What did you have for dinner tonight?

Well, we have a great pork casserole dish tonight.
The weather has cooled and the price of the pork was so good - I just couldn't resist!

It's smelling great as I type this - not quite ready though, I'll just go and give it a stir

All the best Jan

Just for a change I bought some ground pork this week. Also more bacon, and some Cumberland sausages.

I said to the butcher "I need some moo to go with all the grunting" and chose a huge Hereford rump steak which just went down the hatch with a load of broccoli, and on second thought a chicken breast. A proper Old MacDonald week.

Yes pork is always good value compared to beef or lamb, not to mention venison or pheasant, but I prefer it as bacon. That's just me - and a few thousand others. Can't remember when I last had a pork chop, which goes well under the grill or in a casserole, but I stir fry the ground pork with my usual concoction of veggies and usually oregano and thyme (and add some bacon just to be on the safe side!)

Autumn must be in the air !

Dinner tonight Rustic Pork Casserole, you can't beat it


This meal is an absolute lowcarb stunner, and one of our favourites. 

Ingredients: Serves two
2/3 pork chops remove fat and cut into small pieces
2 large leeks chopped
1 hand full of button mushrooms
1 large sliced carrot
1 table spoon of dried mixed herbs
Approx 1 pint of gravy stock
Salt and pepper to taste.

Method
Clean, cut and place all ingredients in a casserole dish or earthenware oven proof pot with lid. Pour over the stock and cook at 190c in an electric oven 90 mins. Gas mark 5.

What could be easier, very lowcarb, real food and tastes great. Perfect for a delicious Autumn meal.

All the best Jan

Tonight's meal was a very tasty Cottage Pie with a mashed swede topping ...
I did add a little red wine to the gravy, very nice  

All the best Jan

It's going to be a two meal day today. Earlier I polished off a herring with toasted almonds, spinach and a couple of thickly buttered oatcakes. Sadly this time a soft roe which I don't like and didn't eat.

Shortly I think I'll wrap half a chicken breast in bacon and roast it with broccoli. The lamb can wait until tomorrow. Yesterday I had a rump steak with the last of the purple sprouting broccoli, with yes another thickly buttered oatcake and a glass of Malbec.

How I've managed to stay alive for the last twelve years has me beat. Not many heart-healthy whole grains or heart-healthy vegetable oils, that's probably a good start.

Well some of you may have already eaten dinner, but ours is still cooking.
It's a fish pie for us tonight, mashed swede topping and fine green beans as a side dish.
I may also be tempted to enjoy a glass of chilled white wine ...

Cheers

All the best Jan

A wonderful conversation with the grandchildren earlier ...
They had enjoyed Sunday Lunch with their other Gran ...

What did you have I asked-
Roast Chicken, Carrots, Cabbage and Potatoes was the answer ...

Did you leave anything I asked-
No, was the answer ...

Isn't it great when young children sit down and eat a family lunch/dinner!
Call me old fashioned but I think it's wonderful.

No roast for us today - we had a very nice fillet of salmon  
With low carb, tasty vegetables of course!

All the best Jan

Oh bless! Real food rather than a packet of crap.

Mine was a chicken semi-curry, I stir-fried bacon, mushrooms, multicoloured peppers and chillies, garlic and olives with the chicken (in EVOO) then added some turmeric, ginger, cayenne, coriander, cumin and cardamom and a splash of toasted sesame oil and simmered it with water until it was done. Since I had hardly eaten anything else all day, let alone any carbs, I had it over a small portion of basmati rice to soak up the juices. Not enough to shift my BG much if at all.

What will we have for dinner tonight!!!

It will be Chicken Breast wrapped in bacon with leeks in a cheesy sauce and some mashed swede, with a little carrot added.

Yum! Looking forward to it.

Now I may also enjoy a chilled glass of pinot grigio (sounds a good idea! Lol!)

All the best Jan

I know what Dr Katharine Morrison at Diabetes Diet Blog had for dinner the other night ...

She calls it "Home-made with mess" but I bet it tasted lovely  

"Prawn courgetti with a red pepper sauce"

For the Red Pepper Sauce
1 red pepper – deseeded and roughly chopped
Splash olive oil
½ yellow pepper – deseeded and roughly chopped
165g cherry tomatoes – halved
2 cloves garlic – left whole
75ml red wine
Pinch sugar
1 tbsp tomato puree
150ml vegetable stock

For the courgetti
2 courgettes – spiralised
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 pinch sugar

To serve
1 red onion – finely sliced
Splash olive oil
200g raw king prawns
1 handful fresh basil
Parmesan shavings – to serve

See instructions and more here
https://diabetesdietblog.com/2018/05/01/homemadewithmess-prawn-courgetti-with-a-red-pepper-sauce/

All the best Jan

Eddie said "I could really enjoy a curry tonight"

My answer …

Chicken Curry With Cauliflower Rice …
https://thelowcarbdiabetic.blogspot.com/2015/09/chicken-curry-with-cauliflower-rice-low.html


Sshh! Don't tell anyone! I also had a glass of chilled white wine  


All the best Jan

Well it's chicken for us tonight!
We do enjoy eating chicken, and there are so many different recipe choices.

Some lovely cauliflower cheese too.
Must go and get started

I wonder - what did you enjoy eating today?

All the best Jan

So far a juicy lamb chop with broccoli. It's going to be a two meal day today, I suspect later I will follow your lead with a chicken curry.

I have some pheasant breasts in the fridge, they make a great stir-fry in place of chicken. I chop them up with scissors and unlike with the complete pheasants there's no waste. They aren't that good curried though they go well with mushrooms and black pepper along with the mandatory bacon, peppers and chillies and garlic.

Dinner last night was salmon

Salmon with Basil Cream Sauce


It's a wonderful dish …
We just had one salmon steak each, so amend recipe as needed

Ingredients
Salmon:
4 salmon steaks (6 oz each)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
Sauce:
20 fresh basil leaves
1/3 cup dry white wine
2 cloves garlic
1 cup heavy (double) cream
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp unsalted (raw grass-fed) butter
Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Directions
1. Preheat grill to high.
2. Rinse salmon under cold water, drain, and blot dry. Brush salmon on both sides with olive oil. Season with lemon juice, salt and pepper.
3. Combine basil, wine, and garlic in a blender and process until a smooth puree forms. Transfer to a small heavy saucepan. Stir in cream.
4. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, taking care not to let cream boil over. Stir frequently for 10–15 minutes, until sauce is reduced by half. Add butter and lemon juice, continuing to stir. Once the butter is incorporated into the cream mixture, remove from heat and season with salt and pepper. Cover and keep warm.
5. Grill salmon until it just starts to fully flake. Remove from heat. Spoon sauce over salmon and serve.

Salmon is one of our favourites, and this recipe just lends itself to being served on a bed of spinach.
However, you may prefer to serve yours with something else ... the choice is yours.

Recipe with all relevant links also featured here

https://thelowcarbdiabetic.blogspot.com/2016/09/salmon-why-is-it-pink.html

All the best Jan

I like my salmon with more salmon. OK spinach is good too, and toasted almonds, but at the moment I have samphire.

That;ll be for tomorrow though, today I had crab stir-fried in EVOO with bacon, multicoloured peppers and chillies garlic and king prawns with crushed chillies, toasted sesame oil, the juice of a lime and sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to garnish. OK I cheated because I didn't have many other carbs all day and had a SMALL portion of basmati rice to soak up the juices.

Usually I prefer the tinned crab but the fish van had fresh (dressed) Cromer crabs so just for a change I had one of them.

Oh and I found the rump steak, somehow I'd dropped it just outside the butcher's shop and a person found it before a dog did. That did the business with broccoli and a couple of thickly buttered oatcakes.

Yum!
(dressed) Cromer crab

Eddie loves crab … he would have been round! LOL!

All the best Jan

Actually I'm quite impressed with the tinned crab from the Co-Op (other supermarkets exist)

The salmon and samphire went down the hatch earlier with a couple of thickly buttered oatcakes and some Malbec.

Shortly I think I will have some ground beef with bacon and the usual assortment of veggies.

My thyroid is still a bit high, though according to the Rules no longer treatably so (I cheat because I still have some Carbimazole left over and take a fraction of a tab every couple of days).

It still gives me some symptoms though, principally I am gradually losing weight which I can ill afford. I think it increases my metabolic rate WITHOUT increasing my appetite so I actually have to make myself eat more. The corollary was that when overtreated (ie low) I would gradually put on a layer of subcutaneous fat, probably because my metabolic rate dropped but my appetite didn't.

Anyone who claims hormones have no effect on body weight needs to leave the gene pool immediately.

It's cod for us tonight … quite soon in fact LOL!
With a vegetable bake, cauliflower, broccoli, some carrot and spinach

Perhaps it should have been a salad in this currently very warm weather, but hey!

All the best Jan

So far salmon and samphire (again). Yesterday I did a pheasant breast stir fry with bacon, mushrooms and the usual vegetable suspects. Later I might finish up last week's ground beef with further veggies.

This will be liver and bacon week, plus I suspect more rump steak, and I already have a kipper, and more samphire, and some sausages, to which I shall add more broccoli as there seems to be a long gap between the asparagus and the runner beans this year.

Og course this is completely unsustainable. It mus be true, a dietician said so. Any day now I am going to go face down in the cornflakes and processed food. Riiight . . .

In the present UK hot weather, many may be enjoying a salad, but for us tonight it's:

Fisherman's Pie, quite delicious  

Ingredients:
(Serves Four - adjust as necessary)
Filling
40g butter
One medium onion chopped
300ml double cream
200g broccoli cut into bite size pieces
500g skinless salmon fillet cut into cubes (or any white fish will be fine and can be cheaper)
200g raw, peeled tiger prawns
Three hard boiled eggs - chopped
One tablespoon chopped dill or parsley
Salt and Pepper

Topping
Large Swede
Butter (don't skimp when you mash the swede)
25g grated cheddar cheese

Method
Pre Heat oven to 200 C / Regulo 6
Melt butter in a saucepan and gently sauté the onion, until soft but do not brown.
Slowly stir in some of the cream
Add the broccoli, along with a little more cream stirring as you go
Next add the salmon (or white fish) again adding a little more cream stirring as you go
Next add the prawns and stir in all the rest of the cream
Cook for a few minutes until the prawns are pink, then add the chopped eggs, dill (or parsley) and salt and pepper to taste.
Spoon into a large ovenproof dish and keep to the side
For the topping - cut up Swede and boil until tender.
Drain well, then mash with plenty of butter
Spread the mashed Swede over the filling
Cover the topping with the grated cheddar cheese and place dish in your heated oven and cook for 30 - 40 minutes.
Topping should be browning and the filling bubbling at the edges.

All the best Jan

Oh my mother used to do something like that, but with a mix of salmon and white fish, and topped with potato, and no eggs.

Yesterday I had a huge hunk of smoked haddock, simmered briefly (she used to do it in milk, I use water) with toasted almonds and my usual thickly buttered oatcakes, and for good measure I buttered the haddock too. In fact I think she also used haddock along with the salmon in the pie.

Later I had halloumi fried lightly in EVOO with another buttered oatcake.

Today I had tinned salmon stir-fried with bacon, multicoloured peppers and chillies and olives and garlic, a sprinkle of toasted sesame oil, sea salt and black pepper.

Tomorrow I'll probably be off the fish and onto a similar stir-fry with pheasant breast and mushrooms along with the same veggies, and broccoli.

Finally there are runner beans in the shops but at £5.99/kilo I can wait. None yet from my usual sources thanks to the drought.

"Finally there are runner beans in the shops but at £5.99/kilo I can wait. None yet from my usual sources thanks to the drought."

Yes, I think fresh vegetable supplies/prices will be affected by this current UK weather.
Although fresh is best, it can sometimes be handy to have a few frozen ones available!

All the best Jan

You just flashed me back to when mother used to chop up the runner beans which in those days my father was in charge of growing, salt them and pack them into Kilner jars.

This area has been late for the pea crop, recently I saw a picking gang driving down the road with five harvesters in convoy with several support vehicles.

You may like to try this for dinner one night …

Moussaka-stuffed aubergines / eggplants


What a tasty plate, and I love food simply served with a salad too! Purely optional is a nice glass of red wine to go in the dish, and also to accompany it!

Ingredients:
Serves Four
3 small aubergines
1 onion
3 garlic cloves
olive oil
300g lamb mince
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp dried oregano
50ml red wine (optional)
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
75g feta cheese
100ml (low-fat) Greek yogurt
green salad

Method:
Preheat the oven to Gas 4, 180°C, fan160°C. Halve the aubergines (eggplants)lengthways and scoop out the flesh. Chop the flesh into small (1cm) pieces. Gently fry the onions (finely chopped), garlic (crushed) and aubergine pieces in a splash of the oil, until softened but without colour.

Heat up a little oil in a separate frying pan, then season and brown the lamb in batches. Combine the lamb with the onion mixture. Add the cinnamon, oregano and red wine and cook for a few minutes. Add the tomatoes and a cup of water or stock. Bring to the boil and turn down to a simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Meanwhile, place the aubergine skins on a baking tray, season, drizzle with oil and roast for 20 minutes, then take out but leave the oven on.

When the lamb is cooked, spoon into the aubergine skins. Crumble the feta, mix with the Greek yogurt and spoon on top. Sprinkle with extra oregano and oven cook for 20 minutes. Serve with a green salad.

Per serving:
Carbohydrate 11g Protein 22.9g Fibre 5.8g Fat 15g
From an original recipe idea here
https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/moussaka-stuffed-aubergines.html

Suggestion:
Why not make the meat filling earlier in the day and roast the aubergine skins, then all you have to do is put in the oven for 30 minutes or so later in the evening, and dinner is done! Also the meat then has had time to take on the flavours... delicious

You can also ring the changes by making a veggie filling ...

All the best Jan

Liver and bacon week this week, so I weakened and bought some runners. Very disappointing, not very flavoursome and a bit stringy. I must take a trip out and see if a local grower has any yet, looking at the allotments in a nearby village I suspect probably not.

Still the lamb's liver, local bacon and giant mushroom went down a treat.

Tonight was ground pork, with bacon, mushrooms, multicoloured peppers and chillies,garlic and olives fried in EVOO then simmered with toasted sesame oil, thyme, oregano and paprika, with broccoli.

I'll finish up the liver and force myself to finish the beans tomorrow. That just leaves the rest of the chicken breast, and the sausages, and the pheasant breasts, and the salmon, and the smoked haddock, and the usual selection of veggies. Completely unsustainable and so boring without all the starch, NOT.