I have had a very relaxing weekend which was much needed.  I had nothing in my diary ALL weekend which is unheard of but I have actually enjoyed it so much I want to do it again.  I did very well with my eating this weekend too.

I wasn’t very hungry on Saturday morning so I just had an apple for breakfast with green tea.
Lunch was a very simple stir fry, with the vegetables “fried” in water rather than oil.  I “fried” mustard seeds and cumin seeds in water and then added chopped onion and chilli, before adding cauliflower and sugar snap peas.  When it was ready I added cooked brown rice. Served with fresh coriander made for an enjoyable meal.  It was less tasty than if I had used oil but so much healthier.  I didn’t add any salt as I have high blood pressure and am trying to bring it down without medication and neither did I add soy sauce as the thyroid protocol I am following asks you to avoid soya products. I snacked on some Goji berries and apricots in the afternoon. For dinner I made High F-W’s aubergine and green bean curry from his Veg Everyday cookbook.  I have previously blogged the recipe for it.  It is delicious and well worth making, especially as it’s easy and tasty. While I was clearing up after supper I put a cup of buckwheat in water to soak overnight.

In the morning I rinsed it and put it in the blender.
With some berries. And coconut milk.  I also added a spoonful of coconut jam as it was a bit tart but I liked the thick slightly grainy texture and this was a very filling smoothie. I love this green tea which has puffed brown rice in – such a delicate and wonderful flavour. For lunch I made some sweet potato fries. You can never have too many sweet potato fries, right?  Well wrong actually.  When you make too many they sit in steam and don’t crisp up so I had a brilliant idea;  I added some red kidney beans and covered them in vegan cheese and popped them back in the oven for 10 minutes.
Ta daaa!!!!  Cheezy sweet potato fries and they were amazing. Served with roasted red pepper, courgettes and carrots with sauerkraut. The cheesy fries and beans was the best part. For dinner I made a really good shepherd’s pie.  Probably the best ever.  I used a mixture of lentils and aduki beans which I cooked with onions, garlic, mushrooms and carrots for the base.  I used the beans and lentils with the water they come in. For seasoning I used Worcester sauce, liquid aminos and a sprinkling of bouillon powder.  When it was cooked, I stirred in some cornflour mixed with a little water to make a thick sauce as that is how I like it. Remember how much I love my green leaves?  Well I added them to the middle of this pie filling.  I put a layer of lentil and bean mixture over the base, added a packet of fresh spinach and then the rest of the filling on top.  Covered it in mashed potato and popped it in to the oven. Served with frozen peas.  Always has to be frozen peas with shepherd’s pie and then some Branston pickle on the side.  It was delicious. Three empty plates (mine, Matt’s and Harvey’s) were testament to how good it was and I look forward to the leftovers tomorrow.  Better still is knowing how much great nutrition is in this dinner.

Yesterday was a bit too lazy on the exercise front but today we went on a decent length walk around Hemstead so I am over my 10,000 steps.  I hope you had a good weekend too.