Come forward EatBetterers and unite - it's the second happy healthy eating thread!

[fuzzpig]

Here's the previous thread where it all began!

EatBetterers are trying to improve the diets of ourselves and our families. No weighing, restricting, calorie counting etc - just finding joy in nourishing ourselves by making positive changes one step at a time. All welcome! :)

Still, there's a recipe for cauliflower pizza base in two of my books - v happy to post the recipes if you are interested. I haven't tried them but am interested!

More later...

I'm feeling a bit like that at the moment too Dame, I haven't been eating rubbish but I haven't eaten properly either, skipped breakfast again today, impromptu lunch with a friend - chicken salad with avocado but other than that just lettuce and dressing - will be poached eggs on toast for one tonight as DH is out. I feel a bit under the weather, don't know if its because of the food or if I'm actually coming down with something. I hate being at home and out of normal routine, much happier with either routine or holiday, its a bit limbo like and crazy atm.

The only plus side is the I had 2 bags of chocolate,I ate one and chucked the other, didn't even want it in ether house tempting me! This had never happened in the history of mankind

Thanks for all the kind welcomes

Also a big thankyou to whoever posted the Spanish chicken recipe a few pages back. Me and dh just had it for tea and it was gorgeous!

Today I've had greek yoghurt and grapes with a banana. A decaf whole milk latte. Oatcakes with butter and cheese and a tin of Amy's kitchen mushroom soup. Then the Spanish chicken. I'm craving something sweet now so going to have one of the little 85% chocolate bars from aldi. Amy's kitchen soups are brilliant by the way with no added yucky stuff!

Lost another pound which was unexpected after the previous week with lots of rice and crisps. Slowly but surely!

Can I join in too? And can still say more about roasted chickpeas? Did you spice them up a bit and do they need oil?
Had a good day yesterday - managed to avoid chocolate which is v unusual and had a nice Chinese rice salad for lunch.

One day back on nourishing food and I feel better already!

Sorry to hear you are feeling out of sorts Dame and Sleep . Hope you feel better soon.

Sleep- isn't it annoying that so many restaurants think that salad = lettuce when there's so many delicious things they could do almost as cheaply.

I've now converted DH back to real butter and the margarine is in the bin! Baby steps...

Welcome Think. Can't help on the roasted chickpeas- I'm still an early learner

Not a great few days for me food-wise. Staying in an inn up near our new place in Cumbria. Traditional pub grub and too many snacks on the road.

Poached egg on homemade wholemeal this morning and off for a run shortly. Will be stocking up on some good healthy stuff today too. Dh claims he wants to go on a bit of a health drive too, after his recent hospital stay, but he probably doesn't mean it!

hi just a quickie as I have to get back to the grindstone! This is a similar recipe for the roasted chick peas.

ohsheglows.com/2010/08/03/easy-salt-vinegar-roasted-chick-peas/

When anything says to drizzle with oil I generally put it in a bowl add some oil and then stir it about - so it did not have as much as 2 tablespoons. Dont get overexcited if you have a passion for crisps but as a munch these are pretty good.

The ones I made were not in vinegar and I added ground garlic, onion powder, cayenne and some salt. But you can add what you like. It was another ohsheglows recipe but I cant see it online.

I have had some mini breakthroughs recently and I'm feeling really positive, but I must crack on!

Lovely salad for lunch - grilled aubergine, avocado, tomato, chickpeas, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, lettuce and vinaigrette. Then a few dates afterwards -my sweet tooth is back with a vengeance - but at least I resisted the choc chip cookies!

Still feeling crap here, at least today I am, gradually lowering meds (under care of doctor don't worry I'm not just doing it myself!) and it's causing little blips like this especially mood wise. It is testing my aim to be compassionate to myself though. I really hated myself today. Really really. :(

I AM doing a bit better with food though. Actually having DSD (16) here has really helped as I wanted to make sure she had a proper lunch so I did eggs rather than just ending up snacking randomly. She is getting a bit sick of stick-in-the-oven type food at home so we plan to try a few different things throughout the holidays. She is also planning a Japanese themed sleepover for her anime-mad friends :o any tips for making simple Japanese food would be most welcome!

In other news I have finally decided to embrace bulk cooking (and bulk 'preparing' in particular). I am just feeling a bit uninspired and tired at the moment so if I could shift some of the effort to the weekend when DH is around to help I think I'd feel a lot better. I have been excusing myself from it for ages because DH's gluten free stuff takes up a lot of room but actually now he's moved his prescription to his new pharmacy he's not getting it short dated anymore so not as much needs to be frozen. So that plus frozen peas (and probably home made fruit lollies for the DCs this summer) leaves plenty of space that I'm itching to use! However I am currently storing some stuff for a neighbour so can't actually do it this week (what was that saying about "you don't know what you've got til it's gone"? :o). I want to plan plan plan.

Of course the crucial aim here is HEALTHY bulk cooking! And I have next to no ideas other than my lovely tomato sauce with heaps of veg. I can do stuff like chopping (well, getting DH to chop actually!) onions/garlic/celery mixes etc for bases of meals and I guess stuff like herbs and lime/lemon slices. What else can I do?

Oh fuzz

Mucking around with meds it's always horrible, try and ride it out xxx

I had a better day and another friend who I hadn't seen for 6 weeks remarked I'd 'lost a hell of a lot of weight.' When people say that I always hear 'you were so fat before!

I bulk cook-

Spanish chicken
Bolognaise
Curry
Greek butter bean casserole
Soup
Casserole
Coq au vin

When I get my act together

You can buy sushi kits!

I bulk cook chilli and veggie chilli too. Curries.
Tagines (lamb/chicken/veg).
Chicken and squash stew.
Tomato sauces to use for pizza topping.
Trying to think of what else....

I had a bit of a rubbish carb-y day today with too much bread (it was my spelt and pumpkin seed bread but still, too much of it, and not enough veg or protein) and was feeling really bloated and yuck by mid afternoon. I hope I have clawed it back with my dinner of quinoa with little meatballs in a tomato and chard sauce. I certainly feel a lot better than I did mid afternoon.

Fuzz for you.
I do a lot of bulk cooking too, especially if I use my slow cooker. I do soups, chicken/lamb casseroles, bolognese, chilli, lots of ratatouille type stuff for pasta etc.
I also buy ready chopped frozen veg from the supermarket. It makes life much easier and means there's no waste.

Tesco value mixed veg is lovely. Nicest frozen mixed veg I've tried , even the carrots and normally frozen carrots are rank!

I bung it in soups and stir fries to bulk them out.

You can pretty much freeze anything that doesn't have a high water content. Lentil burgers and nut rissoles freeze well. How would I go about a Greek butter bean casserole?

Fuzz being compassionate to yourself is hard but this is your chance to get really good at it (not what you want I know, but make it your mission) xx

You can freeze anything, even with high water content because you can freeze soups, ice lollies, water for ice cubes

Greek butter beans-

Big glug of olive oil-important don't skimp on it!

Saute 2 onions, celery, carrot, garlic

Big squirt of tomato puree

Chicken stock

2 cans of drained butter beans

Tin of tomatoes

Simmer away for ages and adjust seasoning.

Serve in a bowl with crumbled feta and a drizzle of olive oil.

Can you post the recipe for lemon chicken one pot please?

Iisten to dame - she knows stuff!