Sunday 3 March 2013

Lost my mojo!!

Its going. The thrill of it all is slowly going and bad habits are returning. Fizz in the fridge, ice creams and slice after tea. Takeaways. I feel so guilty buying it all but just can't resist. We're still having great lunches and teas most days, been having lots of new things, still a good few vegetarian meals and no processed food in the tea I'm cooking apart from sourdough from the farmers market which I'm well and truly addicted too.

We're moving in May, Sam's still working long hours, Barclay's sleep is up the whack so I'm knackered and trying to pack and clean so doing all the extras just isn't happening. No time to bake or experiment with things. Last experimental tea ended up with everyone in tears over the stress, I didn't get to eat much of it and then when a certain husband stole  my favourite thing off my plate while I fed Sylvie I lost the plot well and truly!! So we are having a bit of break from it all, we are doing much better than we have been, I shall kick the fizz habit again and our dinners are still good. But I cant promise not to stop my after dinner sanity treats, or takeaways when we spend days in town.

Stay tuned for our new house, the amazing vege garden I have planned and a much less stressful life!! Then we will get back on track. Oh but I have lost 5 kilos since we started this, and last week we ate no potatoes (that is huuuge for us).

Monday 11 February 2013

Adjusting habits and getting motivated

After yesterdays post I got inspired, made homemade flat breads which turned out more like pits. They were so good, Barks helped me make them and they took no time at all and were very easy! Not something I had to plan a day in advance, the dough only had 2 hours to rise and they were still brilliant. I cooked mine in a dry skillet in the oven on about 180 degrees. Waited until it was piping hot and chucked them in one at a time. Here's the recipe I followed http://foodiesarsenal.com/3-ways-to-make-homemade-flatbread/

 Since Ive begun this Ive noticed the bad habits I have. No breakfast, bread based lunch, always potatoes with tea, a treat while the kids sleep (or don't sleep) in the afternoon, my ability to skull a litre of fizz the moment it hits the fridge, sweet stuff before bed and I'm sure there are more!! So Ill begin addressing them, but changing gradually so I don't shock my system ;)

No breakfasts - easy fixed I thought. This morning, 2 eggs fried in coconut oil, with a couple of slices of tomato in homemade pita. I skoffed it, went for a walk and felt like being sick. Have felt fairly average since. Will keep it up though! Desperately need a juicer so I can have a glass of that the instant I'm up.

Bread based lunch - no more sandwiches, or cheese toasties. I'm actually pretty stuck, do I have eggs for breakfast aaannndd lunch?? We've been having chickpea stews for lunch quite a bit this past week but we cant eat that for every meal. Corn fritters are great but I rarely have the time to stand and flip them. Will have to do a bit of recipe hunting to find something that appeals.

An afternoon treat - today's choice, a handful of choc chips arghhhh!! I will eat anything bad I can find, if there is nothing I pine and text my husband and have whinge and a moan and am in a terrible mood by the time he comes home from work. Have just whipped up a basic raw slice. Dates, nuts, coconut, honey and coconut oil all whizzed together. Pressed down and chilled. To make it more appealing Ive made choc topping with honey, coconut oil and cocao which tastes like dark choc when set! If it hits the spot Ill continue to make that and make the slices smaller and smaller.

Potatoes with tea - have definitely been making changes, quinoa is our new best friend. And when we do I have potatoes I have way way less.

Fizz issues - easy. DO NOT KEEP FIZZ IN THE HOUSE EVER!!!!

Sweet stuff before bed - well I very guiltily bought a tub of ice cream in the groceries this week as we'd been  ducking to the shop to buy an ice cream every night which is not only bad, its pretty spendy. BUT instead of the typical massive bowl I had been having I got a back of cones and will have 1 scoop of icecream on a cone before bed. Gradually weaning off it onto something better. Perhaps a "chocolate smoothie" packed with good stuff.

Cant wait until all this good eating becomes habit and I stop grabbing for the crap stuff..... I say this as I nibble on chocolate chips. Shit. 


Sunday 10 February 2013

Fallen off the bandwagon

Ive hit the 3 week hump, this past week has been filled with ice creams, fizz, takeaways. Shite.

I spent up large today at the farmers market to inspire me to sort myself out, I have a bottle of fizz in the fridge and one last after tea treat for today and then thats it!!

Its also become apparent that I dont eat until 1pm every day and then I gorge. So this week, beginning tomorrow comes a daily food check in. Not only do I want to cut the crap, I want to lose weight and be healthy again. So I share with you my thinspiration photo!



Yes that really is me, 8 years ago!!

Wednesday 6 February 2013

The scariest challenge of all

Sometimes I feel insanely immature when it comes to food, I have a small list of foods that frighten me. Yes that's right. Frighten me. I have over come a few past ones - lettuce, spinach which I now have a love for, cabbage and sour cream. Funnily enough, I used to be way to scared to try sour cream and I now eat it with everything.

Ive come a long way from my past habits, until about age 10 I was a chicken nuggets and chips kid. My parents would even send me off to friends places with them in tow so Id have something to eat. Id eat vegetables but just the boring old frozen mixed vege, and some mashed spuds. A roast every now and them but nothing extreme and generally not a lot of green. One day I discovered curry, then I became addicted and wanted it all the time! Since then Ive explored, have fallen in love with so much food and am addicted to pretty much everything.

Except mushrooms, zucchini, offal, fish, seafood, sushi and olives. Its now time to tackle another!

I hate zucchini so much Ive never tasted it. So really I have no clue if I hate it or not, Ive been slowly starting to add it to things. Grated into spag bol, I knew it was in there, ate it but I didn't enjoy it as much as normal. Childish huh. I had a zucchini fritter from a Turkish stall at the farmers market, smothered in hummus and aioli it was good but I couldn't tell mum that. I'm not ready to taste it taste, I swear I will spew. So today Ive added it in big chunks to something I cannot resist. Curry!! Will see how we go.

So far Barks will eat anything, will taste everything and has no obvious food aversions. I need to  take a leaf out of his book and try everything. Conquer my food fears so to speak. Another goal for me, tackle a new food every 2 months. I will disguise it in stuff, gradually getting it to more of its natural state eventually eating it plain. Then if I still don't enjoy it, I'll move on. And I promise to admit defeat!!

Monday 28 January 2013

A day of delish

After shopping up a vege storm this past weekend I was filled with loads of inspiration for today's meals!! A middle eastern feast for lunch, and a touch of Mexican for dinner. Along with trying to cut out quite a few things we're also trying to add lots of new stuff to our diet. New foods and new recipes. These are both new recipes for us and the eggplant is a new food! Yesterday I tried my first fig and OH MY GOD I am in love!!  

For lunch we had homemade hummus, tomatoes, a flatbready thing, Moroccan spiced zucchini scrambled eggs (failed fritters) and a chickpea and eggplant stew. It was sooo good and will be a definite regular. Easy as too!!



Chickpea and Eggplant Stew

1 medium eggplant
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
2 tsps cumin
1/2 chilli powder
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 can chickpeas

Chop the eggplant into 1cm cubes and brown quickly in oil, put aside. Remove the eggplant and set aside. Saute finely sliced onion and garlic along with the spices in oil. Add chopped tomatoes and chickpeas along with half a can of water. Put the eggplant back in, cover and cook on low for an hour.

Tea tonight was rump steak, wedges, and baked Mexican eggs on a spicy bean mix. It is my new absolute favourite and I'm gagging to grow some chilli's and peppers so we can have it all the time! Also a super easy slap up tea, could be a takeaway replacer here. Have always loved the look of mexican baked eggs and the chillis and peppers I bought at the farmers market inspired me to whip some up.

Baked eggs on beans

half a large onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 hot chilli
1 medium heat chilli
1 sweet pepper
2 tsps cumin
1 can kidney beans
2 tomatoes
4 eggs

Saute the onion finely sliced and  finely chopped garlic along with the cumin. Add the deseeded sliced chilli's and pepper (adjust to your spice level liking). Throw in the kidney beans and chopped tomatoes, cook covered for 10mins. Put the mix into an oven proof dish, the mix needs to be a few cm deep in the dish. Make 4 slight dips in the mix and crack an egg into each. Bake in the oven until the eggs look done to your liking.