I had a really disappointing non-fast day this week. As usual, I was looking forward to some of my favourite things, but it didn’t end up as good as it had been in my imagination.
- For breakfast I’d defrosted what I thought was some fabulous cheese and bacon potato bread from a bakery in Comber, but it turned out to be just ordinary potato bread. Oh well, it was still quite nice with some mushrooms, one slice of bacon, and a fried egg (and I broke the yolk as I was cracking it into the pan).
- For lunch, I’d taken a tub from the freezer labelled “spicy pasta”, which had been there for quite a while and which needed using up. It was VERY spicy, and I hate the way chilli seeds get stuck in my teeth. But really, it was just too much food, and I ended up throwing half of it away.
- I had a meeting in the evening, and was looking forward to having a fish from the award winning chip shop near by. I ordered a haddock in gluten-free batter. This I find is extra crispy, and doesn’t have the sogginess of regular batter. But the shop then didn’t add vinegar, or the customary handful of chips, as neither of these could be guaranteed gluten-free. Well done to the chippie for being so thorough, but it wasn’t what I was hoping for. I drove down to Victoria park to enjoy my solitary fish, and it started to hail. I went to my meeting where there was a plate of biscuits on the table – oooh, a Jaffa cake! Haven’t had one in ages! It was stale, and as hard as a rock.
- I came home, and treated myself to 2 squares of salted caramel chocolate. Husband demanded to know what I was eating, and when I offered him some, he finished off the whole block!
So I was looking forward to a good couple of fast days, where I knew what to expect.
On Tuesday, I started with my half-banana and egg white pancake, with a few raspberries (80 cals)
I had a cupasoup for 60 cals at lunchtime, a laughing cow extra light with 2 rice thins as a snack (55 cals), and then for dinner I’d made some rataouille (100 cals), which I was trying with the slim noodle fettuccine. (8 cals). I rinsed the noodles and then dry fried them – they are pretty chewy, and I don’t think I could eat a whole packet in one go, so I saved half for my next fast day.
Thursday’s breakfast was the banana pancake again, using the other half of the ‘nana, served with blueberries for a change.
At lunchtime I stuck to an 18 cal miso soup, and spent the rest of my lunch hour being very frustrated by the terrible pricing information in my local sports store.
For dinner, I set myself the challenge of creating a 3 course meal for around 200 calories.
From this…..
…to this!
Starter was a finn crisp cracker (20) with a smear of light creme fraische (10) and 3 blobs of caviar (12), served with a handful of samphire (6). Main course was my ratatouille again (70), puttanesca-ed up with some anchovies (13), 5 black olives (25) and a tablespoon of capers (10), on the pasta (8). Dessert was a wedge of cantaloupe melon (19) with a teaspoon of ground ginger (6). Washed down with a Tesco diet shandy (10).
To be honest, it was all just too much food! I couldn’t finish the samphire, couldn’t eat all the main course, and had to leave the dessert until I got in from dancing later on!
Anyway, just goes to show how creative you can get with a small calorie budget, without resorting to ready meals.
Dancing At Lunacy 
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