Dragon Tattoo

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

I went for another scramble today.  I had some portabellini mushrooms which look like this:

I am not always a fan of mushrooms.  They can seem too earthy and rubbery but occasionally they are exactly what I fancy and so it was today.  I am really enjoying kale so had some of that too.  And I was hungry hence the eggs.

It was so good.  2 eggs scrambled.

And the mushrooms seemed meaty rather than rubbery.  A tasty start to the day.

Lunch was aubergine parmigiana which I have made previously as posted about here.  Served with a simple green salad and vinaigrette.

I would have liked more cheese in it but this was healthier with a little less and we all enjoyed it.  Even James, who declares he dislikes aubergines, enjoyed a portion I had left for his supper.

Supper was a quick tuna sandwich.  The evening was rather rushed as I was going out but also wanted to go to Weight Watchers for the first time all year.  I weighed in and found I had lost a pound.  I was really pleased as it means I have lost the weight I believe I gained over Christmas (4 pounds) and a bit more so I am thrilled.  I really am back on track.  All that weighing, measuring and tracking worked and all the walking helped so I will do the same again this week.

After Fat Fighters I went to see The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo with Lara and Abi.  We went to the The Picture House in Uckfield which was a delightful little cinema.  These little independent places are so much better than the giant Odeons and others of that ilk.  The film was fabulous and we all loved it.  The 2 main characters were perfectly cast and acted.  I was so relieved as having enjoyed the book (and now the second in the trilogy) so much I was prepared to be disappointed.  But that was not the case.  Salander was exactly as I had imagined her and Daniel Craig’s Blomkist was completely gorgeous.  I wonder if some facial piercings and a dragon tattoo would make me look urban, edgy and uber cool?

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Walking Backwards

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

At the end of November, I did an 8 mile coastal walk.  Today we did it backwards.  Or rather in reverse.  So we started by taking the bus to the centre of Margate and walked back to Ramsgate.

First though I had that left over portion of pumpkin and berry breakfast crumble with Greek yogurt.  It didn’t look so pretty today but tasted wonderful and somehow the strong clove flavour had gone.  16 WW points as I had a lot of yogurt.  We were having a very relaxed morning at the beach house and I ate my breakfast in the sitting room (which I never allow at home) while I read.  Another rule from home broken.  It is fun having virtually no rules in the holiday home :-).  I am reading The Girl Who Played With Fire which is the second of the Millennium Trilogy (Girl with Dragon Tattoo) and am totally engrossed in it.  So I had a delightful morning lying in bed late, reading and then sitting on the sofa, reading.

Having consulted the tide tables, there was no point leaving too early or we would not have been able to walk along the beach as high tide was just after 11:30 am.  So we left the house at about that time and walked down to the bus stop which is next to the harbour, an easy 5 minute walk from our house.

We caught the Thanet Loop which is a superb service as it is very regular and very reasonable.  £1.90 adult and 95 p for a child, one way from Ramsgate to Margate which took about half an hour.

I used to love the Morecambe and Wise show.  This was in the Old Town, Margate.

We left Margate behind us and strode out for Ramsgate.

Harvey didn’t spend much time walking with us at first as he was more interested in climbing the cliffs.

Or walking on the beach whereas we walked along the promenade.

There was a lot of seaweed washed up on the beaches which the Sanderlings enjoyed hunting through for food.

Between Margate and Broadstairs high tide cut off our route along the beach and we headed up to the cliff tops.

Harvey enjoyed playing in the flint built ruin beside the golf course.

When we got to Kingsgate Bay, I knew we were about half way.  I wanted to walk on the beach rather than round North Foreland which is a long and boring stretch of road walking through a residential estate.  But the sea had cut off one of the bays so we popped in to the Captain Digby for a drink.  Captain Digby was built between 1763 and 1768 so it is rather old.  We enjoyed a drink (whisky with ginger ale for me) and the men had a bag of crisps.  Mine was 4 points.  Actually Harvey didn’t like his Slush Puppie which I was delighted about so he just had a glass of water.  He said it tasted “weird”.  That’s how food dye and artificial flavours do taste.

We only spent 20 – 30 minutes in the pub but that was enough for the tide to have turned enough for us to proceed along the beach.

Just beyond Kingsgate Bay, there was a stretch of chalk platform we had to walk along and the cliffs are covered in moss.

Luckily it is not slippery to walk on.

It’s a very unusual landscape.

Harvey’s favourite find of the day was ….

… a smashed up car that had obviously been wedged in to the base of the cliffs for a long time.

I was more interested in the 39 steps.  They lead up to a private housing estate nowadays but used to lead to a convalescent home where John Buchan stayed before he wrote the novel of the same name.  In the novel the steps lead to a loch.

Round the corner was some of the yellow brick road, but we didn’t see Dorothy.

We were all beginning to feel tired when we saw Broadstairs,  What a welcome sight as we knew from here we only had an hour to go.

We reached Ramsgate as it began to get dark.  The walk took 4 hours exactly from getting off the bus to reaching our front door.

We had no food in the house and did not want to eat out so James heroically collected pizza.  There is a Pizza Express near the house.  I enjoyed a hot bath with Radox muscle soak and a cup of tea while we waited.  Bliss.

I had an American Hot with a salad.  28 points!!!!  Thanks to my activity points, I have ended the week in credit.  I have about 15 points left.  I expect some will be used on a large glass of something red when we get home.

We ate in the sitting room, in somewhat of a vegetative state.

I would say, “what lazy slobs”, but we are not as we had just walked 8 miles along the coast, backwards.

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Great Deal

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

I love lazy weekend mornings when we have time to make a leisurely breakfast.  At least until I remember Harvey has a swimming lesson so mid cooking we have a frantic dash out of the door.  But apart from that, let’s pretend I was not so ditsy this morning and we will return to the fantasy of my relaxed breakfast.

Very inspired by a recipe from Natural Noshing I attempted to recreate her Pumpkin Blueberry Breakfast Crisp.

This was very easy to make but it took longer than I expected, mainly from assembling all the ingredients.

I would say I absolutely loved it except my spice mix had too much clove in it which overpowered the flavour so I will skip that next time.  The topping, with its nuts, oats and maple syrup was particularly good.  A bit like a good flapjack but without a ton of added fat and sugar.  I really enjoyed it and felt full until lunch which ended up being late.

Pumpkin and Berry Breakfast Crumble

Ingredients (makes 2 large portions, could easily serve 3)

Filling
1 and 1/3 cup canned pumpkin
2 tsp arrowroot (could use cornflour instead)
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of sea salt
½ tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of allspice
2 tsp maple syrup
1 heaped cup full of berries ( I used frozen but you could use fresh)

Topping
½ cup of oats
2 tbsp ground flax seeds
4 tbsp chopped nuts or seeds (I used 2 tbsp pecans, 1 tbsp almonds and 1 tbsp sunflower seeds)
4 tsp maple syrup (or agave or honey)
2 tsp rapeseed oil
½ tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of sea salt
½ cup of milk (I used soya)

Yogurt to serve (optional)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 ° C.
2. In a small bowl, combine all of the filling ingredients and spread into a greased baking dish.

3. In another small bowl, add the topping ingredients except for the milk.  The mixture will be quite dry and crumbly.  Sprinkle and spread on top of the filling mixture.
4. Pour milk over the topping mixture.
5.  Bake for 30 minutes until top is lightly golden.

Serve it warm, from the oven.

Top with a dollop of yogurt (if desired).   I used Greek yogurt which was perfect with it.

It was lovely to eat something completely different for breakfast.  I liked the contrast between the cold Greek yogurt and the sweet soft filling and the chewy topping.  This is a great dish and I will be making it again.  I made 3 portions from the above ingredients and have one saved for tomorrow, which I am looking forward to.

As a diet bonus, I calculated that this breakfast was 8 WW points for the crumble and 4 for the yogurt.  A superb start to the day, which was about to get better.

We headed for the coast and arrived to find Ramsgate bathed in sunlight.

We went to Deal for lunch which is 8 miles South of us.

Deal has a pebbley beach and is one of several in Kent where the boats are winched up the pebble bank which we were lucky enough to see.

I had wondered how the boats made it to the top of the beach.

There were lots of fishing pots on the beach.

Our destination was the pier.

I wanted to try Jasin’s Restaurant which is in an enviable position at the end of the pier.  What is it about piers that is so appealing?  Even ugly 1950’s built concrete ones like this.

I love walking out over the sea and this pier is popular with angler’s particularly since it has a wonderful fishing platform so there are plenty of places to fish from.

We witnessed some codling being caught and thrown back as they were too small.

Deal is an attractive town.  From the pier it looks as if it only consists of one row of houses but it is has quite a substantial shopping and residential area.

Initial impressions of Jasin’s were good.  LOVED the location, liked the building, LOVED the views.  We were unsure when we arrived whether it was a cafe where we should order at the counter or if to was a restaurant where we would receive waiter service.  It turned out to be the latter but we had to wait a while for any service.  I was disappointed to have a number on my table and a bowl full of sachets of mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard etc.  That makes me think of a cafe rather than a restaurant.  However, when we were finally served, the staff were very friendly and the wait for the meal was very acceptable.   When you have lovely views all around you, who minds waiting a little for service?

I ordered  a coffee, which was good, and a bacon, Stilton and grape salad.  11 WW points.

It was a perfect size, with generous amounts of bacon and Stilton and tasted very fresh.  My only complaint was that it came dressed.  I prefer the dressing on the side as I only like a small amount and this had a bit too much plus it contained Balsamic vinegar.  I like Balsamic but the flavour was too overpowering and I hate the way it discolours everything.  But that aside, I really enjoyed my lunch and we would all go back.

Harvey had the childrens cod and chips with peas which was a generous sized portion and he ate every scrap of it.  James does not quite embrace healthy eating as I do and went for the pie, chips, “can you replace the peas with beans please?” and a side of onion rings.  With coke.

After lunch we pottered about in the conservation area of the town.  We came across some delightful shops (forgive the tacky sepia tint but it was so Olde Worlde, if Charles Dickens had strolled by I wouldn’t have been surprised),

coffee shops, restaurants,

and of course a pub.

The houses in the conservation area are so pretty.  They are painted a range of pastel colours and are all different styles, shapes and sizes.  I guess that reflects the different times in which they were built.  The oldest dated building we saw was from the 1600s but I believe most were built between Georgian and Victorian times i.e. 1700 – 1900.

There were so many interesting details to observe.  Pretty windows.

Small doors with low windows.

I could have photographed every other house, they were so charming.

or interesting.

Even the door knockers were lovely.

We eventually headed back to Ramsgate and popped in to a pub near the house which is only open 3 days a week.

It so happens it is open on a Saturday so we popped in for a pint.  It was ice cold.  Lovely. Worth every one of its 6 WW points.

Dinner was quick and easy.  Chicken Balti curry made with chicken breasts and a jar of Seeds of Change Balti Sauce and rice with left over chick peas from the MORO chick pea salad.  Delicious.  16 WW points.

This evening I intend to drink my share of a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon which will cost me 9 points.  So my daily total of 56 points seems high and I have used most of my weekly extras.  But I still have 9 points left of my weekly extras to add on tomorrow, so I am doing really well and living within my points :-).  One very happy dieter here.

Today has been filled with lovely food, sunshine and a fascinating walk around Deal.  Deal was great.

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Nursery Food

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

Some days we need to eat comfort food and today was one of those.  Lara woke up with a sore throat and was feeling terrible and had a long journey back to Durham ahead of her.  I would have made a nourishing chicken soup but didn’t have any chicken.  I did however have some cod left over which needed using up and spinach on the verge of being no good.  There was only one thing for it.

First though, having got through my cayenne, hot water and lemon drink, I made a smoothie with 1 cup of mixed berries, 1 banana, 200 ml of unsweetened almond milk and 1 tsp chia seeds.  I added some extra water so it made a longer drink.  This was only 3 WW points.  Not a very substantial breakfast but I was saving points for lunch.

We walked for an hour in the forest in glorious sunshine.  I walked faster than normal and was soon convinced it was nearly spring as I felt so warm.  I have rarely tracked activity points before but this month I am going to.  Especially today!  So an hours walking, assuming I walked 3 miles per hour, earned me 7 points.  I was going to need those later.

There were lots of branches across the forest paths and trees down from yesterday’s wind.

All the ponds and puddles were full which the dogs made the most of.

Back at home, I made my ultimate comfort food for lunch.  This recipe originally came from Jamie Oliver’s The Return Of The Naked Chef and has been tweaked over the years. The advantages this recipe has over other fish pie recipes is that you do not have to precook the fish, or make a white sauce and it contains vegetables so you have a complete meal in one dish.  Plus, it is divinely delicious.

Creamy Fish Pie

Ingredients (serves 4)

3 large potatoes (Maris Pipers are excellent for mashing at this time of year)
200 g spinach
150 g peeled, cooked prawns
300 g cod
1 onion, peeled
1 large carrot, peeled
1 tbsp oil
150 ml double cream*
100 g mature cheddar cheese
Juice of half a lemon
1 level tsp Dijon mustard

* having seen how many WW points are in 150 ml double cream (21!!!!!), I will try it with single cream next time which is only 8 points for the same quantity.

Method

Scrub the potatoes, cut in to quarters and boil for 15-20 minutes until soft.
Preheat the oven to 180 ° C.
Steam the spinach, squeeze out excess water and layer in the bottom of a dish.

Layer the prawns and then the cod on the spinach.

Finely chop the onion and cut the carrot in to small cubes.
Heat the oil in a pan and when it is warm fry the onions and carrots until they are tender – about 5 minutes.
Add the cream and heat through.
Add the cheese, mustard and lemon juice.
Pour the creamy vegetable sauce over the prawns and cod.

When the potatoes are cooked, mash them with skimmed milk.
Spread the mashed potatoes over the creamy vegetables.

My mash may not win a beauty pageant but that is because I keep the skin on the potatoes.  Extra nutrients and fibre are in the skin and by adding extra  fibre, you lower the GI value of mashed potatoes.
If you want to be very decadent you could grate more cheese over the top of the potato but I managed to resist that pleasure today.
Put fish pie in the oven for half an hour.

This really is top quality comfort food.  It is so delicious.  In fact we had a portion each and then shared a portion.  Using the WW recipe calculator, I calculated that this meal has 14 WW points per portion so my lunch today was a massive 21 WW points.

I rarely eat cream and was shocked by how many points there are in double cream, especially when compared to single cream.  It has nearly 3 times as many points. I enjoyed every mouthful though.  I knew it would be high in points which is why I had a light breakfast and did an hours walk.

I was not in the mood for cooking this evening.  Plus Harvey came home and announced he was starving and had to be fed immediately.  So we had pitta bread toasties.  Mine had 1 slice of ham and 40 g Taleggio cheese in it.  8 WW points.

This was followed by 3 dates with marzipan.  These little treats worked out to be 11 WW points.  That is the last of the Christmas treats.

I used up lots of points (45) today so I have used some of my weekly extras again but I am still within my allowance.  I ate really well today, had a great walk and am feeling pleased with how the week has gone.  Plus it’s the weekend.  :-).  Have a good one.

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Pollo in Potacchio

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

What a blustery day!  The wind sounded eerily loud as I lay in bed early this morning and I wished Harvey didn’t have to get up early to go back to school.  I could have stayed where I was for a bit longer today.

Since it wasn’t raining, I decided to go ahead and walk the dogs in the forest.  I am scared of the wind and a forest is not a safe place to be on such a blustery day.  But I really wanted to walk and couldn’t think of anywhere tree free.  I also remembered the trees being set back from certain paths.  So I set off to do an hours walk.  Having passed a tree down,

and lots of branches on the ground,

I became more apprehensive.  The dogs enjoyed new greenery to sniff and widdle on.

But when the wind gusted, it really gusted and the noise was extraordinarily loud.  So I cut my walk in half and decided to walk as fast as I could.  Go for speed rather than distance became the new motto.  As I neared the car park the sun shone briefly and there were patches of blue sky.

I considered extending my walk but then another loud gust of wind came and I noticed one of the large pine trees had snapped its trunk and was only upright as it was leaning on another tree.  So I headed home hastily.

All I had consumed before my walk was hot water with cayenne and lemon.  So back home I made a pot of tea and scrambled eggs in a wholemeal pitta.

I haven’t had scrambled eggs for a while and really enjoyed them.

Breakfast was 9 WW points (2 medium eggs are 4 points, 1 wholemeal pitta is 4 and 1 tsp butter is 1 point).

I then popped over the road for a coffee at Sarah’s with Marion.  Sarah wanted to finish up all her Christmas goodies and hoped to offload them on us.  We were forewarned so it was no surprise and that is why I chose to eat after the walk rather than before so I arrived full up.  I was confronted with homemade shortbread, homemade Christmas cake and a tin of biscuits.  And I resisted them all 🙂 .   I was so pleased.

I had a typically amusing and interesting morning with the neighbours, who couldn’t stop laughing for long enough to pose for a photo which they thought I may like to grace my blog with!

I am so lucky to live over the road from such lovely people.

For lunch I had a delicious left over to use up.  On New Year’s Eve I made a wonderful chicken dish called Pollo in Potacchio.  Potacchio is an Italian dish from the Marche region of Italy and means a sauce made from tomatoes, onions, white wine and garlic.  Some definitions also include rosemary.  Similar to “pottage” meaning a thick sauce made from vegetables.   I found the recipe for Pollo in Potacchio on a blog which is new to me but I intend to visit regularly – Skinny Taste.  This blog makes recipes diet friendly without compromising taste.

This chicken dish was delicious on NYE and I hoped it would be again today.  I had kept it in the fridge and to reheat the chicken I put it in an ovenproof dish, covered it with foil and put it in the oven at 180 ° C for half an hour.

I was not disappointed.  I served it with 140 g of potato which I boiled in the skin and then mashed with 1 tbsp butter and some steamed broccoli.

Lunch was 12 WW points (chicken thigh = 4 points / 1 tsp olive oil = 1 / 50 ml wine = 1 / 142 g potatoes = 3 and 1 tbsp butter = 3 points).

This dish is so tasty it is hard to believe it is so low fat.  It also reheats perfectly so if you make it, make double and you have another meal ready.  Looking at these pictures is making me want to eat it again now!

Since I didn’t blog about it on NYE, here is how I cooked it.

Pollo in Potacchio

Ingredients (serves 6)

  • 12 skinless chicken thighs on the bone
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 tbsp and 1 tsp olive oil
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 celery stalks, chopped
  • 2 carrots, chopped
  • 1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped
  • 2 tins chopped tomatoes
  • 1/3 cup dry white wine
  • 400 ml vegetable stock
  • 3 – 4 sprigs fresh rosemary

Method

  1. Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
  2. Add 1 tbsp oil to a heavy based pan with a lid ( I used a Le Creuset).
  3. When the oil is hot, brown the chicken for about 4 minutes on each side.  When browned, transfer to a plate.
  4. Add the garlic and onions to the remaining oil in the pan for about 3 minutes.
  5. Add the celery, carrots and red pepper and fry for a further 3 minutes.
  6. Add the wine and vegetable stock and scrape the pan to loosen any brown bits stuck to the bottom (de-glaze the pan).
  7. Add the tomatoes, season to taste and simmer the sauce for 30 minutes.
  8. Add the chicken and rosemary to the sauce, cover and cook slowly for another 30 minutes.  Check occasionally and if the sauce seems too dry, add water.

My sauce was not dry at all and I didn’t need to add anything.  In fact it was a bit too liquid so I removed the lid and let the sauce reduce.  The sauce was thick and full of flavour.  Yummy.

This was delicious and I will definitely make it again.

For dinner the little fella requested a spaghetti bolognese.  I made a very simple bolognese by frying a large onion, then the lean mince, adding chopped tomatoes, thyme and oregano and seasoning with salt and pepper.  I simmered it uncovered for at least an hour so the sauce reduced and became richer.

The children had theirs with pasta but I had mine with some oven baked Crown Prince pumpkin and some lightly steamed spinach.  That saves some points/calories and boosts the nutrient content.

I am so determined to lose weight this month, that to calculate the points in this meal accurately, I poured the bolognese in to a bowl and weighed it.  I then divided the bolognese in to 6 portions, 3 of which I froze and the other 3 I reheated.  I knew that 1/6 of a portion would weigh just over 200 g.  And I knew that 1/6 of a portion had 7 WW points (85 g lean beef mince = 6 points and 1 tsp olive oil = 1 point).

I had a few points left over and decided to use up 6 more from my weekly extras and have a slice of Christmas cake which was 10 points.  Harvey ate the rest so now it is all gone.

I am watching a programme called ‘Obese.  A Year To Save My Life’.  It is about very large people on a rapid weight loss programme.  The first lady weighs 25 stone and had to start with 4 hours of activity a day!  The trainer who organises the weight loss programme (and is incredibly gorgeous, which is a bonus) said that if you eat just 100 extra calories a day, every day, you put on a stone in a year!!!!  It is so easy to put weight on.  The programme is too focused on activity and not enough on the food for me but it is compulsive viewing.

Another day and I am a happy dieter who has managed her food correctly 🙂

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Moro Today

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

While I drank my hot water with cayenne pepper and lemon juice this morning, I flicked through MORO The Cookbook.  I was inspired by many of the recipes.

I made porridge for breakfast with 1 tbsp chia seeds, 35 g Jumbo Oats, 150 ml unsweetenened almond milk and 1 banana (which came to 7 WW points).  As I munched I wrote a shopping list.

Going food shopping makes me VERY hungry.  But I was feeling strong and determined to lose weight so I stuck to my list and mainly packed my trolley with fresh fruits and vegetables.  These 3 ingredients inspired my lunch.

Having prepared the salad ingredients and cooked 2 rashers of unsmoked back bacon, I made up my salad.  I put the lettuce, chopped tomato and carrot batons on a plate.

To which I then added bacon,

beetroot which I chopped and mixed with 1 tsp mayonnaise,

and half ( a small half) a medium sized avocado.

It was tasty enough and I ate it without needing to add dressing.  I would have liked dressing.  I have not become a diet saint over night, but I wanted to save points for dinner.

The entire meal was 9 WW points.

In the afternoon we began preparing supper.  I wanted to get the sauce and salad ready in advance because I thought they would taste better if the flavours were allowed to develop.  The recipe was adapted from a recipe in MORO The Cookbook,  called ‘Cod Baked in Tahini Sauce’.

Cod with Tahini Sauce and Chick Pea Salad

Tahini Sauce

Ingredients (serves 4)

  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 3 tbsp light tahini
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 5 tbsp water
  • salt and *white pepper to taste
*I used white pepper to keep the sauce pale but black pepper would be fine. 

Method

  1. Mash garlic in a pestle and mortar with a pinch of salt.  Put mashed garlic in a small bowl.
  2. Add the tahini and whisk in the lemon juice.
  3. Add water until you have the consistency of double cream.
  4. Taste and season.

Chick Pea Salad

Ingredients (serves 2)

  • 1 small garlic clove, minced
  •  ¼ red chili
  •  ¼ red onion, finely chopped
  • squeeze of lemon
  • ½ tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 400g can cooked chick peas, rinsed
  • ¼ cucumber, chopped
  • 15 cherry tomatoes, halved
  • small bunch of coriander, chopped
  • salt and pepper to taste

Method

  1. Put the garlic, chilli, onion, lemon juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper in a small mixing bowl and stir to mix well.
  2. Add the chick peas and mix.
  3. Add the cucumber, tomatoes and coriander, adjust seasoning to taste and serve.


I made the chick pea salad by following the recipe, but did not add the cucumber, tomatoes or coriander until just before we ate.  Having made the rest of the salad in advance, the chick peas were able to absorb the flavours.

Baked Cod

Ingredients

  • 150 g cod per person
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • Salt and pepper

Method

  • Heat oil in a non stick pan.
  • Season and fry cod for about 4 minutes on each side, depending on how thick each piece is.  The cod should be white and flake easily but not be opaque.
  • Serve cod on the chick pea salad.

  • Pour the tahini dressing in to the pan you cooked the cod in and warm through gently, just to take the chill off.  Serve.

The flavours in this dish were quite strong.  The garlic, chilli and lemon I used were very highly flavoured.  Too much so for Harvey who ate his cod with rosti, tomatoes and cucumber instead.  I really enjoyed mine and would definitely make the tahini dressing and chick pea salad again.  But I probably wouldn’t serve it with lovely fresh cod because the strong flavours in the salad and dressing meant I couldn’t taste the delicate flavour of the cod.  I like fresh fish to be the focus of a meal’s flavour.

Cod with tahini sauce and chick pea salad was 14 WW points.

Lara had some friends over this afternoon and they made a chocolate cake.  I couldn’t resist completely but only had a tiny sliver of a slice which I put down as 3 WW points.  She has now, at my request, hidden the rest of it!

I went one point over today which I have taken from my weekly extras so today counts as a good diet day 🙂

I enjoyed my MORO meal today.  No idea what to have tomorrow.
 

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Super Soup

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

What a splendidly good girl on a diet I have been today :-).  I started with a cup of hot water with cayenne pepper and freshly squeezed lemon juice.  Apparently this boosts your metabolism.

I just had a banana for breakfast as I was not hungry.  I know it is not healthy to skip breakfast but I had eaten so much yesterday I did not need food first thing today.

For lunch I made an incredibly healthy and very tasty soup.  I have come across many blogs that posted new year recipes containing black eyed peas/beans as they are considered to be good luck.  Apparently (according to Wikipedia) this began as a Jewish tradition and is now common in the USA, especially the South.  The beans resemble coins and swell when you cook them which suggests your money grows.  It is luckier to eat them with green vegetables such as collard greens or kale as the folded leaves resemble paper money.  Well, I am a couple of days late but hopefully I will still be lucky.

For inspiration I looked to one of my favourite food blogs, the Edible Perspective, and used a recipe she posted a year ago for Black Eyed Peas, Collard Greens and Tomato Soup.  I had to adapt the recipe slightly to use ingredients I had available and to make the soup for 3 whereas the original serves 6.  It was amazing.

Black Eyed Bean, Tomato and Kale Soup

Ingredients (serves 3)

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 stalks celery
  • 2 small onions
  • 2 small and 1 large clove garlic
  • 1 tbsp fresh thyme
  • 1 tbsp fresh basil
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 600 ml vegetable stock
  • 1 can of tomatoes
  • 1 can of black eyed beans
  • 100 g chopped curly kale
  • salt and pepper to taste

Method

Trim celery and peel onions.

Chop onion and celery finely

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large pan and add onion and celery.  Put lid on pan and sweat over a low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
If using fresh herbs (which are better) snip required quantity from plant.

Chop herbs and mince garlic

Add herbs and garlic to the onions and celery in the pan.

Fry together for a minute and add vegetable stock, tomatoes and black eyed beans.

Bring to the boil then simmer gently for 20 minutes.
Add the kale and simmer for a further 10 minutes.
Season to taste and serve.

This soup is very low in fat – 1 tbsp of olive oil between 3 portions.  To make the meal healthier you should add a healthy fat.  I planned to add half an avocado but when I cut it open it was rubbery and inedible so I added 1 tbsp of pumpkin seeds.

Lunch was 6 WW points (4 for the soup and 2 for 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds).  The children ate theirs with crackers and peanut butter but I ate mine as it was with nothing on the side as I wanted to save my points for supper.  Lara and Harvey enjoyed the soup and Harvey declared it the best soup he had ever had.  We will definitely be making this one again.

We have had terrible storms today.  They started last night and the wind and rain woke me up several times.  In the middle of making lunch, there was the most torrential down pour.   This is the rain on my front garden which caused flooding in the flower beds

and this is the rain overflowing the gutters which can not keep up with it.  Extraordinary.

Supper was a family favourite of Cheesey Vegetables.  I made a dairy free white sauce with margarine and soya milk.  I add a vegan cheese to Harvey’s and for the rest of us I added Cheddar to the white sauce and then topped it with Parmesan and poured it over a mix of steamed broccoli, cauliflower and carrots.   I served mine on a bed of mashed pumpkin (¼ of a Crown prince which I wrapped in foil and baked in the oven for 1 hour at 180 ° C ).

Supper was 22 WW points.  The pumpkin was free as were the vegetables but I had loads of the cheese sauce.  The white sauce was 8 WW points, the 80g of cheddar in the sauce was 9 WW points and I had 3 tbsp Parmesan cheese melted over the top which was 5 WW points.

That was a very point/calorie heavy supper but I could eat it as the rest of my day had been so light on points/calories.  I really enjoyed it.  But not as much as  feeling proud of myself for eating within my points allowance.  And not as much as that soup.  Which really was super :-).

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Bank Holiday in Balham

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

I enjoyed yesterday’s scramble so much I made another one today with just 3 ingredients: kale, egg and onion.

It was delicious.

Just what I wanted.

We went to Balham for lunch with James’ sister, Anne and her family.

We always enjoy visiting them and my children enjoy spending time with their cousins.

Anne is a fantastic cook.  Not only does she make everything you eat, she makes things that are slightly unusual so I never know what to expect and am always happy to eat what she offers.  Today was no exception.  After some savoury crackers with drinks we had a salmon.  A whole salmon which she had baked.

Soba noodles with mango, red onions and roasted aubergines,

and a green salad served with a vinaigrette dressing made with pomegranate molasses.

It was wonderful.  Anne used a Yotam Ottolenghi recipe for the noodles and this one looks like it.  We all loved it and cleared the huge bowlful she made.

For dessert we had a chocolate and chestnut cake with a fruit salad made from dried fruits cooked in vin santo and home made vanilla ice-cream.  She had also made mango and a raspberry sorbet.  They were all fabulous.

The fruit salad was a Nigel Slater recipe from the Observer Food Monthly and was really good.  I had mine with the chocolate and chestnut cake but some of the others had it in a sundae dish, layered with the vanilla ice-cream which looked wonderful too.

After a lazy afternoon and then crumpets and Christmas cake, we headed home via someone special in Streatham who had some very tasteful Christmas decorations.

We had tea and Pannettone and got home rather late.

So my festive eating has come to an end.  Apparently the average Brit puts on 5 pounds during the Christmas season.  I couldn’t get to Weight Watchers tonight so I am not sure what the damage was but according to my home scales it is 4 pounds.  I have no other Christmas dates in my diary so from tomorrow, I ma beginning a very strict January and intend to end the month with a 3 and a ½ stone loss.  I have enjoyed my lack of restraint but am looking forward to being supremely good and feeling healthier again.

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The First Day of 2012

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

I wanted my first mouthful of food/drink of the new year to be very healthy.

I made a freshly squeezed juice with 1 pear, 1 carrot, 1 celery stick, ½ a lemon and some cayenne pepper.  Apparently cayenne boosts the metabolism and mine definitely needs a little boost after all the Christmas excesses.

It comes out all frothy and is very easy to drink.  Yum.

I created a new page on this blog the other day called “Recipes To Try”.  Sometimes I go blog surfing and find all sorts of interesting recipes I want to try and then become frustrated when I can’t find them quickly so I have started listing them on my new page.  It proved handy today because I wanted to try one of the scrambles I had seen on Natural Noshing for breakfast.  I went for the kale and veggies one.

Kale and Vegetable Scramble

Ingredients (serves 1)

1 tbsp coconut oil
1 cup of kale, chopped
1 pepper
1 small onion, chopped
2 eggs, beaten
2 spring onions
1 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Heat ½ the coconut oil in a frying pan and fry the kale, pepper and onion for about 5 minutes.

Push the vegetables to one half of the pan and add the other ½ tbsp of coconut oil.  When it has melted add the eggs and scramble them.
Add in the spring onion and nutritional yeast and mix the vegetables in with the egg.
Season to taste and serve.

 It was so good to be eating something so green again.  This was very easy to make and tasted great.

The plan for the day was to go on a long walk with my cousin Bruce and his family and Aunty Marion.  We walked around Benenden, a nearby village.  When we set off at 12:30, it began to drizzle but we decided to walk on anyway.  Hello little donkey.

The boys enjoyed petting the donkeys.

The drizzle became quite a heavy rain but we decided to keep going anyway and by the time it rained hard we were about half way round.  It was a lovely route and it was good to be outside and doing a good length walk.

We had a table booked in The Bull in Benenden which is a superb pub.  It is a very friendly village pub and well worth a visit.  It is a Free House and they serve a lot of local beers and the food is fantastic.  On a Sunday they do a carvery and it is as close to having a roast at home as you could find.  There was a choice of turkey, pork or beef.  I went for the beef which I had with horseradish sauce, stuffing with cranberry sauce, a bacon wrapped sausage, roast potatoes, carrots, peas, cabbage, cauliflower cheese, broccoli and gravy.  It was delicious.

There is a large dining room but we sat in a room next to the bar area which was really cosy.  With its wood panelled walls, dark decor and subtle lighting, it was the kind of place I could have sat in all day.

The boys had their own table which they enjoyed.

And we 6 adults had a lovely afternoon in the pub :-).  If you fancy a Sunday carvery or a cosy spot to enjoy a drink, I really recommend The Bull in Benenden.

The late afternoon was spent relaxing at home and we had a simple supper of cheese on toast.  I had bought some smoked cheddar at a farmers market recently and had not tried it before.

I had one slice of toast with Gruyere and one with the smoked Cheddar cheese.  Yummy.

Served with a glass of sloe gin.  I was really pleased with the sloe gin which I made in September.

So far 2012 is looking good 🙂 .

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Happy New Year 2011/2012

Posted on December 31, 2011 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

I had so many ideas of what I was going to post about today.  I have a whole series of beautiful photos of my amazing breakfast for example, which deserve a post in its own right.  That will have to happen another day.  And it will as it was too good to not share with you all.

I thought about talking about the year we are about to complete, but I actually prefer to look forwards rather than backwards.

I will mention my resolution.  Just one.  To lose 4 stone next year, which is 56 pounds.  If I can do that, on top of the 44 pounds I lost this year, I will have lost 100 pounds :-).

I have enjoyed writing my blog.  It has helped me focus and behave myself.  Every time one of you writes a comment, or tells me you have made a recipe or enjoyed a particular post, I feel delighted.  So thank you all.   My little blog is read in New Zealand, Australia, USA, Canada, England, Ireland, Denmark, Norway and France.  If anyone from another country reads it, please shout out and leave a comment.  I love the internationalism of blogland.

I have run out of time to write more.  We have some very dear friends coming over for supper: Kath, Matt and Henry, who we all adore and are trying to see as much of as possible before emigrating to NZ this spring.  They are emigrating, not us, in case that last sentence was ambiguous.

All I am going to do now, since they are nearly here and the first G&T of the evening is already numbing my senses and sensibilities and general capacity to type, is to wish you all a very Happy, Healthy and Wealthy (enough) New Year.  From me in my kitchen, to you in yours.  Thanks again and see you next year xx.

 

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