The FastDay Forum

Finally heading downhill again at last @ FatDog, still keeping us on the edge of our seats as to will she/won't she crack that target befor Christmas? Come on girl, you can do it!

Don't think I can take much more, am in a nervous sweat, palms damp and legs shaking, oh,sorry, must stop drinking....soon. Come on Fatdog, you can do it, we are all rooting for you, you are on the home straight and the end is in sight, just imagine it's a big juicy bone, oh, sorry again, forget the dog analogy and just go for it......GOOD LUCK

Ballerina x

Wednesday, low-carb day one-hundred and sixty-four, repair day

Weigh-in at start of day wt. 112.4lbs (analogue scales corrected ~109.75lbs); 1.2lbs loss
... t.measures - ub. 28.7, w. 25.7, t. 30.8, h. 34.6 inches

I think that that has to be the clearest demonstration of carb water-logging / de-carb water-release that I've had in my experiment so far: 2.4lbs on in two days then 2lbs off in two days. Not quite as impressive as this insane demonstration from Ross Edgley - sorry, it's from that bastion of misinformation the Daily Mail, but there might be a nugget of truth in there somewhere: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... thing.html. The mad Ferriss has done something similar.

I am *so* looking forward to my nut burger tonight. That might not sound exciting to you, but this is a Bell's Diner nut burger that I'm talking about - the best nut burger I've ever had (and that's possibly including my own). I've been going there for over seventeen years and I've still not managed to extract the recipe from them. I'm afraid I'll probably indulge in the fries to go with it, as well as the salad : it's a custom, verging on ritual, that cannot be broken. Have only had 2 grams of carbs so far today, so along with a lump of cheese and a glass of fizzy before dinner, and vino with, I'm hoping that the carbocalypse will be limited to well below 100 grams, perhaps just 80 grams. I wouldn't usually be so concerned, but having thoroughly blown the carbs at the weekend, I suspect that it might be easier to fall out of fat-burning than might otherwise be the case.

Oh, and confession time. The VBF accompanied me to the frock shop on our way home from the conference on Saturday. Which shall I get, I asked the VBF? Both, says VBF. Oops, all it takes is a troublemaker and an instigator: that's nearly another month off my living allowance. But "I'm worth it" - red frock was much admired this evening (it shows off my reduced circumference a treat)

Total over-indulgence - Bell's Diner followed by frozen-berries-and-cream-ice-cream (40ml each blueberries and summer fruits and 50ml extra thick cream - blitz'd) and a smaller seconds thereof. Plus vino, plus 85% chocolate. Not too carbiferous methinks, but calories well over the limit! Accounts are somewhat of a guestimate.

........ Calories 2295.85 Carbs 87.75 Fat 120.79 Protein 71.21 Fibre 24.91

==================================

Thursday, low-carb day one-hundred and sixty-five, feed day

Weigh-in at start of day wt. 113.8lbs (analogue scales corrected ~110.75lbs); 1.4lbs gain
... t.measures - ub. 28.7, w. 25.7, t. 30.8, h. 34.6 inches

Boing. Humph. I hadn't really expected anything as bad as that and, worse still, the eeeevil-scales-fairy also gave a reading of 114.2lbs - I've taken the lower number as the upper is too depressing. Darn it. Haven't completed the accounts yet, but must have been more carbs in yesterday's dinner than I thought - less nut and more bread crumbs maybe? And I didn't check the berries before I scranned them - seems blueberries are 12.2g carb / 100g, ouch! Summer berries are half that. Hmm - just checked fresh blueberries' macro-nutrient values, they're about half the of the frozen ones: questionable, methinks, but no choice but to go with it.

However, not a day of unalloyed misery as the replacement copy of "The Gate Vegetarian Cookbook, Adrian & Michael Daniel" has just arrived; I chased it up yesterday, and though they said (email) they'd sent it ages ago, the posting date was 3rd December. That's a quibble - I'm jolly grateful that they were so good about the replacement. Still haven't worked out whether it's possible to sterilize a book - any ideas good people? So I finally get to look at the recipes (couldn't bring myself to handle the puddled version) and, at first perusal, I'm somewhat under-whelmed - it's not instant-gratification XXXX rated food-porn. I *think* that there's a fair few gems in there, but it might take a proper read to dig them out. I shall report back.

And the other reason-to-be-cheerful is that the OH has finally conceded that our dilapidated fridge, with it's now near unusable ice-box which is spreading ice into the rest of the fridge because the door is broken, is past its best and needs replacing. Yay! Off OH went late yesterday afternoon and *actually ordered and paid for* a new fridge-freezer from Argos. So, we'll be welcoming "Candy" next Thursday morning (between 7am and 12 - eek!). FatDog does a mental doggy jig in anticipation.

Oh, and other good news is that the forecast shows a "gap in the weather" that will let me get to work and then home later without being blown over or snowed upon.

Nowt showing on the ketostix before going to work, so I probably *did* knock myself out of ketosis again, but back to 1.5mmol/L at 8pm-ish (phew).

Veggies still in good order so borlotti bean & greens stew topped with sunchoke gratin it is.

........ Calories 1465.27 Carbs 52.31 Fat 76.83 Protein 41.31 Fibre 15.49

borlotti bean & greens stew topped with sunchoke gratin, nods to AWT and Abel & Cole
tomato sauce
tomatoes, tinned, chopped, KTC, 19c/C3.0/F0.1/P1.1/Fi0.7/100g
......... 400g 76.00 12.00 0.40 4.40 2.80
borlotti beans, sainsers, 85c/C12.9/F0.6/P6.9/Fi7.7/100g
......... 235g (tin) 199.75 30.32 1.41 16.22 18.10
onion, tesco 'sweet', fine sliced, 25c/C4.4/F0.2/P0.8/Fi1.3/100g
......... 161g 40.25 7.08 0.32 1.29 2.09
chilli, red, fine sliced, 40c/C9.5/F0.2/P2.0/Fi1.5/100g
......... 9g 3.60 0.86 0.02 0.18 0.14
garlic, fine chopped, 149c/C33.06/F0.5/P6.36/Fi2.1/100g
......... 3g 4.47 0.99 0.02 0.19 0.06
cabbage, white, tesco, 32c/C4.1/F0.4/P1.7/Fi2.4/100g
......... 156g 49.92 6.40 0.62 2.65 3.74
kale, hetty's allotment, de-veined, shredded, 42c/C6.6/F0.6/P2.8/Fi1.7/100g
......... 32g 13.44 2.11 0.19 0.90 0.54
olive oil, 824c/C0.0/F91.6/P0.0/Fi0.0/100ml
......... 15ml 123.60 0.00 13.74 0.00 0.00
bay leaf
......... 2 of 0.00
marjoram, dried leaf
......... 10ml 0.00
thyme, dried leaf
......... 5ml 0.00
s&p 0.00
sunchoke gratin
sunchoke, hetty's allotment, 73c/C15.84/F0.01/P2.00/Fi1.6/100g
......... 265g 193.45 41.98 0.03 5.30 4.24
garlic, fine chopped, 149c/C33.06/F0.5/P6.36/Fi2.1/100g
......... 7g 10.43 2.31 0.04 0.44 0.15
sauvignon blanc, 81c/C2.05/F0.0/P0.07/Fi0.0/100g
......... 120ml 97.20 2.46 0.00 0.08 0.00
olive oil, 824c/C0.0/F91.6/P0.0/Fi0.0/100ml
......... 15ml 123.60 0.00 13.74 0.00 0.00
rosemary, fresh, hetty's allotment, 131c/C6.6/F5.86/P3.31/Fi14.7/100g
......... 15ml~=2g 2.62 0.13 0.12 0.07 0.29
clotted cream, tesco, 587c/C2.3/F63.5/P1.6/Fi0.0/100g
......... 60g 352.20 1.38 38.10 0.96 0.00
taleggio, f.f. semi-hard cheese, diced, 330c/C1..1/F27.0/P20.4/Fi0/100g
......... 150g 495.00 1.65 40.50 30.60 0.00
total for borlotti bean & greens stew topped with sunchoke gratin 1785.53 109.67 109.24 63.27 32.16
FatDog's ¼ portion of borlotti bean & greens stew topped with sunchoke gratin 446.38 27.42 27.31 15.82 8.04

Method: 1. fry onion until softened; 2. add garlic, chilli, bayleaf and thyme and cook for a couple of minutes; 3. add kale and cabbage and 'stir-fry' for a few more minutes; 4. add tomatoes and marjoram and simmer for about 5 minutes; 5. add the beans, keep warm aside; 6. heat oil on a medium heat and fry the sunchokes and garlic for a few minutes; 7. season, add rosemary and wine, and turn up the heat until the vino is half-reduced; 8. cover and simmer until the sunchoke is tender (took more than 5 minutes) then add the cream and mix in well, off the heat; 9. layer the tomato sauce at the bottom of a grill-proof dish, layer the sunchokes on top, then layer the sliced taleggio on top of that, grind some more pepper on top of that; 10. grill until golden brown and bubbling.

Friday, low-carb day one-hundred and sixty-six, repair day

Weigh-in at start of day wt. 113.4lbs (analogue scales corrected ~110.25lbs); 0.4lbs loss
... t.measures - ub. 28.7, w. 25.7, t. 30.8, h. 34.6 inches

Ho hum. Suspect (hope?) that this is *still* carb-water-logging - I'm pretty certain that I've not ingested an excess 4000 calories! In reality, but somewhat miraculously, I'm still in deficit this week to the tune of about 500 calories at the start of today. Can I find the self-discipline to go for a *really goody-two-shoes* repair today, weekend and week following? Indeed, up to say the solstice? Maybe better taking a day at a time, small managable targets and all that, eh?

Checked for ketones - hmmm... not a trace. That doesn't necessarily mean that I'm *not* fat-burning (e.g. a super-efficient body won't produce excess ketones to pee out anyway) but I'm possibly not, so humph anyway.

No RC today - mega nausea until late afternoon, followed by vicious gut ache. OH is fine, so don't think that I can blame my cooking last night. Whimper on the sofa, growling occasionally at the infelicities regarding saturated fats=heart attacks in James Johnson's ADF book. There is one slight note of interest in it though, p82: according to JJ the standard deviation on the Harris-Benedict TDEE equation is 14% - this means that if your estimate is 2000 there is a 95% chance that you might be anywhere from 1440 to 2560 (JJ's numbers, not mine). If the other TDEE calculators are equally *wide* it might do much to explain the confusion / despair that eating to one's TDEE regularly causes.

Dinner? Thursday's two bumper bargain packs of carrot batons (30p each), likewise ginger, and bargain chestnuts brought around by bestest neighbour the other day, all say "carrot, ginger and chestnut soup". Now, one wouldn't expect others to have the same random bottom-of-the-fridge contents, but it seems somebody at this company does http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/r ... cream.html . So I'll trust their superior wisdom and add some all-spice and an onion too. Carbs are a bit on the high side - cooked first and calculated later - I really hadn't expected that from the chestnuts, but it were jolly tasty (enjoyed by all). Especially with a wee bit of grated extra mature cheddar on top. I'd maybe leave more of the chestnut lumpy next time too (I seemed to get most of the lumps, which means most of the chestnut carbs, but I'll try not to think too much about that).

........ Calories 727.12 Carbs 42.89 Fat 39.47 Protein 19.08 Fibre 13.19

carrot, chestnut and ginger soup; a FatDog bottom-of-the-fridge production
carrot, batons, co-op, 35c/C6.0/F0.5/P0.7/Fi2.8/100g
......... 818g 286.30 49.08 4.09 5.73 22.90
chestnuts, fresh, tesco, roast & rough-chop, 190c/C36.6/F2.7/P2.0/Fi4.1/100g
......... 202g 383.80 73.93 5.45 4.04 8.28
onion, white, co-op, rough chopped, 40c/C7.6/F0.2/P1.3/Fi1.4/100g
......... 62g 24.80 4.71 0.12 0.81 0.87
ginger, rough chopped, 90c/C17.8/F0.8/P1.8/Fi2.0/100g
......... 30g 27.00 5.34 0.24 0.54 0.60
olive oil, 824c/C0.0/F91.6/P0.0/Fi0.0/100ml
......... 15ml 123.60 0.00 13.74 0.00 0.00
all spice, dried ground
......... 1ml 0.00
water, boiling
......... 550ml 0.00
clotted cream, tesco, 587c/C2.3/F63.5/P1.6/Fi0.0/100g
......... 51g 299.37 1.17 32.39 0.82 0.00
total for carrot, chestnut and ginger soup 1144.87 134.24 56.03 11.93 32.65
FatDog's ¼ portion of carrot, chestnut and ginger soup 286.22 33.56 14.01 2.98 8.16

Method: (soup machine so approx) 1. heat oil and saute onions; 2. add carrots, ginger, all spice and water; 3. bring to the boil and simmer for about 15 minutes until the carrots are soft; 4. blitz, add 2/3rds the roasted chestnuts and blitz again; 5. add the cream and the remains of the chestnuts, mix, season and serve (with grated cheese on top!)

If I manage to hold myself to a half-repair ('tis Friday, after all) I will have accumulated a deficit of over one hundred thousand calories! Sorry, couldn't help shouting that Indeed, it will be a 'theoretical' 100259.44 calorie deficit, precisely, according to my spread-sheet. I'll forget for just now that my TDEE is a thing of great mystery and that the theory only accounts for ~29lbs loss, when I seem to have lost a wee bit more than that (depending upon the day of the week / phase of the moon / leg I stand on) and just celebrate *big* numbers

WOOF! WOOF!! WOOF!!!

Saturday, day one-hundred and sixty-seven, weekend feed day

Weigh-in at start of day wt. 112.0lbs (analogue scales corrected ~108.75lbs); 1.4lbs loss
... t.measures - ub. 28.7, w. 25.7, t. 30.8, h. 34.6 inches

Report for the end of week Edit: 33 should be 32 on 4.5 : 2.5 - NO weight gain or loss this week (total loss remains at 34lbs), measured but unrecorded shrinkage, particularly hips (will register the tape measure changes when more certain). Given that my calorie deficit for the week was only 1472, no overall change on the scales is completely reasonable.

Pssssshhhhttttt, boing... And that's the carb water-logging from Wednesday away (though I do still feel just a little boggy). Now I just need to shift those *last two pounds of fat*. Woof! I'd hoped to have reached my target by now but there is, obviously, a price to pay for two planned ad libitum / carbocalypses in a week; it just demonstrates the strength of this WoE that there was no trend gain. And the whole week serves as a fine cautionary exemplar for me (and anyone else watching) for any equivalent over-indulgence between the solstice and hogmanay.

Now. What's to be done for dinner? The fridge is looking a little bare, except for various lumps of cheese and some bargain muhumarra so I might do a reprise of dog's dinner no. 8 (22nd August), but make it a little lighter on the calories and carb grams (847 and 38 respectively in its previous incarnation). So that's the FatDog out in a minute for messaging. Aah, no: OH has volunteered to get frozen veggies from Tesco for us (much cheaper and prep-free!). Excellent.

Which reminds me... I think that the reason I stalled a little with the weight loss (ignoring last week's planned carbocalypse) is due, in no small part, to a decision I made a few weeks ago: namely, to not do my wander up and down the 'high street' messaging in the afternoon because I kept having 'accidents' in the charity stores. The law of unintended consequences : stop buying books / frocks and get fat.

Was discussing this with the OH the other night, and he thought my idea of walking up and down our stairs multiple times instead, to get the same effect (exercise wise), was rather clever. Might help build my "stick" right leg back up again too. And then I'd do any messages after the charity stores shut. Oh, the best laid plans... It's how to find the resolve to go up-and-down again and again, when daundering about and nosing through second-hand books and things is so much nicer and more interesting?

That's RC's "Day 15" just done - some days it burns and others, like today, I feel as though mostly all I've done is wave bits about to little effect. Bad form, I suspect. Need to get a proper exercise mat, as rolling about on the futon / duvet doesn't give the process much gravitas, and isn't always terribly effective. Saw a really beautiful mat on the dreaded Amazon the other day. Yes, beautiful: it was thick, padded, patchworked and big; but, sadly, ridiculously expensive at seventy odd quid - even if lying on it could, momentarily, transport one to Shangri-La. It ain't there anymore, but this one is something like it (though the colours on the one I saw were *much* nicer) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Meditation-Acce ... n+yoga+mat .

Oh my goodness, the fairies are at it again! I'd sloped around to the co-op just in case they had the frozen veggies I need, thus saving the OH a trip - they don't - a dozen types of chip but no frozen broccoli and / or cauliflower. Can't resist a snoop in the Bethany charity store on the way: and there, brightly calling to me is a big pack of foam tiles to make a child's play mat, rather like this one http://www.amazon.co.uk/TLCmat%C2%AE-Al ... +play+mats - which, methinks, if done in three strips one-on-top-of-another would make a remarkably good exercise mat. Three quid. Not quite a hand crafted patchwork meditation quilt, but it has some elements of such, and it maybe lacks 'gravitas' too - but it certainly has loads of colour, and all the functionality required. Home it comes. Brilliant! Sorted!

Dinner expanded, with OH's first half joining us and an elusive friend of OH coming by for a first visit. Swiftly discovered he was lactose and gluten intolerant. Ung. My planned bake only has loads of cream and cheese in it doesn't it, and the muhumarra has bread crumbs. FatDog tizzes and can't think up a whole new recipe for the ingredients she was going to use instanter, so comes up with a modified dish for our guest - a bit random, but it did, and he seemed to (and said he) enjoyed it. Certainly it was all eaten - baked layered broccoli & cauliflower, butter beans, humous and fresh cherry tomatoes, with roast tinned potatoes (the latter are yummy by the way, but haven't been on my menu for an absolute age - they're not a FatDog food). Ours was the muhumarra reloaded below.

........ Calories 1506.21 Carbs 43.17 Fat 85.39 Protein 41.94 Fibre 15.53

dog's dinner no. 20 - brocco'flower, beans, muhumarra, cheese & chilli reloaded
broccoli & cauliflower, tesco, frozen, floretted, 31c/C2.1/F0.7/P2.7/Fi2.9/100g
.......... 370g 114.70 7.77 2.59 9.99 10.73
muhumarra, g'nosh, 113c/C13.8/F5.3/P2.4/Fi2.9/100g
.......... 150g 169.50 20.70 7.95 3.60 4.35
butter beans, tesco, 80c/C13.0/F0.5/P5.9/Fi4.6/100g
.......... 172g 137.60 22.36 0.86 10.15 7.91
cheddar, cathedral, grated, 416cal/C0.6g/F34.7g/P25.3g/Fi0g/100g
.......... 100g 416.00 0.60 34.70 25.30 0.00
single cream, co-op, 195c/C2.2/F19.1/P3.3/Fi0.0/100ml
.......... 75ml 146.25 1.65 14.33 2.48 0.00
double cream, tesco, 467c/C1.6/F50.5/P1.5/Fi0/100ml
.......... 75ml 350.25 1.20 37.88 1.13 0.00
chilli, green, fine chopped, 40c/C9.5/F0.2/P2.0/Fi1.5/100g
.......... 13g 5.20 1.24 0.03 0.26 0.20
total dog's dinner no. 20 - brocco'flower, beans, muhumarra, cheese & chilli reloaded 1339.50 55.52 98.33 52.90 23.19
FatDog's 1/3 portion of dog's dinner no. 20 - brocco'flower, muhumarra & etc. 446.50 18.51 32.78 17.63 7.73

Method: 1. ping broccoli & cauliflower florets in a microwavable & oven-proof dish with the lid on for about 5 minutes then drain thoroughly; 2. layer 1/2 the butter beans / cream / cheeses / chilli and all the muhumarra over the veggies, then the rest of butter beans / cream / cheeses / chilli, with the latter two last on top; 3. bung into a pre-heated oven at 200C for about 15 to 20 minutes, until it's bubbling and the top is going brown

==================================

Sunday, day one-hundred and sixty-eight, weekend feed day

Weigh-in at start of day wt. 111.8lbs (analogue scales corrected ~108.75lbs); 0.2lbs loss
... t.measures - ub. 28.7, w. 25.7, t. 30.8, h. 34.6 inches

Thank-you muchly, V&P vary-fairy - *so* nice to be going in the right direction again.

Low carb dinner plans for this evening sabotaged by delivery late last night by our freegan friend of a rather good looking *pizza*. Oh well, 'tis a very small one, and once I've loaded it with muhumarra and extra cheese it might well be less damaging carb grams per 100g than a random FatDog concoction.

Have just had the thought: is the "carb allowance" for remaining in ketosis in any way related to how large one is, or how much adipose tissue one has? Or might it be related to liver size, given that that does so much of the fat / sugar processing? Where are those techies when one needs them?

Why, oh why, do I do it? Especially given that I was slightly dubious about some "fluffy bits" on the pizza - rejecting it as it was growing would have been perfectly reasonable? Instead, here goes the wheat-belly gut ache for the evening. Darn. I should, honestly, know better. Need to get myself a copy of Perlmutter's book (library doesn't have it, sadly) to do some "reinforcement" work. And freegan fare be damned - our freegan friend will need to find another home for his pizza from now on, methinks - do you think that cheese is bad for ducks?

And major expletives - I read the back of the pizza box which said that half the pizza had about 45g of carb, which I reckoned was pushing it but liveable with. Now, post scranning it, not only do I have stomach ache, but I do the numbers by weight, and it turns out the xxxxxxxxx ggggggrrrrring thing had 54g of carb - considerably more carbs and thus much less liveable with (and similarly more calories too, 457 rather than 386). Expletives.

However, that's not going to dampen my joy this evening, as I made the most delicious microwave almond cookies - a completely made-up, seat-of-pants wag-of-tail concoction - using one of my new silicone muffin trays (not the one I ordered, as advertised, but it seems to work so I guess I'll keep it - I will avoid that Amazon trader in future though). I was convinced that such cookies might be possible, and there are recipes for one-minute choc-chip microwave cookies - but I couldn't find any ground almond ones, except for ones that included eggs, such as this one http://stuftmama.com/2012/10/03/catchin ... er-cookie/ .

Anyway, yums all round and I'm absolutely and utterly thrilled - personally, I thought my almond cookies had a hint of macaroon, but the others quite didn't get that. Bestest neighbour could have done with them being a little sweeter - I thought they were more than sweet enough as they were. And their yumminess was despite of my thinking that they were underdone and so pinging them for a further minute, and thus burning their innards just a touch. The "underdone" was, perhaps, more "not holding together convincingly" (which they did fine, once slightly singed), so next time I might add a little golden linseed for binding purposes. And there will, *quite definitely*, be a next time... FatDog has difficulty restraining herself from doing them again *right now* - only the pizza carbs debacle holds her back...

I'm trying to persuade the OH to go halfsies on Grain Brain - even the large print version - to no avail. Think that it might have to be my present to me, for something - maybe a celebration of being, or perhaps for dropping below 8 stone (again)? Trouble is, I'm getting CBB's latest two tomes too, once they're out (absolutely no way am I missing out on them), and I'm not sure how this fits in with my recent ban on book buying

Accounts are a bit embarrassing calorie wise - I'd blame the pizza, but that happened *before* the good-night-toddy, so really there's no excuse. But I take absolutely *no* responsibility for the carbs. What do you mean "well, you ate them"?...

........ Calories 1956.10 Carbs 85.84 Fat 108.85 Protein 51.38 Fibre 14.66

almond cookies, no. 1, wee microwave miracles; a FatDog wag-of-tail concoction
almonds, ground, 640c/C6.9/F55.8/P21.1/Fi11.8/100g
.......... 15g 96.00 1.04 8.37 3.17 1.77
oat bran, Holland & Barrett, 389.2c/C59.1/F6.5/P12.6/Fi9.3/100g
.......... 10g 38.92 5.91 0.65 1.26 0.93
baking powder
.......... 2.5ml 0.00
vanilla extract, 125c/C0/F13.8/P0/Fi0/15ml
.......... 1ml 8.33 0.00 0.92 0.00 0.00
almond extract, 125c/C0/F13.8/P0/Fi0/15ml
.......... 1ml 8.33 0.00 0.92 0.00 0.00
butter, melted, 720c/C0.6/F80.0/P0.5/Fi0/100g
.......... 10g 72.00 0.06 8.00 0.05 0.00
apricot, dried, co-op, very fine chop, 185c/C36.5/F0.6/P4.0/Fi8.4/100g
.......... 17g 31.45 6.21 0.10 0.68 1.43
double cream, tesco, 467c/C1.6/F50.5/P1.5/Fi0/100ml
.......... 3ml 14.01 0.05 1.52 0.05 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
.......... 15ml, enough to make a malleable biscuit 'dough' 0.00
salt
.......... pinch 0.00
total almond cookies, no. 1, wee microwave miracles 271.05 13.73 20.48 5.20 4.13
FatDog's 1/3 portion of almond cookies, no. 1, wee microwave miracles 90.35 4.58 6.83 1.73 1.38

Method: 1. mix dry stuff; 2. mix wet stuff in a separate bowl; 3. add dry stuff to wet stuff and mix thoroughly to make a very soft doughy-paste; 4. splat equal quantities into a six-muffin silicone tray; 5. ping for 2 minutes (YMMV) then check - do for ten second intervals thereafter (to avoid burning) until 'biscuit like'; 5. eat - but let them cool enough first so that you don't burn your mouth...

Not the lowest of carb biscuits, I guess, but somehow they were worth it. It might be possible to reduce the oats (and thus some of the carbs) by substituting, at least in part, with ground linseed. Reducing the apricot and adding cinnamon might work too.

Coeee @FatDog, hope you've seen the little ditty in your honour after your last post in the weigh in thread! x

I've a sting in my nose and tears in my eyes from laughing @callyanna. That's a lovely ditty, but isn't it a bit early for sherry? xxx FatDog

Just wanting you to get those socks pulled up PDQ or the frock police will be round to confiscate your latest purchases!

Thank-you so much for that @callyanna - replying in here to avoid derailing the weigh-in thread any further

I was having a bit of a wobble as I came back in from messaging and nearly attacked the nuts - not a good idea on a repair day - and just saw your post which has saved me from myself! No breaking fast with nuts tonight - I'll be good and just have my dinner in a couple of hours - and that way I won't be too well-circumferenced for my new frock

Monday, low-carb day one-hundred and sixty-nine, repair day

Weigh-in at start of day wt. 112.4lbs (analogue scales corrected ~108.75lbs); 0.6lbs gain
... t.measures - ub. 28.7, w. 25.6, t. 30.5, h. 34.5 inches

Report at the end-of-week 24 of low-carb : total low-carb weight loss 25.4lbs, and last week 2.0lbs weight loss. Shrinkage now recorded with a touch off waist and hips and a gratifying triple touch off stomach. Thought the hips loss was much more, as some days I'm seeing 33.x, but could only shimmy the tape from my bust to my knees at 34.5, so that's where it will have to be.

Groan. It actually read 112.6lbs more times than 112.4lbs, but I'm afraid that the former was all too much for me, so I went for the latter (after all, the analogues hadn't moved in any obvious way). Maybe the carbs *were* rather high yesterday and the gain is just carb-water-logging? Excess 200 calories on Sunday (unlikely, 1750 calories is equivalent to a half pound)? Eeeevil scales-fairy? Don't know. Growl. Puddling out the ketones though (4.0 mmol/L) so, if ketostix are anything to go by, I'm still fat-burning.

Odd day - grand plans for book-moving, in anticipation of Candy's arrival on Thursday, but get absolutely nowhere. Did manage to pick up four cookbooks from the library though (I'd so love to work there!) and after a quick shufti at each, I want them all. Duh.

Another microwave baking experiment. This time more bread-like: I'd been wondering how far it was possible to push the linseed minute-muffin, having added bran last time to see if one could disguise the eggy taste (to no avail). This time I did a full 150g of "flour" (soya / linseed / oatbran, as per my brown rolls), along with the whole egg, as a single "loaf". Forgot the salt. And it didn't rise much at all. However, 'twas more than edible, *no* eggy taste, cut like bread without falling apart, had the texture of a dense wholemeal bread and was certainly a jolly fine accompaniment for my cheese, salad and quorn ham dinner. Bestest neighbour was briefly by and had some with three different cheeses and rated it highly. Unfortunately I still have half the "loaf" left and it's going to be hard to resist having some with a little butter and honey tomorrow... Will try the next "bake" with slightly less "flour" to see if I can get a better rise.

Repair day not quite as good-as-it-should-be today: had this overwhelming desire for coffee with my 85% chocolate after dinner, and enjoyed it so much that I had it all over again. No self-restraint there then (but at least I'll have a good reason for not sleeping tonight). And I forgot the quorn ham in my accounts until last thing - it isn't much on it's own, but it all mounts up...

........ Calories 677.41 Carbs 23.43 Fat 44.31 Protein 42.52 Fibre 13.61

oat bran, linseed & soya loaf, no. 1, microwave version
soya flour, 424c/C16.0/F20.0/P39.0/Fi12.0/100g
......... 56g 237.44 8.96 11.20 21.84 6.72
linseed, golden, fresh ground, 534c/C1.5/F42.16/P18.29/Fi27.3/100g
......... 46g 245.64 0.69 19.39 8.41 12.56
oat bran, Holland & Barrett, 389.2c/C59.1/F6.5/P12.6/Fi9.3/100g
......... 45g 175.14 26.60 2.93 5.67 4.19
eggs, brown, organic, 151c/C0.0/F11.2/P12.5/Fi0.0/100g
......... 60g 90.60 0.00 6.72 7.50 0.00
baking powder
......... 5ml 0.00
xanthan gum
......... 3ml 0.00
water
......... 60ml 0.00
olive oil, 824c/C0.0/F91.6/P0.0/Fi0.0/100ml
......... 10ml 82.40 0.00 9.16 0.00 0.00
salt
......... forgot it, and it was noticably absent 0.00
total for oat bran, linseed & soya loaf, no. 1, microwave version 831.22 36.25 49.40 43.42 23.46
FatDog's ¼ portion of oat bran, linseed & soya loaf, no. 1, microwave version 207.81 9.06 12.35 10.86 5.87

Method: 1. mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl; 2. gradually beat in the egg and the oil - you should end up with crumbs; 3. now gradually add the water until you have a slightly wet dough; 4. splop the dough out into an appropriately shaped microwaveable tub and level it down by shaking (I squished it, which probably contributed to its not rising much); 5. ping for four minutes and then at ten second intervals thereafter until there's something like a crust on top! I took mine out and turned it over to give the bottom a chance to let off steam - really need a microwaveable rack...

==================================

Tuesday, low-carb day one-hundred and seventy, feed day

Weigh-in at start of day wt. 112.0lbs (analogue scales corrected ~108.75lbs); 0.4lbs loss
... t.measures - ub. 28.7, w. 25.6, t. 30.5, h. 34.5 inches

If I'm everso, everso good, will you please keep going downwards? Just a couple of pounds off is all I'm asking for? There's considerable hope from the measurements though, as there's actually double touches or more off all these, methinks.

A more thorough perusal of the library cookbooks moves them all *off* my want list - yay!

Troth Well's "The Global Vegetarian Kitchen" is a gorgeous tome, visually and recipe wise, and would be a stonkingly brilliant book to start one's veggie cookbook collection: it has all the 'standards' from around the world plus a few less obvious recipes. *But*, "The World in Your Kitchen", also Troth Wells, essentially covers the same ground but with more unusual recipes (though perhaps without the visual XXX food-porn factor), and where it doesn't I've other cookbooks that more than do, such as "World Food Cafe 1 & 2", CBB's "World Vegetarian Classics", Sarah Brown's "World Vegetarian Cookbook", and (not forgetting) Madhur Jaffrey's "World Vegetarian". There's just the one recipe that was really new to me - and that was from a friend of Troth's in New Zealand and it features on the front cover! Have noted it. Might give the cookbook shelf space if I found it for a couple of quid - but I would actually rather pass it on to a tyro veggie friend if I did find it at that!

Nigel Slater's "Tender, volume I" is a lovely, lovely read and is a treat for sore eyes; he deals comprehensively with thirty or so veg types - planting, growing, harvesting and cooking. His 'tenderness' for veggies shines through. Anyone with a veg patch should get it, methinks. I don't have a veg patch. And I don't eat meat - and, sadly, this volume is surprisingly generously flavoured with meat (or fish, or fowl). Many of his veggie recipes seem vaguely familiar (cauliflower, for example, has nothing really new), but look lovely in their simplicity. And I do like the section for each veggie "seasoning your xxxx" - very useful. Sure, I'd be thrilled to give it shelf space but would I buy it? Probably not, unless it were at a very silly price that I couldn't resist; though I'd be breaking my "no meat cookbooks" rule, this is a volume worthy of such a breach.

I am wont to avoid 'compendium' type cookbooks; in my, albeit limited, experience, if it doesn't have a named author it's probably not going to be very good - my huge "The Food of the World - a journey for food lovers" by Murdoch Books is a rare exception. So, the "Vegetarian Times Complete Cookbook" isn't a huge disappointment, as I wasn't expecting much. It *is* exceedingly comprehensive, nay encyclopaedic even - it has all the standards and then some: "Norwegian winter fruit salad" anyone? Maybe it's the lack of pictures, though that doesn't usually deter me (Jaffrey's tome for example), but somehow it doesn't inspire - there are no "oooh, I want to cook / eat that" moments. And it uses a fair amount of convenience foods (e.g. "fresh cheese-filled raviolli") which rather defeats the purpose of a cookbook. In it's favour, it does do a full macronutrient breakdown of each serving. Useful as a starting-out reference but, even if it were a bargain, I now don't have shelf space for it.

Finally, Nicola Graimes' "New Vegetarian Kitchen". I've encountered NG's stuff somewhere in the dim distant past, and vaguely remember being unimpressed (maybe her slightly patronising tone put my hackles up). This, however, caught my eye on the shelf when I went to collect the three books above (that I'd actually ordered) and a quick shufti piqued my interest. She's still patronising, likes 'fancy' / obscure ingredients (we all know what "kecap manis" is, don't we? you don't? really? Indonesian soy sauce), but there's considerably more than a handful of recipes in there that have me *drooling* (and they don't all have pictures, maybe just one in four?). Many of the recipes seem original to me, and those that obviously aren't, at least have varying degrees of novel twist on the familiar. Yup. There's stuff in there that I definitely want to eat / cook; I'd give it shelf space without any hesitation, but do I want to buy it? Not so sure. Let's see how long I can keep it out of the library before someone puts a reserve on it - and if I can't bear to part with it I'll bung it on my stalk-it-on-Amazon-and-buy-when-it's-less-than-a-fiver list.

Oops, time flies by when one is going through cookbooks (and that, along with the approx 700 words above, has taken me all afternoon) - that's put paid to my 'sorting out the shelves' as it's now near six, and OH needs dinner on the table when he gets in. Mixed veg frittata methinks, but I'll need to "cull" the veggies as they're bargain ones and they're looking a tad sorry around the edges.

Dinner's done and dusted - OH is terribly impressed with the frittata and seems inordinately upset that this particular version will only go on the menu again when I can get the muhumarra for less than near three quid a tub (50p this time).

Now for pudding. Perhaps I'm not so mad with my plum and pink grapefruit compote idea? Here's a recipe from the St. Petersburg Times from 1970 http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=8 ... 30,5323996

1 (16 ounces) can or jar of purple plums
? pink grapefruit (I can't work out if it's 3 or 8 - neither seems very likely!)
1 cup of grapes, halved (do you think red wine would do?)
1/2 cup plum syrup
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/8 to 1/4 tsp mint (yes, mint) flavouring

Oh, and "orange drink" can be used in place of the mint (?) and rum instead of the lemon juice (hmmm).

Well, it's another bottom-of-the-fridge concoction, so plums, grapefruit, maybe one or more of orange / vanilla / almond essence and cinnamon are going into a pot together to reduce and we'll see what happens. I'm tempted to bung in some star anise too (it sounds so alluring) but I've never used it before! Hope to serve with cream or yoghurt - will decide once we find out how sweet / sour it is. OH, kind heart, is prep'ing the fruit for me! I'm going to faint - he's just washed up too (he does occasionally, but usually only when he can't find his favourite spoon anywhere)! Think my almond cookies would go beautifully with this - but might just hold the experiments to one thing at a time - almond flakes on top will do... And cream, the aroma is saying cream. A sprinkle of oat bran and a shot of whisky and we'll have a twist on cranachan (cream, whisky, honey, raspberries and oatmeal). I fear this experiment is going to take me a wee bit beyond my limits, carb-wise at least - but what's life for, if not experimentation? Okay, I'll use the almond flakes in lieu of the oat bran - that'll down the carbs (a little, shame about the calories).

Oh wow! I'm trying to think whether I've made a pudding before (excepting cake, that is, or simply an assembly), and get the feeling that this might be a first. Whatever, it certainly won't be a last! That is good, very good. I *like* the fact that the fruit is tart (and hot), it offsets the sweetness of the cream and the whisky and the almonds. And the textures work too, at least for me - crunchy almond, gloopy fruit, smooth cream and, well, spiky whisky. I've not done the numbers yet, but I'd have a second portion (if there were one) anyhow. That certainly goes on the menu again, regardless of whether the plums & grapefruit & cream are bargain! One might add extra spices but, methinks, wouldn't as it would over-complicate something that already seems to work rather well. Fear that the OH found it a little *too* tart (think bestest neighbour would have too, had he been here, the plums were pretty sour) - but OH scranned it all anyway, wish he hadn't - I'd have easily scranned it for him

Ooops, good thing that OH ate all his pud, and that there were no seconds... I've just done the numbers... *majorly embarrassed thingy*

........ Calories 1804.82 Carbs 62.09 Fat 103.19 Protein 43.70 Fibre 13.18

cheese, mixed veg and muhumarra frittata; a FatDog bottom-of-the-fridge concoction
eggs, brown, beaten & seasoned, 151c/C0.0/F11.2/P12.5/Fi0.0/100g
......... ~50g x 4 of 302.00 0.00 22.40 25.00 0.00
red cheddar, graham's, grated, 416c/C0.1/F34.9/P25.4/Fi0/100g
......... 102g 424.32 0.10 35.60 25.91 0.00
carrot, cauliflower & broccoli, co-op, 40c/C5.0/F0.6/P2.4/Fi2.7/100g
......... 241g 96.40 12.05 1.45 5.78 6.51
muhumarra, g'nosh, 113c/C13.8/F5.3/P2.4/Fi2.9/100g
......... 150g 169.50 20.70 7.95 3.60 4.35
onion, red, co-op, medium chopped, 35c/C7.6/F0.2/P1.3/Fi1.4/100g
......... 50g 17.50 3.80 0.10 0.65 0.70
olive oil, 824c/C0.0/F91.6/P0.0/Fi0.0/100ml
......... 5ml 41.20 0.00 4.58 0.00 0.00
garlic flakes 0.00
s&p 0.00
total for cheese, mixed veg and muhumarra frittata 1050.92 36.65 67.49 60.94 11.56
FatDog's ½ portion of cheese, mixed veg and muhumarra frittata 525.46 18.33 33.75 30.47 5.78

Method: 1. soften onions in heated oil; 2. add the veggies and give them a good stir-fry for a minute or four; 3. transfer all to a medium sized oven-proof dish; 4. spread the muhumarra evenly over the top; 5. layer half the cheese over, then pour over the beaten eggs, then sprinkle over the remaining cheese; 6. bake in a pre-heated oven at 200C for about 15 to 20 minutes until going golden brown (if the bottom looks affy cooked it can be finished off under the grill for the last crispiness)

plum & grapefruit compote cranachanesque; another FatDog bottom-of-the-fridge concoction
pink grapefruit, segmented, rough chopped, 30c/C6.4/F0.1/P0.55/Fi1.1/100g
......... 154g 46.20 9.86 0.15 0.85 1.69
plums, destoned, rough chopped, tesco, 42c/C8.8/F0.1/P0.6/Fi1.6/100g
......... 267g 112.14 23.50 0.27 1.60 4.27
double cream, sainsers, 445c/C2.6/F47.5/P1.75/Fi0/100ml
......... 100ml 445.00 2.60 47.50 1.75 0.00
almonds, flaked, 645c/C6.5/F55.8/P25.4/Fi7.4/100g
......... 20g 129.00 1.30 11.16 5.08 1.48
whisky, 40% @ 7kcal per gram of alcohol
......... 40g 112.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
honey
......... 5ml 18.00 4.60 0.00 0.00 0.00
vanilla extract, 125c/C0/F13.8/P0/Fi0/15ml
......... 2ml 16.67 0.00 1.84 0.00 0.00
almond extract, 125c/C0/F13.8/P0/Fi0/15ml
......... 2ml 16.67 0.00 1.84 0.00 0.00
cinnamon, dried ground
......... 5ml 0.00
water
......... 200ml 0.00
total for plum & grapefruit compote cranachanesque 895.67 41.85 62.76 9.28 7.45
FatDog's ½ portion of plum & grapefruit compote cranachanesque 447.84 20.93 31.38 4.64 3.72

Method: 1. bung the fruit, cinnamon, vanilla & almond extracts, and water into a pan, bring to the boil then simmer... for an age (probably an hour or more)... until it is reduced to a nice thick gloopy state - you'll need to stir more frequently towards the end or it will stick; 2. meantimes, roast your almond flakes; 3. take the fruit off the heat and add the honey and mix in well; 4. put the cream into bowls (extra thick or whipping cream would be wonderful here), dollop the fruit gloop in the middle, dribble the whisky over the fruit, and sprinkle the almond flakes on top (I died and went to heaven).

Wednesday, low-carb day one-hundred and seventy-one, repair day

Weigh-in at start of day wt. 112.2lbs (analogue scales corrected ~108.75lbs); 0.2lbs gain
... t.measures - ub. 28.7, w. 25.6, t. 30.5, h. 34.5 inches

Boing. Oh boooo. It's not a real gain (I hope), but boooo all the same. Boooo. Boooo. Grrr. I wish I could do something to *force* the issue, but I'm not keen on doing anything that isn't sustainable; apart from being silly (having got this far the sensible way) it jars unpleasantly with this WoE being a WoL. Still, zero-calorie fasts are tempting, and a few days of sub 20g carbs too - might shift things like an industrial cleanser...

Absolutely *nothing* acheived today - don't know where it went.

Wonderful salad for dinner: I'd forgotten how divine raw sliced courgette was and along with sweet pointed pepper, and rocket from stair neighbour (who emptied her fridge into ours before escaping home for Christmas) plus vine tomatoes, red onion and garlic flakes - it made for a delicious and refreshing foil to the remains of my bread, cream cheese and quorn ham (yes, again).

Should really have had just half of my bread. Oh well.

........ Calories 846.19 Carbs 38.39 Fat 51.65 Protein 46.93 Fibre 22.21

I realise it's a rubbish repair day (it's been rather a rubbish day full-stop) - but I'll scream anyway if my weight goes up again tomorrow. Scream.

==================================

Thursday, low-carb day one-hundred and seventy-two, feed day

Weigh-in at start of day wt. 111.8lbs (analogue scales corrected ~108.75lbs); 0.4lbs loss
... t.measures - ub. 28.7, w. 25.6, t. 30.5, h. 34.5 inches

The editor that I use for my logs is called Scite - change that second letter and you'll have a clue as to how grumpy my thinking is this morning. Pooooooooo. Scales went from 111.6, via 111.8 to 112.2 with a little more insistence on the latter. But I ain't havin' no scale goin' up after a down-day *, I just ain't. So there. Sorry, that was meant to be a Scarlett O'Hara - esqe strop, but not sure that it quite came over - never mind. (* J Johnson's name for a repair day)

I'll go middle for diddle - 111.8lbs. The analogues were still on 7 stone 9 (without 'correction') so I'm reasonably confident that I'm not cheating, too much. Or maybe I should go for the 112.2lbs and then I won't be disappointed when it boings back up tomorrow. Hmmm.

Anyway, we have reasons to be cheerful - Candy has arrived. Ooooh. All that freezer space is *so* exciting. Our living space is chaos exemplified. And I'm going to work in a couple of hours. And I'm cooking tonight.

Bestest neighbour (BN) dropped by last night with bargain brussels sprouts and a courgette (the latter seem to be everywhere just now - but I don't think that they're in season?). Denis Cotter, of "Cafe Paradiso" loves sprouts, I'm sure - and right I am: swithering between two (of several) delicious looking recipes with sprouts as the star; these two have sweet potato as the lovely assistant. One is slightly more idiot proof (from his Wild Garlic...) than the other (the love of food), but the more complex one is distinctly original whereas the easy one is essentially a variation on 'greens with cheese sauce'. Anyway, twenty minutes after his first fly-by, the BN returned with bargain sweet tatties from Sainsers - genius! Doesn't decide the recipe, but does make the shopping list shorter. Tough decisions.

The guys (OH and BN) start attacking the shelving with a saw as I'm putting myself together to go to work, and - in an intermission - independently vote for the pancakes, so pancakes it will be.

Return from work and the place is in a state of absolute chaos - there isn't a single work-surface visible, the sink is full and the cooker is covered. Oh dear. FatDog grumbles at the OH, thinking that he's been slacking - drinking tea with a visitor and generally getting distracted (as per). I maligned the poor creature - he'd made space in the backroom, fighting bicycles and suitcases, and then hefted the old fridge, full, from the front to the back *on his own*. Well, the medics are threatening him with a pace-maker, but he'd really do without, and on that evidence maybe he's right!

A small work surface and the stove-top gradually emerge, and FatDog sets to it at about 8pm. Dear reader, I'm ashamed to say we didn't dine until 11.15pm! Not quite sure what happened. I did run out of soya flour and supplies weren't replenished by the dauntless OH until 9.15pm. I guess the tangled logistics of not having any "spare" work surfaces to move things to slowed operations down somewhat. But three hours? And it was, actually, fairly simple. I should, perhaps have done things in the order Cotter listed, but it seemed counter-intuitive (pancakes, sauce, roast veggies). Never mind, it was exceedingly filling and enjoyed by all, and it gave me great pleasure making it. I also discovered how much I like star anise - the trick will be to not over-use it. The only very slight negative to the dish was the filling was deemed to need more moisture (BN rated it at 8.9 rather than the 9.5 he would have given it) - it was exactly as the recipe demanded, so not sure what the remedy for that is.

Hot cocoa toddy and off to bed - way too tired to do the numbers.

The next day dawns, along with the painful realisation that yesterday was a *major carbocalypse*; not just from the sweet potatoes and gram flour in the dinner, but I used proper milk in my cocoa (going-away neighbour's gift). Eeejit FatDog. Have just (Friday) finalised the numbers and they're not quite the worst I've ever managed - but it more than explains the scales going back up - no more creamy cocoa toddies, well, only on holidays!

........ Calories 1970.92 Carbs 78.34 Fat 122.07 Protein 48.10 Fibre 15.24

brussels sprouts & sweet potato pancakes with coconut sauce, adapted from Denis Cotter, for the love of food (p162)
pancake
eggs, brown, organic, 151c/C0.0/F11.2/P12.5/Fi0.0/100g
......... 157g 237.07 0.00 17.58 19.63 0.00
soya flour, 424c/C16.0/F20.0/P39.0/Fi12.0/100g
......... 35g 148.40 5.60 7.00 13.65 4.20
gram flour, 352c/C55.9/F5.3/P20.1/Fi4.7/100g
......... 38g 133.76 21.24 2.01 7.64 1.79
olive oil, 824c/C0.0/F91.6/P0.0/Fi0.0/100ml
......... 6ml 49.44 0.00 5.50 0.00 0.00
salt
......... goodly pinch of 0.00
water
......... 80ml 0.00
coconut sauce
coconut milk, 197c/C2.81/F21.33/P2.02/Fi0/100ml
......... 400ml 788.00 11.24 85.32 8.08 0.00
spring onions, chopped, 28c/C3.0/F0.5/P2.0/Fi1.5/100g
......... 60g 16.80 1.80 0.30 1.20 0.90
chilli, green, fine sliced, 40c/C9.5/F0.2/P2.0/Fi1.5/100g
......... 6g 2.40 0.57 0.01 0.12 0.09
tamarind paste, 57c/C14.23/F0.12/P0.09/Fi0.5/100g
......... 10g 5.70 1.42 0.01 0.01 0.05
star anise, whole
......... 1 of 0.00
pancake stuffing
sweet potato, 1cm cubed, 95c/C21.3/F0.3/P1.2/Fi2.4/100g
......... 382g 362.90 81.37 1.15 4.58 9.17
brussels sprouts, 5mm slices, 55c/C4.1/F1.4/P3.5/Fi4.1/100g
......... 336g 184.80 13.78 4.70 11.76 13.78
butter, 720c/C0.6/F80.0/P0.5/Fi0/100g
......... 15g 108.00 0.09 12.00 0.08 0.00
spring onions, chopped, 28c/C3.0/F0.5/P2.0/Fi1.5/100g
......... 73g 20.44 2.19 0.37 1.46 1.10
ginger, sainsers, blitz to grate, 80c/C17.7/F0.8/P1.8/Fi2.0/100g
......... 45g 36.00 7.97 0.36 0.81 0.90
coriander seed, fresh ground
......... 15ml 0.00
s&p 0.00
putting it together
butter, melted, 720c/C0.6/F80.0/P0.5/Fi0/100g
......... 15g 108.00 0.09 12.00 0.08 0.00
total for brussels sprouts & sweet potato pancakes with coconut sauce 2201.71 147.35 148.31 69.09 31.97
FatDog's 1/3 portion of brussels sprouts & sweet potato pancakes with coconut 733.90 49.12 49.44 23.03 10.66

Method:
pancakes: 1. gradually beat the eggs into the dry stuff; 2. then beat in the water (I cheated and blitzed it to get a nice smooth batter); 3. heat a non-stick pan to medium heat, add 1ml oil and spoon in approx 50ml (1/6th) of the batter and tilt it about to distribute it quickly over the bottom of the pan; 4. turn the pancake when it is just done (you don't want it browning) and remove to a plate when likewise done the other side; 5. do the rest of the pancakes - this made two small fat pancakes each for us in the wok, a proper non-stick frying pan would do better; 6. set the pancakes aside
coconut sauce: 1. add the star anise whole to the coconut milk and bring it to the bubble in a non-stick pot, then simmer to reduce to about half volume; 2. once reduced, add the spring onion and chilli and bubble gently for a further five minutes then take off the heat; 3. stir in the tamarind and allow the sauce to cool.
pancake filling: 1. season and toss the sweet tatties and the sprouts in the melted butter (just 15g) and bake, under parchment to prevent roasting, for 10 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 200C; Cotter says to use an "oven dish" - his dishes must be huge as I had to use our largest baking tray; 2. turn the veggies and bake, still covered, for another 10 minutes; 3. mix in the onions, ginger and coriander seed with the veggies and bake, uncovered, for a final 10 minutes
putting it together: 1. dollop two good tablespoonfuls of the veg mix along the mid-line of a pancake and roll it up (Cotter makes wee parcels but our pancakes were too small and fat for such elegance), place it into an oven dish that will just take the six rolls, and do the other five; 2. brush the second lot of 15g melted butter equally over the exposed surfaces of the pancakes (I dribbled the butter and spread it with a spoon - have yet to acquire a cooking brush); 3. bake until the pancakes are going golden brown; 4. serve with the coconut sauce - Cotter says to spread a little on the plate and place the rolls on top, and then do a further dollop on top: this was vetoed by the assembled eaters and we just had the sauce on the side...

Not exactly low-carb fare, but the portion was very much over-generous for me (I was rather stuffed, and I had slightly less than the third shown above) and a more sensible person might manoeuvre this to within limits...

Friday, low-carb day one-hundred and seventy-three, repair day

Weigh-in at start of day wt. 112.2lbs (analogue scales corrected ~108.75lbs); 0.4lbs gain
... t.measures - ub. 28.7, w. 25.6, t. 30.5, h. 34.5 inches

Boing. I'm not so sure that the analogues don't look a touch up the way too - but couldn't be doing with faffing to reset and double-check them whilst freezing in the buff... All the measurements on the tape are comfortably below recorded, *except* stomach which seems a tad bloated (~100 grams of brussels sprouts might have something to do with it). Such is life.

Reasons to be cheerful, part x: Candy is still working, and the packet of bargain broccoli and cauliflower bestest neighbour brought by last night has frozen. Exciting! A proper freezer.

Now - to my labours - need to work up the recipe from last night. That took an *age*.

Was going to do a gratin of some sort tonight (BN brought by *two* tubs of clotted cream) but, having bunged the cauliflower & broccoli mix in the freezer, thus obviating the need to use it quickly, I'm left with the aubergine that would like to be eaten today and bargain mushrooms that are going to start growing soon - the courgettes have good life in them yet. Ratatouille (do have a shufti at the wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratatouille, there's a rather interesting ingredient in there) was an obvious choice, but it requires peppers and things and my legs are demanding a rest from doing the messages after much standing yesterday, and there's no guarantee what I'd end up with if I sent the dear OH out. So, the easy option: puy lentil and tomato sauce on the bottom, over-laid with grilled aubergine, topped with lots of cheese. Originally planned another nice salad to go with it, including courgette, but ran out of steam for that and it'll just be my favourite, rocket.

........ Calories 855.29 Carbs 31.96 Fat 41.36 Protein 31.75 Fibre 12.50

cheesy aubergine and lentil bake, a FatDog bottom-of-the-fridge concoction
aubergine, thin sliced rounds, 20c/C2.2/F0.4/P0.9/Fi2.0/100g
......... 250g 50.00 5.50 1.00 2.25 5.00
lentils, brown, tinned, d'aucy, 76.8c/C12.2/F0.4/P6.1/Fi4.2/100g
......... 265g 203.52 32.33 1.06 16.17 11.13
tomatoes, chopped, 'cook italian' brand, 25c/C4.0/F0.2/P1.4/Fi0.9/100g
......... 390g 97.50 15.60 0.78 5.46 3.51
chestnut mushrooms, ¼'d, 16cal/C0.4g/F0.5g/P1.8g/Fi1.1g/100g
......... 222g 35.52 0.89 1.11 4.00 2.44
red cheddar, graham's, grated, 416c/C0.1/F34.9/P25.4/Fi0/100g
......... 65g 270.40 0.07 22.69 16.51 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
onion, white, co-op, fine sliced, 40c/C7.6/F0.2/P1.3/Fi1.4/100g
......... 44g 17.60 3.34 0.09 0.57 0.62
garlic, fine chopped, 149c/C33.06/F0.5/P6.36/Fi2.1/100g
......... 7g 10.43 2.31 0.04 0.44 0.15
olive oil, 824c/C0.0/F91.6/P0.0/Fi0.0/100ml
......... 10ml 82.40 0.00 9.16 0.00 0.00
marjoram, dried leaf
......... 5ml 0.00
thyme, dried leaf
......... 5ml 0.00
chilli flakes
......... two good pinches 0.00
s&p 0.00
total for cheesy aubergine and lentil bake 933.77 60.28 49.80 55.51 22.85
FatDog's ¼ portion of cheesy aubergine and lentil bake 233.44 15.07 12.45 13.88 5.71

Method: 1. heat half the oil in a non-stick pan and fry the onion until just softening; 2. add the garlic and then the mushrooms a minute or two later; 3. allow the mushrooms to give up their juice and for this to reduce by half; 4. add the herbs and tomatoes and cook for a few minutes; 5. add the lentils, season to taste, and reduce the heat to a low peep; 6. meantimes, arrange your aubergine slices flat on a non-stick liner on a baking tray and brush their topsides with the remains of the olive oil; 7. bake in a pre-heated oven at 200C for about 10 minutes (I burnt some of mine); 8. transfer the tomato and lentil sauce into a big flat grill-proof dish, layer the aubergine over the top and then the cheese over that and do a good grinding of pepper, and a sprinkle of chilli flakes; 9. grill until lovely bubbly and golden brown.

And I think I'll play the old post-now-and-you-can't-have-any-more-calories trick. Has worked every time so far

... bother, the Ratatouille wiki page has been fixed already... The ingredients were listed as:

Tomatoes are a key ingredient, with garlic, onions,mice, courgette (zucchini), aubergine (eggplant), bell peppers, marjoram and basil, or bay leaf and thyme, or a mix of green herbs like herbes de Provence.

FatDog emphasis

Yes, really. Well it made me smile. Edit history here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... =585954006

Do I take it that one of "my readers" is a wikipedia editor? FatDog waves merrily...

[Betsysgr8]

Thank you for sharing the version you saw, Fatdog! It was edited long before I was out of bed this morning. (only 6:33am now)

Maybe I've not made this clear but, unless I've stated that the recipe / concoction is a monumental disaster, the likelihood is that the food I've described will taste anywhere from good to stonkingly brilliant (like tonight's dinner - but you ain't getting that recipe 'til Monday).

Ummm.

Just thought I'd mention it.

That's in case some one actually tried one of these recipes and, better still, had a moment to post a report (however brief, or mega-critical) back...? Any and all critique is hugely welcome!

Yours, a fawning but alienated FatDog

Saturday, day one-hundred and seventy-four, weekend feed day

Weigh-in at start of day wt. 111.2lbs (analogue scales corrected ~108.00lbs); 1.0lbs loss
... t.measures - ub. 28.7, w. 25.6, t. 30.5, h. 34.5 inches

Report for the end of week 33 on 4.5 : 2.5 - 0.8lb loss this week (total loss 34.8lbs); measured shrinkage, right at the start of the week, with touches off waist and hips, plus triple touch off stomach.

Boing, bump. Okay FatDog, please keep this weekend sensible, and maybe that "loss" will hold through to next week.

Ha! Last week I pondered the notion that my reduction in exercise was partially responsible for the slow-down in weight-loss: might have made more sense to look at my recent weekly calorie deficits - they're atrocious! The deficit has just squeaked into the two thousands this week but, with one honourable exception, has been sub two thousand since the beginning of November. In that time I've lost about 4.2 pounds, whereas my calorie deficit indicates that I should have lost about 3.5 pounds - so the weight-loss fairy has been exceedingly generous really. I'm definitely cruising into maintenance mode though, whether intentionally or not! Oh, and I've noticed that I'm not taking in enough fluid, that *certainly* won't be helping - I was pretty religious about drinking at least one big jug of water in the day but, for some reason (maybe the colder weather), I haven't been doing so more recently.

It's the work's Christmas party this evening - I won't loiter there for long (if I get there, it's only just down the road but it's blowing a gale out there) as there are bound to be too many mince pie temptations. So, I'd like something simple but delicious for dinner as a carrot for good behaviour - as per, I've been pondering it overnight. The courgettes are my focus - simply love them just now - so I think courgette ribbons (might do very, very fine slices with the knife so that I don't lose the seed core, as one does when slithering them with a peeler) with white beans (cannellini maybe?), clotted cream(!) and strong white cheese (grated) come together with fresh tarragon and blitzed ginger, mixed thoroughly then bunged under the grill 'til all is approaching bubbly hot, then rough chopped hazelnuts scattered on top and roasted for the last two or three minutes (don't want to excessively cook the courgette, just heat through and brown the top). Serve with small vine tomatoes, and sliced apple maybe. I have no idea if that will work, but *think* it'll be rather good. Must remember to bung a bottle of white wine into the fridge

Oooh, genius thought: was concerned with the calories in tonight's dinner - should OH and I have half each - but just realised that we now have a freezer. And, it doesn't matter if the tarragon packet is way too big - I can freeze that too. Gosh. Whole new world of messaging coming up; and no "finishing it off so it doesn't go to waste" any more. Beezer, corker and jolly dee!

That, methinks, is the *very best* FatDog concoction so far (and if you ever see anything like it elsewhere, you know that it's lifted from *this* FatDog original). Glad the BN was by for the third portion (his verdict - "fantastic"), as I'm not sure of its freeze-ability and, in any case, any remnants would have vanished mysteriously before breakfast time... Seriously. I think that that was my most inspired - simple but delicious and monumentally plate-lickingly good (especially if you've a thing about raw courgette) though it's not for the calorie-shy. Fortunately the OH is absorbed watching the footie, and didn't catch me at it (come on, all dogs lick plates...).

But, oh dear, so much for being restrained and good - more like a Ferriss binge day, but without the carbs. I seem to have gone barmy just after midnight with nearly 600 calories in a cocoa toddy (will I learn?), double peanuts and a final glass of wine. Bats. Utterly bats.

........ Calories 2331.53 Carbs 48.74 Fat 144.70 Protein 46.92 Fibre 17.67

creamy courgette & cannellini bean gratin, a FatDog bottom-of-the-fridge concoction
cannellini beans, canned, waitrose, 89c/C13.3/F0.6/P7.5/Fi6.4/100g
......... 235g 209.15 31.26 1.41 17.63 15.04
courgette, sainsers, 20c/C1.8/F0.4/P1.8/F0.9/100g
......... 301g 60.20 5.42 1.20 5.42 2.71
clotted cream, tesco, 587c/C2.3/F63.5/P1.6/Fi0.0/100g
......... 183g 1074.21 4.21 116.21 2.93 0.00
cheddar, cathedral, grated, 416cal/C0.6g/F34.7g/P25.3g/Fi0g/100g
......... 50g 208.00 0.30 17.35 12.65 0.00
ginger, blitzed, 90c/C17.8/F0.8/P1.8/Fi2.0/100g
......... 25g 22.50 4.45 0.20 0.45 0.50
tarragon, fresh, 295c/C43.0/F7.0/P23.0/Fi7.0/100g
......... 15g 44.25 6.45 1.05 3.45 1.05
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
black pepper
......... an extra good grinding 0.00
total for creamy courgette & cannellini bean gratin 1931.06 55.23 164.78 49.27 23.66
FatDog's 1/3 portion of creamy courgette & cannellini bean gratin 643.69 18.41 54.93 16.42 7.89

Method: 1. quarter then slither / fine slice the courgette long-ways and place in a grill-proof dish; 2. add the cannellini beans evenly over the top; 3. blitz the ginger and tarragon, and then the cream (I ended up pinging this for a few seconds to liquify the cream) and spread this over the top; 4. sprinkle the cheese over, give it a jolly good grinding of black pepper, and bung under a pre-heated grill until going golden; 5. sprinkle the hazelnuts over the top and grill until these are roasted (next time I'd roast these separately)

This doesn't really get cooked - just heated and "browned off".

It goes without saying that ordinary double, or even whipping, cream would be a dramatically less calorific choice here - but bargain-hunters can't be choosers...

==================================

Sunday, day one-hundred and seventy-five, weekend feed day

Weigh-in at start of day wt. 112.2lbs (analogue scales corrected ~108.75lbs); 1.0lbs gain
... t.measures - ub. 28.7, w. 25.6, t. 30.5, h. 34.5 inches

Boing. Easy go, easy come. Rather to be expected. Maybe I could count the 600 excess calories from yesterday after midnight as today's calories, and mend things that way? Good idea - that leaves 1100 for the rest of the day, which should be fine. I seem to have taken an "unscheduled break" from the RC toning program. Partly because the living room floor is covered with the stuff from the kitchen shelves, and partly inexcusable. Anyone about with a wet fish?

In the freezer I now have broccoli & cauliflower mix and sweet potato & butternut squash mix, along with a large swede on my fridge shelf, so what's for this slimmer's dinner?! It's affy blowy and cold out there and I'm rather fancying a warming stew and dumplings. This will require a trip to the co-op as, methinks, the veggie mixes I have are too good for stewing. But the weather is really foul. And, actually, I don't know if I've the motivation to cook anything tonight - I've only just had my break-fast coffee now, well after 4pm, and not even my usual feed day real coffee version with cream, just instant and soya milk. I'm quite overcome by lassitude today, no idea why - maybe I'm a little hung-over? VBF and OH might be going hungry if I don't find some oomph soon.

Have just found a recipe in Cotter's ftlof for a potato, squash and leek gratin, which would adapt wonderfully to a couple of bags of the co-op's casserole veggies. And OH is being kindness itself and venturing out to get them - I can't even attribute his kindess to self-interest, as he's various horrid things in the freezer that he could eat if I don't cook. But I'm still swithering over those dumplings... wonder if I could somehow fit them in too? Ah, no. Have just looked at the packet and (apart from using wheat flour) a quarter serving would amount to 33 grams of carb and, along with the carby veggies, that would lend itself to a carbocalypse. Keeps things simple anyway.

BN passes by with bargain offerings of coffee bags (sharesie with the VBF), huge bag of mixed sprouts, carrots and broccoli and a wee one of carrots, beans and peas. Candy is beginning to really work for us. He won't stay for dinner as he's already dined.

VBF and OH both thought highly of the gratin, how very gratifying (groan) - it could have done with more sage but I ran out of it! I must get a wee herb garden up and running a.s.a.p. And the mustard could have punched a bit harder - need to use a stronger one and / or more next time. It was a perfect winter-warmer dish for a lock-down after coming in from the cold - VBF thought it suitable for post-carolling on Christmas Eve sort of thing, mulled wine optional (we had a rather nice white)...

Didn't quite make the eleven hundred calories (until late in the evening, I somehow had it in my head that I was aiming for below 1400), but not so bad, given that it's a Sunday. Argh! Rude words - have just spotted that I missed the beans out of the ingredients list, so not quite so good on the calories or carbs after all, grrrrr:

........ Calories 1338.91 Carbs 50.82 Fat 76.95 Protein 32.81 Fibre 17.66

winter vegetable gratin, adapted from Denis Cotter ftlof (p262)
carrot, swede, leek, potato & onion mix, co-op, 40c/C7.5/F0.3/P1.2/Fi2.1/100g
......... 1200g 480.00 90.00 3.60 14.40 25.20
red cheddar, graham's, grated, 416c/C0.1/F34.9/P25.4/Fi0/100g
......... 103g 428.48 0.10 35.95 26.16 0.00
clotted cream, tesco, 587c/C2.3/F63.5/P1.6/Fi0.0/100g
......... 173g 1015.51 3.98 109.86 2.77 0.00
flageolet beans, 77c/C11.8/F0.2/P5.3/Fi3.7/100g
......... 265g (tin) 204.05 31.27 0.53 14.05 9.81
garlic, fine chop, 149c/C33.06/F0.5/P6.36/Fi2.1/100g
......... 11g 16.39 3.64 0.06 0.69 0.23
olive oil, 824c/C0.0/F91.6/P0.0/Fi0.0/100ml
......... 15ml 123.60 0.00 13.74 0.00 0.00
mustard, english, 170c/C17.7/F8.5/P5.4/Fi2.8/100g
......... 10g 17.00 1.77 0.85 0.54 0.28
thyme, dried leaf
......... 10ml 0.00
sage, dried leaf
......... 5ml 0.00
s&p 0.00
total for winter vegetable gratin 2285.03 130.76 164.58 58.61 35.52
FatDog's ¼ portion of winter vegetable gratin 571.26 32.69 41.14 14.65 8.88

Method: 1. split the carrot, swede and tatties out and give them a rinse, drain, then a ping in a lidded dish for about 5 minutes, to the point that they're well par-cooked; slice the tatties; 2. heat the oil in a non-stick pan and soften the leeks and onions, then add the garlic, then add half the cream, mustard and herbs and give it all a good mix-about; 3. bung the swede and carrot into the bottom of an oven-proof dish, then layer over the beans, then the leeks and onions and, finally, the tatties; 4. cover with foil and bake in a pre-heated oven at 220C for 30 to 40 minutes until the veggies are tender; 5. spread the remains of the cream over the top, sprinkle over the cheese and bung under the grill to brown beautifully...

Monday, low-carb day one-hundred and seventy-six, repair day

Weigh-in at start of day wt. 111.6lbs (analogue scales corrected ~108.0lbs); 0.6lbs loss
... t.measures - ub. 28.7, w. 25.6, t. 30.5, h. 34.5 inches

Report at the end-of-week 25 of low-carb : total low-carb weight loss 26.2lbs, and last week 0.8lbs weight loss. Signs of shrinkage but not recorded yet...

I think that this week I should focus on an all-out assault on the flab - I *want* to be below 110.0lbs for Christmas. I know those two pounds will probably go back on for the festive season, but at least I'll know that I can get there, and that they'll likely come back off again. Back in October I never dreamt that I'd be an outsider dolefully admiring the Christmas club losers - thought I'd be done-and-dusted and smugly sitting in maintenance (which, in a way, I am - maintenance that is, but without the smugs).

Oh, there's a devil-dog in me somewhere: the goody-two-shoes bit of me wants to make this a sub 500 calorie day, do bouncy things and really have a go at shifting that fat, but the cold hibernating FatDog bit of me wants to stuff its face with warm comforting things and curl up under a duvet (preferably with Cotter's Wild Garlic). Oddly enough though, the thought of mince pies doesn't appeal anymore - too sweet, and nutritionally empty. No, what a appeals is a big fat linseed minute-muffin, halved, toasted, slathered with peanut butter, sandwiching a squished ripe banana. Fight! Fight! Gloves off, round one. Time for a fruit tea. Actually I'm safe on the banana front - we don't have any, and they're always horribly green new from the shop.

Bother. The oat bran, linseed and soya loaf (no.2) worked exceedingly well (still minimalist rise, but proper bread texture and no eggy taste), but I should know by now that peanut butter is *not* repair day fare. If I'd had cream cheese instead of PB it would have been less than half the calories and just as satisfying. I didn't really like my soup - it might have been the wee bit parmesan that caused a flavour clash, I really don't know, but something jangled my taste buds, and not with pleasure. However, the OH liked it, so it can't have been so bad.

The chocolate munchies were upon me before I could say *nooo*, and that, along with the PB fiasco, put a nail in Ms. goody-two-shoes' plan for the day. But just because I've made an erse of the day so far, doesn't mean that I have to make an erse of the rest of it. Stop. Eating. *Now*.

........ Calories 704.73 Carbs 35.49 Fat 43.05 Protein 35.58 Fibre 19.29

oat bran, linseed & soya loaf, no. 2, microwave version
soya flour, 424c/C16.0/F20.0/P39.0/Fi12.0/100g
......... 30g 127.20 4.80 6.00 11.70 3.60
linseed, brown, fresh ground, 534c/C1.5/F42.16/P18.29/Fi27.3/100g
......... 40g 213.60 0.60 16.86 7.32 10.92
oat bran, Holland & Barrett, 389.2c/C59.1/F6.5/P12.6/Fi9.3/100g
......... 30g 116.76 17.73 1.95 3.78 2.79
eggs, brown, organic, 151c/C0.0/F11.2/P12.5/Fi0.0/100g
......... 53g 80.03 0.00 5.94 6.63 0.00
baking powder
......... 5ml 0.00
0.00
water
......... 50ml 0.00
olive oil, 824c/C0.0/F91.6/P0.0/Fi0.0/100ml
......... 5ml 41.20 0.00 4.58 0.00 0.00
salt
......... goodly pinch of 0.00
total for oat bran, linseed & soya loaf, no. 2, microwave version 578.79 23.13 35.33 29.42 17.31
FatDog's ½ portion of oat bran, linseed & soya loaf, no. 2, microwave version 289.40 11.57 17.67 14.71 8.66

Method: 1. thoroughly mix dry-stuff together in a microwaveable dish, of a suitable shape for your mini-loaf; 2. in another bowl, beat the egg, oil and water; 3. thoroughly mix the wet stuff into the dry stuff - you're after a "just wet enough to shake down into form" batter; 4. ping for two minutes, rest a bit in the open to let some of the damp off, then ping for another minute.

You should be able to slice it once it has cooled a little. It tastes wonderfully like a brown wholemeal bread - no egginess at all. Rather pleased with this.

simple tomato & veggie soup, variation no.1, a FatDog concoction
carrots, butternut squash, peas & beans, co-op, 50c/C7.6/F0.5/P2.0/Fi3.2/100g
......... 250g 125.00 19.00 1.25 5.00 8.00
tomatoes, tinned, chopped, in juice, co-op, 15c/C3.0/F0.1/P1.0/Fi0.7/100g
......... 400g 60.00 12.00 0.40 4.00 2.80
garlic flakes
......... good grinding 0.00
chilli flakes
......... good pinch 0.00
parsley, dried leaf
......... 5ml 0.00
oregano, dried leaf
......... 5ml 0.00
fennel seed
......... 2ml 0.00
s&p 0.00
total for simple tomato & veggie soup 185.00 31.00 1.65 9.00 10.80
FatDog's ½ portion of simple tomato & veggie soup 92.50 15.50 0.83 4.50 5.40

Method: 1. lop the veggies into bite-sized pieces; 2. bung veggies, tomatoes, herbs and spices into saucepan and bring to the bubble, then simmer with the lid on for about 8 to 10 minutes until the veggies are soft; 3. serve with parmesan over the top.

==================================

Tuesday, low-carb day one-hundred and seventy-seven, feed day

Weigh-in at start of day wt. 110.8lbs (analogue scales corrected ~107.5lbs); 0.8lbs loss
... t.measures - ub. 28.7, w. 25.6, t. 30.5, h. 34.5 inches

Everything is now crossed. Please, V&P vary-fairy, look kindly upon this FatDog, who'll do her very best *not* to sabotage things...

Forgot to say - I volunteered for another afternoon at the book shop; dangerous things, Christmas parties, bosses are wont to catch one off one's guard Phone to check my hours - it's okay for me to start after the new year, rather than today, yay! So I'll now be a Tuesday girl as well as a Thursday girl.

Yesterday the co-op bargains were truly bountiful: there are just 3.5 drawers in the freezer, and one is now fully stowed with carrot, brussels sprout & broccoli mix (5 of), and baby carrots (4 of), and broccoli & cauliflower mix (3 of), and sweet potato & pumpkin mix (1 of)! OH's shelf is full of carrots & peas. I think I need some really good recipe ideas here folks, or I could come to *really hate* carrots - which would be a shame.

Visitation from our lovely wee actress friend so recipe hunting this morning is somewhat curtailed. The odd online dibble hasn't led me to any recipe that's made me dribble yet, although one quite nice soup recipe might have what it takes with a little pimping. To my books! Oh... all but the top ones have become pretty inaccessible. Maybe *this* is the tipping-point where I'm finally driven to sort out the shelves? Unfortunately the kitchen shelf contents that are distributed all over the living-room floor (that we've yet to sort since Candy's arrival last week; we've only just completed the transfer from the old fridge / ice-box to the new!) won't help, but faint heart never won... And, anyway, it'll warm me up and count towards my day's exercise! Just need the OH to head out for a wee while - otherwise he'll be wanting to examine every copy of the Metro that I'm chucking out "just in case there's something in it" - and I can get stuck in. He's very kindly offered to go (the magic of concessionary bus passes) to H&B to get a sugar free jam for me (for occasional and very minimalist use, I promise) so, here's hoping it's sooner rather than later or the impetus might wane...

I must confess to an unfortunate relapse of my bookaholism - five cook books in the last week *big blushing beacon icon*. Two were "penny plus postage" efforts, one was just £1.97, but the other two weren't so cheap: I'm calling them my solstice pressie to myself, though I think that I had CBB's books down for that. Maybe I'll have to give myself a Christmas pressie too? And anticipate a reward for reaching my target? Reminder to self: *must* be good today, books-as-reward on their way.

Think tonight's carrot, broccoli & sprout medley will be a dead cheat of: slather with herbs, spices and oil and bung in the oven to roast, serve with cream cheese or grated cheese. And oat bran / linseed / soya (o-bls) bread-and-butter for FatDog, nice wholemeal for OH.

Yip! That's the OH away at 4pm: now, how much can I get done? Daylight's sadly gone, so won't get the dust so well (think Quentin Crisp in the Naked Civil Servant and you'll get the idea) but it'll be vaguely better. Logistix-muddle overload at 5.15pm: aarrghh... what gets moved where next? Scran some nuts & cheese with a view to having a (very early) glass of vino to inspire / spur me on. Gah. OH back with all but one item on the list right. Excellent. And he then gets stuck in to the dusting with me, but sadly gets side-tracked into reading the exciting books he finds that he's not seen for the last decade... the help were grand whilst it lasted...

Revised dinner to optimise our efforts - cheat's tinned tarka dal with a wee salad, yoghurt, *and* o-bls bread and butter. To cap it all the second half of the bread and butter had blackcurrant *jam* on it! wooooh, woooh! Meridian's sugar free 'fruit spread' really, but it'll do nicely. FatDog's died and gone to heaven, again.

More sorting and dusting and grumping... 'til OH vagues-off to peruse random found books and things, and FatDog runs out of patience and steam... Refound by the concoction of another fruit compote - divine, yet again. Getting there - the room is in a state of 'organised chaos' but, that section at least, should be fixable tomorrow.

Dal, bread and fruit do not make a happy combination for low carbing, though they do make a FatDog's tummy sing...

........ Calories 1788.21 Carbs 75.30 Fat 106.70 Protein 46.78 Fibre 20.85

The compote is a variation on the cranachan but is, methinks, sufficiently different to post.

plum, apple & clementine compote; a FatDog bottom-of-the-fridge concoction
plums, destoned, rough chopped, tesco, 42c/C8.8/F0.1/P0.6/Fi1.6/100g
......... 267g 112.14 23.50 0.27 1.60 4.27
apple, small red, rough chopped, 50c/C11.8/F0.1/P0.4/Fi1.8/100g
......... 244g 122.00 28.79 0.24 0.98 4.39
clementines, segments halved, 39c/C8.7/F0.1/P0.9/Fi1.2/100g
......... 182g 70.98 15.83 0.18 1.64 2.18
vanilla extract, 125c/C0/F13.8/P0/Fi0/15ml
......... 4ml 33.33 0.00 3.68 0.00 0.00
almond extract, 125c/C0/F13.8/P0/Fi0/15ml
......... 4ml 33.33 0.00 3.68 0.00 0.00
star anise, whole
......... 2 of 0.00
cloves, whole
......... 6 of 0.00
nutmeg, dried ground
......... 2ml 0.00
ginger, dried ground
......... 6ml 0.00
cinnamon, dried ground
......... 6ml 0.00
water
......... 400ml 0.00
total for plum, apple & clementine compote 371.79 68.12 8.05 4.22 10.85
FatDog's 90g ~1/7th portion of plum, apple & clementine compote 53.88 9.87 1.17 0.61 1.57

Method: 1. bung the fruit, spices, vanilla & almond extracts, and water into a pan, bring to the boil then simmer... for an age (probably an hour or more)... until it is reduced to a nice thick gloopy state - you'll need to stir more frequently towards the end or it will stick; 2. if the lumps of apple are still rather distinct, use a stick blender to roughly break them up; 3. serve with cream, whisky and toasted almonds over...

Note that there was *no honey* in this compote - the fruit and spices seemed more than sweet enough to me, but the OH wasn't quite so convinced.