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! :)

Coumarin internet is your friend - pinterest particularly for good green smoothie recipes but the basic make up works if you do 2cups fruit to 2cups liquid base (juice, coconut water, almond milk etc) to 1cup green leafy veg (spinach, kale, lettuce) - my easy go to is almond milk, frozen spinach, banana and froze mango

stillearnin I have a Spiralizer and I love it (I'm mostly vegan too). With courgette "noodles" I still have to blanch them for the DC to be conned they're normal noodles but gradually doing it for less time. Great with carrots too. They work well as pasta substitute but I love them as salad ingredients. Fairly easy to clean too

I'd never heard of a spiralizer. Now I want one :o coincidentally when we were out for dinner recently my meal had some carrot spirals on it and I'd wondered how they did it

What on earth is a spiraliser? I'm a sucker for a gadget.

Thanks Americas I've been and pinned lots! Thanks for the tips too.

I just made my first one. It's a bit gritty so not sure I whirled it long enough but tastes really good. I did spinach, mango, banana, coconut water, little bit if chopped coconut, chia seeds and a squish of lemon. It was so easy.

Going to try for a greener one tomorrow as tempting as it is to make more now, I'm heeding Sleeps warning about doing too much at once.

I've been lusting after a SpiralI for ages,I think I need one...

My Spiralizer (think it was about $20 on amazon) you can get spaghetti shapes, wide thin crisp like shapes and another I've forgotten. I need to try the wide ones on apples and sweet potatoes then bung them in the oven to make crisps.

All this smoothie talk! I just made one with coconut milk, carob nibs, coffee, banana and soaked dates. Lush.

Avocado is a great thickening substitute for banana but you don't need very much at all - I made the mistake of doing too much and even for an avocado lover like me it tasted just too avocadoey! My big tip is to get frozen spinach and one other frozen fruit to make mornings smoothies quick and easy and cold, always have bananas or avocadoes to hand but you don't need much just for one person. And yes a squeeze of lemon in most smoothies really lifts them I find

Good point about using frozen veg and fruit. I got very carried away good shopping yesterday after I bought the nutribullet. As a result we now have way too much fresh produce. On the plus side it's going to force me to get as much veg into meals as possible this week.

Looking forward to the weekend. DH has a Saturday off so we have two whole days to do something nice together. I'm thinking a picnic somewhere if the weather is fine.

Hope you've all had a good Thursday.

Good shopping should say food shopping. Although I suppose it was good shopping too.

It seemed quite intentional to me coumarin - I like a bit of good shopping :o

Which reminds me I need to do my tesco order...

Oh you naughty lot! I've been on the oh she glows website and convinced myself I could get by with a julienne peeler!! Maybe I can put the spiralizer on my birthday list.

god how I miss decent online shopping!!!

frozen fruit and veg also useful when you want a smoothie but can't be arsed to trek out to buy stuff

I am feeding my cold - black beans, sunflower seeds, jalepeno peppers and lemon juice for lunch. bean marinara spaghetti planned for dinner

And there was I, imagining that shopping enabling was just a s&b phenomenon...here we are, encouraging the purchase of nutribullets and spiralizers !

I know sleep it didn't take long eh?! But I have faith that we are a supremely sensible, well balanced, and enable-proof bunch so it's completely ok.

Now, can anyone help me cook quineoa please? The first time I did was gorgeous and the whole family loved it. 2nd time I followed the packet instructions (1 part quineoa to 5 parts water simmer for 20 mins and then leave to stand for 10 mins) and it was grim. 3rd time tonight I did not even serve it! It goes all soggy. I'd stick to bulgar which they all love but we have in the past been a bit grain heavy. Any suggestions?

I have to confess to buying the pre-cooked kind still ....that's my solution!

I follow the packet too still - but mine doesn't say to rest it for 10 mins. Maybe try serving as soon as it's finished cooking?

I made a yummy bake the other day with layers of quinoa, the tomato and vegetable sauce, then cheese (repeated).

Never made quinoa, though have had a polenta disaster.

Had jacket potato with beans today. Soup for lunch. Did also have Jaffa cakes with a cuppa. No caffeine after 3 today.

Polenta is fecking impossible to cook! I just buy the block of ready made (not that I use it much)

Not tried the block,will look out for it. The polenta was just mush!

Yes I've really struggled with polenta - mushy, and doesn't taste of very much. Shame because when I've had it in restaurants I've really liked it.

Still - I have checked the back of my quinoa packet, and it says 60g of dry quinoa (per portion) with 180ml of cold water. Set the timer for 20 mins and then bring to the boil and simmer until the timer beeps. So that sounds like less time than on your packet? Works for me - still has a bit of bite.

I'm off to Ireland next week - land of endless carbs! Wish me luck.....!

Just a flying visit to warn you against ever making a smoothie just from veg and avocado. Oh god.

Thanks Coumarin and thank you for quineoa advice. I think your method Bram is how I made it 1st off. Cannot believe I didn't use the mush for a bake!

christ yes always have some fruit in it!!!

I still feel ill Americas I wrote down your tips and copied a load of recipes out and then ignored it all and threw in whatever I picked up first. Kale, spinach, cucumber, avocado, an apple and lime. So there was a bit of fruit in there but yeuch. It came out like swamp gunk.

Plus I ruined my good intentions by eating some chocolate my mil sent for Easter. I didn't even enjoy it as it was Thornton's which I don't particularly like. Oh well, I've learnt.

I still follow recipes to be honest, when I try to wing it (and I'm generally queen of the store cupboard dinner) it's foul!!