Bacon & butterbean salad, Veggie dhal fakeaway

Husband likes (well, we both do) some kind of fakeaway on Saturday evenings, he especially likes Indian food so tonight I'm doing my interpretation of a sort of dhal (dahl? daal? dal?).

For lunch we'll have a bacon and butterbean salad - lean bacon medallions grilled and cut into pieces, mixed with a tin of drained and rinsed butterbeans, chopped tomatoes, cucumber and radishes, some crumbled feta and a simple mustardy dressing, consisting of EVOO, cider vinegar and Dijon mustard.  Will serve it on a bed of mixed leaves.

For the dhal I'm going to boil Puy lentils, then add some bulgur wheat towards the end of cooking, to soak up the remaining water.  I'll gently cook sliced onions and finely chopped carrot in oil until they're caramelised, then add in some curry spices and sliced mushrooms and fry off, before mixing it all in with the lentils/bulgur.  I have some leftover boiled potatoes in the fridge, will dice them up and cook them in a tablespoon of tikka masala paste to make sort of Bombay potatoes, to have on the side.  I might make some onion seed flatbreads, will see how I feel about that later.

One leg slid off the wagon

Healthy eating has fallen by the wayside a bit lately....not massively so, but we've been eating a few naughty things in between relatively healthy meals.  That always happens when we're (well, I'm) stressed and feeling under pressure....the ongoing noisy building works next door and anxieties relating to car stuff have been causing problems.  I made a coconut and jam sponge cake the other day - delicious but decidedly naughty, and we've been out for tea and scones a couple of times.  Some chocolate may have slipped down our throats too.

Things are improving slightly though (although the car goes in for MOT tomorrow so that might change!), so healthy eating is back.  Well, nearly - a mini cream tea out this morning, but that's the last one.  

Pam mentioned on her blog having veggie pasta sauce done in the slow cooker, so that's what I've done today (thanks for the idea, Pam) - leek, courgette and aubergine in a bit of chicken stock, with some scraps of gammon left over from Sunday dinner thrown in.  We'll have it with wholewheat pasta with a little grated Cheddar on top and a green veg on the side.

Tomorrow I'll do a chicken and veg stirfry, with one of those packets of microwavable rice - a mixture of brown, red and wild rice.  We like those, they're in measured portions so you can't have too much, either by design or inadvertently.

Elise, thank you for your recommendation for the diabetes weight loss cookbook, it's not available in our local library but I can order it from another library, so that's what I shall do.

Lidl bargains this weekend

Back to Lidl again this morning....I know it seems like my favourite shop and thing to do, but it isn't really, even though I mention them a lot.  I just like a bargain!

Every weekend they have a few things at special bargain prices - I knew they did it occasionally but have only just found out they do it every weekend.  This weekend it's 400g packs of medium mature Cheddar on offer at 99p - that works out to £2.48 a kilo.  Astonishingly cheap.  I think you're allowed to buy 6 of any item on offer.  So we'll get 6 (I suppose technically we could get 12 if husband and I each bought and paid for 6, but we won't) and will grate and freeze most of them.   They're also doing a jar of coffee at 79p, so 6 of those will be coming home with us too.

And hopefully I'll be able to get one of their veg boxes today, that actually contains mostly veg rather than fruit.  We're going to get there for 08.00 when the shop opens, we were half an hour late yesterday because of the terrible traffic in town.

Sadly no veg box this week, but some good bargains

Shopping first thing this morning, went early to Lidl so we could get another of their excellent value veg boxes.  Unfortunately, though, we didn't get one.....they had 5 left (I don't know how many they have to start off with, we got there at 08.30, they open at 08.00).  All of the boxes were full of mainly fruit - lots of apples, loads of bananas, 2 cartons of strawberries per box, grapes and oranges, with only a couple of veg items in each box, either aubergines, iceberg lettuce or broccoli.  We eat hardly any fruit now, certainly not bananas or grapes, except on very rare occasions, as we're both diabetic and they're two of the highest sugar fruits.  So a box full of fruit and very little veg is no use to us, sadly.  Still extremely good value though if you were wanting a lot of fruit.

Some of their fresh stuff that's on today's date they reduce to 20p - I got 2 x 400g packs of cooked sliced chicken, I've split them up into portions and frozen them, they'll be good for pasta or rice dishes or pizza toppings, or a treat for Betty.  Bargain, and a pack of 4 corn on the cobs, also down to 20p.  Also got a fresh chicken which was 30% off as it's today's date, that's also gone in the freezer.  Bought a 1.3kg gammon joint, that'll be for Sunday lunch and leftovers for several more meals, always good value.  Some Cumberland sausages reduced to 99p, that'll be our treat dinner for tomorrow night (we hardly ever eat sausages anymore, for health reasons, but I do like a good banger!).

Today for lunch we're about to have a cheese & ham omelette, with salad.  For dinner tonight I'm going to do fried rice with lots of veggies, topped with a white fish fillet pan fried with lemon and herbs.  

Avo & tuna toast, beef & veg chilli with cocoa

With all the building work next door continuing to get on my nerves, combined with ongoing insomnia, I fancied some comfort food today.  But healthy comfort food!

Husband had wholewheat cereal and a small sliced banana for his breakfast, I had Greek yogurt with a handful of almonds (I like them in their skins) and a few raisins.  It was delish.

For lunch I did avocado mashed with tuna and a bit of leftover cottage cheese, on top of my sourdough bread toasted, with sliced tomatoes.  I never used to like avo, now I absolutely love it.

For dinner I've made a huge pot of chilli, it's got as much veg in it as minced beef.  I used 3 large carrots, a big courgette and a massive leek from our garden (nearly at the end of last year's crop now, only about 8 or 9 left), I chopped them all up in the food processor.  The few remaining mushrooms from last week's carton, looking a bit limp now, plus a tin of chopped tomatoes and a tin each of kidney beans and baked beans.  A beef stock cube, big splash of Worcestershire sauce and balsamic vinegar, shake of dried thyme and garlic salt, 2 tsp each of mild chilli powder and smoked paprika, big squirt of tomato puree.  I normally put 3 or 4 squares of dark chocolate in too but haven't got any, so I've used a dessertspoon of cocoa powder.  

We'll have it with wholewheat spaghetti (husband's request, he doesn't want rice), with his beloved broccoli on the side, and a sprinkle of grated mature Cheddar.  There'll be plenty of the chilli to freeze.

I'm not a criminal, and a diet step too far

Thank you for the ginger suggestions, I froze it all in the end - why didn't I think of that?!

Pam, the Lidl veg boxes are apparently now in all of their stores....but you have to get there early to get one.  They only do them first thing in the morning, for 2 or 3 hours or until they're gone.  Any left over (doubtful) after this time are apparently sent to a charity.  In our store, which opens at 08.00, they're usually gone by about 09.30.  They have them right at the front of the store, by the checkouts....you're not supposed to pick one up until you're at the checkout - I understand why they do that, but it's downright inconvenient.  I ignore that and go straight to them when we get in the store, choose one (they all have different stuff in them) and put it in my trolley - I can't make a decision about what veg/fruit to buy until I've seen what's in the box.  You do have to be prepared to be viewed with suspicion by the staff, though - they clearly think you're going to add extra veg to the box so you don't have to pay for it, or swap out any limp/bruised veg for better looking stuff.  Well sunshine, we're not all thieving chancers (I mean, do I look like one?!) so I choose to ignore their suspicions.  Just to make it obvious I'm not stealing any other veg, I put other shopping (like kitchen towel, toiletries etc) on top of the box and make sure any other veg and fruit I pick is at the other end of the trolley.

As mentioned, husband has been diagnosed as borderline diabetic and we saw a new diabetes nurse last week.  She's very nice and enthusiastic and encouraging, but very evangelical and gung ho about diet.  She advocates a NO CARB diet (well, other than carbs in veg and fruit) - she recommended giving up bread, pasta, rice, potatoes and other root veg, pulses, and having black coffee and tea.  Really?!  Husband and I discussed it and decided that it was all a step - well, several actually - too far.  He was actually quite worried about it, it sounded like complete deprivation to him, he'd never be able to do it.  Nor would I, come to that.  I don't really agree with exclusion diets - yes of course they work, but they're not sustainable for any length of time and could even be dangerous.  We need carbs for energy and to protect our muscles - if we don't eat enough carbs for our body's energy needs, then the body will use up protein instead, but protein is needed for our muscles (can you tell I've been reading up on it lol).

So we've decided we won't do a no carb thing, but will carry on with LOW carb, just choosing healthier carbs - wholewheat or wholegrain pasta, rice and bread (we do that anyway).  We'll continue to eat potatoes and other root veg and pulses, just smaller quantities.  I did completely agree with the nurse on one thing, though - it's not fat that's the enemy, it's sugar.  For the first time in about 40 years, the NHS are apparently actually changing their diet recommendations, to reflect evidence that sugar makes you obese, not fat.  Although I dare say too much fat will also make you fat.

Lidl wonky veg box, ginger help, more motivated on diet

Been to Lidl this morning for shopping, you need to get there very early if you want one of their wonky veg boxes at £1.50.  

In the box today:-

Fruit
2 Braeburn apples
2 soft avocados that will need using quickly
7 bananas, 3 spotty but 4 still partly green

Veg
4 large vine tomatoes
6 baby cucumbers
1 large cucumber
A large Savoy cabbage that looks a bit sad
3 large potatoes
3 heads of broccoli - 1 limp, the other 2 fine
2 pieces of ginger root
A corn on the cob
2 red peppers 

What you get for the money is extremely good value (the avocados alone would cost £1.50 or thereabouts), but you have to be prepared to either use up a lot of the stuff immediately, or process and freeze it.  No problem, I'll spend this afternoon doing some cooking for the freezer.

I also got a pack of stir fry veg reduced to 20p as it's on today's date, so it'll be a pork stir fry tonight using a pork steak from the freezer.  The limp broccoli will go in it too.  The red peppers I'll use tomorrow, I'll stuff them with a mixture of brown rice, the corn stripped off the cob, grated carrot, chopped sun dried tomatoes and feta, we'll have them on a bed of steamed Savoy cabbage.

As husband has just been diagnosed as borderline diabetic, we have renewed motivation to carry on with the Mediterranean diet, with some adjustments.  We do like the diet very much, but neither of us has so far lost any weight on it.  In discussion with husband's diabetes nurse, we think it's because we've been eating too many carbs - wholewheat pasta, brown rice, grains, potatoes, homemade wholemeal and sourdough bread - all good stuff but we've just been eating too much of them.  We'll carry on, but reduce them by half.  And we need to watch our portion sizes too.  I'm also going to cut my frothy coffee habit down too, just having 1 a day instead of 2, or sometimes 3 (it's so yummy, I could happily drink it all the time, but of course it's quite high in carbs/calories).  I drink water or red bush tea the rest of the time, which is no hardship as I like both.  Husband, who drinks tea with milk by the gallon, is going to try having less teas and more water.  

Anybody got any suggestions as to what to do with fresh ginger root?  I've got 5 or 6 pieces in the fridge now.  I shall use one grated in the stir fry tonight, but can't think what to do with the rest - I'm not making cakes anymore....well, only on special occasions.