Chocolate and walnut oopsies

Takes a bit of time but a definite winner for Sunday lunch

Oopsies:
2 egg whites
4 tbsp xylitol
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp cocoa powder
Handful of walnuts

Whisk together until firm. Place on baking sheet and bake at 100° for 1 hour. Dry in oven for 1 hour.

Serve with cream and strawberries :)

Rump steak with bernaise sauce and baby spinach, watercress and rocket green salad

Ah... What a spoil :) rump steak is the perfect Saturday night supper - drenched in bernaise, my am I happy :)

Start with a gastric - 1 tbsp white wine vinegar,  2 peppercorns and 1 bay leaf in a pan - warm through to heat the acid of the vinegar.  Set aside to cool.

In a double boiler, Whisk the yolk of 1 egg until it starts breaking down. Add the cooled gastric.  Continue whisking.  Slowly start adding the ice cold butter - whisking continually.  When it's immulsified add some tarragon to taste and black pepper. Continue whisking.

Set aside on hot water in double boiler. Cook steak to taste. Dress salad with vinegarette and plate up.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin and parsnip soup with sage

Here is a great quick soup for these chilly winter nights

1 onion
6 cloves garlic
1.5kg pumpkin, diced
3 parsnips, diced
3 lt vegetable stock
3 tbsp dried sage
3 bay leaves
1 bouquet garni
Salt and pepper

Cream to serve

Sweat the onion and garlic in a pot until glassy.
Add sage,  bay leaf bouquet garni.
Add pumpkin and parsnip and stew for 5 mins.
Add stick and simmer for 45 minutes.
Blend with a stick blender and serve with double cream swirled in the top

Enjoy

Low carb flu fighter

Im down with flu and I realised just how much sugar is in flu medicine - its insane. Doesnt that sugar feed your germ cells rather than killing them?

Anyway, I made a delish concoction - low carb flu fighter

You will need:

Hot water, cinnamon stick, lemon slices, ground ginger and some xylitol if you want sweetness.

Steep all the ingredients in the boiling water for 10 minutes and drink. All good - all well.

*sniff*

Red cabbage with orange and apple

Lovely accompaniment to pork or duck

1 head red cabbage
1 apple grated
2 tsp orange peel, sliced
2 bay leaves
1 tsp juniper berries
3 cloves
100 ml apple cider vinegar
100 ml water
Salt and pepper

Chop the cabbage and add to pot  with grated apple. Add the spices and liquids. 

Cook on low heat for 45 minutes until soft. Stir occasionally to ensure it doesn't catch.

Enjoy!

Sweet potatoe cottage pie

It's cold in Joburg at the moment and sometimes you just need some comfort food.

Here is a delish cottage pie of goodness.

You need 500g sweet potatoes - peel and boil. Once they are done, mash with 1/2 tsp salt and 2tblsp butter.

For the pie filling you need 500g mince, 1 onion, 3 cloves of garlic, 1 tsp olive oil and 1 tbsp tomatoe paste. Fry off the onion and garlic in the oil,  brown the mince and then add the tomatoe paste.  I add a splash of brown sauce just to round the flavours. 

Place the mince in a ramekin and top with the mashed potatoe.

Bake at 180° for 25 minutes. Serve with warm veggies or salad.

Makes 2 (serves 4)

Week 26 Results

Week 26 results

Ive been banting for 6 months and I cannot actually believe how quickly time has gone. Its insane. At the same time though it has not been the easiest journey. I cant underplay the emotional rollercoaster that losing weight is for me. At some points its so emotionally draining dealing with the loss of me that you just want to pack it in and eat a carton of chocolate and go back into the comfortable world of food. I will start writing some more about this soon, because its a huge thing for me.

But I refuse to be beaten this time. I refuse to allow this to rule over me. I am losing weight for noone but me. I want to be healthier, I want to shop in cool shops, I want to feel confident walking down the street. Thats why I started on this journey. And 6 months on I am feeling quite good.

Some results:

I am 29.9 pounds lighter (I measure in pounds, it makes it seem like more :)). Thats an average weekly loss of 1.15 pounds. Thats roughly 523g a week. Which is a big block of butter. 26 of them actually. And thats cool. It hasnt all been downhill. This is my chart (I love excel) of progress:

What this equates to is 8.5% loss on my starting weight and 22.67% of my total goal I want to lose - so I am almost on track with my 2 year plan to get to my goal weight, tracking a little behind but I reckon if I up my exercise we can maybe accelerate that a little more. Im also 31.5cm down in the last 3 weeks (I am doing the Sleek Geek 8 week Winter Challenge - so that I dont lose focus in winter) - I didnt measure myself at the beginning, silly twit - so I will just work on my 8 June measurements going forward.

I said to myself that I would spend my first 6 months focusing on eating and then introduce more exercise from month 7. Thats where we are now. I need to get back in the pool. I need to get into the gym (for real, not for my smoothie fix which, now that I dont do sugar, doesnt even taste nice anymore) and I need to tone and loose more with increased exercise. That I will start this weekend.

So I still have a looooooooooong way to go - but Im a quarter of the way there. If this was a trip down to Cape Town, Im in Bloemfontein, and that is fine by me.

Onward and upward my lovelies - hope to do a spectacular check in again in December.

Roasted pork rashers and roasted veggies with garlic

Roasted pork rashers and veggies with garlic

I really needed a heavy veggie meal this evening. Sometimes on LCHF you actually get a craving for veggies. So this evening I made a delicious roast dinner - in 45 minutes.

Start by cutting up your desired veggies. I used aubergines, savoy cabbage, brussel sprouts, carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoe and snap peas.

Place them in a bag, drizzle with olive oil, salt and dried rosemary. Take 1 head of garlic and break it into the bag. Mix all together and pour out onto a baking sheet or roasting dish.

Bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 45 minutes.

When the veggies are about 2/3 of the way, take another tray, place a grill rack on it and lay out your pork rashers. Sprinkle with some spices - I used my favourite Shisinyama spice from Robertsons and thats it! Roast on the tray for 15 minutes.

Then remove the veggies from the oven, turn on the grill and grill the pork rashers for 5 - 10 minutes under the grill to crisp.

Enjoy!