Toddler Food: Courgette (Zucchini) Cheese Ham Muffins

I rack my brain for things to feed Princess these days. She can eat anything except egg white (like in scrambled eggs, a little bit cooked in a muffin is ok) but she wants to pick it up and feed herself so that begins to rule out anything sloppy.

She has lots of sandwiches cut into little squares, and at night I'll cook her fish fingers or crumbed chicken with oven chips and veggies. While Princess seems quite happy I've been looking for finger food ideas, and here's one that went down a storm... with Princess and with Milord and me!

Recipe found here:

lunch muffins with ham, zucchini and cheddar
(makes 12 muffins)
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tbs baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup milk
¼ cup canola oil
1 large egg
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 cup grated zucchini
1 cup chopped ham

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the centre. In a glass measuring cup, whisk together milk, oil and egg. Pour liquid mixture into the dry and bring together with a fork just to moisten ingredients.

Gentle fold in cheese, zucchini and ham.

Oil the cups of a regular-sized muffin pan. Divide batter evenly between the twelve muffin cups. Bake at 350F for about 20 minutes, until a tester inserted into the centre of the muffins comes out clean. Let cool and set in pan for about 5 minutes then transfer muffins to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container, or make a double batch and freeze.


I made mini muffins, and this makes a lot more than 24 mini muffins - I cooked the leftover batter as a very thin loaf!

While these were awesome, I'll make a couple of changes next time. I'll leave out the salt as between the ham and cheese they were salty enough already. I also might just use 2 cups of flour, as there was far too much.

Rainy Day - Slow Roast Duck

I'm going to try a "live blog" entry, where I update as I go. This is inspired by a favourite post over at Amuse Bouche where she slow roasts a duck.

On the forecast the other day I saw it was going to rain a lot this week so I got in some slow cooking ingredients. Today: Duck.

7am - Milord wakes up. It is gloomy and rain is in the air. Princess would usually have woken us before this but on overcast days she often sleeps in a bit. Heavenly!

7:15 - Milord leaves for work. I lie abed for a little while then get up and make a cup of tea and tidy the kitchen.

7:45 - Princess wakes. I get her up and bring her into my lap on the couch for a bottle in front of the morning news on telly. She drinks half of it, then plays on the floor for a bit while I check email and put on a load of laundry.

8:30 - Princess finishes her bottle then cuddles for a while - she is getting sleepy.

9am - Princess goes back to bed for a nap. Laundry into tumble dryer. I realise our muck-diverting-downpipe-thing that keeps dirt out of the rain tanks is blocked and get drenched from the knees down while clearing it. Then I have a cup of coffee and 2 slices of toast while downloading photos from my camera and writing a blog post.

10am - Some more materials for the shed foundations arrive. I stand in the rain talking to the delivery man who wants to debate the merits of store-bought vs home-grown tomatoes. Then my elderly Greek neighbour pops out of his front door and discusses Milord's plans for a spit-roast bbq on his birthday in a couple of weeks time... at least I can stand on my porch out of the rain at for this chat!

10:30 - Princess wakes up. I bring her into the lounge room and she plays on her mat with dangly jingly things. Finish blog post.


I take the duck from the fridge, remove the packaging, wash it and pat it dry with paper towels. I place it on a rack in a roasting tin and put it back in the fridge, uncovered, to dry the skin further so that it will go crispy when cooked. I should probably have done this last night. Oh well.


11am - fiddle on the computer. Princess complains that she can't see me so I drag her mat over to where I am blogging...

Todo in the next hour or so: Fold laundry, wash dishes, dye hair roots, shower, dress, feed Princess, vacuum and mop floors.

****

12:30pm - Hair done, showered and dressed. I pulled Princess' mat in front of MTV on the telly while I was in the bathroom. Bad mummy. Then I made her a bottle and she fell asleep on me drinking it. When I got her up on my shoulder for a burp she fell asleep there too... not like her at all. I hope she isn't ill. I put her to bed and she went to sleep immediately.

Google a few duck recipes. Eat 2 apples and drink a glass of water. Preheat oven to 150C (300F). Back in a bit...

****

It is now 1:30pm - Can't find any recipes I like, so I shall make something up. Send a couple of emails.
Assemble ingredients, realise kitchen bin is niffy, empty it. Still raining so I leave the bags of rubbish on the front porch - I'll take them out to the bin later. Princess grumbles as I go by so I comfort her back to sleep. Wash dishes. Wash kitchen bin. Line with a plastic bag... now where was I? Oh yes.

Roughly chop ginger and garlic and the bulb end of some spring onions. Quarter a lime. Stuff everything into the duck cavity and tie the legs together to keep it all in. Pierce the duck skin all over with a sharp skewer thing, without piercing the meat.

Cooking without a glass of wine feels very wrong, however not only am I determined not to drink during the workday, but Milord and I also have a new pact to not booze Monday thru Thursday. For health and economic reasons... *sigh*


Princess is calling - pop duck into oven, set timer for 1 hour, go and get her. She's smiling and wriggly and happy to see me. Put her on her playmat and turn off MTV, turn on radio instead. Good mummy.

Still todo in the next hour or so: Fold laundry, prepare some solid food for Princess, vacuum and mop floors.

****


2:30pm - (1 hour) flip duck over, set timer for 1 hour.

Peel one small potato (quartered) and one carrot (julienned) and a chunk of pumpkin. Pop into steamer with a couple of brocolli florets.

Fold one load of laundry, but when I go to fetch the next lot from the dryer I find I must have got sidetracked earlier and it is still in the washing machine. Crap. Bung it in the dryer.


When soft mash potato and brocolli together with a little butter. Mash pumpkin. Open a can of peach slices and cut a slice of banana. Hoik Princess into highchair - bolstered with towels because it is too big. She loves the brocolli mash, is not sure about the pumpkin, and only eats the carrot because she wants to please mummy. The fruit gets "thbbbt" so I clean her up and we go for a walk through the house to settle the food.

Stand on the back porch looking at rain falling on the devastation in the backyard. After a good burp go to put Princess down - she grumbles. Change her nappy, but she still grumbles. Zip her into her sleeping bag and put her to bed - she goes straight to sleep. Huh, she's really tired today, I hope she's not ill.

Stream XFM London off the internet - I really miss UK radio. It is first thing in the morning there and really cold... I don't miss that!

3:30pm - (2 hours) flip duck over and prick skin some more, set timer for 1 hour. It is starting to smell awesome! I could murder a glass of wine. *sigh* Have a glass of water and make a chai tea.

4pm - I am going to sit down with my book and my cup of tea and relax for a bit.

Still todo in the next hour or so: Fold laundry and vacuum and mop floors. Maybe I'll just sweep the floors quickly instead... this blogging thing takes a surprising amount of time!

****


4:30pm - Flip duck. Drain fat from roasting pan and set aside. It looks as good as it smells!


Princess wakes. I give her a small bottle of milk, then settle her in her rocker where she can see me in the kitchen.

5pm - prepare side dishes. Peel potatoes and carrots. Slice carrots and zuccini and get ready for steaming. Peel and eat a carrot...

Cut potatoes into roastie size and pop into a pan of cold water and bring to the boil. Boil for 5 min then remove from the heat and drain. Heat a decent glug of duck fat with a crushed garlic clove and a sprig of rosemary in the same saucepan - when it's just starting to sizzle add the potatoes and take off the heat. Put the lid on and shake frantically until the potatoes are well coated, then tip them into a roasting pan.

Mix honey, balsamic and soy ready for basting.


5:30pm - flip duck. Drain fat from the roasting pan again, then pour over the honey mix. Return to oven and set timer for 15 min.

5:45pm - baste the duck. Set timer for 15 min. Try to figure out why my blogpost has gone spazzy... Prepare Princess' bath.

6pm - turn everything off. This could be a very bad idea, but for the next hour I'll have my hands full and I can't be in the kitchen... Bath Princess and give her her bedtime bottle (Milord would usually help with this but he's carting a heap of gravel from the front of the house to the back. In the rain).

7pm - put Princess to bed - luckily she falls asleep easily tonight. Take duck out of oven, pop in the potatoes and turn oven to 180C. Hopefully this works! Milord is starving and snacks on crisps...

Aha! Running the spellcheck kills my embedded photos - don't touch that button again!

7:20pm - put duck back in oven. Baste again.
7:25pm - Set steamer going under carrots.
7:30pm - Add zuccini to steamer...
7:35pm - turn everything off!

Phwoar...


Succulent and falling off the bones...

Dish up half a duck each and drizzle with pan juices. Serve with roast potatoes and steamed veggies.


This was delicious (although it would have been even better with a crisp dry white wine. *sigh*)! The only possible criticism I have is that the duck skin and the potatoes were not crispy, but that's probably because I had to pause everything for an hour right at the end.

I could only eat half my duck portion in spite of eating very little all day in expectation of a blowout dinner. Having simple steamed vegetables balanced the richness of the duck and potatoes.

8:15pm - clean up. Stack dishwasher and wash up what doesn't go in it.

8:30pm - Now I just have to tidy up the baby bath stuff in the bathroom and I can relax. I never did fold that last load of laundry or clean the floors... maybe tomorrow.

I'd love a glass of wine right now. *sigh*
I'll put the kettle on for a herbal tea...

It is still raining and Princess is fine by the way - sometimes rainy days just make her sleepy. She was full of smiles and happiness watching me in the kitchen and in her bath.

9pm - I'll go and join Milord in front of the telly. Nighty night.

What (was) for dinner Wednesday

Things are a bit busy at work, so I'm not posting very often... looks like this is turning into a recipe blog! Oh well. (Day 3 off the grog and feeling slightly toxic. Milord has lost 4kg [wtf?] since the weekend and I've lost 400g.)

The other day I was browsing through the supermarket looking for inspiration and I saw these adorable baby red capsicums. I just had to buy them.


Then I had no idea what to do with them... I didn't want to chop them up because then I might as well have bought big ones - that would be silly. Ok, so no chopping... maybe stuffed? I googled for recipes and nothing took my fancy, so I threw together stuff I had in the kitchen instead... it was a hit and I've made it twice now to Milord's delight!

Tuna and Smoked Mussel Stuffed Baby Capsicum with wild rice and sugar snap peas

6 baby capsicums (or 2 big ones)
1 200g tin basil and sundried tomato tuna in oil
(If you don't have the fancy tinned tuna just add some sundried tomatoes and basil to a large tin of tuna)
1 100g tin smoked mussels in oil
4 spring onions, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
Wild rice (or normal if you prefer)
Sugar snap peas (or any other green veg)


If you are cooking wild rice it takes ages so set it going. Preheat your oven to roasting temp (180C).

Mix together the tuna, mussels, onion and garlic. Do not drain the tins first, the fishy oil totally makes this meal!

Very carefully cut the tops out of the capsicums and remove the seeds. Stuff tightly with tuna mix then press the tops back on.


Place the capsicums in a lightly oiled roasting tray and bake in the oven for 30 min or until they go slightly squishy. Steam your green veg with 5 min to go.

Serve the capsicums on a bed of rice and veggies. When you cut into the capsicums the juices will ooze out into your rice... mmmmmm.


If you don't eat shellfish you could skip the mussels, but Milord reckons they are the secret ingredient here. Funnily enough I only threw them in because the tin had been in the cupboard for ages and needed eating!

What (was) for dinner Wednesday

The suburb of Sydney we have moved to, Marrickville, has a rich immigrant history. Hmmmm I suppose you could say that about all of Australia as the colonised history is only 200 years! Anyway, Marrickville used to be mainly Greek, and now there is a big influx of Vietnamese with a side helping of Italian, Indian, Filipino and Chinese. This makes for fascinating grocery shopping!

I was wondering why there were 7 butchers and 4 fishmongers on my high street, but it could be that each one caters to a different cultural clientelle. Every so often Milord and I pop into one of the grocery stores and spend half an hour saying "WTF is that? You eat that? How? What animal/vegetable/fish did it used to be?" and we come out with one or two wierd things to try. Sugar coated tamarind chilli balls. Indian crazy-hot snack mix. Wasabi coated peas. Tom yum soup cubes.

Interesting, to say the least!

I decided to fire up the slow cooker last weekend as we'd seen some awesome osso bucco cuts in several of the butchers (Italian influence?). These are big beef shank steaks cut across the bone so you have a circle of marrow which adds a silky richness to the dish. They're about an inch thick, and I cooked them slowly with onion, tomato and wine until they were falling apart. I also set the bread machine to baking a loaf, so all through the afternoon the house was filled with amazing baking and cooking smells while I unpacked and tidied!

This is my recipe, loosely based on official versions. The main difference is probably the red wine instead of white. I used a slow cooker but you could easily do this in a casserole dish in a medium oven.

Osso Bucco

4 cuts of osso bucco (2 per person)
250ml beef stock
2 cups red wine (you can use white for a more classic taste)
1 tin diced tomatoes
1 small tin tomato paste
2 onions, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
plain flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
olive oil

Put the stock into your slow cooker and start it heating (my slow cooker can take ages to heat up so I set it going before anything else).

Dredge the osso bucco pieces in the seasoned flour, then brown them in a pan with olive oil. Layer them into the bottom of your slow cooker, in the warmed stock.


That's oregano floating on my stock... I also added some sweet soy to counter the tomato sourness but that's just the mood I was in so I'm not putting that in the ingredients!

In the same pan you browned the meat, fry up the onions, garlic, celery and carrot until soft. Add to the slow cooker on top of the meat cuts.


In the same pan again heat up the wine and tomatoes and paste until boiling, then pour into the slow cooker until everything is covered. Add more stock/wine if you need to. Do not stir.

Put the lid on and cook for at least 3 hours, preferably 4. Don't stir - if you stir the meat will fall apart and that's not the look we're going for!

When you are ready, gently lift the pieces of meat into deep plates - 2 pieces per person. Scoop over some of the tomato/onion/wine goodness. Serve with fresh bread for sopping (or rice or mash).

I forgot to take a photo of the finished product so here's a shot from here.


Lovely with a glass or two of shiraz on a cold night!

We had loads of the sauce left over and I used it as the base for a sweet potato soup the next night. Also very yummy!

What (was) for dinner Wednesday

We are not exactly gourmet in our camping kitchen yet, so here's an old meal... This is something I made up a few weeks back and it turned out awesome! Milord was blown away. He generally likes my cooking anyway but this one got rave reviews. So, with no further ado:

Chicken Pancetta Butternut Salad
Serves 2

2 skinless boneless chicken thighs
4 slices of pancetta
4 salted anchovy fillets
2 cups butternut pumpkin, peeled and diced
garlic
rosemary
olive oil
salad
wooden skewers or toothpicks

Preheat oven to 180C (roasting temp).

Trim any fat from the chicken thighs and lie them with the de-boned part facing upwards. Place 2 anchovy fillets in the middle of each chicken piece, crush half a garlic clove on top of them and add the rosemary. Roll each chicken piece around the filling, wrap in 2 pieces of pancetta and skewer to hold everything in place.


Drizzle/spray olive oil in a baking tray and create a layer of butternut pumpkin. Carfully balance your chicken pieces on top of the butternut so that it will catch the juices while cooking. Cover with foil and bake for half an hour. Remove the foil and bake for another half hour, or until the chicken is no longer pink in the middle and the pancetta is crisp.

Remove skewers and chop the chicken parcels into bite size pieces and add to a salad (I made one with rocket, mixed leaves, cherry tomatoes and sugar snap peas) along with the butternut pieces. If any juices are left in the baking tray drizzle them over the top. Serve immediately.


You could probably skip the anchovy if you don't like it, but we love the salty hit. I was a little disappointed in the pancetta this time around as it was too thick and was more bacon-like than I wanted, but Milord loved it regardless!

It would have been a light healthy meal if we hadn't indulged in our latest addiction while the chicken was cooking:


Rosemary and salt breadsticks. Nom nom nom nom nom nom...

What (was) for dinner Wednesday

We are still emptying the freezer, so this time we were getting rid of the frozen scallops. Note to self: never buy frozen scallops again, they're not great.



I lifted this Scallop, Bacon and Potato Salad recipe from Amuse Bouche. Go over there and see if you don't get hungry!

I added some steamed asparagus, so it became a

Scallop, Bacon, Asparagus and Potato Salad


Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

What (was) for dinner Wednesday

Milord has been cooking for me a bit lately, even without me asking... I don't know what I did right but I'm not complaining! We came across some lamb steaks in the freezer that needed eating and Milord was craving stew, so he made me:
Lamb Stew


Milord likes getting all the ingredients ready in little bowls before he begins, like on TV cooking programs. I don't know any women who do this but all men do! I don't mind with Milord because he's quite good about washing up, but it can drive you crazy to have every pot and bowl in the house dirtied for one dish!

250g lamb steak, diced
Pre-packaged soup veg from the corner shop:
(1 parsnip
2 stalks celery
2 carrots
1 turnip
2 potatoes
1 onion)
garlic
rosemary
1 beef stock cube
olive oil

Preheat your oven to 150C (I roast at 180C, so a bit cooler than roasting heat).

Chop everything into big chunks. On the stove in a deep casserole dish fry the onions and garlic in olive oil until soft. Add the lamb and brown it. Add everything else, cover generously with hot water and bring to the boil.

Pop the casserole dish uncovered into the oven and simmer for about an hour while the liquid reduces. (This was my idea - I like simmering in the oven because the stew is less likely to burn at the bottom, and the liquid evaporates quickly.) Once the stew has thickened cover the pot and leave to cook for another hour until you are ready to eat. Don't let it dry out - add more water if necessary!

Serve in deep soup bowls. Yum!

What (was) for dinner Wednesday

Seafood again! We hope to move out in a couple of weeks time, so I'm clearing the freezer and we have a few bags of prawns, scallops and marinara mix to finish off. Here go the prawns... (Sorry Kat, these recipes aren't much use to you are they?)

Milord requested a seafood pasta on vermicelli (really fine spagetti) in a creamy sauce. This is not a very calorie-friendly recipe, but it sure is yummy!

Milady Saffa's Seafood Pasta

500g peeled prawns, fresh or frozen (don't defrost if using frozen)
1 coarsely chopped large red onion
4 cloves crushed garlic
2 tsp crushed ginger
2 tsp crushed lemon grass
2 tbs olive oil
2 handfuls coarsley chopped suger snap peas (or mange tout/snow peas, or even frozen peas)
1 tbs Thai red curry paste
Vermicelli or angel hair pasta (however much you feel like)
375ml fish stock
2 tbs plain flour
2 tbs butter

In a wok or large frying pan, mix up the olive oil, prawns, garlic, ginger, lemon grass, curry paste and onion. Cook on high heat until the prawns turn pink. Remove from heat and set aside.


Make a white sauce: In a sauce pan melt the butter. Whisk in the flour, forming a blob, and allow to cook for a few seconds. Remove from heat and add a splash of stock. This will create a paste. Keep whisking until all lumps are gone, then return to the heat until it bubbles and thickens. Do not stop whisking. Remove from heat and add more stock... repeat until all the stock is used up. You should have a smooth creamy sauce.

Cook the pasta in boiling water with a splash of olive oil until al dente. Drain.

Mix together the seafood, sauce and peas. Heat until bubbling and serve immediately in warm pasta bowls.

Fab with a crisp dry sauvignon blanc!


I think I'm getting the hang of photographing my food. Extreme close-up works well, although the lens kept steaming up!

What (was) for dinner Wednesday

I have had Milord on cooking duty a lot recently. I'm working long hours at the moment so organising the evening meal is a pain in the butt. He doesn't mind cooking and in fact is really good at it - I'd say the only thing he doesn't do is plan ahead. I think it's a guy/girl thing: when I am picking up the Sunday lunch groceries on the weekend I'll also have about 4 other meal plans in my head for the week ahead and I'll get the staples for them too. Milord will only decide on a meal once he's home from work and then he'll have to get everything at that point. Anyway.

The other day Milord made his first ever paella! We took the recipe from the internet and I can't find it now, but this is close. In fact now that I look at it it's probably better than the one we used! The changes we made were to use a seafood mix we already had in the freezer, so there were no shells to fiddle with. And we forgot to get peas - no great loss! We only used one cup of rice and 3 cups of stock and there was enough left over for Milord's lunch the next day.

It was far easier to make than I expected, and really delicious (Kat, you could substitute chicken for fish if you wanted to). Here's a picure:


It's surprisingly hard to photograph food so that it looks yummy. That chilli was on Milord's portion. "They're not hot!" he said before chomping one... turns out they were, rather!

What (was) for dinner Wednesday

I'm taking inspiration from Suzanne who's having a go at blogging 365 days in a row... no, no, I'm not ready for that (yet) but I noticed that she's staying sane by having recurring themes in her posts, like "What's for dinner Wednesdays" and "Soundtrack Sundays".

I haven't bought a CD in ages (The Eels I think, and that was a gift anyway) so I shan't be boring you with my musical taste or lack thereof. I do cook a lot though, and blogging about it may get me to try more adventurous recipes! Oh by the way, I was following links and found this asparagus with soft boiled eggs recipe which sounds divine and the photo is totally food p0rn! I'll be trying it out real soon. Cool blog too - a mum is trying to get her son to like vegetables by going through them A-Z (she's just blogged Zuccini so they're at the end!). I adore veggies... mmmm.

A couple of years ago Milord and I decided to cut back on starchy carbs in our evening meals and to drop cheese or fried foods in general, so you're not going to be seeing pizza here much! We lean towards salads and stirfries, chicken, steak and fish, and the odd roast or slow-cooked stew in cold weather. Instead of potatoes or rice we double up on the veg.

Wednesday's are not a very creative day for me dinnerwise in general, so I'll be picking something from the past week!

My newest winter warmer is Bacon Hock and Bean soup. I made it on Sunday afternoon while Milord and I nursed our monster hangovers in front of the TV. It is just super yummy, and because I skimmed the fat off and didn't add any starches it's not too calorific. It was a bit of an experiment based on something I saw on a cooking program, and inspired by my Dad's bean and bacon soup (Hi Dad!). I've always walked past the butcher's counter and looked at the bacon hocks and wondered what they'd be like, so last week I bought one to give it a try. The whole recipe probably cost me AUD15 and it lasted for three day's dinner. Awesome (plus hardly any dishes to wash for a couple of days).

Bacon Hock and Bean Soup (serves 4 maybe 6)
1 Bacon hock
4 onions
1 bulb or garlic
4 carrots
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 can red kidney beans
1 can lentils
1 can butter beans
olive oil
pepper and herbs (don't add salt, the hock and canned beans are already salty)

Roughly chop the onions, carrots and garlic and fry them in olive oil in a casserole dish until soft. Add the bacon hock and pour in enough water to cover it. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for a few hours (at least 2). Remove from heat and pull the bacon hock out to cool. When the hock is cool enough to handle shred the meat from the bone, discarding any fat or skin. Skim any fat from the surface of the cooking liquid, then return the meat to the dish. Add the tins of tomatoes and beans, season to taste, and heat until bubbling. Serve when ready, but the longer you let it rest the better.


Image stolen from here because I didn't take one... close enough.

Lazy Sunday

I've had an awesome weekend so far.

Milord has been away since Friday night on a boy's golf weekend. These happen every 3 months with the same bunch of 10 to 15 blokes. They party real hard, have a couple of games of golf, and he comes home exhausted, smelly, and craving salad and girl company... I used to mind him going but now I totally relish the time on my own. Generally I'd catch up with some girlfriends but they're all out of town too, so it was all about me!

On Friday night after work I had a meal of fresh white french bread and pate with a side of salami, washed down with a crisp sauvignon blanc. I then took my book into a long hot bubble bath with the rest of the bottle, and emerged like a wrinkled lobster much later. This was followed by channel surfing the cable TV with a few glasses of Baileys until about 11pm, when I went to bed alone and stretched out across the entire bed.

I woke up at 11am. Yes, 12 uninterrupted hours of glorious sleep later! After reading the (delivered) Saturday newspapers in bed with coffee and pate on toast, I eventually dragged myself out to run a few errands in the cold wet blustery day. When I got home as the sun was setting at 4:30 pm (God I hate winter) I poured myself a glass of wine and swiftly cleaned the house (gotta love little houses, the whole place takes about an hour including bathroom) and changed the bed linen. Then I headed into the bathroom for a good pampering - I applied a deep cleansing facemask and did my roots and anything else that required shaving, plucking or exfoliating. After I emerged glowing and beautiful I curled up in the armchair with my book, a glass of wine and a bowl of salty rosemary breadsticks. At about 6pm Mom let me know she was awake in England (9am there) and I phoned her for a 2 hour chat! (It's not that bad, I buy phonecards with brilliant overseas rates so that call was less then $5) Then I made myself a meal of stilton, sharp cheddar and toasted french bread, accompanied of course by more white wine, and watched rubbish on TV. I wasn't tired after sleeping so much and I ended up channel surfing until 2am while returning emails... I only realised how tipsy I was at that point - I totally can't work the keyboard after a few (!) wines!

This morning I awoke a bit parched at 8am, and just lay there for a while enjoying having the bed to myself and smelling the freshly laundered sheets. Milord doesn't smell bad ever, but still, the bed just doesn't have that same freshness after a boy's been in it... or is that just me? I gathered up the Sunday paper from the doorstep and went back to bed with coffee and pate on toast for a few hours. At midday I wandered into the kitchen and prepared a slow-cooking lamb shank dish which is now in the oven on low heat. It is now just after 1pm. I am back in my armchair with a glass of wine, the laptop warming my legs as the cold wind outside thrashes the trees about.

It is perfect weather for a run. Yeah, right.

It is Father's Day in South Africa (Hi Dad! I love you) and I'll be phoning Dad when that country wakes up... about 4pm my time. That's got to be the hardest thing about emigrating here - the time difference to my loved ones. Whenever I really feel like a chat it's 1am where they are. And I'm sure they're fed up with me always being tipsy when they've just got out of bed! (Stay sober? Me? Shaddup! No you shaddup!)

Plans for the rest of the day:
1. Take shower and blow-dry hair for the first time in ages to look pretty for when Milord Husband gets home. He won't notice but that's ok.
2. Chuck the last load of laundry in the tumble dryer. Whoever invented that thing should be sainted! Also Saint Dishwasher and Saint Washing-Machine.
3. Curl up in armchair with book and wine and bowl of plain salted chips, smelling lamb shanks and fresh warm laundry throughout the house. Ahhh I'm such a domestic goddess.
4. Stay sober enough to ring Dad. hmmm whaddya reckon?

So how was your weekend? Did you get a chance to unleash your inner decadent girly domestic goddess? Apologies to the boys... what would your ideal weekend be then?

Oh yeah, Milady Saffa's Lamb Shanks, feeds 2 gluttons:

- 2 or so Lamb Shanks (the pack in the supermarket had 3 so I'm doing 3. whatever)
- 5 stalks celery (approximately. who counts celery stalks?)
- 3 carrots (I only had 3 left)
- 1 bulb of garlic (use less or none if you're not into garlic. I adore it)
- 2 onions
- beef/lamb stock (actually I only had vegetable stock cubes in the pantry, it doesn't really matter but don't use fish mmkay?)
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes (ok so I forgot to buy these, but I found a neglected litre of tomato juice at the back of the frige and used it instead)
- Olive oil (go wild, it's not like this is a diet dish anyway, right?)
- Seasonal vegetables (zuccini and pumpkin in the fridge left over from the week)
- 2 Potatoes (peeled or not, whatever you feel like, the peel is good for you and I hate peeling things)

- In a deep ovenproof cooking pot on high heat brown the lamb shanks in olive oil. I don't know why you have to do this but all the good chefs do so I do too. Remove lamb shanks to a plate but hang onto the used oil.

- Chop up celery, carrot, onion and garlic and fry them up in the reserved olive oil in the cooking pot, until glassy. What kind of adjective is "glassy" for food? Why can't I think of anything better?

- Add your stock to the pot along with the tomatoes. How much depends on the size of the pot - you need the liquid to totally cover the lamb. (I used 2 stock cubes. I won't be adding any more salt now because the cubes are damn salty) Bring to the boil.

- Add any other seasoning you fancy. Today I finished off the tubes of fresh minced oregano and basil that we had in the fridge into the pot, plus a fair amount of freshly ground black pepper. Rosemary would be nice but I've run out of fresh and don't feel like dried. Call me a snob.

- Add the lamb shanks, ensuring they are fully covered.

- Put the lid on the cooking pot and put it into the oven at 150C for at least 3 hours. If your pot can't go into the oven then simmer on the stove on very low instead, but keep an eye on it so that it doesn't stick and burn.

- About an hour before serving add chunks of potato and chopped vegetables to the pot. Don't do this sooner because they'll turn to mush... tasty mush yes, but that's not what I want today!

- Remove the lid for the last hour to allow the liquid to thicken into a kind of gravy. Yum.

- Serve in deep plates. Like those lovely pasta plates you get that are deep enough for sauce but you can still use a knife and fork. You know what I mean.

Edit: The lamb shanks were divine! I cooked them at 150C for 3 hours, then turned the oven down to 100C until Milord got home at 6pm. Then I threw in the vegetables (I skipped the potato because there was so much) and turned the oven to high for half an hour, and then turned it off and let the pot rest for half an hour. Total cooking time: 7 hours! The meat shredded off the bones and the gravy was thick and savoury. We couldn't finish it all!

Summer Salad

Milord and I are being good in the final run up to Christmas, so I made us a cracked wheat salad with feta, mint and apricots to take to work.

It's from my WeightWatchers cookbook, and I see the recipe is on their site too.



175 g dried bulgar wheat
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 medium orange(s), use the zest and juice
2 heaped teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon olive oil, or walnut oil
1 tablespoon fresh mint, chopped
2 heaped tablespoon raisins, or sultanas
75 g moist packed ready to eat Apricots, chopped
2 stick celery, thinly sliced
75 g grapes, seedless and halved
100 g feta cheese, cut into small cubes
4 sprig fresh mint, to garnish

Put the bulgar wheat into a large bowl and add a generous pinch of salt. Pour over enough boiling water to cover, then leave to soak for about 20-30 minutes, until swollen and tender.

Mix together the orange zest and juice, honey, walnut oil or olive oil and chopped mint. Drain any excess water from the soaked bulgar wheat then add the orange juice dressing, stirring well. Add the raisins or sultanas, apricots, celery, grapes and cheese, tossing well to mix. Divide between four serving plates or bowls, garnish with mint sprigs then serve.

They say 6.5 points, but I used reduced fat feta and substituted apple for the grapes and raisins so I'm guessing 5 points. I gave us both a double portion, so let's say 10 points for lunch. I also threw in some rocket, sugar snap peas and cherry tomatoes I had in the fridge. Ever so yummy and very very easy to make. Filling too!

I have nothing to do at work at the moment, and with only 3 days to go before I take two weeks off over the festive break no one is giving me anything new... Man, it's boring. I've been sneaking out to do a lot of present shopping, but that's done now. I need to stock up on food, but I don't have the car today. So I'm reading a lot of blogs lately. I found this over on A Dumbbell in a Home Gym:

"I've been lifting weights much more regularly, and I think my body is in one of those periodic rearrangement phases where things start shuffling around like tectonic plates. I feel smaller again."

I know exactly what she means! I know I said I wouldn't post about my weight again this year, and to be honest there is nothing much to write home about this week, but I do feel good lately after all the gym work I've been doing. On the weekend I went through my wardrobe trying on clothes I haven't been near since my weight crept into the 70s, and things are looking better than they have in a very long time. My waist is definitely smaller, and so are my boobs (I like them small, so this is a good thing!).

Yay me ;-).

Diet Post 9

Friday at last. This has been a loooong week.

Weight-wise I've been all over the place. I had a look at my weight history and milord and I weigh exactly what we did 4 weeks ago... with some wild yoyo-ing in between! My weight on Wednesday was 70.9kg, down a pound from the week before, so that's something I suppose. 71 is proving a very hard number to get away from! It's also a bit of a milestone for me as it's a third of the way to goal... so when I passed it a month ago I was so chuffed. I'm not so chuffed to still be there!

The silly season has started, with Christmas parties and absolutely everyone throwing dinners and drinks and barbeques. It's rained more days than not over the last fortnight so I'm not walking home after work. And I've lost the will to get to the gym regularly... only went once this week. Bleah.

I'm feeling run down too. It's probably a combination of too much food and alcohol and not enough exercise. I'm also suffering a bit with hayfever which tends to wake me up sneezing at 2am and then I can't get back to sleep for ages because my nose is running. I've started taking an antihistamine at bedtime, but then I wake up groggy and retaining water and the scale is mean to me!

It was mean to me today but I'm ignoring the reading because I felt like I was retaining water. You know that puffy, headachey, swollen feeling? Gotta be that... especially as I was good with my food and didn't drink any booze yesterday. I hope it's gone by tomorrow! I'm not updating my ticker until I'm sure I'm below 71kg.

On the up-side, my trousers and shorts are definitely looser these days. I was wearing shorts last night that a year ago would pop open if I bent over. I touched my toes as a test and they were fine ;-).

I have another low-fat no-carb (possibly vegetarian) recipe for you, and it's awesome! By the way, Weight Watchers reckons pumpkin is zero-points, which is great! I've lived on the stuff before and lost weight, so I believe it!

Roast butternut pumpkin and vegetable soup

Half a butternut pumpkin, seeds removed, unpeeled
1 bulb of garlic, separated into cloves (don't peel them)
2 red capsicum, halved with seeds removed
2 large carrots, peeled and halved lengthways
2 zuccini, halved lengthways
2 onions, peeled and halved
olive oil spray
500ml stock
spices: salt, pepper, Chinese 5-spice, ground coriander, cumin, lemon pepper
herbs: fresh oregano and rosemary

In a baking tray place all the vegetables with their cut sides down. Scatter the garlic cloves between them. Spray with olive oil spray. Season... I especially like Chinese 5-spice on my butternut. Sprinkle the herbs on top.

Bake for about an hour in a hot oven (I whack ours on max, but it's not a good oven, so maybe 180-200C) until the skin of the pumpkin blisters and you can slide a butter knife through the thickest part of it.

Allow to cool for a bit and then peel the garlic - it should almost ooze out of it's skin when you handle it... Plonk everything into a large saucepan. Add just enough stock to cover everything, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Blend to a smooth consistency and serve.

I don't serve bread with my soups because they are so hearty they don't need it. Without bread this soup is zero-points on Weight Watchers. If you ate it until you were full all day long you would lose weight! And it's filling and slightly sweet and nutty and yummy. Roasting the garlic in its skin stops it being overpowering so you can use loads - it actually goes kind of sweet.

When I made this I actually had the veggies in the tray that I was roasting a chicken in, so they picked up the juices and flavours of the roasted chicken. I also added all the roast chicken juices to the soup. If you do this then bear in mind that it will not be a zero-point meal anymore because there will be some chicken fat in there. But it's gorgeous!

Update: My Dad tried this recipe (Hi Dad!) and said the smaller veggies turned to charcoal, so maybe cook the butternut for half an hour on it's own then add the other veg! My oven is rubbish - I hate gas ovens - when we move I'm getting an electric oven with a gas hob.

Diet Post 8

Darn it, I've gone up a bit. 71.2kg today.

Not really a surprise, as last week we fell of the wagons thoroughly - both food and wine wagons that is. That means I am back where I was a week or two ago. However I really did enjoy the champagne, roast chicken, wine, bread, barbeques, beer and nibbles over the past while...

We are back on track though (how often do I say that!?) and are eating mainly fruit and salads this week. I made a lovely super-easy bean salad last night to bring to work, and it turned out great. I'm looking forward to having that for the rest of the week.

Recipe (makes 6 lunch servings):
1 tin chickpeas
1 tin 4-bean mix
1 tin lentils
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 handful cracked wheat
250 ml stock (I used chicken)

Heat the stock up in a saucepan until it is simmering. Add all the ingredients, stir and remove from heat. When cool, scoop from the saucepan with a slotted spoon, and add to a green salad... Yum. You could add other herbs and spices of course - I reckon a bit of fresh mint and corander leaves would be good. You probably won't need any salt because the stock and the beans are already salty.

Milord has a bit of a social week planned, but at the moment I don't. Hopefully I will stick to the salad plan and can be suitably smug when I lose weight by the end of the week! I advised him to eat only half of the portion served in the restaurants, and he looked at me like I'd grown extra eyebrows. We do love our food!

Juice Fast Finished

Well, my fast is over after 4 full days, and Temptress Friend has just had lunch with me and watched me eat solids so she's happy ;-). To be honest, I could have gone for longer, but today is Friday so it's nice to be planning a meal tonight with probably a glass or two of wine!

Before I talk about that though, my tomato cocktail last night was deeeevine! Milord was very taken with it and we think we might serve it as a starter at our next dinner party. It will certainly be on our menu regularly in future ;-).

Recipe (makes 1.5 litres / 3 pints):
1kg tomatoes - the tastiest you can find.
2 red bell peppers (capsicum)
1 onion
4 garlic cloves
2 granny smith apples
1 handful fresh mint
2 tsp chilli sauce (tobasco)
4 tbsp mushroom soy sauce

Juice all the fruit, veg, garlic and mint, and mix with the chilli sauce and soy to taste. Serve chilled over crushed ice in a large wine glass. Mmmm. (By the way, the onion leaves quite an aftertaste so if you're not that into raw onion then skip it) Freeze all the juicer pulp to go into your next soup or stew.

I broke my fast this morning with 3 apples (which I had been craving) spaced an hour apart, and had drunk a litre of water and a glass of orange juice by midday. That all went down fine, bar a little gurgling. I had read that I should expect an instant bowel movement, but nope.

For lunch a few of us from work went to the local vegetarian restaurant "Badde Manors" as I couldn't face meat yet. It's about a block away from the office and really excellent - huge portions, interesting dishes, a funky cafe atmosphere and friendly service. Great coffee too, although I'm not back on that yet either. Oh yes, and an amazing cake selection, but I can never find any space after the meal portions!

I had courgette, carrot and walnut pikelettes, which come as 3 crispy fritters on top of each other, layered with shaved pear, blue cheese and baby spinach leaves. Yum! Wow! What a taste sensation! I have noticed that my senses of smell and taste have sharpened over the past few days, and they were pretty good before this anyway (which is actually a curse if anyone near you has bad breath, believe me). This lunch totally blew me away. I only managed a third of the portion, and took the rest away to have tonight. It is now an hour or so later, and I'm still feeling very full. I've just had a peppermint tea which might help.

Tonight I'm planning a Thai prawn salad, with leftover fritters... should be interesting! I think I might chop the fritters into chunks and grill them til crisp, then toss with stir fried prawns and a light cabbage and carrot julienne salad. Accompanied with a dry white wine I reckon. I've missed meal planning!

So, thoughts about the fast:

It was easier than I thought it would be, and I could have gone for longer. That maple syrup lemonade stuff lasted a day and a half and then I was sick of it - I prefer interesting juice combos. Getting up several times a night to pee was a downside.

I expected to get more "toxic". I had a mild headache for one day, and a furry tongue for two days, then nothing really. I had a few energy lows, but was never dizzy or nauseous. My poo didn't get interesting, or stop altogether. No acne, no funny aches or pains... I did get cranky, but that was mainly with people dissing my detox. If I do it again I won't tell anyone.

I lost just over a kilo (now 71.7kg), and I have lost 3cm off my hips. I was expecting more weight loss so that's disappointing, especially as I don't feel energised or spiritual or whatnot.

Cutting out alcohol was a breeze. Usually I crave wine in the evening for the first couple of days on the wagon, particularly when preparing a meal. I have a feeling it was precisely that reason: not preparing meals broke the habit. You don't want booze when you're feeling that empty anyway, you know it's going to go straight to your head and make you feel sick!

I saved a fortune in wine and meat and socialising!

Conclusion:

I don't think I'm all that toxic to begin with. My diet leans towards fruit and veg and lean meats, there is almost no fat in my diet and I can't remember the last time I had chocolate. While the detox is a great way to kick start a diet, it didn't do that much for me - although I've discovered some lovely juice combinations!

I may do it for a single day after a heavy weekend in future, but I don't really see the point in much longer.