Going all Italian with leftovers

Still using up things from the freezer, yesterday it was meatloaf and spaghetti, both leftovers (from separate meals) that I'd frozen.  The meatloaf, made a few weeks ago, tasted fine but didn't slice well, it was very crumbly, I guessed it would be even more so after being frozen (there was half of it left).  We had spag bol one day last week and I cooked too much spaghetti so froze the remainder, there was at a guess slightly more than 1 portion.

Having had a think, I made a pan of simple tomato sauce - sliced red onions cooked until soft, tinned chopped tomatoes, Italian herbs, a squeeze of tomato puree and splash of Worcestershire sauce, cooked slowly until thick.  I saved about a third of the sauce, the rest I poured into a dish and mixed in some chopped mushrooms, the meatloaf all crumbled up and the spaghetti, topped it with Mozzarella and put it in the oven.  So basically it was minced meat (I think it was pork), tomato sauce and pasta, but all mixed together.  No idea what to call it, but it was lovely and we'll have it (or a variation of) again.  No photo, I forgot.

Today for lunch we've had a homemade pizza, I made the dough base using equal parts of flour and Greek yogurt.....the yogurt is out of date but is still fine, it lasts for ages anyway.  I part cooked it in the oven for 5 minutes, just to set the base, then spread the tomato sauce saved from yesterday over the top.  I'd got a bag of frozen broccoli....not very keen on it as a plain vegetable (too watery) but it's ok with fresh cauli and macaroni in a cheese sauce.  I cooked some of the broccoli then mashed it roughly and mixed some grated Halloumi into it, then spread that over the tomato topped pizza base.  Ham ribbons and mushrooms on top of that, followed by grated Mozzarella and Cheddar.

We had slices with homemade coleslaw and salad, there's enough left to have cold for tea tomorrow and some to freeze.  The yogurt and flour base worked out well, it's the first time I've made it and I will do it again.  Next time though I'll add some flavouring to the dough - eg Italian herbs or garlic or paprika and some grated Parmesan - as it was a bit bland.

Being inventive during lockdown

Can't believe I haven't written a post here since January.....no special reason (we have still been eating....probably too much during lockdown!), I just got out of the habit of doing it.

Since I'm not going shopping so often at the present time, I've been using up all sorts of things in the larder and freezer and being inventive with meals.

I found a pack of chicken livers in the freezer last week, bought ages ago for I can't even remember what (probably liver pate) and never got round to doing it.  I used them in a risotto (which I had to use ordinary long grain rice for as I had no risotto rice left, so it wasn't strictly a risotto).  It was blimmin lovely, I put frozen peas, leeks from the garden and broccoli in it, along with chicken stock and the last of a bottle of sherry plus a splash of balsamic vinegar, we'll definitely have that again.  

Today for lunch we had a sort of risotto too, using bulgur wheat and sausages, I cooked it in my CleverChef multicooker.  Browned the sausages in it first, then took them out and softened chopped leeks, asparagus and aubergine in the little bit of fat that came out of the sausages (not much as they were Heck 97% pork ones) so added a splash of oil.  Sliced the sausages and put them back in.  Meanwhile, I'd covered the bulgur wheat with boiling water in a bowl, to which I'd added a heaped dessertspoon of Italian herbs and some balsamic.  When the bulgur had soaked up all the water, I tipped it into the sausage and veg and mixed it all up, putting it on to cook for another 20 mins.  Delicious.

I had a few carrots, 2 parsnips and 2 small sweet potatoes that were all going a bit soft, so decided to make a sort of cooked coleslaw with them.  I peeled then chopped them all up in my food processor, then sautéed them slowly in olive oil in my big frying pan with a lid:-

Incidentally, that frying pan was a wedding present from my brother and his fiancée (now wife) - as we've been married for 37 years next month, it's done a grand job!

We'll have some cold with mayo, alongside some mature Cheddar and a couple of crackers for tea.

I wish the flour situation would improve, haven't been able to buy any for ages (even the localish flour mill, Shipton, have temporarily stopped taking orders as they're swamped).  I've only got enough bread and ordinary flour left to last about a week (we make usually 2 loaves a week and 1 or 2 cakes, plus a crumble or pastry sometimes).  I've got plenty of porridge oats, I suppose I could whizz some up into flour and use some of that to mix with and eke out the remaining flour.

Batch cooked slow cooker chicken casserole

I had in the freezer 2 packs of mixed chicken thighs and drumsticks, about 7 pieces in each pack.  Yesterday I put them all in the slow cooker - just the chicken, nothing else, and cooked them on low for about 3 or 4 hours.  Took them out and left them to cool, then took off the skin (gave it to the dog) and pulled off all the meat, then left it in the fridge overnight.  There was a mugful of chicken stock in the slow cooker, just from the chicken, I hadn't added any stock or even water.

This morning I chucked 3 large peeled carrots and a large onion in the food processor and roughly chopped them.  I put the mugful of stock, a can each of mushroom soup and chicken soup, and half a canful each of water to swish out the can dregs into the slow cooker, along with some dried sage and mixed herbs, a bit of salt and a lot of black pepper.  Stirred in the chopped carrots and onions and some frozen peas and sweetcorn.  Will leave it to cook on low for a couple of hours.

Early this afternoon I'll add the chicken, a punnet of chopped mushrooms and a couple of handfuls of rice.  I'll probably need to add some more water too once the rice begins to soak up the liquid.

We'll have it with green veg and some tiny new potatoes.  The rest (I'm guessing there'll be enough for another 2 or 3 meals for the two of us) will be put into tubs and frozen.

Batch cooking

We are still doing the low carb, time restricted eating plan, but it's a bit sporadic - we've had quite a few appointments lately and the times of them don't always fit in with the time restrictions for eating, so it's a bit hit and miss.  We have tried to do at least 1 or 2 diet days a week....our original intention was for 3, hopefully we will do 3 regularly when things calm down a bit.  

This afternoon I did a batch cook using a 500g pack of minced steak.  I finely chopped 2 large onions and about 600g carrots in the food processor, then gently fried them in some oil left over from a jar of sun dried tomatoes.  When they were softened, I added the mince, followed by a whole punnet of mushrooms, diced up, and a couple of handfuls of red lentils.  Poured in a pint of beef stock made with 2 cubes, with a splash each of balsamic vinegar and Worcestershire sauce, and some dried mixed herbs.  Simmered until most of the liquid was absorbed.  I then took out half of the mixture and put it in another saucepan.  

To one pan I added half a bag of frozen mixed veggies (peas, sweetcorn, baby carrots, red peppers and broccoli), a squirt of tomato puree and a tablespoon of gravy granules.  This will be eaten with pasta or rice, or have a topping of mash for cottage pie.

I turned the other half into chilli - having discovered I had no tins of kidney beans left in the cupboard, I used a tin of borlotti beans and one of baked beans....well, a bean's a bean!  Also a tin of chopped tomatoes, smoked paprika and chilli powder.  I generally add a couple of squares of dark chocolate to chilli, we like the depth of flavour it gives.  However, the bar of dark chocolate that was in the cupboard had vanished, mysteriously (I have a vague memory of a comfort eating crisis but don't tell anyone), so I just used 2 heaped tsps of cocoa powder blended with a little water.  We'll have the chilli with rice or a jacket potato or wedges, or salad and garlic bread.

I got 3 tubs out of each - that's a double portion in each tub, so 6 meals for the two of us now gone in the freezer.

We'll never be vegetarians, but are trying to cut down on meat, especially red meat, and eat more veggies.  So 500g of minced steak has been stretched to do 6 meals, with lots of added veggies.

Day 1 diet food

Day 1 of the diet:-

I had black redbush tea in the morning, husband had black coffee - which he says he hates and is going to have my redbush tea on diet days.

For brunch at 10 am, we had a couple of slices of roasted ham, topped with an avocado mashed with tomato puree and smoked paprika.  Then a few slices of Brie on top of the avocado, and finally 2 poached eggs.  Lovely and very filling, due to the protein and fat.  Fat is allowed on this diet, in sensible quantities:-

Dinner at 5.30 pm was a roasted chicken leg on a pile of green veggies - shredded Savoy cabbage, leek, shredded Brussels sprouts, tender stem broccoli and peas, all steamed in a small amount of water with a large knob of butter.  Delicious, didn't even miss the roast spuds:-

sorry about the photos, terrible quality I know.

We're having the weekend off the diet, then back on it on Monday, Wednesday and Friday next week.  Well, Wednesday will be a slight variation as it's husband's birthday.....we'll still be having 2 meals and within the time restriction window of 8 hours, but will be including some carbs.

The new diet

Today is the start of our new very low carb, time restricted eating diet.  To recap, my GP has said I must lose weight in order to stop my Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) getting any worse, it's already progressed to Stage 2 (there are 4 stages, cirrhosis being the worst at Stage 4).  I've also got T2 diabetes, the start of a diabetic foot problem, high blood pressure and moderately high cholesterol, gallstones, osteoarthritis in both hips and trochanteric bursitis in my right hip.  And a bad back which is exacerbated by bad posture because of my sore hips.  I need to lose about 4 stones in total.

Husband was diagnosed as borderline diabetic this year, he has severe prostate problems for which he's having an operation, he also has heart failure which currently is reasonably well controlled with medication, although he's not so well in the winter.  He really needs to lose about 2 stones.

My GP sent me to the new practice specialist diabetes nurse, she has a reputation as a bit of a sargeant major and is fanatical about weight loss.  She's actually really nice, very encouraging and helpful, although certainly evangelical.  She wholeheartedly recommends very low carb, intermittent fasting or time restricted eating type diets, as advocated by Dr Michael Mosley - she has several patients who, between them, have lost collectively about 77kg following these principles.

Now, I'm very good at starting diets, but rubbish at sticking to them - my willpower is next to nothing.  So I know that realistically, it's no good me saying 'ok we're going to be doing A, B or C diet from now on' - I simply wouldn't stick to it for very long.  So, in discussion with Nurse Rose, we've come up with a plan for me (well, husband and me) to do a very low carb and time restricted diet on just 3 days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and eat mindful and healthy Mediterranean style food on the other days, but without worrying too much about carbs and time restrictions on those days.  Husband is up for this too, there'd be no point otherwise, I'm not cooking separate meals or eating at different times to him.  We're going to give it a try and see how we get on, if it works out alright then we may extend the number of days we do the diet.  Nurse Rose is going to weigh me once a month, starting at the end of January.

So on the diet days we'll be having 2 meals - brunch at 10 am, dinner around 5.30 pm.  Before and after those times, we can only have clear drinks.....ie water, black tea or coffee or herbal/fruit tea.  The science behind it is that (forgive me, this is a simplified version) any calories (carbs in particular) that we eat or drink will be latched onto and used by our bodies as fuel, thus ignoring the fat reserves we already have, and any extra calories not needed as fuel will be added to the fat reserves.  If we have no calories for an extended period - eg overnight plus an extra few hours in the morning before eating/drinking, and in the evening after having our last meal, then our bodies must use the fat reserves for fuel.  So the longer a period of time where we don't consume calories, the more chance of our bodies 'eating' our fat reserves.  I hope that makes sense.

Dr Mosley advocates eating around 800 calories during the time restricted window on your diet days.....I'm not going to get too hung up on counting calories, severely restricting carbs on those days, plus only eating 2 meals and cutting down on the amount of milky coffees and teas we drink will cut calories enough without me worrying about numbers.

Every diet day I'll document what we've had, and try to remember to take photos.