5:2 Thai noodles and aubergine slices

Posted on August 15, 2013 by lindaharley

I’m just about at the stage of enjoying fast days now – I look forward to them the day before, I have fun planning interesting menus, and I know enough strategies to help me cope with the hunger pangs.  These are rare now – the odd rumbly tum, but it soon passes.

I’m having a “clear out the cupboards” kind of month, and some of the items I found lurking at the back of the freezer and fridge were a tin of light coconut milk, and half a bag of frozen scallops.  I also had some scallions, some zero/ miracle noodles, asparagus, mushrooms, and a jar of tom-yum paste.

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Rinse the noodles well.
Dry fry them in a frying pan. Move them to one side of the pan and add 3 sliced mushrooms, a few asparagus spears chopped into pieces, and 2 spring onions, sliced on the diagonal. (50 cals for the veg) Squeeze half a lime over them and cook for a few minutes until the veg are soft. Add half a pack of defrosted scallops (80 cals)to another part of the pan, and sear them on all sides for a couple of minutes.

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Bring everything together and add 100 ml (about 1/4 can) of light coconut milk (70 cals), and a good blob of tom-yum paste (50 cals). Stir well until everything is coated in the sauce, and serve in bowls with a sprinkle of sesame seeds (15 cals)

Should be around 280 cals for one very generous portion, done quickly in one pan.  I’d definitely try this again – I forgot I had some lemongrass in a jar, which would have gone really well with those Thai inspired flavours.

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On Thursday, my husband was cooking, and he made the little vegetable rissotto kieves from Sainsburys.  I experimented with baking aubergine slices without any oil.  I sliced them into thick rounds, and laid them on a piece of kitchen roll.  I rubbed some smoked paprika and some sea salt into each slice, and then arranged them on a baking sheet, lined with tinfoil.  I cooked them at 200 degrees for 15-20 minutes, turning the slices half way through cooking.

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Aubergine is 26 calories for 100g, and a whole aubergine is around 300g.  So say 75 cals for 7 or 8 good slices, which would do 2 as an accompaniement, or one hungry person on a Fast Day!

I’ll be experimenting with these further too, very simple, the spongy flesh absorbs the spices, so it’ll be fun trying different flavour combinations.

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5 and 2: zumba and trout

Posted on July 27, 2013 by lindaharley

I was delighted this week to get in touch again with my zumba class – thanks to the magic power of Facebook. Since finishing the half-marathon last month I’ve been running less, so I’ve been looking for different ways to keep active.  I love anything even vaguely dance-related, and it’s hard to do zumba without a smile on your face.

My Monday fast this week went well, and I’d found a tub of Tom-Yum soup in the freezer which I used for my evening meal.

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I still have to battle my sweet tooth, but I’ve found these cereal bars are nicely chewy for only 75 calories and a few grams of sugar.  The Tesco caramel one is my favourite.

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Wednesday was a non-fast day, and the supermarket were selling 2 trout fillets for £4.  I had one wrapped in foil with a few sliced mushrooms and some Greek basil.  And the other for my Thursday fast meal – I cooked it in a bowl with a plate over the top in the microwave – I added a few slices of lemon and a splash of white wine.  I served it with some asparagus spears, also done in the microwave, and a sort of tartare sauce made with fromage frais, capers and finely chopped pickled onions.  It was absolutely delicious!  I’m glad I’ve been reminded about trout – half the calories of salmon, much less fat, and the same amount of protein.

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All in all, a good week!

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5and2: summer meals

Posted on July 21, 2013 by lindaharley

Like many others on this way of eating, the warm summer weather has been great for encouraging the eating of salads. and getting out in the fresh air for some exercise. Having had some disruption due to holidays and the like, I got back into the swing of 2 fast days this week – and couldn’t quite believe how easy they felt!

I’ve got into the habit now of pushing through the fast morning on just black coffees, Bovril and flavoured teas.  On Tuesday I had a miso soup for lunch – I really enjoy these, just the right level of savoury saltiness, and quite satisfying.  For dinner, I made a microwave omelette with one egg, 2 egg whites, some sliced mushrooms and leftover roast chicken pieces.  I served it on a bed of salad leaves and a dollop of hot sauce.  Actually, the hot sauce wasn’t necessary…

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On Thursday I had an unavoidable lunch date with a friend (she was lending me a costume for a fancy dress party on Friday night).  We met at IKEA, where I chose the gravad lax, but didn’t eat the dressing, and added some simple side salad items – tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, pickles.  It’s nice not to feel restricted, and be able to find SOMETHING to eat while being a lady-who-lunches.  Dinner was a simple salad plate – pastrami, mushrooms and cucumber, with some roast red peppers from a jar.  I followed this with a couple of tablespoons of cottage cheese mixed with 10 raspberries – very tasty indeed!

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I made myself a cooling drink of water infused with cucumber, Greek basil and lime, and swanned around in a maxi dress pretending I looked sophisticated 😉

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I had no headaches, no insurmountable hunger pangs – I do still feel quite tired on fast day evenings, but I sleep really well, which is a blessing in this heat.

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5and2: egg quarko, and steamed sea bass

Posted on June 13, 2013 by lindaharley

Had a pretty good fast on Monday, after an indulgent weekend.  Enjoyed my miso soup at lunchtime, and had a little carton of mandarin segments in juice mid-afternoon.

Mussels are fab – even my normally seafood-hating husband loves them.  And there’s plenty of packs in sauce available in supermarkets these days, so they make a quick dish that I can share with him.  We had the Tesco ones in a white wine and garlic sauce (126 calories per pack), and I even had enough calories for a small hunk of baguette to dunk into the sauce. Lovely!

I was experimenting with healthifying snack recipes, and I came up with this version of egg mayo, using quark instead.  Take one hard boiled egg, and smash it with a blob (30-50g) of plain quark.  Add celery salt and black pepper to taste.  Around 100 cals for that.  I had it piled onto a couple of ryvitas – the black pepper are my favourite flavour. Yum!

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Thursday’s fast was tricky – I had a blinding headache, which I fought off with Bovril, Marigold, and Miso, and went for an express head and neck massage during my lunch hour.  I regretted that, as she seemed to spend a lot of time trying to get the knots out of my shoulders with her elbows.  Ouch!

Lovely evening meal – fillets of sea bass, steamed with 2 thinly sliced chestnut mushrooms and 3 sliced spring onions, a few slivers of sushi ginger, and a splash of low-soy-sauce.  250-300 calories of  gourmet deliciousness – this is good enough even for non-fast days. Wow!

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I might take a break from 5and2ing for a while – it’s my half-marathon next week and I want to make sure I’ve fuelled my body properly for that.  And the following week we’re off on holiday.  I MAY try the occasional 24hr fast, but to be honest, it’s unlikely.

Stay safe, stay healthy, and keeeeeeeeeep fasting!

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5and2: False lows and false economies

Posted on May 25, 2013 by lindaharley

Why are people so hard on themselves? I think it was the Mumsnet lot (they are particularly self-critical) where someone wouldn’t record a new low weight seen on the scales after a fast because “it was a false low”.

What?

Weight varies up and down during the day. It will increase depending on what food you’ve eaten and how recently, what kind of food it was, what exercise you’ve done, what clothes you’re wearing. But the lowest weight will be your empty and naked weight. To me, that’s the sensible one to measure and record – so that’s first thing in the morning, no clothes, after a pee. If that’s lower than the last time I measured, I’ll record it. If it’s not, I’ll ignore it.

And another thing – debates about where your waist is? It’s the smallest distance around your middle. Again, why all the angst about measuring such and such a distance from your belly button etc – go with the smallest. That’s not cheating. Sometimes it’s as if people are deliberately trying to find ways to fail.

New lows for me this week – 134 pounds, and a waist size of 28 inches.

And after last week’s enthusing about M&S, this week they’ve disappointed me:

Following recommendations from other forums  for the Delicious and Nutritious range, I’d enjoyed the tuna mooli wraps for lunch last week. But I felt they were expensive at £3.50. On Saturday, shopping for something else in the Lisburn store, I got a voucher for £1 off the D&N range. Great, I thought, I’ll have something nice for dinner on Thursday! I couldn’t find any calorie info about the range online, but during the day I’d left  200-250 calories for my meal. So here’s what happened next.

  1.  I went out of my way to go to the Forestside store where I thought there’d be the largest range.
  2.  It wasn’t easy to find the D&N range, seemed to be in several places.
  3. None of the main meals came in at under 350 calories, and most were 400-500 and above.
  4.  I went back to the mooli wraps, and chose a beef one. At the till, it transpired that the £1 off did not apply to salads and wraps. Just how petty a decision was that!
  5. The barcode when scanned into MyFitnessPal came up as the pork ones, not beef.

This was a thoroughly disheartening experience, and I will not be rushing back, even to utilise that £1 off voucher. To be fair, I emailed the above complaints, and they replied within 24 hours, but the whole frustrating business has left a bad taste.  I reckon I’m better making my own meals, rather than relying on ready made ones.

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The chicken souvlaki I mentioned last week were rather tasty, at 70 cals apiece.  I’d planned to eat all 4, but husband thought they looked tasty too, so I ended up sharing with him.  With a large salad, probably 150 cals for the whole meal. These can’t be too hard to make myself, surely!

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I cannot pass by a bargain, and these little smoked salmon appetisers were reduced to 99p – 25 calories for 3 miniature bites of deliciousness.

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Next week I think I might dig out those miracle pasta sachets, and try them with some home made bolognese I have in the freezer.

 

 

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5and2: fishy stuff

Posted on May 12, 2013 by lindaharley

Really pleased with how my shape is developing – loved picking up some size 8 clothes last weekend. The Bank Holiday Monday was spent with DH downtown, including a rather lovely lunch, so Tuesday became fast day instead. I’d defrosted some of my chicky-leeky soup for dinner, but then husband requested the mussels that we had in the fridge, and they turned out to be very 5:2 friendly.

On Wednesday, I experimented with a recipe that had appeared in the Guardian, shared on the Facebook forum.  It was a roast broccoli and garlic soup.  DH doesn’t really like tomato based soups and sauces, so I’m always keen to try out alternatives.

The ingredients weren’t complicated – broccoli, veg stock, garlic, chilli, lemon.

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Roast the broccoli in the oven for about 20 mins until starting to char. If using garlic cloves, put them in beside the broccoli – I just used ready squeezed garlic in a tube. Blitz in a blender with stock  and chilli (this was the trickiest bit for me, had to try several vessels till I found one that didn’t spurt everything all over the kitchen).  Before serving, add lemon zest and juice.

I thought it was rather nice – DH wasn’t impressed.

On Thursday, I tried going without food as long as possible, but was seduced by a little Graze box.  Only 95 calories! it promised.  So I succumed.  And set off a massive sugar craving, which was hard to control for the rest of the day (lesson learned there!)  I had that chicky-leeky soup for dinner, but the nibbly biscuits I had took me to about 600 calories for the day.

Friday weigh-in – 135, same as last week.  No surprise, no big deal.

Went shopping on Saturday and found a lovely freezer standby – 24 calories per skewer – so 4 skewers is still under 100 cals!  Perfect for keeping in the freezer, ready to serve with a salad on fats days.

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5and2: Tuna-shrooms

Posted on April 27, 2013 by lindaharley

Another week where I managed to get my fasts in on Monday and Thursday, which is by far my favourite pair. Husband has put on a few pounds, and said he’d like to join me on Monday. I chose a harissa chicken dish from the Hairy Dieters book, but I did it in the oven on roast veg (leek, courgette, mushroom) instead of the buckwheat salad they’d served it with (husband don’t do cold food). The chicken was great and very easy to do – just rub some harissa over chicken breasts and oven cook. They’d have been nicer if they’d had a chance to marinade first. Husband wasn’t really into this calorie counting malarkey, and had a slab of soda bread alongside his, with butter, before pouring himself a vodka. Oh well, at least he’s willing to eat the low-cal meals I make.

Sometimes.

I tried an aubergine and haloumi burger with harissa relish mid-week, which he sullenly pushed around on the plate, much to my annoyance.

For my Thursday fast I turned to my low-cal standbys – mushrooms, tuna, and salsa.

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I mixed a small tin of tuna (65 cals) with a good dollop of salsa (30 cals) which was enough to pile into 2 portobellos (50 cals).  I even shaved a few slivers of cheese over the top, before putting in a 200 degree C oven for 20 mins.  Quick, easy and tasty.

I bought today’s Times as it has a pullout section of 5and2 recipes, so I might try some of those over the coming weeks.

Weight stable at 137 pounds, but I’m delighting in my strong nails, which have never looked better!  Maybe a manicure reward when I get to 135….

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5and2: Choke Ceasar

Posted on April 20, 2013 by lindaharley

Had a good Monday fast this week – a mushroom spinach scramble for breakfast saw me through a morning meeting with the boss, then a miso soup and a satsuma at lunchtime. I’d been saving calories in case I was eating with husband at dinner time, but he wasn’t feeling well, so I made myself a quick tom-yum soup, using leeks, mushrooms, rocket, tomato and spring onion,  before heading out to Scottish dancing, where I allowed myself the smallest biscuit on the plate.

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I’d hoped to have Thursday as my second fast day, but darling daughter is over from her London college this week, and was keen to go out to dinner on Thursday night. That left Wednesday – but that was the day I was taking off work to drive daughter and friends up to the North Coast to visit my parents. Ah well, great excuse to avoid my mother’s cooking!

Breakfast was a scrambled duck egg, with a blob of red caviar from IKEA for added oomph, and a sprinkling of cress for colour.  A glass of cranberry light at only 20 calories is my go-to breakfast juice these days.

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I made sure I had plenty of water for the drive, even though daughter purloined my emergency orange! Lunch was homemade vegetable soup – I passed on the wheaten bread and cheese, as well as the smoked salmon and crisps nibbles, but did allow myself one small traybake. And one fudge Heroes. And a quality street toffee stick on the journey home.

For dinner I rustled up a rather fabulous gourmet salad. I’ve been experimenting with quark ever since reading a discussion about it and fromage frais on MFP. I’ve previously used a Jamie 15 minute recipe for a lighter ceasar salad dressing using yoghurt, so I decided to adapt that for quark.

ARTICHOKE CEASAR

In a bowl, mash 2 anchovies. Stir in 2 good blobs of quark, and season with black pepper.
Arrange quartered artichoke hearts and thick slices of cucumber on the dressing. Sprinkle with cress.

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The contrast of textures is lovely – the solid earthiness of the artichokes against the crisp cool crunch of the cucumber, in the velvety creaminess of the dressing, with a slight tang, and a hum provided by the anchovies. All for under 100 calories.

And I really enjoyed the suggestion of a fellow 5and2er for a special and refreshing drink – fake Pimms.  Add a splash of angostura bitters and some balsamic vinegar to a glass filled with ice, top up with soda water, and add chunks of whatever’s to hand – in my case cucumber and cantaloupe, which was a surprisingly good combination!  I must pass this on to my vinegar-loving best friend.

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5and2: Hairy Dieters

Posted on April 14, 2013 by lindaharley

I managed to fast on Monday and Thursday this week, which is my ideal spacing of the 2 low days.

On Monday I had Scottish Dancing in the evening – having something to go to which requires me to drive is a great way to take my mind off fasting. I munched my way through half a bag of dulse during the day – that’s a local dried seaweed, which is full of mineral goodness but only about 20 calories per bag.  Must get some more of this for next week.   I defrosted a portion of my chicky-leeky soup as a quick meal before I went out.

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On Tuesday, even though it was a normal day, I tried one of the Hairy Dieters recipes – the parma wrapped cod on roast veg. Husband thought it delicious  and he’s keen to try other recipes from the book. It seems to be a great source of ideas when sharing meals with family. We went to see the guys at their stage show on Sunday, so I’d bought a signed copy of the book there.

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Thursday I took a different approach – I knew I’d be having a sandwich lunch through work, so I made myself a typical under 100 cal breakfast, and was amazed that I had a choice of several meals in mind for under 100 cals for dinner. I could have made a big fruit salad with melon, blueberries, grapefruit and pears. I could have used those zero noodles and done a tomato based sauce to go with. I had an aubergine which I could have turned into a sort of dip to eat with celery sticks. In the end, I went to the gym first, ran for 30 minutes without any problems, and wasn’t that hungry when I got home at 8. I made a small salad with half a tin of mushrooms, spinach leaves, 2 anchovies, 5 black olives and a splash of balsamic. Finished off the evening with 2 strawberries and an options hot chocolate, feeling really upbeat and positive. I might use this approach again in future, though it doesn’t get the “fasting” benefits.

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At the weekend I experimented with a low cal dessert recipe that was in the grauniad – lavender and banana ice-cream in parsnip tuile baskets. I had to hunt for lavender, but I got it in Sawers delicatessen eventually. As my daughter would comment “Mum, you always order the most random thing on the menu!” The ice cream bit was lovely – I always stick my over-ripe banananananas in the freezer, and they’re very easy to squish out of their skins and mix with a flavouring.  I’ll definitely be doing more of that.  But I didn’t get the tuile biscuits right, maybe the oven wasn’t hot enough.

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And since husband couldn’t believe that their were pies in the book, I made the Hairy Dieter’s chicken and ham tangle pie for Saturday dinner.  This was very tasty – full of flavoursome chunks of chicken, and I used a pack of ham hock from Sainsburys as the ham element.  I’m now poring over the mouthwatering photographs wondering which to try next!

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Chicky Leeky Soup

Posted on April 3, 2013 by lindaharley

Over indulged a bit at Easter – I loooooove marzipan, so I treated myself to a pack of mini Simnel cake bites, which I’m spreading out over the days. Thursday was out this week as a fast day, since I’m going to my Scottish Dance Class’s end of term dinner. Wednesday was a good choice as husband would be away all day. I don’t know that I’m strong enough to do either 2 days back-to-back or a weekend day just yet, so Monday became the other fast day.

I started Monday with one of my favourite all time breakfasts – soft boiled egg with steamed asparagus to dip in.

For dinner, I stir-fried a load of veg – mushrooms, onion, red pepper – using some Big Tom spiced tomato juice as the liquid.  It was quite filling, but my digestive system complained about that amount of veg in one go.

One Wednesday, I had breakfast of smoked salmon.  I was at work, and had a meeting in the afternoon, so I didn’t want any tummy rumbles  and so spread my calories throughout the day.  I spread a Laughing Cow Light on 2 Ryvita Black pepper crackers (this flavour is really good with cheese) mid-morning, and had a Tesco Chicken Noodle Cupasoup for lunch, followed by a satsuma.  Had a 10 cal jelly mid afternoon, and a string cheese immediately before my meeting.

For dinner, I made what I’m calling Chicky Leeky Soup.  I cant call it Cock-a-leekie as it uses breast, but it made 3 decent portions, so I’ve got plenty of options now in my freezer.

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One large chicken breast, in bite sized pieces

100g leeks

100g mushrooms

2 stalks celery

200g turnip or swede

a chicken stock cube.

Add all the diced veg and the chicken to about a litre of stock, and simmer until the chicken is cooked and the vegetables tender.  Season with black pepper.  Divided in 3, each portion was about 120 cals.

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