To Market, To Market

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

The little fella woke up with a very hungry tummy and requested eggs for breakfast.  Why not indeed.  I can do eggs on a school day.  In fact, remembering the Victorian’s penchant for elaborate breakfasts, we had kedgeree with a fried egg on top with paprika.  Delicious.  I was rather impressed with myself as I tend to have a more leisurely breakfast once he has been dispatched to school on a bowl of cereal, but today it was all go in our house.

I went straight to the forest where I had arranged to walk the dogs with Gilli.  It had been pouring with rain earlier so yet again I left my camera at home 😦 .  The weather was good to us during our walk though so I really enjoyed walking along with occasional glimpses of sunshine, chatting away.  Gilli is a very interesting person and does a lot of voluntary work with some of the more troubled youths in our society.  Did you know that Magistrates don’t get paid?  I was so shocked to discover that someone who does such a significant and important job has to do it voluntarily.  Gilli writes a very interesting blog about musings on life at Ape and Angel.  Have a look.

As I was driving home, intending to spend a few hours in the garden, I received a phone call from my sister Lucy, the conclusion of which was that instead of spending a day together in London on Sunday, having a picnic in Kensington Gardens, everyone was coming to me for lunch.  We quickly worked out who is bringing what and I made a spur of the moment decision to go to the Farmer’s Market at Brede which is towards Rye.

I went to Brede specifically to buy 2 of Julia’s delicious chickens which she is not allowed to sell at Rolvenden on a Thursday because someone else sells chickens.  But I prefer Julia’s as the flavour is the best there is and they are not so enormous they could be mistaken for a small turkey.  So I went to Brede to buy some chickens and came home with an elbow of pork.   And no chickens.  I was there half an hour after the market started and she had already sold out.  Luckily there was a very helpful lady at the next stall selling pigs.  I wanted a large shoulder to slow roast but she assured me the butchers always like the elbow as it is even better.  She had an honest face so I bought the elbow.

To market, to market, to buy a fat pig
Home again, home again, jiggety-jig.

I also bought some cavolo nero,  which I have never had before,

a dressed crab, which is one of my favourite foods on the planet,

and some cup cakes.

I confess I did eat a cup cake.  The cheeky little thing winked at me as I walked past and drew me towards it.  I was quite possibly even hypnotised because before I knew what was happening I had bought 4 pretty cup cakes for a treat tonight and one to eat in the car on the way home.  Small ones don’t have any calories, right?

At lunch time I made a crab sandwich with half the crab.  I could have eaten it all but that seems a little extravagant so I have some for tomorrow.  2 slices of wholemeal bread, some lettuce from the garden and the crab mixed with a little mayonnaise.

Wow, it was good.  You can really taste the sea in a crab.  I couldn’t even wait to get all the sandwich on the plate before I started eating it.

I sat down to eat my sandwich and read the local paper, knowing I would immediately begin tutting about the new Tesco opening locally on Monday.

I HATE TESCO. I HATE TESCO.  I HATE TESCO.  I HATE TESCO.  I HATE TESCO.

£1 in every £7 spent in Britain is spent in Tesco.  Harrogate, which had been resisting Tesco for years and was the last remaining postcode in the country without a Tesco, has recently capitulated.  This country is blindly walking towards domination by one massive company.  And now the beautiful Weald of Kent is being covered in it too.

Actually I dislike each of the big 4 supermarkets and never go near any of them, they are all as bad as each other.  But I dislike Tesco the most as it is the biggest so it has more clout.  They import food across the globe with no thought to their carbon footprint or supporting British producers, they drive prices down so low farmers are driven out of business, and the terms on which they operate are unforgivable.  They agree contracts at the last minute so if you are a carrot farmer and Tesco has said it will buy your entire crop, they will, just as you have harvested your crop, buy from somewhere else if they come in cheaper, leaving you with an enter crop of harvested carrots to get rid of.

People go there because they think it is cheaper.  And yes, for hundreds of everyday items, they are the cheapest.  Other supermarkets may price match Tesco but are rarely cheaper.  But once you are lured in, they use very clever marketing, confusing price comparisons and subliminal advertising to get you to make more purchases of products with a hefty profit to them.  I shop carefully and save money by eating more beans and lentils and less meat.  I make my own food so I am not paying someone else to do it.  So I can afford to buy food at local farm shops, farmers markets and more expensive local shops.  But overall, I bet I spend the same as someone who shops at Tesco and buys ready meals and eats meat every day.

I knew I would start tutting when I bought the paper and saw the headline but the reason for this outburst is because inside the paper I see there are proposals for a Sainsbury and Tesco in Staplehurst.  Say NO everyone.  The free car park at the station will be gone and parking at the station is hard enough anyway.  This will be a disaster.  I am so angry.

I urge you all to read Joanna Blythman’s ‘Shopped, The Shocking Power of Britain’s Supermarkets’.  I want you to read it in the hope it will turn you away from these shops that are destroying our food production, globally.  But if you still want to shop at Tesco, please read this so you are aware of what you are contributing to.  I think you have a moral obligation to know the facts.  While I was looking for the exact title I noticed there is another book available on a similar theme (I assume) called ‘Tescopoly; How One Shop Came Out On Top And Why It Matters’.  It may not be good for my blood pressure to read it.

Rant over.  Anger remains.

I made supper this afternoon so it is ready for after fireworks and picking someone special up from the train station.  In keeping with fireworks evening, I made a chili.  As usual I didn’t have all the right ingredients so improvised.  Instead of red kidney beans, I used up the chickpeas left over from yesterdays dipping sauce.  I also popped in some cavolo nero and mushrooms for extra nutrition and flavour.

We spent a fun evening at Harvey’s school where they laid on a fireworks display and the PTA were selling toffee apples (in evidence round Harvey’s face), doughnuts, chili, hot dogs and drinks to raise some money.  It was fun to catch up with people I haven’ t seen for a while and the fireworks were great, and enjoyed by all.

Time to go and get someone special from the train from Durham :-).  Have a great evening and please read that book if you shop at one of the big 4, especially Tesco.  Try going to the market.  Even if it’s just once.

Posted in Keep It Local | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Today is Tofu Day

Posted on November 3, 2011 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

Today went according to plan 🙂  I started the day with an hour long dog walk in the forest.  It rained some of the time so I couldn’t take my camera again which is disappointing because some of the leaves and scenes are wonderful colours which I want to capture.  Maybe tomorrow.

For breakfast I made a bowl of porridge with 1/2 a cup of Jumbo oats, almond milk, chia seeds, fresh mango and a banana.  It looks like a massive bowlful, which it was, but the mango and banana were adding the extra bulk.  I made the same size portion as usual.

Judy popped in for a cuppa; I really like it when people call to say they are passing so can they pop in.  A spontaneous chat over a cup of tea sets one up well for the rest of the day.

Yesterday’s food was essentially all reheated so I was in the mood for cooking today and decided to have another go with that tofu.  Inspired by a recipe for Tofu Dippers which I found on the excellent Peas and Thank You, I bring you my own Grilled Tofu Squares and Dipping Sauce.  This is a vegan recipe and is delicious.

I took the tofu out of the water it comes in and cut it in to squares, about half a cm thick.  I cut as many squares as I thought I would eat.

I made a press to squeeze the water out.  Lay a cutting board on the surface and put a clean tea towel on the board (fold the tea towel in half lengthways so you can fold the other half of the the towel over the squares to form the top layer).  Lay the tofu squares on the tea towel.

Fold the tea towel over the top and put another board on top.  So you now have a sandwich, with, from the bottom up, a chopping board, half a folded over tea towel, tofu, the other half of the tea towel and another board.

Then add a weight.  I used a stack of cookery books and left them there while I made the marinade.

Grilled Tofu Squares

Marinade Ingredients

  • 1/2 tsp garlic puree (I use garlic puree in marinades as it mixes in better then fresh garlic)
  • 2 tbsp Lea & Perrins Worcester Sauce
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp tomato ketchup
  • 1/4 tsp dry mustard powder
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar

I put all the ingredients in to a shallow dish and mixed with a small whisk until all the ingredients were well combined.

 Add the drained and pressed tofu squares and cover in the marinade.  The longer you leave them, the stronger the flavour.  You could leave them overnight but I left them for about 2 hours and they were full flavoured enough.

I served these with another recipe from Peas and Thank You; a thick sauce Mama Pea calls Mmmm Sauce.  This sauce does have almonds in it but if you have a nut allergy you could easily leave the nuts out and add extra chick peas instead.  It was fabulous and I made it while the tofu was marinating.

I can’t decide what to call this sauce so if you have any suggestions, please leave a comment!   It could be called  “Curried Almond Humous” or “Dipping Sauce” or ?.  I can’t decide.  Let’s go with Dipping Sauce for now.

Dipping Sauce

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup oil (I used rapeseed)
  • 1/4 cup almonds
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 1/4 cup chickpeas
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
  • 2 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp garlic puree
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 3/4 tsp curry powder
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano

Put all ingredients in to a blender and blitz until smooth.

Mine came out runnier than I was expecting so I added some more almonds and chickpeas until I had a thick sauce, the same consistency as humous.

It was absolutely delicious and I could hardly keep the spoon out!  It was cheesy and creamy.  I could taste the almonds and the curry powder.  I served some up for me to have for lunch and put the rest in the fridge.  Apparently it lasts 7 – 10 days in the fridge but I can’t believe mine will last that long.

To finish off the tofu squares, turn the grill on to high heat, put the tofu squares on to the grill pan and grill for 6 minutes on each side.  They should turn out brown and solid.  I served mine with the dipping sauce, cherry tomatoes and coleslaw.  I made that coleslaw on Friday and it is still crisp!  Probably because I didn’t put much mayonnaise on it.

This was a delicious lunch and I would happily have it all again.

I had some smoked haddock in the fridge which needed to be eaten today.  We have a local smokery near us, Weald Smokery, and I popped in last week to get some smoked haddock.  Unlike the commercially prepared stuff you find in supermarkets, you can see it is not bright yellow!  It is a very pale and creamy yellow with a mild smoked flavour.

I chose to make kedgeree with it.  If you have Delia’s complete cookbook then her buttery kedgeree recipe is delicious.  However, for a dairy intolerant child and his dieting mother, a meal smothered in butter is not a great choice!  My version is simpler and healthier (but Delia’s does taste better).

Kedgeree.

  • Cooked brown rice (1 cup of rice makes enough for 3 people)
  • Smoked haddock (about 100 g per person)
  • 1 tsp butter
  • 1 tsp oil
  • 1 onion, chopped finely
  • 1 tsp curry powder
  1. Put the haddock in a saucepan and cover with cold water.
  2. Bring to the boil, put lid on pan and simmer gently for 8 minutes.
  3. Drain haddock and when cool enough to handle, remove skin and flake.  Set aside.
  4. Melt butter in saucepan with oil, add onions and fry until they are soft.
  5. Add curry powder and cook for 1 minute.
  6. Add haddock and rice and warm through.

I can’t cook rice you cry!  Of course you can, it is easy.

Brown Basmati Rice

  1. Put one cup of rice in to a medium sized saucepan with 2 and a half cups of water.
  2. Bring to the boil and boil for 10 minutes.
  3. Turn oven on to 140 °C.
  4. After 10 minutes boiling, put the lid on the saucepan and put the pan in the oven.
  5. Leave the pan in the oven for 20 minutes.
  6. Turn off the oven and leave rice for at least 10 more minutes.

The secret to rice is for it to steam rather than be boiled. However tempting it may be, do not take the lid off or stir the rice as then the steam will escape.  Leave it alone until you have completed steps 1 through to 6.  Then you may peek at it if you have to.  I leave it until I need to use it.  This method works every time and cooks the brown rice so it is moist but each grain is separate.  PLus no rice sticks to the side of the pan so it is easy to wash up.

I served my kedgeree with some broccoli I cooked with oyster sauce.  I chopped up the broccoli florets and stalk quite small.  I chop the stalk in to a mixture of batons and circles, just to add some variety.

Using a wide and shallow frying pan, I poured in about 75 ml boiling water and added the broccoli.  When it had begun steaming, I added a large dollop of the oyster sauce and stirred it so it coated all the broccoli.  I cooked it until it was just soft – about 5 minutes.

Harvey and I both really enjoyed this dinner.  He even ate all the broccoli without any prompting.

The fish has such a lovely delicately smoked flavour and the broccoli went really well with it.

The good news is, there is a portion of kedgeree left in the fridge as James was out for supper tonight.  The Victorians used to eat kedgeree for breakfast so I may just try that tomorrow.

I can go to bed tonight, pleased with a good days exercise and having eaten some delicious and healthy food.

Posted in Healthy Lifestyle, Lose Weight, Recipe | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Food and Drink Diary

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

Last night after I posted my blog, I had some Stilton and saltines with some butter.  I have no idea why I did that.   It was tasty but I didn’t need it.  On Sunday, after I posted my blog, I finished some apple and raspberry crumble that was calling out to me from the fridge.  So not only have I digressed from my healthy eating plan, I didn’t blog it either.  So today, I am photographing everything I eat and drink.  When the blog is posted, my eating for the day will be done.  I began the day full of resolve.  I had been bad but was back on track.  Or was I?

7:30.  Mug of Twinings English Breakfast tea.

9:05.  Small mug of Dragonfly green tea.

9:30.  Mango smoothie ( mango, soya milk, Chia seeds, protein powder).

11:00. Mug of coffee with semi-skimmed milk.

12:40. Mug of Chenmai-Cha.  I wanted lunch but the boiler engineer was here so I had to wait.  I had this cup of tea so I was not tempted to eat anything while I waited for my lunch.  It worked ! 🙂

13:50.  Reheated North African Squash and Chickpea stew with some wilted Chinese greens i.e. I stir fried them briefly, just until the leafy bit wilted.  I do not mean they were droopy when I took them out of the fridge.  The stew reheats well and I edited yesterdays post to show you the recipe.

This close up reminded me I added some dried chili flakes to the greens to spice it up.  The spicy greens were a fantastic complement to the slightly sweet stew.  This is one of those recipes I urge you to try as it is wonderful but very simple and cheap to make.  The worst part is deseeding and peeling the squash but you do that while other ingredients are cooking.

15:10.  Glass of water.

16:40.  Glass of water.

19:00.  Reheated BBQ chicken and beans with cornbread from Friday evening, with steamed carrots and Kenyan fine beans.

I am still not sure about those beans.  Eating them with a sober palate I think the problem is the blackstrap molasses.  I like the flavour of molasses but it is too strong in this dish so I either measured incorrectly, or I just need to adjust the quantity in the recipe.  The chicken reheated well and the vegetables were simple and nutritious, having been lightly steamed.

I think I will try and make those beans again.  The cornbread topping was a little dry when reheated but there was plenty of the BBQ sauce from the chicken so it was all very edible and rather enjoyable.

21:30.  Rooibos tea with semi skimmed milk.

I did it :-).  I stuck to my eating plan all day.  It was no effort at all and I enjoyed how I ate today.  There was plenty of food and I was never hungry.  The only think I did not do today was exercise but I had to wait in for the boiler man as a small but significant part of our new boiler was missing.  We had hot water but no heating.  Now we have both hot water and heating.

Tomorrow I will take the dogs in to the forest as soon as I drop Harvey off and do an hour long walk.  Glad the resolve is back.

Posted in Lose Weight | 2 Comments

Out With The Old

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

Today, the two boilers we had installed nearly 10 years ago, and which have caused constant problems are going.  They are being replaced with a new one, which will be properly installed by a plumber and heating engineer we have come to know and trust.  So tonight we should be able to shower and bathe again which I am so excited about!  Thank you to all our neighbours and friends who have kindly availed us of their bathing facilities.  The bathroom guide to our village will be published soon :-).

I woke up with what I have read elsewhere as a “sugar hangover”.  I felt dreadful.  I felt very tired, extremely grumpy and had an unsettled stomach.  So I decided to try and eat a very low GI diet today with as little sugar as possible.

For breakfast I heated up some Nasi Goreng with tofu which was left over from Sunday.

I ate it with chopsticks and chewed each mouthful slowly.  You are supposed to chew each mouthful until it is liquid for optimum digestion and absorption.  Hard to do but beneficial for health.  In fact one nutritionist I met said chewing food until it was liquid was one of the best things a person could easily do to have a significant benefit to their health.  I managed it this morning but the portion was so small I remained hungry.

I had to pop in to Cranbrook to run some errands and went in to the very splendid Campo Vecchio to buy some ham and Mozarella.  I bought 2 slices of ham baked with herbs and one ball of Mozarella.  It is always a pleasure to be served in there, to have Italian spoken to you and be given tasty morsels to try.  One of my male friends on Saturday was saying how all the ladies flock to Fabio’s to be flirted with and then spend vast amounts of money on deli goods.  Well, suck it up chaps and get over it.  It all adds to the shopping pleasure of our lovely local Italian Deli.  The produce is top quality and so well presented.

I put the ham (72 g) and Mozarella (99 g) on a plate with some cherry tomatoes, basil, fresh ground black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.

This may seem like a massive “snack” and in some ways it is.  But it is good quality food which is providing nutrition and helping me feel sated which I need to get over my sugar hangover.  The cheese was 7 points, the ham 2 and 1 tsp olive oil was 1 point making a total of 10 WW points.

I loved every mouthful.  It may seem like a strange thing to eat at 11 am but it was what I wanted and it helped.

I decided to make supper before I went out for lunch so I assembled the ingredients for one of the recipes from ‘ Veg everyday! ‘; North African Squash with Chickpeas.

I then realised the gas was switched off so I had to abandon that idea until later.  This is why I have no gas – my boiler was on the driveway in pieces!

I had a lunch invitation today :-).  I was going to Suzanne’s with Tanya and Jackie and Suzanne’s daughter Charlotte joined us too.  We had a glass of fizz when we arrived and enjoyed looking at the party photos from Saturday.

We had a delicious home made vegetable soup which I had with a piece of Foccaccia with tomatoes on it,

Followed by cheese. I had some Brie and some Wensleydale with Cranberries with half an apple.

Suzanne had a birthday cake for Jackie as we hadn’t sung to her on Saturday so we all sang today instead.  And Jackie blew out her candle and made a wish.  I love birthday celebrations.

I had a small piece of carrot cake with a coffee.

Thank you Suzanne for a wonderful lunch.  I had a great time with lovely ladies.

In the afternoon I made the North African Squash with Chickpea stew, adapted from Veg everyday!

This quantity provides 4 large servings.

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp oil
  • 2 white onions, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 1 celery stalk, chopped
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 60 g red lentils
  • 40 g green lentils (you could use all red lentils but I ran out)
  • 1 400 g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 2 400 g tins chopped tomatoes (or passata)
  • Handful of parsley, chopped
  • Handful of coriander, chopped
  • 300 g squash or pumpkin.  I used a whole onion squash – I didn’t weigh it
  • 1 litre stock.  I used chicken but it could be vegetable

Method

  1. Heat oil and fry onions over a medium heat until just softened.
  2. Turn heat to low and  add the garlic, celery, pepper, turmeric, cinnamon, ginger and sautee for a couple of minutes.
  3. Add the lentils, chickpeas, tomatoes, parsley and coriander.  Cook for about 15 minutes.
  4. Peel and deseed the squash and cut in to cubes.  Add to pan with the stock.

Veg everyday!’ uses saffron, a bay leaf, dates (optional) and pasta.  I left out the pasta as I didn’t think the dish needed it and that would save some calories/points.  I also dislike eating the liquid pasta has been cooked in as it is too starchy.

5. Cook for 30 – 40 minutes and season to taste.  Eat.

Yummy.  Warm.  Comforting.  Nutritious.  Low fat.  Low calories. High in protein and fibre.  Seriously moreish.

I am posting early today as I am off to have a shower to welcome in our new boiler.  We will not miss the old one.

Posted in Lose Weight | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Happy Halloween

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

Happy Halloween 🙂 .  In honour of Halloween I had a pumpkin Bircher muesli for breakfast that I prepared the night before; 1/2 a cup each of pumpkin puree, Greek yogurt, oats and almond milk.  Stir and mix in 1 level tsp cinnamon.  Leave overnight.

I had to go to Ramsgate so took it with me and ate it overlooking the marina and willing the sun to come out and shine.  It did.  I had a cafetierre coffee with it.  Our most recent visitors had left fresh milk and a packet of ground Ethiopian coffee – thank you very much!

My mission today was to do a decent walk to make up for the excesses of the weekend.  I walked out of our beach house and turned right, towards Sandwich and Deal.

Just a few hundred metres away, is the beginning of a wide and long promenade.  It is part of the Viking Cycle Trail which is a 27 mile long cycle route round Thanet.  So walking along is flat and level and easy.  You have the sea on your left and a variety of buildings on the right.  The first one of note is ‘The Regency’ which is one of the many splendid buildings erected by the Georgians, Victorians and Edwardians who loved to visit Ramsgate.

I like a little bit of information to read.

Looking behind me I can see the marina in the far distance and the port, where the cross channel ferries load and unload their cargo.

Looking ahead I can see Sandwich in the far distance and on the shore below me are the sandy beaches, with the groynes trying to keep the sand on the beach but facing the relentless battle against long shore drift.

I soon come to Ramsgate’s tidal pool.  I wonder why all three Thanet towns have a tidal pool.

Next point of interest on my walk was the enormous sculpture of copper hands holding a molecule, imaginatively named “Hands and Molecule”.  The sculpture was funded by Pfizer, a pharmaceutical research company located nearby at Sandwich, to commemorate the opening of the Viking cycle trail in Thanet in 2000.

The Boating Pool has a children’s playground, boating lake and licensed cafe which Duncan Bannatyne donated some money to for refurbishment.

I love these windswept trees and the charming flint wall.

This enormous terrace, Westcliff Terrace, was built in the 1840’s as a speculative venture but it failed and the houses were split in to flats in the 1860’s.

By this terrace the cycle trail ends at a wall which encloses a grassy area and playground.  I was not sure I was going the right way but I kept going and came to the cute little flint houses of Pegwell Bay village.

Opposite the Belle Vue tavern ( which has a pretty garden overlooking the sea) where we enjoyed drinks one warm evening this summer, is this sign in a window.  It marks the site of the shrimp and shrimp paste factory which was busy in Victorian times when Pegwell Bay was a popular bathing spot.  Hungry bathers would be served shrimp, which was caught in the bay,  in the gardens of the Belle Vue tavern opposite the factory.

All that remains of Pegwell Village today are the flint cottages, the Pegwell Bay hotel, the Belle Vue and the Stanley Grey pub.  It is a charming place and worth a visit, especially for a drink, overlooking the sea.

On the way back, I noticed a “Footpath” sign.  I can rarely resist a cute looking little footpath so I strolled down it and saw this really cute doorway.  I would love to know what was behind it.

I wanted to walk back beside the sea so I walked down one of the Victorian pulhamite walkways to the beach.

I love being by the beach.  You can hear the waves crashing on the beach and smell the sea when you are close.  The tide was coming in and the waves seem to be in such a hurry to race up the beach.  But usually they are thwarted as they smash in to the promenades and walkways around Ramsgate.

Even better than being by the beach is being ON the beach.  Yay 🙂 !

All around the beach is so much that is beautiful or interesting.

I spent way too long on the beach but it was too gorgeous to leave.  It was warm and sunny and relatively peaceful.

I returned to the house and had a shower then headed off to Broadstairs.  I had been recommended a wet fish shop but for the second time it was shut when I visited.  I found out it shuts at lunch time on Mondays and Wednesdays!  So no fish for our supper tonight.

I popped in to a cafe and bought a sandwich to eat in the car on the way home.  I thought I had bought prawn in a seafood dressing with lettuce.

Unfortunately it had crab sticks in it. YUCK! Plus one of my complete pet hates – margarine.  YUCK again.  And despite the sign outside the cafe boasting of their delicious bread, this was the cheap and nasty thin brown stuff that comes in plastic bags and doesn’t get hard or go off for weeks. YUCK for the third time.   This was inedible so I was very hungry.

I picked Harvey up from school and took him to Henry’s halloween party.  All the kids dressed up, the house was decorated and they went trick or treating round the beautiful village of Smarden.  The children stuffed the sweets they had been given and left most of the food.  But I was hungry.  Sound the alarm bells.  Zoe is sitting down at a table full of snacks and is very hungry!

I started troughing 😦 And troughed and troughed and troughed.

And troughed some more.

Looking at these pictures I am shocked to remember how much I ate.  It was excessive over-eating.  I was hungry but I could have eaten the grapes, tomato or cucumber, at least to start with.  I think they are the only things on the table I didn’t eat.

What I must do is be better prepared.  If I go for a walk I need to have food ready to eat when I finish.  And if I know I am going out in the evening, which I did today, I need to think about supper in advance.  And never go to a children’s party on an empty stomach!

Apart from the troughing, I had a very happy halloween.  Hope you did too.

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Nursing

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

Today I nursed my hangover.  “Nursing” is an appropriate way to describe how I coped with it as I took care of myself so I could be restored to my normal health i.e. no blinding headache and not feeling nauseous.

I started with a mega vitamin boost. Berocca is always my first choice which I make in to a long drink to get the fluids in.  It is an effervescent multi vitamin tablet, with lots of the B vitamins which you need for energy.  I also took another multi vitamin and mineral tablet.  I took half the quantity required so I didn’t overdose.  I also added a powder which contains glutamine, liquorice and aloe which supports your gastrointestinal tract lining.  All these vitamins and minerals help to improve digestion, immune and liver function.  I think my liver needed help with detoxifying all that wine!

I also had a large mug of strong Assam tea which put a little pep back in my step.  I eventually summoned up the energy to cook something.  While cooking I had a cup of Genmai-Cha which I bought yesterday in Wing Yip.  It is a brown rice tea with Matcha powder which is Japanese green tea mixed with toasted brown rice.  I really liked it.  The flavour was mild and slightly nutty and it was a lovely pale yellow and green colour.  The tea seemed soothing.

I didn’t feel like breakfast but was hungry by lunch time.  Yesterday I bought a sachet of Nasi Goreng paste which is a Malaysian and Indonesian spicy fried rice dish.  Brown rice and vegetables are a really healthy meal which would help me feel better and provide some useful fuel for Harvey who had played rugby all morning plus James loves it too.  Decision made.

The paste contains dried chili, dried prawn, fish sauce, shallot, palm oil, sugar, water and MSG. EEK!!!!  I try and avoid MSG and hadn’t read the packet in the shop.  I used it anyway, figuring a little MSG was the least of my problems today.

Yesterday I bought some really thin Kenyan beans and a large bag of choi sum.  I really wanted lots of green veggies today so they would be perfect.

You can add whatever protein you want to Nasi Goreng and I wanted to try some of the block of Tofu I had bought.  I am not actually a fan of firm tofu.  I am happy to put silken tofu in a smoothie as you can’t really taste it.  But I have never yet eaten a tofu recipe I like.  A blog I enjoy called Peas and Thank You has several tofu preparation tips and recipes.  Inspired by some of these, I made up my own marinade using ingredients I had readily to hand.  I was not in the mood for a complicated or fussy recipe.

I made a marinade with tomato ketchup, soy sauce, mustard, garlic, ground ginger and some chili sauce.

I mixed the ingredients together and cut the tofu in to slices which I then pressed between a tea towel to get rid of some of the water.  Even extra firm tofu needs pressing apparently and I was surprised by how much water came out of it.  I discovered you can buy such a thing as a tofu press but I need to be a lot more convinced by tofu before I buy such a thing.

I put the pressed tofu in the marinade and left it for about half an hour and then lightly fried it.

I prepared lots of green veggies.

Then I made my Nasi Goreng, which also had egg in it.  I served it with mixed sprouts, the tofu and some leftover coleslaw.

It was really good and even the tofu was ok.  Not good enough to want to rush out and buy a tofu press but good enough that I enjoyed eating it.  It received a thumbs down from Harvey but an acceptable from James so not a bad result at all.

That hangover was on its way out and to help it along a leisurely sprawl on the sofa and even a snooze during the afternoon was just the thing I needed.  I am nursing myself after all.  Once awake I felt sufficiently refreshed to cook a roast dinner.  James had prepared the pork with fennel seeds, oil and salt and put it in the oven to slow roast all afternoon.

I cooked sauteed potatoes and the grey pumpkin which I think is the “Crown Prince” variety.  I cut the pumpkin in half,

scooped out the seeds,

cut it in to slices as if it was a melon, brushed it with olive oil, sprinkled on some salt and baked it for about half an hour until it was soft.

I also cooked a heap of kale with maple syrup again and quite liked it, again.  Kale is definitely looking up.

James made the gravy and we were ready to eat.  I love a roast and it was all delicious.  It was a huge plateful of food but not as bad as it looks as I did have a lot of pumpkin and kale under the pork.

It took a lot of caring and looking after myself  and it may have taken all day but I finally feel nursed back to health.  Phew!

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Old and New

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

It was lovely to wake up knowing we had company for breakfast as Katherina was still here 🙂 .

While everyone was getting up I popped in to my local town, Cranbrook, to get a wig, as you do!  I forgot that Cranbrook doesn’t wake up as early as I do and had to wait for the shops to open.  There was a busy scene along the High Street as they were setting up the Apple Fayre and I was disappointed I was going to miss it.  All was peaceful at this end of town.

Back home it was time for breakfast.  Bagels for some.

Porridge for me, with Chia seeds and hazelnut butter.

Followed by a photo shoot.  Note to self; do not make friends with tall, slim, gorgeous and glamorous people.  All future friends need to be short, fat and ugly.  And prematurely old and wrinkly.  Definitely not still looking as youthful as they did when last seen 9 years previously.

Catching up with old friends after a long gap can be disappointing if you do not connect together as well as you used to.  After a much anticipated get together, there is a sense of mourning of a close friendship that once existed but is there no more.  But that was not the case with Katherina.  It was as if we had last seen each other yesterday.

When you know each other as work colleagues, you know the person for themselves, rather than as someone’s Mother or someone’s wife.  In fact we met before we had children or husbands.  You also spend hours every day together so you get to know each other really well.  As well as all the wild nights out we shared, we also experienced some extraordinary events.  Events that were extraordinary by anyone’s standards.  Such as the bombing of the Baltic Exchange in April 1992.  Our office building faced the CU building which had all its windows blown out.  It was very shocking, standing in our office the following morning, which had cracked windows, looking out at a building with no glass but most of the furniture in place.  And loads of papers, such as the perforated sheets that were used in printers in those days, flapping about like gruesome ticker tape.

So many shared memories from a very interesting history of working together for a long time.  It was also good to get to know her daughter Aisling a bit, who I hadn’t seen since we stayed with them in Dublin when she was about 2 years old.  Thank you so much for visiting and I can not wait to see you again.

I reluctantly left the lovely ladies at a friends in Purley which happens to be near an amazing shop I have wanted to go to since learning how to make Sushi with Jenni recently;  Wing Yip.

Wing Yip is a huge warehouse which stocks Asian food.  You can buy types of rice I have never heard of and which are in such huge sacks you practically need a fork life truck to get them in your car.  There are also rows and rows of incomprehensible (to me at least) ingredients.

There is also a fresh fruits and veg section, meat and fish and lots of freezers with some very interesting looking things in them as well as the familiar.  I wish I knew what to do with it all as I love Asian food and we used to cook it a lot when we lived near Wing Yip.  We rarely cook it now but watch this space for some Asian food as I bought loads of goodies.

Plus some wonderful greens and fresh tofu.  I only popped in to buy some sushi rice!

By the time I left Wing Yip it was 3 pm and I was hungry.  There are some restaurants at Wing Yip too but I didn’t have the time or money to sit in a restaurant.  There is also a bakery.  Why did I go in there?  I should have stayed away but I was hungry.  It only sold white flour products but I still bought them to eat in the car on the way to Dad’s, who lives nearby.  I had a sweet roll with BBQ pork and a sesame paste cake.

The roll was sweet and very light, like a brioche.  The cake was very heavy and after the first mouthful I put it down and was going to leave it.  But it was strangely compelling so I finished it as each mouthful was better then the previous one.

I had a lovely cuppa with Dad and a much needed shower.  I would have liked to stop for the rest of afternoon but we were going out in the evening so I had to get going.

We were going to Jackie’s Hollywood birthday party and the invitation said to go as your favourite Hollywood star or character.  One of my favourites is Holly Golightly/Audrey Hepburn but I thought that would really stretch the imagination.  So I went as another favourite, Marilyn Monroe.  My gentleman partner for the evening was Indiana Jones.

I am not a particularly vain person but the photo Harvey took was dreadful and I was unhappy with my wig.  So no pics of me to share.  I left my camera at home and we walked to the party.  I didn’t want to be taking photos.  I was looking forward to seeing my friends, enjoying the party and living the moment.  Not thinking about blogging about it.

The party was really good.  I had a wonderful meal of fish pie followed by a small portion of several delicious puddings.  It was really good fun spending the evening with Steve McQueen, Carmen Miranda, Mr Darcy and Miss Bennett, Mr Rochester and Jane Eyre, Goose, Sandra Bullock and Cleopatra, amongst other distinguished guests.  The Flintstones and Rubbles were brilliant and even arrived in their stone age car that Fred had made earlier.  But the star of the show was……….. Holly Golightly!  Our hostess looked absolutely stunning.  Happy birthday Jackie and thank you for such a wonderful party.

As I staggered walked elegantly back up the road to home, I mused about my lovely day that had begun with a dear old friend and ended with newer friends.  Not completely new as I have known those people for nearly 10 years.  We all have a 19 year old as we met when our children were at the village primary school.  Old friends and new.  I am lucky to know you.

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EiRE She Comes

Posted on October 29, 2011 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

I had a Perfekt start to the day – I bought a new (for me anyway) granola this week and had 40 g for breakfast with a small carton of fat free yogurt, mango and fig.

Our boiler is broken so we have no hot water until the new boiler is installed on Tuesday.  After sending an SOS to my neighbours, Sarah replied quickly and Harvey and I headed over for a shower.  It was very kind of her, we enjoyed our first shower in 2 days and came home refreshed.  I must say the shower facilities over the road are lovely.  The bath looked good too so I may try that next time :-).

The rest of the day was spent preparing for a very special visitor arriving from Ireland and I am so excited.  I met Katherina in November 1990 when I joined the company she worked at and we worked together for many years.  We worked with a team of people who became very good friends.  I haven’t seen Katherina for years and I was really excited about her coming to stay with her daughter Aisling and Aisling’s friend Megan.

I needed to clear some space in the fridge for all the booze food for the evening so I took out lots of little pots of deliciousness that needed using up.

In the morning I had cleared my vegetable patch of the last of its produce.  My sweetcorn was a massive fail this year and this tragic little specimen was all I managed to grow.  I decided it was worth eating though and added it to the pile of things to use up for lunch.  I was pleased to find a beetroot among the weeds in the veggie bed and will roast that in the week.

I added some fresh cherry tomatoes and red onion to the green pepper and sweetcorn.

And made egg fried rice with fresh vegetables, with mixed sprouted seeds sprinkled on top and served with a large dollop of avocado dressing.  Lovely.

Supper tonight needed to cater for two teenage girls, two boys and five adults.  As well as Katherina’s group, Kath and her family were joining us too as Kath was also part of our merry working gang.

I decided to cook an American supper as it is nearly Halloween.  From a blog I have recently discovered and am enjoying, ‘ Oh She Glows ‘, comes this recipe for “Pumpkin Maple Baked Bean Cornbread Casserole”.  That doesn’t trip off the tongue very easily.  I think I will refer to it as “sweet bean casserole with cornbread topping” in future.  The haricot beans are mixed with pumpkin, raisins, blackstrap molasses, maple syrup and various other condiments.

I mixed all the ingredients together and cooked them for about 15 minutes.

and then left them until I was ready to mix the topping and cook it.  There was a mixed reaction to this dish; some disliked it but others enjoyed it.  I enjoyed it but it was too sweet so I would tweak the recipe if I made it again.

Also on the menu was some of the most delicious but calorific and unhealthy bars in the world.  Imagine salted peanuts, chocolate and Crunchie bars mixed together.  Divine.  Google “Nigella” and “sweet salty crunchy” and you will find various recipes or watch Nigella herself making them on this You Tube clip : Sweet and Salty Crunch Bars .  They are so simple a child can make them.  Oh, he did!  Thanks Harvey.

They are totally moreish and irresistible and as an occasional treat, worth every point/calorie.

Also on the menu was BBQ chicken, sausages, salad leaves from the garden and coleslaw.

Finally our visitors arrived, the champagne corks popped and we began a fun evening of reminiscing and catching up with each other.

It was wonderful to have supper with Megan, Aisling and Katherina.

James, Matt and Kath,

The little fellas at the end had fun too.  But refused to smile for the camera.

I forgot about photographing my plate as I was far more interested in the fabulous company around my table rather than the food upon it.  Suffice to say, great quantities of food and drink were consumed,  many tales were told and we had a very long and very lovely night together.  Don’t leave it so long Katherina before coming back, please.

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A Way With Kale

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

I started my day with a large pot of strong Assam tea to get over the shock of having been woken up by the little fella at 5:30 am.  He was keen to get on with his day and start playing with Lucas.  The amount of shouting negotiating it took to get him back to bed left me completely awake.

One pot of tea and some interesting blog reading later I felt ready for my day.  Porridge!  I wanted porridge today with some fresh mango and a Turkish fig.

50 g of Jumbo oats, 140 ml unsweetened almond milk. 1 tsp Chia seeds, 1 tbsp clementine cashew nut butter, half a fresh mango and one Turkish fig.  What a fantastic combination of flavours and textures.  Every mouthful was a pleasure.

When I am tired it is tempting to consume lots of caffeine in an attempt to stay awake, especially on a day like to day when I have a million things to do.  But caffeine highs are followed by post-caffeine slumps which make you feel worse than you did before so instead I drank green tea which I enjoy very much.  Green tea does have some caffeine but less than coffee or black tea.  It has a light and refreshing flavour and I particularly like the Dragonfly teas.

Lunch was the other half of the aubergine parmagiani left over from last night.  I did not rave about it enough on yesterday’s blog.  It was AMAZING and you should all eat it.  Unless you are allergic to aubergines or tomatoes or cheese.  It was delicious.  If you don’t have ‘Veg everyday!’ I am sure you have the recipe in one of your other books or can Google it.  I did learn that it is an Italian dish called “Melanzane Parmagiana” which is similar to lasagne in its construction, using aubergine instead of pasta (thank you Mirella) so you could also search for that.

It is hard to believe that so few ingredients could combine to taste so fantastic.  It reheats beautifully, was as good if not better than yesterday and is currently my favourite vegetable dish.  I ate it with a mountain of salad leaves, rocket and spinach I picked in the garden.  Wow, it was good.

I was also going to have it with some homegrown carrots but as soon as I scrubbed one, Harvey or I ate it!  Some were very small 🙂  But they were perfectly formed and tasted really good.  I planted them very late so they haven’t had much time to get going.  Many were much larger than this little one but I also have plenty this size or even smaller!

We decided to treat the dogs to a huge bone each.  Our local butchers in Cranbrook gives away their bones as I suspect all butchers do.  It saves them desposing of them. It’s a bit like recycling really.  The dogs were delighted and have not been seen or heard from much since.

Supper tonight was risotto to use up the left over chicken stock I made earlier in the week.  I am using an old favourite cookbook which I have not used for ages; Nigel Slater’s Real Food.  It is well thumbed with stained pages from endless use but has lain unread at the back of the book shelf for a few years.  So tonight I am making pancetta and blue cheese risotto, with lean smoked back bacon instead of pancetta to reduce the fat content but hopefully not the flavour.

Oh yes, and without the blue cheese either.  After yesterday’s cheesefest I need to keep away from cheese for a bit and there was cheese in my lunch so I really must not add any more, even though it would have been lovely.  So supper tonight was pancetta and blue cheese risotto without the pancetta or blue cheese :-).

It did have chicken in it too, the bits of chicken I picked off the carcass after I made the stock.  So really it was chicken and bacon risotto.

Served with leeks and kale, lightly sautéed in a tbsp oil and drizzled with maple syrup.  I struggle with kale but keep trying different ways of cooking it as it is so nutritious.  It is a good source of fibre, vitamins A, C and K plus many minerals including calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, copper and manganese.

According to the World’s Healthiest Foods website, kale also has properties which can help reduce cholesterol, reduce the risk of some cancers, support detoxification, and provide antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

So it is without doubt a super healthy vegetable but I have never been keen on it.  However, tonight’s flash of inspiration may have solved the problem.  I chopped up a leek and a mountain of kale.  I fried the leek in 1 tbsp groundnut oil which is virtually flavourless.  I then added the kale and a little water so the kale steamed in the frying pan with the leek.  When the water was nearly gone I drizzled 2 tbsp maple syrup over the leek and kale and cooked it for about another 2 minutes until the water was virtually gone.

The end result was a mild maple syrup flavour on the vegetables which distracted from the strong kale flavour.  It had been sufficiently well steamed too so it was soft rather than tough and fibrousy.  The maple syrup flavour worked very well with the salty bacon in the risotto.  A success !  I think I have found a way with kale so I will actually look forward to it next time.

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Sugar Cravings

Posted on October 26, 2011 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

I enjoyed the apple and raspberry crumble I had last night.  The downside is that today I have been craving sugar all day and I am sure it is because of last nights sugar rush.  I am certain that the more sugar I eat, the more I want.  The same applies to refined white carbs too, like white bread, white pasta, cakes and biscuits.  It does not seem to be such a problem if I have a fat based sugary dish.  For example, last week I had 2 knickerbocker glories which were essentially ice-cream with fruit.  I buy high end ice-cream so it has a high fat content.  I enjoy it while I am eating it and do not have the cravings later.  It is the combination of sugar and white refined carbs that makes dieting difficult.

I tried to go for a vitamin boost in the morning and had a smoothie but actually it was a bit disappointing.  It was too runny, the taste was a bit strange and it was probably too sweet with not enough protein in it.  It was strawberries, raspberries, a banana, 1 level tbsp pumpkin seed butter (which does NOT go with berries so don’t make that mistake), 1 tsp Chia seeds and unsweetened almond milk.

Those gourds get everywhere!

Harvey and I walked with the dogs for an hour round Hemstead Forest with Ruth and William.  It poured with rain for the first half hour but we kept going anyway.  Apart from the rain preventing me from taking the camera, it was fun walking in the rain.  William came home with us for lunch.

Lunch was a shepherds pie.

Ingredients

  • 4  potatoes, peeled and quartered
  • 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and quartered
  • Splash of milk
  • Butter (optional)
    salt and pepper
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • Large onion, peeled and finely chopped
  • 2 large carrots, peeled and chopped in to cubes
  • 500 g minced lamb (or use minced beef or a mixture of the two)
  • 1 tbsp plain flour
  • 350 ml beef stock
  • 1 can baked beans or other beans (optional)

Method

  1. Boil the white potatoes with some salt in the water for about 10 minutes. Add the sweet potatoes and boil for about 10 minutes, until all potatoes are soft.
  2. Drain and mash the potatoes with milk (and butter) and season to taste.  Set aside.
  3. Preheat oven to 180 ° C
  4. Heat oil in a frying pan and fry the onions and carrot until beginning to soften.
  5. Add the meat and fry until brown.
  6. Add flour and cook for 2 minutes.
  7. Gradually add beef stock, stirring to make a thickened gravy.
  8. Add beans (if using)
  9. Put the meat mixture in an oven proof dish
  10. Spread the mashed potato on top
  11. Bake in the oven at 180 ° C for half an hour.

I intended to serve it with some green vegetables which would have been more nutritious but this was one of those days that flew by too fast so they didn’t happen.  I don’t think the boys were bothered and the empty plates were testament to how yummy it was.

By late afternoon I was really struggling with a sugar craving.  So I had a snack I really fancied but with a low GI rating.  I had some Brie with 7 thin oatcakes and some grapes.  The Brie weighed 61 g so it was a decent sized piece.  I enjoyed every mouthful and felt quite sated afterwards.

There is a factory in my garden that keeps producing lovely boys and instructing them to come and sit at my kitchen table and eat my food.  This evening we have the Lucas version and they ate pizza which they chose earlier when I popped in to the shops with them.

I didn’t have pizza.  I opened up Hugh F-W’s Veg everyday! and chose Aubergine Parmigiana.  My slightly adapted version was very easy.  Hugh’s recipe serves 6.  I made a quarter of the portion as I only had 1 aubergine and I got 2 servings out of it.

Ingredients.

  • 1 aubergine
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 ball Buffalo Mozzarella, torn in to small pieces
  • 10 g parmesan, finely grated
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, mashed
  • 1 tin chopped tomatoes
  • 1 level tsp sugar
  • salt and pepper

Method.

  • Preheat oven to 180 ° C.
  • Slice aubergine lengthwise, brush both sides with oil and bake in the oven until soft (20 – 30 minutes).
  • Make tomato sauce:
  • Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat.
  • Add onions and garlic and fry until soft – about 10 minutes.
  • Add tomatoes, bring to a simmer and simmer for about half an hour, until the sauce is thick and rich.
  • Add sugar and seasoning to taste.
  • Layer half the aubergine in the base of an baking dish.
  • Top with half the tomato sauce and half the cheese.
  • Repeat the layers, of aubergine, tomato sauce and cheese.
  • Bake for about 30 minutes until bubbling and golden on top.
  • Serve with a green salad.

The aubergine parmigiana was amazing.  Soft and cheesy and tomatoey.  I have probably had so much cheese this afternoon I will have nightmares tonight but at least the sugar cravings have gone 🙂

Posted in Healthy Lifestyle, Lose Weight | Tagged , , | 4 Comments