October 08 - Toddling round the Christmas tree & Ooooing at the lights!

[50ftChristmasTree]

10th Sept (Due 1st Oct) - loulou33 - Boy - Joe Louis David - 6lbs 12oz
16th Sept (Due 8th Oct) - Ksal - Girl - Emma Rae - 6lbs
21st Sept (Due 5th Oct) - myjobismum - Girl - Naomi Caitlin - 5lbs 10oz
2nd Oct (Due 12th Oct) - star6 - Boy - Quinlan - 5lbs 15oz
3rd Oct (Due 26th Sept) - purpleflower - Girl - Rebecca Jill Erzsebet - 8lbs 10.5oz
4th Oct (Due 30th Sept) - Aubergenie - Boy - Stanley - 7lbs 12oz
8th Oct (Due 6th Oct) - ronshar - Boy - William Dexter - 7lbs 11oz
9th Oct (Due 17th) - Marthasmama - Girl - Martha - 7lbs 10oz - Elective c-sec
10th Oct (Due 1st Oct) - CantSleepWontSleep - Boy - Duncan Elliot - 8lbs 4oz
12th Oct (Due 4th Oct) - pistachio - Boy - Thomas Fraser - 10lbs 2oz
16th Oct (Due 11th Oct) - heather1980 - Boy - Alexander James - 9lbs 5oz
17th Oct (Due 10th Oct) - pepperrabbit - Girl - Jessica Rose - 7lbs 15.5oz
24th Oct (Due 29th Oct) - Ekka - Boy - Matthew - 7lbs 15oz
26th Oct (Due 20th Oct) - jenwa - Girl - Phoebe Jasmine - 9lbs 2.5oz
28th Oct (Due 23rd Oct) - RachieW - Boy - Jack - 7lbs 4oz
31st Oct (Due 20th Oct) - KnickersOnMaHead - Boy - Samuel Paul - 9lbs 11oz
5th Nov (Due 29th Oct) - Honeymoonmummy - Girl - Poppy Grace - 6lbs 15oz
5th Nov (Due 30th Oct) - MamaG - Boy - Harry James - 10lbs 9oz

Oh yeah, I was going to tell you something so you can all laugh at DH with me. DS was invited to go and watch Alvin and The Chipmunks 2. DH thought, excellent, that means I don;t have to take him....... Only the other mum is taking some other children and wanted one of us to go with her. I had already arranged something with my mum so he has to go!!!! Ha ha ha ha! He is in a really big grump and keeps moaning about not wanting to go. Hee hee!

Those falafel are LOVELY. You must all make them now!

I would suggest that you don't run today. Running when you're not well enough does nothing for your health!

CSWS - I shall bring our Leon cookbook with us at the weekend so you have a look if there are any other recipes that might be suitable for you.

Here you go myjob:

By aubergenie Sat 19-Dec-09 21:21:10
CSWS - You're alright with sweet potatoes aren't you? These (oven baked) Leon sweet potato falafal were lovely when I had them in the restaurant. I just found the recipe on the Guardian website:

Makes around 18 falafel - enough for four

2 medium sweet potatoes (orange inside), around 700g in total

1½ tsp ground cumin

2 small cloves of garlic, chopped

1½ tsp ground coriander

2 big handfuls of fresh coriander, chopped (about 30g)

Juice of half a lemon

120g gram flour

A splash of olive oil

A sprinkling of sesame seeds

Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 220C/425F and roast the sweet potatoes whole until just tender (45 minutes to 1 hour). Turn off oven, leave the potatoes to cool, then peel.

Put the sweet potatoes, cumin, garlic, ground and fresh coriander, lemon juice and gram flour into a large bowl. Season well, and mash until smooth with no large chunks. Stick in the fridge to firm up for an hour, or the freezer for 20-30 minutes. When you take it out, your mix should be sticky rather than really wet. You can add a tablespoon or so more of gram flour if necessary (the water content of sweet potatoes varies enormously).

Reheat the oven to 200C/400F. Using a couple of soup spoons (put a well-heaped spoonful of mix in one spoon and use the concave side of the other to shape the sides) or a falafel scoop if you have one, make the mixture into falafelly looking things and put them on an oiled tray. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top and bake in the oven for around 15 minutes, until the bases are golden brown.

Unfortunately having them with brown basmati rice, roasted veg (courgette, mushroom, peppers, aubergine) and a bit of coleslaw has given me my highest blood result yet, way over what's allowed . Last time I had brown rice at lunch (pistachio's paella) it went too high too.

Here it is myjob.

Is that Leon cookbook good 50ft? I've already got a ridiculously large number of cookbooks. I collect them in the same way that some women collect shoes

Myjob FWIW - I definitely don't think you should go running if you feel like that. A relaxing sit down with a cup of tea and a book/magazine or a bath is a much better idea.

We have talked about having a nice holiday 50ft. A friend of ours who lives in Australia part owns an eco resort in Goa and we've said that we might all go and stay there next year or the year after. WE might get married, but I think, as we've already left it so long, I'd like to wait until S is old enough to actually enjoy the party too!

Thus far we have read through the book and listed all the things we are going to make..... then put it back on the shelf! There is no doubt the dishes look delicious but we just haven't found the time. DH is making something from the book on New Year's day as we are having the inlaws round for dinner.

Go for it myjob!

Blimey myjob - you don't eat much do you?! I reckon that my dc would eat the amount that the 4 of you eat by themselves!!

Do you not do stuff like cottage or shepherds pie? Or chilli (veg or meat)?
And are your dc not addicted to sausages like mine ?
And do you not eat pasta? Don't think we'd survive without pasta.

But what you do eat all looks very healthy.

What kind of things do you need advice on Myjob? I agree with the others that it looks healthy and balanced. Like you, I would use a chicken breast between the three of us and pad things out with vegetables (S usually wouldn't eat the chicken - he's not that keen but I keep trying).

Something that I've started recently is buying chicken thighs which are loads cheaper than breasts and cook them in the slow cooker, so they're really tender. I made a chicken and spinach curry last night for 4 and the chicken (free range) only cost £2. We did have it with lots of other bits and pieces )dahl, samosas, onion bhajias etc, but I've been quite pleased with that little discovery.

Yes indeed Pistachio is correct, the calcium in low fat dairy does help to boost weight loss (I can't remember why though). I do think you need to up you protein intake a little bit Myjob, especially for the DC as they need protein for muscle development. Maybe try doubling the amount of chicken you have between you. We tend to have two large chicken breasts between us or three small ones & then bulk the rest up with veggies. Here is some info about the benefits of calcium.

We use chicken thigh fillets too aubergenie (would have used non-fillets pre dc), but we get 2 packs of free range ones from waitrose (i don't like buying non-free range chicken) and it costs £12, which does us for 1 meal for all 4 of us, and leftovers for dh and I usually. This is usually as a curry, or a chicken and tarragon fricasse.

I only buy free range too, and organic if I can get hold of it. I'm new to the world of meat so all these things are a revelation to me.

Myjob, do you eat things like tuna, sardines or other fish? I find them a good way to up the protein.

With those falafel, I might serve them in a wrap with a yogurt and cucumber raita type thing and some other salad. You could add some hummous or make a tahini sauce to add a bit of protein.

What about shepherds pie or something warming like that? I usually make mine with lentils or quorn and loads of veg and a mix of normal and sweet potato on the top for extra vitamins.

Oh, and I get the ones with bones in CSWS. I find it difficult to get the bones ones locally. When you say non-fillets is that what you mean?

Yes aubergenie! Non-fillet = with bones.

I told you I was a meat novice! Why do you get the fillets now that you've got children?

Because when I bung it all in the slow cooker with a sauce there's too much likelihood of me serving up bone or gristle to one of them, as it all gets tender and falls apart so easily. If you don't mind raking through what you're serving first then there's no problem, but meal times here tend to be chaotic enough as it is!