For Jan:
This is a lovely filling for jacket potatoes (or tortilla wraps if you're not on a gluten free diet!)
This is enough for two ppl, to fill a couple of jacket spuds, or 4 tortilla wraps
Bit of olive oil
One finely chopped onion
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 red pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips
1 yellow pepper, ditto
1 tsp smoked paprika (a marvellous ingredient, worth finding in a deli)
150g of sunblush tomatoes chopped a bit
4 fresh toms - chopped quite small
50 g grated cheddar
(if you're a meat eater a few cubes of chorizo sausage would harmonise well with this)
Fry the onion and garlic for a few minutes to soften
Add the peppers and paprika powder - soften the peppers
Add tomatoes, both types, and fry to warm through. You're not really aiming to "cook" the fresh tomatoes too much.
Add the cheese at the last minute and stir through to melt, then serve with the baked spud
Yum
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Sunday, 28 September 2008
another carrot soup recipe
How come a non-fan of carrots keeps on posting carrot soup recipes? Well B went to the organic farm shop and bought stuff, while I was simultaneously buying carrots at Sainsbo's -- so we are over-run with carrots
My latest idea on the carrot front is to add a few spices to the mix .. to counteract their relentless SWEETNESS!
I'm recommending:
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon cumon seeds
squash these three in a pestle and mortar
add a chopped garlic
thyme and oregano (fresh if you've got it) - a good dollop of each, say a tsp of dry and a few stalks of each, if using fresh
boil this lot with a litre or so or water, 1/2 kilo of carrots and one leek or onion and a celery stalk till all VERY tender
then cool a bit b4 whizzing with a blender.
The juice of 1/2 a lemon added at the end would also make it a bit more piquant ..
yum
----------------------------------------
My latest idea on the carrot front is to add a few spices to the mix .. to counteract their relentless SWEETNESS!
I'm recommending:
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon cumon seeds
squash these three in a pestle and mortar
add a chopped garlic
thyme and oregano (fresh if you've got it) - a good dollop of each, say a tsp of dry and a few stalks of each, if using fresh
boil this lot with a litre or so or water, 1/2 kilo of carrots and one leek or onion and a celery stalk till all VERY tender
then cool a bit b4 whizzing with a blender.
The juice of 1/2 a lemon added at the end would also make it a bit more piquant ..
yum
----------------------------------------
Saturday, 27 September 2008
Pleased with myself
Four months after my last operation and I am now a whole two stone lighter than I was then. This is GOOD NEWS.
It represents a pretty steady loss of about 2lbs a week, which is the ideal rate, and if I can keep it up it'll be enough by Christmas.
I've found the whole not drinking thing to be very easy, so I am happy about that, especially negotiating my birthday and return to work without taking a drink. I'm pretty sure this is the best way to keep my weight under control. That, and eating nothing much!
haha .. that's not true, I eat a LOT of stuff, never feel hungry, but it's mainly fruit and veg. so it takes an age to chew it all and you get a feeling of being full on less calories, basically.
Did a lovely chicken curry dish this week .. recipe here for JAN!
(adapted from http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/516861)
Ingredients
1 pinch saffron strands
3 tbsp warm water
1 tbsp Butter
3 Shallots sliced (I used 1 and 1/2 small onions)
3 cm piece of ginger, shredded
3 large garlic cloves, shredded
1 orange rind, strip pared with a vegetable peeler (see notes below)
1 red chilli (it could take more of this, it was a pretty mild curry mix, overall)
50g blanched almonds
1 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp Paprika
2 tsp cornflour (I think it would work fine without this, actually)
350ml Yogurt
150ml single cream (I omitted this and used extra yogurt instead)
8 Chicken thighs skins removed (I used four organic breasts, cubed - though having a few bones in would obviously enhance the flavour of the sauce)
Method
Soak the saffron in warm water and set aside for an hour or so to develop
Preheat the oven to 180C/ gas 4.
Heat the butter in a large frying pan, and tip in the sliced shallots, ginger, garlic, strip of orange rind and split red chilli.
Cover and cook until the shallots have softened - about five minutes.
Add the almonds, turmeric and paprika and continue frying for another minute or two.
Remove the pan from the heat, cool slightly, and scrape the almond mixture into a liquidizer.
Pour in the yogurt, cream and cornflour and blitz everything until quite smooth.
Spoon the spiced almond yogurt over the chicken and leave to marinate for an hour or two.
Bake the chicken in a moderate oven for around 40 minutes, until tender, and the sauce has thickened. I cooked it for longer than 40 mins -- cos if you let it stand to marinade you;re starting from cold, and I'm not convinced this volume is really cooked in 40 minutes!)
Stir in the saffron and soaking liquid, and scatter with a few flaked almonds to serve.
Tasters Notes
Andy and B loved it, I thought it was perhaps a bit too much orange, but they reckoned that was great, so try it and see ...
It could stand a bit more chilli/paprika with so much yogurt. There is a LOT of sauce, ideal for serving with nan bread, really.
-------------------------------------------------------
It represents a pretty steady loss of about 2lbs a week, which is the ideal rate, and if I can keep it up it'll be enough by Christmas.
I've found the whole not drinking thing to be very easy, so I am happy about that, especially negotiating my birthday and return to work without taking a drink. I'm pretty sure this is the best way to keep my weight under control. That, and eating nothing much!
haha .. that's not true, I eat a LOT of stuff, never feel hungry, but it's mainly fruit and veg. so it takes an age to chew it all and you get a feeling of being full on less calories, basically.
Did a lovely chicken curry dish this week .. recipe here for JAN!
(adapted from http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/516861)
Ingredients
1 pinch saffron strands
3 tbsp warm water
1 tbsp Butter
3 Shallots sliced (I used 1 and 1/2 small onions)
3 cm piece of ginger, shredded
3 large garlic cloves, shredded
1 orange rind, strip pared with a vegetable peeler (see notes below)
1 red chilli (it could take more of this, it was a pretty mild curry mix, overall)
50g blanched almonds
1 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp Paprika
2 tsp cornflour (I think it would work fine without this, actually)
350ml Yogurt
150ml single cream (I omitted this and used extra yogurt instead)
8 Chicken thighs skins removed (I used four organic breasts, cubed - though having a few bones in would obviously enhance the flavour of the sauce)
Method
Soak the saffron in warm water and set aside for an hour or so to develop
Preheat the oven to 180C/ gas 4.
Heat the butter in a large frying pan, and tip in the sliced shallots, ginger, garlic, strip of orange rind and split red chilli.
Cover and cook until the shallots have softened - about five minutes.
Add the almonds, turmeric and paprika and continue frying for another minute or two.
Remove the pan from the heat, cool slightly, and scrape the almond mixture into a liquidizer.
Pour in the yogurt, cream and cornflour and blitz everything until quite smooth.
Spoon the spiced almond yogurt over the chicken and leave to marinate for an hour or two.
Bake the chicken in a moderate oven for around 40 minutes, until tender, and the sauce has thickened. I cooked it for longer than 40 mins -- cos if you let it stand to marinade you;re starting from cold, and I'm not convinced this volume is really cooked in 40 minutes!)
Stir in the saffron and soaking liquid, and scatter with a few flaked almonds to serve.
Tasters Notes
Andy and B loved it, I thought it was perhaps a bit too much orange, but they reckoned that was great, so try it and see ...
It could stand a bit more chilli/paprika with so much yogurt. There is a LOT of sauce, ideal for serving with nan bread, really.
-------------------------------------------------------
Monday, 25 August 2008
Still shrinking
Woo - despite lots of holidaying, visiting and eating out I am keeping off the booze and thus my calorie count is OK enough to keep losing weight. It is slow, but sure, now a total of 21lbs since the operation date (June 1st).
I feel strong and we are doing stretches and exercises most mornings, so my muscles are toning up again. I popped into Greens to talk about getting back to the gym - and they are supposed to call me .. hmm .. stony silence so far!
Never mind, I have mapped out a new route to work which involves travelling a bit further, but using the canal for most of the way. They have nearly finished the improvements on the tow path which are really good with wide paving or tarmac for the entire section I need to use. I think I'll be able to use it all the time, as my hours are shorter and therefore I should be able to travel in daylight even in the depths of winter. I have bought a new cycling coat (after collecting about a pint of water INSIDE the last one when we cycled in heavy rain!) and some proper cycle tops. I look like the veritable skin on a cumberland sausage, but what the heck, it's the right gear for the job!
I feel strong and we are doing stretches and exercises most mornings, so my muscles are toning up again. I popped into Greens to talk about getting back to the gym - and they are supposed to call me .. hmm .. stony silence so far!
Never mind, I have mapped out a new route to work which involves travelling a bit further, but using the canal for most of the way. They have nearly finished the improvements on the tow path which are really good with wide paving or tarmac for the entire section I need to use. I think I'll be able to use it all the time, as my hours are shorter and therefore I should be able to travel in daylight even in the depths of winter. I have bought a new cycling coat (after collecting about a pint of water INSIDE the last one when we cycled in heavy rain!) and some proper cycle tops. I look like the veritable skin on a cumberland sausage, but what the heck, it's the right gear for the job!
Sunday, 13 July 2008
Healthy Progress
Good news, the strict fruit and veg diet is workng well - innards are coping OK and I have lost a whole stone since the week of my operation .. which is good news ..
I am now seriously trying to eat the anti-cancer diet. I feel like I've been blessed with a second chance that hasn't been given to the friends I have made with advanced colon cancer who are still in treatment for secondaries. Now the treatments are fading into a memory I am committed to doing as much as I can to keep a re-currence at bay ..
On the other hand, I feel quite strongly that it's a kind of health facism to talk about life-style as though it is all your own fault if you get a serious illness, "you've had too much of this, too little of that" type of thing. I feel I was never any worse in my habits than most ppl I know of my age .. we all drink too much! And for many years I have been a lot "better" than many in terms of always riding my bike, eating a low meat and high fibre diet and taking my spiritual and mental health seriously ... .. but all of this wasn't enough to stop my cancer ...
That's not an argument for not trying to sustain those "good" things, and to keep up my life-long battle with my weight, and tackling my on-off love affair with cocktails! It is just a statement of frustration with the blame mentality which you met in every magazine article and public discussion about cancer and healthy living that you see each day.
It's not our fault we get cancer, OK?
I am now seriously trying to eat the anti-cancer diet. I feel like I've been blessed with a second chance that hasn't been given to the friends I have made with advanced colon cancer who are still in treatment for secondaries. Now the treatments are fading into a memory I am committed to doing as much as I can to keep a re-currence at bay ..
On the other hand, I feel quite strongly that it's a kind of health facism to talk about life-style as though it is all your own fault if you get a serious illness, "you've had too much of this, too little of that" type of thing. I feel I was never any worse in my habits than most ppl I know of my age .. we all drink too much! And for many years I have been a lot "better" than many in terms of always riding my bike, eating a low meat and high fibre diet and taking my spiritual and mental health seriously ... .. but all of this wasn't enough to stop my cancer ...
That's not an argument for not trying to sustain those "good" things, and to keep up my life-long battle with my weight, and tackling my on-off love affair with cocktails! It is just a statement of frustration with the blame mentality which you met in every magazine article and public discussion about cancer and healthy living that you see each day.
It's not our fault we get cancer, OK?
Sunday, 6 July 2008
Reversal
Having an ileostomy reversal opens up the world of fibre eating again .. and I have decided to let the newly re-connected colon know who is in charge round here, and get it used to a healthy diet right from the start, while it is learning everything else ..
I guess this was a bit of a gamble, some ppl recommend a low-residue diet, but since my innards showed signs of settling down I thought I would risk it, and I am getting on great with a really full-on fruit and veg diet plan.
It's the one in the Super Foods book that B and I really like, and which we did in the Summer two years ago. Of course it couldn't cure the massive tumour, then, but it did make me very healthy in other ways before the treatment programme started ... and I am feeling great on it now ..
I am hoping to start up a bit more exercise again toot sweet .. so hopefully things will work and I wont have to fork out more and more on even bigger clothes!
I guess this was a bit of a gamble, some ppl recommend a low-residue diet, but since my innards showed signs of settling down I thought I would risk it, and I am getting on great with a really full-on fruit and veg diet plan.
It's the one in the Super Foods book that B and I really like, and which we did in the Summer two years ago. Of course it couldn't cure the massive tumour, then, but it did make me very healthy in other ways before the treatment programme started ... and I am feeling great on it now ..
I am hoping to start up a bit more exercise again toot sweet .. so hopefully things will work and I wont have to fork out more and more on even bigger clothes!
Tuesday, 19 February 2008
Sunday, 17 February 2008
1/2 term
Am starting to get over the sore back / hip / shoulder pain trauma .. and getting mobile again - tho my weight is now through the roof -- or through the floor with the pull of gravity on such a MASS!
Even when I was hardly eating anything during the chemo regime nausea my weight kept creeping up ~ my body is programmed to retain every calorie, obvisously, so regaining my appetite but not my mobility is taking immediate effect ..
Anyway, I have proudly BEEN SWIMMING a couple of times, once at Deganwy Quays Hotel and once @ my onw gym - Greens. Have also been to a Step class before the holiday and got out on my bike this weekend. I climbed the Great Orme while we were in Llandudno, so I feel I am getting back on the right track ...
no photos tho, new camera can't take the pounds off me, and these cycle leggings are cosy fit!
Even when I was hardly eating anything during the chemo regime nausea my weight kept creeping up ~ my body is programmed to retain every calorie, obvisously, so regaining my appetite but not my mobility is taking immediate effect ..
Anyway, I have proudly BEEN SWIMMING a couple of times, once at Deganwy Quays Hotel and once @ my onw gym - Greens. Have also been to a Step class before the holiday and got out on my bike this weekend. I climbed the Great Orme while we were in Llandudno, so I feel I am getting back on the right track ...
no photos tho, new camera can't take the pounds off me, and these cycle leggings are cosy fit!
Thursday, 6 December 2007
frustration
Grr - it's really got me down that I was feeling so great to be doing these things and somewhere along the line I've hurt some muscles around my hip and can't do anything much atm. I don't think it was my gym work, in fact, cos it started a few days after my last class.
It started mmediately after I was just doing a bit of dancing around the house last Sunday ... and I could hardly move on Monday! It has been agony but it is fading now .. and I think it'll be ok after a bit more rest .. but it's made me grumpy and fed up!
It started mmediately after I was just doing a bit of dancing around the house last Sunday ... and I could hardly move on Monday! It has been agony but it is fading now .. and I think it'll be ok after a bit more rest .. but it's made me grumpy and fed up!
Friday, 23 November 2007
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