When I woke up today I was very happy to remember Sam was coming for lunch with Julia, Phil and Mirella.  Sam used to live down the road but moved to New Zealand a few years ago and I hadn’t seen her since.   So I was really looking forward to seeing her and my other guests today.

We were going to dine New Zealand pot luck style i.e. everyone brings something so the host does not have too much to do.  I cooked more than we needed for today though as I wanted to prepare for the week ahead to help me with giving up sugar.

I roasted a huge tray full of veggies (red onion, red, green and yellow pepper and aubergine) which I chopped up and added salt and olive oil to, before placing in the oven for about 30 – 40 minutes.  I added this lot to some Bulgur wheat which is a quick and easy dish to prepare and is as good at room temperature as it is warm from the oven.  Roasted veggies with Bulgar wheat (or couscous or quinoa) is good with Feta cheese, olives and sun-dried tomatoes added but we had so many other bits to eat I kept it quite simple today.

I also put a chicken in to roast which I prepared with thyme, lemon and olive oil.   I made this last month but didn’t provide the recipe so here we go.  This is from Sarah Wilson’s I Quit Sugar book which is the 8 week plan I am following.  It is delicious, incredibly simple to make and very quick.

Coco Nutty Granola

Ingredients

• 3 cups (175g) of Coconut flakes
• 2 cups (250 g) cups of mixed nuts and pumpkin seeds ( I chop them all up, quite coarsely)
• 2 tbsp Chia seeds
• 100 g Oats (optional but I like them)
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 120 g Coconut oil, melted (you could use butter)
• 3 tbsp Rice syrup

Method

Grease and line a baking tray and turn the oven on to 120º C
Combine all the ingredients and stir well to mix
Tip the mixture in to the baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes, depending on how crispy you like it – the darker it is the crispier
Allow to cool and then store in a large container.

This is the mixture ready to go in the oven.  It already tastes really good. When it comes out of the oven I tip it on to a large plate so it cools quickly.  It tasted so good I found it hard to resist. In fact I nibbled so much while it cooled I didn’t need to make anything else for breakfast. I already have some in a little pot ready to take to work tomorrow.I really enjoyed my lunch.  I had bulgar wheat with roasted veggies, roast chicken, green salad, tzatziki and humous.
I managed to resist the ice cream, brownies and cake and just had watermelon and green grapes.  Quite a lot of watermelon admittedly.  Plus 2 glasses of wine. It was lovely to see you all, please come again soon.  Apologies to Mirella for not getting the camera out until you had gone. After a happy day I enjoyed some early evening sunshine while I pottered about the garden, tidying a few things here and there.  With plenty of time I enjoyed looking at some of the flowers.  I am sad to see these lovely tulips falling apart as I have enjoyed them so much. One of my favourite spring flowers are the forget-me-nots.

I have several large clumps, mainly blue but some white and some pink. I like the blue ones best though. I have a spectacular display of rhododendrons and they are just beginning.  I will share more pictures of the garden flowers in the blogs I post this week.
In the evening I snacked on some of the Wensleydale with blueberries that Sam brought. And some Dr Karg’s crispbread.  I have to give up “bready things” and white carbs this week but I think these are allowed. I had mine spread with avocado and topped with juicy tomato.  A delicious supper.

I did enjoy today.  I hope you did too.