Weigh Day Friday and I lost 2 pounds this week which is great.  It gets me to a total of 27 pounds lost year to date.  I have been yo-yoing up and down recently so it was good to have lost an extra pound so I am now at my lightest weight this year to date.

One significant thing about this week’s 2 pound loss is it gets me back to where I was in March 2012 as it means I am back to having lost 4 stone since my all time heaviest.  It is so frustrating to think about all that weight I have lost but regained.  However, I have lost it again and hopefully this time next week I will have lost more again.

I called this post “3 simple vegan meals” but I actually had 4 today!  1 was really a snack but even so, I guess the 2 apples I had for breakfast would count as a meal.  I photographed 2 but was still hungry so I had a third.

It is such a huge pleasure for me to be able to pick veggies from the garden to eat and the recent sunshine has brought on the mizuna and spinach a treat.Baked Sweet Potato, Salad and Tahini Dressing

Ingredients (seves 1)

1 sweet potato
large pile of veggies you want to eat raw (I used mizuna, spinach, 2 tomatoes and cucumber)
1 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
salt and pepper

Method

Turn the oven to 180 °C
Score a line round the potato, just cutting through the skin
Bake potato until soft which takes about 45 minutes
Prepare salad
Combine tahini, oil, lemon juice and season to taste
Drizzle the dressing over the salad and serve with the potato

This takes about an hour from thinking about it to eating it but only about 10 minutes actual preparation time so is perfect when you are busy, as I was with work.
Mid afternoon I was peckish and fancied a snack so I made Papaya Nice-Cream

Papaya Nice-Cream

Ingredients (serves 1)

• 3 frozen bananas (freeze bananas when the skins are brown and spotty.  Peel them, place in a tupperware container or plastic bag and freeze)
• 1 papaya
• Sprinkles (optional) such as dessicated coconut, cacao nibs or fresh fruit

Method

1. Deseed, peel and chop the papaya in to chunks
2. Chop the banana in to chunks
3. Place fruit in blender and blitz until smooth (in a Vita Mix this only takes about a minute)

I added a heaped tbsp each of coconut and cacao nibs This is so divine I could eat bowl fulls of it and I can eat it guilt free as it is just fruit (and sprinkles) :-).  Papaya Nice-Cream is probably my favourite Nice-Cream as it has such a delicate but lovely flavour and the consistency is so smooth. For supper we had pasta and bolognaise sauce with a vegan cheese. Harvey’s wasn’t vegan as I added quorn to his which contains egg white but it was at least vegetarian and he loved it.

Pasta with a Kale and Tomato Sauce 

Ingredients (serves 2)

• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 large onion, peeled and sliced
• 1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped
• 2 huge handfuls of kale, chopped
• 1 tin of tomatoes or equivalent amount of passata
• salt to taste
• pasta of choice
• vegan cheese, fresh basil and pepper to serve

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan (I use a frying pan rather than a saucepan as it is easier to reduce the sauce)
2. fry the onion gently for about 5 minutes until nearly soft
3. add the red pepper and cook for 5 minutes
4. add the kale, turn up the heat and let the kale go crispy
5. add the tomatoes, add salt if required, stir and leave to simmer
6. cook pasta according to packet instructions
7. place pasta in a large bowl, pour over the kale sauce, top with cheese and torn fresh basil and plenty of black pepper

A delicious vegan supper, made whilst being in awe of the torrential down pour and thunder storm raging in the garden.  And made whilst feeling so sorry for the 2 huge dogs hiding under the table!