The Ten a Day challenge, join me

Fruittea

Hi Everyone
I've been out of action since the weekend - bad cold and have been relying on OH to make meals - still been eating lots of veg soup but I just haven't had the appetite but I'm back as the main house cook today.
I saw this article about veggie breakfasts and thought some of it sounds good:

http://www.thekitchn.com/20-ways-to-eat-more-vegetables-at-breakfast-242513??utm_source=email_newsletter&utm_medium=email_postup&utm_campaign=20%20Vegetable-Packed%20Breakfasts,%205%20Budget%20Weeknight%20Meals%20&%20More%20from%20The%20Kitchn

I'm on their mailing list and it's usually quite interesting.
Other breakfast ideas are avocado with toast and I quite like spinach with scrabbled egg. Any bean spreads are also good - so a bit like hummus but without the garlic.
Lunch for me today will be a mixed veg bake - so plenty there. Then berry jelly and orange. And it will be charred cauliflower and coconut curry with brown rice and broccoli this evening.

PasturesNew

I had a plum earlier ..... I'll most likely have baked beans for lunch.

So today will be a max of 2... and 1 plum isn't a portion

MallyGirl

I totally fail on veg for breakfast as I don't eat cheese or egg and am not that keen on bread. At a push I can manage a pancake so I am going to give these veg pancakes a go.
http://markbittman.com/recipe/vegetable-pancakes/
The ratio of veg to pancake goes the right way (for me) and I have a load of veg to finish up before going away. I can freeze the leftovers.

oldtractor

You are all such a lovely lot of posters. Thanks very much for the links and ideas. xxx

Fruittea

Yes Oldtractor it's lovely to read the posts and hear about all the different ideas.
Breakfast for me this morning was spinach stuffed mushrooms and scrambled eggs.
Lunch is leftover veg bake with side salad, berry jelly and an orange.
Dinner will be pasta with prawns and broccoli. Plenty of veg in todays menu.
I'll also bake a couple of banana cakes as I have some frozen bananas to use - I have a neighbour who really likes the cakes and I'm trying to clear the freezer out by the start of the product season.
All the best.

Fruittea

Everyone seems to have gone a bit quiet on the veg front - does this mean you're all eating steak for dinner! I've not been doing too bad on the veg side of things. Last night I made a veg pie which was very nice.
The filling was spinach, potatoes and courgette with some pesto worked through it. I used puff pastry which puffed up nicely and was a bit of a treat as it's something I don't eat a lot of - I served it with corn. I'm trying to use up reserves in the freezer so I can defrost it - so all the supplies were in the freezer.
So today: breakfast mushrooms and eggs. Lunch will be last nights pie with salad and veggie spag bol. Also orange and berry jelly - so defo 10 in there today.

oldtractor

Fruittea you are a mine of information and recipes. I am getting sort of stuck with veg and tomato stew/ratatouille. your pie sounds delicious

Fruittea

Thank you Oldtracktor - I'm sure you're a very good cook. I'm lucky as I have an allotment so I always have plenty of veg around and any extras go into the freezers - at this time of year I try to get through the frozen stuff ready for the new season.
I've jotted down the recipe if you would like to try it. It's a very economical dish and you can swap in or out any of the veg. This was last nights version:


3 gloves garlic
3 leeks
6 chunks of frozen spinach
2 potatoes
1 courgette
Small pot of pesto sauce
Packet of puff pastry
¼ teaspoon of ground black pepper
1 tablespoon oil
1 whisked egg for glazing


For the filling:
Thinly slice the leeks (or onions) and lightly fry with the garlic in the oil.
Cube the courgettes and potato into small bite sized cubes. Defrost spinach and squeeze out any water.
Simmer the cubed potato for about 10 minutes then drain. If the courgette it fresh lightly fry it with the leeks.
Mix all the veg together with the pesto sauce and the pepper and leave to cool a bit.


Pastry:
Cut the cube of pastry in half. And roll out to the size of your dish – I use a tin plate the size of a dinner plate. Stab the pastry bottom, cover with parchment and baking beads and bake at 180 for 10 minutes. Then remove from the oven take off the parchment and beads and cool for a few minutes.


Roll out the top of the pastry. I double edge the pastry around the edge of the plate as I like it nice and thick.
Fill the pie with the veg – I like it really stacked up high.
Glaze the bottom edge of the pie with the beaten egg.
Pop the top on and seal and glaze with egg. Make a couple of little holes in the top of the pastry to let the air out. I use any leftover pastry to make a pattern on the top of the pastry lid.
Bake for 25minutes at 180.
It was nice again for lunch - reheated in the oven for about 10 minutes. It made 4 very large portion but it could stretch to 6 if served with some peas or corn as sides.
All the best.

oldtractor

am back after a long absence. I have succeeded on the 10 a day front. its easier that expected now. there have been hiccups along the way but I usually now manage AT LEAST 10 portions ! the side effect has been weight loss which is good for health I expect. I now have 2 or 3 pieces of fruit with breakfast or 2 veg if its omelettes. lunch is plant based, veg soups, salads and so on dinner is 3 or 4 veg with afish or meat or eggs and fruit for pud. snacks are fruit or celery or a handful of nuts. most days that adds up to 10 to 12 portions. so if for some reason its a bad day I reckon to have 7 portions of fruit and veg , still above the 5 a day thing. am happy.

sillyvixen

Fruittea wrote: »

Sounds like a good idea - I'll give it a try. I think I do it most days as I have a plant and fish based diet. This was me today.
Beans on toast 3
Slice of veg pizza and mixed salad 3
Banana 1
Veggie paella with a whole heap of different veg 3
Plum crumble with about 10 plums 2?
A couple of my numbers are guestaments as I'm not sure of the amounts and if cooking the plums makes a difference.

I though only 1 serving of beans, or the same fruit or veg counted, so you you could eat 5 portions of beans and 5 portions of plums and still only achieve 2 of your 5 a day. I am veggie and just about manage 5 a day dispite eating big portions of veg and pulses... I wonder how meat eaters manage it!