The FastDay Forum

It's become a Chia question too - importers asking their US suppliers for data and labelling it up without understanding it I suspect.

Thanks to @PhilT for pointing out that the carb figure for linseed was orf: herewith the corrected recipe.

chai yoghurt (transit express) - dog's trademark / copyright - linseed carb corrected 28/06/2013
youghurt (yeo valley), 82c/C6.5/F4.2/P4.6/Fi0/100g
.........50g 41.00 3.25 2.10 2.30 0.00
oat bran, white's, 383c/C68.4/F6.5/P12.6/Fi9.3/100g
.........7g (TBSP) 26.81 4.79 0.46 0.88 0.65
linseed, brown, 534c/C1.5/F42.16/P18.29/Fi27.3/100g
.........10g (scarce TBSP) 53.40 0.15 4.22 1.83 2.73
ginger, ground
.........1.5ml 0.00
cinnamon, ground
.........2ml 0.00
cloves, dried, fresh ground
.........two of 0.00
cardamom seeds, green, husks removed, fresh ground
.........4 pods 0.00
pure via (stevia based sweetener) 2c/C0.47/F0/P0/Fi0/0.5g/5ml
.........5ml 2.00 0.47 0.00 0.00 0.00
water
.........about 50ml until it's nearly a slurpable quality - add after mixing other ingredients
total 123.21 8.66 6.77 5.01 3.38

Friday, day five, feed day - should have been a fast day but after Tuesday's disasterous 689 calories an extra low cal day would be on the wrong side of sensible, methinks. (I'm actually doing 4:3 so I guess the thread title is a wee bit misleading, apologies, but it's the low-carb veggie bit that matters).

The menu was pretty much yesterday's except for the early dinner, see below, and pistachios replacing the almonds for my late night snack (they're 30% more carby but I've run out of salted almonds ... the latter are, incidentally, horribly expensive).

So dinner was three cheese broccoli gratin, a very adulterated version of RE's three cheese cauliflower gratin p261 (requires no cooking skills), dog's own tomato / mushroom / bell pepper sauce and one and a half veggie sausages (counting the carbs, y'know).

The numbers came to a very satisfying:
....... Calories 1423.23 Carbs 22.55 Fat 110.35 Protein 72.80 Fibre 22.15

Felt fine, no ill effects at all (except the usual occasional spacy feeling)...
Happy waggy-tailed FatDog.

three cheese broccoli gratin
RE's cauliflower gratin but for broccoli, different cheeses and no ground almonds, cream or olive oil
broccoli, floretted & stalk fine chopped 38c/C1.8/F0.9/P4.4/Fi2.6/100g
.........283g 107.54 5.09 2.55 12.45 7.36
epoisses cheese, (chopped if poss - it runs) 295cal/C0.9g/F24.9g/P17.5g/Fi0g/100g
.........50g 147.50 0.45 12.45 8.75 0.00
emmental cheese, grated, 388cal/C0.1g/F29.5g/P30.5g/100g
.........58g 225.04 0.06 17.11 17.69 0.00
cheddar, cathedral, grated, 416cal/C0.6g/F34.7g/P25.3g/Fi0g/100g
.........40g 166.40 0.24 13.88 10.12 0.00
wholegrain mustard, 150c/C6.8/F9.5/P8.8/Fi7.8/100g
.........5g (~tsp) 7.50 0.34 0.48 0.44 0.39
hellmans mayo, 720c/C1.5/F79/P1.0/Fi0/100g
.........30g 216.00 0.45 23.70 0.30 0.00
s&p 0.00
total 869.98 6.63 70.16 49.75 7.75
dog's half portion broccoli gratin 434.99 3.32 35.08 24.88 3.87

Method: 1. wash the broccoli and (whilst wet) ping it, lidded, with an added tbsp of salted water, for about seven minutes until just done 2. whilst the broccoli is hot out of the microwave, add the hellmans mayo, mustard, emmental and epoisses, season and mix thoroughly 3. sprinkle the cheddar over the top and bung under the grill until nicely browned. See, not really cooking at all...

tomato and mushroom sauce
cherry tomatoes, blitzed, 20c/C3.1/F0.3/P0.7/F1.0/100g
.........100g 20.00 3.10 0.30 0.70 1.00
mixed peppers, diced, 28c/C4.4/F0.3/P1.0/Fi1.6/100g
.........45g 12.60 1.98 0.14 0.45 0.72
mushrooms, chopped, 15cal/C0.4g/F0.5g/P1.8g/Fi1.0g/100g
.........108g 16.20 0.43 0.54 1.94 1.08
olive oil, 824cal/F91.6g/C,P&FI<0.1g/100mL
.........30ml 247.20 0.00 27.48 0.00 0.00
chilli flakes and garlic flakes 0.00
s&p 0.00
total 296.00 5.51 28.46 3.09 2.80
dog's half portion tomato sauce 148.00 2.76 14.23 1.55 1.40

Method: 1. blitz the cherry tomatoes 2. heat the oil and add mushrooms then mixed peppers, then chilli / garlic flakes 3. cook until mushrooms are reduced a bit 4. add liquid tomatoes and further reduce 5. season and serve. If you start this before the broccoli the tomatoes will get a good cooking which (I believe) releases the 'healthy' lycopene.

Weigh-in at the start of day 6: yay! the scales gave 134.2 and stayed there this time!
So that's 0.6lbs off over the two days, a total of 3.6lbs since Monday (actually, Saturday's weigh-in: I started this by accident so no Monday morning weight). Disappointed? Well, I've not done a week yet so I'll reserve judgement - ask me on Monday.

Measurements are happy-making: waist just off 29, underbust remains the same, but my tummy is down to 35 which is the lowest it's been so far!

Now, I must off and work out how to do this low-carb bread. Can't afford almond flour so I'm going to have to use some ancient hazelnuts that a freegan friend gave us. Grinding these might prove a challenge for our processor (and me)... I have soya flour and I wonder if that might be useable (not seen mention of it in recipes so far).

If any low-carb bread-makers have any words of wisdom, I'd be extremely grateful for them FatDog.

Very interesting to read and such detail
Glad the chai yoghurt worked
All the best and wait with interest how the bread making goes
@breadandwine might be a font of knowledge he's usually on the 36 hr fluids thread and has a blog re making bread

Saturday, day six, weekend feed day. Again, the menu was pretty much yesterday's except for the 'early' dinner, see below, and almonds replacing pistachios for my late night snack (I indulged and bought some more) and there was no 'need for the extra cheese' to bump up the calories. Good. Postscript: I've discovered that I had left out the olive oil for the mushrooms so really I didn't need the almonds either, never mind - I like almonds

I'm not bored with the menu (yet) and, as I vary my evening meal, I don't expect that I will be for a while; plus, I can honestly see no reason why I'd stop having the chai yoghurt for breakfast (plus brazil nuts on feed days) - it's such a fresh and easy breakfast.

Dinner was delicious! Portobello mushroom pizzas, leafy green salad, Hellman's mayonnaise (too much of - by accident, I swear) and a low-carb bread roll (I'm amazed that I pulled this off).

The numbers were pleasing (I'm working with a TDEE of 1700 - wrong for my height but seems to be about right for me):
...... Calories 1532.73 Carbs 21.49 132.02 Protein 52.51 Fibre 22.70

Feeling fine, don't think that I've even had a spacey-spell today. I should also mention that I've genuinely not felt hungry - I 'crave' something sweet after dinner, hence the one or two squares of 85% chocolate, but that's it.

So, still a happy waggy-tailed FatDog.

Now for the recipes: nothing special about the mushrooms - recipes for these abound on the internet and mine's merely a variation I made up that suited me; tasted good though. I'm really chuffed with the bread roll recipe which is a slightly modified version of Layla's at http://lowcarblayla.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Bread .

portobello mushroom pizzas
portobello mushrooms, coop, 15c/C0.4/F0.5/P1.8/Fi1.1/100g
.........150g 22.50 0.60 0.75 2.70 1.65
cheddar, cathedral, grated, 416cal/C0.6g/F34.7g/P25.3g/Fi0g/100g
.........50g 208.00 0.30 17.35 12.65 0.00
cherry tomatoes, 1/8thd, 20c/C3.1/F0.3/P0.7/F1.0/100g
.........40g 8.00 1.24 0.12 0.28 0.40
onion, 43cal/C9.3g/F0g/P0.71g/Fi2.1g/100g
.........15g 6.45 1.40 0.00 0.11 0.32
garlic, 149cal/Fa0.5g/Ca33.06g/Fi2.1g/P6.36g/100g GL16, 1 clove GL1
.........3g 4.47 0.99 0.02 0.19 0.06
olives, black, 134c/C0/F15/P0.5/Fi2.5/100g
.........20g 26.80 0.00 3.00 0.10 0.50
mixed peppers, diced, 28c/C4.4/F0.3/P1.0/Fi1.6/100g
.........20g 5.60 0.88 0.06 0.20 0.32
olive oil, 824cal/F91.6g/C,P&FI<0.1g/100mL
.........15ml 123.60 0.00 13.74 0.00 0.00
basil
.........good three pinches 0.00
chilli flakes 0.00
s&p 0.00
total 405.42 5.41 35.04 16.23 3.25

Method: 1. remove the stalks from mushrooms and chop finely 2. chop everything else as one might for putting on a very small pizza 3. mix 1 and 2 together 4. put the oil in a grill- proof plate and rub the non-gill side of the mushrooms in it 5. distribute the mix from 3 equally between the mushrooms 6. grill until golden brown and bubbling

one minute low-carb bread rolls makes one roll, based on layla's one minute bread recipe
linseed, brown, 534c/C1.5/F42.16/P18.29/Fi27.3/100g
.........10g 53.40 0.15 4.22 1.83 2.73
hazelnuts, 695c/C7.0/F60.8/P15.0/Fi9.7/100g
.........10g 69.50 0.70 6.08 1.50 0.97
parmesan cheese, 392cal/C0g/F28.4g/P33.0g/Fi0g/100g
.........8g 31.36 0.00 2.27 2.64 0.00
eggs, brown, 151cal/C0g/F11.2g/P12.5/Fi0g/100g
.........~54g x 1 of 81.54 0.00 6.05 6.75 0.00
coconut oil, 39cal/C0/F4.5/P0/Fi0/4g/1tsp
.........2tsp 78 0 9 0 0
baking powder
.........1ml 0.00
pure via (stevia based sweetener) 2c/C0.47/F0/P0/Fi0/0.5g/5ml
.........1ml 0.40 0.09 0.00 0.00 0.00
salt, pinch 0.00
water, 15ml 0.00
total 314.20 0.94 27.62 12.72 3.70

Yes, you read that correctly, less than one carb for a bread roll - but at 314 calories it's sadly no good for a fast day.

Method: is there an emoticon for 'rolling around on the floor laughing'? 1. place all the dry stuff into the blender and then add the water and the coconut oil* 2. whizz, and whizz some more (I used the wee 'dry' container that I usually do nuts in)** 3. as a result of **, I added the egg - gasp, yes, I blended the egg in with the mix (well, it was try that or abandon the whole process); the world did not appear to end 4. pour the mixture (it will need a little help out of the container) into a suitable buttered microwavable receptacle*** 5. ping for one and a half minutes and, if it 'looks' a bit like bread, turn it out onto a wire rack to cool 6. once cooled, slice in half horizontally 7. toast, slather with butter, peanut butter, cream cheese or a delicacy of your chosing and enjoy!****

* comedy scene 1: this stuff is solid, you need to melt it, and if you are slow-moving like the FatDog it will re-solidify before you can say 'blender whizz'.
** comedy scene 2: maybe because the volume was very small, maybe because the coconut oil had started to go solid, whatever - the seeds remained whole and most of the mix was splattered un-whizzed up the side of the container... hmm...
*** no more funny stuff: I'd suggest a square or circle roughly the size of a slice of bread is good, but maybe use one with a flat bottom - I used a bowl and I think the butter melted quickly and caused the bottom of the roll to cook a little differently to the top.
**** because not all of the linseeds were smashed this really ends up rather like a wholegrain bread: I liked it anyway and plan on trying other seeds etc.

n.b. The hazelnut for almond meal substitution is courtesy of a massive delivery of hazelnuts by a freegan friend - I've been giving away packets for the last few months but I've still three or four needing used! And the brown rather than golden linseed is because I resent paying an overinflated price for a product which might look 'prettier' but which has been shown to be fractionally less nutritionally good!

I've cross-posted the bread roll stuff in the recipes section as I thought folk who lurk there might like it too, so apologies if you've already read it!

Weigh-in at the start of day 7: oh for goodness sake! (actually, it was much ruder than that). The scales are playing the same stupid 134.8 versus 134.2 game again today... FatDog gets cross and hops from one foot to the other and - lo! - left leg 134.8, right leg 134.2: now I know my right side is smaller than my left but this is flipping ridiculous! Anyway, a concerted effort to bear weight evenly through both legs gives 134.2 consistently, so I'm sticking with that. In my defense, I tend to put more weight through my left leg without thinking because my right is marginally knackered

So, having recovered from the horror of a possible weight-gain, I'm stuck at the same as yesterday. Not really surprised as I did eat a lot! Maybe I'll just blame the scales... Oh, and I forgot to count in the butter on my 'bread' so my actual calorie intake was an astronomical 1605.

I don't want to stoke a fire, but I'm most curious: are there any Atkins folk out there who'd comment on the 'Atkins weight loss is simply due to reduced calories' meme? Let's face it, it is pretty hard to over-eat when one is restricted to 20g carb, unless you're really into cream. And I know we're 'fat burning' but any excess calories taken in have to go somewhere, don't they?

Other measurements are still on the sunny-side: waist even nearer to 29, underbust and tummy the same as yesterday. Measured my hips for the first time since May 1st (then the number started with a 4 and something awful came after that - I've successfully managed to forget it) and ooooh - 38 inches. I must be a pear crossed with an apple shape from my measurements!

Right, time to plot dinner. I'm doing a broccoli cheese and I'm trying to bump up the calories without coming up with something that will make my companion diners sick FatDog.

Sunday, day seven, feed day. My daily menu structure is making things so easy I think I'll be boring you to death with the repetition! Same breakfast, similar evening snack (emmental and peanuts tonight), and just the evening meal changing to fret over.

But it was a jolly nice evening meal. I don't know if they still make it but, years ago M&S did the most delicious broccoli cheese and this was my attempt to recreate it - my ex-flatmate came round this evening and reckonned that it wasn't a bad copy at all...

Although pretty pleased with the dish, methinks I should have had a leaf salad with it, or somesuch, to go some way to meeting my five-a-day. Oh well, it was Sunday dinner after all... I had the calories but not the carbs to spare. Except that, if I'm really honest, I could have dumped the two wee chocolate squares (47cal 1.37carb) - that would have been the right thing to do, but oh so cruel Next time I'll be gooder, and I plan to go all salad tomorrow to compensate
...... Calories 1360.10 Carbs 23.76 Fat 105.60 Protein 67.08 Fibre 19.34

At the end of week one now and feeling that I'm getting into this quite comfortably. I'm still failing over the cals / carb conflict when trying to put a meal together (especially as cheese and nuts were not core to my diet before, and eggs a real rarity); working out the fast day menu with 500cals with 20g carbs is 'interesting'. It's also rather fun.

Happy days.

broccoli cheese special
broccoli, floretted & stalk fine chopped 38c/C1.8/F0.9/P4.4/Fi2.6/100g
.........257g 97.66 4.63 2.31 11.31 6.68
cherry tomatoes, skinned and roughly chopped 20c/C3.1/F0.3/P0.7/F1.0/100g
.........100g 20.00 3.10 0.30 0.70 1.00
onion, fine chopped, 43cal/C9.3g/F0g/P0.71g/Fi2.1g/100g
.........27g 11.61 2.51 0.00 0.19 0.57
tomato puree, 410c/C18.1/F0/P4.8/Fi2.5/100g
.........5ml 20.50 0.91 0.00 0.24 0.13
garlic, chopped, 149cal/C33.06/F0.5/P6.36/Fi2.1/100g, 1 clove GL1
.........4g 5.96 1.32 0.02 0.25 0.08
fennel seed, fresh ground / minced
.........5ml 0.00
olive oil, 824cal/F91.6g/C,P&FI<0.1g/100mL
.........30ml 247.20 0.00 27.48 0.00 0.00
lemon juice, 26cal/100ml
.........5ml 1.30 0.10 0.00 0.02 0.02
soya milk, coop org unsw, 30c/C0.1/F1.9/P3.4/Fi0.6/100ml
.........300ml 90.00 0.30 5.70 10.20 1.80
cornflour, 343c/C83.6/F0.7/P0.6/Fi0.1/100g
.........15g 51.45 12.54 0.11 0.09 0.02
vintage cheddar, wykes, grated, 410cal/p25g/ca0.1g/fa34.4g/fi0g/100g
.........200g 820.00 0.20 68.80 50.00 0.00
nutmeg, ground
.........2ml ? 0.00
s&p 0.00
hazelnuts, medium fine chopped 695c/C7.0/F60.8/P15.0/Fi9.7/100g
.........45g 312.75 3.15 27.36 6.75 4.37
total 1678.43 28.75 132.08 79.75 14.65
FatDog's 1/3rd portion total 559.48 9.58 44.03 26.58 4.88

Methods: 1. heat the oil in a pan, add the onion to soften, add the garlic, then the fennel, tomatoes, tomato puree and lemon juice; check for seasoning 2. once the tomato sauce is on the go, wash the broccoli and (whilst wet) ping it, in a lidded casserole dish, with an added tbsp of salted water, for about seven minutes until just done, drain 3. randomly splodge the tomato sauce over the broccoli, replace the lid and keep warm 4. mix the cornflour with a little of the soya milk 5. add to the rest of the milk and heat this gently until thickened 5. add the cheddar and stir in until melted 6. add nutmeg and mix in thoroughly 7. check for seasoning 8. pour the cheese sauce over the broccoli and tomato sauce - try to cover everything 9. grill until just golden brown and bubbling 10. sprinkle over the hazelnuts and place back under the grill until the nuts are toasted take care that the nuts don't burn they toast very quickly

Enjoy!

I don't want to stoke a fire, but I'm most curious: are there any Atkins folk out there who'd comment on the 'Atkins weight loss is simply due to reduced calories' meme? Let's face it, it is pretty hard to over-eat when one is restricted to 20g carb, unless you're really into cream. And I know we're 'fat burning' but any excess calories taken in have to go somewhere, don't they?

The graph at the bottom is from "The Art & Science of Low Carbohydrate Living" by two scientists strongly associated with Atkins.

There are several clinical studies over many years where people switching to low carbohydrate foods simply ate a lot less calories - despite it being an ad-lib diet. A similar thing happened switching to Paleo with 30% carbs.

A recent paper showed a higher level of energy expenditure in the low carb group. Not sure that's a common finding - may not have been specifically looked at.

Atkins for women

atkinswomen.PNG (46.96 KiB) Viewed 2871 times

Weigh-in at the start of day 8: hey I'm supposed to be losing weight on this not flat-lining... Everything is the same as yesterday - and it didn't matter which leg I stood on...

Notable that most of the weight loss (3lbs of the 3.6lbs) was at the start of the week after two fast days + one accidental near fast day, with a calorie deficit of 3256; and the remaining weight loss (0.6lbs) after just a more modest deficit of 625 cals; no measureable loss at the end of the week after a mere 435 calorie deficit (don't suppose the scales are that accurate anyway).

I'm not sure how this 'something for nothing' diet works but total calorie deficit for the week was 4315.43 which equates to 1.23lbs, so I should be seriously celebrating getting nearly three times that loss!

Somehow I'm not dancing with joy - maybe some sad part of me was hoping the hype of 'losing 9 to 14lbs in two weeks' had some truth to it and that it is just hype is moving me towards disappointment. Plus, the low-carb approach is being massively boosted by fast days but I'm not going to stop 4:3 to try the experiment of low-carb on it's own; I like 5:2 / 4:3 as a permanent WoE and I certainly wouldn't be able to stick to a rigid low-carb WoE so easily in the longer-term.

Still, it is only week one. Here's to further happy adventures in low-carbing this week, and looking forwards to next week when I can add an extra 5 carbs into my allowance - though I've gone over the 20g allowance by 10% or more than a few days anyway .

Cheers, FatDog.

p.s. @PhilT Thank-you, I'll go shufti at those papers in a minute.

@PhilT

I'm well impressed with the results of the 'Effects of Dietary Composition on Energy Expenditure During Weight-Loss Maintenance' paper - shame the sample size was so wee though, would otherwise make a pretty solid argument for recommending low-carb as the best macronutrient approach when dieting. Hmmm, that makes me feel better about being stalled a bit! Thank-you

Had a snoop on Amazon at the 'Art and Science of Low-Carbohydrate Living' and it looks pretty interesting: will see if I can find it in the library (they're rather good at ordering stuff from other libraries if they don't have it).

Fast-day aside: finding that I'm hungrier than usual (for fast days), methinks it must be due to having a four day feed break since my previous fast - as I'm doing 4:3 my longest break is normally just the two days at the weekend.Fooood, think I'll go look at recipes for tomorrow

Monday, day eight, fast day: Well, that just goes to show that there's not much out there on the low-carb vegetarian front... I was googling for recipes this evening and this thread comes up on the fourth page - given that it has only existed for a week methinks that's pretty impressive (or depressing, depending on how one looks at it).

What I'm finding most frustrating with the internet recipes is that folk seem to think that bread and sugar are acceptable ingredients in a low-carb diet. Sigh.

Anyway, forgot I was fasting and had scranned 60 cals of soya milk in a morning tea before I remembered. Otherwise 'twas the usual chai yoghurt for breakfast, and snacks late evening (reduced for calories, just a little something to maintain the routine), with salad for tonight's dinner as promised.

Nothing inventive but perfectly serviceable (I must dig out my raw cookery books - they have some really whacky / exciting salad ideas): italian leaf salad from Sainsers (100g), feta cheese (25g), black olives (20g), cherry tomatoes (30g), red onion (10g), oil&vinegar (5ml each), garlic flakes, mixed herbs and s&p (174 cals / 3.87 carbs). I had hoped to add in avocado but the monster I bought earlier is not ripe, plus it really is a whopper - 420g - so I think I'd better share it

Actually had carbs to spare but not calories today, for a change:
.......Calories 505.45 Carbs 15.34g Fat 36.61g Protein 25.09g Fibre 9.35g

I might try some 'baking' tomorrow - that'll be the first time in several decades - should be entertaining. I'm rather partial to my cheese on crispbreads so CBB's sesame and black pepper crispbread recipe (p89) has been calling to me all week. Mind you, the almond muffins (p27) are in strong competition ...

FatDog

Weigh-in at the start of day 9: guess what, day after fast day and the scales are down 0.8lbs to 133.4. Yay! Other measurements remain the same, but I do 'feel' slimmer (and one really shouldn't be too greedy for fast results!).

I'm going to posit that a low-carb diet (as in the food one eats) enhances the effect of a fast day. We'll see over the next few weeks / months. Methinks the results will be worth the restrictions just for this short wee while.

And, having read the 'Dietary Composition' paper above, I'd rather lose my weight using a low-carb approach than any other way - my TDEE will be low enough when I 'finish' losing weight without my diet approach reducing it further!

Back to menu planning: I want to get green beans into my recipe but the carbs are too high, and reducing the other carbiferous ingredient (hazelnuts) then reduces the calories, which I need to stay over the 1200 cals mark for the day. I could use spinach but I don't think it really goes with fennel and mushrooms... Oh puzzlement... FatDog.

Mind you, the almond muffins (p27) are in strong competition ...

I just made them. Tasty straight from the oven.

Only 3g of carbs in quite a heap of green beans, we have them all the time. http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/ ... =258491673

Tuesday, day nine, feed day: standard fare again for breakfast / evening snack. Dinner was fennel and mushroom gratin. I thought I was being frightfully clever, first for spotting that fennel bulbs aren't that much more carby than broccoli (4.4g vs. 4.0g / 100g) and then thinking to put mushrooms with it. Googled for fennel & mushroom recipes - they are legion, so not so original after all - decided to just use up cheese remnants from the fridge and add some nuts for calories. I really wanted green beans to go with this but the carbs wouldn't go... so ended up with rocket leaves on the side. It had it's faults but, these fixed, I'll do this again - and OH enjoyed it.

Slightly low on the calories today (well, I suppose I am trying to lose weight but I don't want to confuse my metabolism) - couldn't get the carbs to behave and couldn't face more cheese.

....... Calories 1200.51 Carbs 21.79 Fat 94.46 Protein 55.57 Fibre 16.75

Just passes muster... Ah haa... think I've a workaround... an incy wee bit extra cheese for late snack and replace the nuts with a big soya milk 'hot chocolate': 400ml soya milk and two more squares of chocolate (any excuse) plus 2ml of cinnamon and a teaspoon of stevia. Yes! I'ts a rather nice milky slightly-chocolately-spicey bed-time drink, mmmm...

....... Calories 1347.01 Carbs 22.81 Fat 104.12 Protein 70.33 Fibre 16.75

That's near my 'official' 1352 TDEE, though some way off what was my actual TDEE of around 1700 which is probably nearer 1600 now due to weight-loss

fennel and mushroom gratin
fennel bulb fine sliced, stalk v.fine chop, 31c/C4.2/F0.2/P1.2/Fi3.1/100g
.........185g 57.35 7.77 0.37 2.22 5.74
chestnut mushrooms, 6thd, 16cal/C0.4g/F0.5g/P1.8g/Fi1.1g/100g
.........180g 28.80 0.72 0.90 3.24 1.98
olive oil, 824cal/F91.6g/C,P&FI<0.1g/100mL
.........15ml 123.60 0.00 13.74 0.00 0.00
cream cheese, extra lite, 115c/C5.6/F4.0/P13.2/Fi0/100g
.........45g 51.75 2.52 1.80 5.94 0.00
hazelnuts, medium fine chopped, 695c/C7.0/F60.8/P15.0/Fi9.7/100g
.........50g 347.50 3.50 30.40 7.50 4.85
feta, crumbled/chopped 276c/C0.7/F23/P16.5/Fi0/100g
.........140g 386.40 0.98 32.20 23.10 0.00
tarragon, dried (or better still fresh)
.........4 goodly pinches 0.00
s&p 0.00
total 995.40 15.49 79.41 42.00 12.57
FatDog's ½ portion total 497.70 7.75 39.71 21.00 6.28

Method: 1. heat oil in pan, add fennel stalk and soften, then add mushrooms 2. when mushrooms are near done, add chopped fennel bulb and cook for further few minutes until tender 3. add cream cheese, s&p, tarragon and mix thoroughly 4. transfer to grillproof casserole 5. during 1 through 3 toast the hazelnuts under the grill - beware, they go from untoasted to burnt very quickly 6. cover the casserole contents with the feta and grill until golden brown 7. serve with vinaigrette dressed rocket and sprinkle the toasted hazelnuts over all...

I, rather foolishly, toasted my hazelnuts on top of the fennel / mushrooms and then mixed them in before putting the feta on top - this meant that some were properly toasted and others weren't and all round made the whole thing a bit 'mealy'. So I think the 'sprinkle over afterwards' for the hazelnuts would be a good move but I've not tried it. I might also give the cream cheese a miss - I don't know that it really added anything and it would be better to just have a little more feta (if wanted).

Sadly, I didn't get around to any baking - never mind another (probably not a fast) day...

@PhilT I'm well jealous about those muffins, roll on Thursday! You're right about the green beans, of course, but in it's original incarnation the recipe was up to 13 carbs which, with breakfast and evening snack allowance, took the whole day well over my limit. By the time I'd bought the ingredients the quantities changed and I could have fitted the beans in easily - but I'd already purchased the rocket and was too lazy (and late running) to go out again for beans. Cheers, FatDog