Going Green Again

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

Very boring breakfast of some mediocre porridge from the work canteen.  With no nuts, seeds or protein in it, I was hungry early but didn’t get out to lunch until 3:30pm so I was very hungry when I hit the Market.  Then I had to rush but I managed a little stroll around.

Turnips was open – hooray.  I wish it was open every day.  I bought some more purple potatoes and some little pinky white ones too, for the weekend.

And some more blood oranges.

As if by magic, I was at the Raclette stall, just outside Southwark Cathedral.

But today I chose their toasted cheese sandwich.  Oh my gosh.  This was incredible.  Everything a toasted cheese sandwich should be.  Crispy on the outside of chewy toasted bread, oozing Montgomery Cheddar and Comte cheese with onions – you should try one.

I also bought a cowboy cookie to have with a cup of tea.  It had chocolate chunks and coconut in it.  Naughty but yummy.  Look how cute those little owl biscuits are.  I am working my way through this stall.  On the left are the ginger flapjacks I had 2 weeks ago. There are loads of sweet stalls in the Market but I am drawn back to this one each week – The Cinnamon Tree Bakery.

I went green again for supper and due to the calorific lunch, I had a really light smoothie. Celery, spinach, small avocado, frozen banana, pear, kiwi fruit, 1 tsp pumpkin seed butter, water and ice.

I love the ice in it as it chills it down and thickens it.

This was refreshing and tasty.  Definitely one to make again.

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Fish!

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

We had a very berry start to our day.

1 cup of frozen mixed red berries, 1/2 a cup of oats, 1 tbsp chia seeds, 1/4 cup almond milk, 1 cup coconut water, 1 banana, 1 tbsp apricot kernel butter.  x 2.  Pop the ingredients in the blender.

Press go.  It’s quite fascinating watching the blender pulp everything from the bottom first and then it creates a vortex and sucks the top ingredients down.

This was fabulous.  Very berry, creamy, sweet, nourishing.  Yum.

I made a smoothie because for some reason I was awake earlier then normal.  Wide awake so I got up.  It seemed strange to walk in to the office with nothing to eat or drink so I treated myself to a Monmouth coffee.  Perfecto!

It was fruit frenzy Wednesday so I had a pear, raspberries, blueberries, melon, strawberry and a date.  I also had time to go out for a short walk at lunch time.  There is a restaurant called ‘Fish!’ in the market which I have been looking at longingly because I love fish.

When I wandered past today, I saw they had a takeaway section :-).

I chose the hot mackerel in a roll with tartare sauce.  It never occurred to me it would have been fried in batter!  I assumed it would be a fillet served warm.  I ate it anyway and I confess I really enjoyed it.  I stood in the sunshine in the garden of Southwark Cathedral and enjoyed my lunch very much.

On my way back to the office I walked past Konditoor and Cook (amazing cake shop) and they had a large display of brownies outside, being sold by a gorgeous young man.  Now that wasn’t fair.  How was I to resist when they were under my nose.  I chose the fudge brownie and it was good enough to be worth every calorie.

Orange smoothie for tea.  1 orange, 1 blood orange, 1 papaya, 1 carrot.  Plus water, ice cubes, an avocado and some cottage cheese.

Not bad, but not amazing.  A bit bland so I need to add something else to it next time.

I followed it with a glass of red wine and some cheddar on oat cakes.  So I over ate today, but not disastrously.  That was the first drink I have had in a week and the first cheese for ages too.   And I have at least had lots of fruits and vegetables today too – way more than my 5 a day.  I think I will sleep easy tonight.

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Enjoy The Journey

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

“I am not destination happy but I am journey happy.  You have to enjoy the journey.”  So said the lady (I think her name was LaRhane) who was featured on ‘Obese: A Year To Save My Life US’ that I watched last night.  I completely agree with that sentiment.  I am not obsessing about my target weight.  I don’t even have one.  I am taking it a stone at a time and enjoying transitioning the way my family eats.  I am enjoying writing my blog, eating differently and researching new recipes and healthy living ideas.  So I am journey happy and I think that is why I am continuing to lose weight.  I am not despondent at my rate of weight loss and I no longer worry about how far I still have to go.  Every pound I lose is cause for celebration.  And every week I manage to not gain anything is a reason to be proud.

I took breakfast in to work but didn’t take a photo.  I had 1/3 of a cup of brown rice, 1/4 of a fresh pineapple, about 10 pistachio nuts and 100g low fat cottage cheese.  An unremarkable but pleasant enough breakfast.

For lunch I walked beyond Southwark Bridge to EAT.  I drank my coffee and had some of my toastie outside.

I bought a small skinny latte and a Cubanos which was a toasted cheese and ham sandwich.  But it had a very harsh spicy something in it, which added no flavour but a sharp and unpleasant chilli kick.  I will not be buying that again.  I ate half outside and had the rest at my desk.

I was later home than normal thanks to silly shoes.  Note to self; just because you have lost 4 stone, that does not mean you can flounce around in high heels with a narrow toe.  They may look more glamorous than your usual comfortable flats but quite frankly you looked ridiculous hobbling round due to the squished toes which cut off the circulation to one end of your foot and bad blisters at the other.  By the end of the day I was taking tiny little steps, much as if my feet had been bound and I then missed my train as I was only able to walk very slowly.  The one I did catch had fewer carriages than normal so I had to stand half the way home.  I was fit to faint.  Ooh the relief of pulling off my shoes and stockings and wriggling the life back in to my little piggies once I did get home was immense.

For variety, I was going to make a red smoothie tonight but Harvey chose a green one.

Apple and Spinach Smoothie

Ingredients (serves 1)

  • 250 ml water
  • 250 ml ice cubes
  • 1 cup spinach
  • 1/2 a peeled lime
  • 1 medium banana
  • 2 apples, quartered and cored

Method

  1. Place all ingredients in the blender and blitz until smooth

I doubled the ingredients and we had more than 2 large glasses full of a wonderful smoothie.

I am impressed my blender managed to blitz all these apples to a smooth puree.  And when I took the lid off the blender, the apple smell was sensational.

If you look at the smoothie closely, you can see tiny dots of red which is the apple skin.  But that is all that remains to be seen of the apples because they were all blitzed to a very smooth consistency.  I liked the iciness of it too and by blending it with water, the flavour of the ingredients was dominant rather then the mixing liquid.  And calorie free 🙂

So another day happily lived.  My literal journey home was painful and unpleasant.  But my metaphorical healthy living transition journey is a complete pleasure.

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4 stone

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

I HAVE LOST 4 STONE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  🙂  🙂  🙂  🙂  4 stone and half a pound to be precise.  YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEEE.  So since I started work I have lost 5 pounds.  Woo Hoo.  I feel elated, can you tell?  I am celebrating by being even healthier then ever.

Breakfast was some porridge from Pret with fruit compote and a filter coffee.

Lunch was rushed.  I bought a salad of mixed green leaves with spicy chicken, tuna mayonnaise, roasted vegetables and a mustard and Dijon dressing.

I did not have time to open it for the photo and barely had time to pose the pot beside the river.  So that was my lunch break – the 10 minutes it took to buy it.  Such a shame I couldn’t spend more time outside as it was such an amazing day again.  I ate at my desk.

I rushed out of work, determined to be on the early train so I could get to Weight Watchers.  Just outside the office, i fell flat on my face.  Oh the humiliation.  I landed heavily on my knees which are now very sore but luckily nothing was broken and I did make my train.

So I made the weigh in.  The ladies who do the weighing and paperwork were really pleased but no one was as happy as I was.  Back at the ranch I wanted to pack loads of nutrients in to my smoothie.  I prepared a pineapple.  I put ¼in the freezer to help thicken up a smoothie another day, ¼ in the lunch pot for tomorrow, ¼ in the blender and the remaining ¼ disappeared.  There is a little fruit bat who lives here and he adores pineapple and was later spotted watching tv and munching on a bowl of nuts and fresh juicy pineapple.

I also put in a pear, a kiwi fruit, some pistachio nuts, spinach and broccoli.  All raw, just popped in to the blender.

With about 150g low fat cottage cheese for protein, a frozen banana and grapefruit juice.

It takes less than a minute for my new blender to turn all that to a thick liquid.

This one had the most perfect texture, thick, completely smooth and very creamy.  It was rather an array of flavours but still delicious.  Luckily as it made 3 glasses full!

Cheers and here’s to the next stone!

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SUNday

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

What a perfect morning to wake up to.  The sun streamed through my windows and it was really warm, inside and out.  We spent an idyllic morning at home, relaxing, reading and  painting!

These flowers Marie sent me last week have opened up and are so pretty they are a real joy to look at.

You will never guess what I had for breakfast.  Actually, you probably already have – yes, another smoothie.  A blood orange smoothie.

I had a blood orange peeled in the freezer and also added a fresh one.

Blood orange smoothie: 2 blood oranges, 1 small banana, 100g Natural probiotic yogurt, 1 tsp chia seeds, 1 tsp flax seed oil and 200 ml coconut water.

It was runnier than I like so next time I will make this one with 100ml coconut water.  The flavour was wonderful – I really like citrus smoothies.

I used the new blender again for lunch and this time made soup.  Remember last Sunday I made a baked ham in the slow cooker but forgot to resoak it so the ham was too salty?  Well, today I used up the leftover ham and added it to the stock and lentils but by adding no seasoning, it ended up pretty good.

Baked Ham and Red Lentil Soup

Ingredients (serves 3)

  • 1 tsp oil
  • 2 medium onions. peeled and chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
  • 1 litre vegetable stock
  • 1 cup red lentils
  • 200 g baked ham

Method

  1. Heat oil in a pan and gently fry onions for about 5 minutes.
  2. Add minced garlic and fry for another 2 minutes.
  3. Pour the vegetable stock in to the slow cooker and add the onion and garlic.
  4. Add the red lentils to the slow cooker.
  5. Chop up the baked ham and add to the slow cooker.
  6. Turn on high and cook for 5 – 6 hours.
  7. When ready, blend until smooth (or leave coarse if you prefer).

Very easy and very tasty.

After lunch we went for a walk in the woods.  We loved that sunshine and the warmth and just went in shirt sleeves.  No coat required today 🙂

We spent the afternoon at Henry’s birthday party which Kath and Matt were also using as a chance to say good-bye to people as they leave in less than 2 weeks.  However, they have not got rid of us yet so I haven’t said good-bye!  Harvey had fun playing football with the boys and we enjoyed chatting to friends and eating cake.  Cups of tea flowed and most guests had brought homemade cakes so I ate loads of those.   For some reason, my scales this morning told me I had lost lots of weight so I thought I could relax the diet this afternoon.  I relaxed a bit too much 😦

Simple supper of a mushroom omelette.  I fried the oyster mushrooms in a little butter,

and added them to the egg as it cooked with some Halloumi cheese.  One of the Alpine cheeses, such as Gruyere would have complemented the mushrooms better but this was tasty.

Le voila, a cheese and mushroom omelette.

Looks like a large sun on my plate so my day started and ended with sun 🙂

 

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Super Smoothie Saturday

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

Ahhhhhh.  That was a deep sigh of contentment.  Still loving my gorgeous new blender 🙂

Harvey has a bad throat and cough so we decided to miss swimming this morning which meant we had a lazy start to the day.  When I went downstairs to make tea to take back to bed, I popped some oats and chia seeds in to the blender with some almond milk to soak for a bit.

An hour or so later, I added some other bits such as a banana and these delicious coconut chips.

Plus a passionfruit and a pink grapefruit.

I did not originally intend to add the grapefruit but it needed using up and was not fresh enough to eat without blending it first.

And whizzed it up.

It was very thick which I liked with a mild oat flavour and a very strong grapefruit flavour which I liked but Harvey said was too overpowering.

Breakfast Oat Smoothie

Ingredients (for 1 person)

  • ½ cup oats
  • 1 tbsp chia seeds
  • 1 cup almond milk
  • ¼ cup coconut chips
  • ½ passionfruit
  • ½ grapefruit
    1 banana

Method

  1. Place oats, seeds and milk in blender and soak for 1 – 2 hours.
  2. Add coconut and fruits and blend until smooth.

We were out and about in the morning and the boys returned home with fish and chips for themselves.  I did not want to eat anything so calorie dense.  I was too busy to want to cook so I made another smoothie.  A green one this time, with more spinach.

Coconut water, almond milk, a frozen banana, 1 tbsp apricot kernel butter and some more coconut chips.

It tasted so good.  You would never imagine it was raw spinach as it was so creamy and smooth.

That blender is awesome.

So was the weather today which meant the crocuses opened up.

We have so many this year but they are closed up in the evening when I get home.

And last weekend the weather was so bad they did not open.

But today they did.

I was so pleased to be able to enjoy them properly.  We also enjoyed a walk in the woods.

Time for a drink.

 In the afternoon I made Sweet and Salty Crunchie Bars to take to Kath’s leaving party tomorrow.  Unfortunately, because I was rather hungry, I had some of the chocolate and nuts and Crunchie while I was preparing it.  Several pieces really  😦

Supper was inspired by a recipe I had seen on Alternative Eating for Lemon and herb chicken and I made my own version of that.  I was also inspired by the herbs on my sunny window sill.

Lemon, Herb and Garlic Chicken

Ingredients (serves 2)

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • Juice from ½ a lemon
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 tsp finely chopped thyme, oregano and tarragon (fresh if possible)
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 2 chicken breasts, skin and bone removed

Method

  1. Place oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, herbs and garlic in a bowl and mix well.
  2. Add the chicken, make sure the chicken is well coated in the marinade and leave for 1 – 2 hours.
  3. Preheat oven to 180 º C
  4. Place the chicken in an oven proof dish and bake for half an hour.

I served the chicken with a baked potato and steamed broccoli and carrot.  With butter.  The chicken was delicious with an excellent balance of herbs and lemon.  Yummy.

Harvey made a fire tonight, completely unaided by me.  I did supervise but he laid it and lit it all by himself and did a grand job.  It was sunny and warm today but cool tonight so we enjoyed the fire.

What smoothie shall I have tomorrow?

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The Future Is Green

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

I was in Birmingham yesterday and the day started with a great breakfast in the heavenly hotel.  A bowl of muesli with some added dried fruits and nuts (they had a fab selection of extra sprinkles so I put some extra nuts and dried fruit on) with some yogurt.

Luckily I had a well balanced breakfast at 7 am as I didn’t get a chance to eat (or even drink!!!!) again until we were on the train on the way home at 5:30 pm.  I literally did not have 5 minutes break from one meeting to the next.  So I was happy to settle on the train, relax for a bit and have an egg mayonnaise sandwich, apple and toffee cake and a clementine.

Nothing for supper except a glass of wine with Marion and all the other wonderful ladies who live round here to celebrate Marion’s birthday.  Oh what fun we had.  Happy birthday fab friend.  It was so good to catch up with my lovely home friends and I received so many positive comments about my weight loss, it was a real boost.  Thank you all 🙂

It made a difference to how I felt when I went out today.  Yes, you really helped.  I was on a mission to eat very healthily so I can lose some more weight and keep going on this healthy living lifestyle of mine.

Breakfast today was porridge with stewed fruit from le Pain Q again.  For lunch I wandered in to Borough Market and Turnips was open.  Hooray.

I bought James some more mushrooms.

Admired the toms and aubs.

Check out those gigantic papayas!

Wanting to be ultra healthy today, I headed off to the Organic Juice Bar.

I chose a wheatgrass shot.

It tastes slightly bitter but is not bad.

Followed by a “Borough Omelette” (like a Spanish tortilla) with 3 salads.

The omelette was ok and the salads were delicious.  One was full of sprouted lentils, brown rice with sundried tomatoes and herbs and a tomato and spinach salad.  Yummy.

Eating such a healthy lunch definitely helped my energy levels.  I was really tired this morning but managed to stay alert and focused all day which was great.

My new strategy for evening eating is to make very healthy smoothies for supper.  I have been wanting a really good blender for months and now I have a job I treated myself.  John Lewis does a fab ‘click and collect’ process where I bought it online and then collected it this evening from my nearest store.  Simples!

The first smoothie was for Harvey and he chose banana, orange and blueberry.

The new blender whipped up a storm and produced a super smoothie packed with vitamins and nutrients which was guzzled down and thoroughly enjoyed.

I went for a Green Monster.  I bought some spinach in the market today, which I blended with a frozen banana, chia seeds, almond milk and pumpkin seed butter.

I have made this before and it was ok but slightly grainy and spinachy.  But the new blender made it so perfectly smooth it was a complete pleasure to drink.  You would never think it had loads of spinach in it – apart from the bright green colour!  Harvey liked it too, which surprised him.  So that was supper.  Incredibly healthy, diet friendly and I still feel full :-).

I will be having this again.  The future is green.  Very green.

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Hotel Heaven

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

Today has whizzed by at great speed.  I have been so busy all day and am now exhausted but LOVING tonight’s hotel.  Where am I tonight?

Back in Glasgow this morning, I had a large breakfast as I was not sure when I would have a chance to eat next as I had a busy schedule ahead of me at work.  I started with a bowl of fruit,

followed by one slice of toast, one egg, 2 slices of bacon, 1 slice of cheese, 1 slice of ham and half a portion of Bel Paesse cheese.

I started work earlier than I had planned – in the middle of breakfast as I had to take a phone call from someone.  Such is life these days.

I then had to rush to check out of my room which had the most bizarre location.  It was over the main train station.  My room looked out over the concourse.  And I know that because when the platform announcements started at some ungodly hour, I could hear them, despite my ear plugs!!!!  This is the view from my window.

All morning I work, work, worked and then we had about 20 minutes free so I popped out to grab lunch at Philpott’s.

I liked the Glasgow architecture.  There were lots of grand red buildings like this one and many of the streets are very hilly.  And the taxi driver told us Halle Berry was there recently filming scenes supposedly shot in San Francisco. He also told us Brad Pitt was there recently too, with scenes supposedly shot in Philadelphia.  I became suspicious then though because I am sure every taxi driver has recently seen Brad Pitt in their town.  I think it’s a new urban myth as Brad doesn’t make that many films !

Lunch was hurriedly eaten at my desk.

I had Cajun chicken and salad on a brown crusty roll.  With a very strong coffee as I was tired – thanks to the train announcer!

After a full day in the office we rushed off to the airport

and boarded our plane to……another City.  With another hotel.  I love this hotel.  I seriously love this hotel and might stay here forever.  Not really as I do miss my family but, have I told you, I love this hotel!  Look what I am watching telly on.

When I am on holiday, I like hotels full of Olde Worlde charm with high ceilings, large rooms, comfortable bars and restaurants to while away the hours in and falling over themselves to be helpful staff.  However, when I am in work mode, I want ultra modern and slick and efficient.  And to be alone.  Completely alone.

So I ordered room service.  I didn’t get to my room until after 9pm and I had been on the go all day so I was knackered (still am by the way so hope you are appreciating this blog tonight 🙂 ).

I ordered a salad which had loads of green leaves, chicken, bacon, egg and blue cheese.  No dressing, which is good for health but I would have enjoyed some.  This was really good.  Everything was fresh and full of flavour.

And, as a treat, apple crumble and custard.  It was perfect.  Loads of apple with some dried fruits too, not too sweet and a super crunchy topping.  With real custard. Mmmmmmmmm.  It was quite small so I don’t feel guilty.  I thoroughly enjoyed it all.  And I didn’t have to cook any of it or wash up.  Or talk to anyone while I ate it.  Just ate and watched Masterchef.  Perfect.

So now I am in my pyjamas and about to hop in to bed with the remote.  Watch a bit more garbage on TV, drink my camomile tea (provided by the perfect hotel) and go to sleep.

I hope the heavenly hotel provides a yummy Brummy breakfast.

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Greetings from ……..

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

….. Glasgow!  Here I am in the land that invented the deep fried Mars Bar!

The day started as usual in London though.  Le Pain Q for breakfast – take out.

Porridge with stewed fruit eaten at my desk.  Delicious.

Lunch was from Pret and eaten by the River Thames; NY pastrami sandwich and tomato soup.  Their tomato soup is fabulous.

Off to City Airport for the 20:15 flight to Glasgow.  Supper in the Departure lounge was a duck salad – pretty good.

Good-bye London

On flight snack of chicken korma flavoured poppadoms (surprisingly tasty) and glass of red wine.  Naughty.

Hello Glasgow.

Long chandelier in Grand Central Hotel

Little night cap – which was free as the bar man took too long to make it (he offered, we were quite happy chatting :-).  Cheeky.

This has been a long day.    Sleepy.

 

 

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Easy Sunday

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

When I turned the radio on this morning (Steve Wright’s ‘Love Songs’ was on) Lionel Ritchie was singing “easy like Sunday morning”.  Oh yes, Sunday mornings are so relaxed compared to the rest of the week.  Well, they are since Harvey gave up rugby.  So we had the time to cook crispy bacon and poached eggs.  Yummy.  With a large pot of tea and a flick thought the papers.

Followed by a blood orange to satisfy the healthy eating rule that each meal has to contain fruits and/or vegetables.

These are just perfect.

Sweet, juicy and with a lovely flavour.  We sat and slurped these and enjoyed every mouthful.  I must buy more next week.

Rain stopped outdoor play today so I went shopping.  For my vegetable seeds.  Twice actually, because I lost my internet connection as I was paying the first time and I stupidly hadn’t signed in so I had to start again.  GRRRRRRR.  I buy my seeds from The Organic Gardening Catalogue which I have used for a few years now and am generally very pleased with.  I am a little late for buying some of these things but I will pop them in and see what happens.

This is what I bought.  There are some flower seeds in there.  Some for pest prevention and some to encourage insects to come along and pollinate.  Others just because they are pretty.

I have focused on green leaves as I like to pick them and eat them straight away and vegetables I eat a lot of but which are expensive such as tomatoes.  I may have overdone it with the kale (5 varieties!) but I am about to make a significant investment in a super duper blender and will be eating a lot of green smoothies so will need a lot of kale for that.

I have also bought some seeds for vegetables Harvey particularly likes (carrots and sweetcorn) so he will be motivated to help me sow the seeds, tend the plants and then enjoy eating the produce which will hopefully be bountiful, to encourage him.

1 x AMARANTHUS Elefant (FAEL)
1 x AUBERGINE Black Beauty (AUBB)
1 x BEETROOT Boltardy (BEBO)
1 x BROCCOLI Wok Brocc (ORWB)
1 x CABBAGE Marner Lagerweiss (Storing White) (CBMW)
1 x CARROT Amsterdam Forcing (CRAM)
1 x CARROT Autumn King (CRAU)
1 x CELERIAC Prinz (CEPR)
1 x CELERY Solid Pink (CESP)
1 x CHOY SUM Purple (ORPF)
1 x CLARKIA elegans Double Delight (FCCE)
1 x CLIMBING BEAN Fasold (FBFA)
1 x CLIMBING BEAN Neckar Gold (FBNG)
1 x CORN SALAD Vit (CSBK)
1 x COSMOS Mixed (FCOS)
1 x FRENCH BEAN Aiguillon (FBAG)
1 x FRENCH BEAN Royalty (FBRO)
1 x KALE Dwarf Green Curled (KADW)
1 x KALE Fizz (KAFZ)
1 x KALE Jersey Walking Stick (KAJW)
1 x KALE Red Curled (KARK)
1 x KALE Red Winter (KARR)
1 x LARKSPUR Dwarf Mixed (FLDM)
1 x LETTUCE Mixed Lettuces (LEMX)
1 x LETTUCE Oakleaf (LEOK)
1 x LETTUCE Tantan (LELT)
1 x MARIGOLD Disco Mixture (FMDM)
1 x NASTURTIUM Tom Thumb (FNTT)
1 x NICOTIANA Mixed (FNMX)
1 x NIGELLA Miss Jekyll (FNMJ)
1 x OKRA Burgundy Red (OKBR)
1 x OKRA Clemsons Spineless (OKLG)
1 x ONION Ramrod (ONRM)
1 x PARSNIP Tender and True (PATT)
1 x PEPPER Bendigo F1 (CPBN)
1 x POTATO Maris Piper 2.5kg (PNMP)
1 x POTATO Nicola 1.5kg (PONI)
1 x POTATO Orla 1.5kg (POOL)
1 x RADISH French Breakfast (RAFB)
1 x ROCKET Wild (ROLL)
1 x SPINACH New Zealand (SPNZ)
1 x SPINACH reddy (SPRE)
1 x STOCK Night Scented (FSNS)
1 x SUNFLOWER Tall Single (FSTS)
1 x SWEET WILLIAM Double Mixed (FSWO)
1 x SWEETCORN Lark F1 (SCLA)
1 x TOMATO Gardeners Delight (TOGD)
1 x TOMATO Harbinger (TOHA)
1 x TOMATO Lily of the Valley (TOLV)
1 x TOMATO Tumbling Tom (TOTT)

For lunch Harvey had crudités with humous followed by a Scotch egg.  I made a salad for myself.

My protein came from the picked herring with dill.  I love rollmops, and have not had them for ages.  They go perfectly with boiled potatoes and a blob of mayonnaise.  Look at the colour of this boiled potato (I made extra yesterday).  I have not edited the colour at all, it really was that purple.

In my salad I had lettuce, mushrooms, sugar snaps, carrots, cucumber and celery.

No dressing as I had some mayonnaise on the side.

I made something new this afternoon and this was the star of the show – a swede (or rutabaga).

I got this recipe from Scandi Foodie which is a beautiful blog to look at and very interesting to read.  The writer is Finnish and lives in Australia and she comes up with some very original recipes.  Such as this one for Swede Casserole.  I meant to make this yesterday to go with the baked gammon.  The flavour and texture of the baked swede would have been better with the gammon than the roast chicken I had with it tonight, but I was too tired yesterday so we had it today.

Swede and Almond Bake

Ingredients (serves 4).

  • 500 g peeled and chopped swede
    1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 tablespoons ground almonds
  • 3 tablespoons almond milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon (or to taste) freshly grated nutmeg
  • pinch of sea salt
  • 1 medium egg
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons ground almonds, extra, for topping

Method

  • Preheat the oven to 180 ° C.
  • Put the swede in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil.
  • Add 1/2 tsp salt and cook until soft (about 15 minutes).
  • Put the  ground almonds, almond milk, ginger, pepper, nutmeg, salt and egg in a bowl and mix until well blended.

  • When the swede is cooked, drain well * and mash.

*( little tip: – I kept the strained water and used it to make the gravy with)

  • Mix the almond mixture in to the mashed swede and mix well.
  • Tip in to an oiled baking dish, sprinkle the extra ground almonds on top and bake in the oven for half an hour.

It was soft and smelt nutmeggy and dessert like.

It did still have that earthy swede tang to it though which I do not dislike but I am not a huge fan of.  I think it would have been better with a good blob of butter and some black pepper on it.  However, I was serving it with roast chicken so I held back with the butter and enjoyed it with the gravy.

We often have roast chicken on a Sunday.  It is such an easy roast dinner to make and one we all enjoy.  And while we are a family of three, there is always a portion left over, which I will take to work tomorrow.

We had our chicken with roast potatoes, Swede and Almond Bake, leeks and Helda beans which I really like.  A lovely dinner, as three empty plates were testament to.

Back to work tomorrow.  I feel easier about it this week as I know what to expect tomorrow.  But my work load is definitely not easy and I already know I have a lot to achieve this coming week.  No surprise that Lionel did not sing about “easy like Monday morning”!

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