This is my attempt to keep a daily food and fitness diary. This isn't Pulitzer-winning writing; these are spontaneous, often hastily written rambles of what I eat, do and learn in my ongoing effort to feel awesome all the time. It may not always be pretty, but at least it's honest. You can find more stories and recipes at SmarterFitter.com.
Tim was here for a visit and knowing how much he likes my Indian, I kicked out all the old favourites. The red lentil dal is always a hit. The cabbage salad is basically this Indian Cucumber and Coconut Salad but with cabbage and carrots for the veggies. Seriously the perfect meal after a long week of many meals out and numerous cheese plates.
Recipes:
Basically raw kale salad anything makes me really happy at the moment.
Veggie burger is this one: Red Lentil Veggie Burger
Recipe: Red Lentil Veggie Burger
The burger was FINE but it wasn't very interesting. No texture. A bit mushy. Fairly bland. But good fodder for chutneys and sauces. I had this with Gloria Nicol's Rhubarb Ketchup and some African Volcano Peri Peri. Not sure if it's a crime to combine those two but I don't care: it worked. Still, the quest for the ultimate veggie burger continues.
Roasted cauliflower on the side, seasoned with fragrant curry powder, paprika and garlic salt. Better than french fries - seriously!
Beetroot hummus courtesy of Roz Golding, a little treat she brought for our working lunch last Thursday. Seriously freakin' delicious. Apparently from the River Cottage Veg book. The lentil croquettes are from a Rose Elliot recipe. Served with raw kale salad. Pretty much the ideal lunch.
This was bomb!! A combination of leftovers that were truly more than the sum of their parts:
The base was this Red Lentil Soup which is awesome on it's own. I added frozen spinach and leftover roast carrot and parsnip. THIS is how I will enjoy parsnip from now on - parsnip is a veg I often find too sweet at the best of times. But the spinach and lentils really mellowed them out. That and a good squeeze of lemon and solid dose of cayenne.
And yes, this was breakfast. Not sure if I'll ever go back to porridge or Bircher muesli after this. So much more satisfying and less cloyingly sweet or filling. Love.
Savoury breakfast. But where are the idliis?
Just about done with the leftovers from Saturday's Indian Feast.
Leftovers from Saturday's Indian Feast.
Had a Sunday pub lunch with friends at The Potting Shed pud in Crudwell (more photos here). I opted for two starters:
We all agreed that the food was underseasoned but well prepared. Although it needed salt, I found the red mullet welcomingly simple and nicely cooked. And the mushroom was delicious. I would like to eat there again, maybe for dinner and see how they do with the main dishes.
I also shared a bit of dessert - pressed apple with blackberries and cinnamon ice cream (made on the premises). The apple and cinnamon were superb, but the blackberries were flavoured with orange zest (I think) which didn't really work with the other flavours. On a different dessert (or maybe on my morning porridge!) they would be very nice.
Green lentils from the freezer tossed with last night's tofu scramble, shredded carrots, avocado, rocket and a bit of balsamic and oil. Pretty good.
Recipe courtesy of mom. The only change I made was to add a bit of finely chopped curly kale.
SIMPLE, FLAVORFUL LENTIL SOUP
Put everything into a large pot, except for vinegar. Bring to boil and cook an hour or so covered.
When lentils are tender, add vinegar to taste.
You can also use balsamic vinegar or lemon juice to adjust the flavor slightly.
