Weezl and friends Phase 3 - sitting pretty with Kitty

weezl74

Sian_the_Green wrote: »

Ooh, well I don't know how the whole meal works out in terms of timings but could the onion be roasted with the pork for a bit first, then it would soak up some lovely juices, but probably not enough to steal from the gravy. I can see why people may be against the idea of the fruit initially but wonder if it would be possible to soak it and then mash it up so that you didn't have whole raisins etc...

yes.

All of which would need a tester

Allegra

Or suggest an alternative where sausages for the cochons are used to make the stuffing and then stuffing used to stuff the onions.....

Sian, am at work so no Skype access atm, but will have a look and feed stuff back on Skype this eve if I can

alec_eiffel

ariarnia wrote: »

yes, I understand, I was just attempting to highlight something that could go in one of the guides. I know a lot of people with dislikes/intolerances/actual allergies that avoid trying something new as it is a fuss to work out substitutions and just wondered if there was any way of highlighting what is comparative to each other rather than them falling back on what they'd normally eat out of habit.

I mean, I assume the brazil nut and seed spread and the nut butter are both there for protein. The easiest thing that springs to mind as a protein sub is either eggs, sprouted seeds, or cheese.

I would have automatically thought of chickpeas as a carb rather than a protein, so I've never really thought of hummus as protein rich substitute for peanut butter.

Not sure why. But for myself I would have subbed in cheese on toast or egg on toast. Neither of which I think are going spare in the planner and both of which might mess up the nutrients, so as the nut butters are 46p I’d prob spend £2 buying cheese or try and steal some eggs (I’m not sure how much a half doz cost, but £1?)

I'm not sure how you feel about this, but it might be part of your teaching to fish thing?

Is this not a situation where we, the reader, have to bring a little to the table though? I should imagine that very few people stick to the planner to the absolute letter, it's a plan, a template, which will suit some people 100% and some people 1%. It's about menus that fulfil the criteria, not one that attempts to anticipate every single eventuality. So if there's something in there that's not appropriate for our needs we can jiggle it about to fit rather than expect to be spoonfed it by the planner.

For example (and this is not about this planner) I don't eat cheese, but I don't expect all recipes to anticipate a non-cheese eater so I find a work around myself - and if I find a great alternative I can always offer this alternative up as it might be useful to someone else. But a planner is a two way process - the planner suggests and we tweak if necessary.

weezl74

ariarnia wrote: »

yes, I understand, I was just attempting to highlight something that could go in one of the guides. I know a lot of people with dislikes/intolerances/actual allergies that avoid trying something new as it is a fuss to work out substitutions and just wondered if there was any way of highlighting what is comparative to each other rather than them falling back on what they'd normally eat out of habit.

I mean, I assume the brazil nut and seed spread and the nut butter are both there for protein. The easiest thing that springs to mind as a protein sub is either eggs, sprouted seeds, or cheese.

I would have automatically thought of chickpeas as a carb rather than a protein, so I've never really thought of hummus as protein rich substitute for peanut butter.

Not sure why. But for myself I would have subbed in cheese on toast or egg on toast. Neither of which I think are going spare in the planner and both of which might mess up the nutrients, so as the nut butters are 46p I’d prob spend £2 buying cheese or try and steal some eggs (I’m not sure how much a half doz cost, but £1?)

I'm not sure how you feel about this, but it might be part of your teaching to fish thing?

Hi thanks for those thoughts,:) I understand you're saying that it's a protein concern. At the end of october we are likely to be able to go live with our nutrition boxes on each recipe which will state the amount of protein in each recipe.

Do you think that will help shirley to choose more hummus and not reach for a block of cheese?

ariarnia

Allegra wrote: »

Or suggest an alternative where sausages for the cochons are used to make the stuffing and then stuffing used to stuff the onions.....

Sian, am at work so no Skype access atm, but will have a look and feed stuff back on Skype this eve if I can

that sounds really tasty.

ariarnia

I think it's just the same kind of thing as the ready break. I'll happily come up with alternatives for myself - I have been doing for some of the things that I just didn't fancy. I'm just saying that if I don't understand the place an ingredient holds in the planner then my sub won't be the best and may be very bad for me (block o' cheese) or the budget (again, block o' cheese)

People might not eat the ready break because they don't understand that the calcium is important. People might not think about the hummus for protein as they don't think that pulses are protein.

As I said, I’m not expecting recipe alternatives, but maybe in the alternatives guide just a couple of sentences explaining the values of some ingredients that you might not expect (ready break = + calcium, chickpeas/pulses are classed as a portion or veg, or protein, or carb (dependant on the rest of the meal), maybe even that onion counts as one of your 5 a day.)
Just the same as we’ve(royal we) explained that tinned fruit/veg is as good as fresh.

I don't know if the nutritional boxes would help at a casual glance, but more info is always better when you're trying to make an infomed choice.

I like faq's myself. I like learning little things that I didn't know before. I think that's one of the reasons I like this forum so much.

alec_eiffel

I think we'll just have to agree to disagree about this one. I understand your point but I also think that it's up to me to understand the nutrition of the food I eat - especially in terms of a "special diet". And taking your cheese example, it solves a problem for you as a nut allergy sufferer but not for someone with a dairy issue. I'm not having a go at you, just that if someone wants to make a change it's up to them, imo, to educate themselves, not to expect a money saving menu plan to be the font of all knowledge.

ariarnia

I completely respect your view, but my view of Shirley was of someone who needed this meal plan as she didn't understand how food and nutrition worked and the aim was to educate them to be able to fish.

That's just my idea of Shirley. She means well, her son doesn't/can’t eat nuts and everything says ‘may contain nuts’ and she's trying the best she can and so paying well over the odds for organic nut/dairy and gluten free stuff as she honestly doesn't understand how anything can be done for cheaper/with better suited alternatives.

And why would she want to feed her kids readybreak when they can afford ‘proper’ oats?

Anyhoo, got to get back to work. Ultimately everyone will think differently and I respect that you do educate yourself, I know a lot of people don't though, unfortunately.

Julimk

Hi ariarnia

There is a 'how to fish' basic nutrition article in the pipeline, which will cover exactly things like don't forget that the onions in the recipe count towards your five-a-day. But it is a very fine line as we cannot give advice & individual circumstances will vary. So there will be some pointing in the right direction if want to know more.

The nutrition boxes should also help with those who want to substitute, as will be able to see what else is similar. Already live, on the recipes with the instant oats is a 'why' & if you hover over it a box pops up explaining it is for the calcium & B12.

Sian_the_Green

weezl74 wrote: »

yes.

All of which would need a tester

Je comprends. I have a very busy week (my brother gets married Friday) but I can do Sunday. Would that work or is it too late? I could have a fiddle with the stuffing but get the impression it needs to be a whole meal experiment not just the stuffing to see if it works. I like Allegra's idea with the stuffing in the onions too, and the idea of the sausages in the stuffing. Theoretically if all the ingredients are used in the meal, does it matter where in the meal certain things fall?
I think I will need to invite some people around for tea Do you have a general estimate of the cost of just that meal? I am assuming that is the crowning glory of the week and so will be a slightly more expensive one.
HTH