Food For Thought

So it’s about time I caught up on some recipe blogging and thought I would start with an easy peasy one that I made this week.

I’ve been a bit ill this week so didn’t want to spend ages making anything too complicated and this recipe is a lovely one pot wonder that takes no time at all; just the time needed to cut up the veggies!

Ingredients list:

Carrots (6-8)

Celery (3 storks)

Courgette (one medium sized)

Aubergine (one small to medium sized)

Leeks (one medium sized)

Red onion (one large)

Peppers (one green, one yellow and one red)

Mushrooms

Tomatoes (two tins of chopped tomatoes plus I added some fresh cherry tomatoes)

Garlic

Cayenne pepper

Chipotle chilli flakes (dried)

Sumac

Mixed herbs

Cracked black pepper

Rock salt

One vegetable stock pot

One chicken stock pot (use two vegetable stock pots instead if vegetarian)

Method:

Finely cut and dice all the vegetables (holding back the mushrooms) and pop them into a large saucepan. Add both stock pots and the two tins of tomatoes and add enough water to just cover the veg. Add the spices/herbs to taste; I used a teaspoon of the chilli flakes, a teaspoon and a half of the cayenne pepper, two heaped teaspoons of garlic and one and a half teaspoons of the mixed herbs, two teaspoons of sumac (for a citrus tang) and a good crack of black pepper and a small crack of rock salt.

Once all that’s been added to the pot give it a stir and then pop it on the hob (or in the oven) until the veg has cooked through and is soft.

Then blitz it up with a handheld blender until it’s fairly smooth (homemade so don’t worry about some of the veg still being chunky); back on the heat and add the chopped mushrooms until they’re cooked.

And that’s all folks.....job done......super speedy soup!

I’ve also removed some of the earlier blog posts and rantings as part of the fresh start so there are some big time gaps.

I’ve kept some of the recipes and the initial posts that explain why I’m doing this.

Been a while.............literally ages since I blogged, quite a bit has changed.

Last I blogged I hated my job, my housing situation was a hot mess and me, myself and I were a pretty hot mess as well!

Let me catch you up my imaginary readers.........I am back to being a Welsh girl in Wales having moved out of the big smoke after just under 6 years in London. I’ve moved back home, managed (with the help of parents) to buy my own flat, got a new job and payed off debt. So all in all the wanker housemate that shit in the bath, the useless team leader and stress at work all did me a bit of a favour in the end.

I hadn’t planned on moving from London, I was going to make an effort to expand the social circle and all that jazz. I just lost the will to be paying an extortionate amount on rent, live with a constantly changing assortment of randoms in a shared house and be perpetually stressed at work. After SIB (shit in bath) housemate as he will be forever known, left (a lot more stress to that story but I can’t be bothered to rehash it all) we had a really hard time finding a housemate. My work had drove me to seek counselling (through work for free luckily) as I wasn’t coping well with the stress and anxiety and frustration.

Add to this half my friends had moved away and London had seriously lost some appeal.

I applied for a couple of jobs back towards home, still not 100% sure I was ready to be leaving London and got offered both jobs. As soon as I got offered the job it was like a huge weight was lifted and I realised I was totally ready to be done with London.

So long story short my parents lent me a deposit and helped me buy my first property. I pay the same in mortgage plus all my bills as I was paying in rent.........but I own the flat and I’m not lining anyone else’s pockets!

Work is great, with a manageable work load and a great manager and team so I’m not drowning which is a much needed breather and has meant my head is back in a good space and I can concentrate on other things again, like losing weight.

It’s been about a week since my last post, time to catch up a bit.  Last Tuesday was weigh day and it didn’t go too well, I put on 2lbs.  But I drew a line under it and thought onwards, no Trash it Tuesday get back on plan!

My week was lovely, I had one of my besties come over on Wednesday and I cooked a pretty yummy (if I do say so myself) Quorn Meatball and veggie bake which admittedly we did wash down with a bottle of red wine! (Recipe post to follow this evening).

Then I went home for the long bank holiday weekend, five days of lush Welsh weather (and it really was lush), mum cooking, new puppy to bond and play with; not to mention walk - bags of energy meant two very long walks a day and definitely reaching my step target and then some.  The puppy, I should mention is a two year old black lab (rescue from the Dogs Trust) and is not only massive, built like a brick outhouse and strong as all get out but also mellow, gorgeous and totally adorable!

However, the weekend also involved a BBQ, cinema popcorn and three meals out, one of which was a delicious all you can eat indian buffet.  Ooops........not exactly on plan then, plus booze.....most days.........everyday...........ummmmm.

So I got on the bus back to London on Tuesday afternoon and thought well i may as well head straight to slimming world and find out the damage from this weekend.  I got on the scales with trepidation...........half a pound off!!!!!!!!! Excellent news and made the delayed journey back worth it.

That was the hi’s.

The low’s and mental woes have been mainly due to work and a couple of house issues.  After the Bath Incident we were hoping to get a new housemate.  The person coming to look has found somewhere else which means we are back to square one.  Point one of the stress.

Work.....a word that now fills me with dread, anxiety and stress.  If anyone loves their job I am jealous, I have really started to hate mine!  Anyway last night I (stupidly I know) logged onto my work email and calendar to see what I had on today.......inspections, a boat load of emails and two complaints directly about me.......average day to be honest but I snapped, had a total emotional breakdown and couldn’t stop crying for a couple hours.  Then this morning i logged on at home so I could deal with the emails before heading to an inspection.  More tears.  A conversation with my useless team leader, more tears after hanging up.  My work bestie was nice to me, more tears.  So what to do......head to tumblr and rant in a blog post to get it out.......check.........has it worked..........back to the work stuff to see!! 

Not my death, my housemates death!  Woke up this morning to discover a text off one of my housemates saying: “Not sure what happened in the bathroom last night but whoever is responsible fucking deal with it”.  Turns out there was a shit in the bath! Yep, a shit......in the bath........I mean what the actual fuck!!

I have two housemates, I didn’t do it, the housemate that wrote the text didn’t do it and yet the only other person in the house said......”I don’t know what the hell it was doing there but I think it is unfair you immediately blame me”.

Soooooo.....apparently we have a shit fairy visiting our house in the early hours of the morning, or a perverted intruder who didn’t steal anything but just wanted to take a shit!  

Anyway, the shit discovery was at 5:30 am, my housemate left for his parents house to shower (he has a busy day today) and I stewed for half an hour, getting angrier by the second.  By 6:15 am I had to get up - my anger was preventing the lie in I had hoped for and I was not falling back to sleep!  I decided instead of going into my other housemates room and smothering him with his pillow that I would go for a run and try to cool off/burn off some of the angry energy.

It worked I came back still annoyed at the circumstance but with enough endorphins that murder was no longer seeming liking a good plan and calm enough to blog rather than scream and shout!  Winning at life *sigh*.

Here is the deal though, I hate running, it’s a chore that I’m pretty rubbish at being that I’m very overweight and (although I walk ALOT) fairly unfit.  However, I chose the longer loop, giving me more time to calm down.  And, because all I can do when running is concentrate on breathing and not falling over it was almost like meditating this morning, zoning out from the stress of my living situation.  Did I enjoy it........NO.........I doubt there will ever be a time I am one of those people who love to run and look like this:

This would be a wild fantasy version of myself from a parallel universe!

But I didn’t feel how I normally feel after a run:

So I guess that is progress.  Going for a run, not dying because of it and preventing a murder all before 7am!

I was very lucky yesterday evening and ended up not having to cook as my housemate made a big batch of chilli and offered me some. 

This was great as by the time I'd finished work at quarter to 7 I really didn't have the desire or motivation to cook the quorn meatball and veg ratatouille I had planned!  This did however leave me a quandary this morning as to what to pack for lunch as I had no left overs 😱 

So outcomes my cupboard essential, eggs.  Mixed up with some (speed) vegetables and baked in the oven while I got ready for work, perfect for lunch today and breakfast tomorrow and easy peasy to throw together. 

First crack 6 eggs into a jug (that you can pour from) add a splash of milk, a good helping of cracked black pepper and a pinch of sea salt.  I also added some smoked paprika and a pinch of mixed herbs for depth of flavour.  Mix together.  Today I added mushrooms, green pepper, tomatoes and asparagus all finely diced but you can add whatever veggies you have to hand.  Throw the veg in with the eggs and give it all a good stir. 

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees (C, fan assisted) and pop some silicone cupcake mounds into a muffin tray.  Pour the egg mix into the moulds and you'll have something that looks like:

Then pop them in the oven for approx 20-30 minutes - until they are still a bit wobbly but the egg is cooked through.  They should rise a bit as they cook and the end product is a cross between a frittata and scrambled egg:

 They keep in the fridge for a few days and are nice hot or cold so great for batch cooking that you can use for breakfast or lunch throughout the week; plus no burnt frittata bottoms sticking to your best non-stick pan! 

I had a great week at Slimming World this week and lost 4.5lbs (relief so sweet as I stepped off those scales)! 

Last week I bought the Slimming World Summer Journal and I definitely think it helped keep me on track this week; writing down the days food as you're eating it really helps keep you accountable for your own weight loss.  I am much better at staying on track if I’m honest with myself and see what food I’m consuming in black and white staring up at me from the page!

I’m feeling motivated and really want to keep the momentum up after a couple of weeks of yo-yoing; which is why, as well as writing a menu for the week, I have also planned in some time to go for a couple of runs (breaks out into a cold sweat thinking about it) this week.  I hate running, it’s a chore but it’s free exercise and I literally have three loops of easy, medium and hard difficulty ratings outside my front door so I have no excuse not to go..........god I hate running! 

Last nights meeting as I mentioned in my last post was a tasting evening and so I got to work making Tuna Burgers (mini ones so they went a bit further so I guess I actually made Tuna Sliders).  This recipe is an invention recipe (as most of mine are - why would I use the 100 recipe books I own when I can just wing it?!!) and is trial and error so add to, change and make substitutions as you wish!

Tuna Burgers/Sliders/Bites:

First dice a small to medium sized red onion finely and do the same with half a green pepper and two spring onions.  Finely dice two cloves of garlic and a small nub of ginger.  Stir-fry in frylight with cajun seasoning, black pepper, sea salt and chipotle chilli flakes.  Add in some frozen sweet corn (if using fresh you can add to the mix later on).  Fry until the corn, onion, pepper and spring onions are soft and just about cooked through.  Turn off the heat and leave to cool for now.

In a mixing bowl grate one carrot, half a courgette and half a small eating apple (100g cooked is 2.5 syns, there is no-where near 100g in this recipe, more like 20g if that, so the syns are negligible really but if you want to make sure it’s totally syn free add apple cider vinegar instead, just be careful not to make the mix too wet).  Mix in some breadcrumbs - I use my HEB choice but if you don’t then syn the bread - you want them fairly coarse; you can also add your HEA choice if you want them a bit more cheesy.  Add the pepper and onion mix into the bowl and add a level tbsp of tomato puree and mix together, I sometimes add pickled gherkins diced up as well (sounds mad but they go well with tuna!) and add the sweet corn here if you are using fresh. Now add fat free cottage cheese, you’ll have to judge this - keep adding and mixing until the mix comes together and combines but isn’t too wet.  I add a few more chilli flakes here as I like mine fairly spicy.  

Now the messy bit!  With your hands shape the mix into balls and then pat them out so they look like burgers (make them as big or small as you want) and then pop them in the fridge for 15-30 minutes to help them firm up and keep their shape when you cook them.  You could just eat them as is if you don’t want them hot.

Once cooled, use the same pan you fried the onion mix in, just add a touch more frylight, and fry the burgers on both side until slightly crispy (alternatively you could pop them in the oven for 10-15 minutes or so).  

They will keep for two-three days in the fridge and you can make them as spicy and garlicky as suits you!

Last night at Slimming World we had a tasting evening, my second since joining and great fun as you get to share and taste new recipe ideas.

For the first tasting evening (a couple months ago) I made two dips, both tasted good although I will admit only one looked particularly appetising!  The dips were - Roasted Pepper and Tomato Hummus and a Mixed Bean Dip.

See the recipes below.

Roasted Pepper and Tomato Hummus:

Oven roast a whole red pepper and two salad tomatoes, skinned and deseeded, with a spritz of fry light and a scattering of cumin seeds, chilli flakes (I like chipotle style), black pepper and a touch of smoked paprika.

While they are roasting, drain a can of chickpeas and then blitz them in a food processor (I have mini chopper like the one shown in the picture below) 

Add juice of half a lime, garlic - one clove turned into a paste; do this by dicing really finely then adding a touch of salt and using the flat edge of your knife to crush until a paste forms.  Give a quick blitz to incorporate it through the chickpeas.

Once the pepper and tomatoes are cooked through add them to the chickpeas and blitz until totally blended.  

The amount of blitzing will vary depending on how course you like your hummus, I like mine really smooth so sometimes I add a little extra lime juice to and mix again to help get a really smooth consistency.  Add salt to taste if you want.  

All seasoning is to taste to add as much or as little as you like or substitute other spices if you like.  

Mixed Bean Dip:

Warning - this does not look all that nice as it goes a grey/brown colour but it does taste good!

Drain a can of mixed bean salad and add to the food processor, add a finely diced clove of garlic a splash of balsamic vinegar and/or apple cider vinegar, cracked black pepper and a pinch of sea salt and a handful of spinach leaves. You could also add dried chilli flakes if you wanted a bit of a kick.  And give a quick blitz - you want to keep it course so the beans and spinach are only just incorporated.

Pop the mix in a bowl and then add a very finely diced red onion and spoon mix together.  You can also add some grated carrot and apple here if you fancy and some sweetcorn.

A necessity dish as I couldn’t afford to buy loads of ingredients so had to use what was in my fridge, freezer and cupboards already!  

Ingredients:

Two chicken breasts                 One and a half/ two cups of brown rice

Two large carrots                       Half a leek

Quarter of an Aubergine            Frozen peas

Frozen Sweetcorn                     Frozen Peppers 

Couple of salad tomatoes        Quarter of a butternut squash 

Quarter of a celeriac                 Handful of mushrooms

Three eggs                               Splash of Soy Sauce

Chinese 5 spice                       Thai 7 spice

Sweet chilli sauce                   Dry chilli flakes (or fresh and amount to your taste)

Garlic powder (or couple of cloves) 

Two splashes of oil (whatever your preference)

Method:

I cooked off some brown rice, first by adding a tiny amount of oil to the rice and frying it for a couple minutes and then adding the water and letting it boil away until almost completely cooked but still slightly under (as it’s going to be stir fried).

While the rice is cooking prep the veg (I slice the carrots, squash and celeriac very thinly so they cook quicker) and in a bowl beat the three eggs and add about a tablespoon of soy sauce (this can be left on the side for the moment). Dice the chicken breasts.

Add another splash of oil to a large wok/pan and add the dry spices (as much or as little as you like) and garlic powder or cloves and fry for a minute before adding the carrots, squash, leek and celeriac.  Fry until they have some colour and are beginning to soften then add the chicken.  

After the chicken has coloured add the rest of the veg and cook until the frozen veg has started to soften.  Now add the rice to the pan and stir until everything is combined.  Now make a gap to the bottom of the pan and add the egg mixture and let it fry off (and become like scrambled egg) and then mix it through the rice.  

Add the sweet chilli sauce and stir until it coats the dish.  Make sure the squash and celeriac and carrot are soft enough and then load up some bowls and serve!

This dish was really easy to make, hardly any washing up (a big bonus in my opinion) and tasted yummy.  And you can add any spices you want go wild!  

Because it was loaded up with veggies and brown rice all of which is filling and gives you a good slow energy release it goes so far! Mine did 4/5 meals on two chicken breasts which is great for keeping the costs down and still getting your protein!  And if you want some extra protein in the dish, add in some sesame seeds while cooking and once it’s in bowls sprinkle a few cashew nuts on top!

On your marks, get set, go...............Oh false start..............reset.............seems to be the story of my life when it come to my weight and getting to the finish line seems much easier said than done!  

I LOVE food, seriously food and wine are two of my favourite things in life and cheese; cheese is lush (so much so it has it’s own distinct category within the food love)!

Let me explain a few things, I was a crazy active kid and although I now sit at a desk for a good portion of the week (not as much as some as I have a job where I go out and about) I’m not lazy, I walk everywhere! But I do have an issue with food and I have no idea when it got so bad; that’s the problem with bad habits and bad relationships they sneak up on you and ease you in gently.  

I’m pretty sick of people generalising fat people and saying “well you’re just lazy, get off your arse”, there are (for most fat people) other issues going on inside our brains and bodies that don’t make it quite that simple.  I see it on lots of ‘healthy living” and “healthy food” blogs, some of which can actually be really hateful not just towards people but also food.  So to those people......I have two words......Bugger Off!!

I don’t want to be scared/indifferent/obsessive about food and I don’t really want to cut anything out - at least not entirely - and certainly not an entire food group!  But I do want to make better choices and be more mindful about what I’m eating and more importantly in some ways, when I need to stop eating.

I have suffered from depression and anxiety and I know that when I have these feelings I tend to rely on food but not in a good way that could promote better mental health but in a short fix way that in the end makes me feel worse.  

So the purpose of the blog.........................

The intention is that this will help me to be a bit more focused as I have somewhere to document and potentially people to (in an abstract way) answer too (if anyone bothers to read it that is).  I hope that by writing down recipes and taking pictures of my food and generally exploring some of the “healthy” stuff that it may help me on my journey.

I have previously tried weight watchers and did pretty well, 2 stone in a couple of months but I’ve since put that weight and extra back on, the problem is WW still feels like a diet and so I find it hard to sustain.  But I have Polycystic Ovary, I’m heading towards type 2 diabetes (even if that is terrifying to admit) and in general I’m just not that happy with myself.  

No I do not expect that losing weight will be some magic happy pill, but in great optimistic fashion (even though I’m a happy pessimist), I am hopeful that taking control and improving my health will help me deal with other issues along the way and have some knock on effects!