Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Angela's Diet Trial Notes' LiveJournal:

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Monday, March 9th, 2009
10:50 pm	WW win. I haven't put any weight in for the past three weeks at WW. This is very good. I'm aiming to get to week 12 (of recovery) and start losing then. BUT as I'm back at work tomorrow I think I should do my food plan for the week before I'm too busy:( Read more... ) (Comment on this)
Thursday, March 5th, 2009
9:01 am	Pasta bake win! (almost) Oh, okay, lasagne. I made a seafood lasagne for dinner last night and it was lovely apart from the topping and putting it in the wrong oven at first. Tin of tomatoes, onion, garlic, mixed herbs, half a stock cube and a pack of seafood mix cooked together before being put between a couple of sheets of lasagne. On top I put an egg mixed with 100 g of low fat soft cheese (should probably have either used more or cooked it in the right oven in the first place!) which sadly disappeared into the dish or on the tinfoil during cooking. Tasty, filling and used stuff from the freezer without me putting anything back in. RESULT! (Comment on this)
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009
9:08 am	Pasta bake fail! I can't remember the last time, if ever, I made pasta bake. I had some veg that needed cooking, though, and a pot of quark that I wanted to use up so I thought I would give it a go. Sadly the bake is now in the bin. For future reference here is the catalogue of my mistakes. What I did: I chopped butternut squash into quite sizeable chunks, sliced courgettes and chopped up small two peppers. I sauted them in a pan with red onion and garlic for about 10 minutes. In another pan I blended together a tin of tomatoes, a pot of quark, tomato paste, basil, parmesan cheese and seasoning. Then I mixed the vegetables in with the sauce and poured it over a lasagne dish lined with uncooked wholemeal pasta. Cooked at gas 4 for about an hour (until the squash was cooked). The result? Incredibly dry pasta bake that was a struggle to eat. A pity, as the mix was quite tasty. What I should have done: Chopped the squash smaller and make sure the veg was cooked before I mixed it in either by roasting it in the oven first or mixing the veg with the tomato and cooking it first. Cook the pasta before I put it in unless I added more moisture to the original dish (either another tin of tomatoes OR some wine/stock). If the former cook higher for shorter, if the latter same time or maybe a bit less. Never mind. I lost half a pound at WW last night. No idea how. It lends further support to my theory that my body is still all over the place in terms of swelling/water retention at the moment and there's little I can do to stop that. Plan for today is to make a proper eating plan for this week: the freezer is too full again! (Comment on this)
Thursday, February 26th, 2009
11:02 am	Not really getting into it. I put half a pound on at my first week of weightwatchers and I'm not convinced I'll do any better this week. I've been trying to cook and eat ww meals at home but I'm still drinking alcohol and I've two meals out this week, so it's a bit of a strange situation. Monday and Tuesday I experimented with tofu cookery and it didn't go well. I'm planning a noodle soup today but wanted to use the rest of the packet up so tried to make a red curry. Sadly I knew nothing about different types and my red curry was rather... gloopy. Never mind, I think the soup will be better today. I'm going to cut through the block into two slices and dry fry it first to give it a bit more structure. Tonight I'm cooking Keralan Pumpkin Curry which last time I ate it was a bundle of loveliness. Didn't put the recipe on here, though, so here goes. Keralan Pumpkin Curry Ingredients - four servings tbsp oil 1 tsp black mustard seeds 1 tsp cumin seeds 1 tsp fenugreek seeds 1/2 tsp ground turmeric 2 large dried red chillies (not in my curry! 1/2 a teaspoon dried chilli) 2 large onions, finely chopped 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped 4 cm root ginger, peeled and grated (garlic and ginger courtesy of lazy pots in fridge) 1 tbsp tamarind pulp dissolved in water (tamarind paste in my house) 750g deseeded pumpkin or butternut squash, cut into large chunks large handful fenugreek or coriander leaves, some reserved for garnish. 200ml reduced fat coconut milk Method Long recipe, short method! Fry the spices in the oil until fragrant, add onion, garlic and ginger and cook on a low heat until soft. Then add the tamarind, pumpkin and leaves, stir round then add the coconut milk. You may need to add up to 200 ml water at this point. Cover with a lid and then simmer for gently for 20 minutes. 156 calories per portion, 9g of fat, 4g of which is saturated. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, February 17th, 2009
9:23 pm	Ang's surprise chilli kidney bean chilli! Oh how we laughed. I got the tin of red kidney beans out of the cupboard and they were in chilli sauce. I must have picked them up by mistake. Never mind, I can adapt. I softened 1 1/2 chopped onions in some fry light with a couple of tsps of lazy garlic. I added a pound of lean beef and browned it (actually defrosted it, to be honest) before adding half a red pepper and 3/4 of an orange pepper out of the freezer. Threw in a tin of tomatoes and the kidney beans in the chilli sauce. Then I grated and added three carrots as well approx 200g of mushrooms. Tasted it, added a tsp of mild chilli powder, tipped it all into the slow cooker, set it going for eight hours and went out. If I didn't have to defrost the beef and peppers I would have just browned the mince with the onion, to be honest, and thrown it all in. I was very impressed. Best chilli I've made for a while but I'm not sure that the extra 50p the beans cost is worth it. I like chilli mild, though, so I imagine other people would find it disappointing. Came out at about 3.5 points per portion. I love putting grated carrot into mince dishes, really bulks it out and cuts down the calories. (Comment on this)
Friday, February 13th, 2009
11:36 am	Celery soup. Nabbed from t'internet: http://suzette.typepad.com/the_joy_of_soup/ MINESTRA DEL SEDANO (Italian Celery Soup) For those who have no orchestral engagements or who prefer something a little more hearty, try this version. The core ingredients are the same - it's still celery and rice - but the experience is totally different. 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 onion, finely chopped 3-4 bacon slices, diced 2 tablespoons tomato paste 2 bunches celery, cut in 1/2" slices 1 qt. hot stock or broth salt & pepper 1/2 cup uncooked long-grain white rice 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese Heat oil in large saucepan. Add onion and bacon; saute until onion begins to brown. Stir in tomato paste and celery. Cook 5 minutes,stir occasionally. Gradually stir in stock or broth. Cover and simmer 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Stir rice into soup/ Simmer 15 minutes or until rice is tender. Pour into tureen or serve in individual bowls; Sprinkle cheese over the top. Halved in my case as I was using up the celery I bought for the stew. Two sliced of bacon out of the individual portions in the freezer. Having the last couple of slices of garlic bread out of the freezer, too. It's looking a little bit emptier, or at least less chaotic. (Comment on this)
Monday, February 9th, 2009
9:15 am	Plan for sausage and bean casserole. The thing about sausage and bean casserole is that you can have it with potato to make a really hearty supper or you can eat it alone for a filling lunch. This is what I'm planning to put in the slow cooker today. Cobbled together from what I've got in the cupboard. Sausage and bean casserole Ingredients for 4-6 servings Pack of pork, leek and cheddar sausages that have been lurking in the freezer. Pack of bacon, likewise, chopped Tin of haricot beans from the cupboard Fresh thyme and rosemary from the herb pot at the front of the house. 1 onion, finely chopped 2 carrots, finely diced 2 sticks of celery, when I get my act together and go up to Netto. Some nice green cabbage such as savoy, likewise, if I can get it. Tin of chopped tomatoes White wine and stock if need be. Method I'll brown (and defrost!) the sausage on the george forman grill meanwhile frying the bacon until crispy in the non-stick pan with the onion and celery. Once done I'll throw in a glass of wine and herbs and bring it to the boil then simmer. Once the sausages are cooked they will be chopped into bite-size pieces (easier to divide into portions for the freezer and then reheat in the microwave!) added to the slow cooker with the carrots and tomatoes and finally the wine/herb/veg mix from the pan poured over the top and stirred in. Cook on low for as long as my patience lasts (probably 8 hours). If I get the cabbage I might either add it late or make it with the mash, I'll wait and see. (Comment on this)
Sunday, February 8th, 2009
8:26 am	New comfort food... seafood risotto. When on special offer I pick up a pack or two of seafood mix from Sainsbury's. Then I promptly forget about it. There's a few recipes I normally go for with it, a seafood linguini, a thai spiced dish and a home spun risotto that normally promises much and delivers little. So when I saw a "proper" recipe in my new one pot recipe book I decided to give it a go: Seafood risotto Ingredients for two: 500ml hot fish stock (a knorr fish stock cube in my house!) 25g unsalted butter 1 chopped shallot (I used half an onion) chopped garlic clove 175g risotto rice 75ml dry white wine Pinch of saffron 200-250g pack mixed prepared seafood (obvious substitutions are prawn, salmon or another cubed fish) 1 tbsp grated parmesan (I was slightly confused and accidentally put too much in which made it a bit salty but still nom) Chopped parsely to garnish Salt and pepper (although with a stock cube and parmesan I didn't add any salt) Method: Your basic risotto method. Fry the onion and garlic in the butter on a low heat until softened (5 mins in my case as I got distracted!). Add the rice and stir until the grains are coated and then turn up the heat slightly and add the wine, stirring until the rice has absorbed it. Then add the saffron, then stock a ladleful (in my case "slosh from jug") at a time, adding more once absorbed and stirring regularly. Last night this took about 20 minutes. The recipe I had suggested adding the seafood after the first ladle of stock but I thought this a bit early and added it about 10 minutes before the dish was ready. It could probably have gone in even later as it's not being cooked but merely heated through. Parmesan is added at the end and stirred in. I think my home risotto recipe wasn't as good as this because I'd previously used vegetable stock and I never thought about adding saffron. This was a lot better. Thought about adding peas but that would have edged it toward paella but with more forethought would serve it with a side salad. Remaining risotto cold for supper tonight. 547cal/27.3g protein/71.3g carbohydrate/13.8g fat(8.2g sat)/0.2g fibre/350mg sodium (Comment on this)
Monday, February 2nd, 2009
11:24 am	Planning... On my fridge is the holy writ of what I will be eating this week. The plan was to have vegetable soup with a side of some sort of protein rich salad: Mon - Wed was going to be mackerel with spring onions, cucumber and tomato. Salad is suddenly unappealing. I think I'll get a chunk of rye bread out of the freezer instead. (Comment on this)
Friday, January 30th, 2009
8:18 am	Recipe. I've decided that one of my projects over the absence is going to be tagging of my posts. I'm also using this account for recipes and stuff. ANYWHOOOO! In the interests of ease I made a slow cooker dinner for Caroline and I last night. It should have been a mushroom, chicken and potato layered bake but once I'd cooked the filling I realised it was beyond the capacity of my modest slow cooker so I mashed the potatoes instead. Mushroom and chicken slow cooker casserole Ingredients tbsp olive oil 4 large chicken breast portions, chunked. 1 tbsp BUTTER 1 leek, finely sliced into rings 25g flour HALF a litre of milk 1 tsp worcestershire sauce 1 tsp wholegrain mustard (although I used slightly less english mustard because that's what I had) 1 carrot finely diced. (I used two) 225g mushroom, thinly sliced. Method Fry the chicken in the olive oil until brown then remove from the pan reserving the juice. Add the butter to the pan, melt, then slowly fry the leeks until the are soft, sprinkle the flour over the leeks then take the pan off the heat. Slowly add the milk until it's blended, then gradually bring to the boil to thicken. Once thick add the mustard and worcestershire sauce then carrot and mushrooms and chicken. At this point if you were doing the layered bake you'd have about 900g of thinly sliced potato which you put in 3/4 layers with the mix, finally dotting with 2 tbsp butter. Instead I just threw the mix into my cooker for 6 1/2 hours on low and served it with green beans and mashed potato. I seasoned it before I put it in the pan, forgetting about the effect of the slow cooker in heightening flavour, so it was a bit salty but otherwise very tasty. Supposedly serves four but we had two portions last night and there's a good three left. Useful as I've a guest for lunch today. Nutritional values With the potato: 461kcal/943kj:42.4g protein:43.8g carb: 14.1g fat (6.4g sat):4.3g fibre: 351g sodium Recipe taken from "Slow Cooker, One-Pot Cooking and Casseroles" by Catherine Atkinson and Jenni Fleetwood. I picked it up from WHS after Christmas for £4.99 and I've been looking forward to trying it. Dessert was apple and blackcurrant crumble. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008
9:10 pm	Day six. Disaster day. Honestly. I think my body is sending me some sort of message. Mindful of the role of planning and organisation in good dietary habits I cooked my lunch this morning, a delicious combination of fiery quinoa (quinoa, onion, tomatoes, chilli, garlic) and smoked mackerel and popped it into my bad with another fruit pack. Unforunately I felt sick again this morning so couldn't face breakfast until I was in work, once there I'd forgotten my microwave bowl (again) so had a bacon buttie. I skipped a snack at morning break (wasn't hungry) and was really looking forward to my lunch. Which I then threw all over the floor. I made do with my fruit, some yoghurt, a packet of monster munch and a snickers bar resolving to cope until I got home and had my relatively speedy ostrich burger tea. Except I started flagging at 3.30 (probably due to the high sugar lunch) and cracked and went out for a sausage roll. I should have used my £1.50 to just go and get a sandwhich in the first place but I couldn't be bothered. It's somewhat strange that this is the first week that I've had to record my intake formally for a long time and yet all these disasters have happened. I can't remember the last time I've not had a "proper" lunch. It's very strange. (Comment on this)
Friday, October 31st, 2008
9:27 am	Throwing money at a problem As previously mentioned on my main journal I've signed up for an eight week weight management course with work: ( What happened at my first session yesterday ) As part of the programme I'll try and note what I eat/drink here but at the moment it's very much if I remember. Of course today is the first day of the diet and I'm starting with a headache due to stress and lack of sleep. (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, October 4th, 2008
11:51 am	Watchweighters Joan put a skirt on yesterday which used to be too bit for her and now it *just* fits her. She's talking about going back to weightwatchers on Tuesday. I wonder, should I join her... ( Well, should I? ) (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, September 1st, 2008
7:32 am	Allotment soup... AKA bottom of the fridge soup. Ingredients Olive oil, a gloop. 3 small leeks, the result of thinning. 2 very small cauliflowers. 1 large and three small courgettes with a variety of unattractive skin conditions. A number of carrots. A chicken stock cube dissolved in 500ml hot water. Extra water to add if needed. Chopped parsley. Method Clear salad crispers at bottom of fridge of all veg. Wash very well, rinse, then wash again to double check you've not missed additional protein sources. Chop veg fairly roughly (if you are going to blend the soup. If you like your soup more solid then take more care) then add in stages to the olive oil being heated in a large pan. Once all the veg has been chopped pour the stock over, add more water if needed to cover the veg then bring to the boil. Simmer until the veg is cooked, 20 minutes or the length of the internet hearts game you are playing. Blend. Add chopped parsley. Makes enough lunch for at least three days. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, August 7th, 2008
11:16 am	This week's cooking. Moroccan fish stew - edible but not as nice as I expected. The spices are oooooooold, though, and I didn't use fresh chillies. Would do something similar again (the fish in the spicy sauce was nice) but leave out the chick peas. Greek lemon chicken - a lot better. Served it with mash last night which didn't work too well as the sauce is very thin - cries out for couscous or maybe quinoa. Minted pea risotto soup - basically a risotto but with the stock bunged after the onion/proscuttio ham has softened and had risotto rice added to it. This is lovely, will definitely join leek and potato, lentil and chicken and vegetable on my regular makes list. (Comment on this)
Friday, August 1st, 2008
9:09 am	The road to hell... I am chock full of good intentions. Sadly the reality is I've haven't been bothered with dieting and planning for the past couple of months but I remain optimistic that I'll finally get a grip again. I'm disinclined to exercise because it's hot, I've put weight on and so it's harder. When it comes to dieting I'm not really able to splash out on nice low fat things that I like so I've been eating out of the cupboards/freezer. These tend to be processed or fattier (although I've couscous with chickpea and roasted vegetables for lunch today so it's not all bad) and I've not been buying so much fruit but eating lots of veg from the plot. This week I'm in the "waking up early" stage so have been idly thinking about going to the gym in the morning and getting to work showered and ready to face the day. Just thinking, though. The latest news from the BBC is that we have to get 55 minutes of exercise five times a week to sustain a ten percent weight loss. I'm lucky in that I have the time to do this, if not the inclination. I've been thinking about how I could make this time up: ( Thinking about moving ) ( If you're not dieting, what are you eating ) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, June 21st, 2008
9:35 am	I've been 'sperimenting. I've been weighing myself every day since the middle of May. What I have discovered is that I tend to be my heaviest weight on a Monday, lose maybe a couple of pounds through to Saturday then creep back up on Sunday/Monday. On the rare occasion when I've weighed less on a Monday it's because I've been out drinking on a Sunday night and I'm probably dehydrated. I put weight on over weeks when I eat out in the week and I Lose weight if I managed to be particularly active on a Sunday or eat very little. I've also discovered (because I have been noting it down) that my self-awareness of my appetite changes throughout the month. The week before my period I have no "full" cue. None at all. I've always known that the first few days of my period I have less of an appetite but this appears to translate to wanting small, high fat meals, which in turn gives me a gippy tummy. Then I get my normal sensations of fullness back. When not in pre-period munch mode it appears that a low GI diet works very well for me. I appear to be very sensitive to the amount of protein in my diet. I think this is probably because I don't like lots of meat/fish so it's something that I get less of, or maybe it's because I am rather active. Oh yes, the Wii Fit keeps telling me I'm in pretty good shape as it swells me to the size of a small zepellin. Anyway, the regular low GI moderately high protein meals seem to stop my appetite swinging and the afternoon sleepiness which was become a bit of a worry. I've made a startling (to me anyway) discovery about how I cook. I've really been enjoying the meals I've been cooking from the low fat cook book but what I planned for last night was a bit whiffy* and ended up making corned beef hash from stuff I had in the cupboard. I was wondering why I did that last night and I think it's not that I wanted comfort food, it was more that I couldn't be bothered thinking about what I was cooking. So while I could have knocked up pasta puttanesca I'd have had to check on the recipe whereas things like corned beef hash** I've been making for years and can cook with my eyes closed. The answer is to either increase my repertoire or making sure there is something ready cooked for Friday. *BUT* I remain unwilling/unable to resist tempation. I continue to eat treats when not hungry (which is why I've bought some treat size chocolate bars to try and control) and lack the willpower to refuse, say, cake when offered to me. I haven't yet tried having an internal dialogue with myself over how much I want the cake/chocolate bar/McMuffin, probably because we'll end up not speaking. I still seem to ignore fruit of a weekend. It's all very strange. *I had left over prawn linguine. It was just a little bit TOO left over, if you see what I mean. **Corned beef hash is a really bad example because it's basically "make mashed potatoes, fry onion, open tin corned beef, add to mash and onion, bake till crispy" but I'm thinking about things like, well, random grilled meat and mash and veg, shepherd's pie, chilli, hcicken korma, that sort of thing. I don't need recipes for that sort of stuff. (Comment on this)
Sunday, June 15th, 2008
6:08 pm	The gastronome diet. My first week following the diet plan in the Zest magazine seems to have gone quite well. I won't know for sure until I get on the scales tomorrow but I'm feeling a lot better. Circumstances have meant that I've not been to the gym this week but I have spend a number of hours on the allotment. I'd say the diet held up well Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday until lunch, wobbled on Wednesday dinner and Thursday lunch then got back on track for the rest of the week. The wobble was due to being unable to get some fresh ingredients but I'm taken steps to stop that happening again - I've planned from tomorrow until Thursday and will not need to go shopping although I have to nip to the plot for things. ( This week's food. I seem to stick to it better if I write it here. ) Things I have to remember to do: Tonight: take hummous and flatbread out of freezer Tuesday: Take smoked fish and king prawns out of freezer, get mint from plot, get spinach from plot Wednesday: take another portion of smoked fish out of freezer ( Recipes ) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 11th, 2008
4:34 pm	I must remember this! After feeling really full yesterday and Monday, today I'm hungry. I know what the difference is: I had toast for breakfast and butternut squash curry for lunch. Compare this to yesterday when I had eggs at breakfast and duck for lunch, and Monday when I had a protein filled pasta dish for lunch. All carbs and no protein makes Ang a hungry girl, no matter how many calories she has. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
2:40 pm	Fairly optimistic. I wasn't hungry yesterday, the first day on my new diet. I did "cheat" slightly and have leftover rhubarb crumble for breakfast but convinced myself it was technically porridge and fruit. Well, it had *some* oats in the topping. Lunch was my home-made tomato sauce with mushrooms and spinach on some pasta and strawberries, dinner Thai Duck Curry and rice. I had some snacks in the form of a banana, a twirl and a packet of crisps. This kept me well within the 1850 cal allowance. Sadly I munched some toast later on when I was bored but I didn't go bonkers. Today I had the leftover duck for lunch as well as some sandwiches that were left in the canteen and I had egg on toast for breakfast. Dinner is going to be keralan pumpkin curry which I cooked this morning to see off the hunger when I get home. I'm certainly not hungry in between meals, though, which I put down to the fact that I'm having fat in the dishes. (5 Comments |Comment on this)