What are you cooking now?

[MrGongGong]

Any particular brand - it seems McSweens is the one most supermarkets stock although this time of year the butcher does import some what he labels 'authentic from Edinburgh'

Todays was McSweens but I have one in the freezer from a rather wonderful butchers in Dunblane which might come out in the next couple of weeks

[jean]

jean, I did the 5:2 diet last year, good luck!

You don't say if it worked!

[Barbirollians]

Comice pears are streets ahead of the conference pear !

[Anna]

You don't say if it worked!

Yes, it did! I wasn't overweight, according to BMI, but had tight-waistband syndrome (!) due mainly to bad portion control .... First two days were dire but then I worked out what suited me and best times to eat (I have never eaten so much celery and cucumber in my life!), I stuck with it religiously for 11 weeks and, a year later, the weight hasn't come back
Edit: It makes you more conscious about what you're eating on the other days and I think that remains with you.

[Flosshilde]

Any particular brand - it seems McSweens is the one most supermarkets stock although this time of year the butcher does import some what he labels 'authentic from Edinburgh'

Macsween's are a very reputable producer based in Edinburgh - probably the best haggis generally available. Every butcher here produces their own. My local butcher does a good one (& extremely good steak pies, traditional for New Year's Day)

[jean]

Yes, it did! I wasn't overweight, according to BMI, but had tight-waistband syndrome (!) due mainly to bad portion control .... First two days were dire but then I worked out what suited me and best times to eat (I have never eaten so much celery and cucumber in my life!), I stuck with it religiously for 11 weeks and, a year later, the weight hasn't come back
Edit: It makes you more conscious about what you're eating on the other days and I think that remains with you.

That's good to know.

I didn't find the first day hard at all, but I don't eat that much anyway, and I'm used to eating lots of fruit and veg. And before they formalised this diet, I used to sometimes have a day of just fruit.

My downfall is cheese, and butter (on the vegetables). But soy sauce is a good alternative.

I can put off eating until halfway through the afternoon in any case. I don't believe the nonsense about the importance of breakfast, because the earlier I start to eat the hungrier I get, and if I eat nothing I don't feel any the worse for it.

But if I'm hungry at night I can't sleep, so I had some plain yogurt ready yesterday, just in case. But I didn't need it.

[Anna]

I can put off eating until halfway through the afternoon in any case. I don't believe the nonsense about the importance of breakfast, because the earlier I start to eat the hungrier I get, and if I eat nothing I don't feel any the worse for it.

That's exactly like me - and why the first 2 days were awful, because I tried to eat breakfast utilising protein as recommended and of course it kickstarted my appetite. I found after an evening mea ifl I left enough calories to have later on an orange and - don't laugh - a triangle of Laughing Cow extra-lite cheese, I really didn't feel hungry at night!
(Also, I kept a food diary, when you add up the calories on your days off it can be an eye opener ......)

[french frank]

Well, all this talk of diets :-)

Today a make-up-as-you-go-along beef stew. Instead of the usual carrots/leeks/parsnips I added olives, tomatoes and dried porcini to make it seem 'southern', plus onions and mushrooms, with lots of garlic and a red wine marinade for the meat. Usually I would have beans or rice, but I decided (yesterday) to have potatoes today (I don't often eat them). Found some bits of parsley in the back garden, plus some thyme and bay leaves. Also with, the other half of the farinata I didn't eat yesterday (it was quite nice yesterday ) as it has to be eaten some time. There will be another two meals from this, though the third will probably be soup, with new veg added. And beans of some sort.

[french frank]

Are people not eating ...?

The Coop has just begun stocking a little Chaource in their Truly Irresistible range and it is very good. For me, one of the cheeses that goes with a white wine (as befits a frommidge from the Champagne region).




Lunch: Cold salmon and salad

Chaource with Coop crusty bread (Sunday - the baker is shut)

And: the greengrocer had some soft nectarines yesterday (not very nice at this time of year) but all right to poach in syrup with a vanilla pod, w. crème fraîche. I flambéed them with a bit of cognac . Not half bad.

[jean]

I wasn't eating yesterday, but today I am. Cheese, too.

I only discovered Epoisses when I got some at half price in M & S - I might have hesitated to pay £7.95 for it, but I may be getting addicted, so in future I may have to.

[Anna]

I had wondered if everyone had joined jean on a diet ......

I don't often buy cheese now (apart from cheddar if I'm making a cheese sauce) and dessert cheese is a bit of a luxury - plus I know I'll probably wolf around five quids worth in just one sitting as I love it ....

So here it's been just normal meals, I did try a recipe from the Waitrose food magazine - spiced coconut dhal. I make dhal but never used coconut milk to cook it in, it also had veg in it so in fact it was more a mildly spiced lentil curry and not as coconutty as I thought, but a quick and very cheap meal. Also, I sometimes look at their veggie sides and saw minted pea crush, usually £2.61 but reduced to 69p so I tried it - ok but a horrendous 360 kcals!!! I'm making a ratatouille at the moment as I bought a load of cut-price Romano peppers, so I'm going to bung chickpeas in, parmesan shavings on top (big piece for £2.99 from Lidl) and into the oven. I think it'll be tasty. Raw pears for pud.

[vinteuil]

Epoisses

... is indeed seriously addictive. I save it for special occasions, when good friends are coming round for supper.

Today (following a happy experience in a local Persian restaurant recently) Mme v cooked for lunch a kuku sabzi.

http://www.mypersiankitchen.com/kuku-sabzi-persian-frittata-with-fresh-herbs/

Lovely. (My contribution was a pretty good tomato salad.)

We used the recipe from a book which is proving very successful here -

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/184533910X

Many of the recipes have been tried, and we like it a lot...

[mercia]

the coop got a gold medal for their epoisses

http://www.co-operative.coop/corporate/press/press-releases/Food/the-co-operative-food-launches-exciting-new-cheese-range-for-cheese-lovers-all-year-round/

[teamsaint]

I had wondered if everyone had joined jean on a diet ......

I don't often buy cheese now (apart from cheddar if I'm making a cheese sauce) and dessert cheese is a bit of a luxury - plus I know I'll probably wolf around five quids worth in just one sitting as I love it ....

So here it's been just normal meals, I did try a recipe from the Waitrose food magazine - spiced coconut dhal. I make dhal but never used coconut milk to cook it in, it also had veg in it so in fact it was more a mildly spiced lentil curry and not as coconutty as I thought, but a quick and very cheap meal. Also, I sometimes look at their veggie sides and saw minted pea crush, usually £2.61 but reduced to 69p so I tried it - ok but a horrendous 360 kcals!!! I'm making a ratatouille at the moment as I bought a load of cut-price Romano peppers, so I'm going to bung chickpeas in, parmesan shavings on top (big piece for £2.99 from Lidl) and into the oven. I think it'll be tasty. Raw pears for pud.

was it a very old copy of Waitrose food magazine, from, perhaps, a dentists waiting room?

http://www.waitrose.com/home/recipes/recipe_directory/s/spiced_coconut_dhal.html

(dated 2005 !!)

sounds great, I'll give that a go.

The Ratatouille with chick peas sounds a good call too.

[Anna]

was it a very old copy of Waitrose food magazine, from, perhaps, a dentists waiting room?
http://www.waitrose.com/home/recipes...onut_dhal.html(dated 2005 !!)
sounds great, I'll give that a go.
The Ratatouille with chick peas sounds a good call too.

No, it's in their Winter Harvest 2015 booklet (free at checkout!) and it's a different recipe, has chili, almonds, carrots and peas in it (I used green beans instead of peas), there's some nice recipes, inc. root veg and barley casserole which tempts me - having yet got to grips with barley - and quite a bit of veggie stuff you might like.