What I’ll be eating in the New Year.

Turkey mince chill with cauliflower rice and frozen berries for dessert

Courgetti

Pad Thai, form Gizzi Erskine's 'Gizzi's Healthy Appetite'

Weekend lunches!  More faux carbs.

Weekends were made for baking

Every busy woman needs a slow cooker.

Homemade soup: #lunchtimeessential

This has been my first week back at work after the Christmas holidays. I felt depressed until about 2pm on Wednesday when I got my mojo back and suddenly released my head form up my own arse.  I’ve also been back on the healthy eating this week as well because I’ll be having my wedding dress fitted in February and want to lose the Christmas bloat.  When I tried the dress on back in October (it was the first one I picked up and just knew it was the one for me) it fit perfectly pretty much. It did feel a little snug around my hips but the lady in the shop said it was perfect and will only let it out by an inch or so for me. 

It’s not just a wedding dress that motivates me to eat well. If I over eat sugary or processed foods, I just feel rubbish.  For me, healthy eating is a lifestyle choice and though I allow myself treats, I try to eat as clean as possible.  When I put fresh, natural food in my body and exercise, I end up the size that I am which, in my mind, is my body at its healthiest.

The first week back at work meant a load of batch cooking the weekend before.  This is what I cooked, ate and enjoyed this week:

1.        Breakfasts for me is ALWAYS carb based, otherwise I’d pass out by 9am.  I either have porridge with honey and blueberries or porridge with maple syrup and sea salt (a more natural, free from refined sugar version of salted caramel).  I’ll always have a small handful of nuts at around 9am too as porridge doesn’t quite sustain me until it’s time for my mid-morning snack! Before I have my first coffee of the day and my breakfast, I always have a mug of hot water with lemon too to kick-start my insides! If I fancy toast, I have 3 thick slices of wholemeal bread with dairy free spread and sugar free, organic peanut butter (this one).

2.       Mid-morning snacks are sometimes a sweet treat like these lemon and poppy seed muffins from the Hemsley and Hemsley cookbook- they’re free from gluten, refined sugar and lactose if you use non-dairy butter. If I’m not on a muffin, I’ll usually have an orange which, for the love of god, peel the night before so it’s ready to eat- I have often spent my entire morning break just peeling the sodding things!  I am also a massive fan of a couple of sticks of celery with a little peanut butter on- you’ve got to try it to believe it but it’s so yummy!

3.       Lunches for me might be a mackerel or tuna salad, pastry free quiche (recipes here) or home-made soup. I’m obsessed with making my own soup and make mass quantities of it in my soup maker, which I got for Christmas last year. Yes. That’s right. I asked for a soup maker and mad loads of wonderful concoctions with it (click here for recipes)

4.       Afternoon snack- always, always a Pink Lady apple.  Cost a fricking fortune unless you get them from Aldi, but worth it.

5.       Dinner- has to be quick. If I’m cooking, then an omelette, but I usually tend to batch cook dinners on the weekend. Can be anything and everything from curry to stews and casseroles made in the slow cooker. Have a look at the blog I wrote last year for healthy dinner options.

Tonight’s dinner triumph was a chicken casserole: put 400g of diced chicken, an onion and 500g of diced swede into your slow cooker.  In a measuring jug, dissolve 1 chicken stock cube in 400ml of water and then stir in 2 teaspoons of oregano and 4 tablespoons of tomato puree.  In a separate dish, mix one tablespoon of corn flour with one tablespoon of water and then add this to the measuring jug. Pour the mix into the slow cooker and cook on low for 7-8 hours. Serve alone or with some brown rice.

Healthy comfort food!  Perfect to come home to on a Friday night along with a glass of prosecco because let’s face it- if you’re healthy in the week, who wants to do Dry January anyway?