Trip to Sneem and Intermittent Fasting - 5:2 - Part ???

I really am not the most consistent blogger in the world, I know that.  And I assume you were all thinking that I had given up on  my low carb - IF diet.  Right and wrong !
Dieting is hard. Dieting when on holiday is nigh on impossible.
But I had semi prepared myself and had 3 fast days before we left for Ireland.  Still, in the weeks before our trip I've kept myself busy with baking my mother's (who turned 75) birthday cake, I obviously had to 'taste' it.

I cleaned the house, did a pile of laundry and ironing, cooked some chicken and rice for the cats and dogs as a 'haute cuisine' treat for when we were away, got 'some' food in for our pet/house sitter (my mum - it was her birthday present, the house sitting ;) ).
How I love going on hols, NOT.  It's all the prep that I have to do beforehand, not to speak of emptying the suitcases when coming back home.  Blergh!
That's why we (I) just prefer to move house to another country, at least then you have all your furniture and stuff with you. Ha !

Yes, our holiday to Sneem wasn't just a social visit to all our friends and acquaintances. We also went house hunting.  Some of you may know that we have accepted the offer on our house in Belgium and we now needed to start looking for something in our beloved Sneem.
We have put an offer in on two properties and they have both been accepted, so we are on the right track.

Two properties ? Well, yes. One in Sneem village as an investment and one near the Sneem estuary right at the water's edge, to live in.
I just adore the place on South Square, the building has a lot of charm (and a lot of work too) and has sitting tennants (comercial) who will stay. It has a small garden (full of Japanese knotweed, 5 old mattresses, rotten  wooden dressers and all the other stuff we haven't seen yet). But it also boasts a stone barn with a beautiful arched gateway.  We heard it used to be a butter factory, but I can't seem to find any information about it on the net.

It is ripe for restauration and I cannot wait till we can get the whole place spruced up. To make it the gem of Sneem village.

The house near the water is a 'new build'. From the outside it looks okay-ish, the interior is far, far too modern (think Kelly Hoppen-esq ) with near white wall to wall carpet in all the bedrooms and living room, highly polished white floor in the kitchen that give me the feeling of walking over ice cubes, black kitchen.  The windows are uPVC, wood imitation with 'fake' crossbars between the double glazed window panes. They'll have to go !

We'll also need to add a garage/tool shed as there isn't any. Every house needs a tool shed. 
Whatever we paid for the place, it's going to cost us an arm and a leg to get it to work for us in the style we like. But it will be worth it in the end as the land is pituresque with stunning views over the water and the mountains.  Added bonus, it has a stream and a pond too !

From past experience we know that till completion of a sale lots of things can happen, so we prepare ourselves mentally for that and hope for the best.  Fingers crossed.

Now about the diet.
While we were in Ireland we stayed in the  Sneem Hotel.  I kept my cool and didn't over eat on bread, sweets or any other carby fillers.  For breakfast I usually ate yoghurt (lovely and creamy) topped with almonds, walnuts and prunes (that'll keep the bowels moving), then a cooked breaky of sorts : egg (always egg) either poached or fried, tomato, mushrooms and white pudding (which was very tasty indeed).  Right, sometimes I did give in to a slice of toast with a good lump of butter.
For lunch we usually had a filled sandwich on the go or at one of the many coffee shops.
Dinner, either at the hotel, D O'Shea Bar (which serves great food) or at friends (I couldn't resist Jo-Anne's cake or Pam's scones smothered in jam)
So yes, I did sin a bit, but not as much as I did this Saturday when we were already home.  I made some lovely starchy risotto with butternut squash. I also ate a whole (200 gr) bar of chocolate filled with hazelnuts on that day ! It didn't seem to weigh that much to be honest as the nuts felt very very light. ;)

I recovered from this blip on Sunday. No more carbs. I have it out of my system, with a fast day yesterday and today.
Some of my recipes ? I'll try and get them on this blog soon. That's a promise I'm hoping to keep.

Roast Vegetable Stack with Smoked Trout - (374 cal) - 5:2

Opening a packet of smoked trout is easy, but great to accompaniment my roast vegetable stack.
For the vegetable stack I used meager pickings from the fridge and garden. Therefore the quantities of the veg I used may sound odd.  You might want to use different quantities, so I'll give you the calories per 100 grs of each ingredient.
You'll need a ramequin or a chef's ring, but you can use any bowl that can stand the heat of the oven.

Ingredients
serves 1 - 219 calories

• 103 grs fennel - the bulb variety  (36 cal/100 grs)
• 54 grs courgette  (30 cal/100 grs)
• 47 grs aubergine (24 cal/100 grs)
• 38 grs red pepper (48 cal/100 grs)
• 100 grs tomato (16 cal/100 grs)
• 50 grs ricotta (165 cal/100 grs)
• 45 grs spinach (24 cal/100 grs)
• 1 tsp olive oil ( or spray) (33 cal/tsp)
• seasoning, sea salt and black pepper
• a smidgin of nutmeg
• 1 tsp horseradish (if you happen to have some lurking from the deapths of your fridge. I hadn't so didn't use it)

Preparation

• Wilt the spinach and blend or chop fine.
• Mix it with the ricotta, nutmeg, salt, black pepper and horseradish (optional)
• Set aside (easy)
• Slice the vegetables in rings (or something that would fit your ramequin/chef's ring) - half a cm tick (or thereabouts)
• Heat your griddle pan on the hob (alternatively roast in the oven)
• Brush the vegetables with the oil. You'd be surprised how far the oil stretches if you use a brush for this.
• Griddle all the veg, bar the tomatoes, on both sides.
• Preheat you oven to 180°C
• Take a baking sheet and line it with baking paper.
• Put your rings on top and start filling it with layers of each vegetable.
• In between every 3rd layer or so, spread out a spoon of the riccota mixture.
• Start with the courgette and end with a spoon of ricotta before topping with a colourful slice of tomato.  If using a ramequin or bowl you put the tomato at the bottom and courgette at the top.
• Press down firmly and bake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Once out of the oven, leave to set for 5 minutes.  Get your plates ready, arrange the trout and capers, if that's what you're having it with.
• Slide a spatula under the vegetable rings and transfer to the plate. Slide of the ring and voilà !
• If you used ramequins, you'll have to turn it over onto the plate. Should be easy enough.

Note my courgette was the size of a marrow, so I used it separately and put my vegetable stack on top a griddled fat slice.

I ate it with 125 grs of smoked trout - 155 cal. 
A great fast day meal.

Low Carb Pizza

I read about this pizza crust on a forum. I was intrigued and would definitely give it a go sometime down the line.
Well, that time had come and I trawled the internet to get a more specific idea of what was required.
Cauliflower !
Yes, cauliflower ! And cheese, and egg.
Come to think of it, it is basically a cauliflower and cheese omelet/frittata cooked in the oven.  Now, if you don't need to watch your carbs (which in all honesty we all should) it might not be for you, but if you are on a low carb or glutenfree diet this is a grand alternative. 
The texture is quite pleasant and the cauliflower .... I could not taste it in the finished product.  I love cauliflower, but I admit to being a little wary of cauliflower flavoured pizza. But as it turned out, there was no reason to be anxious.  So, try it out !

Cauliflower Pizza Base 
23 cm round pizza tin (with a slightly raised edge), lined with baking parchment - per person - 360 calories. 
Preheat oven to 230° C

 

Ingredients

• 120 grs grated/riced cauliflower - 24 cal
• 60 grs grated cheese  - mine was gouda and gave me 246 cal - You can use a lower fat cheese, but you need some fat for 'melt factor'
• 1 large egg - 90 cal
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried basil (yes, dried works best for this)
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• pinch cayenne pepper
• freshly crushed black pepper and sea salt to taste

You can obviously vary the quantities of your herbs to your own taste.

Preparation

• Grate/rice the raw cauliflower in a food processor, it is fast and efficient.
• Blanch the cauliflower for 2 minutes in salted boiling water.
• Drain in a colander.  Shake well to get more water out.
• Return to the pan on a low heat to evaporate any excess moisture. Alternatively, you could press the water out with a clean tea towel.
• Leave to cool.
• Beat loose the egg.
• Mix all the ingredients together and pour into your lined pizza tray.
• Smooth it out evenly.
• Cook in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Leave to set slightly or cool completely to be topped at a later time. I made more than was required so I could store some in the freezer.
• Choose your favourite pizza toppings and put under the grill/broiler for 5 minutes. Keep an eye on it as it may burn quickly.
• Leave to rest for 5 minutes till everything has set before slicing and serving.
• Yummy !

 

 

Have a lovely week !
And just so you know, I hate the new blogspot interface. Urgh!

Patricia xxx...x

Intermittent Fasting - 5:2 - Part 5/6

Not much has happened in the last 2 weeks concerning the diet. We've fallen nicely into a routine of fasting on Mondays and Tuesdays, eating kind of normal all the other days. With normal, I mean still low carb and counting calories as good as I can.
We also seem to have one day a week were we go a bit bonkers. Usually a Saturday or Sunday.  Like yesterday for instance. My niece, Sarah got christened and my nephew, Mathias had his 5th birthday party. Obviously there was carb overload in which I played a big part,  because yours truly baked a cake for Sarah and cupcakes for Mathias.

Two top layers were red velvet cakes and the bottom one was frangipane .


For Mathias I made a pirate ship from a shoe box, inspired by this one , an island from half a styrofoam ball covered with sugar paste and then his pirate cupcakes.

And here he is waiting to blow out the candles that his uncle Eric is trying hard to light first.

Today it is back to the fast and I am dying to get stuck into my dinner.  We're now having a go at saving our calorie allowance for dinner and dessert.  Dessert is not cake or chocolate ! Oh no ! Fruits or maybe a yoghurt is what we have.  I'm also trying to keep fast days meat free and use soy protein or quorn one day and fish on the other day.
We don't own scales to weigh ourselves, so last week I used my mum's and it looks like I have lost a few kilos at least.  My clothes also seem 'less full', if you know what I mean.

And another bit of news that I just cannot keep under cover till a later time. I might jinx it, but whatever happens happens. 
We have buyers for our house ! Yeah, I know, exciting !  Deposit paid, promise of purchase signed!  There is just one catch.
The buyers asked to have completion on April the 30th at the latest.  Whilst that is still a long way off and it might just be easier to move house and country in the spring time and not in winter, it leaves me feeling a bit anxious. 
They seem like the right people to move into our house. They love it and they love the unkempt garden.  We are supposed to let the ivy grow up the gable again and they do not want us to use any kind of weed killer.  They will adopt our chickens and Arthur the cockerel.
Fingers crossed for a completion without hickups.

A week Ireland has been booked and I'm looking forward to it !


Thanks for visiting.
Patricia xxx...x

Cauliflower 'rice' - (45 cal) - 5:2

Cauliflower has been a life saver in my quest to bring down my blood sugar levels.
My low carb diet wouldn't be so 'easy' to maintain if it weren't for the different flavours and textures on my dinner plate. It is also low in calories, which helps
Just to clarify. It is not my own idea. I read about it on the internet and took it from there.

And no, it doesn't taste overly cauliflowery at all.

ingredients
Serves 2 -  45 calories per person

• half a head of cauliflower, +/- 450 grs  (20 cal / 100 grs)
• a splash of water
• seasoning
• herbs, spices of your choosing

preparation

• You'll need a food processor for this with grating attachment.
• Grate the cauliflower and transfer to a microwave dish with lid.
• Add a splash of water and nuke for 5 minutes on highest setting.
• Stir and taste for degree of doneness, if necessary put it back for a couple of minutes.
• When ready, stir in your seasoning, herbs and spices of your liking.
• Put the lid back on and let it rest for 3 minutes to bring all the favours together.

Serve instead of rice or couscous.

Thank you for visiting.
Patricia xxx...x

Ratatouille with Grilled Prawns - (366 cal) - 5:2

When you get this kind of still life from your garden, there is only one dish that springs to mind. Ratatouille !  



Ingredients  231 cal per person
serves 4

• 130 grs onions, roughly chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or grated
• 850 grs courgettes, cut into 2.5 cm cubes
• 370 grs aubergines, cut into 2.5 cm cubes
• 330 grs red peppers, cut into 2.5 cm squares
• 2 to 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 bay leaf
• thyme
• rosemary
• vegetable stock 250 ml
• red wine vinegar, a dash
• 620 grs tomatoes, red and yellow, roughly chopped
• seasoning
• a pinch of sugar (or do what I did, use Stevia)
• fresh basil, as much as you like

Preparation

• In a pan deep-ish pan, heat a tbsp of olive oil and sautee the onions with the garlic.
• In the meantime use another pan to heat up another drizzle of olive oil. Fry off the courgettes.
• When they are nicely coloured, add them to the onions which are still on the hob on a low heat.
• Next into the pan are the aubergines. Brown on all sides. Add to the onions.
• Repeat for the peppers.
• Now add bay leaf, thyme, rosemary and stock to the vegetables, together with the vinegar.
• Leave to simmer till the veggies are soft but not falling apart (20 minutes or so)
• You then drain the vegetables off the cooking liquid, preserving the liquid, which will go back into the pan on the hob to be reduced untill it tickens. Take off the heat.
• Add the vegetables again with seasoning and stevia. Top with the tomatoes, lid on for 10 minutes.
• Stir in the basil and serve.

Prawn skewers  135 cal pp
serves 1

•  12 frozen tiger (or other) prawns, defrosted and shell removed. 150 grs (shelled)
• a drizzle of olive oil (you should have some left from the ratatouille)
• season with seasalt, curry powder

• Stick the prawns onto wooden skewers - 2 skewers of 6 prawns, each.
• Drizzle with the oil and season
• Put in a preheated griddle pan. Griddle on both sides till they have completely changed colour.
• Don't overcook as they become rubbery.
• Serve with ratatouille

Patricia xxx...x

Celeriac Mash, Quorn Steak and Beetroot Salad - (397 cal) - 5:2

It might not look like a f(e)asty meal to you but it was excellent and easy to prepare, which isn't a bad thing if you've been busy all day.

Quorn steaks were 113 cal/ 100 grs. We had 195 grs, each (yeah, I know !)
Prepare as per instructions on the packet.  There, that was easy, wasn't it ?

Beetroot  37 cal/100grs. 175 grs/each
I used the ones from the garden, but you obviously can buy them vacuum packed, already cooked and peeled.  If you use fresh ones, you will need to wash tem and cook in water on the hob till al dente. Drain and peel - the peel will just slide off.  Slice or chop, as you please.

Celeriac Mash 36 cal/100grs. 250 grs, each
You know the drill. Peel and cut into small cubes ( 1.5 cm)
Cover with cold water, add a stock cube of your choice (I used Kallo organic vegetable) and cook till tender.
Drain, but keep the cooking liquid, you can drink that at a later stage as a soup. Very tasty.
Now add seasoning (salt, black pepper and nutmeg) and mash to your hearts content. Please, don't add butter. You only add butter if you're not dieting.

"Do I not see dressing on the beetroot ? " I hear you ask.
Indeed. I made a dressing with the following ingredients

• stem ginger, grated 40 grs
• 1 clove of garlic, grated
• 1 small onion, very finely chopped 50 grs
• 1 tsp grainy mustard
• squeeze of 1/2 lemon or the equivalent in white wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• seasoning
• a dash of tap water

That is a total of 235 calories, which you naturally only use a tablespoon off. The rest can be stored in a jar in the fridge for a couple of days at least.

The calories in this meal are so 'high' because I decided not to divide up my calorie allowance during the day, but have them all at dinner time.  It gave me the opportunity to also have two nectarines as dessert.

Patricia xxx...x

Intermittent Fasting - 5:2 - Part 4

Been having a few hectic days lately and it was not so convenient  for us to start our fourth fast yesterday (Monday) so we postponed  with one day.
Bert is having it difficult as we ( I ) decided we were going to fast the whole day and eat our calories at dinner time. Hu ho !  He has been fighting the hunger pangs with cups of stock made from half a cube, each.

Last week Wednesday we had a meeting with our estate agent who is trying to sell our house. Unfortunately we had few viewings over the last month and a half.  Summer holidays and bad weather, people booking last minute planes to the sun didn't help.  It has been quiet in general in the property sector.
Now most of the house viewers we welcomed thought the garden is not to their taste, too wild, too much work, too large, etc etc. 
We are now focussing ourselves on our garden which in all honesty has been left a little unkempt. With this lovely summer weather (ahum) every bit of weed has firmly rooted itself in our garden, even if we have weeded somewhat in between showers and mown the lawn fairly regularly.
Our hedges (the beech hedges we inherited when we moved here and of which some we have cut back drastically over the past three years) look untidy. We had also created some arches which were not yet looking at their best.  You get the picture, not conducive to a house sale.
Our estate agent recommended that we took down the ivy from the front gable of the house !  My heart jumped up into my throat. It's what made me fall in love withe the house in the first place.
They assured me however that 80% of potential buyers hate it.
With a heavy heart we removed the ivy from the house (only the front, mind) on Saturday and it went from this

to this

in a matter of hours.

I came across 8 birds' nests, old ones granted, but that means from now on the birds won't be nesting against the gable anymore. More heart break.
At least we know now that the ivy hasn't caused any damage to the bricks or pointing. It can only mean that the materials used for this house were decent.
Dilemma. How to get those sucker roots off.  A few google searches later we opted for the pressure washer, even if we read horror stories about damaging the bricks and/or pointing.  Worth a try at least on a small patch.
We don't own a pressure washer, so we needed to wait till Monday to hire one. 
Sunday we tried to made good use to tidy around the driveway and near the front of the house.  At around 4.30 pm all hell broke loose.  A text came in from the estate agent that they would come Monday morning, 10 am with potential buyers. 
Oh blimey ! Very, very short notice.  Took the vacuum cleaner aaaalll the way upstairs and started a cleaning frenzy ending when reaching the depths of the basement utility room. That was 10 pm. There are nicer things I can think of to keep me occupied on a lazy, sunny Sunday afternoon. Bert started the lawn mower around the same time as I started up the hoover.  He was ready before me, but the grass was long and he had to work till darkness fell. Ach, it is our own fault, we should keep on top of things, but time managment isn't one of our strongest points. Obviously.
We didn't even have time to have dinner before then, so we were very naughty and got chippie chips ! A small one, and it didn't satisfy me at all to be honest.
Monday, before 10 am, the house viewers and EA came.  They did the tour in less than 15 blummin' minutes and they had the cheek to not want to look at the garden !
It was obvious to me (judging a book by it's cover) that they were the type of people who want a trendy and very modern house with a very straight lined garden. Seeing the flashy car they arrived in  yes, flashy and pimped) Bert and I just knew. That's a no.

Having this clean house again and not being in time to go to the hire shop for a pressure cleaner, Bert dissappeared to his study and I went into my 'studio/craft room'.
Soon, my little niece, Sarah will get baptized and my nephew, Mathias will celebrate his 4rd birthday.

 

I bought them a puppet theatre in the second hand shop, which I will give a face lift and I also bought second hand puppets.

 



They all need a new wardrobe and I made a start yesterday.

I have four Little Red Riding Hoods, and this one will no longer be one. She will be cast in a different role altogether with a lovely flower print frock.

Grandma will no longer be ill in her bed, but will be in the kitchen baking pies and cookies, wearing a flower print dress and an apron with lacey frills.

 



The king will make an appearance in this story. But he's still at the taylor's as he still needs a Royal collar on his coat.

He'll probably be presenting his princess daughter at the debutante ball.

 

What a lovely day it turned out to be. Just relaxing and doing something creative with not much else on my mind.

 

 

This morning when I woke up, Bert had already dissappeared to the hire shop.  Once home he got started with the power washer, and......it worked a treat ! Bricks and pointing (and the paint even) still intact and all the rough roots gone.

Now we hope that the painter will come on Saturday, as promised, to give us a quote for painting the front gable, all the windows and the roof overhang. I really dislike the dark brown windows. Luckily indoors they have been painted white-ish.

 

Whilst Bert was power washering a woman stopped and asked if she could go in the woodland next to and behind our house to have a look. Sure.

She phoned the EA there and then, made an appointment to view the house an hour later.  Well, she didn't seem to be scared off by the garden. That was a good sign. The house was still decent from the last viewing so all was good.

She loved the house and would contact us again after talking with her husband.  Wether that is just talk or not, we don't know, but viewings seem to be picking up again and we have another potential buyer lined up for Friday too.

 

Wish us luck !

 





 

 

Recipes from last week's fasting you can find here and here

 

We've had a tasty fasting meal tonight. The recipe will be posted soon.

 

Thanks for visiting

Patricia xxx...x

 

 

The Quickest Lamb Tagine

Great that it was a quicky, as I had already bitten off Bert's nose earlier in the day and his head was going to be next.  The dieting is starting to get to me, as in, bad mood. I want to eat BREAD and PASTA, if not then I want POTATOES.

Ingredients
serves 3 normal portions, or 4 sparrows  (530 calories or 400)

• 1 onion (56 grs), chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, grated
• 230 grs carrots, peeled, cut into 3 cm chunks and quartered
• 400 grs courgette, cut in a similar size to the carrots
• 6 merguez sausages (360 grs), cut into 3 cm pieces (I didn't bother skinning them)
• 1 tin of peeled tomatoes (400 grs), chopped up
• red pepper (95 grs), cut into strips
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp honey (that just wasn't enough... I added 2 tsp stevia)
• chilli, to taste
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• seasoning
• fresh coriander leaves and stalks, to taste

Preparation

• Heat the oil in a suitable pot, sautee the onion with the carrots
• Add the garlic, chilli, courgettes and sausages
• Sautee for 5 more minutes
• Add the tomatoes plus water (the water from rincing the tin)
• Simmer, with lid on, for 15 minutes, till veg are al dente
• Add the peppers for 5 more minutes and the cinnamon
• Season with seasalt, honey/sugar/stevia and maybe chilli powder, to taste
• Finish off with coriander.

You can obviously eat with couscous. That's what I served Bert. I, however, had it without.
It really warmed the cockles of my heart.  You can now come closer again, I won't bite off your head. Promise ;)


Patricia xxx...x

Stuffed Courgette or Marrow - ( 310 cal) - 5:2

Ingredients
serves 2 - 310 cal/pp

• marrow or courgette, halved lengthways and scooped out (I had 640 grs)
• 1 onion finely chopped (85 grs)
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
• red pepper, finely chopped (75 grs)
• soy protein, strips or minced (100 grs)
• mushrooms, finely chopped (200 grs)
• tomatoes, chopped (250 grs)
• atichoke hearts, halved (120 grs)
• 1/2 tbsp sunflower or olive oil
• dried oregano, 1 tsp
• chilli powder or a dash of tabasco
• seasoning, salt an black pepper

Preparation

• preheat oven 200° C, fan asisted
• place the halved courgettes in a suitable oven tray
• sautee the onion in the oil on the hob, with the peppers and oregano
• add the soy protein and garlic, stir for a minute before adding the mushrooms
• when they are near cooked, add the tomatoes and leave to simmer for a couple of minutes
• season with sea salt, black pepper and chilli powder/tabasco
• spoon into/over the courgettes and place in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, turning down the heat to 160°C after 10 minutes.
• put the artichoke halves on top in the loast 5 minutes or so
• the courgette marrow should be cooked through but al dente and still a bit firm (makes you chew, which isn't a bad thing)
• serve with a sprinkle of spring onion greens and a few slivers of mild (or hot) chillies.

Patricia xxx...x

Celeriac Salad and Smoked Salmon (245 cal) - 5:2

Celeriac is one of my (many) favorite vegetables. But I don't often use it in a salad.
Trying to find some tasty recipes for our fast days and still having some celeriac nicely wrapped in the fridge, I suddenly thought of Jamie Oliver's celeriac salad that I once made, eons ago, from his book Jamie's Kitchen.
We found it to be very tasty then when we had it with grilled tuna, which, for some sinister reason, we don't eat anymore.  Sourseability and extinction.
So now, I decided, smoked salmon would do just fine.

Ingredients
serves 2 - 245cal/pp

• 300 grs celeriac, outer layer removed and sliced into ribbons with a vegetable peeler
• 10 grs anchovies, chopped
• 30 grs capers
• 50 grs gherkins, chopped
• 15 grs grainy Dijon mustard
• 15 grs sour cream
• 30 grs yoghurt (low fat)
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• pinch of salt and black pepper
• 200 grs smoked salmon

Preparation

• mix the mustard, sour cream, yoghurt and vinegar
• add the capers, gherkins and anchovies
• season with salt and black pepper
• mix the dressing under the celeriac ribbons, maing sure they are nicely coated.
• divide over 2 plates, in a nice pile (it looks like you have more then ;)  )
• also divide the salmon (and no cheating pleasse, 100 grs each), and drape over the celeriac.
• sprinkle with extra black pepper and spring onion greens/chives
• and there you have it, eat it with gusto, but don't forget to masticate properly

Patricia xxx...x

Intermittent Fasting - 5:2 - Part 3

Another week, another story.
Last fast went really well with the halloumi salad on Monday with fruit pickings during the day and on Tuesday we had tofu stir fry , again with some fruit and low fat yoghurt to fill some big holes.

One of the problems that occur in my case is to pick up the next day and add enough calories to get to a normal target again. Once in a certain mindset it is hard for me to change that at the drop of a hat, so extra care needs to be taken to eat enough the next day.
That goes for anyone doing this intermittent fasting malarkey. You NEED to eat sufficient calories for you as an individual (age/height/lifestyle/gender...) each day of your 'eat days'.

This Saturday the family on my mother's side had organised a get together with food, lots of it.
My mum is one of 9 children (8 girls and 1 boy) and since my grandmother passed away in 1992, the aunties and the uncles (that were still with us) they would come together on the last Sunday of each month.  I would also go, except for the time I lived abroad, so would some of my cousins and sometimes their children. 
Quite a few of my aunts and all the uncles have passed away now, but those that are still around and are able to make it to the monthly get togethers do so.  Being mainly women at the meetings , you can imagine the noice levels. You'd think you had arrived in a hen house where every hen had just lain an egg.
So, this time we rented a venue to try and get as many of the extended family together where every household would bring some food to make up a buffet.
Unfortunately many did not come, other priorities like holidays, work etc, etc got in the way. Nevertheless all the family members that were present did have a great time.

To take with us I started cooking  Friday morning.

• Sushi - vegetarian and with salmon
• Buffalo wings (7 kg !) with blue cheese dip and celery sticks
• Turkey korma, naan, chutneys, raita, poppadoms

I made sure to be at the pedicure's at 3.30 pm, only to realise when I arrived that the appointment was for the previous day ! All that calorie counting doesn't leave room for much else. Luckily the pedicure forgave me and a new appointment has been made.

As I am the Hyacinth Bucket of the family, I was going to bring paper table cloth for the buffet table, serviettes (paper obviously) and bring some flowers for the table.
It was 2 in the morning when I finished the posies for the tables. Mad or what ?
Not mad enough, because I also made prints from old wedding photographs of the aunties and uncle, selected 5 hours + of easy listening music and 5 hours + dance music.  For the latter Bert had to dismantle the amplifier and sound boxes to take with.

The Buffet Table

 



It was a succes, but something to bear in mind is the day and date we will organise the next 'big' gettogether, so more people can be present.

The weather was great and the kids played outside on the green (and later on with their cars on the table)

Cousins I hadn't seen in yonks

Sunday was another affair. Unloading the car, tidying up the mess that we brought back.
Eating some of the leftovers and NOT counting calories, but didn't really eat in excess.  I was afraid I wouldn't make a great start on the Fast this Monday.  But Monday, another day, everything cleared in the kitchen and off we went. Back to calorie boredom.

Hope I haven't bored you to sleep.

Patricia xxx...x