Food DIary Of A Woman Struggling With Her Diet

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

8 am, tea with milk

8:40 am, hot water with honey and fresh lime juice (to soothe sore throat)

9:15 am, Strawberry Cheesecake Dough Boy Smoothie with raspberries and granola

10:30 am, echinacea tincture in water as now feeling very fluey

and coffee with milk

11:25 am, tea with milk

and a Nectarine

I didn’t eat them, silly !  I took them for a walk in the sunshine.

1:50 pm, salad of finely chopped tomato, cucumber, carrot, spring onion, mushroom and pomegranate, dressed with 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp red wine vinegar, salt and pepper, with smoked mackerel.

2:30 pm, slice of pineapple and carrot cake

3:00 pm, water and echinacea tincture

5:00 pm, tea with milk and some unroasted nuts.

6:30 pm, chicken breast stuffed with Gruyere, onions and mushrooms, peas and BJ’s new potatoes with butter.

7:00 pm, Echinacea tincture and water.

8:15 pm, Rooibos tea with milk.

I think that will do for today.

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London Prepares

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

I worked from home first thing today so I had a chance to make a hot breakfast instead of sitting on a train.  Using eggs we were given by our fab friends in Leicestershire and some kale from our garden

Harvey and I had kale omelettes.  A good start to the day.

After dropping him off at the day’s activity I headed for London.  As I got off the train at London Bridge, that unmistakable voice boomed over the tannoy “this is the Mayor of London.  This is going to be the big one!”  Well, let’s hope so Boris.  Walking out of the station I noticed new pink signs everywhere.  I am really excited about the Olympics 🙂

I was not inconvenienced on the way in to work as I had missed the morning rush hour but in the evening – oh my goodness!!!!  It was dreadful.  They were practising their drill for coping with the crowds during the Olympics which seemed to involve blocking off all the normal entrances to the station and making us walk an incredibly circuitous route to get there.  It was infuriating but luckily I had left work in plenty of time so I didn’t miss my train.  But I suspect many people did tonight.  GRRRRRR.

For lunch I had some salmon with butternut squash and sweet potato.  It was all cold in case you are wondering but tasted good.  The salmon was particularly flavoursome and went really well with the rocket – I wished I had grown some rocket this year.

By the evening I was feeling tired and fluey so went for a smoothie full of vitamins.  I started with strawberries, raspberries and blueberries,

plus a banana, Greek yogurt, half an avocado and half a lime

Plus coconut water and sesame seeds.  Very tasty but not quite substantial enough so I am now having some lovely multigrain bread I bought at Frankie’s Farmshop and some Gruyere I bought tonight.

I am very pleased that for the next 3 days, while London prepares for the Olympics, I am well out of it as I can work from home.  How marvellous – no commuting for 3 days.

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Juggling

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

Being a working Mother is demanding on a good day and in the school holidays it becomes even harder.  Juggling childcare and work is a challenge.  I was supposed to be on holiday this week to have a special week of treats with my little man but am having to work instead.  Besides my disappointment at not having a week with the little fella, I needed to make sure he was having a good time and was not just plonked in to summer clubs.

To make matters worse, I really needed to be in the Birmingham office on Monday.  Thank goodness for fab friends who live nearby, relatively nearby anyway.  Harvey and I drove up to Leicestershire on Sunday afternoon and this morning I left him in the very capable hands of BJ and Helen so I could get to work.

Flat white and a small pot of yogurt, granola and fruit compote for breakfast.

For lunch I tried EAT’s chicken and noodle soup which was good but it comes in a huge bucket sized container which is too much.  On the side I had this delicious salad which had pumpkin seeds, lentils endgame beans, carrots, red peppers, pearl barley, dried cranberries and fresh herbs.

I managed to get loads of work done as I was relaxed knowing Harvey was having fun at Twycross zoo .  When I went to collect him, they were all back from a day out and he was indeed very happy, mucking out

and feeding the horses.

He had so much fun with his little play mates.

And I particularly enjoyed getting back from a day in the office to a home cooked meal.  BJ had made a delicious mince (minced beef packed full of vegetables such as mushrooms, yellow pepper and carrots), with home grown potatoes and green beans.

Helen made a pavlova with strawberries and raspberries.

I definitely had seconds, maybe even thirds!  Well, wouldn’t you?

We were both so well looked after today, it made juggling work and childcare a breeze.   In fact, there was no juggling at all.  The only stress I had all day was all the driving but it was well worth it.

As always, we were both sad to leave.  Maybe we can move to Leicestershire and work in Birmingham ………

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Murray Mania

Posted on July 8, 2012 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

I went to an amazing party last night.  The live band were really good, the food was delicious and best of all, lots of my local friends were there.  Thank you Mike and Mirella for such a great party – happy birthday La Bella Mirella.

We were out of essentials in the kitchen today, even milk, so I took the opportunity to try out a new farm shop I had been recommended – Frankie’s Farmshop.  This is a plant nursery and farm shop and is located on Clapper Lane, Staplehurst.

This is a new building but has the feel of an old barn.

Inside it is light and airy and huge.

At one end is a cafe which had a Scandinavian feel to it.  I like the simplicity and brightness of the decoration.  I parked the little fella here with an enormous slice of cake and glass of juice, so I could enjoy shopping.

This is a lovely spot to sit and stare and he was quite happy with his cake and paper to look at.

Everything here is new so it is obviously still spick and span.  There is a deli counter with cheese and cooked meats

more cheese and fresh meat in a chiller cabinet,

fresh chilled produce,

jars of yummy things

fresh bread,

and fresh fruits and vegetables, beautifully displayed.  There was a lot of local produce such as these berries

and a good variety of other fruits and veggies.

Lots of orchard fruits and juices.

There is also a kitchen that cooks fresh food you can eat in or take away and the menu will change daily.  There are fresh salads,

cooked goodies such as chicken, sausage rolls and these “Murray Eggs”.  Love it.

Outside there are chickens, providing the eggs they sell and goats.

We both really enjoyed our visit to Frankie’s Farmshop and will be going back, for sure.  I have lots of local and healthy treats in the fridge to enjoy this week.

Back at home I foraged in the garden for some salad and noticed how well my raspberries are doing.

I have never grown berries before.  I was given these canes by Kath when she moved to NZ and stuck them in behind the vegetables beds.  I was worried they would not do well as it is a shady spot but they are doing fine.

I picked some lettuce, spinach and radishes and served them with tomatoes and the Murray egg, which was delicious.  I brought them home warm as they had just been cooked.

I also made some baked figs with goats cheese.

Baked Figs With Goat’s Cheese, Honey and Walnuts

Ingredients (serves 4)

  • 4 figs
  • 80 g goats cheese
  • 4 walnut halves
  • 1 heaped teaspoon runny honey

Method

  1. Preheat the grill and line a baking tray with foil.
  2. Place the walnuts on the baking tray and grill for 2 minutes.  Remove and set aside.
  3. Cut the figs open about 3/4 of the way down and squeeze the bottom of the fig gently so they open up.
  4. Place the figs on the baking tray and put 20g goats cheese in each fig.
  5. Place under the grill for about 5 minutes.
  6. Serve with runny honey and chopped walnuts.

A very tasty addition to our lunch menu.

Wimbledon Men’s Finals day.  Murray Vs Federer.  I do love my tennis and always enjoy the mens final.  I particularly enjoy watching tennis when you really want someone to win.  I am cheering for Murray, even though Federer is probably my favourite all time ever player.  I just hope he hurries up.  I have to collect Harvey from a party and then head up to the Midlands.  I am working in the Birmingham office tomorrow and Harvey has a day out with his God-Father to look forward to.  Come on Murray!

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Friends, Dogs and Mud

Posted on July 7, 2012 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

I didn’t manage to post a blog last night because after a busy and hectic day at work I hot-footed it to the Old Dr. Butler’s Head

to meet some dear friends I was at University with.

We enjoyed watching the end of THE match

and then headed out for dinner.

We dined at The Hawksmoor , Guildhall which serves up a lovely cocktail and a wonderful steak but is very pricey.   A fabulous night with some very dear friends who I wish I could see far more often.

This morning I wanted to pack in some nutrients so went for strawberries and blueberries,

coconut water, cottage cheese and sesame seeds.

Unfortunately the cottage cheese was a bit off so I drank half and then decided to pass on the rest as it was too cheesy.

I had a lovely day out to look forward to which involved a dog walk with Barney

and Ted, who showered us in mud several times!  Sally and Michelle came too 🙂

Wet and muddy?  Moi?

We had lunch at The Sportsman near Tadworth which is a very dog friendly pub.  Even wet ones although the landord did towel Ted down before he was allowed in.

Sally treated us to some fizz – thank you Sally 🙂

And we dined on superb burgers

and then a naughty pudding – pecan pie with butterscotch sauce.  A lovely treat after a wet and muddy walk.

After a visit to meet the newest addition to Sally’s family, hello Mac,

we went to have tea with Dad

and Ted got muddy, again!

So not a good diet day but at least we had a walk so that helped a bit.  Must do better tomorrow!

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The Shard

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

Today was the official opening of The Shard, Europe’s tallest building.  Well, until the end of the year at least when a new tower opens in Moscow which will be even taller.  I left work early today and observed the squillions of police at London Bridge, protecting Prince Andrew and senior politicians from Qatar who were there for the official opening.

It is not my favourite building in London by a long way but I have enjoyed watching it being built.  But I will not be paying £90 to take my family to see the view from the top.  I wouldn’t normally read this paper but they do have some excellent pictures from The Shard which are well worth a look.

So what has Zoë been eating?  Yesterday started so well.  I had taken in some of the blueberry and ginger “ice-cream” which I froze overnight in a special silver dish.

In the morning I added some fresh raspberries which were perfectly ripe and full of flavour.  Seen here in a little silver lid.  When I got to work, the ice-cream was like soft serve – perfect consistency.

I had also taken in a salad of lettuce, radish and peas from the garden plus cucumber and cherry tomatoes, in a silver dish.

With some sweet potato falafel (which I bought in Waitrose and it was delicious) and hummus, in a silver dish.

Why the silver dishes?  I have a new tiffin 🙂 .

This is the type found in India and I bought it from Indian Tiffin.  Having enjoyed using my tiffins at the school picnic recently, I decided it would be nicer to take my lunches and breakfasts to work in a tiffin than tupperware boxes.  I have never bought anything from this company before but they were very efficient and I was impressed.

At lunch time today I went to the market for the first time for 2 weeks and went straight to Turnip.  You can never predict their pricing!  I bought 5 nectarines for £2 which I think is acceptable especially sine they are perfectly ripe, sweet and juicy.

I also bought these yellow beans and they cost an astonishing £4 !!!!

I should have said I didn’t want them when I realised how much they cost but I really wanted them so I took them home and decided they needed to be the centre piece of the meal.  I boiled them for 5 minutes and then ate them alone, with some pepper and butter.  They were lovely but not £4 lovely !

And that did me for supper, along with a glass of wine to help me relax after a very hectic and intense couple of days at work.  I should add, for honesty, that I also ate far too many sugared nuts which I also bought in the market.  These are so naughty but so tasty.  Why did I ever buy them?  And eat so many?

oops!

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Back To The Food

Posted on July 3, 2012 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

I seem to have digressed away from the food recently but today I am back.  Back on food.  Healthy and nutritious food.

I have not felt quite right since Saturday.  I have had a very irritable stomach which is most unusual for me as I normally have rather a cast iron constitution.  So I browsed some of my favourite blogs for something healthy to make.  I was working from home today so could freshly prepare everything.

1 cup of frozen berries

plus some basil

may not seem a likely combination but I have to say it was delicious.

Inspired by one of my favourite blogs, Choosing Raw, I tried my version of the Blackberry Basil Smoothie Gena made recently.  But I didn’t have blackberries so I used mixed berries.

Berry and Basil Smoothie

1 large cup of frozen berries
1 large banana
1 cup of almond milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
a few basil leaves

Blend until completely smooth.

This was surprisingly tasty and something I will be making again.   Try it – you may be pleasantly surprised too.

Mid-morning I snacked on some fresh Kent cherries.

For lunch I went foraging in the garden.  This pink veined kale is one of the prettiest leaves I am growing.

Plus some broccoli leaves

and a large beetroot leaf.

These were added to some onion, yellow pepper and mushrooms which I slowly fried.  I then wilted the chopped green leaves and made an omelette with some Cheddar cheese.  Delicious and substantial and so simple to make.

In the afternoon I still felt poorly and very tired so I made a healthy long drink.  A smoothie really but with far more liquid and less fruit than usual.  I mixed together some Kombucha with a banana, some frozen mixed berries, 1 tbsp Tahini and had a large multi – vitamin tablet with it.

I am not sure if it was the Kombucha smoothie or the omelette but I finally felt more comfortable and not so exhausted.

I went to a little function at Harvey’s school.  I was not tempted by the wine but I did enjoy some crackers with cheese.

When we got home I foraged in the garden.  I found some peas,

lots of lettuce and some radish

which I had with some cucumber, tomatoes and Fishfingers!  I was going to have something else but Harvey wanted fish fingers so we both had them.  2 salmon ones and 4 cod, with salad.

I really enjoyed them, served with just a blob of mayonnaise.

I then made some ice-cream.  Yes I did.  It took about 10 minutes and I don’t even have an ice-cream maker.  You just need a blender and a freezer.  This is a vegan and healthy ice-cream.  Inspired again by Choosing Raw, I made the Raw Vegan Blueberry Ginger Ice-Cream.  Gena’s looked smoother than mine and I should have re-blended it as she advised but I was in too much of a rush for it as was Harvey who couldn’t believe I made ice-cream.

Blueberry and Ginger Ice-Cream  (serves 2)

2 frozen bananas
1 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 inch fresh ginger
1/4 cup cashews (which I soaked for several hours)
2 tsp lemon juice
2-4 tbsp almond milk

Blend until smooth.

This was  delicious and so easy to make.  I will make this again for sure.

I have prepared a lot of healthy food today in ways that were quick and easy and simple but that tasted great.  I also packed in a lot of nutrients which is important too.  So I feel full and satisfied and not at all guilty.  It was good to remind myself of how simple it is to prepare fresh nutritious food.  Back to the food – you should see what I have already prepared for tomorrow 🙂 .

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Wimbledon 2012

Posted on July 2, 2012 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

I was so excited to wake up today because I was off to Wimbledon.  I manage to get tickets most years and it is one of my favourite days out of the year.  I lurve tennis 🙂 .

I had a healthy start to the day with porridge made with oats, oat bran, chia seeds, banana and soya milk, topped with fresh raspberries and 1 tsp almond butter.  Those raspberries were wonderful.

I made a packed lunch to take with me.  Kent cherries are ripe – best cherries in the UK are Kent cherries when they have just been picked and you can buy them from orchard side stalls.

I also made up a large tub of salad, using some of the leftover vegetables from last night’s dinner plus fresh and raw celery, cucumber, tomatoes, an apple, cottage cheese and nuts.

I also packed a bottle of wine but brought most of it home later – not in a boozy mood today.

When I saw the order of play, I was disappointed.  I have been lucky enough to see most of the top players before and the one person I really wanted to see was Murray but he was on Court One and we had Centre Court tickets.  I could just hear my Mother admonishing me for moaning.  She would have said “you should be ashamed of yourself  – you are jolly lucky to be going at all”!   Yes, I agree I was extremely lucky.

I went with my sister Lucy and we met early and settled on to Court 19 to watch one of the Boys Singles matches.

We chose to watch a Brit, Peter Ashley who played a young Spanish player, Toledo Bague.  It was a good match but Ashley lost.

We took our seats in Centre Court.  We were really high up, opposite the Royal Box.

First up was Federer against Malisse.  What a legend.  He is one of my favourite all time ever sporting heroes.

Guess what?

Yes, it rained, so the covers came on.

Not for long luckily!  Why don’t they just close the roof?

It was a bit of a frustrating match because Federer had a back injury and didn’t seem to get in to a rhythm.  But he won and I hope he recovers before his next match.

After the Federer match we went for afternoon tea.  We shared 4 little seafood sandwiches.

We also shared a slice of Victoria sponge cake and a scone with clotted cream and jam.  And chatted.  And chatted.  So much we managed to miss the second match on Centre Court.  Oops – we missed a gruntathon between Ivanovic and Azarenka!  When we got back the roof was on and we were the only court where play continued.  Jolly lucky I didn’t have seats to watch Murray since rain stopped play!

Back on court we enjoyed Djokovic Vs Troicki.

The score board did not seem to reflect what a great match this was and how amazing some of the tennis was.

Djokovic won (surprise!).

After a little bit of shopping it was time to head home.  Not before we asked a passer by to take a photo – shame they did not have steady hands :-(.

I had a wonderful time at Wimbledon, enjoyed some great tennis and loved having my sister Lucy all to myself all day.  I was jolly lucky indeed.

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Hopping At The Hop Farm

Posted on July 1, 2012 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

The Music.

I went to the Hop Farm festival this year to see Peter Gabriel (mainly) and Bob Dylan.  When I was younger he was my absolute favourite musician, both in Genesis and as a solo artist and I went to see him several times.  Most memorably at Reading in 1979 where we stood at the front all day to maintain our position.  Reading was quite hard core in those days.  Lots of fights and an incredible amount of can throwing gave it rather an edge which both scared and enthralled me.  But I maintained my position at the front and was rewarded by an amazing concert and clearly avoided being crushed to death to tell the tale.

The Hop Farm was an all together different event with a very safe and polite audience.  When I wanted to go to the front, which I did, I just asked people to “excuse me” and I got to the very front.  Helloooooo Peter 🙂

Unlike my younger self I did not want to stay at the front the entire time (way too exhausting) and after a period of hero worship, resumed my position nearer the back where I thoroughly enjoyed the performance. The light/visual show was good and he played lots of old songs as well as new. What a fabulous Friday night.

During the rest of the weekend I enjoyed seeing Joan Armatrading, Gary Numan (inside a large blue tent where the music was so loud you could feel it vibrating through you!),

Damien Rice and Bob Dylan.  My favourite act on Saturday though was Randy Crawford who has such a sweet and charming voice and a wonderful persona that just beamed gorgeousness across the sunny field.  Sitting in a chair, with the sunshine warming us and drinking cold cider, listening to ‘One Day I’ll Fly Away’ and ‘Street life’ was really quite superb.

The Friends.

Every year I go to a music festival with Laura, who I was at University with and her daughter Lucy.   Sometimes Chloe and Lara join us too.  Chloe was there but this time working for Sam so we didn’t get to see her much.

This year Sam (another friend from Uni)  was there too as she and her husband have set up a business to run one of the food stalls – Indian Food – which serves completely home cooked Indian curries which were delicious.

Harvey was not with us on Friday night so we enjoyed a more adult evening which was great fun and involved cocktails, lots of chatting, singing and some embarrassing Mum dancing.  Lara would have been so proud 🙂 .  It was an excellent evening.

The next day I was re-united with my little man,

thanks to Steen who looked after him all morning and Annette and David who brought him with them when they joined us for the day and evening.

So good times with lovely friends.

The camping.

I enjoy camping.  I can do without the revolting toilet experience (not too bad here though, a massive improvement on the notoriously ghastly Glastonbury experiences) and a decent shower block would have been good but I actually like the simplicity of sleeping on a mat in a tent.  I dislike being so close to so many other people and would prefer to camp in an isolated spot somewhere beautiful.  But James, Laura and I will enjoy reliving some of the boring/bizarre/angry conversations we overheard this weekend for years to come.

I particularly like the relaxing.  When you camp, there is very little to do and you can just switch off.  There are no chores to do and it somehow makes it acceptable to sit about for hours, chatting, reading or just enjoying the early morning peace and quiet.

This is the first time I have camped for a year and I found it much easier for being 4 stone lighter than when I last camped 🙂

The Food.

This is supposed to be a healthy eating and diet blog but I seem to have gone off the subject in this post, much as I wandered off my diet this weekend!  I am so good I stocked up on nutrients on Friday before I went.

We were lucky that both mornings were sunny enough to eat breakfast outside.  Saturday’s was a perfectly made pancake with ham and cheese.

This was a well run and excellent little stall situated near the campsite.

Today I had a chorizo and egg burrito with roasted peppers, cheese and sour cream.  It was really good and came from the excellent Breakfast Club.

This place was rocking.  They blasted out brilliant music and it had a really fun and happy vibe.  We wanted to eat on the bus but unfortunately the top of the bus was full, as were the deck chairs.

Luckily we brought our own chairs.

At some point I thought some steak would be a good idea but it turned out to be a very mediocre burger.

Some churros with chocolate sauce and this cheeky nougat Danish also made their way towards me.

So, no prizes for healthy eating this weekend.  I think my saving grace was walking quite a lot.  It was a good distance from the tent to the festival site and then we walked quite a lot around the site too.

So another festival experience notched up.  We all agreed the Hop Farm is a great little festival, with a good atmosphere and it has the bonus of only being half an hour away from home.  Half an hour away from my own bathroom, a hot shower and a roast chicken cooking in the oven.

It also had little “Festaxi’s” which collected you and all your gear from your car and deposited you at the entrance so the tortuous walk from car to campsite and back again was alleviated.  Brilliant idea.

We will definitely return.

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Nutritional Therapy

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

I felt exhausted when I woke up today so decided to heal myself with excellent nutrition.  Luckily I was working from home so I could create my own healthy meals.

Breakfast was a smoothie made with frozen mixed berries, cacao nibs, sesame seeds and soya milk.  Delicious.

Mid morning I was peckish so I went and picked some green leaves: radish, chard, spinach and kale.  I whizzed them up with a banana, some almonds, chia seeds, cottage cheese and coconut water.

Green goodness in a glass.

By lunch time I was feeling much better.  I picked some lettuce, a radish and some peas.

I saw somewhere recently, but can not remember where, that someone made a Waldorf Salad but using cottage cheese instead of mayonnaise.  I had half a tub to use up and so I tried it.  In to my cottage cheese I mixed celery, apple and walnuts.

For the salad I used the lettuce and radish, plus some chopped up raw broccoli and the cottage cheese Waldorf Salad topped with the fresh peas which I ate raw.

Seasoned with a little salt and lots of pepper this was delicious.  It also made me giggle, remembering the Basil Fawlty sketch in Fawlty Towers 🙂 .

I highly recommend nutritional therapy for helping recover from a very busy working week.  I am so thankful I am working from home today and have the peace and quiet and time to prepare simple but nutritionally dense meals and snacks.  They really don’t take long so there is no excuse for not eating healthily.

This is my last post for a day or so as we are off the the Hop Farm festival for the weekend.  Peter Gabriel tonight and Bob Dylan tomorrow.  Looking forward to it very much and hoping the rain stays away!

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