Maintaining on 5:2 – enjoying the fruits of summer

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I reached my target weight of 55kgs during June and have been happily maintaining between 54-55 for the last few weeks. With 5:2, it is so easy! I really don’t have to worry about what I eat in between fast days, though compared to this time last year I am eating less carbs and fat, well less of everything actually, except for fresh veggies and fruits!

I love this time of year, when our evening meal is largely determined by what I can harvest from the garden :-

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Last week saw our first horticultural show in Lauzerte, organised by the VEEQ *Vivre Ensemble en Quercy* Garden Group.  I love my garden, so it was with enthusiasm that I entered loads of different categories to help fill up the tables and make a good show for the public. I was somewhat astonished to receive two cups and the magnificent trophy for Champion! I got a 1st for my mixed box of produce, shown above:- it gives you some idea of the choice I am spoiled with during the summer. All organically grown too.

Even if you aren’t lucky enough to have a garden, or to enjoy tending it, summertime is great for local seasonal produce and you can often pick up a bargain at market stalls.

Here’s a neat carb-free idea that you can do with courgettes of any shape, but I used patty pan squash, which are cropping abundantly :-

 Carb-free Summer Tartlets

summer tartletsSlices or halves of squash or courgette (slice a little off the bottom if using long courgettes, so they sit well on the tray), laid on a non-stick baking tray, lightly brushed with a little olive oil, sprinkled with finely chopped garlic or garlic powder, topped with either a slice of tomato and feta cheese, or grated cheese with tomato. Sprinkle with finely sliced basil, season with freshly ground black pepper and a little sea salt and bake near the top of the oven at about 220c for 10 – 15 minutes. 

A bit of a treat this week has been to have Strawberry Scones with Clotted Cream – I made a couple of batches of scones for the Horticultural Show, where we were serving English cream teas. So easy and quick to make and quite low in butter and sugar. I made up for that with the clotted cream, which was left over for us to buy at the end of the show. An afternoon tea-time treat. I much prefer using fresh fruit to jam. You could use thick creme fraîche instead of clotted cream. 

 

Strawberry Scones

 

I used Delia Smith’s Plain Scone recipe – about 100 calories per scone. Using about a tablespoon of cream between the two halves – add another 90. Including the strawberries then say 200 calories for this plate of yumminess. But whose counting?

Enjoy the summer while it lasts!

 

Summer Meal Plan for 5:2

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The forecast is for it to be hot and sunny all this coming week, so looking to do lots of fresh salads, cooking on the BBQ, chilled desserts and making the most of summer vegetables and fruit.

Ok, off to the shops now, armed with my meal plan. I’ll see how close I can get!

Saturday

thin crust wholewheat pizza with salad
fresh melon and berries

melon with cucumber, goats cheese and sundried tomatoes
BBQ salmon skewers with chargrilled courgettes and new potatoes
cherry and choc chip gelato with cherry cinnamon coulis

Sunday

salad niçoise (tuna, anchovies, olives, tomatoes, egg) with sauté potatoes
melon and blueberries

lamb and apricot tagine with minted cous-cous
creme catalan au lavande

Monday – Fast Day

Fresh green salad with nuts and seeds
Griddled sardines with tomato and red onion salad
Peach and raspberry sundae (frozen fromage frais)

Tuesday

Gazpacho
Salad with charcuterie, toasted walnuts and roquefort
Nectarine

bean and coriander dip with taco chips
griddled chicken and peppers in a tortilla wrap (fajitas)
frozen lime and coconut dessert

Wednesday

piedmont stuffed peppers with puy lentil salad
frozen banana ‘ice cream’

chicken skewers with satay sauce and pickled cucumber, with pilau rice
baked stuffed peaches

Thursday –  fast day

summer minestrone
crustless courgette quiche with green beans almandine and cole slaw
fresh fruit salad with fromage blanc

Friday

leftover crustless quiche with salads
peaches with blue cheese and crackers

steak haché with sauce au poivre, french fries and mixed salad
apricot frangipani tart with creme fraiche

A bowl of cherries becomes….. cherry cole slaw

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When faced with an abundance of something, it is well worth trying some new ideas……

Our cherry season is short and I tend to stone and freeze the majority of them, so that I can make pies, compotes, jam or whatever later on. 

Cherry Cole Slaw

I was making cole slaw to go with one of our BBQs and usually I add dried fruit, such as raisins, or maybe some chopped apple, but there was this big bow of fresh cherries in front of me, so I added some of those instead. They added just the right note of acidity and sweetness to contrast with the cabbage, carrots and creamy yogurt and mayo dressing. The borage flowers gave a rather lovely visual lift, I thought.

A bowl of cherries…..becomes Cherry and Choc Chip Gelato

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Fantastic crop of cherries this year, after 2 years of none.

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With the yellow and red cherries, I have made

  • Cherry, Vanilla and Lavender Jam
  • Cherry Pie Filling
  • Cherry and Cinnamon Samosas

and have about 10kg of frozen, stoned fruit to do something else with later.

Now the luscious dark red cherries are ripening. We have eaten handfuls of them just as they are, dripping with juice and with a lovely mix of sharpness and sweetness. Every day of sunshine sees them getting darker and sweeter.

This evening I picked some especially for making my version of Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia – fabulous flavour and not too bad on the calories (well I hope not, it IS a fast day…)

I suppose strictly this can’t be called Ice Cream, as it is made with Fromage Frais, not Cream. I decided on Gelato, as this has a softer texture, and is lower fat. Yummy.

Please note this recipe contains raw egg.

The calorie count is incorrect in the Recipe Card. On MyFitnessPal it came out to nearly 200 calories a serving! oops. If I can figure out what it doesn’t like, I’ll correct it.

Cherry and Choc Chip Gelato
Serves 6
a light but luscious frozen fromage frais dessert, with cherries, dark chocolate and a hint of kirsch
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Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
25 min
Total Time
35 min
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
25 min
Total Time
35 min
Ingredients
  1. 50g dark chocolate
  2. 100g Bing cherries
  3. 15ml kirsch liqueur
  4. 2 eggs
  5. 50g soft brown sugar
  6. 500g fromage frais
Instructions
  1. Pre-chill the ice-cream maker.
  2. Halve the cherries and put in a bowl with the kirsch, then refrigerate until needed.
  3. Chop the chocolate, then refrigerate.
  4. Whisk the eggs until light and fluffy.
  5. Add the sugar and fromage frais and mix with the whisk.
  6. Pour into the ice cream maker.
  7. Shortly before the ice cream is ready, add the cherries and chocolate and leave to mix for a couple of minutes longer.
  8. Transfer to a plastic container with lid and put in the freezer to firm up, for up to about 30 minutes, then serve.
Notes
  1. Best made shortly before serving.
  2. If freezing for a longer time, remove from the freezer about 10 minutes before serving so that it can soften enough to scoop.
  3. Serving based on 2 good sized scoops.
  4. Please note: this recipe contains raw egg.
Adapted from Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia
Adapted from Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia
Focus on Flavour https://www.focusonflavour.com/

Chargrilled Courgette Salad

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Chargrilled Courgette Salad

Griddled Courgette SaladHere’s something to celebrate the start of summer! 
Per person. Slice 1 medium courgette lengthways into 4 slices. Marinade in a little olive oil with finely chopped garlic and red chilli, then griddle on a ridged pan until tender. Toss with any remaining marinade mixed with lemon juice, chopped mint and chopped basil. Serve at room temperature on a bed of lettuce. Approx 70 Calories, using 1 tsp of olive oil. Would be nice with parmesan shavings or toasted pine nuts or other nuts/seeds sprinkled over.

Broad Bean and Walnut Salad

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I just love this time of year, when there are fresh broad beans to pick from the garden!

Here is a salad to celebrate delicious broad beans.

Broad Bean and Walnut Salad

Broad Bean and Walnut Salad

Ingredients:

Broad beans, lightly cooked
Red onion, finely sliced
Spring onion, finely sliced
White Radish, finely sliced
Walnut pieces, toasted
Parsley, chopped
Vinaigrette made with walnut vinegar*

This would work so well with a light fresh goat or sheep’s cheese, like feta! For my meat-eater I served it with some slivers of serrano ham and rosette sausage.

I had it on a pile of green leaves with some Cantal cheese and sliced tomato.

I haven’t calorie counted it as I didn’t weigh the ingredients, but it is the sort of healthy food that can be part of any day of eating.

*vinegar aromatised with walnuts is a common ingredient here in South West France, where walnuts grow happily. If you can’t find it, then you could use some walnut oil to get that lovely nutty flavour.

I used white radish as the red radishes looked a bit wilted in the shop, but they would be so pretty in this salad.

Hazelnuts would work too, as an alternative to walnuts.

Fast Day Stuffed Chicken Breast Dinner <350 calories

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Mushrooms, garlic and Serrano ham turn a simple chicken breast into a very tasty fast day dinner. 

Mushroom Stuffed Chicken

I usually aim for about 100g of chicken for me and a larger portion of about 140g for him.

I had thought of adding a light creamy sauce with chives, but it was pouring with rain and I didn’t want to go out into the garden to pick the chives, so I used a little pesto instead.

Wrapping the chicken in ham and then in foil helps to keep it nice and moist during cooking.

Mushroom Stuffed Chicken Breast
Serves 1
Mushrooms, Garlic and Serrano Ham transform a simple chicken breast into a tasty dinner for a 5:2 fast day
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Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
30 min
Total Time
45 min
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
30 min
Total Time
45 min
Ingredients
  1. 100g chicken breast
  2. 2 medium mushrooms, chopped small
  3. 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
  4. 1 tsp olive oil
  5. pinch ground cumin
  6. 1 tsp chopped coriander leaves
  7. sea salt
  8. freshly ground black pepper
  9. 1 tsp pesto
  10. 1 slice Serrano Ham, trimmed of fat
To serve
  1. 4 asparagus spears
  2. 1/2 medium carrot
  3. A few broad beans, podded
  4. 50g cauliflower florets
Instructions
  1. Heat the oven to 180c
  2. Heat the oil in a frying pan and gently saute the garlic for a minute or so and then add the mushrooms.
  3. Stir fry until the mushrooms are just cooked and starting to release their moisture.
  4. Remove from the heat and season with cumin, coriander leaf and pepper to taste (I don't add any salt, but you might wish to).
  5. Trim the chicken breast to the required size and remove any fat.
  6. Cut a diagonal slice into the thickest part of the flesh, without cutting all the way through, to make a pocket.
  7. Stuff the mushroom filling into the pocket and then wrap the parma ham around the chicken to help hold it together.
  8. I used a little pesto underneath the ham as additional flavouring, but if you are going to have a sauce with it, you could go without that.
  9. Wrap in foil, place on a baking tray and cook for 30 minutes.
  10. Meanwhile, boil the broad beans and until tender, then drain and peel them, unless they are tiny.
  11. Boil the cauliflower until tender, steam the asparagus and carrots over the top, then mash the cauliflower (add a little fromage frais or milk powder to enrich it if you like, or butter on a non-fast day).
  12. Unwrap the chicken and serve. I made a little jus by adding some of the cauliflower water to the residue left in the foil.
Notes
  1. Adjust your chicken portion according to your available calories or appetite! With 140g of chicken, the meal comes to 412 calories.
  2. You can use Parma Ham or Bayonne Ham instead of Serrano.
Focus on Flavour https://www.focusonflavour.com/

A strange side-effect of 5:2 ?

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Since regaining a healthy weight we are both feeling more energetic and re-invigorated with a zest for life. No bad thing!

What has happened though is that thoughts that we were mulling over have suddenly taken a life of their own and we have found ourselves deciding that what we really would enjoy doing next is to live on a barge, exploring the canals of Europe….

So my focus on healthy eating blogging has taken a bit of a back seat, as work has gone on to develop a website for marketing our beautiful house here in South West France. You can see that here www.houseinfrancewithincome.com 

House in France with Income for Sale

We have also been to visit friends living on a barge and have arranged to do a barge-handling course at the end of next month. All very exciting stuff!

So plenty to do here to get everything ready, but meanwhile continuing with 5:2.

This last week we have managed two good fast days and I am happily now under 9 stone and closing in on my target, whilst Graham is now at a comfortable, healthy weight which he wants to stay at.

I’m still using and creating new recipes, though I’m finding after 15 weeks that we have settled into an easy pattern on fast days and have a few favourite meal plans that we keep returning to.

This week on Monday we had our usual scrambled egg and smoked trout for breakfast and for dinner we enjoyed Simple Vegetable Soup, a No-Carb Chicken Caesar Salad (as per Michael Mosley’s book) and strawberries with fromage blanc

Smoked Trout and Scrambled Egg Simple Vegetable Soup No Carb Chicken Caesar Salad

On Thursday it was plain yogurt with prunes for me (porridge with prunes for him) and then  for dinner, more of the soup (which I had made a big batch of on Monday), Salmon Teriyaki with steamed asparagus and vegetables , followed by my variation of the BBC Good Food recipe for Spiced Glazed Pineapple with Cinnamon Fromage Frais – I use very little honey with the pineapple, a very small amount of butter and don’t sweeten the fromage frais at all. 

Teriyaki Salmon _MG_3300

 

I am keen to keep going with writing up my recipes and am planning to get a preliminary kindle version of my book ready as soon as I can, with the idea of helping to raise money for my dear friend’s granddaughter, Lexi Sky, so that she will be able to leave hospital and go home. If you find useful information here on my website, there is no better way that you could say thank you than donating a little something to her cause. Please find the link here.

I’m normal! At least weight-wise….

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After goodness knows how many years of being overweight, I have now achieved a major target – I am in the healthy, normal zone of BMI for my age and height! Thank you Michael Mosley for revealing the benefits of 5:2 to us! I really think that this has radically changed our lives for the better.

Not only do we look better, but we feel more energetic and have been able to tackle a major change of outlook. With the prospect of improving, rather than declining health, we are now considering moving aboard a barge and exploring the canals of Europe. Having lived on a yacht for several years in the Caribbean earlier this century, this isn’t such a major upheaval as it might seem for us, but before we can undertake such an activity, we need to sell our house, so this week I have spent time on creating a website for that http://houseinfrancewithincome.com/ – hence not much in the way of updates here!

But of course we are still eating healthy food and are planning to continue with the 5:2 way of life. I still have a couple of kilos to lose to get comfortably under 9 stone and well within the healthy BMI zone and Graham is finding that he is hovering around his target quite comfortably.

Here’s a few of the interesting and flavourful meals we have eaten this week. I’ve not had time to write up the recipes or check the calorie counts exactly, but I can assure you that these will all fit into a healthy, balanced meal plan designed to keep you slim 🙂 I hope they will inspire you  :-

Wholewheat Tagliatelle with Tenderstem Broccoli and Chilli

Wholewheat Tagliatelle with Tenderstem Broccoli and Chilli Flakes with Parmesan – based on recipe in Delicious magazine

Sticky Chicken with Rice and Sweetcorn

Sticky Chicken on a bed of stir-fried vegetables, with Camargue Red and Brown Rice with Sweetcorn and Satay Sauce

Scotch Eggs with Light Coleslaw

Oven Baked Scotch Eggs with Light Coleslaw

Flageolet, Pepper, Spring Onion and Guindilla Salad

Flageolet, Red Pepper, Spring Onion and Guindilla Pepper Salad

Crustless Asparagus and Smoked Salmon Quiche

Crustless Asparagus and Smoked Salmon Quiche with Cauliflower Mash

A duo of beetroot, celery and apple salads

A duo of beetroot, celery and apple salads with a tahini and yogurt dressing

Baked Fish with Caper Dressing and Salsa Brava

Baked Salmon with Caper Dressing and Salsa Brava

Pea, Lettuce and Sorrel Soup

Pea, Lettuce and Sorrel Soup

Stuffed Pancakes au Gratin with a fagot of asparagus

Stuffed Crepes with a cheesy sauce, with a fagot of asparagus and a fennel, radish and rocket salad

 

If you do find inspiration from my blog, the best way I can think of for you to say thank you, would be to help support the sweet granddaughter of my closest childhood friend. Little Lexi Sky was born with muscular dystrophy and cerebral palsy and has a difficult life ahead of her. She requires 24 hour care and equipment that is not covered by the NHS. Any donations would be so gratefully received, thank you.  Please go to http://tinyurl.com/LexiSky

5:2 Meal Plan, week 14

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The weather is taking a turn towards summer and outdoor eating becomes a possibility. Time to sort out some recipes suitable for barbecues and lunches al fresco.

This week there should be plenty of asparagus, strawberries, watercress, spinach, lettuce, rhubarb and radishes. Early peas and broad beans I hope. Maybe even some early new potatoes? Perhaps with some spring lamb and lovely fresh mint sauce…

Update after shopping: No peas, broad beans, watercress or new potatoes in Lauzerte market! But I did get some lovely looking sprouting broccoli and some fresh goat’s cheese and a goodly slice of Cantal cheese. In the supermarket I got a handsome pineapple from Ghana, so that will be our ‘interesting’ fruit this week, together with some rhubarb from the garden. I was also pleasantly surprised to find a tagliatelle made with wholewheat flour, so I will use that for one of my favourite ways of cooking sprouting brocolli. My meal plan is updated accordingly.

This week I sowed lots of squash, courgettes, aubergines and a few more peppers and tomatoes. I find myself starting to hanker for those summer fruiting vegetables. They are available in the supermarkets, grown in Morocco or Spain, but they will be really appreciated when they are picked fresh from the garden, from late June onwards…. Meanwhile I still have some frozen and sun dried tomatoes to bring some summer sun to my dishes.

No pictures today, as I am writing this on my iPad. I may add some later. Let’s see if I can get my first sentence out without a typo in it, for a change! (Ed: no chance, but fixed now…!)

Saturday
Our usual pizza for lunch, dressed for spring with rocket, chorizo and mozzarella and served with a mixed salad

Goats Cheese Toasts with Bean and Radish Topping
Veggie Burgers and wok Brocc with a Pineapple, Red Pepper and Spring Onion Salsa
Strawberries and Crème Fraîche

Sunday
Ham and Leek stuffed Pancakes with a creamy Cheese Sauce, with a Fennel and Radish salad

Herb crusted Lamb cutlets with steamed Vegetables and minted potatoes followed by Spiced Pineapple with cinnamon Fromage Blanc

Monday – Fast Day
Boiled Egg

Lettuce, Pea and Sorrel soup (I’ll use frozen peas and frozen sorrel for this)
Baked Salmon with a Caper dressing and steamed seasonal Vegetables
Rhubarb and Orange compote

Tuesday
Crustless Asparagus and Cantal Quiche with Salad

Curried Carrot Soup
Tandoori Chicken skewers with Raita, Tomato and Red Onion Chutney and home made wholewheat Chappati
Rhubarb Fool

Wednesday
Home made Scotch Eggs with a Beetroot, Apple and Celery salad

Wholewheat Tagliatelle with Sprouting Broccoli and Chilli Flakes, drizzled with Basil Oil
Pineapple and Ginger Dessert

Thursday – Fast Day
Yogurt with Prunes
Smoked Haddock and Spinach Soufflé
Fresh Strawberry Blancmange

Friday
Falafels with Cabbage, Pepper and Raisin Salad and a Tahini dressing

Oven Baked Sticky Chicken with Red Carmargue Rice and Red Beans with Salad
Mirabelle Plum Crumble with Vanilla Ice Cream