Pasta Salad for the Whole Family

Pasta salad is one of those things you can use any old stuff in.  Leftover cooked chicken?  Marvellous.  Tuna?  Equally at home.  Well I'd picked up an avocado which was actually ripe (unheard of so of course it was down to 20p and 'reduced for quick sale'!)  I would have loved some guacamole and maybe I'll use the other half for that but I had nothing to serve it with so a pasta salad it was.  It's a great way to squeeze in fruit and vegetables which your child might not ordinarily try.

I should have made this during my week of eating 7 fruits and vegetables a day!  A surprising hit with my youngster who's normally a bit of a salad dodger.  Substitute the dressing for mayonnaise or a mayo / yogurt mix if you prefer.

Pasta Salad - Serves 2-3

Ingredients

90g, 3oz Wholewheat pasta (use regular if you prefer)

90g, 3oz Frozen sweetcorn

100g, 3.5oz Smoked bacon, chopped

90g, 3oz Cucumber, chopped

A handful of cherry tomatoes or baby plum tomatoes

1/2 Ripe avocado

Dressing

1 tbsp Yogurt (I used low fat)

Juice of 1/2 Lemon

2 tsp Olive oil 

(Or alternatively use 2 tbsp mayonnaise mixed with 2 tbsp low fat yogurt)

Method

Cook the pasta following pack instructions, add the sweetcorn into the boiling water for the last 2 minutes.

Once cooked drain and refresh (rinse) under cold running water until cold.

Cook the bacon in a non stick pan without adding any fat until cooked and slightly browned.  Allow to cool.

Mix the pasta, sweetcorn and bacon together and add chopped cucumber and tomatoes.

Mix the yogurt and lemon juice then gradually whisk in the oil.  Peel and cube the avocado then toss in the dressing so it doesn't go brown.  Mix the avocado and dressing in with the pasta salad and serve.  Add seasoning if liked for adults.

Living below the line

Unfortunately due to personal circumstances (moving house for the 2nd time in 2 weeks) I won't get to take part in the 'live below the line' challenge this year but I thought I would tell you about it and tell you why it deserves your attention.

1.2 billion people live in extreme poverty in the world.  1.2 BILLION that's over 15% of the world population.  The live below the line challenge is to try and experience, and raise money for people who live in extreme poverty by only spending £1 a day on food and drink.

I appreciate that living in a comfortable home with access to equipment and ingredients is very different to not knowing where your next meal will come from but it is a step, it's an idea and an interesting one.

Why £1 a day?  In 2005 the world bank calculated that the extreme poverty line was $1.25 a day, that is, you would be considered to be in extreme poverty if you had the equivalent of $1.25 and what $1.25 can buy in the US.  With inflation this has now been raised to $1.50 which with some generous rounding gets to £1.

The 5 days of the challenge run from 28th April - 2nd May inclusive.  There are various ways to sign up if you want to get involved.

Certainly it's something I'm very much behind and would like to do next year.  Please comment and include a link to sponsorship sites if you are doing the challenge.  I'll allow links to posts or to fundraising pages for living below the line for this post!  If you don't know how to put a link in, add the URL and I'll comment and add in the link.

Good luck everyone taking part!

(I have not been requested or sponsored to write this post.)

Baked Onion Rings

Onion rings, love them but don't love the oiliness.  I'm not some health freak but I can feel my arteries hardening as I eat!  These are cunningly baked so much less fatty!

Baked Onion Rings

Ingredients

1 Small onion cut into 2mm rings
2 tbsp Mayo
1 tbsp Milk
20g, Just over 1/2oz Rice Krispies
15g, 1/2 oz Plain (all purpose) flour
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
Spray Oil

Method

Preheat the oven to 200oC, 400F, Gas Mark 6.  Line a tray with non stick baking paper.

Crush the rice krispies and put in a bowl with the flour and garlic powder.

Mix the mayo and milk together.  Dip the rings in the mayo mix then into the dry mix.  Put on the tray.

Once you've done them all, wash off all the gunk from your hands then spray with spray oil.

Bake for approx 10-15 minutes (12 in my oven, keep an eye on them so they don't burn).

Make it Thrifty

Use the oven for other things to maximise the use of the power while you're cooking these.  Also keep your eyes peeled (excuse the pun) for value or smart price packs of onions.  Often they're much cheaper because they're slightly smaller onions than the premium packs but still make delicious onion rings.

Weetabix Cake

Weetabix cake?  Am I serious?  Well I'd been trying different ways of using cereals quite a bit recently what with rice krispies with mackerel but I'd never found a way of using them in cakes like I had with bran loaf.  Shreddies seemed promising but were a bit of a failure when I gave them a go.  Who knew Weetabix would work?

This tastes similar to my bran loaf, loads of fibre, sweet whilst being low in added sugar, dairy free fat free and lovely with a pot of tea!

Weetabix Cake

Ingredients

2 Weetabix (or own brand equivalent)
350ml, 12 fl oz Decaffeinated tea (just make with one decaf teabag)
110g, 4oz Muscovado or soft brown sugar
280g, 10oz Sultanas (golden raisins)
1 egg
225g, 8oz Self Raising Flour (or all purpose / plain flour plus 2 tsp baking powder)
1 tsp mixed spice

Method

Crush up the weetabix, mix with the sugar and dried fruit.  Soak in the tea for about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 160oC.  Mix in the spice, flour and egg and pour into a greased silicone loaf tin or a greased and lined conventional loaf tin.

Bake for about 1hour 10 mins (in my oven anyway) or until a knife inserted in the cake comes out clean.

Eat warm or cool.  Keeps reasonably well despite being fat free.

Make it Thrifty

Keep an eye out for value or smart price packs of self raising flour, breakfast cereal and dried fruits.  They work just as well in this as the more expensive packs.

Pesto Crusted Fish

Bored of fish pie?  Want something interesting with fish and kid friendly?  This is a way to introduce a different flavour to white fish and great if your kids are less keen on fish without some kind of disguise.  Very quick and thrifty to prepare too.

Pesto Crumbed Fish

Ingredients

2 White Fish fillets, e.g. Pollock, cod, coley.  I use fairly thin fillets around 100-150g each
1 tbsp Mayonnaise
2 tsp Pesto
30g, 1oz Breadcrumbs
15g, 1/2oz Grated extra mature (extra sharp) cheddar
Spray oil or olive oil

Method

Preheat the oven to 200oC / 400F / Gas Mark 6.

Mix the mayo with the pesto.  Put the fish on a baking dish or tray lined with non stick baking paper.  Spread the mayo mix on the fish.

Mix the breadcrumbs and cheese together and sprinkle on the top.  Spray with oil or drizzle with oil.

Bake for 15-18 minutes or until browned and cooked through.  The thicker the fish, the longer it will take. Mine was only about a cm thick so cooked reasonably quickly.

Make it Thrifty

Using pollock makes this a source of omega 3 (which is pretty much absent in most other white fish), it's also more sustainable than cod and cheaper!  Look out for it in the chiller or the frozen aisle where it's often marketed as 'white fish' (but pollock might be in small writing somewhere on the back); defrost before cooking.

 

Chocolate Custard (low sugar)

Custard.  I never make it from scratch but I do make it from custard powder.  It occurred to me when making some custard from custard powder the other day that custard powder is simply cornflour (cornstarch) natural flavouring (vanilla) and colour (normally a natural colour like annatto).  I don't have much annatto floating around the house and there feels like something wrong about making white custard even though that's the colour it would be if not made with eggs, so my idea was to make chocolate custard.

This would be great hot with chocolate cake, poured over banana (if you want to keep on my 7 a day routine), on it's own or allowed to cool in small pots and eaten cold like blancmange.  It's pretty low sugar too with only 1 tsp added sugar per portion.  There's more sugar in a fromage frais!

Chocolate custard - Makes 2 small bowls

Ingredients

280ml, Half Pint milk
1 rounded tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
1 tsp Cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
2 tsp Sugar

Method

Mix the cornflour with the cocoa powder and sugar with 1 tbsp of the cold milk then add the vanilla.  Heat the remaining milk in a microwave for 2 minutes or until hot.  Gradually whisk the hot milk into the cornflour mix then return to the microwave for 2-3 minutes on full power or until cooked and thick.  Keep an eye on it as it can boil up and boil over.

I would be honoured if you would consider nominating me in the Britmums BIB awards, especially the food category.

After all, who can resist delicious chocolate custard?

7 a day challenge - Day 7

Today was the last day of my challenge to eat 7 portions of fruit and vegetables in 7 days.

Breakfast

I started the day with my fruity toast (like I had on day 5).  Delicious.

Lunch

I was with a visitor at work today so I had a buffet from the canteen.  For all my criticism earlier in the week, they didn't let me down, the fruit platter saved the day.  It was served with orange juice as well on the side and every sandwich had a salad garnish and coleslaw inside.  I easily racked up three portions with the juice (even if that always feels like a cheat.)
Tea

What the cool kids are eating (maybe) haggis, peas, broccoli and sweetcorn.  I do love haggis!  It is the ultimate rebellion food as well after a week of vegetables!

7 a Day?  Achieved.  Mixed berries (cherries, blackberries, raspberries, black currants, red currants and strawberries), lettuce, cucumber, carrot, cabbage, peppers, pineapple, melon, strawberries, orange juice, peas, broccoli and sweetcorn.  A massive 17 different types of fruits and vegetables but probably only 7 a day in quantities.

My son rounded off a nursery day full of fruit and vegetable with a snack of banana, dried apple and some watermelon.  Result.

What have I learned?

It takes planning

There is no quick sling it from the freezer option, when you're trying to eat 7 a day, well the options are limited anyway.  Home made soups were a life saver and I ate soup on 4 of the 7 days which is no coincidence.  I would probably have switched to salads if the weather had been better but soup frozen in individual portions is a great way to ensure you have a healthy and cheap lunch.

It was difficult

More than I thought it would be.  It took time and effort and my first thought of what I wanted to eat often went out of the window.  I ended up doing more 'hidden vegetable' solutions than I expected, e.g. putting more into soups than I normally would or putting peas in rice.  This is fine but

Portion sizes

A 'portion' of fruit or vegetables was much bigger than I thought.  This meant I often didn't have any room left for foods I wanted (rather than needed) like cake!  You might see this as a good thing but I don't.  Personally I think if you deprive yourself of something you really want you end up eating more.  On more than one occasion I still had the cake despite not really being hungry.

Cost

Although I ate less meat, I had meat available in my freezer so for me this week has actually been more expensive than I expected but that would have balanced out over time.  The big thing was 7 fruits and vegetables a day will require you to do at least one top up shop in a week which I don't normally do.  Just the simple act of going into a shop twice means you're likely to spend more.  This could be difficult for people on limited budgets.

'Winner ingredients'

There were a few things though which saved the day when I was getting a bit run down with it and also don't cost much money.  I am only a sample of one but if I was designing public policy, these are the ingredients I'd talk to the public about as ways to easily increase their vegetable and fruit intake.

Frozen vegetables; particularly peas were a lifesaver.  Cheap and last forever so you can grab them when you need them.
Carrots; last well in the fridge and can be sneaked into soups, served in salads or as a side vegetable, the ultimate adaptable ingredient.  British carrots are also available all year round making them pretty cheap to buy.
Mixed frozen berries; I was so pleased when I found these in my freezer.  They were a cheap bag from a supermarket I'd forgotten about which livened up two breakfasts and a pudding.  Also because there were so many different types in it, I could justifiably have them twice in one day and count both portions.
Lentils; it's easy to forget pulses can count towards your fruit and vegetables in a day.  I used them in soups but they're also great to pad out meat sauces, especially bolognese.  Green lentils are also fantastic in a salad.  A great store cupboard staple, never go off and unlike other pulses don't need soaking before use.
Passata; I used this as a way of getting tomato into my diet when they're currently out of season and lasts forever in the cupboard.  At about 40p a pack, it made a fantastically cheap lunch of gazpacho.
Garlic, garlic, garlic; I never counted this as one of my 7 but garlic, and chilli featured a lot over my week.  Adding flavour to healthy food is key to making it feel tasty and sustaining.

So is it doable?

Every day, for me, probably no.  It's the portion size which does it.  I could easily fit 12 fruits and vegetables into my diet but 7 portions was hard.  I can understand why the advice is there.  Eating 1 grape is not going to make any difference but then does eating 5 grapes vs. a handful?  Does it really make a difference?

Personally I never diet because I hate being told what to eat and what not to eat.  Doing this for 7 days made me feel like I was on a diet which drove me to cake!  I would rather eat what I want, when I want and stop when I'm full knowing that I enjoy the taste of fruits and vegetables, they will always be a high proportion of my diet and more than half of most of my main meals but this is not going to be achievable advice for most of the population.

What about the research?

Strictly speaking the research indicated 10 a day was the best number, 7 was shown to improve health and it looks like canned and frozen should be out.  I excluded canned fruit but included passata and frozen fruits and vegetables.  It seems non sensical that these could be bad and I'll wait for further research which the group have recommended.

So what do I recommend?

I would suggest a simpler message, like "include fruits or vegetables in every meal".  If 5 a day is not being achieved by 80% of the population, it's unlikely 7 will but every step closer is a good idea.  The key has to be to encourage people to eat more fruits and vegetables every time they eat and to offer fruits and vegetables at every opportunity to their kids.

I posted about this over the whole week; if you want to read back over it all please take a look:

7 a Day Challenge introduction
7 a Day Challenge Day 1
7 a Day Challenge Day 2
7 a Day Challenge Day 3
7 a Day Challenge Day 4
7 a Day Challenge Day 5
7 a Day Challenge Day 6

Please comment and let me know your experiences with 7 a day!

I would be absolutely honoured if you would consider nominating me in the Britmums BIB awards, especially the food category.

7 a Day Challenge - Day 6

On the home run now...  A few days ago I set myself the challenge to eat 7 portions of different fruits and vegetables over 7 days and see how it impacted me and my wallet.

Breakfast

I'd had enough of trying to squeeze fruit and vegetables into breakfast for one day.  So it was toast with marmalade and proper butter.

Lunch

As I said yesterday, I was on a soup drive so as well as my 'eat your greens' soup, I also made a batch of lentil and bacon, only reducing the quantity of lentils and water slightly and including carrots.  That way, I could make it two different servings of vegetables in 1 portion.  (Pulses can count as 1 of your 7 a day but only once per day.)   I also took some watermelon, banana, two satsumas and an apple with me making my lunch 6 portions of fruit and vegetables.

It does prove you can get back on track if you start the day with a less than healthy breakfast but it does mean you feel a little bit like a rabbit later!

It is making me wonder though how I ever struggled to fit 5 a day in.  Maybe my mindset is changing?

Tea

I'd concentrated a lot on fruit at lunchtime, and, let's face it, fruit is easy to eat.  It's sweet and portable.  So I made a very simple tea of breaded chicken with sweet potato wedges and peas.  My son had his meals at nursery but I complimented his daily intake with a snack of a satsuma and some dried apple when he got home.

7 a day?  Achieved!  8 different fruits and vegetables; red lentils, carrots, watermelon, banana, satsumas, apple, sweet potato and peas.

Today was easier actually.  Maybe I'm getting used to this.  I'm not convinced it's had a positive impact on my waistline though.  If my scales hadn't run out of battery I'd confirm this but the main reason I say this is after my very healthy lunch; I still ate chocolate.  I wasn't hungry, I just wanted chocolate.

Perhaps this is the thing which is forgotten so much in healthy eating advice?  Food is an accessible luxury, a small opening to a way of saying "I deserve this, I've earned this", I think so many people, me included eat the 'wrong' things because of far more complicated reasons than "I'm hungry".

I would be absolutely honoured if you would consider nominating me in the Britmums BIB awards, especially the food category.

7 a day challenge; day 5

7 a Day Challenge; Day 4

7 a Day Challenge; Day 3 - Vegetable Pakoras

7 fruits and vegetables a day is a bit harder than I thought.

A few days ago, I set myself a challenge to eat 7 fruits and vegetables minimum in 7 days to see how it affected me, my wellbeing and how hard or easy it might be.

I'm on day 3 now and I need to find ways to liven things up!

Breakfast

I was at work early today so took breakfast of rice crispies and a banana.  This is actually far more than I'd normally eat for breakfast so I ended up saving the banana for mid morning.  I will definitely be stretching myself more from a culinary point of view at the weekend when I have more time!

Lunch

Lunch was Gazpacho again (2 portions of vegetables) due to making a double batch yesterday with watermelon and a satsuma afterwards.  I was up to 5 of my 7 after lunch but felt the need to 'retox' with some chocolate cake.  A girl needs something unvirtuous!

Tea

Ok... this week has been harder (even by day 3) than I expected.  I needed fried.  So wrong.  I know, I had chocolate there was even some sugar on the rice crispies.

But the problem is I'm just so full!  Maybe I don't eat big portions but 7 lots of vegetables, in the portion sizes recommended really limits what else you can eat.

So I needed fried.  I needed something which felt wrong even if it was full of vegetables.  Pakora it is!

Vegetable Pakoras - Makes enough for two

Ingredients

100g, 3.5oz Gram Flour (chickpea flour, garbanzo bean flour, besan)
2 tsp Garam Masala
2 tsp  Curry Paste (as hot as you want it to be, I was cooking for myself so used madras but I'd use korma paste for my son)
60g, 2oz Defrosted frozen chopped spinach
60g, 2oz Defrosted frozen peas
2 Spring onions (scallions)
Juice 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp Baking powder (gluten free is easily available if avoiding wheat)
1 tbsp Fresh Coriander, chopped (cilantro)
70 - 100ml, 2.5 - 3.5 floz water

Oil for frying
Mango chutney to serve

Method

Mix the flour, spice, curry paste and lemon juice.  Mix in enough water to make a batter about the thickness of pancake batter.

Add in the baking powder, spinach, peas and spring onions and mix well.

Heat up about an inch or couple of cm of oil in a saucepan and when it's hot, drop a spoonful into the fat.  Cook until well browned turning a few times.  Use this 'trial' pakora to check that it's cooked through by breaking it open.  If it's a bit runny in the middle chalk that one up to experience and, turn the heat down a bit to cook the others.

Drain on kitchen paper and serve.  Update:  Store any leftovers in the fridge for a couple of days and reheat at 200oC for 6-10 minutes or until warmed through and crisp again on the outside.

I have to admit, I was going to have this with some carrot salad but I just fancied the pakora.  I know but they were delicious.  I could only manage to eat half of the batch which actually means I'm a bit light on my vegetable count for the day...

Or am I?  Under the '5 a day' rules anyway, pulses were permitted for one of the 5 a day... so my chickpea flour counts!  Result!

The pakora might not have been fabulous for the waistline but they were great for the soul.

7 a day done!  Kinda.  Why does it feel I've achieved it via a technicality?  7 portions of 10 different fruits and vegetables; banana, satsuma, tomato, pepper (capsicum), cucumber, watermelon, chickpeas (garbanzo beans), spinach, peas and spring onions (scallions).

I would be absolutely honoured if you would consider nominating me in the Britmums BIB awards, especially the food category.

7 a day challenge: Day 2

Day 2 of trying to eat 7 a day.

After the widespread media reports that 7 a day or more are much better than 5, I challenged myself to eat 7 or more a day for 7 days to see how hard it is for someone who already eats reasonably healthily.  The challenge continues...

Breakfast

I had some maple / pecan crisp today with a grated apple in it.  A bit boring I know and I have to admit I was a bit bored by it.  It made me wonder if the cereal packets showing the cereal lovingly scattered with berries were just a sign of the deep unhealthiness of the cereal.

Lunch

As I said yesterday, I need to get more prepared but today I managed to make in about 10 minutes some gazpacho, the galia melon I prepared yesterday, some watermelon and a satsuma.  All in all, 5 of my 7 a day for lunch.  It did make me realise that even if you've had the most poor diet for breakfast it is still possible to squeeze all 7 in.  I'd have no hope with my work canteen.  Last time I went the only vegetable on offer was baked beans.

The great thing is I made two portions of gazpacho so tomorrow is sorted.

I have to admit to a weak moment though and despite not being hungry I went and bought some apple crumble from the canteen.  I just needed some stodge after all that health!

Tea

Things are busy busy busy and I want to do an exercise video so I have to admit I'm planning a preprepared cheese and onion quiche for tea heating it while I am busy and serving it with peas and sweetcorn.  Not the most adventurous tea in the world but it's what I'm in the mood for.  I didn't want anything too healthy.  I realised 6 of my 7 today were raw which is great but also an issue in terms of feeling like you're being too virtuous for me (hence the crumble earlier!)  It is a good reminder though that frozen vegetables are just as good and count just as much as fresh.

How did I do?

7 a day?  8 portions, 9 varieties. Done.  I had apple, tomato, cucumber, pepper, galia melon, watermelon, satsuma, peas and sweetcorn.  (Oh and a tiny bit of onion in my preprepared quiche but I'm not convinced that counts.)

I've just noticed today was completely vegetarian.  I'm definitely eating much less meat which is probably good for my health but I have to question again that with over half a kilo of fruit and vegetables a day, it doesn't leave masses of room for much else.  Is that why it's healthy?

My son didn't do quite so well.  Although his nursery do offer lots of healthy foods, I don't think we managed 7 today, maybe nearer 5 overall.  I'm going to have to ensure he has some in his breakfast tomorrow.

For me?  I need to liven things up somehow.  Make my meals full of fruit and veg but more fun and more special otherwise this would be a pretty tough and unsustainable lifestyle change.

How am I feeling?  Pretty good.  I've been very stressed and suffering from insomnia but both have improved.  I'm not sure if the fruit and vegetables are linked but I am feeling a bit better and I am finding I'm more full at mealtimes.  I just need to liven it up!

I would be absolutely honoured if you would consider nominating me in the Britmums BIB awards, especially the food category.

7 a day challenge: Carrot cake Bircher Muesli

The things I learned the most in my first day of trying to have 7 fruits and vegetables in my diet were:

• It takes organisation
• I need to buy more fruit and veg urgently (so much so after only buying some on Monday I went out for more today)
• A 'portion' is bigger than I thought so it's not just about variety but about quantity
• It's a bit confusing what a portion size is for a child so for my 3 year old I aimed for variety and didn't get too hung up on how much he ate
• I'm going to get very bored weighing ingredients very, very quickly...

Today was a day at home with my son.

Breakfast

My first day of 7 fruit and vegetables in 7 days started with a Bircher Muesli.  It might look like a bowl of mush (ok it is kind of a bowl of mush) but it's also a great way to get raw fruit and vegetables into your breakfast.

As I said yesterday, I think the key to getting to 7 in a day is to include fruit and vegetables into every meal.

I didn't add any sugar or honey and you could if you like but both my son and I liked it as it was  ("it delicious!")

Carrot Cake Bircher Muesli - Makes 1 adult portion

Ingredients

1/2 apple grated (include the skin)
30g, 1oz Carrot finely grated
30g, 1oz Porridge oats
30g, 1oz Sultanas (Golden Raisins)
1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon

Method

Mix everything together then add milk or yogurt to taste (I like milk).  If preferred you can make this the night before and store in the fridge but I like the oats to still have a little bite so I make just before serving.

After eating it I felt really nicely full without feeling like I'd eaten something awful.  It felt like a nice fresh addition to my day actually.

An alternative recipe for Bircher muesli is here.

The interesting thing about this recipe though with it's three different fruits and vegetables (carrot, apple and dried fruit) is there aren't three portions.  A 'portion' is about 80g so this breakfast only actually contains 1.  This is going to be harder than I thought...

Snack

I don't normally have a snack but I felt in the mood to so I had 80g of a Galia Melon and the wee man had an apple.  I was up to 2 out of 7 and my son was on 1 only having had a taste of my breakfast earlier.  The other thing I did was prepare more melon for lunch tomorrow.  That way there would be no "I'm running late" excuses in the morning.

I'm not denying I would have preferred to go to the local cafe but I probably would have had a hot chocolate had I gone there, expensive and full of sugar and fat.  So in some ways this was better for me and made me wonder if this 7 a day business is more about what you miss out rather than what you include.  The sheer volume of fruit and vegetables doesn't leave a lot of space for anything else.

So at 10am I'd managed two.  I was going to have to squeeze another 5 into lunch, tea and any snacks and my son would need 6.  Thinking cap on...

Lunch

I went for my bacon and broccoli frittata for lunch.  I upped the broccoli a bit to 120g per frittata so it was more likely I'd get the full 80g for me and served with cabbage and sweetcorn on the side, I hit three for the main course.  Again I was more worried about portion size for me and to get the 160g of vegetables on the side was a much larger amount than I was expecting.  I felt very full after my meal but I'm not totally sure I could be happy eating 80g of cabbage in one sitting every day; and I like cabbage.

After lunch I was up to 5 portions and my son on 4.

Snack

A handful of black skinned grapes each.

Tea

My son had a version of this fried rice dish with added sugarsnap peas, petit pois (ok still peas but kind of different) as well as the mushrooms.  So with his snack he was on 8 different fruits and vegetables.

For me later, I had some pan fried fresh tuna with rice and a salad made from cucumber, radishes and peppers (capsicums), three vegetables but in terms of quantity only 2 portions.

For me, 7 a day achieved in terms of quantity and here are the fruits and vegetables I ate:  Apple, carrot, sultana, melon, broccoli, cabbage, sweetcorn, grapes, radishes, cucumber, pepper and I'm feeling pretty full!

Day 1 - Success so far...  But can I keep this going on a work day?

I would be absolutely honoured if you would consider nominating me in the Britmums BIB awards, especially the food category.

Seven a Day!

It was widely reported by British media today that official government advice on fruit and vegetables should perhaps change because 7 rather than 5 a day is what we should be aiming for.

This might be pretty scary to most of us who fail to get anywhere near.  Recent research indicated only 1 in 5 people manage to eat that level.  I was wondering why and feeling smug, then I had a moment of realisation.

I am currently busy, stressed, having problems with insomnia, trying to move house and so tired and this always, stupidly makes me eat poorly even though ultimately I end up feeling worse. The time I save eating rubbish is pointless when I'm operating at a sub par level.  I realised by 5pm today, worrying, I'd only eaten one fruit and no vegetables.  Me, mastermind of the hidden vegetable recipe!  I was shocked and a bit disappointed with myself.  This, I resolved, had to change.

So while having a guilt induced salad for my tea, I decided to challenge myself and try and eat the 7 portions a day of fruit and vegetables recommended in the study.

I'm trying this for a week for two reasons; one I wanted to shake myself out of the habit of eating rubbish and secondly because I wanted to see if it helped me feel better in such a short time.  Also although my son eats tonnes of fruit and vegetables, he's more of a fruit fan than a veggie one so it would do no harm to increase the amount in his diet too.

The key I think for getting fruit or veg in your diet is to include it in every meal, so here are some ideas I'm thinking of including so far.

Breakfast, tricky but some initial thoughts include
Bircher Muesli; home made quick muesli (or you can leave it sitting in the fridge overnight) with added fruits
Smoothies
Omelettes
Apple or Banana pancakes
Banana on toast

Lunch
Frittata with vegetables on the side
Quesadillas
Grated vegetables in salads or sandwiches
Fried rice
Sweetcorn fritters (even great reheated)

Tea
Hidden vegetable pasta sauce
Risotto
Sweet and sour
Mac and cheese (with hidden vegetables)

I figure this will be worth taking a week over, so this is my "7 in 7 challenge" if you like.  I'll post over the week to let you know how it's going.  If you have any suggestions please let me know!

If you like what you read, please consider nominating me in the Britmums BIB awards, especially the food category.  I do all this for no money, I don't get sponsorship, I don't do reviews for money, this blog is only for the love of it so it would just make my day to have a glass of fizz and meet some fantastic bloggers.