How do you lose that last couple of kilos???

Find a garden full of stones and start digging!!

  I have a little problem with high cholesterol. I manage it with eating well and plenty of exercise.  I have been trying to lose a couple of kilos before I go back for my cholesterol test.  But it was so difficult, I always eat too much food!!! A week of digging  when I got chance and those two little kilos have melted away. I still have the pile of stones to move. I can’t believe how many rocks I pulled out of that garden.  But it is done now all I have to do is move the rocks add some compost and it is ready for planting.

Tonights dinner was a lovely spanish inspired omelette with fried potato, onion and bacon topped with grilled radicchio and choy sum flowers.                                     

If you grill the radicchio in a pan once it is cooked you can shake balsamic vinegar over, very tasty.

Tonight I am making one of my two favorite fruit breakfast foods. An apple and apricot spread.  It began as a recipe from Australian Whole foods by Marcea Weber and has evolved into this recipe that that I can eat and eat and eat. I have had this book for 30 years and have cooked this spread many times.

6 Granny Smith Apples cored and roughly chopped no need to peel.

500g dried apricots.

2 cups of sultanas.

3 star anise.

Enough apple juice to cover.

1 tbs miso.

Place everything in a large pan except the miso, bring to boil turn down and simmer uncovered till everything is cooked and broken down.  It takes an hour or two.  Once it is finished cooking take off the heat and stir through the miso.

It is the miso that gives it the most amazing wholefoodie flavour.  Miso is a Umami food. (umami is the fifth primary taste an amino acid) It is the taste that makes us all go ummm!!!

I am meeting my friend tomorrow for her birthday, so I have made her bircher muesli with vanilla yogurt and a container of this lovely umami apple and apricot spread.

Dinner in 20 minutes.

3 Chicken breasts diced. Stir fried with 4 or 5 roughly chopped garlic cloves and two teaspoons of five spice powder, a sprinkle of soy sauce.  Some Cauliflower, Onion and about three cups of mung bean sprouts. We already had cooked rice, so it made a very quick meal perfect for a Friday evening.

I fried the chicken in organic coconut butter again, it cooked really well.  I always use the small gas burner when I cook with the wok. The coconut oil heated very hot and the chicken started to brown immediately.

If you only have an electric stove a single gas burner is very useful. Only gas heats up so quickly and with enough heat to seal the meat.  I love to see woks cooking in restaurants with the heat and the flames.

Tomorrow a day in the garden.

Choy Sum and an experiment with organic coconut butter.

  .

The Choy Sum has been very interesting, I couldn’t understand the tiny leaves.  Very different to what you buy.  Once the flower shot up it all became clear, the long leaves were attached to the thick flower stalk.

Chicken and Choy Sum for dinner tonight    

I cooked the chicken in organic coconut butter, It gave the chicken a lovely flavour. Coconut butter has no cholesterol and can be brought to a high heat without changing its nature. Its the first time I’ve cooked with it and everyone really enjoyed the food. I found the article below very helpful. You can use coconut oil/butter the same as butter or margerine. Although it is quite expensive it was worth trying and I will use more of it.

http://www.melrosehealth.com.au/health_products/Gluten_Free_Organic_Health_Food/Coconut-Oil.aspx

Kale, Radish, Mung beans and a Paw Paw for breakfast.

I am glad that I am the only person in the house who likes Paw Paw, because the Paw Paws on my tree are not very big.  Perfect for one person. It would have been beautiful with Bircher Muesli only I had forgotten that I had finished the Bircher Muesli yesterday. Check out the link above for my very favourite breakfast.

Kale, radish and mung beans with dinner tonight. Kale is considered one of the most nutritious vegetables in the world with powerful antioxidant properties.

It is a member of the cabbage family and closely related to wild cabbage. It is a real heirloom vegetable having been eaten for centuries.   Check out the excerpt from Wikipedia below on its health benefits.

“Kale is very high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein, zeaxanthin, and reasonably rich in calcium. Kale, as with broccoli and other brassicas, contains sulforaphane (particularly when chopped or minced), a chemical believed to have potent anti-cancer properties.^{[citation needed]} Boiling decreases the level of sulforaphane; however, steaming, microwaving, or stir frying do not result in significant loss.^[2] Along with other brassica vegetables, kale is also a source ofindole-3-carbinol, a chemical which boosts DNA repair in cells and appears to block the growth of cancer cells.^[3][4] Kale is also a good source of carotenoids”

My second planting of Kale is starting to grow nicely and I think that when I make the next garden bed I will be planting more.  Its has lots more flavour than white cabbage.

Spinach and Eggs

I have been cooking this dish for years, I’m not sure where it is from, it is  Eastern European perhaps Turkish or Armenian if you know then you can let me know. Wherever it is from it is delicious and is great for a light lunch.

Saute a large sliced onion, when soft add a bunch of spinach or silverbeet leaves. Cover and let spinach cook down. When cooked down add a handful of diced feta cheese.  Using a large spoon or soup ladle make dents in the spinach. Break a whole egg into each space, Cover and cook on a low heat till eggs are cooked.

The cheese melts, the liquid comes out of the spinach and all combines. Served with only crusty bread it makes a delicious lunch or a light meal. The rest of my family ate pies tonight but I can’t or maybe won’t eat them anymore not good for cholesterol. Better to eat eggs and spinach.

One of the spinach plants is going to seed. I am watching it carefully to see if I can collect the seeds ready for planting next year.

Growing, Growing, Growing and Making Mayonaise.

Carrots and Homemade Mayonaise

Everything is growing. When I got back from Sydney the beetroot are coming up, five of the English Spinach are showing. The radish, the Mizuna lettuce, the silverbeet all flourishing. We didn’t buy lettuce this week there is enough in the garden and the lettuce we pick fresh daily has taste and flavour.

Silverbeet is my alltime favourite leafy green,  tonight I sauteed an onion a couple of cloves of garlic, the silverbeet and a handful of blackeyed peas. With a couple of eggs dropped in. Lovely and very healthy.

Making Mayonnaise,

Beat egg yolk with a little mustard. Add oil very very slowly.  My recipe was one egg yolk and 500 mls of oil. The first batch I made separated, the way to recover the mayonnaise is to simply re-do it using another egg yolk.  Beat an egg yolk  and add the separated oil.  Same problem too quick, it separated.  I am determined to work this out.  Another egg yolk, this time I added the separated oil teaspoon by teaspoon. It worked perfectly I added a good squeeze of a nice juicy lemon and a clove of crushed garlic made it into an aioli.

The secret is slowly slowly slowly add the oil. The finished mayonnaise was thick creamy and tasty.

Back home – I missed my leafy greens

I had the results from my cholesterol test. The doctor says it is too high 6.9. I don’t want to take medicine. It is the other medicine I take that puts it up.  My diet is pretty healthy, but I can eat more vegetables, and keep running and walking.

leafy green salad, mizuna leaves, rocket, small silverbeet, lambs lettuce.  all out of the garden.  Beetroot leaves and baby beets sprinkled with a little lemon juice and some baby pickled onions.  Its good to be back home.  The tastiest dish tonight was the 3 leeks and 5 cloves of garlic sauteed in olive oil and stirred through the boiled potatoes, very healthy and very tasty.