Detox Day 7

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

I dutifully had my shake when I woke up today.  Last one – yippee!

What a beautiful morning 🙂  I met Ali in the forest for a walk.  We were not expecting to see so much snow on the tracks!

The snow on roads and pavements around here is beginning to melt but nothing seems to have melted in here.

It was a challenge to walk on but so gorgeous to look at and I really enjoyed chatting to Ali as we walked and slithered our way along the tracks and the beautiful surroundings were a bonus.

After the walk I had three figs and a banana for breakfast.

I then headed to Surrey for a herbal tea with Dad and then lunch with Sally.

Here’s a sign of a good friend – one who sits and eats your detox lunch alongside you – thank you Sally.  We made a salad from tomatoes, cucumber, green and yellow pepper, avocado and buckwheat sprouts, with an olive oil, vinegar and lime juice dressing.

Served with some asparagus.  It was supposed to be corn on the cob but I couldn’t find any so we had asparagus which we cooked.

It was tasty and eating so many vegetables really does fill me up and keep me sated for hours afterwards. It is just not what I feel like eating at this time of year, especially when it is so cold outside.  I want something like a stew.

I was out for supper with Michelle and Lucy.  We went to The Hare in Langton Green which is a huge pub and restaurant.  It was excellent.   I had the Malaysian fish stew (cod, salmon, haddock, prawns and mussels) with sticky rice and lots of extra steamed vegetables.  I was meant to have fish with vegetables so I wasn’t too far off the plan.  I resisted the bread, wine and dessert so was very pleased with my efforts.  We had a lovely evening and I would definitely go there again.

So that is that.  The detox is over.  I am very relieved and extremely pleased with my efforts and perseverance.  Detoxing during such cold weather and while I was quite busy was not ideal.  But this detox is well set out and easy to follow and I am happy I did it.  But even happier it is over 🙂

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Detox Day 6

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

Today was a challenge and it ended with, in the words of my young son, “an epic fail”.  There are no grades of failure in Harvey’s lingo.  There is either an “epic fail” or not a fail.  Black or white, success or epic fail.

The day started with great beauty at dawn as the sun broke through the clouds over Ramsgate harbour.

I had a shake at 7am and at 8:30 grapes and a pear.

I found eating a plateful of fruit quite difficult.  In fact I did not manage all those grapes.

For someone who loves sweet things as much as I do, it seems bizarre that I am not enjoying this fruit because it is too sweet!  I rarely eat fruit on its own.  I like fruit very much, but I tend to eat it with other things such as in a salad or in breakfast cereal or in a dessert or with some cheese.  On its own, I am not such a fan.

At 10 am I was due to have an orange and ½ a pineapple.  But by then my stomach was gurgling and feeling uncomfortable so I had a cup of herbal tea instead.

I was really looking forward to lunch.  It was meant to be soup but I did not have soup making equipment in Ramsgate so I decided to swap lunch and dinner around.  So lunch became the stir fried vegetables and rice that was intended for dinner.

I was so excited about eating rice.  I was missing eating food that was soft and warm.  I also love brown rice.  I think it is nurturing and comforting food.  On top of the rice was some carrot, courgette, spring onion, ½ a red pepper and  ½ a yellow pepper, lightly stir fried in sesame oil.  I was meant to cook it with ginger, garlic and lemon grass but I did not fancy such strong flavours so I ate it plain.  Just brown rice and vegetables.  Yum.

It took a long time to munch my way through all those vegetables but I really enjoyed it all.  I can’t believe I ate so much volume of food!

It gave me some much needed energy though.  I spent 10 hours today doing housework and at quite a frenetic pace, up and down 4 four flights of stairs, over and over again.  It was exhausting.  I was meant to have raw vegetable crudités with guacamole at 4pm but I was too busy to stop.  I literally did not stop or sit down between getting up at 7:15 and leaving the house at 5:30, except to eat breakfast and lunch.

I was late collecting Harvey so Judy grabbed him for me.  By the time I had retrieved him and got home it was 7:15 pm and we were both hungry.  I was not in the mood for making a vegetable soup from scratch so I had what Harvey had, which was not in the detox manual.

One wholemeal bap, lightly toasted, filled with a fillet of salmon, tomato, dill and mayonnaise.

It took 10 minutes from thinking about this meal to sitting down and eating it so it is perfect for a mid week supper.  It is healthy too.  Just a shame it is not on my detox agenda 😦 .

I am disappointed I did not stick religiously to my detox today, but I was too busy to eat according to the regimen.  I intend to complete day 7 tomorrow, which is the final day.

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Detox Day 5

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

Agenda for the day was as follows:

7:00 Shake (psyllium and bentonite clay mixed with 300ml mineral water and 100 ml Organic orange juice).

08:15 ½ a melon.

08:30 meet Lisa in the village for a walk round the snowy apple orchards :-).  This snow is making my world look very black and white!

We walked round the orchards

and over to the hop fields.  Where the dogs tried to catch snowballs.

10:00 ½ a pineapple.

13:00 Raw Vegetable Salad, made with lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, yellow pepper, green pepper, spring onion, buckwheat sprouts and fresh herbs.  I added some flax seed oil and lemon juice as a dressing.  The colour has come back in to my world.

It was so cold I did not feel like a salad.

But this was tasty.

And it was good to eat something savoury after all of yesterdays sweet fruit.

16:00 Crudités with a guacamole dip.  Unfortunately I was hibernating under a warm duvet so I missed this snack.  I went to Ramsgate after the walk to prepare the house for visitors and it was so cold in the house that I retreated to bed.  I was cold and feeling tired so I had a good sleep.

20:00 Roast Fennel salad.  Finally, some cooked food!!!!  I was so excited to be turning the oven on 🙂 .  This was very tasty and I will make this again.  You cut the fennel in to thin strips and put it in a roasting tray.  Drizzle it with olive oil and the juice and zest of an orange.  Roast at 170 ° C for 15 minutes and serve on top of the salad, which was the same as the one I had at lunch time, except instead of adding a dressing, I used the oil and orange juice from the roasting tray.

It was delicious.  And warm.

I am now catching up, thanks to iplayer,  on the last 2 episodes of Borgen, a Danish drama about the life and challenges of a female prime minister.  Our broadband at home is dreadful but in Ramsgate it is brilliant.  I can just press play and it goes from beginning to end without stoping once.

Last thing to take of the day will be some probiotics and then an early night.

 

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Detox Day 4

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

It seemed very strange eating after a 3 day fast.  I was looking forward to it and wishing my first food wasn’t melon, which is perhaps my least favourite fruit.  I was allowed half a melon for breakfast and I chose a cantaloupe.

A special occasion like this called for the silver fork with the mother of pearl handle.

Enjoyed with a cup of fruit tea.

After eating nothing for so long, the melon seemed full of flavour and so sweet.  I liked it 🙂 .

Next on the agenda was half a pineapple.  I used my pineapple corer and slicer which is such an effective gadget.

It cuts the sweet and juicy pineapple you want to eat and leaves the skin and core.

It even cuts the pineapple in to a spiral.

Yum. Delicious.  Sweet.  Juicy.

I tried to capture how sparkly the snow looked but the pictures didn’t work.  So here’s a cute one of my dog eating the snow instead.

I headed over to Smarden, with a punnett of strawberries to spend some time with Kath.  This part of the world where I live,

Is so beautiful.

Next on the agenda was grapes and a pear.  I had four types of grape: 2 black, 1 red and 1 green.  The big fat black ones were the best.

Finally I had a bowl of raspberries, figs and a banana.

Harvey had his with soya yogurt and honey.

Amazing how just fruit, herbal tea and mineral water can keep you feeling sated all day!

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Detox Day 3

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

According to my detox literature, after Day 3, one can begin to feel euphoric on the detox.  The only euphoria I feel is that I can eat some real food tomorrow and this 3 day fast of shakes, water and broth is over:-).  For the last 3 days, my life has been ruled by the strict timetable of when to take shakes and tablets from these little sachets.

I am really pleased with myself for sticking to it.  I wasn’t sure if I could when I started but I did it.  I had a lot more energy today than days 1 and 2 which is a good thing as I was rather busy.

I had to go to London to sign some papers for my return to work in 3 weeks time.  While there, I walked from Chancery Lane to Oxford Street and tried on a few jackets and suits for work.  Nothing was quite right though so I came home.  To be honest, although I felt more energetic than days 1 and 2, I was too tired to get excited about buying anything.

There is no snow in London!  I slept most of the way home on the train and when I woke up at Marden it was a surprise to see everything white again.

This evening Fiona and Judy came for supper.  I cooked for them (salmon and roasted vegetables) and I drank my broth and we had a lovely evening.  I seem to be able to disassociate myself from the food around me and was not tempted to eat anything which is a weird state of affairs.

I went to Weight Watchers and lost 8 pounds!!!  I realise there is a chance I will put it all back on but I am amazed I have lost 8 pounds after just 3 days detoxing.  I bet I am the first person up for breakfast in my house tomorrow :-).

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Detox Day 2

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

I went to bed early last night (10pm) but was wide awake at 2:30am for about 2 hours.  Apparently disturbed sleep is one of the potential side effects of a detox.  I then slept through until nearly 8 am though so I had about 8 hours sleep and woke up feeling reasonably refreshed.

This was the view from my bedroom this morning.

The view from Harvey’s.

And the view from Lara’s.

It had snowed! It looks so beautiful and the world seems incredibly peaceful.  I love the brightness that gets reflected back in to the house when it is snowy outside.

The snow must have fallen with little or no wind as there was so much snow on every branch.  It was quite enchanting.

Hard to make out the drive under all that snow!

Harvey rushed out in his pyjamas to play in the snow.  We had to clear snow off the car to retrieve his ski gloves which had been left in there overnight.  I should have got a ruler to measure how many inches of snow fell.

I have been waiting for some snow to take pictures of the berries so I can change the blog header from Autumnal pumpkins to red Winter berries.  Plenty of pictures to choose from:

 

I hope you like the one I chose.

So how was the detox today?  Better than yesterday, definitely.  I have had a little more energy but not as much as usual.  I have been tired and had difficulty staying awake this afternoon.  I have also had a mild headache nearly all day.

Re the detox regime, it is exactly the same as yesterday.  Except that now I have actually read through the instructions properly, I have to make the shakes with mainly water and a quarter volume of juice.  I was making them with all juice yesterday which made them easier to drink.  I have not been hungry but I am missing food.  And I will be glad when I can stop the shakes.  One more day and then I can have some fruit – woo-hoo 🙂

Is is difficult fasting when you have a little person who wants you to cook for him.   Steaming mugs of hot chocolate were made to warm him when he came in from the garden.  I made a ham and buckwheat sprout omelette fro his breakfast.  Someone needs to eat these delicious little sprouts I germinated!  I struggled to resist this, especially the ham which is a particularly good one,  but I did :-).

I was in the middle of cooking lunch when James returned from a trip to Ramsgate so I handed cooking over to him for the rest of the day.   If I was to do a detox again, I would do the 3 day fast during the week so I could be at home alone and only need to think about myself.

The enema.

Yes I did try one.  This is a family show folks so I will spare you the details and will just say that it was less unpleasant than I expected but harder to retain the warm water than I anticipated.  Apparently it gets easier each time you do it.  But I am not sure I want to do it again or if I feel I need to attain that level of intestinal “health”.  The jury is still out on that one.

I have one more shake to go today and another bowl of broth plus some tablets to take.  This detox is definitely achievable but not very enjoyable.  I am hoping I start to feel amazing soon.

 

 

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Detox Day 1

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

Yesterday my Home Detox in a Box arrived.  It is a 7 day detox and having checked my diary, it suited me to start it today.  The downside to that decision was that I had not prepared my temple and so am probably finding today much harder than it needs to be.  Having now read the pre-detox recommendations, a supper of fatty meat, pasta and then red wine is on the “not to do” list rather than the “how to” list 😦

Se essentially for 3 days I am on a fast.  I have to drink 2 litres of water a day as a minimum.

I have to follow a timed schedule of when to take “shakes”, enzymes and probiotics.  There is also an enema kit!

To make my shake, I add 1 tbsp of the ground seeds of psyllium mixed with Bentonite Clay.  The psyllium is going to swell to up to 40 times their original size and sweep my insides clean.  The clay will act like a magnet and absorb toxins.

I have to mix the powder with at least 12 oz/350 ml organic fruit or vegetable juice.  I started with apple.

Having measured the juice, I gradually add it to the powder in a glass, whisking like crazy so it dissolves properly so I can glug it down quickly before it begins to set.

One glassful did begin to swell and that was hard work, getting that one down.

The shakes do stop me from feeling hungry but I will be happy when I no longer need to have one.  I have so far had 4 apple juice shakes and 1 orange juice shake.

I have taken all the enzymes so far but I have not managed everything according to the exact schedule as I was ferrying Harvey to and from a party and I had errands to run.  But I was never far off schedule.

You are told to rest during the fast.  I did rest this afternoon.  In fact I went to bed and slept for 3 and a half hours!  I still feel very tired though and will be going to bed early tonight.

Instead of a shake tonight I can have a broth.  It contains the merest hint of carrot, parsnip and leek as you steam the vegetables and then drink the water.  You don’t eat the vegetables.  I was allowed to add herbs for flavour so I added some parsley and oregano plus some cumin and cayenne.  That is cooking now.

I wouldn’t say I have enjoyed today, but I have not hated it either and it is doable so I feel pleased with myself for sticking to it.  I hope I do not feel so tired tomorrow though.  In case you were wondering, no, I have not yet managed the enema.

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An Exceptional Curry

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

This morning, I was thinking about what I fancied for breakfast and I kept thinking about nuts and yogurt.  Apparently the word ‘Muesli’ comes from ‘Mus’ which is Swiss German for ‘mixture’.  Some definitions refer to it meaning ‘mushy’ or ‘pottage’.  I concocted a delicious breakfast today which I am looking forward to having again as it was delicious and substantial enough to keep me full for hours, even though the portion size looked tiny.

Nut-Mus

Ingredients (serves 1)

100 g Natural Yogurt.  I used Yeo Valley Organic Natural yogurt with probiotics (2 WW points)
1 or 2 Medjool dates  (3 WW points for both)
2 Brazil nuts (1 WW point)
5 Macadamias (2 WW points)
10 g Pistachios (2 WW points)
6 almonds (2 WW points)
1 tbsp Buckwheat sprouts (1 WW point)
1 pear

Method

In a small blender, blitz yogurt with dates until smooth.
Chop nuts so they are as coarse or fine as you like them.

Place nuts in bowl and pour over the yogurt and date mix.
Top with 1 tbsp of buckwheat sprouts and a grated pear.

Next time I would probably use 1 date as I found it quite sweet.  The pear was very sweet too so perhaps if I had a less sweet piece of fruit I may need 2 dates.

This was delicious and very moreish.  It is high in points/calories but packed full of nutrients and it kept me full for about 5 hours.

I did have lots of chores to do today but it was too cold to venture outside but so sunny and warm (thanks to putting the heating on!) inside,  soI decided to cook instead.

For lunch I returned to Hugh’s Veg Everyday!.  I had some Turkish aubergines to use up.  They have been growing on my kitchen windowsill for months.  Well, actually they have sat there for months, producing tiny flies but not actually getting any bigger for ages.  According to the seed packet they should grow to 5 cm long but these were not even 2 cm.  They look so pretty I was reluctant to pick them but the flies had to go!

Inside they are more yellow than the purple ones.

So I picked them and cooked them along with a conventional purple aubergine and made a truly spectacular curry.  I strongly recommend you make this curry.  My faith in Hugh has been restored and I could eat this curry over and over again.


Aubergine and Green Bean Curry

Ingredients (curry serves 1 but sauce serves 4)

1 medium sized aubergine (or use one large if no Turkish are available)
6 Turkish aubergines (optional)
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 can of cherry tomatoes (or use 300 ml passata)
200 ml coconut milk
Handful of green beans
Salt and pepper

For the curry paste

  • 5 shallots, finely chopped
  • 6 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 2 inch chunk of ginger, peeled and chopped
  • 2 lemongrass stalks, tough outer layer removed and finely sliced
  • 2 red chillies, deseeded and chopped
  • 2 tsp cumin
  • 2 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp turmeric

Method

  1. Put all the curry paste ingredients in the blender with 2 – 3 tbsp water and blend until you get a coarse paste.  I had to turn the blender off and scrape down a couple of times.
  2. Halve the aubergine lengthways, cut each length in to 3 and then each long strip in to 3 (you will have 12 wedges of aubergine).
  3. I did not precook the little Turkish aubergines.
  4. Heat the coconut oil in a deep pan and brown the aubergines.  Remove and drain on kitchen paper.
  5. Add 1 more tbsp coconut oil and add half the curry paste ( I froze the other half for another time).
  6. Heat for about a minute and then add the aubergines and stir so they are covered in the sauce.
  7. Add the tomatoes and coconut milk and simmer for about 5 minutes.
  8. Add the green beans and simmer covered, for about 10 minutes, until the beans are cooked.
  9. Season with salt and pepper.

This curry is exceptionally good.  I like quite a lot of sauce so I used half the sauce recipe and half the curry ingredients but only 1 aubergine, whereas Hugh uses 5.  So basically, my version has a lot more sauce.

My chillies were rather hotter than I expected so I added some soured cream which was perfect with the curry.  This lunch was AWESOME 🙂

I estimate my points for this delicious curry were 14, which come from the oil and soured cream.

I mentioned a few days ago that I was going to do a detox.  Well, my detox kit arrived today so I am starting tomorrow.  The first 3 days are essentially a fast so I decided to leave the pickled herring, dill and quinoa salad I was planning for supper and tuck in to  the menfolk’s spinach trottole pasta with Seeds of Change mediterranean vegetable sauce and a pork sausage which came in at a whopping 21 points.  That has wiped out all my weekly extra points but I suspect I will not be needing those on the detox!.

Daily WW Points Totals

Breakfast = 13
Lunch = 14
Dinner = 21
Extras (milk in tea) = 2

Daily total = 48 *

* I am about to go to Rebecca’s for some red wine so it will go up a bit.

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Ultimate Comfort Food

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

I am delighted to report, that unlike yesterday, I enjoyed all 3 of my meals today, very much.

I kicked off with an egg and broccoli breakfast.  Gina at Skinny Taste made a delicious looking Broccoli and Cheese Mini Egg Omelettes.  I made a few changes to my recipe but her recipe inspired me.

Baked Eggs with Cheese and Broccoli

Ingredients (serves 1)

Handful of broccoli or tenderstem broccoli

1 tsp oil or butter for greasing bowl (1 WW point)
2 medium sized eggs (4 WW points)
40 g Cheddar , grated (5 WW points)
Salt and Pepper

Method

Preheat oven to 180 ° C.
Steam broccoli for 7 minutes, until just tender.
Grease cooking dish ( I used a Pyrex dish).
Chop broccoli finely.

Whisk eggs together.
Put half the cheese on the bottom of the cooking dish.
Place the broccoli on the cheese.
Pour all the egg mixture over the broccoli.
Put remaining cheese on the top.

Bake in the oven for 20 – 25 minutes until the middle is cooked.

I went round the edges with a silicon spatula and it came out of the dish easily and on to my plate.  To give this a scale, I served it on to a side plate, not a dinner plate.

It was delicious and I thoroughly enjoyed it as my clean plate can testify !

I mat Lisa by the local orchard for a walk.

It was below freezing out but we managed a 2 hour walk.  Round the half frozen lake,

where we met some refugees 🙂

In the base of this tree,

is the cutest little door ever!  Who lives in there?

This little dog is crazy.  Sorry Lisa but he is!  Swimming in that partially frozen water.

or the stream or anywhere else he could.

Last week we walked down here and it was thick, gloopy mud.  Today it was all frozen.

The boys enjoyed their long walk.  So did we girls.

This pretty cyclamen has sat on my windowsill, producing flowers for months, ever since Jackie gave it to me when she came for supper.  When I came back from my walk, the sun was on the petals and it looked gorgeous.

I had a salad for lunch.  So now who is the crazy one?  I was thinking I had not eaten enough raw food recently so needed to add more in to the diet.  I had mixed salad greens, tomato, celery and carrot with a small tin of sardines in tomato sauce (4 WW points) which I heated under the grill and 2 tbsp of mayonnaise (6 WW points).

I started supper before lunch as I was going to try the slow cooker for the first time.  I followed a recipe in the handbook.  The recipe used 1.5 kg pork but I only had 1kg so I adjusted the ingredients accordingly.

Pork Goulash

Ingredients (serves 4 – 6) If serving 4, one portion has 9 WW points.

  • 2 tbsp oil
  • 2 onions, finely chopped
  • 5 tbsp flour
  • 2 tsp paprika
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 kg shoulder of pork, visible fat removed and diced
  • 1 orange and 1 yellow pepper, deseeded and diced
  • Handful of fresh oregano
  • 4 tbsp tomato puree
  • 800 ml stock
  • small carton of sour cream (optional)

Method

Heat the oil in a casserole dish and fry the onion until soft.
In a large bowl mix together the flour, paprika, salt and pepper.
Toss the pork in the seasoned flour so every cube of pork is covered in flour.
Add to the casserole dish and fry until browned.
Add the red pepper, oregano, tomato puree and stock.

Bring to the boil, stirring until the sauce thickens.
Transfer the goulash to the crock pot.

Place the crock pot in to the base of the slow cooker, cover with the lid and cook on low for 7 hours.
Just before serving, swirl the sour cream in to the goulash.  I didn’t, because Harvey can not eat cream and I wanted to save points.

If you don’t have a slow cooker, I think this recipe would work well baked in the oven on a low heat for a couple of hours.

I served the goulash with mashed potato which I mashed with no additions.  Potatoes are so easy to mash at this time of year, you do not need butter or milk, especially when serving the potato with a dish with plenty of sauce like the goulash.  I had 300g potato (6 WW points).
The meat was so tender it just fell apart and the sauce was full of flavour.   It was fantastic and just what I was hoping for.  Washed down with a glass of white wine :-).  The ultimate comfort food, on such a cold day.

Daily WW Totals

Breakfast = 10
Lunch = 10
Dinner =  15
Other (wine and milk in tea) = 8

Daily Total = 43

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This House Has Been Far Out At Sea All Night

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

I had some work to do in the Ramsgate house today and had to get there as early as possible.  I made a smoothie to drink in the car.

  • 30g oats (3 WW points)
  • 100 ml coconut water (1 WW point)
  • 100 ml water
  • 15 g sunflower seeds (ground to dust in my coffee grinder) (2 WW points)
  • 5 g sesame seeds (also as dust) (1 WW point)
  • 100 g Natural Probiotic yogurt (3 WW points)
  • 1 cup blueberries
  • 1 banana

I had a few sips before I left home and it was delicious.  Creamy, fruity and smooth.  So I was looking forward to it.  I poured it on to a spill proof cup so I could sip it while I drove.

Unfortunately, it solidified really quickly so I couldn’t actually drink it in the car so I had to wait quite some time for breakfast so I could eat it with a spoon.  GRRR.

I had several errands to run on route and once at the house, and having braved the icy winds to transport several armfuls of things in to the house (not easy or pleasant) I sat down to finally enjoy breakfast, 1.5 hours after I made it.  DISAPPOINTED!!!!  It had separated and begun to go brown :-(.  It was so delicious freshly made but not so great for being left.  I ate it anyway, there was no alternative.

That wind was ferocious this morning.  It was as if there was nothing between here and Siberia.  It was a swirl round everywhere, go up your nose and whip your hair in to your eyes kind of a wind.  It blew the below freezing temperature through 3 layers of clothing and in to the very core of you in seconds.  I was so glad for the protection of my house, from where I watched the lively sea and enjoyed the brilliant sunshine.  Look how rough the sea is beyond the harbour wall compared to the calm harbour.

Lunch was a very quick and easy affair.  One ripe, juicy and sweet mango, served with 90 g of Beaufort Alpage.

Beaufort is a hard Alpine cheese like Gruyere or Comte.  I bought this in Borough Market last Thursday and it is magnificent.  I only bought a little piece because it is incredibly expensive at £47 a kilo.  But what a treat and worth every penny.  I swear you can taste the pretty Alpine flowers in every mouthful.

For supper I trod a well worn track to Veg Everyday!  The Sweet Potato and Peanut Gratin beckoned.  This dish is sweet potatoes, sliced thinly and baked in a cream and garlic sauce.  So Harvey, who is dairy intolerant, could eat it, I used natural soya yogurt instead of double cream.  That also saved me quite a few points.  In the middle of the dish was a layer of peanut butter and lime.

I took several photos of the stages involved in making it but I am not publishing them today because I am not sharing the recipe.   Unfortunately we didn’t like it :-(.  I was very disappointed.  We waited ages too because it took half an hour longer to cook than the recipe said.  The lime and peanut butter just did not work well together.

We both decided this was a dud dinner and we would never have it again.  But I was hungry enough to eat it with 100 g very lean ham.  Harvey ate his because I promised I wouldn’t cook it again, if he ate every last piece!  James thought it was better than we told him it would be but probably would not want it again.  That’s just as well!

Confession time.  While I was waiting for dinner to cook, I was so hungry I started picking.  1 apple and a clementine first.  So far so good.  Followed by 3 tsp peanut butter (4 WW points).  Hmmmmm, not so good.  And then a Mini Melton Mowbray Pork Pie.  Truly, I did.  They are one of my guilty pleasures (6 WW points).

I hope tomorrow’s food is better than today’s.  And I hope my house by the sea survives another cold and windy night.  To be precise, I hope my roof doesn’t blow in to the sea as apparently it has some important bits missing!

Daily WW Points Summary

Breakfast = 10
Lunch = 10
Dinner = 16
Snacks = 10
Tea in milk = 2

Daily total = 48

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