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HOME/DiY: Sleepers, Lunch, Practice Pad

There has been change, even if not discernibly so!

I didn’t take any more sleeper pics. Or rather, more accurately, I did. But they don’t show the progress I made. I basically levelled the sleepers better, and raised the soul with the spaces. Esp’ along the edge that’s going to be the footpath, along Ruben and Anne’s side (the left as you look away from the houses!).

I’m trying to maintain the FODMAP diet. And I’m convinced that my tummy is less distended than formerly. I’m not sure I’ve lost much if any weight. I just think I’m carrying a little less gas around in my guts! Sometimes it’s hard to be motivated over food choices. That’s when any diet is at greatest risk.

Today’s lunch. Sausage omelette (!?) and salad.

Today I made a three-egg omelette, with two Heck sausages (high meat content, no gluten containing cereals or dairy content!), fried in olive oil and chopped up. The orange cubes are Red Leicester cheese. I’m glad I can still have cheese, as I love it. I just have to keep portions small.

The salad was a leftover from yesterdays dinner. And speaking of leftovers, our dinner tonight was the remains of Satay #2, with the addition of rice, edamame beans and water chestnuts, some Thai red curry sauce and gluten free soy-sauce, all drizzled with lime juice.

Both lunch and dinner were, thankfully, delicious, nutritious, and FODMAP friendly.

I’ve even started to add some little bits of exercise into my daily routines. I’ve started doing timed squats. The idea is to work up to 30 days of 30 mins (in smaller bite sized chunks) squatting on flat feet. And I want to add some free hanging in to the mix as well…

I’m trying to cultivate other good habits. For example I’m doing a Stick Control ‘Summer Challenge’: trying to do at least a page a day of Stone’s ancient but venerable tome. Hopefully by summer’s end I’ll have finished the whole book?

All this stuff feels good!

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FOOD: Satay #2!

Just finished cooking, and dishing up.

Teresa liked my previous satay so much she asked me to do it again! That’s nice. I’ll take that!

But I didn’t have quite the same ingredients to hand this time. We did, however, have chicken. So in that respect I was truer to the orig’ recipe. But in several others, I wasn’t.

We still had carrots, broccoli, pak choi and green beans. But we had no beansprouts or bamboo. Gluten-free soy, peanut butter and ginger, etc, made up the home-made satay. And the whole thing was finished with sesame seeds, ginger and chilli flakes.

I put in twice as much of the latter this time. As previously we couldn’t really taste it!

Chester likes to daydream in this planting box!

We ate dinner outside, in the muggy heat of a summer evening. Chester was chilling in the greenhouse, whilst we quaffed first Portuguese then Spanish red wines. Nice!

This satay recipe is a good ‘un; easy and very tasty. A one pan (wok) wonder, if desired. That is, one pan if using noodles. But two if, like us today, you go with rice.

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FOOD: Satay Stir-Fry

Delicious!

I’m still doing the FODMAP diet thing. Which means I’m cooking a lot more than previously. Trying to make sure I get a good diet, and yet avoid FODMAP triggers is quite demanding! Recent food shops have required more thought than usual.

I cooked this turkey and veg’ (chicken in the orig’ recipe; but I had turkey on hand!) satay stir-fry on wednesday. The picture above is my leftovers lunch, the following day. That following day, the 21st, we had a Chinese take-away – quite poss’ not entirely FODMAP? – as a treat, celebrating the sixth anniversary of moving in to our March home!

Chicken & Veg Satay:

Ingredients
* 1 tbsp olive oil
* 2 carrots, peeled and cut into batons
* ½ head broccoli, chopped pw 400g/14oz chicken breast (turkey for us!), cut into strips
* 2 pak choi, shredded
* 225g tin bamboo shoots
* 150g/5½oz beansprouts 
* 1 tsp grated fresh root ginger
* 300g/10½oz rice noodles
* 1 lime, wedges, to serve
* 4 tsp sesame seeds, to serve
Sauce
* 4 tbsp gluten-free light soy sauce
* 1 tbsp tamarind (didn’t use this!)
* 2 tbsp peanut butter
* pinch chilli flakes
* 2 tsp sesame oil

Method
1. Heat the oil in a wok or large wide pan over a medium–high heat. Add the carrots, broccoli and green beans and stir-fry for 2–3 minutes. 
2. Add the chicken and stir-fry for 3–4 minutes. Add the pak choi, bamboo shoots, beansprouts and ginger and continue to stir-fry for another 2–3 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, bring a saucepan of water to the boil. Add the noodles and cook for 3 minutes, then drain. Add the noodles to the wok and stir through.
4. Whisk all of the sauce ingredients together in a bowl, along with 4 tablespoons water. Add to the wok and stir to mix.
5. Serve immediately, with a wedge of lime and a sprinkling of sesame seeds.

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HEALTH & WELLBEiNG: Diet – Breakfast Changes?

Today’s breakfast.

Just recently I’ve begun trying a FODMAP diet. To see if I can lose weight and get my bloated stomach down a bit. I think it’s been a little over a week now since I started.

But whilst my lunches and dinners and snacking have all changed, up until today my breakfasts hadn’t. Or rather they hadn’t in some respects. Yes, I’ve switched from dairy milk to oat milk and/or lactose free milk. But I was still eating cereals every morning, albeit avoiding wheat based types.

I’ve actually felt, for quite some time now, that I ought to change my breakfasting habits. But I’m sooo not a mornings person! And I’ve relied on Teresa, who gets up very early for her work commute, to supply our breakfast needs.

Anyway, I got up at 6am today. And was downstairs in the kitchen, whilst Teresa readied herself for her working day, frying two turkey breast escalopes and two eggs, as a his n hers breakfast of turkey and egg.

Fried in olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. What a difference from the usual cereal start! I’m wondering if a change in breakfast habits might also help me train myself out of my usual morning lethargy and into a more dynamic early riser lifestyle!? That’s part of the plan, or hopes!