Eating our 10-a-day thread

[Breathmiller]

I would like to try to start a project of getting my 10-a-day of fruit and veg in every day.

Anyone fancy joining me? I find groups on here of support so useful.

I know lentils and beans and chickpeas are part of it too so I will up them. I'm vegan so I'm hoping that should make things easier as I eat lentils as part of my diet anyway.

This thread is for everyone who would like to focus on 'eating the rainbow' as part of a healthy lifestyle.

Or anyone who does this already who has any hints and tips?

The cottage cheese and fruit meal sounds gorgeous, I love salad with fruit. I eat only plant based now and various cheeses are the thing I most miss and can't find good subs for!

I had a look at the link with portion sizes that you posted, Breathmiller, and it was very helpful thank you. I had a buddha bowl for lunch and it was interesting putting the dish on the scales as I made it and seeing what amount of a food made up a portion. Beetroot was surprisingly heavy .

The bowl weighed 430g at the end and everything in it was fruit and veg so I think that's 5 and a bit portions. I included black beans, beetroot, salad leaves, tomatoes, melon, edamame beans, avocado, and grated carrot. Then added some quorn chicken slices, hemp seeds and roasted sesame seeds which I didn't count in the final weight.

I also had
B:fruit, yogurt and seeds (2)
D: spring rolls, lentils in tomato sauce, steamed broccoli, carrots, cauli, brussels and sweetcorn (3 or 4)
and I'm still hungry now so deciding what to have next!

Today had:

1. chickpeas
2. tomatoes
3. spinach (250g before I steamed it, so could count as 3 portions... a variety would be better but I haven't had spinach for a week or so)

1. edamame beans (defrosted for morning snack with 4 Brazil nuts and a little soy sauce and cider vinegar)

1. blueberries (frozen ones, allowed to defrost in overnight oats made with soya yogurt, with powdered ginger, cinnamon, turmeric and ground linseed)

1. watermelon (on special offer in Lidl!)
2. cherries (found some local-ish ones on special offer- they were so good!)

1. lettuce
2. red pepper

10. cucumber 10.5 fresh parsley (almost half a handful when I squished it flat in my hand) In a salad with dressing made by diluting hummus with lemon juice to make it a bit runnier, with hot falafel on top of the salad, plus sprinkling of hemp seeds and nigella seeds.

I'm surprised I got to 10; that didn't feel excessive at all!

Yes, fat free cottage cheese and whatever fruit is to hand. Usually includes defrosted pineapple, apple.

If I can afford it (slimming world 🙄) 25g of nuts finishes it off nicely. Or 40g of Cheerios.

It's nicer to put the cottage cheese in first, and the fruit on top. I have a whole tub of cottage cheese, and it keeps me full until dinner time.

RhonaRed what are Carlin peas?

Feeling very inspired by everyone’s meals. Managed 6 portions but quite a lot of variety so pleased with that:

Stewed apple (toasted baguette): 1
Sweetcorn in tuna sandwich, cherry tomatoes, grapes : 2
Quiche, lettuce, cucumber, broad bean, edamame & pea mix: 2
Orange & carrot juice: 1

Also feel quite full.

I had never heard of them but found a tin in a shop, I was drawn in by the grown in UK on the label! Turns out they are traditional in Preston area for making something called parched peas..never heard of those either!

Anyway small brown pea, similar to a chickpea, softer though and they were nice in my dinner tonight. Certainly didn't need any extra cooking though so I stirred them in at the end.

Carlin peas

Well done everyone. Loads of inspiration there.

I have just finished a mammoth firdtday back at work. I didn't have a huge amount of time to eat but everything I did eat I tried to make based on veg. Some of these won't be quite full portions but I tried my best. Apart from the list below I had a small portion of pasta and vegan pesto. I'm not hungry so it seems madness to eat something for the sake of it.

1. Banana
2. Dates
3. Corn on the cob
4. Spinach
5. Tomato
6. Courgette
7. Pepper
8. Spring onion
9. Beetroot

10. Lettuce

Breakfast was coffee, dates and a banana.

Lunch, the most delicious corn on the cob.

Dinner- a small portion of pasta pesto and two big bowlfuls of salad. Loads of spinach. And some griddled courgette slices.

Got a busy week ahead and out of the house for a lot of my work so we will see how I fare.

I could take soup for my lunch to heat up to help me get more veg in.

Maybe have a snack pot of peas and sweetcorn? Along with 'easy to eat on the go' things like grapes apples etc.

I find broccoli, sweet potato, celeriac and cauliflower are all really nice eaten raw, like a carrot stick.

@TheNarwhalBalloon

Lanaa I like a smoothie but yours sounds way more exciting than mine. I have spinach, pineapple, apple, ground almonds, ground chia and ground flaxseed, plus soya milk. Oh and protein powder! Yours sounds fresher and more tasty. How much lemon juice do you add please? And do you grate the ginger first?

Thanks @TheNarwhalBalloon. I'm obsessed with them at the moment. I feel rather virtuous drinking them and they really give me an energy boost.

I pop in the juice of half a lemon usually, but today I just peeled half and put the whole thing in. I just peel the ginger and pop it in the blender. I love the taste of it. I put chia and flax seeds in too. It's such an easy way to get loads of fruit and veg in and only takes five minutes.

For anyone considering doing them do try it. A high powered blender is a must - those little Breville ones won't do. It's not sweet like a naked or innocent drink but it's tasty and you feel great when you've had one.

@picklemewalnuts

Maybe have a snack pot of peas and sweetcorn? Along with 'easy to eat on the go' things like grapes apples etc.

I find broccoli, sweet potato, celeriac and cauliflower are all really nice eaten raw, like a carrot stick.

I like the peas and sweetcorn idea. I happily eat a tin of sweetcorn.

I do like the flavour of broccoli and cauliflower raw but I actually find them too hard to digest.

Does anyone use Ayurveda? I am someone who benefits from a lot of foods not being raw. I'm fine with salad type veg being raw but can handle slightly cooked veg better. Warm curries, soups. That sort of thing. I can take them juiced though. So i might do a juice tomorrow.

I’ve just made cottage cheese! I forgot I started doing it in lockdown last year. So I’ve planned tomorrow and it is quite fruit heavy but I’ll work on it!

Wow. Making your own cottage cheese is impressive. It's also oje of the things I miss being vegan. I used to love baled potato with cottage cheese, pineapple, beans and coleslaw.
I quite like vegan soft cheese so might try to recreate it with that.

I'll keep a note of what 10 I attempt and post later.

Typos galore. Sorry.

This might be a stupid question, but do you think you could make vegan cottage cheese? I just warmed milk up and then put some lemon juice in then strained it. Could you do the same with oat/soy milk or whatever?

I was wondering the same. It's probably to do with the way it separate though or something. Someone more sciencey will be able to explain it.
Can plant milk curdle? Is that what it needs to do?

Hmm...interesting.

I know there are lots of recipes for nut cheeses and I have made a cashew nut cheese before. Food for thought

Just found this...

lowcarb-vegan.net/vegan-cottage-cheese/

Might give it a go at some point. Thanks for the suggestion.

Today I am on

1.dates

1. Ginger shot (apple and ginger juice)

I have an avocado and corn on the cob for lunch. And salad with something for dinner.

I don't have such a long day today so if I get time I might make stuffed courgette bake. I've had an inkling for it for a while. That with a salad will be loads.

I've had two apples. It's a start!

@Breathmiller

I was wondering the same. It's probably to do with the way it separate though or something. Someone more sciencey will be able to explain it. Can plant milk curdle? Is that what it needs to do?

Hmm...interesting.

I know there are lots of recipes for nut cheeses and I have made a cashew nut cheese before. Food for thought

I don't think oat milk or similar would work for cottage cheese as they don't contain enough protein, but I wonder if soya milk would?

I follow cake recipes which tell you to add a spoonful of vinegar to the plant milk and set it aside to curdle, while you measure the flour etc. It does curdle a bit, but you wouldn't get that much if you strained the lumps.
I've never seen cottage cheese made though. Maybe the step of warming up the milk helps?

If it’s helpful, I started with about 500ml of milk and ended up with 79g of cheese so not much!!

I weighed out my salad at lunchtime. Cherry tomatoes
Lettuce
Cucumber
Red pepper
Carrot

80g of each, so I'm at 6 before dinner which is pretty good!

Having serious cottage cheese cravings now! 8.5 today - creeping up.

Apple compote with dried apricots: 2
Cherry tomatoes, lettuce (in tuna sandwich), peach: 2.5 portions
Cannellini beans, patty pan squash, red onion and tinned tomatoes (with sausages): 4 - this was delicious for something cobbled together.

I made coleslaw for tea, so can add cabbage to my total, as well as gherkins.

But I'm still only at 8. All of them 80g+ though!

I'll have a prowl to see what I haven't already eaten that would count...

Breakfast:
Shallot, ruby chard (warmed with some left over new potatoes and served with a poached egg- plenty of salt and it worked quite well and kept me full for ages.) 2 portions.

Snacks: satsuma, carrot, plus dates! 3 portions.

Dinner: onion, broccoli, courgette, carrot, garlic, lime juice, herbs in a stir fry. Big plate, estimate at 3 portions.

8 again, I am counting carrot twice. Because why wouldn't I ?!😉

So today I managed 8 full portions and a whole lot of little portions of other things. Think the little portions would make up a couple of full ones.

1. Apple juiced (ginger shot)
2. Dates
3. Corn on the cob
4. Avocado
5. Courgette
6. Plum tomatoes
7. Spinach
8. Nectarine

Extra smaller portions
Onion
Basil
Tomato puree
Garlic
Pepper
Beetroot
Cucumber
Spring onion
Lettuce
Lemon juice

I'm actually stuffed and find the idea of eating something else when I'm still full just to get my numbers up a bit daft.

The good thing is that I am so full of all these healthy things I haven't given a thought to eating crap. Which is where I wanted to be to be honest.

The stuffed courgette bake is one of my favourite things and hadn't made it for ages. It's kind of like a lasagne but with courgette instead of pasta. Courgetti before its time.