A Lesson In Leaves

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

Overnight oats for brekkie with almond milk, banana, blueberries and sunflower seed butter.

Leftovers for lunch.

Sweetcorn risotto and tomato and lentil salad, topped up with celery and cucumber.

Something very fresh for supper.

Reddy, which is a red veined spinach.

An about to bolt and flower spinach head.

Wok Broc, which is a variety of broccoli grown more for its leaves than the more commonly eaten head.

Rainbow chard.

Komatsuna.

All popped in to the blender, with 1 tsp tahini, 1 banana, 1/2 a frozen avocado

1 tbsp coconut milk and some matcha

1/4 tsp matcha to be precise.

Plus almond milk.

Soooooo smoooooooth and creamy.  It had the consistency of custard and was well balanced too as I could taste the banana, avocado, tahini and coconut.

Well, all those Jubilee cakes, and glasses of fizz were most enjoyable but it feels goooood to be back on track with healthy eating.

The bunting is still up and these beautiful roses (thank you Holly) are a reminder of all the fun we had at the weekend.  But now the food has got to be healthy and hopefully slimming.

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The Final Jubilee Celebration

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

I do like having the time on a weekday morning to make porridge.  Today is the extra bank holiday we have to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee.  I did briefly consider going up to London to wave a flag at the procession but decided to be at home instead.  So porridge it was, made with half water and half soya milk, with blueberries, a couple of strawberries and a tbsp peanut butter.

I had forgotten how good melty nut butter in porridge tastes 🙂

Lunch was an attempt to get James, who has been lurking under a blanket for most of the weekend with man flu, to eat lots of vegetables and get some nutrition.  He does like parsnips so I roasted some with purple carrots.  I brushed a tiny amount of oil over them and put the tray in the oven for about 45 minutes at 180 º C.

I also made a sweetcorn risotto which was really tasty and will definitely be made again.  It was a spur of the moment decision to add the sweetcorn as I really enjoy sweetcorn with chicken and we were having some chicken too.  The risotto was surprisingly delicious.

Sweetcorn Risotto

Ingredients (serves 4)

  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 300 g arborio rice
  • 100 ml sauvignon blanc
  • 1 litre chicken (or vegetable) stock
  • 1 corn cob, with the kernels scrapped off the cob

Method

  1. Heat the oil in a large sauce pan and fry the onion for 5 minutes.
  2. Add the garlic and fry for another 2 – 3 minutes.
  3. Add the butter and allow it to melt.
  4. Add the rice and stir well so all the grains are coated in the butter and oil.
  5. Cook for approximately 2 – 3 minutes.
  6. Turn the heat to high, add the wine and boil vigorously.
  7. Gradually add the stock, stirring almost continuously.
  8. When half the stock has been added, place the sweetcorn in the pan.
  9. Continue adding stock until all absorbed by the rice.
  10. Season to taste.

The sweet roasted chewy roots went really well with the soft risotto and the corn retained a slight crunch which was a good contrast.

The chicken and beans were cooked in a sweet and spicy sauce.  A Mary Berry one I believe and it worked well.  I heated up a small amount of water in the wok, added the beans and let them boil for about 5 minutes, by which time the water had virtually evaporated.  I added a little sesame oil and then the chicken which I fried on high for a few minutes followed by a good slug of the sweet and spicy sauce.  I cooked the lot together for another couple of minutes and served.

A very tasty lunch and everyone ate all the vegetables –  a complete result 🙂

I was tempted to wander in to Cranbrook for the afternoon as the High Street was closed for a street party but I felt I had celebrated the Jubilee quite a lot already and I had some little seedlings in the greenhouse desperate to get outside.

The marigolds were put at the end of 2 of the raised beds.  Marigolds are companion plants and apparently discourage many insects and kill unwanted nematodes in the soil.

Just in time really.  The roots were in need of spreading and some of the plants are about to flower!

If any of you like a quick result, then plant these French breakfast radishes.  I sowed the seeds about a month ago and now they are ready.  I intend to harvest some this week and eat the red radish and also the leaves.  Then I will plant some more in their place.

I also planted some climbing French beans alongside the sweet peas.  I am hoping they will clamber up the same bamboo wigwams together which I have stuck in the ground behind the raised beds.

I spent ages hoeing the main vegetable bed and then clearing a huge area of stinging nettles.  Having cleared and dug over the area,  I planted several rows of flowers I had grown from seed – cosmos and nicotiana.  No photos as by then it was raining so hard I didn’t want to get the camera outside.  It is not much fun gardening in the rain but it is good for the seedlings to be watered in well.

In the evening Harvey and I went to Cranbrook to listen to the live bands and have a drink with friends.  It was still raining 😦 .  Such a shame as instead of listening to the music and having a drink outside, people tended to stay in the pubs and coffee shops with only a few hardy souls outside supporting the bands who played on regardless.  It was good to see some of my lovely local friends but we bailed much earlier than we intended due to the cold and rain.

So that is that.  The end of a wonderful weekend of diamond jubilee celebrations.  I am knackered –  how on earth does our 86 year old Queen keep going?

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Another Jubilee Celebration

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

I tried to revert to macrobiotic eating today and started with egg fried rice and vegetables.  I picked 4 types of leaves from the garden: beetroot leaf, broccoli, chard and spinach.

I received a package from my favourite on-line health food shop this week and the package included some coconut oil.  I ran out ages ago and was delighted to get some more.  The smell alone is wonderful and it is a great oil to cook with.

I fried some onions with some purple carrots

added rice leftover from the Thai green curry Lara made the other night and wilted the leaves on top,

and then added the egg.  It was delicious but the purple carrots stained everything purple and made it look most unappetising.  I seasoned it with my new posh soy sauce.

Harvey and I took the dogs on a lovely long walk while our lunch cooked.  I used the slow cooker to make a delicious soup with aduki beans and lots of vegetables.  I had been soaking the beans since the previous day and after rinsing them well, I boiled them for about 15 minutes and then drained them and placed them in the slow cooker.  This lovely recipe comes from one of my most treasured and well thumbed cookbooks, Entertaining With Cranks.

Aduki Bean and Vegetable Soup

Ingredients (serves 4)

  • 100g aduki beans (soaked overnight)
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 1 onion, peeled and chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1 level tsp ground cumin
  • 900 ml vegetable stock
  • 1 can tomatoes
  • 2 tbsp tomato puree
  • 2 leeks, finely chopped
  • 2 celery sticks, finely chopped
  • 1 carrot, finely chopped
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 tbsp fresh herbs, finely chopped (I used parsley, oregano and thyme)

Method

  1. Boil the beans for 15 minutes, drain and transfer to slow cooker.
  2. Heat oil in pan and fry onion, garlic and cumin for 5 minutes.
  3. Add to slow cooker with vegetable stock and can of tomatoes.
  4. Turn slow cooker on to high.
  5. Fry the leeks, celery and carrots for 5 minutes.
  6. Add to slow cooker with seasoning and fresh herbs.
  7. Cook on high for 4 – 5 hours until the vegetables are soft.

If you don’t have a slow cooker, heat the oil and fry the onion, garlic and cumin in a large saucepan.  Add the stock, tomatoes and puree.  Add the beans, bring to the boil, cover and simmer gently for about an hour.  Add the leeks, celery and carrots and cook another 20-30 minutes.  Season to taste and stir in the herbs.

This is delicious, cheap and healthy and definitely worth making.

Our Jubilee celebration continued this afternoon in Hawkhurst.

We started with afternoon tea (i.e. tea and too many cakes) at Lucy’s where her sister Megan and family were visiting.  We wandered over the road to join in the festivities on The Moor.

This was more of a traditional fun fair then a Jubilee celebration but with a smattering of bunting and Union Jacks, the Jubilee atmosphere was maintained.

Nothing healthy in a bag of candy floss but it’s all the fun of the fair!

The dodgems were very popular 🙂

Despite the wet start to the day, it ended with a lovely evening.

The evening sunlight cast a beautiful glow over the ancient St.Lawrence church.

We returned home in time to catch the last part of the Queen’s Jubilee concert.  I continued my Jubilee celebrations by embracing the Commonweath.

We have been to Houghton’s vineyard which is in Perth, Western Australia.  So from around the globe, feeling proud to be British but being mindful of the extent of the Queen’s reach to the far corners of the Commonwealth, we celebrate the Jubilee, again.  Cheers 🙂 .

 

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A Jubilee Celebration

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

As well as all the happy memories left over from yesterday, I have a fridge full of treats, including plenty of berries such as these raspberries.

A smoothie was the choice for breakfast.

Raspberry and Oat Smoothie

Ingredients (serves 1)

  • 1 small punnet raspberries
  • 1 small banana
  • 1/3 cup of oats
  • 2/3 cup of almond milk
  • 1 tsp tahini

Blend until really smooth.  Delicious.

Today was the day my village celebrated the Jubilee.  I was so disappointed the weather was bad as I know a lot of people put so much effort and time in to organising today.  But we are British so we carried on.  I love British village events and this was great.  Trestle tables, union jack table cloths, miles of bunting,

people getting in to the spirit of the occasion and

lovely table decorations.

The plan for the day was a picnic and hog roast on the village green.

I enjoy vegetarian and vegan food but I also like meat.  I do not eat meat every day but I enjoy it when I do.  I think it is important to face up to what it is you are eating.  Quite literally in the case of today.  I could have done without Tanya pointing out it still had its eyelashes though 🙂 .

I know people who only eat meat if it doesn’t look like it came from an animal, such as minced beef.  This is because they dislike the idea of eating a dead animal.   To my way of thinking though, to take a life, even if that life was only created to provide food, should be confronted and respected.  If I couldn’t accept roast pork came from what was once a living, breathing, once squealing pig, I wouldn’t eat it.  So I accept it and am grateful we are higher up the food chain than the pig!

We met lots of lovely local people and then joined our friends for lunch.

Tanya and Jackie

and Linda, Zoe and Therese and had a fun lunch.

There were several bands playing which added to the festive atmosphere.

Unfortunately it did become cold and wetter so we headed home and watched the river pageant.  How incredible our Queen is, to be 86 years old, and able to stand in the damp and cold for all those hours, appreciating all the boats sailing past.  Personally, I was grateful for a sofa and a warm room to watch it in.

Supper was a very easy reheat of yesterday’s left overs.

Happy Jubilee, your Majesty.

 

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Here One Minute, Gone The Next

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

When I woke up this morning I was happy and sad.  Happy because my sisters and their families were coming for lunch and sad because my lovely girl is going travelling for 6 weeks.  It seems as if she has only just come home and she is going again.  I really hate it.  I have never been good at not having my children near me and it doesn’t seem to be getting any easier.

On the up side, we had today together, and alongside Lara’s packing, she helped me prepare lunch and we had a lovely walk together over the road through the woods.  There were 20 of us for lunch and everyone was bringing something so we didn’t have too much to do.

I made a vegetarian dip to serve when people arrived.

Seven Layer Dip

Ingredients

  • 1 can refried beans
  • 1 can sweetcorn
  • 1 avocado
  • 1/2 lime
  • Salt and pepper
  • Olives
  • 2 ripe tomatoes
  • 1 pot sour cream
  • 100 g mature cheddar cheese

Method

  • Spread refried beans across the bottom of the dish
  • Spread sweetcorn over the beans
  • Mash the avocado with lime juice and season with salt and pepper and spread over the sweetcorn
  • Spread the olives over the avocado
  • Chop the tomatoes and place evenly over the olives
  • Cover with sour cream
  • Grate the cheddar over the cream
  • Serve with tortilla chips

 We were cooking in the BBQ house so everyone was bringing meat to BBQ and ww were making some of the side dishes and salads.  We made a delicious lentil and tomato salad.  I bought a mixture of tomatoes yesterday in Borough Market and used them all in the salad.

Puy Lentil and Tomato Salad

Ingredients

  • 1 red onion
  • 4 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1 cup puy lentils
  • Vegetable stock
  • Fresh juicy tomatoes (4 red tomatoes, 8 baby plum tomatoes, 2 kumatoes, 12 cherry tomatoes)
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp chopped parsley
  • Salt and pepper

Method

  • Chop the red onion as finely as you can
  • Place in a dish and add the red wine vinegar
  • Set aside to marinade for 1 – 2 hours
  • Place the lentils in a saucepan with 3 cups of water and 1 vegetable stock cube
  • Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes
  • Drain and set aside to cool down
  • Chop the tomatoes and parsley and add to the lentils
  • Stir through the olive oil and season to taste.

This was really good.  Full of flavour and a lovely variety of textures and flavours.  I would say good quality tomatoes are important in the success of this dish.

I couldn’t wait for people to start arriving.  My youngest sister Holly was first and literally as she arrived the sun came out.  We had worried about being able to eat outside but as it turned out, we were outside all day until about 7 pm.

Followed by my cousin Bruce with his 2 boys and wife Fiona.

What a wonderful day.  Cooking lovely food, much of which was provided by our visitors.    Serving drinks and food to many of my nearest and dearest, enjoying the sunshine, the Spring flowers out in bloom and making the most of my time with Lara.

I love long lazy days in the garden and could do this every weekend.

I am so lucky to have such a dear and lovely family where everyone is friends with everyone else and we all enjoy being together.

Everyone pitches in to help and we ended up with a veritable feast.    Abi and Katie took a turn in the BBQ house.

Chicken kebabs, Chicken pieces bbq’d in different sauces, burgers, sausages and ribs.  Served with a variety of salads, breads and dips such as smoked aubergine and hummus from Arabica.

All very enjoyable.

I particularly love being with my gorgeous girl (even when she is wearing my Ray Ban Cats – just observed since looking at these photos!).

Harvey and I made a coffee cake (his choice) in the morning which I attempted to decorate as a Union Jack.

I will never make my living out of cake decorating but it tasted really good.  And was accompanied by a very lively rendition of our National Anthem.

We also had chocolate brownies, treacle tart, scones with cream and jam, red velvet cake and plenty of strawberries and blueberries.  I didn’t eat all that by the way!

Too soon Lara’s travelling companion Holly arrived to whisk her away to the airport and on to Asia for 6 weeks.  Have fun girls but be careful.

Back at the ranch the table tennis tournament began.

The children and men were thus occupied and so our chatting, eating and drinking continued.

Today was a lovely day, apart from Lara leaving.  As I write this, she will be in the plane, bound for Bangkok.  I look forward to her return and to hearing about her travels.

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A Mixed Bag

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

I have been out for the previous 2 evenings which has been fun but challenging to ones diet!   Some meals have been excellent, such as this healthy little lunch

of steamed vegetables and brown rice

which were taken to lunch with salad dressing and overnight oats for breakfast.

Last night I had time for a potter about the garden before going out.  My garden is amazing at this time of year.

I can take very little credit for it as the previous owners planted some extraordinary rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias which are in bloom at this time of year.

These alliums are one of my favourite plants.

I went out to a local pub with my lovely friend Lucy.  We went to the The Goudhurst Inn which for local people, is the grey pub on the road between Cranbrook and Goudhurst.  It was good.  We started with a drink outside in the garden

and then went in for dinner.  We both had sea bass and veg and then both had a yummy pudding.  It was a lovely evening.

Today was not so good food wise.  Lunch was a sandwiches round the table with 25 work colleagues during a 4 hour meeting!  When I came home tonight my wonderful daughter had made us all dinner.  The table was laid and we sat down to Thai green curry with brown rice.   Yummy yum yum.  And what a treat.

And a pudding.  Oops.  Thank you gorgeous girl.

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Anniversary

Posted on May 28, 2012 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

Today is my wedding anniversary.  Happy Anniversary oh beloved one 🙂

It is also the anniversary of me taking the plunge and going to Weight Watchers.  So I signed up on May 27th 2011 which was yesterday, in anniversary terms.  But I wanted to be weighed so I know, officially, how much I had lost in one year and Monday is weigh day.  I did have a slight gain since I last went, which is no surprise as I had been bad for a few weeks.  But, since this time last year, there is 4 stone and 1 pound less of me now than there was then.

I have spun around on planet earth, while it has travelled all the way round the sun.  One years spinning and I have transitioned from a big fat unhealthy blob to less of a blob, and a far more active person than I was.  I need to be more active but progress is progress.  I and my children now eat far more healthily than we did before.  Lara chooses to make kale omelette for breakfast and last night Harvey had brown rice and stir fried vegetables for supper.  I am delighted to see them making healthy choices and hope they continue to make the right decisions and enjoy it too.  Disappointingly James has not been interested in improving his health and continues to eat Pot Noodles and very few vegetables and that is his choice.

I am beginning this new year on a macrobiotic diet.  Not exclusively as I enjoy meat and dairy too much to give it up and do not think I need to as I only occasionally have it these days.  But I am going to try and eat macrobiotically this coming year.  We will see what happens.

For breakfast I had a buckwheat, blueberry and banana smoothie.  I soaked the raw groats overnight in water and in the morning drained and rinsed them well.

I put them in the blender with some blueberries

lucuma powder

plus almond milk and a small banana.  After a long blend so it wasn’t grainy, it was smooth and quite tasty.  Not amazing but enjoyable.  Cool and fresh.

I made lunch last night.  It is asparagus season and I stir fried asparagus with yellow and orange carrots.

Plus onions and sweet corn.

Served with brown rice and sprouted beans and a dressing made with oil, white wine vinegar, soy sauce and lemon juice.  The vegetables were perfectly cooked – crispy but definitely cooked rather then raw – and the dressing went really well with it.

For supper I wanted to try a macrobiotic must eat – a sea vegetable.  I went for Arame.

I added some to the water I heated to cook the noodles in and then drained the noodles with the arame and added the lot to the wok.

I stir fried broccoli, onions and mushrooms, added the noodles and arame and some soy sauce.  One of the last things I added was the komatsuna I picked in the garden.

Plus I grated in some mooli, also known as daikon.

When it was ready I stirred in 1 heaped tsp of tahini.

It was delicious.

What a great start to my macrobiotic year ahead.

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The Weekend

Posted on May 27, 2012 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

This has been an unusual weekend, mainly because it was just Harvey and me at home.

The weather was extraordinary and I spent a lot of time in the garden.  This has been my implement of choice – an “onion hoe”.  I have used it in all my raised beds, whether they have onions or not.  Perfect for neatening the rows and hoiking out weeds trying to grow in between.  I read recently that weeds growing near onions can impede the bulb’s development so I weeded thoroughly and diligently.

One of the many things I like about veggie gardening is the aesthetic appeal of the neat and tidy rows.  Interestingly, I intensely dislike neat and tidy rows of flowers.  They really irritate me and I much prefer the English country cottage garden look.  But a veggie garden has to have neat rows.  I am quite ruthless about it.  You may be a good specimen of a plant but if you are in the wrong place you are out!  The weeding was relentless and ruthless.

The 2 types of onions in this bed are slightly frustrating as they are straggly but I guess for now they need to be.  It may be considered a bit OCD to trim them or tie them up neatly!  I shall just admire the neat and lovely weeding instead.

For Saturday lunch we had burgers.  Not at all macrobiotic but I did make them myself so I knew they were not full of chemical garbage.

1 x 500 g pack of steak mince was mixed with chopped onion, salt, pepper and cumin and shaped in to “patties” with my burger patty maker.  We ate one each and there are 2 in the fridge to be enjoyed at a later date. Not remotely macrobiotic but very tasty nevertheless.

I gardened and my companion for the weekend helped on occasion, or played or read.  Lovely.

I confess I struggled on Saurday with life in general as I was so tired.  Despite 2 naps I was still knackered when I went to Judy’s in the evening for supper with Emy and Fee plus 2 of Emy’s lovely boys.  In fact, despite a lovely evening, I was too tired so I came home very early and Harvey and I went to bed together at 9:30 pm.

We both woke up bright and early and were eating breakfast at 7am.  Porridge made with almond milk, water, blueberries and banana (plus brown sugar for the little fella).

We headed off to Ramsgate and it was glorious to be there in the sunshine, even though we only spied it from the window for most of the day.  This is the view from the dining room, across the little front garden and down to the harbour.

I love being outside and find it frustrating being inside when everyone else seems to be outside. I would have loved being in Ramsgate if we were relaxing as the weather was perfect but we were working.  So we had to make do with looking at the amazing view.

View from the sitting room bay window.

View from the other window in the sitting room.

View from Lara’s room.

View from our room.

If you know anyone who wants to rent a place overlooking the sea that sleeps 12 (5 x double beds and 2 x singles in 6 bedrooms with 4 bathrooms) please direct them to our site:

Marina Prospect

Well, after all that tidying and cleaning we headed out for lunch.  The harbour side cafes and restaurants were busy so we walked all of 5 minutes from our house, via the brick 3 piece suite

to Age & Sons where we had a table for 2 outside.

The perfect dining companion – kind, considerate, funny and interesting.  Plus the good food made a fantastic lunch.  And the £17 bill for 2 really good meals and 2 drinks was the icing on the proverbial cake.

Harvey went for the fish and chips which was good and I had roast pork with apple sauce, roast potatoes, beetroot, carrots and samphire.  The meat is not macrobiotic but the veg (apart from the potatoes) was.  In macrobiotics you are encouraged to eat the whole vegetable.  The beetroot bulb and leaves were served and the carrots were served with the tops and roots.  Just needed the leaves to be perfect 🙂

There was no gravy but the meat and veggies were moist and succulent so it wasn’t needed.

We both had a lazy afternoon at home.  Some more gardening and chores but mainly relaxing, outside.  So blissful , relaxing in the garden with a good book (‘Water For Elephants), Drambuie on ice and the little fella.  Plus looking forward to the evening when my gorgeous girl arrived home.  Her arrival was heralded with a bottle of Prosecco, drunk ……. outside of course

– congratulations on completing year 1 gorgeous girl 🙂

My eating this weekend was varied.  I ate a lot of very healthy food and a lot that wasn’t such as garlic bread, Minstrels, ice-cream and a chunk of Cheddar with an apple.  Today is a significant day which I will explain tomorrow.  I am not intending to be cryptic but you will see why I am tomorrow.  I have big expectations of the next few months!

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The Sun Has Got His Hat On

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

hip-hip-hip-hooray 🙂

Oh yes, that sun was glorious today and I even got to enjoy some of it.  I treated myself to breakfast out.

Technically in as I ate it at my desk but I bought it out rather than take in something I had made from home.  A yogurt and granola parfait with fresh fruits.  Delicious.  With a flat white.
 I went out at lunch time.  It was wonderful.  I really wanted to sit in the sun and drink beer like these lucky folk but I would not have been able to go back and work effectively if I had.
 Everywhere you looked people were enjoying the sunshine.
 I enjoyed walking round in it and was delighted to find Arabica in the market.

I think they only come on Fridays and I have not patronised them for several weeks so I corrected that today.  This smoked aubergine dish is amazing and I could eat it every day. This must be one of the yummiest things I have ever had and every time I buy food from here I choose this salad and I always enjoy it and I did again today.

Unfortunately aubergines are one of the nightshade family of plants, along with tomatoes, peppers and potatoes and they are not macrobiotic.  To yin or too yang or too something else.  I really like them though so will continue to enjoy them sometimes.  I had them twice today.  One of the other salads I chose was another aubergine one, this one with caramelised onions and pomegranate molasses.  The third was tabouleh.  It doesn’t look very appetising but it was wonderful.  Served with a flatbread.

I was home before 7pm today and was inspired to cook.

Wholewheat Noodles With Vegetables

Ingredients (serves 3)

  • Wholewheat noodles for 3
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 onion, peeled and chopped
  • 2 carrots, cut in to matchsticks
  • 1 – 2 garlic cloves, mashed
  • 8 brown mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 corn cob, with the kernels scraped off
  • Green leaves (spinach, chard, beetroot leaves)
  • 1/4 cup water
  • Flageolet beans (optional)
  • 3 spring onions, chopped

Method

  • Cook the noodles as per the manufacturers instructions.  Drain and set aside.
  • Heat the oil in a wok and fry the onion for 3-4 minutes.
  • Add the carrots and garlic and cook for a couple of minutes.
  • Add the mushrooms and cook 2-3 minutes until going soft.
  • Add the soy sauce and stir.
  • Layer the noodles on top then the corn, green leaves and beans.
  • Pour in the water and cover with a lid so the vegetables steam gently for 5 minutes.
  • Serve with spring onions.

This tasted good and the beer washed it down perfectly.  Cheers 🙂

I am beginning to feel really good from sting all these whole grains and veggies.  After dinner I spent an hour or so in the garden.  Having weeded a space I planted out some little cosmos plants I grew from seed, weeded the veggie beds and a flower bed and watered some seedlings.  It was very therapeutic to be outside in the garden and helped me relax away the strains and tensions from the week.  I think the beer helped too.

Have a good weekend.

 

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Veggie Tables

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

Breakfast at my desk.

Bircher muesli made the night before; 1/3 cup oats, 1 cup almond milk, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1 apple and 10 hazelnuts.  Drunk with herbal tea.  I really like how the texture of Hazlenuts soaked in a liquid overnight taste.

I went out for lunch today for the first time all week.  Wow, that sunshine was glorious.  I joined the queues at Veggie Table in the market.

I opted for the vegan burger which was served in a lovely chewy bun with seeds on it with a fresh tomato salsa and hummus.  Really good.

And salad.

This box is so full of goodness and deliciousness.

I really enjoyed sitting in the sun in the little garden at Soutwark Cathedral, absorbing some vitamin D.

I enjoyed a lot more later on too.  We had a team meeting in another office near Moorgate and I persuaded my colleagues to walk rather than take the tube.  It was very hot on our half hour walk through the City!

I came home on time and enjoyed preparing a healthy supper.  Vegetables.

More vegetables, including chard, spinach and beetroot leaves from the garden.

Stir fried with garlic, soy sauce, left over brown rice and 1/2 a jar of flageolet beans I had picked up in a French supermarket which also had some carrot and little onions in it.

I made a massive portion which made about 2 bowl fulls.

I managed them both.

Cup of chai tea with honey and I am ready for bed.  Another good days eating 🙂

 

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