wedding eats

Well, not a very successful day for eating. The Husband Unit was very ill this morning with an upset stomach so our plans of getting to the gym and having a large brunch before a 1pm wedding went out the window, and I ended up eating too much later on as a result. I went a very long time without food (as did everyone else present!). However, I did not binge, and largely that is what this journey is all about.

Breakfast at 9.30 am: 1 egg, 1 slice granary toast.
Snack at 3.00 pm: Two thirds of a yellow Snack bar (that's shortcake biscuit and chocolate).
Lunch at 3.45 pm: 1 slice of roast beef with a scoop of mashed potato, half of a roast potato, and some carrots and cabbage. This was followed by a latte which came with a small coffee biscuit, and a purple snack bar (which is a chocolate sandwich biscuit).
Dinner at 7.00 pm (wedding BBQ): 1.5 sausages, 2 spare ribs, 1 slice of marinated chicken, 1 tablespoon of potato salad, mixed green leaves, 1 small bread roll and 2 slices of bread (this was all irresistibly home-baked) - all with butter. Dessert was two delicious hand-made chocolates and a carrot-cake muffin. I also drank about five glasses of white wine!

Yikes.

Eating lightly for the next few days might be in order!

I still find special occasions confusing. I battle the urge to binge mixed with the need to feast and celebrate appropriately. The most important question however seems to be whether or not at these events I am feeding my hunger, or my emotions. Today, I was clearly feeding my hunger (the only thing that had me in grumpy form was the six hours between breakfast and lunch!). Getting too hungry is always a problem. I eat FAR more at meal times when I am extremely hungry. Perhaps a solution to this is to carry nuts and fruit with me when meal-times will be unpredictable.

There is no way I would have eaten as much as I did today if I had had lunch at between 12.30 and 1.30, as I usually do.

Oh well, live and learn.

The wedding was beautiful, although unfortunately we left early, due to having to travel tomorrow morning for the Husband Unit's work. As I am typing this I am realising that it will be another unpredictable day in terms of food, so it might be worth packing some snacks now to prevent a midday binge.

Hope you're all enjoying a relaxing weekend. I'm going to go drink 5 litres of water to flush all this alcohol out of my body so that I can get up in the morning!

more fud

Breakfast: Banana oats with cinnamon, raisins and peanut butter.
Lunch: Stir-fried chicken with cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, onion, chilli, tamarind and a little steamed rice.
Dinner: Burger and chips (fries), 1 slice of brown bread.

We fancied a Friday night treat, so I put a couple of burgers on the George Foreman, and a medium portion of oven chips each into the oven. We ate the burgers with sesame buns, a little light mayo, light cheddar, onions, lettuce and ketchup. The slice of bread was for the obligatory chip sandwich. :)

We also got two beers and a small bar of Galaxy chocolate each, which we have not yet enjoyed, but I plan to! Not a low calorie day but hey.

Was very shocked and saddened to hear of the death of Gerry Ryan today. RIP Gerry.

In brighter news we have a wedding to celebrate tomorrow. Unfortunately the dress I am planning to wear is now too big. A good complaint I suppose!

fud

Breakfast: Bagel with ham and cheese on one side, and jam on the other.
Snack: 2 mandarins.
Lunch: 1 hard-boiled egg, 1 slice light cheddar, 50g wafer thin ham, crudités (cucumber and peppers). 100g natural yoghurt with 10 grapes and 20g granola.
Dinner: Out at a friend's place. Bobotie (a South African dish made with minced beef, curry spices, chutney and fruit, topped with egg and baked), with rocket salad and half of a poppyseed bread roll. Dessert was a mixture of pureed mango with natural yoghurt and topped with passion-fruit. Tea and 1 Lindt chocolate.
At the cinema: 2 jelly babies.

official weigh-day

Today the scale showed 243.2, which is a loss of 1.4 pounds this week. I'm happy with that.

history will be kind to me, for I intend to write it

We just ate the moussaka, and I've added an image below if you want a nosey. It was really delicious. Delighted!

We both worked hard at the gym and I was suitably purple-faced and sweaty when we headed for home. The heaviest weight I lifted was again on the leg-press, at 141kg (310.2lbs)! I need to have a shower but I have the post-workout chills and don't much like the thought of diving under jets of water right now. Until I do, Husband Unit will have to tolerate the stink.

Food today:

Breakfast: Banana oats with cinnamon, raisins and peanut butter.

Snack: 2 mandarins.

Lunch: Half a wholewheat pitta bread stuffed with egg salad (2 hard boiled eggs, mashed and mixed with light mayo) with about 50g of wafer-thin ham, and some crudités.

Dinner: Moussakka with a salad of butterhead lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes and green peppers.

Snack: Cup of tea with 1 digestive biscuit (for the Americans reading, that's similar to a Graham cracker, only round, and nicer :p).

My friend brought round his digital 8-track machine to lend to me so that I can record some songs. I have also decided (five minutes ago) that I am now a writer, and am going to have a go at devoting a few hours every day to my new job: writing. :)

moussaka

I made a moussaka this morning for our evening meal...that way we can pop it in the oven, go to the gym, and come home to a delicious cooked meal.

I made this version a while ago, and it was amazing, but I wanted a slightly less luxurious and calorific version to bring it into our everyday repertoire, so this is what I did. This recipe has approximately 2500 calories in it total, so one sixth of that is approximately 420 calories.

500g lean lamb mince

1 onion, chopped

1.5 cans of chopped tomatoes

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp mixed spice

2 bay leaves

1/2 tsp dried oregano

2 tsp red wine vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

2 large aubergines

1 tablespoon butter

1 heaped tablespoon flour

1 pint low-fat milk

1 tablespoon grated Parmesan

1 tablespoon grated mozzarella

1 whole raw egg

1. Brown the lamb mince in a large saucepan with the onions and garlic. Drain off the fat and discard it. Return the pan of meat, onions and garlic to the heat.

2. Add tomatoes, herbs, spices, red wine vinegar and seasoning. Stir well and leave to simmer for an hour. Stir and taste from time to time.

3. Slice the aubergines lengthwise and salt them. Leave them for 30 minutes to draw out the bitter juices.

4. Make the cheese sauce. Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the flour and stir well. Cook this paste on a low heat for 5 minutes (this gets rid of a floury taste). Remove from the heat. Stir in the milk, one splash at a time, until you have a lump-free mixture. It should be thin and smooth. Return to the heat and bring to the boil, stirring constantly, until thick and creamy. Lower the heat and continue to stir and simmer for five minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheeses. They should melt immediately. Leave aside to cool.

5. Rinse the aubergines and pat dry. Heat a cast-iron griddle pan and spray lightly with olive oil. Fry each of the aubergine slices briefly on both sides until lightly charred and tender. Set aside.

6. Whisk the raw egg into the cheese sauce.

7. Begin layering like a lasagna. Ideally you should have a layer of meat, then aubergines, then meat, then aubergines, then meat, then the cheese sauce. However I ran out of meat and had to put the cheese sauce on top of a layer of aubergines, oops! This should not make a huge difference but it won't look as attractive.

8. Bake at 180 Celsius for 45 mins approx, until bubbly and golden. If you are baking it from cold (as I will be) allow another 15 minutes or so for the cooking time.

Eat with a chunky salad!

painting and paella

I had a good day! It seems like the first one in a while. It was nothing exciting...I got up for the usual prayer and breakfast at 7ish, and then went back to bed for a cheeky little nap after my husband had left for work. I got up and did some cleaning (a rarity lately) and some reading. A friend called in for lunch and ended up staying most of the day, until after dinner. I got on the train and opened the book of Romans (specifically chapter 7), where I had my mind blown once again by God's amazing challenge to a life that rejects rules and norms and restrictions and expectations. I went to group therapy where we discussed using creativity to aid recovery. It was a very exciting conversation. What can I do, personally and collaboratively, to learn to use my gifts creatively in a way that aids my emotional well-being? I'm going to give this some thought this week. The thoughts of painting, or sculpture, or recording music or whatever... these things seem like bright and hopeful activities. Any of the locals reading, if you want to do something together, let me know.

Food:

Breakfast: Bagel with peanut butter and half a banana.

Lunch: Half a large wholewheat pitta with ham, cheese, lettuce, cucumber, boiled egg and peppers, followed by mixed berries and a little natural yoghurt.

Dinner: Paella.

The paella was good. I have no idea if it was in any way authentic, as I've never eaten it before. Here's what I did and it served three hungry people with a little left over:

225g risotto/paella rice

800ml chicken stock

100ml white wine

140g raw prawns (you can use cooked ones either)

1 large chicken breast, cubed

Half a chorizo ring, sliced

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

Handful green beans (I used fine beans)

1 onion, chopped

5 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 small red chillis, chopped

2 tsp. smoked paprika

Salt and pepper

1. Fry chorizo until it releases its lovely flavourful oils. Set aside. Fry chicken in chorizo oil. Set aside. Fry prawns. Set aside.

2. Fry onion, garlic and chillis in the remaining oil until soft.

3. Add rice and peppers. Stir to coat with oil. Add stock, wine and smoked paprika. Stir well.

4. Leave to simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.

5. Add cooked meats and green beans. Stir well. Simmer for 10 minutes until everything is thoroughly heated though.

6. Taste, season and eat. Delicious!

I'd say the important bit is the quantity of liquid to the quantity of rice. The rest you could play about with, adding more or less of the meats, fish and vegetables as you prefer. I would also consider highering the ratio of wine to stock next time, maybe 250ml / 650ml. Anyway, it's very tasty. :)