SmarterFitter Daily

On this night, i had just a few crumbles of feta and a small glass of red to accompany my veg chilli (a Shaw family fav) and sautéed spring greens and onion (a personal fav, especially with chilli). For garnish: lime, avocado, green chilli and pickled carrots. Now time to make some more veg chilli and restock the freezer.

Recipe: Yellow Pea Dal

Curly kale, white onion, carrot, boiled egg, red cabbage, toasted sunflower seeds, red chilli, orange wedges, and the magic ingredient..... orange marmalade! 

Dressing was just lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.

My favourite use of Carl Legge's vegetarian haggis thus far: stuffed in a portobello mushroom and topped with the Backyard BBQ Sauce from Veganomicon. Pretty awesome. 

Had this with sauteed leeks and curly kale (a favourite combo), avocado on the side, and a squeeze of lime juice. Oh, and lots of hot chillies. 

More on the haggis: Vegetarian Haggis for Burns Night

This was the first Ottolenghi recipe I've made that I've found merely average. But maybe that's my own fault: I didn't know what "escabeche" was all about going into it. I saw saffron and garlic and shallots in the recipe, and though "mm that sounds good", but I seemed to glaze over the wine and vinegar bit that makes the resulting dish almost like a pickle. Very very vinegarry. I thought it needed some sweetness and spice, so had a bit of mango chilli sauce with it (really yummy stuff from the Wiltshire Chilli Farm). 

In addition to mackerel, the salad also had carrot, kidney beans, olives and chillies (yes, I like chilli with my chilli sauce).

Adapted from this recipe: Mackerel escabeche salad

This was the packed lunch I brought to the office today (I've been working in London the past two days). My technique: when I make veggie chilli I freeze a bunch in individual portions. Then when I go on the road, I take one of those portions with me and it doubles as a "cooler" for my other foods. This time, the other items were a baggie of red russian kale, a wedge of lime, half an avocado and a few apples.

To re-heat this, I put the kale in the bowl and the chilli on top. Then I microwaved it - the juices from the chilli steamed the kale. Top it off with avocado (sprinkled with salt) and a squeeze of lime juice. Pretty stellar lunch, and very warming on an autumn day in London.

Served on top of sauteed leeks and kale.

Second day of camping and hiking in the Brecon Beacons! 

Energy in:

• Breakfast: Porridge with apple, banana, raisins, milk and pecans
• Lunch: Sandwich with mozzarella, avocado, grilled onion and pepper and black olive tempenade. Cherry tomatoes on the side.
• Dinner: Veggie chilli with kidney beans, tomato, pepper, carrot, broccoli, avocado and lime juice. Root beer to drink
• Snacks: Lots of apples and pears

Energy out: 

• Wet and windy hike up Fan Frynych (629m)

Read more about my adventure in my blog post: Camping in the Brecon Beacons.