Apple Squash

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

After yesterday’s excesses I had to really behave myself today.  I didn’t get to bed until 2:30am so had less than 4 and a half hours sleep.  I was very tired when I woke up.  I chose a smoothie for breakfast so I had something easy to digest and full of vitamins.

Frozen mixed berries, 140 ml unsweetened soya milk, 100 g Greek yogurt, 1 tbsp pumpkin seed butter.

The result was creamy and fruity and very drinkable.  9 WW points.

I made a very large salad for lunch.  I picked rocket, 3 types of lettuce and spinach from the garden.  I added celery, tomatoes, last nights left over roasted vegetables and new potatoes (100g), 20 g Salad Cream and 90 g lean ham.  It was very tasty and only 7 WW points.

This afternoon I went a few hundred metres up the road to visit ‘Veg Grower Up The Road’.  We sat in her beautiful garden in the October sunshine for coffee and cake.

Not only does Veg Grower grow vegetables and give away fruit from her orchard, she is a fabulous cook too.  Delectable home made delicacies enjoyed in the past include rhubarb cake and beetroot brownies.   Today it was apple cake and it was delicious.  I am not sure how to work out the points so I estimated 10 which is probably too many but I would rather be over then under in my estimations.

Another neighbour, Judy, was there too and she was telling us about how she took 1 and a half tons of apples from her orchard to  Ringden Farm to be made in to apple juice and cider.  The apple juice remains drinkable for 5 years.  It is pasteurised in the bottle and contains no additives.  So if any of you local people have lots of apples, consider having your own juice and /or cider made.  We used to do this as a fund raiser for the village school and it is not very expensive so look in to it if you are interested.  Thank you Judy for the reminder.  And thank you Veg Grower for a lovely afternoon and some more diet-busting cake.  At least it had lots of fruit in it :-).

For supper tonight I adapted another recipe from Hugh F-W’s ‘Veg everyday!’ book to make Chickpeas with Chard and Cumin.  I wanted to use up some of the Rainbow Chard I have plenty of in the garden.

On p. 246 is a recipe for chickpeas with spinach and cumin.  I made the recipe exactly except I switched the spinach for chard.

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp rapeseed oil
  • 1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • Pinch of dried chilli flakes
  •  1 tsp ground cumin
  • Grated zest of 1 lemon
  • 400 g tin chopped tomatoes
  • Approx 4 large leaves Rainbow Chard
  • 400 g tin chickpeas, drained and washed
  • Salt and Pepper

Method

  1. Remove the stalks from the chard and chop up.
  2. Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the onions and chard stalks until soft which takes about 8-10 minutes.
  3. Add the garlic, chilli, cumin and lemon and cook for another 2 minutes.
  4. Add the tomatoes and cook for a few minutes.
  5. Add the chard leaves and cook until they are wilted.
  6. Add the chickpeas and cook until they are warmed through.
  7. Season to taste and serve.

The final result was good.  Not excellent but good.

I bought an onion squash this week and thought the gentle flavour and soft texture would go well with the chickpea dish.  I guess an onion squash is so named because it looks like a large orange onion!

To cook it I cut it in half and scooped out the seeds.  I then cut each half in to slices over which I spread 1 tsp butter, brushed on 1 tbsp maple syrup and ground salt and pepper over it.

I baked it in the oven at 180 ° C for 30 – 40 minutes.  It was really good.  Such a lovely sweet flavour and soft texture.  It went really well with the spicy earthy chick pea dish.  It made it a delicious dinner.

I am sorry summer is over but there is a lot to celebrate and enjoy in Autumn. Apples and squash are some of the wonderful fresh flavours of the season.

P.S. Good luck Wales tomorrow morning.

Posted in Grow Your Own, Healthy Lifestyle, Lose Weight | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Margate : I Just Started Loving You

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

” I never stopped loving you”, said Tracey Emin of her beloved childhood home, Margate.  Well I never started loving or even liking Margate before.  I just didn’t get it.  And I was very disappointed by the new Turner Contemporary when I visited in the summer.  Today that all changed.

I met Lucy in the Cupcake Cafe for breakfast.

Not the healthiest or most diet friendly breakfast but it tasted good :-).

We had a lovely potter about the Old Town and saw some unusual sights, such as these life-like dolls, which were rather creepy, somehow.
The Old Town has some beautiful architecture and original and charming shops.

We then went to the Turner.
First wonderful surprise was seeing ‘The Kiss’.  I love this statue and was quite overwhelmed to see it up close.
 It looked stunning set in the entrance hall against the sea.
I lurve that statue.
The main exhibition was nostalgic, fascinating, absorbing and interesting.
Is this the pen and paper version of a blog?
If you want to see what was in the exhibition, you will have to go and look for yourselves!
I want to go back.
Lunch was at The Greedy Cow.
Goats cheese on a bed of spinach and red pepper.  Really tasty.
For supper I had 2 lovely visitors; Marion and Sarah.  They arrived with fizz, red wine and chocolates.
I provided salmon with roasted veg, new potatoes and coconut and black bean dip.
Followed by French Brie and Spanish Manchengo with American saltine crackers and grapes – how cosmopolitan we are!
More wine and chocolates.
Daytime eating was reasonable.  Not brilliant but acceptable.  But evening eating and drinking was a disaster so Friday needs to be very well behaved

I had a lovely evening, which was the perfect end to such a wonderful day.  I am so pleased I have discovered the charms of Margate.  You should try it too.

Posted in Beach | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Beside The Seaside

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside.  Oh I do like to be beside the sea. Tra la la.  Yes I do!  I feel incredibly lucky to have as a primary objective for the day a coastal walk.  I have been doing well with eating healthily but am not doing so well at exercising.  I am missing my little Drill Sargent who used to make me go on walks.  So I am going to do something I will really enjoy – walk from Ramsgate to Broadstairs and back.  I have walked from Ramsgate to Broadstairs before,  but slowly and have then needed a lift back.  Today, I want to walk both ways and at a speed quicker than a gentle potter.

I had breakfast at home.  My Weight Watchers points are gradually decreasing as I lose weight so I decided today was the day to reduce my porridge portion from half a cup to a third of a cup.  I made it with 140 ml almond milk and 1 tsp Chia seeds.  I added some berries, which I had pureed with 2 fresh figs and also a tbsp of hazelnut butter for protein and fat.  Yummy.

I drove to Ramsgate, did some chores and then set out on my walk at about 2 pm.  The weather was perfect.  Bright blue sunny sky and virtually no wind which is good as sometimes those sea breezes are freezing. 🙂

This is the view from my front door.

When I cross the road in front of the house I have a perfect view of the marina.

It was high tide so I planned to walk there along the cliff tops and back along the beach.  So instead of my normal route round the marina, I went straight ahead and past the waterfall.   These rocks are a Victorian folly.  Inspired by their travels abroad, the Victorians wanted to show people back home how stunning some of the natural scenery was they had seen on their travels.  But to save money, these huge stones were not imported from abroad but rather made at home from cheap materials and then covered in Pulhamite artificial rock!  They look really good and there are lots of examples of this around here.

At the top of the hill I got to the bandstand and Wellington Crescent.

Walking along the cliffs there are several places to get down to beach level; by lift, steps or walkway.  Just before the park is a walkway down to the beach – more examples of Pulhamite rock.

Through King George VI Memorial Park and you come out at Dumpton Gap.

Nearly there.  Standing at Louisa Bay, Viking Bay (the main beach of Broadstairs) begins to come in to view.

The beautiful sandy beach at Viking Bay, Broadstairs.  It is October 12th and people are swimming in the sea.  It was so warm today.  Quite incredible to have this temperature so late in the year.  I am so lucky to be out here enjoying it.

It was 3 pm and time for lunch.  I enjoy going to Morelli’s when I am in Broadstairs I and ordered a latte and a panning.  There was no healthy salad or vegetable based option.

The coffee was great but the mozzarella, pesto and tomato pannini was mediocre.  Luckily I was very hungry so I was grateful for it.  It was lovely sitting by the window, looking out at the sea and relaxing.  I really like Morelli’s 1950’s vibe.  I love the formica topped tables, all the pink and white and the fact you can come in and have a coffee or an ice cream sundae.  I was tempted but I resisted.

I enjoyed a leisurely potter about Broadstairs and walked up the hill to a fishmongers I had been recommended but I was disappointed to find it was shut.  I will try and get there tomorrow.  Time to head back to Ramsgate so farewell Broadstairs, until next time.

I enjoyed my cliff top walk but I prefer to walk beside the sea.  To do this walk you always have to check the tide times because there is a stretch of the walk where you can get cut off at high tide.  The majority of the walk is along a promenade so it is an easy walk.  It is also fun to just hop down on to the beach too.

The beaches here are sandy and the cliffs are chalky so the landscape is really stunning.  In some places, the chalk outcrops are along the beach.  It makes for a most unusual landscape.  Along the cliffs are many caves.  I missed Harvey today as he loves hiding in the caves, climbing up the cliffs and peering in to all the rockpools.

Ramsgate is in sight.

Literally!

To conceal a building development on the beach, a long billboard was erected and this has been decorated by many pieces of art.  The Great Wall of Ramsgate  has some wonderful pictures hung on it and is a brilliant way to disguise an ugly building site.  These are some of my favourites.

Ramsgate’s main beach is sandy and is known as the “Main Sands”.  Looking out to the Main Sands from the old casino you can see one of the cross Channel ferries arriving from Oostende.

Time for a beer!

I sat in one of my favourite bars next to the marina, Miles.  The beer was cold and the view was lovely.  I could see my house on the cliff top in the distance and in between me and the house were hundreds of yachts.  I sat and watched the sun set and thought about supper.

I went home via Waitrose where I bought some Cornish sardines to go with the vegetables I had brought from home.  2 sardines cost 98p – what a bargain!  I took a photo of the raw ingredients and then noticed my camera is nearly out of battery so I am saving it for tomorrow.  It was a quick and easy supper.  I chopped up the veg and roasted them in the oven with some coconut oil on 180 C for about 40 – 45 minutes.  I baked the sardines in foil and served it all with some of the coconut black bean dip I made yesterday.  Yummy.

Today was fantastic.  If you or anyone you know wants to stay in our beach house overlooking the marina, it is available to rent through Freedom Holiday Homes.  The house is called ‘Marina Prospect’ and is property ref ‘EK195’.

The good weather is predicted to continue through the weekend so if you can , get down to the coast and have a walk.  It makes you feel good 🙂

Posted in Beach, Healthy Lifestyle | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Tuesdays are for Tennis not Toads

Posted on October 11, 2011 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

I nearly died this morning.  I nearly died from shock at what crawled out of Harvey’s welly boot when I attempted to tidy the porch this morning.  People who know me well, know how terrified I am of spiders.  Well, I picked up the boots and put them down tidily.  The welly wobbled a bit, I saw a large dark shape emerge, I screamed and moved back.   An enormous big fat body with an ugly warty head and googley eyes appeared.  It was a toad.  A Bufo Bufo to be accurate, the common toad.  I am sure he was quite a posh toad really.

I was relieved it wasn’t a spider and I am quite fond of amphibians.  I am not sure I like him living in my porch but I can’t shoo him outside in case the dogs get him.  So for now, Mr. Bufo Toad is living under my shoe rack.  I hope he will be happy there and at least make himself useful by eating spiders.

Having revived myself I had breakfast.  I wanted something different today and went for 100 g Greek yogurt with cinnamon and 1 tsp honey, a blood orange and 15 g of finely chopped almonds.  It was really good but not quite large enough.  I should have added more fruit.  Or not been bring to diet and eaten at least twice as much yogurt – it really was delicious.

Tuesdays are tennis days 🙂

We are still at Christine’s while the Club courts are being resurfaced.  The court is next to the hop fields so it is a very Kentish location.  A very enjoyable hour and half spent playing tennis, eventually in the sunshine.

When I went home I was supposed to be getting on with a specific task I do not really want to do so I quickly found something else to do!  I had some very large tomatoes in the fridge.  I am not a fan of huge tomatoes hence I had 4 left over from our recent trip to Costco.  Hugh F-W uses up tomatoes by drying them in the oven (p. 304 of ‘Veg everyday!’).  This is really simple but takes time so a perfect task for a day spent indoors.

Oven Dried Tomatoes

I cut the tomatoes in to 1/8ths and scraped out the seeds.  I then sprinkled them with a mix of salt and sugar and laid them on racks over newspaper.  I used the grill tray racks.

I left them on the countertop for about an hour, during which time some of the juices ran out.  I tipped out the pools of juice and put the tomatoes cut side up on a baking tray.  Sprinkled them with thyme, bay leaves and some olive oil and put them in a low oven for 4 – 5 hours.

When they came out of the oven, they looked like this.

When they had cooled I put them in a tub in the fridge with some extra olive oil on them and I can use them with roasted veggie dishes or pasta etc.  Anywhere you would use sun dried tomatoes, apparently.

Lunch was some grilled vegetables with a Coconut Back Bean Dip on the side that I found on the Kath Eats site.  I used the the same quantities and method as the recipe but with different products.

First of all I chopped up a courgette, two red peppers and a red onion.  I put them on a stoneware baking dish, added 1 tbsp olive oil and some salt to season and put them in the oven for about half an hour on 180° C.  While that was cooking I made the dip.

My coconut black bean dip came out much runnier than Kath’s and I suspect that is because  used coconut milk and she must have used real coconut.  I also used tinned beans rather than dried so they may have had more water in them and my cream cheese may have been a different consistency.  Particularly since it wasn’t real cheese but a vegan alternative.

My ingredients were:

1 can black beans, rinsed
3 heaped tbsp Tofutti Cream Cheese with garlic and herbs
1/3 cup coconut milk
1 tbsp maple syrup
pinch salt
1/4 cup walnuts

I put everything except the walnuts in the blender and blitzed until smooth.  I then added the walnuts and pulsed then blitzed until really smooth and creamy.

I put the cooked veggies in a bowl and added the dip.

I was not so keen on the dip when I tasted it on its own but with the veggies it was great.  I think the sweet flavour from the peppers worked really well with the dip.  The grey colour is a bit off putting but the flavour is good.  There is plenty left in the fridge which I can add to pasta.

I had to get James some bread.  He is working late at the moment and wants to be able to grab a quick and easy supper when he comes home.  I also bought some lovely ham, eggs and a cheese I have not had before called Shropshire Blue.  Unfortunately it means I am tempted to eat it and I was.

So my supper, which I had at about 5pm, was a ham and mustard sandwich.  It was so good.  The granary bread was malty and chewy.  The ham was fabulous as it was so meaty and quite unlike the watery excuse for ham you find in many a supermarket packet.  But too many points 😦

Later on I had some of the cheese with celery.  The Shropshire Blue is a strong flavoured cheese but creamy rather then sharp.  I really liked it.  Cheese and celery is a lovely combination.  And that was that, food wise for the day.  Not a disaster, but not great either.

What happened to Mr Bufo the toad?  He was sitting on the doorstep when I went to get Harvey from school.  I think he realised this was not Toad Hall and he was last seen hopping along across the patio, hopefully to somewhere safe.

Posted in Healthy Lifestyle, Lose Weight, Recipe | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Leftovers

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

Mondays are good days to use up leftovers.  There are usually some tasty titbits in the fridge, left over from the weekend.  There are definitely opened jars and cans from the previous weeks cooking and I hate to throw food away.  It seems a wicked waste, when food is such a struggle to so many in the world, to just throw something out.  It may require a bit of imagination but unless they are going off, I enjoy the challenge of making something tasty out of leftovers.

Breakfast is easy – make a smoothie.  Almost anything can be added to the blender and blitzed and pureed in to something at least edible and preferably tasty.  I used some mixed frozen berries and a frozen banana as the base.  I added almond milk, that half can of pumpkin puree, 1 tbsp clementine cashew nut butter and 2 figs which were a bit shrivelled.

The results were very pleasing.  It was so thick I had to eat it with a spoon and the frozen berries and frozen banana made it cold so it was not dissimilar to a soft sorbet.  It was lovely and not a hint of pumpkin taste.

Did I say frozen banana?  Yes I did.  I always buy bananas in a bunch and they always go too brown before I get through them.  So when they are optimally ripe, I put them in the freezer, in their skins, just as they are.

They can then be used in porridge, smoothies and baking.  If you defrost them they go mushy so I wouldn’t freeze them with a view to eating them as a piece of fruit.  Unless of course you like mushy banana!  When I want to use one, I let them deforest slightly as it makes them easier to peel.  If I am in a rush in the morning, I hold the banana under hot running water for a few seconds so I can peel it.  There you go, there’s a top tip that will mean you never have to throw banana away again 🙂

We had run out of milk so I had a black coffee mid-morning.  This coffee with vanilla is lovely and I find it easy to drink without milk.

I wanted to eat lots of vegetables at lunch time so I took the food out of the fridge that I thought needed using up.  The sunflower sprouts, baby plum tomatoes, orange pepper and broccoli were not fresh enough to eat raw so I decided to do a stir fry.  I wanted to eat some oily fish so grabbed a tin of sardines in tomato sauce.

I heated up a tsp of coconut oil and fried the red onion, then the orange pepper, broccoli and rainbow chard stems.  I added some hot water to the rose harissa paste jar, shook well and poured the watered down paste in to the pan.   I added the sunflower sprouts, shredded cabbage, chard leaves and tomatoes and cooked together for a couple of minutes.  I served all the vegetables and then added the sardines to the pan and warmed them through.

The sardines did not complement the flavours really but individually, both the stir fried vegetables and the fish tasted lovely.   That rose harissa was quite spicy!

For supper I defrosted a couple of potato and vegetable cakes from the freezer.  I can’t remember where I got the recipe from but I know I made them by using mashed potato like pastry which I folded over some finely chopped and lightly spiced vegetables.  I detected carrots, peas, spring onions and broccoli in the mix.  I was going to have them with a salad but when it came to it, I didn’t feel like salad so we had baked beans and I also had cheddar cheese.  Real nursery food!  Quite tasty though.

One more leftover too use up; I found a bottle of near empty Cabernet Sauvignon in the dining room.  Having lost 4.5 pounds at Weight Watchers weigh in tonight, I thought I deserved a glass.  I also had a small bowlful of these gorgeous dried fruits and nuts I had bought in Costco.

Some evenings Harvey has a bowl of these with an apple or orange.  Tonight I had some too.  They are lovely but please don’t kid yourself that dried fruits and roasted salted nuts are health food as they are not!  Roasted oils, salt and concentrated sugar are not healthy.  Taste good though.

I think there was only about 100 ml of wine but I sat down to enjoy it with the fruit and nuts.  I felt very pleased to have lost 4 and a half pounds in the last week, particularly since I have worked very hard at eating healthily.  It just shows how you can lose weight when you stick to the plan.

The wineglass and bowl were soon empty, with nothing left over.

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

Just The Two Of Us

Posted on October 9, 2011 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

James went to Norfolk to spend some time with Dan and his family before they head back to Australia so that just left the two of us at home, Harvey and me.  We weren’t actually at home much though.

The bread rolls we made yesterday were perfect for breakfast.  Harvey was playing at a rugby festival so needed a nutritious and energy giving meal.  I had no such justification but fancied a cooked breakfast so had one too.  Hey, that’s what Sundays are for!  We had one of the bread rolls each which we ate as an open sandwich, with a poached egg, ham and tomato.  The rolls were good and it was very satisfying to eat bread for breakfast that we had made ourselves.

I calculated the WW points to be:
bread roll      6
egg                  2
1 tsp butter    1
2 slices ham   2
Tomato           0

Total WW points = 11

After 4 hours of rugby we went to my sister Abi’s for lunch.  Abi lives in Seaford which is an hours drive from our home.  A very pleasant drive, cross country with lovely views.  After driving through pretty Alfriston and over the Downs the view of the sea in the distance is beautiful.  Plus it means we are nearly there.

My brother in law, Jim, is one of the best meat cooks I know.  Jim is quite able to turn his culinary hands to anything but he likes to eat, and therefore likes to cook, meat.  So it is always a treat to have a Jimmy meal.  Abi makes great puddings so I was really looking forward to our late lunch.  I also love seeing my sister and her family.  My little nieces and nephew are so cute.

Lunch today was roasted pork belly with fennel, garlicky roast chicken, broccoli, green beans, roasted potatoes, parsnip and carrots.

If I had managed to restrain myself and just eaten what is in the photo, I would have done really well.  But I ate at least the same amount again.  I just couldn’t resist.  The meat was so flavoursome, the potatoes crispy and the parsnip and carrot so sweet I had to eat more.  I am too ashamed to admit how many potatoes I had ( I truthfully lost count) but I estimated lunch at 29 WW points!  NB dieters – one small roast potato is 2 WW points!!!!

I still had room for pudding; home made chocolate brownies with ice cream.  The portions were modest and I think this heavenly bowlful was probably 10 WW points.

In the evening I wanted to eat more.  Why does that happen?  I ate plenty for lunch and lunch was a late one so I can not justify eating more.  I am definitely not hungry.  But I want to drink wine and eat cheese and biscuits.  I have managed to behave myself though – YIPPEE 🙂 I did that by calculating how many points I have already had and that frightened me.  Then I made myself a lovely  plate of fruit to nibble at; a blood orange and an apple.  Apples are so sweet and crisp and crunchy at this time of year.  Delicious.

To make my fruit plate as special as possible, I used a beautiful plate my Grandmother made and ate it with a silver fork with a mother of pearl handle my Father gave me.  Somehow that helps reduce food cravings.  So does chewing every mouthful slowly.

I blogged and munched and watched the X-Factor.  I had a happy day with some of my wonderful family.  I ate great food and have no need for any more.  Phew!

Posted in Lose Weight | 2 Comments

I Knead Dough

Posted on October 8, 2011 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

This could be an observation on my precarious financial position but actually relates to how the little fella and I spent some time this afternoon.  But more on that later.

We had a busy morning ahead as Harvey had a swimming lesson and was then playing in a football match for the school.  I made porridge as it is so good at releasing energy slowly.  I looked at the half empty can of pumpkin and then looked away.  Not today.  I added Chia seeds for protein and coconut for sweetening to make a change from a banana.  My bowl had 50 g Jumbo oats, 140 ml soya milk, 1/2 tbsp Chia seeds, 1/2 tbsp coconut.  It was good with coconut in it.

It was so cold standing on the sides watching football.   I must get to grips with my winter wardrobe properly!  We lost 1 – 2 unfortunately so, cold and disappointed, we headed off to match tea.  What a spread.  Hot coffee and toasted bacon sandwiches.  How could I refuse?  Actually I started quite well.  I had a quarter of a sandwich i.e. if a sandwich is made of 2 slices of toast and then cut in to quarters, I had one of those.  They also had smoked salmon which I just love so I had one of those.  Still not a disaster.  But then I noticed the Brie and red grape, which is such a winning combination I had 3 of those.  That made 1 and a 1/4 sandwiches which was too much.  I would like to add there was a mountain of food and I certainly did not eat so much that others had to go without.  I do wish I had declined the coffee cake even though it was really good.   We were home by 11:30 am and lunch was already eaten!

We were having a quiet day at home which we all needed after such a busy time recently.  The left over Porotos Granados from last night was moved back from lunch today to supper.  I made another recipe from ‘Veg everyday!’ with my little helper; Garlicky flatbreads.  If your children are at all interested in cooking, making bread is an excellent recipe to make with them.  Children love tactile activities and kneading bread dough is fun.  The bonus for the rest of the family who have to eat the results of their kneading, is that they can’t really ruin it.

I used a 50:50 mix of wholemeal flour, which I prefer, and white, which James prefers for a flatbread.  Homemade bread has no additives so is a much healthier alternative to even good quality organic mass produced bread.  All this recipe had in it was flour, yeast, water, oil and salt.  Nothing else.  Read the packet of bread the next time you buy it and you may be surprised by how much is added.  Homemade is significantly cheaper to shop bought bread, especially artisan bread.  So while not a health food, as such, we rarely eat bread and as an occasional treat, this is healthier than a standard shop bought product.

Each flatbread has 6 WW points and the garlic infused olive oil is 4 WW points per portion.

Opening the tin of yeast took me back years to my Grandmother’s kitchen.  I am one of 4 girls and Nana (as we called my Mother’s Mother) used to have us to sleep over but only ever one at a time.  It was such a treat to go and have undivided attention and all that unconditional love that Grandma’s are so good at.  Nana used to make her own bread and the little brown yeast balls and the smell of yeast always takes me back to that little kitchen and all those happy times we had together.

We weighed out the ingredients;

250 g Wholewheat Strong Flour
250 g Plain White Flour
1 1/2 level tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp dried yeast
1 tbsp Rapeseed Oil

The dry ingredients (flours, salt and dried yeast) were mixed together, by little hands.

And then mixed up with the water and oil, also by little hands.

Quite enthusiastically!

We both took turns at kneading and the final product was popped in to a bowl, to hopefully rise, while we went to watch a film, Bolt, which was fun.

Nearly 2 hours later……ta daaaaaaa 🙂  The dough had risen.  Check out the before and after proving photo.

Little hands knocked the dough down.

It was cut in to 8 pieces; 4 were rolled in to bread roll shapes and set aside to prove again and the other 4 were rolled flat to be made in to flatbreads.  Each piece of flatbread was cooked on a hot frying pan.

Then drizzled with garlic infused olive oil with sea salt sprinkled on top.

Served as a side dish to the Porotos Granados which reheated very well.

It was a FAB-U-LOUS meal.  The bread was so amazing.  It was full of flavour and chewy and we could all have eaten it all over again.  The bread went really well with the stew and the flavours and textures complemented each other perfectly.  Excellent.

The other half will be bread rolls tomorrow so hope they are good too.  I think they will be and I think we will be kneading more dough very soon.

Posted in Lose Weight | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Seeking Your Inner Doris

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

I have been very lucky to have spent the past 6 months at home.  I love being at home and if I could afford to I would stay at home, caring for my children, being more involved in their daily lives and focusing on improving the health of myself and my family.  However, the reality is that I am now looking for work.  I will be looking back within the world of Finance, which is where my experience is from.  But I do not find that type of work stimulating or fulfilling any more.  I like pay-day and I have worked with some fabulous people and some of the projects I have been involved with have been challenging, interesting and satisfying.   But I want to do something different.  The question is, what?  What do I want to do?  What could my skills be transferred to?  What could I afford to do?

I spent a very pleasurable hour or so this morning with someone who is doing what she wants to do.  Louise Dean has had a varied and interesting career and is Mother to three children.  She is currently producing beautiful and original stoneware.  Her company is called Doris & Co. and she works from home in Hawkhurst in Kent creating Dorisware.  Dorisware is pieces of stoneware, such as mugs and jugs which are decorated with quaint and beautiful sayings and charming patterns.  The stoneware is made in Poland to her specifications and she decorates all the individual pieces by hand in her workroom and then fires them in her kiln.  Here is lovely Louise in her work room.

I enjoyed sitting in Louise’s beautiful kitchen which had lots of Dorisware on display and in use.

This is one of my favourite Dorisware phrases on the jug and it looks so pretty with the flowers in it.

Have you noticed those amazing cakes?  Imagine how tempting that was to me, especially since I had not had time for breakfast before going out this morning.  The cakes were made by Cocolicious, as recently featured in the Wealden Times magazine which is a local publication.  I resisted the little carrot cakes but did have a lamington and it was delicious and worth every calorie/point.  It was accompanied by two coffees and some funny and interesting conversations with some of the lovely local ladies who popped in to see the new Dorisware pieces.

When I got home I was definitely ready for a late breakfast.  My mission, is to use up 4 cans of pumpkin puree.   A blog I really enjoy is Peas And Thank You which is written, in a very humorous manner, by a vegan Mother of two.  She put up a recipe for pumpkin pie smoothie this week and I decided to try it.

I didn’t freeze the pumpkin or add the garam masala or xanthan gum but otherwise I was faithful to Mama Peas recipe.  As a sweetener I used 1 tsp maple syrup.  I didn’t add the cream or crackers to the top either, but they would probably have been good additions.

If you want to try this but don’t have American cup measures, the pumpkin weighed 240 g and the milk was 250 ml. And the result?

Well, it was edible/drinkable.  I liked the consistency very much but I am not convinced I like the taste. Or is it just that I can not reconcile cold pumpkin with being a pleasurable taste sensation?  I am not sure but I will not make the smoothie again, mainly because I give it a low satiety rating i.e. it did not keep me feeling full for long and I was hungry for lunch before midday.

Lunch was quick and easy; a jacket potato with a small tin of tuna and a tbsp of mayonnaise.  I was in too much of a rush to even mix the mayo in to the tuna, which would have been better, but I was hungry and due to meet Lucy for a dog walk round Sissinghurst Castle Gardens.  It was an unexciting but substantial lunch and it did the job.

What a glorious afternoon for a walk.  I am sure I have said this before but I feel so lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world which is populated by so many wonderful people with so many good things being created and made here.  One of my favourite little spots is this magical room beside the stream within Sissinghurst Castle Gardens.

There are beautiful views all around and it is just idyllic.  We wandered past the lakes and through the woods.  It was perfect walking weather.

We were so engrossed in conversation we lost our way and our walk ended up taking two and half hours which was fine with me.  I enjoyed it all, even the hurried dash back to the car when we realised there was a good chance of being late for school pick up.

For supper inspiration I returned to ‘Veg Everyday!’.  I made Porotos Granados which is a Chilean bean and squash stew.  It was very easy to make and took about 30 – 40 minutes from start to serving up.  It has in it butternut squash, beans ( I used tinned cannelini beans), green beans and sweetcorn cut from the cob.  The flavours come mainly from sweet smoked paprika, garlic and oregano.  Mine seemed more soupy than the picture in the book i.e. there was more liquid so I perhaps didn’t have enough squash but it didn’t matter.

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp Rapeseed Oil
  • 1 medium Onion, peeled and finely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tsp sweet paprika
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • 400 g tin of white beans such as cannelini, haricot or pinto.
  • 1 litre vegetable stock
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 squash
  • 200 g French beans, trimmed and cut
  • The kernels from 2 cobs of corn
  • Salt and Pepper

Method

  1. Heat the oil and fry the onion and garlic on a low heat until going soft.
  2. Add the paprika and oregano and cook for another minute.
  3. Add the beans, stock, bay leaf and squash and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the squash is soft.
  4. Add the green beans and sweet corn and cook for another 5 minutes.
  5. Season to taste.

Harvey declared it looked very nice and after tasting some said it was “delicious” and could he have some more?  I really enjoyed it too and am pleased there is plenty left for lunch tomorrow.

I remain unsure about what I really want to do with my life but am enjoying the process of thinking about it.  It won’t be making Dorisware.  There is already an expert down the road doing that and I look forward to having some in my home.

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

Baggy Trousers

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

Something really thrilling happened today.  I put on a pair of trousers I had not worn for about 6 months and they were too big.  So much too big that I couldn’t possibly wear them 🙂  They have been thrown out which was very satisfying.  All of my clothes are becoming looser and I am enjoying wearing things loose and comfortable instead of being too tight.  The baggy trousers were a black pair I was putting on for going out for dinner in tonight.  So I should have mentioned that near the end of the post but I was too excited to wait.

I woke up in Ramsgate today and this was the view from the window of the early morning sun trying to break through the clouds over Ramsgate Harbour.  It seems such a treat to wake up and look at such a view without even getting out of bed 🙂

I turned my much loved MacBook on while I waited for the kettle to boil for my morning brew.  I was so sad to see Steve Jobs had died.  What a genius and a visionary he was.  I know he didn’t invent/design the iPhone, iPad etc by himself but he contributed in a major way to groundbreaking and innovative technological products we didn’t even know we wanted until we saw and touched them and instantly became hooked.  I hope his successors are good because I don’t know what I want my next techno toy to be so I am depending on them to make it for me.

Remember last night I deliberately saved some pumpkin for today? I saved it for breakfast !!!  Yes, really I did.  I regularly read several American blogs and they have all been raving about pumpkin for breakfast recently, in porridge or smoothies.  I am not convinced about the pleasure to be had from pumpkin for breakfast but I wanted to try it.

I mashed up the pumpkin.

I made my normal porridge (50 g oats, 1 tbsp chia seeds, 140 ml milk and a banana) and then stirred in the pumpkin.

I ate it all and it was possibly quite tasty.  Or was it? I think my resistance to it was more psychological than real.  It just seems wrong to eat pumpkin for breakfast!  I might try a smoothie tomorrow to see how that goes.

I was so busy all day I didn’t get round to lunch.  My intention had been to get the house ready for the next visitors and then walk along beside the coast and on the beach to Broadstairs for lunch and then walk back.  It was a gloriously sunny day and I had remembered to pack my trainers so I was all set.  Unfortunately, there was a problem with the electrics in the house and I had to wait in for the electrician to fix it.  Thank goodness he was available, came straight away and fixed it.  But I had no food in the house and no chance to go out.  So I just enjoyed the view but was disappointed to miss out on the coastal walk which is gorgeous.  That will have to keep for another day.

On Monday I went on a pumpkin hunt.  I tried my local shops first, then the local supermarkets and even Ocado but no one had any.  So I ordered some canned pumpkin from an American import website.  Had I known Waitrose in Ramsgate was stocking fresh pumpkins I would have waited but I didn’t know so I ordered some on-line.

When I returned home this afternoon there was a large parcel by the gate.  So now that I am not sure whether I really like pumpkin for breakfast, I have 4 cans of it!  Hopefully the pumpkin pie spice will make all the difference.

I also bought some other goodies.  Not realising quite how massive the packet would be, I bought a packet of ‘Premium Saltine Crackers’.  I would find it hard to justify why I bought them as they are a highly refined white carbohydrate product which is exactly the type of food I am trying to cut down or even out of my diet.  I guess I just got over excited when I saw them in the on-line aisle and just clicked to add to basket.

It never occurred to me I would be opening the packet at 6:30 pm, when I had not eaten anything since breakfast.  So I was really hungry and could not resist.  I ate them with the hazelnut butter I had bought in Vegetare in Cranbrook yesterday.  I have never had it before so was I keen to try it.

The picture below is a bit of a lie an understatement.  I did have the crackers with nut butter and clementine but while I was putting that together, and a similar plate for Harvey, I must have eaten another 6 – 8 hazelnut covered crackers.  Oops – she was troughing!

They were so moreish.  I have never had hazelnut butter before but it is delicious.  If you are feeling bold and want to try a new nut or seed butter, go for hazelnut.  I always credited the chocolate with making Nutella so delicious but I think I was wrong and it is the hazelnut.  I am too scared to work out the points in that lot!

So having scoffed some very diet unfriendly snacks, did I make myself a healthy salad for supper?  No!  I went out for a curry.  It had been in my diary for a few weeks and I was really looking forward to a night out with some lovely girl friends who I met at either the local Primary School or Tennis Club.

We went to The Raja near Tenterden.  I knew I would be late so my friends ordered for me and I missed the poppadums so that saved a few calories.  Just as well because I had ordered the Prawn Makhni which is creamy, coconutty and calorific.  But soooo good and as an occasional treat I had made allowances for it.  Well, I had until I opened the saltine crackers!

That portion looks quite good doesn’t it?  Shame I had seconds but it was so tasty I had to eat it all up.  To my credit, I had no booze and no side dishes and I managed to not have even a taste of anyone else’s curry.  I literally had a Diet Coke, my curry with plain boiled rice and then a mint tea.

The curry was delicious and the company was , as always, wonderful.  Sorry you are a bit fuzzy ladies but you were probably making me laugh, again.

I feel completely stuffed. Those trousers may not be so baggy in the morning.

Posted in Beach, Lose Weight | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Sun Flower Seed Sprouts Pumpkin

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

Today I discovered a new superfood that I have never had before and it was delicious and nutritious.  I also found an old favourite for the first time this year.  Check out supper time to see what they were 🙂

Porridge was on the breakfast menu today.  50 g Jumbo oats, 140 ml almond milk, 1 tsp chia seeds and 1 tbsp clementine cashew nut butter. 11 WW Points.

With a lovely cup of tea.

I went out for lunch today 🙂 . I went to Tanya’s and it was just the two of us so we had a really good catch up.  It has been a long time since we had a really good chat as we usually see each other in a large group and I really enjoyed it.  The bonus was that we had a really healthy lunch too.  A large salad of lettuce, tomatoes, including some home grown yellow cherry tomatoes, orange pepper, cucumber, king prawns and salmon.  It was delicious and only 8 WW points.  Thank you Tanya for the lovely lunch and all the funny stories and a good chat.

After lunch I drove to Ramsgate to our beach house which we rent out.  I had to get the house ready for the next visitors who arrive on Friday and decided to head over today and stay overnight.  So this big bird has flown her own nest now!

There is a large Waitrose within walking distance from the house and I had to pop in to buy some milk and biscuits/cake for the welcome pack we always leave.  I found it really difficult being in the biscuits and cake aisles.  I have been so determined to have a big loss this week and have been eating really healthily.  This probably sounds ridiculous but suddenly confronted by the wall of sweet biscuits I became really agitated and started justifying to myself why I could buy some for myself.  How many could I eat and stay within my points range or should I just blow the points, eat as many as I wanted to and then go on a long walk?  Fortunately common sense and diet resolve soon prevailed.  I selected the biscuits for our visitors and then set about finding something very healthy for supper.

Our kitchen in Ramsgate is very well equipped but being a rental house it has no food in it.  I had already brought some food for supper and breakfast and just needed to add to it.  While I was browsing for some fruit to nibble on, I found a packet of sunflower seed sprouts.  Aconbury Sprouts  produce various sprouted seed products but I have never seen or had the sunflower ones before.  As their website states; “Every seed is a treasure-trove of latent energy which bursts forth when that seed germinates, converting the stored inactive nutrients into a highly nutritious sprout, alive with phytonutrients, protein and a vast array of vitamins, enzymes and minerals.”  3 tbsp of the sunflower seed sprouts was 4 WW points.

I also saw a small pumpkin.

The first one this year which is always exciting.  Well, I get excited because they are really nutritious and very seasonal so they seem even more special.  Never buy the large pumpkins for eating as they can be tough and stringy; buy the small ones and they are lovely.  Pumpkins , like other orange vegetables, are an excellent source of beta carotene which the body converts to Vitamin A.  Vitamin A reduces your chances of getting cancer, heart disease and other degenerative ageing diseases.  Pumpkin also provides iron, magnesium, potassium, zinc, vitamin C and various B vitamins.  So don’t just carve one and stick a candle in it!  Eat one, or two, or as many as you feel you can.

Besides being so nutritious, I think they look gorgeous too.  I love the colour orange.  It is so cheery.

So how do you eat pumpkin?  You can steam it but I like to oven bake it.  In the past I have always baked it covered in butter but not any longer.  Today I cut it in quarters, removed all the seeds and then cut the de-seeded quarters in to chunks.

I lay them in a roasting tray I had lined with foil, added salt and pepper and popped them in the oven, 190 ° C for about 40 – 50 minutes.  I admit pumpkin tastes better when it is dripping with butter.  Lots of things do!  But it was lovely as it was.   It had a lovely sweet flavour, was very soft and not at all stringy.

To go with my pumpkin and sunflower seed sprouts I had 85 g spinach trottole pasta, 2 tbsp red pesto, green beans and cherry tomatoes.  17 WW points.

I really enjoyed the different flavours and textures of this meal.

The sunflower sprouts had a very mild and slightly nutty flavour.  They are easier to chew up than the unsprouted seeds and they complimented the flavours of the pasta and pesto.  I will be buying those again.

I also have plans for the left over cooked pumpkin – for breakfast!  But you will have to wait until tomorrow’s blog to see what I am going to do with it.  Good night 🙂

 

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