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 OK. I do tend to rake through first of all and pick all the bits out.

DS is still full of snot and breathing like Darth Vader. It's been going on for a couple of weeks now. He's been a real milk monster this holiday too. I think I've fed him about 6 times today!

I'm sure I read somewhere that a portion should about the size of your palm. Or was it your fist. 50ft, do you know?

Myjob - What about risotto? Do you like that? You could have it without you could give it to the dcs with parmesan and have it without to make it lower fat.

I'm a bit rubbish about diet food TBH as I've very rarely been on a diet. Not cos I'm super thin or anything (I'm certainly not!), but because I'm not very good at depriving myself. I believe that everything is fine in moderation. I mostly cook from scratch and try not to eat too many additives, but that's it.

Or chicken fajitas with a nice fresh tomato salsa and guacamolein those tortilla wrap things? The DCs could have them with sour cream or Greek yoghurt and grated cheese.

Well soup is a good cheap lunch. Just vary the ingredients. Butternut squash and roasted red pepper or lentil and tomato, leek and potato etc etc...

Yes myjob - the falafel will be lovely like that. They were our main meal today btw - we just happened to have our main meal at lunchtime, and then soup and/or sandwiches for tea.

Risotto doesn't have cream in myjob . It's using the correct rice and cooking it just right that makes it taste and look creamy. Dh and I used to have risotto about once a week, and once dd outgrew her milk intolerance we went back to this, but we haven't done recently because of ds' milk allergy. We used to like mushroom and blue cheese risotto, seafood risotto (usually just prawns and scallops) and butternut squash risotto best. Now of course I can't have white rice so can't make it even if ds outgrows his allergies!

Since when did pork chops and mashed potato become an unhealthy meal ?
And actually if you make pizza yourself with a wholemeal base and go easy on the cheese, then even that isn't unhealthy!

I'm sure I asked the other week myjob, but I can't recall whether you answered - do you eat breakfast and lunch as well?

I think they would go well in that Myjob.

Here are some more soup recipe ideas. Actually I was just saying today that I'm going to start taking soup into work to have for lunch as I keep having school dinners, complete with cake and custard. Good job I only work part time or I'd be busting out of all my clothes!

What about a chicken, mushroom and leek pie? You could just put the pastry on the top to lower the fat content. Then serve it with potatoes and veg.

Bugger!!!!! I wrote a huge post detailing what I ate when I was successful at losing A LOT of weight and then clicked on something by accident and gone! Grrrr!

Click back a few times and see if it reappears!

Has anyone with red velvet made the ginger sticky toffee pudding yet btw? Am planning on making it for dinner guests tomorrow night.

Tried that CSWS. That is my classic go-to solution. Stupid over-enthusiastic clicking finger.

What about a vegetable and bean crumble? Nice with jacket potatoes and salad. Something like this. (Personally, I might vary the veg a bit.) Actually, I just noticed that it could be good for you CSWS as it's listed as a diabetic recipe.

Pistachio at your idea of a portion. I'm a bitlike that too!

My recipe varies depending on what I've got in but for a lentilly base, I'd probably use onion, garlic, celery, courgette, mushrooms, a tin of tomatoes, maybe carrot, and loads of herbs. Then a mixture of red and brown lentils, some stock (just the cube or powder, no extra water added), some tomatoe puree. A good splash of balsamic vinegar cooked down gives a bit more depth of flavour. I always keep some dried mushrooms in the kitchen as they add some good flavour to these sort of things. Maybe a splash of worcester sauce too (I use a veggie one).

Myjob - I'm happy to talk about food all day!

CSWS - I haven't tried that recipe. Let us know how it turns out if you do.

Oh I didn't take it as you being horrible myjob, but I recognised that it sounded a lot for a lunch if I was having a big cooked dinner too!

Now what's not to like about rice?! Is it just because it's bland that you don't like it? I think it's a fab base for soaking up sauces, and dd loves it just completely plain!!

aubergenie - thank you for the reminder about crumble. I had a fab recipe for a veg crumble that I used last time I had gd, so I will have to have a rummage through my loose recipes to find it.

And I can see that if aubergenie, pistachio, myself, my dh and Mr50ft ever get together for dinner then we are going to need a LOT of food!!

Oh my goodness! The God's of MN are obviously conspiring against me. I posted " CSWS" but no, it's gone!