Away From The Madding Crowd

Katiehound

No exciting wildlife to report recently except that last night as I was pulling the bedroom curtains around 10.45 pm ((street lights were on by then) I spotted the hedgehog creeping along the hedge visiting 2 different gardens.

Last week when I went out to the car suddenly spotted a very noisy hen in the middle of the road! She had somehow escaped from the garden where they have a camera (& spotted hedgehog & regular fox.) So I 'chased'   her home. The owners wondered how she had escaped....... (One passerby asked if she was mine!- not quite the space with a terraced house garden)

Humboldt

Hi @Katiehound,  seeing a hedgehog in the wild sounds exciting, as does escorting a noisy hen enjoying a night on the town safely back to it's home lol.

Today's simple pleasure (technically yesterday's)  - I was able to prove my focaccia dough outside in the sunshine. 

bluenose1

I look forward to reading your weekly update @humboldt and as usual it didn’t disappoint. Always in awe at you managing to stay within your grocery budget. We spend approx £600 for 3 of us which I know could be reduced if I was more savvy.
Decided that although I get plenty of exercise I need to eat less  and cut out chocolate etc.
Therefore trying to cut out processed food. From what I have read most people do not not eat enough fibre or protein so monitoring my intake. To increase fibre been adding chia seeds to all my Greek yoghurt and fresh fruit desserts, which have  been surprisingly tasty. Plus started using black beans in salads. Aiming for 30g of fibre a day.
Off to London this weekend for my cousins wedding and haven’t a clue what to wear, as usual left it too late but have ordered about 10 new dresses from Next. No doubt I will prefer something I already have.

Humboldt

Hi @Bluenose1 your kind comments are much appreciated. 

I am no expert on healthy eating, and most of what I have learnt has come from the websites that I mentioned in my post on 13th June.  In terms of fibre/protein, we eat an oat-based breakfast on average 5 times a week; this includes organic oats (£1.99 at Ald!), no-sugar soya milk, chia seeds and/or a mixture of milled nuts (only bought when on offer), fruit (fresh, tinned, or frozen), and Greek yogurt (£1.89 at Ald!).  Together with lots of fruit and veg, beans also now feature heavily in our diet. In fact, this week’s Tuscan bean soup includes 3 different varieties, the chunky vegetable chilli has red kidney beans, and other soups from the freezer will no doubt include lentils and/or other types of beans.  Often referred to as ‘cheap fillers,’ these foods are exactly that, costing just 49p a tin in Ald! (probably cheaper still if you bought dried beans).  Apparently, beans provide both protein and fibre which has multiple benefits, including keeping us feeling full for longer. We have also switched to eating wholemeal cereals/pasta. 

Because we eat less processed food (we never ate that much anyway), cook many of our meals from scratch, and actively seek out discounts/reduced price food, I have managed to make these tweaks in our diet whilst staying within our allocated budget.  I can only attribute this to the fact that we buy few processed meat products, fizzy drinks, and snacks i.e. biscuits, chocolate bars, crisps, etc. I have also realised that there is often a much cheaper, healthier alternative for some meals, i.e. quality beef mince is sometimes replaced with a tin of 49p green lentils when making a bolognaise.  

We are new to this and by no means saints; we continue to enjoy the odd bacon sandwich, decent steak, slice of cake, bag of crisps, quality burger, etc, and are very much looking forward to our deep-fried fish and chips takeaway on Friday, but for health reasons we now make more informed choices.  As always, this is our decision and I am aware that others will no doubt have a different view, but there is no judgement here.

I will share a cake recipe that we enjoy below.  Whilst the texture is heavier than a ‘normal’ cake and is more like that of a breakfast bar, it does make a welcome treat now and again. I would just like to add that I had not heard of golden flaxseed until a few months ago lol.

Banana and chocolate loaf (Br!tish He@rt Foundati0n recipe)

Preheat oven to 160 degrees fan/180c/gas 4.  Line a 2lb loaf tin with non-stick paper.

Sift 50g of s/r flour (I use wholemeal), 25g cocoa power (a good quality one not only tastes better, but is healthier), into a bowl and stir in 40g of porridge oats, reserving 1 tsp. Place 50g of flaxseeds (I use golden flaxseed) in a bowl and pour over 200ml low-fat milk (I use semi-skimmed). Stir well, leave to stand for 10 minutes then whisk in 70g of light brown soft sugar (I used 60g of golden caster sugar), 1 ripe mashed banana and ¼ tsp of nutmeg (I use fresh bought for pence whilst on holiday). Fold the dry ingredients into the banana and milk mixture. Spoon into the prepared tin, sprinkle with the reserved oats, and bake for 40 minutes until risen and firm to touch, and a metal skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.  Transfer to a rack to cool. The recipe tells you to cut into slices, but I cut into bars and freeze between greaseproof paper (it takes about 2 hours for a bar to defrost).

Enjoy the family wedding at the weekend and good luck with finding an outfit. 

Today's simple pleasure - transplanted some of my cucumber seedlings into the veg box, and sowed coriander and basil seeds in the herb boxes. Topped up on my Vitamin D whilst doing so.

bluenose1

Thanks for the advice @humboldt and the delicious sounding cake recipe.
Have started to eat black beans and chia seeds etc, as you say they are a cheap filler with the benefit of being good for us. I had never included any of these in my diet until very recently,

When I am being what I call “good” I tend to eat low carb so very rarely have oats, pasta etc, but will eat beans and chia seeds.
All our meals are cooked from scratch as worry about what is in processed food, especially when I read the ingredients label….. 
Have been reading a book about Menopause after hearing the author on a podcast that suggests for optimal health to eat majority of calories from  protein, healthy fats with healthy carbs. Including approx 30g of fibre a day. So making a concerted effort to do that and hoping there will be the added side benefit of some weight loss.

My fave dessert at moment is strawberries, blueberries, Fage 5% greek yoghurt sprinkled with chia seeds and desiccated coconut. This has approx 10g of fibre and the coconut makes it feel really  rich and creamy.

Chose my dress for the wedding, now have to return about 9 dresses to Next and get packed.
My simple pleasure today was a “slow” run in our lovely woods and seeing a robin in our garden on my return. Also very much appreciated my morning coffee after the exercise.
Have a great weekend all.

Humboldt

Hello and welcome.

Motivational quote of the week

We do not stop playing because we are old.  We grow old because we stop playing – George Bernard Shaw.

Money saving

Our monthly grocery budget for me and my DH is £250. Week 4 spend for June was £59.39.  Total spend for June was £233.90 (£16.10 under budget).

Savings interest for June was £164.19.  Having checked our June bank statement, we have transferred some monies into our savings accounts.

In June we earned £3.01 Power Move/Flex credit via our gas/electric provider.

Took advantage of Sainsbury’s ‘buy 6 or more bottles of wine and save 25%’, resulting in a reduction of £10.10.

This week’s main menu

Monday – Pesto pasta. I make my own pesto using fresh basil, walnuts (less expensive than pine nuts), olive oil, parmesan (or a less expensive version), and lemon juice/zest (Go0d Fo0d recipe).  I will add courgette, cherry tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms and peppers. Will make enough pesto to be able to freeze a couple of portions. Unwaxed lemons currently on offer at Aldi 4 for 59p.

Tuesday – Coconut prawn curry (H@iry D!eter’s recipe) with a small portion of brown rice. I will use the leftover fresh spinach, and some coconut milk from the freezer (this recipe only uses half a tin of reduced-fat coconut milk so I often freeze the other half).   

Wednesday – Honey, garlic, and lemon chicken (from my recipe scrapbook), with green salad.  A family favourite and very simple – preheat the oven to 200c/gas6/fan 170 from cold.  Squeeze the juice from 2 lemons and put in a small pan with 50g butter (I will use an olive spread), 3 tbsp clear honey, 1 clove of garlic finely chopped, 4 rosemary sprigs (leaves stripped from stalks) and seasoning. Heat gently until the butter melts.  Arrange 8 chicken thighs (could use drumsticks) in a shallow roasting tin.  Cut 750g of new potatoes into smallish chunks (I will use a mixture of carrots and potatoes) and place around the chicken.  Drizzle the lemon butter over the chicken and potatoes and turn until evenly coated.  Cut an extra lemon into 8 wedges and nestle amongst the chicken and potatoes.  Roast for 50 minutes to 1 hour, stirring a couple of times, until the chicken is cooked and the potatoes are crisp and golden (I generally leave for 15 mins longer).  Enough for 4 people.

Thursday – Ping meal – as above – cook once, eat twice – saves on time and energy costs.

Friday – Stuffed peppers (I will stuff with leftover vegetarian chilli from the freezer), with salad.  I will cook the stuffed peppers in the microwave, topping with grated mozzarella.

Saturday – Cod and chorizo fishcakes, new potatoes (fresh), carrots (fresh), peas (frozen), and tartar sauce (homemade).  Fishcakes were reduced in price and frozen until required. I will cook the ratatouille for tomorrow’s meal at the same time as the fishcakes.

Sunday – Tuna with ratatouille (H@iry D!eter’s recipe).  I will swap the tuna for salmon.  Salmon was reduced in price and frozen until required.

Breakfasts continue to be oat based and currently include lots of our homegrown strawberries. Lunches will include various salads and homemade soups from the freezer.

Healthier lifestyle

Completed 2 free workouts last week via Fabul0us50’s on Y0utube.

Step count last week was 42,317.

Completed 5 free meditations last week.

Simple pleasures

Took advantage of a sunny day and placed my house plants outside in the garden for a while.  All were fed and had their leaves cleaned.  Those that had outgrown their pots were moved into larger ones, new baby plants were potted into their own pots, and compost was refreshed. Perhaps a job that should have been done in the Spring, but the plants now look better for it.

Sorted a bag of clothes/books to take to a charity shop.

My rainbow chard seeds have germinated.  Fingers crossed they continue to grow until they are big enough to take their chances in the garden borders (no room in the veg boxes).  They did ok in the borders last year and provided a great colour contrast amongst the flowers.

A trip to the coast with my DH.  A walk along the beach, then we just sat and enjoyed the view with our takeaway coffee and flapjack.

Thanks for dropping by and taking the time to read my diary.

mark55man

Love the quote - I'm still playing!!

Humboldt

@mark55man me too!

Today's simple pleasure - DH and I have been enjoying catching up with this year's coverage of the Glastonbury Festival.

mark55man

My OH and I will be watching Glasto on iPlayer as we missed a lot of it, and there is so much to see.  We won't be putting a tent up in the lounge, but will take it mainly seriously

bluenose1

 Thanks @Humboldt, lovely read. Really like the look of the lemon chicken recipe.
Back after a three day break in London for my cousins wedding, lovely to see family members from far and wide. We ate and drank far too much, but had a brilliant, laughter filled time so was well worth it.

Noticed we have our first ripe strawberry, may have to split it between the 3 of us
No football on tonight so may treat myself to something like  Bridgerton.