Can't believe in two weeks time we'll be in Italy! So really, I should be trying to learn a bit of Italian instead of watching tv and blogging - oopsie!
Tonight's tea was another new one from the Hugh FW veg book, hot squash foldovers:
You'll notice I started eating it before getting the camera out! It was pretty straightforward to make - roast the squash and layer it up with salad, cheese and whatever else you fancy really on a home made flat bread. Makes a change from the spicy bean filling I usually do with these flatbreads. The only downside is it always seems to take longer than it should to cook off the flatbreads so I maybe need to think about making them in advance. I really should experiment with the bread mix too and try making them with part wholemeal flour to make them a bit healthier.
I can't quite believe it's been 5 weeks since I started this blog, though admittedly a couple of weeks since I posted anything. It's not looking like I'll have learned much Italian by the time we get to Petritoli so the phrase book's looking like essential packing!
Anyway, the main reason I'm posting again is allotment related - I harvested some purple potatoes yesterday and had them mashed with roast chicken tonight:
Purple mash does look suspiciously like play dough but it tastes like any other mashed potato - honest! The diced veg on the plate is kohl rabi from my friend Fiona's allotment, as my crop came to nothing unfortunately.
In other news, we went to a computer games event today - mainly for Mr C's benefit, but also to meet up with an old uni friend and his wee one. Mostly not my thing but in the 'museum' part of the exhibition I had a go at one of the only computer games I ever got into - Lemmings!
A great track by the Inspiral Carpets, and one of many brilliant songs from the early 90s featured in The Worlds End. Between that and the reruns of The Crow Road running on BBC4 at the moment I'm having a bit of a nostalgia fest at the moment!
Anyway, dinner was courgette and sweetcorn tacos with homemade guacamole and a salsa of sorts:
Tacos are a bit more of a faff to eat than burritos or fajitas to be honest, but they were nice for a change, and the filling's really light.
Mainly because I forgot to post last night, and forgot to take a picture of tea tonight! Last night I was planning on making a cauliflower risotto but as we had milk that needed using I had a change of plan - cauliflower and macaroni cheese:
A mash up of two great comfort food dishes, and it was as good as it looks. maybe could have done with a touch more mustard, or maybe pepper but that's being picky really.
tonight should have been zumba night but I have to admit I couldn't quite be bothered, so no pudding for me tonight! dinner was battered fish, wedges and beans.
Pictures tomorrow so may not have time to post, but my planned meal is courgette tacos...
I picked the wrong day to feel peckish and buy a bounty in the afternoon - we had fajitas from a kit for tea and realised why they say serves 4. Over 1200 calories for tea alone put me over calories burned by quite some way. In future if we do a dinner kit I think we'll need to make it last two nights!
It was nice enough but don't think I'd rush to buy another one (Discovery crispy crumb fajita kit)
I suppose even looking at the picture it does look rather a lot!
The heatwave well and truly broke today. I cycled to work and actually needed my hoodie for the first time in ages, and it looks like rain the rest of the week so that may be my last bike in for a while. At least I'll not have completely wasted my bus pass this month I suppose!
Sunday again, and it should have been weigh in day but I forgot to do it this morning and I like to always way myself first thing so hopefully I'll remember to weigh in tomorrow!
I had a bit of a protein day today - poached eggs on toast for breakfast, fishfinger butty for lunch and we finished off the veal burgers for tea:
This time we had it with potatoes and salad, and I have to admit to playing with my food a bit. The burgers were way too thin for my liking so I reshaped them into 'proper' burgers. The flat ones we had last night looked slightly like tinned burgers - I think reshaping was a good plan as it meant I could do them slightly pink in the middle, just how I like them.
No cycling today - just armchair cycling for the last stage of the Tour de France. Seriously considering a trip to Yorkshire next year. I did wander up to the allotment though, and picked salad for tea and strawberries for jam, which is boiling away as I type!
So, the heatwave has managed to hold out till the weekend, giving me the chance to go for another trip to Carnoustie on the bike. Probably not the best activity to pick straight after a trip to the hairdressers, lets be honest! We had scones at Madigan's Food Emporium on Castle St whilst we were in town this morning though, so I really had to do some exercise, and a trip along the coast is about the nicest way to exercise I can think of!
Despite the general heat there was a chilly head wind on the way out, though once you get past Monifieth the route's reasonably sheltered. This section is also where you see the most 'wildlife' - lots of little birds flying around, plenty of butterflies, and I was playing dodge the bee for a decent stretch, and bees seem to fly at about the same speed that I cycle which makes things interesting. I could also hear crickets chirping away which always feels very summery.
Anyway, some pictures from my trip:
A very Scottish name for a train station
A bridge in need of a lick of paint
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| Buffy at our destination |
We had veal burgers for tea, which were a bit odd, and guess what? We're about to have strawberries and ice cream for pudding again.
Who'd have thunk it - a whole week of actual summer weather and it looks set to continue too! Which of course meant I had to pop to the allotment after work to water everything, and pick yet more strawberries;
And what do you have to do on a sunny Friday at the end of a sunny week? Pour a glass of rose wine and kick back!
Which of course meant I needed a nice easy tea, so pasta and pesto (from a jar) was just the thing:
Well, it was another hot sunny day for cycling to/from work, and it looks like the nice weather might just last till the weekend. We had a really summery dinner tonight, chicken sarnies with potato salad, coleslaw and allotment lettuce. I coated the chicken breasts in spice mix and a bit of oil and baked them for 25 minutes whilst the spuds were cooking:
If I'm honest I probably would have been okay leaving off the potatoes as it's the first day of the challenge where I've eaten more calories than I've burned - unless I fit in an hour of intensive housework. Might pass on that!
If you're paying attention you'll spot there was no blog yesterday - I'm not superstitious or anything but there's only so many pictures of strawberries I can post! Having said that, this is what I had for pudding today:
Strawberries and ice cream with a dash of Crabbies ginger syrup - highly recommended!
It's still really warm but I'm glad I forced myself to cycle to work as the wind was behind me on the way home for a change. It's still hard work getting up the last bit of hill to work but I'm sure it'll get easier the more I do it.
Oh, last night's tea was chilli bean nachosand tonight we had pasta and sauce:
Yup, another day, another pot of strawberry jam - well I can't let the slugs and birds have all of them! At some point I am going to end up caving in and making scones for a cream tea but I think it'll have to be a reward for another long bike ride....
Tea tonight was a pea and feta fritatta with couscous salad. This is the remains that'll be going into work for lunch tomorrow:
Just the thing when we're going through the closest Scotland's going to get to a heatwave!
Yay - that's my first lb off! Actually slighty more than a lb as I was 600g down on last Sunday, but the main thing is I'm under 70kg - now I just need to keep it that way!
I treated myself to a tasty salmon quiche from M&S for lunch:
I didn't get around to doing the weekly shop yesterday so after lunch I went to Sainsbury's, which was really quiet - a definite advantage to going on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Of course that meant I was late to the allotment but I still managed a couple of hours. It was pretty warm going so when I got back I cracked this open:
Very summery!
I was planning on having butternut squash risotto for tea but was scuppered by a lack of risotto rice. I did have some orzo though so I used that instead. It was actually okay, but I really do need to get better at checking the cupboards before I go shopping! Anyway, here it is:
And I picked another 500g of strawberries at the allotment so I'll be having some of them with ice cream and the rest will be added to yesterday's haul to make jam.
Well this was a new one - tomatoes on toast for breakfast. Kind of like bruschetta without the garlic I suppose, and very nice it was too. I only tried it because I had tomatoes that needed using up, but I'd definitely have it again. Set me up nicely for my 3 mile walk into town, nice and early whilst the sun was still shining .
I treated myself to a nice steak from M&S for tea. You might think steak has no place on a weight loss challenge, but this was a 4oz venison steak so lower in fat and therefore calories than a beef steak, and it was only a small piece:
I had strawberries from the allotment for 'afters' but there's still a fair few left - I think there could be another batch of jam coming up with the 500g here and whatever I pick at the allotment tomorrow!
Chippy tea! That's actually a 'small' haddock supper with mushy peas, and it does fill a large dinner plate. It was another scorcher today so cycling to and from work was fun. On the way in I had to cycle through a group of families waiting for their coach to Landmark, up near Aviemore. It looks like a great place for a family day out, but not really the weather for a coach trip. On my way home a lady 'of mature years' stopped me and asked my where I got my bike from, so it's official - Buffy is an old lady bike! Ah well - I think I knew that already. Incidentally, the chippy tea was the end result of walking up to the allotment after work and doing an hour pottering about.
It's the weekend - woo hoo!
Strawberry jamming to be exact - it smells fab but I'll have to avoid eating any of it as it's destined for sister in law's summer fayre in York on Saturday. Sadly I'm not heading to York as there's no way I was getting time off work in the middle of the school holidays.
Tea tonight was one of my favourites from the Hugh FW veg book - tomato and goats cheese tart:
Same again for lunch tomorrow as well, and probably the last piece on Saturday. It's so easy to make - packet of ready rolled puff pastry, tomatoes, garlic and goats cheese. It's supposed to have thyme sprinkled over it but my thyme on the allotment is flowering like crazy at the moment so you can't get near it for the bees, so I went with basil from the windowsill instead.
I'm typing this whilst watching the Apprentice, interviews week. You have to wonder why anyone would voluntarily put themself through that, and then you remember they're all walking egos!
Anyway, I went to my second zumba class down the road tonight, and came out very sweaty so I assume it's doing me good. Bit weird having two instructors and 3 people in the class - I hope it picks up a bit as it's such a handy location. I did come home starving though, so no dinner pictures tonight as I ate my pizza, wedges and salad before I had time to think about it. Right, back to the egos.....
Wow - a properly hot day today! Over 25'c apparently. I managed to cycle to work despite heavy legs from Sunday's jaunt, and actually got home in my best time yet, although I think that was more to do with getting lucky at traffic lights than actually cycling faster. Filled up on butternut squash and chickpea soup at lunchtime , and had a lovely sweet potato gratin for tea:
The peanut butter and lime make it quite satay-ish. Not exactly diet food as it also has a small tub of cream in there but definitely tasty!
Whilst it was in the oven I also managaed to make a pot of courgette soup which should do me a couple of days for lunches. Soup during a mini heat wave sounds a bit loopy, but it's got mint in so it should be quite light and summery.
Not much to report today,except that I popped in to the allotment after work to find lots of my strawberries had ripened - about 1kg to be exact. We had some for pud with a scoop of vanilla ice cream but think the rest are destined for jam. Much though I love strawberries you can only eat so many! It looks like it's going to be a scorcher tomorrow so the bike ride to and from work should be interesting....
So today was the day Murray finally did it and got his Wimbledon title. I'm also celebrating - 18 miles on the bike on a glorious summer afternoon. Granted at 2 1/2 hours I'm not exactly looking at a place in the Tour de France but I had a lovely time pootling along the coast, and you don't have to go fast to burn calories!
This is the quesadillas I had for lunch to fuel my journey
This is one of the fabulous views that made it such a nice ride
And this is the Pimms I celebrated with!
Oh, and my first weigh in of the challenge - 70.3kg, so I'm hoping to get under the 70 mark by next week!
So today was a lovely sunny day, but also pretty windy -
I cycled (slowly) up to the allotment and did a spot of weeding, though nothing too strenuous. I do need to find a way of transporting strawberries from the allotment without squishing them, otherwise there's going to be quite a lot of smoothie making over the next few weeks:
Tasty, and only 175 kcal, but I hope to actually get a bowl of strawberries and cream at some point. Maybe I should just take a bowl and cream to the allotment......
Dinner tonight was a fakeaway - sweet and sour chicken from the Hairy Bikers diet book, though as it was supposed to serve 4 and we had it between the two of us it wasn't exactly diet-y. Tasty though!
First weigh in tomorrow. Technically probably should have started with a weigh in but I'm a creature of habit and Sunday morning is weigh in day and I see no reason to change that.
Cheese! Okay, so it's a bowl of soup with cheese on top. This is the sweet and spicy squash and chickpea soup from Mexican Food Made Simple - one of my favourite recipe books. I didn't have any of the Lancashire cheese it recommends so it's mature cheddar. I'm still not totally sold on the idea of soup as a main meal, but this was pretty substantial, and the chickpeas make it filling, plus the fact that I've got 'spare' calories if I get hungry later on and fancy a jaffa cake or two!
Whoah there cowgirl, surely that's not the best way to restart the blogging habit! So let me explain myself - there seems to be a bit of an epidemic of snake oil salesmen touting meal replacement shakes just now. Not sure why, maybe there's enough people who don't remember the last time they were popular - plenty of people lost weight on them......then put it all back on again and then some. It's making me uncharacteristically mad to see them preying on vulnerable people but I'm rapidly discovering there's no point in tackling them directly so I'm going to have to admit defeat on that particular crusade! Anyway, I do want to lose a bit of weight before the big trip to Italy in September, and blogging my food seemed to help last time I lost weight so I'm going to give it another go. Being a bit of a nerd, I will be calorie counting, though I'm not setting a limit - just making sure I'm running a bit of a deficit. I will be eating a healthy and varied diet and making sure I'm more active - that's it. That's the strategy. Simples!
And the best bit? I've already started by going to a new zumba class yesterday. Wish me luck, and here's hoping we get some decent cycling weather over the next few weeks....
