Lose Weight and Gain Health

Today was a day to pack in some excellent nutrition.  Recently I have worked very hard, travelled, had a few too many wee drams and not eaten as well as I could.

I worked from home which makes it easier to prepare healthy meals.  I was very busy though so they had to be straightforward and quick.

A well planed smoothie is quick and nutritious.  I had a cup of frozen blackcurrants, 1/3 of a cup of mixed hemp and sesame seeds and 1 tbsp coconut for sweetness. Placed in the blender with about a 50:50 blend of almond milk and coconut water. PLus some protein powder and Out of the Woods. Out of the Woods is my new super food. It contains a very impressive sounding range of ingredients. I blended for about 5 minutes so it was super smooth.  Super nutritious and super smooth. Not for the faint hearted but for me it was very drinkable.  In to the Woods was much easier to consume than some of the other green super foods I have tried in the past and which sit, untemptingly in the fridge.  This tasted fine.  Not great but fine.  The coconut was quite a life saver. Lunch was very late.  I had a large portion of thin green beans. Which I steamed with a chicken breast I had left over from Sunday.  Really quick and easy to prepare.  It took about 10 – 15 minutes from thinking about it to eating it.  Yum. Before it got dark I popped out to dig up some potatoes, and pick some bay leaves and leeks for a chicken stock I wanted to make. I hate to waste a good chicken carcass so it went in to a pot with onions, leeks, bay leaf, celery and peppercorns.  I left it simmering for about 3 hours.That is now set aside for making soup.

Supper was very simple.  I bought this lovely fresh Red Snapper from Cranbrook Fishmongers.

I parboiled my home grown potatoes for 10 minutes and then fried them in coconut oil.  In a separate pan I fried the Snapper, also in coconut oil.

I should have done some veggies but to be honest, I wasn’t in the mood for veggies which is unusual.  So it was my version of fish and chips and it was absolutely delicious.  3 empty plates proved that out.

Have a happy Friday 🙂

What a very tiring week this has been.  I went up to Edinburgh very early on Tuesday morning for 2 days hard work and 2 nights.  After a very busy day in the office I joined some of my colleagues  for a drink in a bar at Le Monde Hotel.  The hotel has recently been voted 8th trendiest in the UK.  Get me! I didn’t stay there by the way – just drank there.  Having looked it up on the website though it looks like an interesting place to stay.

After a fun and relatively sober evening I wandered back to my hotel.  The Christmas lights are up in Edinburgh and many of them are beautiful.  This building was my favourite and is one of the best decorated buildings I have seen for a long time.  My photos do not do it justice as I am having to use my phone but it gives you an idea.  This building is very large too which is hard to tell from my picture.  Absolutely stunning!This close up shot gives you an idea of the impressive scale of this building.

On Wednesday morning I woke up early, enjoyed 2 eggs on toast for breakfast and set off for a walk around Edinburgh.  I did not need to be at my event until 9:30 so I walked around for about 90 minutes, admiring the magnificent and very grand buildings in Edinburgh.  There are so many of them to admire!

There are also a great many pubs and bars.  I would like to visit this one day as it was very beautifully decorated. This pretty building is the offices of a bank.I came to an area I had not been to before which was away from the main shopping street with its standard High Street shops.  This area had more luxury and high end goods.  These pretty trees were next to Harvey Nichols. In the distance, down the hill, you could see the Firth of Forth, the Estuary of the River Forth which Edinburgh looks out over. This is the building I stayed in for a very enjoyable weekend many years ago!Edinburgh is built on a hill and has wide streets flanked by grand buildings and then small cobbled quaint streets like this one.
I enjoyed the different styles of the streets and the buildings.
This building was tall and very thin. A short walk away was this very grand building.  I highly recommend Edinburgh for a visit.  It is quite small as cities go and interesting and easy to walk around.  I wanted to keep walking but I had to get in to work. We had an enjoyable day and a very enjoyable evening.  A bit too enjoyable really.  We were only a 10 minute walk away from my hotel and it was so relaxing being able to sit and chat to my colleagues without worrying about train times that I was out much later than normal on a school night.  Hey ho! I had a great trip to Edinburgh.  I work with some lovely people and it was so good to have an opportunity to catch up with them socially.  It was also good to touch down at Gatwick and get home too.

What about the food you may be asking?  Well I know, this is a food blog and a blog about my efforts to eat healthily and lose weight.  I did eat some healthy food but no where near enough fresh fruits and veggies.  Probably more fresh and raw food than the average Brit’ manages but I also consumed too many drinks and chips.

Mainly I wanted a break for a few days from recording everything and thinking about it.  I didn’t have anything with sugar in it so I have remained true to my sugar free principles.  That would be one of the few principles I have stuck to though!  Tomorrow is another day and it will be a day with a HUGE focus on raw and healthy.  Watch this space.

What a lovely weekend I have had.  Definitely not the healthiest and most diet conducive but loving and fun and all local.  I spend so much time travelling it was wonderful to be at home and in my immediate area.

I certainly do live in a beautiful part of the world and this weekend was a great opportunity to find out a bit more about it.  I have lived here now for many years but never actually been to the windmill in Cranbrook before.  Past it?  Oh yes.  But actually been right up to it?  Never. Until Saturday that is.  Harvey had to make a windmill (thank you very much teacher for that bright idea!) so we thought we had better go and look at one to get some proportions and to pick up some art materials from the well stocked  art and craft shop in Cranbrook – Stoneydales. I never knew that before!  It will be 200 years old next year. Unfortunately it was shut until Easter but there was useful information about the mill and we worked out the relative sizes and proportions of the components of a windmill. With the bonus of enjoying being outside on this beautiful sunny Autumn day. We walked back to the town and went past some other historic buildings.  I have driven up this little street numerous times but I don’t remember ever walking. Lesson learnt – park your car and walk as you see so many interesting things. We had a very sociable weekend as my sister Abi and her cheeky monkeys lovely family came to stay. We remained in the local area.Keeping local, we went to the local.
Our recently renovated pub, The Milk House was a very pleasant spot to sit for a while on a chilly Sunday while we waited for our roast to cook. We had another visitor too – Beryl 🙂 So how was the eating?  Hmmmmm.  On the good end of the scale, there was no sugar and I did not drink excessively.  There was too much bread, butter and cheese though.

I bought most of my food for the weekend in either Cranbrook or in Hartley Dyke on Saturday.  I often extol the virtues of Hartley Dyke.  Here’s another one – it is surrounded by beautiful countryside so even parking and walking inside is a pleasure.  Look at this lovely view.  So much more inspiring than the usual Supermarket car park.

I bought a superb sourdough.  Perfect with scrambled eggs on top for a late breakfast. Inspired by Nigel Slater’s latest series, Nigel and Adam’s Farm Kitchen, I made the Cow Crumble fro supper on Saturday night.

I bought the beef from the local butchers in Cranbrook and all the veggies from Hartley Dyke.  Cow Crumble is essentially a beef casserole with a topping made with shredded parsnip, potato and mustard seed. I really liked the topping.  I was unable to get a shin bone from the butcher as the recipe  recommended which was a shame.  This was a good dish but somewhat lacking in flavour which I suspect was down to my ordinary stock and not paying full attention to cooking, rather then the recipe.  I will make it again and I particularly liked the parsnip and potato top.  An evening with my lovely family, eating too much cheese and crackers was a fattening but very enjoyable way to end an interesting and fun day.

Sunday began in a traditional manner.  Actually, not traditional for me but it is for many; egg and bacon.  I had mine in a bap.  The bap, butter, bacon and eggs all came from Hartley Dyke.  They were all very good.

Some of our lunch was even more local than that – it came from our garden! I dug up potatoes and picked Swiss chard, leeks and a red cabbage. The red cabbage was small but perfectly formed. The brussel sprouts were the only vegetables I bought. Lunch was quite the production actually.  It takes a long time to cook a really good roast. Luckily, I had an able co chef – my brother-inplaw Jim who focused on the meat and potatoes.  Which left me to get on with the veg.  We had red cabbage with apples and Swiss chard stalks.  I braised them all with some salt and pepper in about 1/4 of a cup full of water, in a slow oven for about 1 1/2 hours.  I didn’t add sugar or cinnamon as many recipes suggest.  I cooked the brussel sprouts with bacon and almonds (another copy from Nigel Slater’s Farm Kitchen) and stir fried the Swiss chard leaves with the leeks.

We had slow roasted pork and a roast chicken.  It was completely delicious and well worth the effort.  

This was not a weekend where I would have lost any weight, that’s for sure.  But it is a weekend where I discovered more about my local area, invested time and money in supporting my local community and had a wonderful time with my sister and her family.  I wish we could do it again.

I made a very simple, quick and easy and completely delicious dinner tonight.  I had some haddock in the fridge to use up and was thinking of making something like a kedgeree.  I looked up a recipe which said to poach the fish in milk. But Harvey can’t eat dairy so I was inspired and instead poached it in coconut water.  I also cooked the rice in coconut water and it turned out really well.  VERY well actually.

I bought this undyed haddock fillet from the excellent Weald Smokery.  We are so lucky where I live to have these excellent producers on our doorstep and they deserve to be supported so get out there folks and buy local.  Or buy direct from them on-line.  This undyed smoked haddock is fantastic. Coconut Kedgeree

Ingredients (serves 2)

• 200 – 250 g undyed smoked haddock fillet
• coconut water
• oil or butter
• small brown onion or half a large onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp Turmeric
• 1/2 tsp Garam Masalla
• 1 cup brown Basmati rice
• I bag of spinach

Method

• Place haddock in a saucepan which has a lid
• Just cover the haddock with coconut water
• Bring to the boil, simmer gently for 7 – 8 minutes with the lid on the pan
• Turn off the heat but leave the fish in the coconut water to cool
• Heat the oil/butter in another saucepan with a tight fitting lid
• Add the onion
• Fry gently for a few minutes until beginning to soften
• Add the turmeric and garam masalla and stir to coat the onion in the spices

Add the rice and 2 cups of coconut water
Boil vigorously for about 10 minutes, cover and set aside
Do NOT take the lid off the pan to check the rice for at least half an hour or you lose all the steam
While the rice is cooking, flake the cooked haddock and wash the spinach
When the rice is done, heat a small amount of oil in a pan and wilt the spinach
Add the fish to the spinach to warm through
Stir in to the rice and serve

This simple dish had such delicious flavours.  The rice was mildly spicy and slightly sweet thanks to the coconut.  The fish was delicately smoked and the spinach was earthy.  We loved this and will definitely be having it again.

The other things I ate today were breakfast, which I had at about 9 am.

I braved the bitterly cold and walked round the corner from the office to the very excellent Albion.  I treated myself to a latte and their fabulous breakfast bap which is excruciatingly expensive but worth every penny. Hard to tell from this photo as it was a bit steamed up inside the bag but I couldn’t open the bag outside as it was toooo cold.  Inside the wholemeal bap (you could have white) is some of the best bacon ever, a fried egg and a lovely meaty sausage.  I declined any sauce so I could swerve the sugar and also savour the wonderful flavours.

It was a very substantial breakfast and it actually kept me going until supper time.  This is a new sensation for me, not being hungry all the time.  It is due to the no added sugar diet.  I assume my blood sugar level remains stable and by eating a fairly high protein diet, I am kept sated for longer.  I did begin to feel hungry in the afternoon but I quite enjoyed the feeling and had no cravings at all.  I did have several cups of tea, mainly without milk and that kept me ticking along quite nicely.

While I was preparing supper I had about 20 almonds.

That was it.  Another no added sugar day and another feeling good and not over-eating day.  I is well happy!

I just had two meals again today.  I was in the office very early – just before 7 am so before the coffee shops opened!  I had to prepare something for a presentation which was prepared and presented by 10:30 am so I popped out then and treated myself to a much needed latte with an extra shot.

That kept me going until lunch time when I ate a meal I had prepared at home the night before.

In my lunch box today was:

• brown Basmati rice
• 2 boiled eggs
• about 6 anchovies
• 2 medium sized tomatoes
• about 6 inches of cucumber
• 2 spring onions
• 2 celery sticks
• about half a cup of peas
• and some oak smoked sweet peppers.

I found these oak smoked sweet peppers in the cupboard – I can not remember where they came from but they were lovely.  So I added about 2 spoonfuls with some of the oil they were marinating in to the lunch box.  It all contributed to a box of yumminess which I slowly munched my way through.

Confession time!  I bought a ready meal for dinner.  I felt very disappointed in myself but I was exhausted today and wanted something quick and easy to eat.  So I chose a cauliflower cheese which I served with some tenderstem broccoli and carrots. It took 25 minutes to warm through in the oven while I prepared and steamed the veggies.  Sometimes a girl just needs some help and today was one of those days when I needed something easy to prepare.   I think a ready meal was preferable to a toast pig out which was the likely alternative.The only other thing I ate today was about 10 almonds while I was cooking dinner.  I think a mug of green Rooibos tea and an early night will sort me out.  So much excitement in one evening!

I returned late last night from a little trip to Edinburgh.  I had to be there for work on Monday morning and decided to go early and take the opportunity to spend some time with Lara.  She is only an hour and a half on the train from Edinburgh so she met me there 🙂

I caught an early flight and arrived just after 10am.  My first food of the day, apart from a cuppa at home, was a coffee and a ham and egg sandwich from EAT.

I arrived to a very sunny Edinburgh.  The buildings in Edinburgh are quite stunning, especially in the sunshine.  This is the view from the outside of my hotel, across Waverley Street train station towards Princes Street which is the central shopping street.

I stayed at Jurys Inn which was well located for the centre.  The perfect sized room too for an economy hotel,  as our room had 2 beds.

Unfortunately I had to work all morning and when Lara arrived it was very overcast but still beautiful.

These are the buildings at the end of our street which are typical architecture of that part of town.  Up the steps is the Old Town, where we headed for the evening.

We set off, over Waverley Bridge, to get to the ‘Royal Mile’ which is the shopping district. Not in the market for a kilt! Look how beautiful this is.  On one side of the street are shops which look out over the castle. The Autumn colours were a bright and jolly contrast to the austere and bleak castle.  Austere and bleak in a dramatic and stunning way.  I really like it.

Very dramatic and quite lovely.We mainly shopped though for the afternoon.Neither of us had lunch and we were hungry late afternoon so we popped in to a Patisserie Valerie.  I resisted all their gorgeous cakes and chose a not very diet friendly but at least sugar free or low sugar (do croissant have sugar in them?) croissant with Gruyere and mushrooms.

A mediocre meal but I was really enjoying my girlie afternoon and was not at all bothered by the averageness of the food.Hmmmmmm ……… maybe not!
By late afternoon it was dark and raining which did nothing to dampen our spirits.  We set off up to the Old Town to find a cosy pub.It didn’t take long.  In fact this little gem was halfway up the first stair case we went up.
I asked for a whisky and was asked which one.  “A single malt please”.  At which point I was informed they had 40 to choose from!!  Now you don’t get that choice at home ! This is just about all of the interior!  It really was tiny and just perfect.  It was cosy, warm and friendly and I really enjoyed my beer and whisky.   It seemed so decadent and such a treat to sit in the pub on a Sunday afternoon.  Well, I suspect more so for me than my glamorous companion! We strolled on.  There are so many alleyways that look very intriguing.  I really wished I had more time to look around. The weather did not encourage walking though so we stopped at another pub – the Jolly Judge.  Another splendid array of whiskies to choose from.I have not seen directions on the pavement before but what a good idea – especially when it’s raining as it saves you looking up for a street sign and getting water in your eyes.
We ended up in a fantastic Indian restaurant I had been in before – Indian Cavalry Club.  Quite possibly the tastiest Indian restaurant I have ever been in.  The decor and service were excellent too.  I blogged about this restaurant previously here.  We nibbled poppadoms which were completely perfect while we browsed the menu. I had ‘Afghan Rice’ which had spices and chickpeas in it.  With an onion bhaji, sag alu and  a Bori Massallam which I have never had before.  At the Cavalry Club you choose the meat or fish or vegetarian option and then the sauce and they recommend the side dish for you to accompany it.  I chose lamb and the sauce was thick, piquant and just lovely. If you are ever in Edinburgh, I can not recommend this restaurant highly enough – unless you are on a budget as it isn’t cheap.  I didn’t eat the chocolates by the way!

We enjoyed a hotel breakfast together (2 slices of toast with 2 eggs for me) and then Lara caught her train and I went to work.  I was glad of a good breakfast as I didn’t have anything else all day, apart from a latte, until I was at the airport at 6:30pm!

I had a Tom Yum from EAT but I didn’t like it much.  It was very bland but spicy which may seem contradictory but if you tried it you would know what I meant.  I ate about half of it and then bought a baguette with ham and Jarlsberg which was much better! I couldn’t wait to get home – I was very tired after my busy 2 days in Edinburgh.

I only ate twice today too.

I took a latte in to work, skipped breakfast and munched this while I worked through lunch.  It was brown Basmati rice, tuna (in water), cucumber, red pepper, celery and carrots. Supper was very quick to prepare; a salmon fillet, with a baked sweet potato, spinach and peas.  While it was cooking I ate about 10 almonds and I did add butter to the spinach and potato.  But that was it.Apart from the latte, I only consumed green tea (no milk) or water all day.  So a reasonable days eating today.  I didn’t snack between meals at all in Edinburgh but my meals were high calorie ones so I need to cut back so I was pleased with today’s efforts.

I definitely felt jaded this morning.  I tried to put a brave face on it, as much for myself as for anyone else.  No point wasting a lovely sunny morning by feeling sorry for my alcohol induced tiredness.

When trying to balance blood sugar it is not a good idea to drink juices but I wanted a burst of nutrients to help heal myself so I gathered some ingredients for a green juice.  First though I had a black tea with lemon juice, cayenne pepper and Goji peppers to wake up my metabolism.

What Zoe put in her juice today; Swiss chard, lamb’s lettuce, green pepper, 2 carrots, 2 sticks celery and an orange.

The juicer. The juicer in action. Veggie sausages!   This is how the pulp comes out of the machine which I put on the compost. The juice.  Dark green and ultra smooth which makes it very easy to drink. Good health to you. I had a slice of toast with peanut butter too so I didn’t get a blood sugar spike.  I really like the Biona range of products and their peanut butters (smooth and crunchy) do not have any added sugar. I was feeling very lazy at lunch time.  I had a packet of raw prawns which I fried gently in butter.  They do look very unappealing when they are grey. I had them with more toast.  I am in a real toast mood today. The prawns were delicious. I wish I had taken my camera out this afternoon.  I went on a walk over the road with Annette and she knows a different route than I go on.  It was beautiful and the sun was beginning to set over the bright orange trees.  It was a lovely way to while away a couple of hours.

Chicken soup for supper. This is the stock I made earlier in the week with some carrots added. Eaten with more toast and more butter.  I must cut out the butter.  And the toast!

I have a quiet and relaxing evening to look forward to now.  Enjoy your evening.

We walked home late last night from a wonderful evening with our lovely neighbours.  Thank you Sarah and Chris for a tip top fantabby-dosey evening.  It goes without saying that I ate too much, definitely drank too much and laughed, but not too much.  There was plenty of laughter but you can never have too much of it.  

I didn’t take my camera or my phone so you will have to accept my written summary of our lovely food.  I managed to be good to start with.  Sarah makes these incredibly moreish hot cheesy bread squares and I only had 2 or 3 with some Prossecco.  So far so good.  The starter was light and fresh and full of flavour; smoked salmon, prawns, cream cheese, greenery and a tasty dressing.  The main course was chicken in a lovely creamy sauce served with various salads.  Definitely my kind of a meal.  I passed on the dessert but by now had more wine than blood in my veins so when the huge cheeseboard was presented I engulfed practically the entire thing, board and all!  Well, obviously not, I exaggerate.  But I did consume wine, cheese and butter to excess.  Hey ho, today’s another day.

Knowing I had a lovely evening to look forward to, I did try to be particularly good all day.  I had another hippy moment and burned some more joss sticks.  Ohm!

Smoothie for breakfast, made with almond milk, golden linseeds, hemp seeds, natural yogurt, blueberries, blackberries, Goji berries, pomegranate, protein powder, lucuma and maca powders. That was a very juicy pomegranate.I fancied something sweeter so added some coconut pieces.  Deelicious.
At lunch time I foraged in the fridge.  It was fairly bare so pickings were slim.  I assembled half a cooked chicken breast, red onion, 1/3 of a can of Aduki beans, half a pepper, tenderstem broccoli, a carrot, several mushrooms and 2 spring onions.  I decided on a stir fry so cooked some brown Basmati rice to eat with it. I lightly fried the veggies in coconut oil, added the beans, chicken and rice and cooked gently until warmed through.Served with some soy sauce.  Yummy.  It was warm and comforting with a good combination of flavours and textures. That set me up well for an evening of excess up the road.

I hope you all enjoyed your Friday night as much as I enjoyed mine.

Just a quickie tonight darling!  I am too tired to manage more than the briefest of blogs due to being too busy at work which saps all my energy.

I took breakfast in with me. Natural yogurt, protein powder, almonds and raspberries. We had a fire drill mid-morning and our mustering point is outside Tate Modern.  I was very tempted to nip in and have a look round but was too busy, sadly. Unhealthy bread choice number one, albeit in the form of a very tasty beef and horseradish in Focaccia from Albion. Train tracks home – what a welcome sight.  Come on train,  I am tired. For supper I used up the remainder of the mince I made earlier in the week with the home made Fajita/Taco spices and I eked it out with some Aduki beans, cucumber, tomatoes and red onion. It made 2 perfect sized portions for us, garnished with coriander.  Served in unhealthy bread choice number 2.  I used a white pitta as it was the bread product in my local convenience store that had fewest ingredients; wheatflour, water, yeast and salt.  So it may not have had the goodness in it of wholemeal but at least it wasn’t made with cruddy ingredients like most sliced bread products.  Read the ingredients on the next loaf of bread you buy – I suspect you will be horrified.

So not a brilliant day for eating but not bad either.  No sugar 🙂

Another work from home day today which I always enjoy.  It is so much easier preparing meals at home when you want them, rather than having to think about it in advance or spend lots of money buying food of unknown and dubious origins from shops and eateries near the office.

Deja Vue ?  No, not the same photo as yesterday.  But I enjoyed my breakfast so much yesterday I made the same again today and it kept me going for hours. While I worked I made some chicken stock to turn in to soup tomorrow.  I think I should write a cookbook called ‘101 Ways With One Chicken’ or summat similar as I definitely make the most of a chicken when I buy one.  I have considered vegetarianism and even veganism, several times.  I am convinced by the ethical arguments but not the nutritional so I remain a carnivore.  However, I do think that if you are going to kill an animal to eat it, show it some respect and eat it all.  I do think it is totally unacceptable to throw away meat as that is killing the animal for nothing.

I put the chicken carcass in to a large pan, added enough water to just cover the carcass and added 2 carrots, 3 celery sticks, a brown onion in quarters, peppercorns and some fresh tarragon.  I let is slowly simmer for about 3 hours.  After it cooled, I picked off all the meat I could find on the bones, added that to the stock and discarded the rest, including the cooked veggies.

This delicious jug of stock and chicken will be easily converted in to a nourishing soup tomorrow by adding some fresh veggies and then blending until smooth. Meanwhile I cooked up some lunch.  This was really easy.  I chopped up 2 small sweet potatoes and roasted them for half an hour.  I added 1/4 of the chicken and roasted it with the sweet potatoes for about half an hour until warmed through.  Served with a green salad.  Unadorned, just as it was when it was picked. This was really tasty and I enjoyed it all.

I had some wonderful company for a dinner out tonight.  One of my very favourite people on the planet to dine with so it was lovely, just the two of us.  We had dinner at Simply Italian in Battle.  The service in there is very attentive and friendly.  The food is perfectly adequate.  I probably wouldn’t go there for a special occasion but for a midweek supper it was great.

We shared an antipasto platter and then I had pork escalope in a cream and mushroom sauce with veggies.  I really enjoyed my meal and especially the company.  Who was my splendid dining companion?

The little fella of course!  He enjoyed his “no cheese please” pizza.

I hope you had a good evening too.