I'm moving to a weekly report - will revert to daily if there's an outcry from my kind and faithful readers
Monday, day twenty-two, fast day: a time for playing with the new wok so omelette it is for dinner tonight. I'm attempting to get my slacker's yoghurt in earlier so that dinner time isn't such a carb-assult on the system: managed to eat it at 19:00 (and then dinner at 22:00 on account of a neighbour press-ganging me into baby sitting until after nine) - I'm aiming to break-fast earlier than 18:00 from now on.
Monday's damage was:
....... Calories 483.96 Carbs 11.41 Fat 35.08 Protein 27.29 Fibre 7.99
stilton, mushroom and pepper omelette eggs, brown, 151cal/C0g/F11.2g/P12.5/Fi0g/100g
......... ~54g x 1 of 81.54 0.00 6.05 6.75 0.00
stilton, 410c/C0.1/F35.0/P23.7/F0/100g
......... 30g 123.00 0.03 10.50 7.11 0.00
bell pepper, green, 20c/C2.6/F0.3/P0.8/Fi1.6/100g
......... 50g 10.00 1.30 0.15 0.40 0.80
mushrooms, cc, organic, 15cal/C0.4g/F0.5g/P1.8g/Fi1.0g/100g
......... 104g 15.60 0.42 0.52 1.87 1.04
onion, fine chopped, 43cal/C9.3g/F0g/P0.71g/Fi2.1g/100g
......... 22g 9.46 2.05 0.00 0.16 0.46
olive oil, 824cal/F91.6g/C,P&FI<0.1g/100mL
......... 5ml 41.20 0.00 4.58 0.00 0.00
garlic, 149cal/Fa0.5g/Ca33.06g/Fi2.1g/P6.36g/100g
......... 1 big clove 4g 5.96 1.32 0.02 0.25 0.08
chilli, red, 40cal/Fa0.2g/Ca9.5g/Fi1.5g/P2.0g/100g GL4
......... 4g 1.60 0.38 0.01 0.08 0.06
s&p 0.00
total 288.36 5.49 21.83 16.62 2.45
Method: 1. heat oil in non-stick pan with a small base, saute onions until softening 2. add pepper, mushrooms, garlic and chilli and saute until the mushrooms have reduced 3. drain off any excess mushroom juice 4. beat the egg in a bowl and mix in crumbled stilton 5. add cheesy egg mix to pan 6. cook omelette for a few minutes on each side and serve with salad
That was delicious and the wok worked like a dream: I'm more than half a century old and I don't think I've ever had a proper non-stick pan - what a revelation, it makes life so much easier!
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Tuesday, day twenty-three, feed day : I really should know better than trying to do a stir-fry on a feed day - the carb / calories balance never works out quite right... Still, gave the wok another run, and it really is a wonder to cook with.
Tuesday's accounts, worked out okay in the end but only with the help of lots of brazil nuts, emmental and, the final saviour, a milky (soy) bed-time drink:
....... 1378.53 29.77 111.42 56.95 19.06
stir fry number 4stir fry mix, coop, 35c/C4.8/F0.4/P1.8/Fi2.3/100g
......... 700g 245.00 33.60 2.80 12.60 16.10
pnuts, large salt coop, 610cal/C10.5/F51.3/P26.4/Fi6.9/100g
......... 75g 457.50 7.88 38.48 19.80 5.18
mushrooms, cc, organic, 15cal/C0.4g/F0.5g/P1.8g/Fi1.0g/100g
......... 115g 17.25 0.46 0.58 2.07 1.15
onion, fine chopped, 43cal/C9.3g/F0g/P0.71g/Fi2.1g/100g
......... 48g 20.64 4.46 0.00 0.34 1.01
olive oil, 824cal/F91.6g/C,P&FI<0.1g/100mL
......... 30ml 247.20 0.00 27.48 0.00 0.00
garlic, 149cal/Fa0.5g/Ca33.06g/Fi2.1g/P6.36g/100g
......... 2 big cloves 8g 11.92 2.64 0.04 0.50 0.17
chilli, red, 40cal/Fa0.2g/Ca9.5g/Fi1.5g/P2.0g/100g GL4
......... 8g 3.20 0.76 0.02 0.16 0.12
ginger, fine chopped, 100cal/C15.8g/F0?g/P1.8g/Fi?g/100g
......... 20g 20.00 3.16 0.00 0.36 0.00
soy sauce, low salt, amoy, 52c/C9.2/F0/P3.9/Fi0/100ml
......... 15ml 7.80 1.38 0.00 0.59 0.00
s&p 0.00
total 1030.51 54.34 69.39 36.42 23.72
0.22 0.63 0.15
FatDog's 1/3rd stir fry number 4 total 343.50 18.11 23.13 12.14 7.91
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Wednesday, day twenty-four, fast day : Oh the excitement - my wee Cuisinart arrived this morning, and it wasn't meant to arrive until Saturday! That settles it: tonight's dinner will involve cauliflower rice - the cauliflower being a 20p bargain from the Co-op last night. So I think that it has to be skinny fast-day pizza with rocket / spinach / watercress salad for me this evening, and OH is happy to have a base to accompany the stir-fry leftovers.
Have checked that the wee beasty works by grinding the linseeds that we need for the next few days: brilliant - though linseeds are a menace at getting everywhere the clean-up was a doddle.
Dinner prep with the wee beasty was great - riced my cauliflower in five batches, minced my garlic, chopped the onions and the tomatoes. Absolutely no complaints. I'm in love - I'll need a better name than the 'wee beasty'.
It's amazing how proper quantities of chilli / tomato / garlic / onion bump up one's carb intake (8.9g of carb from those four alone in my pizza tonight): I remember a few weeks ago being most disconcerted at having to take them out or use them very sparingly. So glad my allowance is up so these tasty things can be part of my food again!
Pizza base sogginess was probably the worst so far, BUT... the taste was great - I think the added soya flour makes it more pizza-base-like (the nut addition last time was a bit too nut-roast for pizza). Soggification was not helped by adding lots of wet tomato on top, but I still have a problem with drying the cauliflower: I tried dry frying it this time - nicely golden but still damp; oh, and I used far too much - I thought I was dealing with a 'small head' but it was 100g more than previous runs.
Wednesday's damage:
... 548.94 22.69 34.81 32.01 13.72
Skinny fast-day pizza version no. 1 cauliflower, riced, cooked, dried 35c/C3.0/F0.9/P3.6/Fi2.5/100g
......... 368g 128.80 11.04 3.31 13.25 9.20
soya flour, 424c/C16.0/F20.0/P39.0/Fi12.0/100g
......... 20g 84.80 3.20 4.00 7.80 2.40
eggs, brown, 151cal/C0g/F11.2g/P12.5/Fi0g/100g
......... ~54g x 1 of 81.54 0.00 6.05 6.75 0.00
cream cheese, full-fat, 260c/C2.8/F25.0/P5.4/Fi0/100g
......... 30g 78.00 0.84 7.50 1.62 0.00
parmesan cheese, 392cal/C0g/F28.4g/P33.0g/Fi0g/100g
......... 5g 19.60 0.00 1.42 1.65 0.00
garlic powder
......... 2ml 0.00
italian herbs, schwartz
......... 5ml 0.00
s&p 0.00
skinny fast-day pizza no. 1 base total 392.74 15.08 22.28 31.07 11.60
FatDog's ½ skinny fast-day pizza no. 1 base total 196.37 7.54 11.14 15.53 5.80
feta, organic, crumbled, tesco, 275c/C1.0/F23.0/P16.0/Fi0/100g
......... 35g 96.25 0.35 8.05 5.60 0.00
chilli, green, fine chopped, 40cal/Fa0.2g/Ca9.5g/Fi1.5g/P2.0g/100g
......... 5g 2.00 0.48 0.01 0.10 0.08
onion, red, fine chopped, 43cal/C9.3g/F0g/P0.71g/Fi2.1g/100g
......... 36g 15.48 3.35 0.00 0.26 0.76
tomato, vine, chopped 20c/C3.1/F0.3/P0.7/Fi1.2/100g
......... 120g 24.00 3.72 0.36 0.84 1.20
olives, black, chopped 134c/C0/F15/P0.5/Fi2.5/100g
......... 17g 22.78 0.00 2.55 0.09 0.43
garlic, fine chopped, 149cal/Fa0.5g/Ca33.06g/Fi2.1g/P6.36g/100g
......... 1 big clove 4g 5.96 1.32 0.02 0.25 0.08
basil, dried
......... good couple of pinches 0.00
s&p 0.00
FatDog's skinny fast-day pizza no. 1 toppings total 166.47 9.22 10.99 7.13 2.54
FatDog's skinny fast-day pizza no. 1 grand total 362.84 16.76 22.13 22.67 8.34
Method: 1. prep and dry your cauliflower rice, somehow; 2. mix dried stuff together with cheeses; 3. beat / whisk egg; 4. add egg to dried stuff and cheeses and fold in thoroughly; 5. dollop a well heaped tablespoonful (for four, or less if you're stretching to six) onto pre-oiled parchment on a baking tray; 6. flatten (1/3 rd to ½ inch thick) to form into a circle**; 7. cook 10 minutes each side in preheated oven at 200C; 8. add toppings and either grill or bake again until golden brown / bubbling.
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Thursday, day twenty-five, feed day : right, I need to use my two mangoes before they fester in the fridge (they were my 'reward' for the press-ganged baby-sitting). Methinks Caribbean salad will do the trick - it's a delicious recipe that originally came (I think, circa 1995) from an Oxfam world cookery book. Oh for a banana mudslide to go with it...
And in the evening? Sadly I was utterly flattened by the heat - I do not recommend an afternoon moving in and out of the lovely sunny window of a very hot charity bookshop for raising one's energy levels: the Caribbean salad will have to wait until tomorrow (fortunately it's carborific not calorific - more on that tomorrow).
So tonight's delight was the other half of the skinny fast-day pizza bases with a lovely tomato, olive, chilli, onion, garlic and feta salad plus the remains of the watercress, spinach and rocket... Genuinely mmmm. Fortunately I'd bumped my calories with a 60g brazil nut break-fast (in anticipation of the non-calorific Caribbean offering) so no problems ensuring the calories were okay - especially after adding a (well needed) glass of pinot grigio into the mix. Just 10g of pistachios before bed and that's my feeding done - or perhaps I could have a second glass of vino instead?! Hick.
Too knackered even for shelling the pistachios - the peanut version of accounts is:
... 1379.91 27.78 111.38 41.93 17.96
It doesn't cease to amaze me how few peanuts one gets for one's calories - I've merrily scranned half a packet of them before now: nothing like counting carbs and cals to make one aware of quite what one is shoving into one's mouth
![smile :)](https://forum.fastday.com/images/smilies/smile.png)
Oooh, and I'd like a little rant: the idea that 5:2 practice brings a wonderful food mindfulness with it is very true. BUT (and I think it's a big one) I'm finding that I continue to eat when satiated "because I've counted those calories so I can't leave them on my plate" and / or "because I don't want to eat too far below my TDEE as I'm terrified of shifting my metabolism". I don't think either of these scenarios is a healthy way of eating, but I'm not quite sure how to work round them...
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Friday, day twenty-six, fast day : okay - I'd expected the mango, avocado and even the red pepper to bump up the carbs, but the cabbage? Really? Yes, really - it's more carbiferous than cauliflower (3g) or broccoli (1.8g): that cabbage might look harmless but at 5g carb per 100g you need to watch out for it... I'm not sure where the cabbage carb figures for day two's cabbage gratin came from, but they're wrong. Caribbean salad is lots of prep work, totally unsuitable for low-carb (30g) *feed* days, as it runs one right out of carbs, but it is well worth the trouble.
Knew it was going to be pretty tight with the carbs and the salad, so 'cleared the decks' by having flax seeds in water (not as revolting as it sounds - quite nutty really) and abandoning any thought of a soya drink at night.
Longing for a wee glass of cool white wine on this lovely sunny day, but it's a fast-day...
Then my very bestest friend (VBF) came by and the flexibility of 5:2 kicked in - I decided to turn today into a half-fast (750cals). G&T (carb free), wicked salad, salted almonds, 2 squares of 85% and a happy-sigh - could almost be back in the Caribbean ...
Surprisingly, and happily, the damage wasn't too terminal:
....... 760.21 29.54 38.05 14.05 15.50
Caribbean salad bell pepper, red, finely sliced, 36c/C6.4/F0.4/P1.0/Fi1.6/100g
......... 200g 72.00 12.80 0.80 2.00 3.20
avocado, chunked, 160c/C8.53/F14.66/P2.0/Fi6.7/100g
......... 224g 358.40 19.11 32.84 4.48 15.01
mango, chopped, 56c/C14.8/F0.4/P0.8/Fi1.6/100g
......... 338g 189.28 50.02 1.35 2.70 5.41
cabbage, white, fine shredded, 32c/C5.0/F0.2/P1.4/Fi2.1/100g
......... 489g 156.48 24.45 0.98 6.85 10.27
cucumber, finely chopped*, 11c/C1.5/F0.1/P0.7/Fi0.6/100g
......... 381g 41.91 5.72 0.38 2.67 2.29
spring onions, chopped, 28c/C3.0/F0.5/P2.0/Fi1.5/100g
......... 95g 26.60 2.85 0.48 1.90 1.43
garlic, fine chop, 149cal/Fa0.5g/Ca33.06g/Fi2.1g/P6.36g/100g
......... 2 big clove 10g 14.90 3.31 0.05 0.63 0.21
lemon juice, 26c/C2.0/F0/P0.4/Fi0.3/100ml
......... 15ml 3.90 0.30 0.00 0.06 0.05
olive oil, 824cal/F91.6g/C,P&FI<0.1g/100mL
......... 45ml 370.80 0.00 41.22 0.00 0.00
s&p 0.00
total Caribbean salad 1234.27 118.55 78.09 21.29 37.85
FatDog's 396g portion of Caribbean salad 271.99 26.13 17.21 4.69 8.34
* I used my new wee whizz to fine chop the cucumber - made it easy to drain off the excess liquid.
Method: 1. blitz garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and seasoning for the dressing; 2. mix everything else together thoroughly and dress...
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Saturday, day twenty-seven, feed day : the plot was Antony Worrall Thompson's green beans p96 (GI diet book) and CBB's almond muffins p27 with major modifications to make savoury scones with cheese and seeds and mmmm. Then I remembered that we took delivery of two pots of spinach & feta dipping sauce from a freegan friend - one of those would do very well instead of creme fraiche in the savoury scones, methinks?
AWT's beans were abandoned as I didn't fancy slaving over a hot cooker in this lovely hot weather, but the muffin-bread did happen (that just needed bunged in the oven - I didn't have to stand over it). So OH enjoyed the last of the Caribbean salad and FatDog just had a leafy salad with feta, onion, tomato, olives, garlic and etc. with buttered savoury muffin-cake (scone idea didn't come off as the dough mix is way to gloopy).
Oh, and FatDog also had a 100ml of pinot grigio in 1L of fizzy water, plus (as ever) 2 squares of 85% chocolate. Not forgetting standard feed-day victuals of soya milk in tea, brazils for break-fast, slacker's yoghurt pre-dinner and nuts as a late night snack, of course.
So, unless I fall off the wagon in some way before bed, the accounts for today are:
... 1358.49 25.85 107.68 44.58 17.64
Savoury muffin-cake variation no. 1 - inspired by CBB p27 (one third recipe)
soya flour, 424c/C16.0/F20.0/P39.0/Fi12.0/100g
......... 75g 318.00 12.00 15.00 29.25 9.00
almonds, ground, 640c/C6.9/F55.8/P21.1/Fi11.8/100g
......... 50g 320.00 3.45 27.90 10.55 5.90
baking powder
......... 5ml 0.00
pure via (stevia based sweetener) 2c/C0.47/F0/P0/Fi0/0.5g/5ml
......... 2ml 3.00 0.71 0.00 0.00 0.00
s&p 0.00
caraway seed, whole
......... 2ml 0.00
eggs, brown, 151cal/C0g/F11.2g/P12.5/Fi0g/100g
......... ~54g x 2 of 163.08 0.00 12.10 13.50 0.00
spinach, feta & cashew dip, 376c/C5.8/F34.8/P8.2/Fi0/100g
......... 135g 507.60 7.83 46.98 11.07 0.00
total for four savoury muffins variation no.1 1311.68 23.99 101.98 64.37 14.90
1/4 muffin-cake slice 327.92 6.00 25.49 16.09 3.73
Method: 1. mix all dry stuff in one bowl; 2. mix / beat all wet stuff in another bowl; 3. add the dry stuff to the wet stuff and mix well but don't over mix; 4. squish (it doesn't pour) into greased flan tray (or muffin tray if you have one); 5. bake in a pre-heated oven at 180C for about 20 to 30 minutes; 6. remove from oven when nicely golden and let stand for 5 minutes before tipping out onto a wire rack; 7. eat warm with butter
I meant to add some sunflower, pumpkin and pinenut mix but forgot - mattered not methinks as the spinach & feta dip had nutty bits (cashew) in it anyway.
I wasn't very critical of the almond version of the muffin-cake that I made last weekend as I was so thrilled at getting my first cake baked. However, I'm not so sure that soya flour will be to everyone's liking - there's almost a chalky texture to the cake. The cake is also a little dense - not quite the fluffy-looking product that CBB has illustrated - this might be because they're not 'muffined' but more likely I'm not doing something correctly.
If there are any cake-makers out there, your advice would be much appreciated. I'll need to experiment. But please don't get me wrong - the cake is jolly good, and for a bread deprived low-carber it's heaven!
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Sunday, day twenty-eight, feed day : break-fast was another quarter of my savoury muffin with a portion of black pepper boursin, mmmm. And dinner: a modified version of RE's Thai bean cakes (FFF p92) with a red chilli dipping sauce, yoghurt satay (peanut) sauce - there are a gadzillion recipes for these generic sauces on the internet and I just mixed and made-up to suit what I had in the fridge / was in the shop next-door - and a nice green leaf salad. Linseed in water (saves carbs & calories), plus the usual nuts and the 85% addiction sealed the day. Did I mention the odd G&T?
Dinner took an age to do (my inefficiency) but was thoroughly worth it in the end: far, far from authentic Thai (lemon not lime, no lemon-grass, no red chilli), but still another one to go into the 'one of the nicest meals I've ever made' book. The only thing I'd change is perhaps oven-baking the 'cakes' rather than frying - not very Thai either I'm sure, but possibly easier (and they'd maybe not disintegrate so readily).
All very delicious but at a carbocalyptic cost:
....... Calories 1572.29 Carbs 41.41 Fat 92.94 Protein 52.43 Fibre 4.99
Thai inspired bean cakes cannelli beans, canned, rough chopped, 89c/C13.3/F0.6/P7.5/Fi6.4/100g
......... 235g 209.15 31.26 1.41 17.63 15.04
green lentils, canned, 73c/C10.9/F0.6/P6.1/F4.4/100g
......... 265g 193.45 28.89 1.59 16.17 11.66
spring onions, very fine chopped, 28c/C3.0/F0.5/P2.0/Fi1.5/100g
......... 58g 16.24 1.74 0.29 1.16 0.87
fresh coriander, rough chopped, 23c/C0.87/F0.52/P2.13/Fi2.8/100g
......... 8g 1.84 0.07 0.04 0.17 0.22
sweet red pepper, very fine chopped, 32c/C6.4/F0.4/P1.0/Fi0/100g
......... 58g 7.04 1.41 0.09 0.22 0.00
red Thai paste see recip below
......... 110.76 5.24 9.38 1.03 0.41
sunflower oil, 125c/C0/F13.8/P0/Fi0/15ml
......... 60ml 500.00 0.00 55.20 0.00 0.00
total for Thai bean cakes 1281.34 79.05 87.68 40.83 33.87
FatDog's 7/24th portion of Thai inspired bean cakes 373.72 23.06 25.57 11.91 9.88
(less than a third but more than a quarter)
Method: 1. thoroughly mix all ingredients, except oil; 2. form into patties (about a large heaped tablespoon each for this quantity will give six patties); 3. squeeze the patties very hard to remove as much liquid as possible; 4. heat oil in a non-stick pan and fry the patties for about 3 to 4 minutes on each side, until nicely brown
red Thai paste chilli, green, 40c/C9.5g/F0.2g/P2.0g/Fi1.5g/100g
......... 11g 4.40 1.05 0.02 0.22 0.17
coriander seed, fresh ground
......... 5ml 0.00
ginger, 100cal/C15.8g/F0?g/P1.8g/Fi?g/100g
......... 5g 5.00 0.79 0.00 0.09 0.00
cumin seed, fresh ground
......... 5ml 0.00
spring onions, white heads, 28c/C3.0/F0.5/P2.0/Fi1.5/100g
......... 8g 2.24 0.24 0.04 0.16 0.12
garlic, 149c/C33.06g/F0.5g/P6.36g/Fi2.1g/100g
......... 2 cloves 5g 7.45 1.65 0.03 0.32 0.11
lemon juice, 26c/C2.0/F0/P0.4/Fi0.3/100ml
......... 5ml 1.30 0.10 0.00 0.02 0.02
sweet red pepper, 32c/C6.4/F0.4/P1.0/Fi0/100g
......... 22g 7.04 1.41 0.09 0.22 0.00
sunflower oil, 125c/C0/F13.8/P0/Fi0/15ml
......... 10ml 83.33 0.00 9.20 0.00 0.00
total for red Thai paste 110.76 5.24 9.38 1.03 0.41
Method: 1. blitz all ingredients to form as fine a paste as possible
Thai red chilli dipping sauce lemon juice, 26c/C2.0/F0/P0.4/Fi0.3/100ml
......... 30ml 7.80 0.60 0.00 0.12 0.09
soy sauce, low salt, amoy, 52c/C9.2/F0/P3.9/Fi0/100ml
......... 30ml 15.60 2.76 0.00 1.17 0.00
pure via (stevia based sweetener) 2c/C0.47/F0/P0/Fi0/0.5g/5ml
......... 15ml 6.00 1.41 0.00 0.00 0.00
ginger, 100cal/C15.8g/F0?g/P1.8g/Fi?g/100g
......... 4g 4.00 0.63 0.00 0.07 0.00
garlic, 149cal/Fa0.5g/Ca33.06g/Fi2.1g/P6.36g/100g
......... 4g 5.96 1.32 0.02 0.25 0.08
chilli, green, 40c/C9.5g/F0.2g/P2.0g/Fi1.5g/100g
......... 7g 2.80 0.67 0.01 0.14 0.11
water
......... 15ml 0.00
sweet red pepper, 32c/C6.4/F0.4/P1.0/Fi0/100g
......... 54g 17.28 3.46 0.22 0.54 0.00
total for Thai red chilli dipping sauce 59.44 10.85 0.25 2.29 0.28
FatDog's 1/4 portion of red chilli dipping sauce 14.86 2.71 0.06 0.57 0.07
Method: 1. blitz all ingredients to form a smooth sauce
Satay sauce garlic, 149cal/Fa0.5g/Ca33.06g/Fi2.1g/P6.36g/100g
......... 4g 5.96 1.32 0.02 0.25 0.08
spring onions, 28c/C3.0/F0.5/P2.0/Fi1.5/100g
......... 15g 4.20 0.45 0.08 0.30 0.23
chilli flakes
......... 2ml 0.00
pnuts, large salt coop, 625cal/C10.5/F51.3/P26.4/Fi6.9/100g
......... 100g 625.00 10.50 51.30 26.40 6.90
water
......... 40ml 0.00
youghurt (yeo valley), 82c/C6.5/F4.2/P4.6/Fi0/100g
......... 40g 32.80 2.60 1.68 1.84 0.00
total for Satay sauce 682.82 17.58 53.14 29.37 7.28
FatDog's ¼ portion of Satay sauce 170.71 4.40 13.28 7.34 1.82
Method: 1. medium fine grind the peanuts in a processor, set aside; 2. fine chop the garlic and spring onions in processor; 3. then finally whizz everything together in the processor (add more water if a more liquid sauce is required)
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P.S. My
'daily accounts' fibre figures prior to this week are well nargled and
oft significantly lower than they should have been (the recipe figures are fine). There was an error in my spreadsheet that has propagated it's way all through the low-carb experiment for the fibre totals. I'm not going back to fix them all on the blog just now, sorry, but as a rule-of-thumb fast-day fibre intake was generally over 10g (often more) and feed-day intake 20g (again, often more).