On the first day, there was....

HUNGER. The first day was a success, but I am a little hungry, but that's mainly because I'm so used to having massive meals, all day and every day. But now, I'm starting to be sensible. I had breakfast, for a start. Two slices of toast with a teaspoon of chocolate-hazelnut spread on each. And I had some tea with milk when I got to work. My mid-morning snack was a hifi bar from Slimming World and a bottle of ice-cold water from the cooler upstairs. I have also made the most of the cold weather and power walked across and round the campus while on key duty.


My lunch was a Tilda rice packet (Basmati), some homemade sausage and bean casserole, and a Kellogg's Biscuit Moment, caramel flavoured. I'm fairly satisfied, but the idle part of me wants to keep munching while the other half of me - the one that is really a size 10 and is SCREAMING to get out - is telling me to sip my water and relax. I have mince out defrosting for supper, so I'm going to make chilli con carne with our home grown chilli's!

As it turns out, my chilli efforts were only half successful due to lack of ingredients, but the spicy bolognese was amazing!!

A Big Change For The Big Day

That's right - we are finally getting married! I have 339 days to go and it's becoming a little scary. I have now decided the time is right to lose as much weight as I can before the big day, so that means I need to change the way I think about food, and more importantly, portion control. So, I started last night by trying having a nice full side plate for my supper and you know what? I felt full after I cleaned my plate. I had the munchies a couple of hours later, but the full feeling is progress. It will take time for my stomach to shrink back down to size and enable me to reduce my portions without the feeling of utter starvation.


As for the type of foods to eat, I'm no longer using the fryer apart from a wee treat now and then. Instead, I'm going to brave the spider in the garage and get the steamer out of hibernation. I need to cut out the unhealthy fats and oils, and replace with lighter cooking sprays and rapeseed oil for the special meals. Lean meat will replace fatty cuts, and I'll be doing a lot more cooking at home.


Naturally, I'm going to start adding exercise into my daily routine, including using our home weights bench thing that was bought and has never been used yet. I plan on building up my joints using that, and also doing some general exercise using my Slim in 6 DVDs which should start to make a huge difference as well. I'm looking forward to being more active. Everything hurts after just dancing for a while this weekend, which is totally rubbish. Thoroughly enjoyable though.


I have also decided to start cutting back on the crisps, chocolate and other rubbish I occasionally eat. So far, I've been able to stop taking sugar in tea and coffee (mainly), and if I drink anything fizzy, it's sugar free (apart from coke. Ain't nobody got time for the sugar free rubbish!). If I can just get my hefty arse moving, that would do the trick. I'd hope to be a lot stronger by the wedding so that I can support my glass of wine ALL night long, and not have to put it down. Forward planning.


So the whole purpose of this blog: what the hell am I going to cook, that feels and tastes as good as it's full fat version? I'm definitely thinking of steamed chicken and salmon, beef stir fry, chilli con carne, spaghetti Bolognese, mixed veg noodles, and other healthy, satisfying meals. But other than that, I'm not feeling very inspired.


If you have a suggestion on how to get healthy or any good recipes, please leave a comment for me!

A Curry Fit For A Queen!

I had a tingling for curry tonight. Not a tomato based one. A coconut milk one. So Google came to my rescue and I found a recipe that I had all the ingredients for. This, for me, is an accomplishment. I set to work, gathering up spices and vegetables, boiling the kettle and defrosting the prawns, then hauled out my big frying pan. The result of my efforts is just pure heaven. There is a hum at the back of the flavour, and a creaminess that one craves after a bad day. Don't worry, I'll share the recipe!

Kerala Prawn & Coconut Curry

250g king prawns
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 small onion or shallot, grated
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chilli powder
1 cinnamon stick
4-6 cardamom pods, lightly crushed to open
1-2 garlic cloves, crushed
2cm fresh ginger, finely grated
1 tsp dried coriander leaf (you can use fresh if you like - 2tbsp)
1 can coconut milk

1. Heat a heavy based pan to a medium heat with 2 tbsp sunflower oil. Fry shallot for 1-2 minutes until cooked but not coloured. Add turmeric, chilli powder, cinnamon and cardamom pods and fry for another minute until fragrant. Stir in garlic and ginger, and fry for a minute more.

2. Stir in coconut milk, add the coriander, bring to a boil then reduce and simmer for a few minutes until thickened.

3. Meanwhile, marinate prawns in the lemon juice.

4. Add the prawns to the sauce and simmer until cooked through.

Serve with rice and chapattis or naan bread.

Food For The Soul

Hello, my little minions. I wanted to talk about food and the effect it has on mental state. Certain foods are associated with certain events, emotions and feelings. Some are happy, some not so much.  Food which makes you happy is probably more likely to trigger the release of endorphins in the blood. I'm no scientist, but I think that's part of it. The other side, is the association.

You come home from work. You've had a really bad day where everything went wrong, you're grumpy and you're hungry. What do you reach for? A massive salad? Or a meal with the highest number of calories you can get into you at one time? Chocolate, crisps, maybe a glass of wine. Or a bottle. Whatever. Food makes us happy. Well, it makes me happy.!

I really enjoy a big hearty bowl of homemade chilli and rice if I'm having a bad day. Even making it, creating a thick, rich and spicy sauce warms the cockles off my heart. If I'm in a good mood,  a refreshing salad of crisps lettuce, chard and rocket, some beautiful smoked salmon and baby potatoes goes down a treat. A simple dressing of British rapeseed oil and balsamic vinegar, shaken with some salt and pepper, just tops it off!

Today, I had planned to make myself a beautiful lunch, take my supper with me and have plenty snacks. But the kitchen is a mess, the dog keeps farting and I am now working 4 hours earlier than I expected! So it may be a 'very quickly thrown together meal' day for me. As they say... There's no rest for the wicked!

Why do we eat?

The answer to this question may seem a little obvious. Yes, food is fuel. But we also turn to food for other reasons. Some. Use food as a means of celebration - cakes, surprise dinners out, Christmas. Others use food as a crutch to help them through darker times. Comfort eating is well known and now, almost accepted as a reason for weight gain. Food helps us come together, or it can separate us, depending on your view of the world. 

In my world, food is an experience. I enjoy classic flavours, experimenting with high quality ingredients and trying new things. I believe every meal should be significant.

Breakfast is a celebration that you've woken from another night of sleep, or a tool to help you feel slightly more alive than you should after a night out. 

Lunch is the meal you should be looking forward to after doing a few hours work. Or, it's best enjoyed with a friend over a bottle of wine. It should be filling and yet light enough so you don't fall asleep at your desk! My favourite is a salad with fresh leaves, cooked and cooled baby potatoes or pasta, some meat like chicken or maybe a flaked salmon fillet, and dressed in rapeseed oil and balsamic vinegar, along with some salt and pepper. 

Dinner. Now, there's a weird one. Some suppers I have to eat on my own, and some I get to share with the other half. It all depends on the shifts we are both working. If I'm on my own, I may well have a baked potato, tuna mayo and cheese and comfort food, or if I know I'll have company, I'll make a traditional fish like Toad in the Hole, or beef and bean chilli. 

We have so many reasons for eating in Britain, and also Scotland. But, I believe the idea of bringing a dish to an event had died out. I'd love to have a light where all my close family and friends got together and, instead of one person cooking, everyone brought their favourite dish with them to make a huge and varied buffet. Maybe, I'm stuck in the past. Maybe, I'm living in a dream world. But I'd love to see this happen more often. Make food the proper centre of every celebration. 

It's the little things.

When I'm down, I think about food. It may sound sad, but that's where I find true happiness. In particular, I think about when I was little and the food my mum used to make. The aroma that would fill the kitchen when she made her famous Toad-In-The-Hole or made a hearty pot of broth, with a hunk of brisket boiled in it. I remember watching her baking on the odd occasion when it was wet outside and there was nothing for me to do around the farm. She would bake girdle scones (on an electric girdle) that I'd eat when they were hot, slathered in butter and jam. Her bannocks were light, fluffy and the perfect balance of sweet and sour when splashed liberally with lemon juice and sprinkled with sugar.

I also remember her taking the care to strain my broth for me, take the onions out of the mince and make me jam sandwiches for lunch. As a youngster, I was a fussy eater. I loved the taste of her broth - just not the pulses included. I also hated onions. It wasn't the flavour, but the texture. So it's apparent that textures have been an issue for me during my entire life. Now, I can't touch a cement wall with my bare hands, nor can I eat an iced bun... even the thought of my teeth going through the grainy icing and hitting the crispy bun underneath sends shivers down my spine and makes me feel a little queasy. But, I'm chuffed to report that my weird eating habits are no longer so weird.

However, I can eat broth, pulses, beans (but I still have to take the loose husks out), and mince without feeling the urge to run away from the table, screaming. Admittedly, I have to have any sauces or gravies on the side of my meals, I must always have a mouthful of meat left over to eat last, and I can't drink alcohol while I'm eating. I'm a strange one.

But thinking about these little things, reminiscing on times gone by, and remembering the times that will never be repeated, I start to feel happier in myself. These are the times that will always remain with me, flavours that will stick in my mind and bring me instantly back to those days.

Some of my favourite combinations of food are fish fingers and white sauce, steak and drambuie cream sauce, macaroni cheese and bacon, scallops and black pudding, salmon and soft poached duck egg, and sausages and mash. Some classics, some strange.

What are yours?

No Rest Is For The Wicked

While working for a butchery company, one learns a little about meat, including the processes it undergoes before it reaches the consumer. All good meat needs a little time, both to mature properly during hanging or ageing, or resting once cooked to allow the fibres to relax - leaving you with the perfectly cooked and juicy hunk of meat you have been dreaming off all day prior to cooking.

Let me delve a little deeper into producing the best quality food. It all starts with the right cut of meat. A well marbled sirloin, with just the perfect strip of fat along the top of the steak. A rack of lamb, lean and deep punk in colour and surrounded by fat, ready to render off and protect the cut from drying out. A roasted pork fillet, blushing pink in the middle , firm yet  tender inside. You get the idea.

To match that perfect cut, you must choose the best method of cooking. Steaks of all meats usually require searing in a blistering hot pan and cooking to your liking. Some will require a little seat then a few minutes in the oven. Others cuts require long and slow cooking, with a dash of red wine, some herbs, root veg.  Cooking really depends on your preferences and the cut you have. Google is a great place for advice, or do feel free to ask me!

Once your meat is cooked to perfection, it is crucial to rest properly. Dependent on size, resting can take anything from 3 minutes to 30! Never ever rush the resting stage. Use the time wisely to prepare a simple sauce, finish your accompaniments or set the table, crack open the wine and help yourself to a glass. You deserve it!

The lesson here is simple: don't rush your food. Cooking and eating are experiences to be savoured every day. Preparing and enjoying food are one of lives mysteries. It is both necessary and rewarding. After setting out the plates and the masses are fed, silence ensues. And silence, dear reader, is golden.