Eating what's in the cupboards

8^th July 2017

Mistakes and ‘failure’ means you are trying, you are alive, and you care. Real failure is when you give up before you reach your goal — everything else up to that point is progress.

I'm working my way through the kitchen, yesterday I used up the stuff in the fridge to make lunch, steamed some sliced potatoes, chopped spring onions that were left over from my cooking demo's, bacon (dry fried till crispy), layered it all in a dish and poured over a mushroom pasta sauce I had in the fridge then topped with cheese and tomato and banged it in the oven, worked out at about 13sp a portion, served 4. It was delicious and simple!

For tea I'd bought a pack of 6 bread rolls from Aldi for about 50p and I found a packet of John West mackerel with a twist in the cupboard, only 2sp for the pack, so I had that and ranch coleslaw on a cob for 7sp. Did the job, I was still hungry though, actually I wasn't hungry really, I still wanted to eat, completely different thing, so I had a ham cob too, the cobs were 4sp each and the ham a point so not too bad.

I've not tracked all week again which isn't going to help the results at the scales at all! It's a bit like having a wash isn't it, that has to be done daily and so does healthy eating if you want to continually lose weight, so back to it today, I've let things slide a bit, I'll blame moms birthday but that isn't really the reason, it's just bad habits are like comfy beds, really easy to get into, not so easy to get out of, speaking of which, I could easily spend all weekend in my comfy bed.

I've got some veggie burgers (7sp I think they are) in the freezer we're going to have today, that's what I bought the cobs for, quick and easy when I get home this afternoon and don't feel like cooking.

The danger of eating out of the kitchen is not having fruit and veggies, I'm not too fussed about fruit as long as I get plenty of veggies, so I will stock up as and when I need them, I've got some stuff still. There's a butternut squash I need to do something with.

I've been watched Eat Well For Less and saw this recipe on there the other night, I really fancy giving it a go;

Rainbow noodles

Preparation time less than 30 mins

Cooking time 10 to 30 mins

Serves 4, 9sp per serving (36sp total)

Ingredients

250g/9oz wholewheat egg noodles (25sp)

1 tbsp vegetable oil (4sp)

1 red pepper, seeds removed and finely sliced

1 small bunch spring onions, finely sliced

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 large carrots, peeled into ribbons with vegetable peeler

1 medium courgette, peeled into ribbons with a vegetable peeler, then shredded

3 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce (3sp)

1 lime, juice only

150ml/5fl oz vegetable stock

25g/1oz roasted unsalted peanuts, lightly crushed (4sp)

2 tbsp roughly chopped fresh coriander

1 red chilli, roughly chopped

Method

Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and cook the noodles according to packet instructions. Drain and set aside.

Heat the oil in a wok over a high heat and stir-fry the pepper for 2 minutes, until just softened. Add the spring onion and garlic and stir-fry for another minute. Add the carrot and courgette and stir-fry for 1 minute.

Put the soy, sweet chilli sauce, lime juice and stock into a jam jar, screw the lid on and shake until combined.

Pour the dressing into the wok and bring to the boil, simmer for 1 minute until the vegetables have softened.

Stir in the drained noodles and heat through. Top with the crushed peanuts, chopped coriander and chilli. Serve.

Right I better go get ready for my last cooking demo of the week, ten times I've cooked this meal this week and I could still eat it for my tea tonight!

Here's to a great Saturday and hopefully a weekend of sunshines and smiles.