Just about the food...

Just a quickie tonight as I have had a busy day and am a bit shattered so reckon it is going to be a hot bath and an early night tonight.

So lovely that the sunshine has been smiling this week, spent a good part of this afternoon out in the garden giving it a good tidy up, cutting the grass etc, all a great workout in itself, but very tiring and achey!

 

~BREAKFAST~
 

Just how good does this look ... it tasted as good believe me!

 

Cinnamon oatbran pancakes, a sort of adaption from something I was 'forced' to eat when I attempted the Dukan diet, was the only carb you could have and very welcome!

 

So for mine I mix a couple of tablespoons of oatbran with a teaspoon of cinnamon, a pot of fat free yogurt, some chia seeds and an egg, mix it all together well.

 

Heat a non-stick pan and then drop the mix into 3-4 large dollops, cook for about 4-5 minutes each side till browned and cooked through.  The just serve them topped with your choice of fresh fruit (I used mango, raspberries and strawberries and a big dollop of fat free yogurt.  Very filling and very yum!

  

~MID-MORNING SNACK~

 

No, I didn't have two big bags of plums and runner beans for my snack today, but I did take into work two of my Magical Energy Bars , one for me and traded the other with my colleague for these two bags ... good deal huh!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

~LUNCH~

 

 

Another very tasty salad today, mixed leaves and spinach, chicken, light feta cheese, mixed seeds, walnuts, almonds, chia seeds and dried apricots with the usual dressing of rapeseed oil, apple cider vinegar, wholegrain and dijon mustard and honey.  Mmmm Mmmmm!!

 

 

~AFTERNOON SNACK~

 

As soon as I was back home from the gym I went straight to the kitchen and knocked up my favourite berry burst smoothie, frozen raspberries, fresh strawberries, frozen raspberry yogurt, chocolate whey protein powder, coconut oil and almond milk.  This is so delicious and refreshing, definitely a favourite of mine.  Also had some oat cakes with a small pot of reduced fat houmous and some chopped up gherkin spears, love them for the crunch as much as anything, but I love most pickles actually.

 

~DINNER~

 

A lovely mid-week (well, Thursday) roast tonight, roast chicken with baked cheesy cauliflower, runner beans and roasted potatoes and butternut squash.

The chicken was done following a good old CYT recipes (Cook Yourself Thin ... was a programme on Channel 4 and I followed the diet for quite a while and met some fab friends). 

Anyway, you take some rosemary, thyme (luckily I grow both in my garden) and garlic and chop them up and mix with some grated lemon zest.  You then take the chicken and from the bottom end you gently lift the skin, and separate it from the flesh as much as you can without ripping it.  You then push all the herb, garlic and lemon mixture in and spread it around, pull the skin back down tight. 

Looks very pretty, like stained glass!  Then stuff the remainder of the lemon in the cavity, sit it in a roasting tin on top of a trivet or rack, and bung in the oven, about 180oc for 1.5 hours roughly, depending on bird!

In the meantime I par boil some potatoes, give them a shake when ready to rough them up and pop into the actifry along with cubed butternut squash, no oil, and cook for about 30 minutes or so until all crispy, 15 minutes in I add some quartered red onion too.

I then cooked two mini cauliflowers in boiling water until softened and popped into a small ovenproof dish.  I mix a tub of quark (a fat free curd cheese) with an egg, some reduced fat grated cheese, a teaspoon of dijon and a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard and lots of white pepper.  I then spoon this over the cauliflower and give it a grating of fresh nutmeg and some fresh parmesan, and bung in the oven for about 45 minutes.  I call if cheesy baked cauliflower rather than cauliflower cheese as it isn't a liquid cheese sauce, it sets and sort of souffles up.

I also shredded some of the traded runner beans in my runner bean shredder and put them in boiling water for about 15-20 minutes.

Finally, made up a cheats gravy using reduced salt chicken granules in the runner bean water and served.

 

Delicious ... and virtually hardly any fat!

 

~EXERCISE~

 

Was a gym day today, I was running late to get there so decided to only do 10 minutes cardio on the bike and spend the rest of my time on the corded weight machines doing resistance training.  In the end spent about 1.5 hours in there, it makes me feel so good!!

At one point I was flagging a little, but I caught sight out of the corner of my eyes of the Paralympics on one of the tv screens and the blind football, and just seeing their courage and bravery and amazingness spurred me on again!

I then got home and like I said, spent a couple of hours in the garden, cutting the grass, weeding, turning over etc.  I love gardening, so relaxing, especially when the weather is so lovely, but haven't paid my garden as much attention this year as I normally do, so was good to get back out there.

Am off for my bath now, with added Epsom salts to aid my tired old muscles!

Thanks again for reading
Jo
xx