.
6. Simmer gently for 25 – 30 minutes until the veg are tender.
7. Taste and season.

I made it far too spicy for my family and that is having left out the green chillis!  So I put half in to the freezer and served myself one portion.  It was delicious.  1 portion, i.e. ¼ of the above recipe, has 5 WW points.

Hugh F-W suggests serving this with guacamole, shredded lettuce, soured cream and cheese. Plus rice and flatbreads.  I did not have all that to hand.

I served mine with 40 g Cheddar (5 WW points),

Half an avocado I mashed in to the juice of 1 lime with salt and then added a large chopped tomato ( 4 WW points),

and 30g Greek yogurt (1 WW point).  I needed that to manage the heat.

I am happy with how I ate today and I have ended the day having used up all my points but no more.  Plus I have 5 activity points in the bank from a lovely walk I did with Lucy in the forest this morning.

As my friend Laura in Canada said, “Make It Happen Motivational Monday”.  I did make it happen and I am pleased with that.  Sugar craving – be banished!