Ninety eight...Ninety nine...One Hundred!!!

No, that's not my age, but...

Oh goodness, golly gosh! My number of Followers has leapt up to 100. Tarantara!
How lovely is that. Thank you Vicki for your Grow Your Blog event that has brought people here..
If you have come to visit, my Grow Your Blog page can be found here.


I hope to do another batch of visiting this afternoon, while Mr FD watches the first of the Six Nations rugby matches. The weather is grey and mibsy, with drizzly rain, so I think it is the day to be cocooned in my cosy study with a hot water bottle and a cup of something warming. I do hope that those of you who have started following me enjoy your visits here and find inspiration for your own food and menu planning.

So, I need to give a big, Fat Dormouse welcome to:

• Michelle at Boulderneigh (I love reading about her sheep!)
• Ida, at Wishes, Dreams & Other Things
• Rachel, at Blue Finch jewellery (Last Grow Your Blog event she made a beautiful set of earrings for all her visitors! I love my pair & wear them frequently with a smile.)
• Val, from 2Turtle Doves Designs
• June D, from...?
• Maria from...?
• Martha from Martha's Favourites
• Sharon , from Fit & Healthy Baby Boomers
• Christine, at The Alchymyst's Study
• A Busy Little Chicken, at Busy Little Chicken 

 

I hope you find something interesting!

I keep forgetting to weigh myself in the morning - maybe because we keep the scales in the bedroom, and after my shower I scurry in from the warm bathroom to the not-so-warm bedroom and scrabble into my clothes as quickly as possible. I might move them into the bathroom (but then I'll have to remember to take my glasses in with me, so I can read the numbers!!) However, I do know that I have cut down what I eat, and so I should be at least staying the same, even if I'm not losing weight!!

At the weekends, I do have a cheeky glass of wine - but a small glass, instead of the two big glasses I was having most evenings. And without the snacks! (except that tin of honey roasted macademia nuts left over from Christmas...very hard to resist!!) One sandwich with sliced bread at lunchtime, instead of a hunk of baguette...one biscuit a day, instead of several...fruit instead of biscuits...1 chocolate in the evening, instead of two or three...very few snacks during the day...fewer carbs, less fat, and more veggies and fruit. I hope it's working!! (Though to be honest, I haven't really felt very deprived!)

So, here are the plans for this week:

SATURDAY

Hairy Dieter's Meat Loaf - the introduction to which recipe is full of awful puns: Eat our meat loaf and you won't end up looking like Meatloaf - we take the fat out of hell!

This is made with pork and beef mince, plus lots of vegetables, and served with a spicy tomato sauce. We're going to have it with a jacket potato and some green beans. I'll slice the rest up and put it into the freezer for other meals in the future.

SUNDAY

Another Hairy Dieter's recipe! This time it's their Spicy Pork and Veggies - a one-pot meal  at 395 calories a portion. With careful eating through the day I shouldn't go much over 1,300 calories with this yummy looking dish!

MONDAY

fasting

Scrambled egg for breakfast, green salad + 50g lean pork  for lunch, and Butternut Squash & Ricotta fritata for dinner (248 calories a portion)

It's basically cooked onion and 225g butternut squash, cooked in a thick omelette batter made with 4 eggs and 60g ricotta, served between 2 people. We'll probably have more salad with this.

 I'm not fixing rigidly on 500 calories, as I'm trying to cut down the rest of the week as well. In all, I don't think this day's food exceeds 600 calories though.

TUESDAY

Hairy Dieter's again!! It's their home made fishcakes  today, with roasted vegetables and some Slimming World chips. OR I might try to make tartare sauce and have it with salad instead.With low fat mayo mixed with yoghurt it should be okay on calories, methinks. And I LOVE tartare sauce!

WEDNESDAY

Mr FD is in charge, but he's got an easy one! It's the left over pork from Sunday. With extra vegetables if we didn't save enough!

THURSDAY

fasting

This is my "proper" fast day with an attempt to eat nothing until dinner (but often with a quickie soup made from 80g frozen veggies, a smidgeon of harissa and half a stock cube!)  For dinner we're having Aubergine curry with 25g raw rice (but cooked!) each.

FRIDAY

Another Mr FD cooking day - every alternate Friday I'm teaching till 7 pm so don't get home until about 7.45. It's nice not to have to worry about cooking, especially as, between lessons, I'm running about doing the shopping for the week! So tonight, we turn (yet again!) to the Hairy Dieters, and their Enchilladas. They require kidney beans in chilli sauce, but I've not seen those in France! We did buy a couple of tins of mixed beans in chilli sauce, when we were in the UK, so he could use those...or make his own chilli sauce and use ordinary kidney beans. Frankly, in our house, one needs to busk a little when cooking!

SATURDAY

Thank you Si and Dave! I am loving your new book!

Si King (left) & Dave Myers, the Hairy Dieters

Tonight's dinner is Hairy Dieter's Shredded duck wraps - but using Chinese leaf as a wrap, rather than Chinese pancakes! I'm a bit worried I won't be able to find Hoisin sauce, but I put my trust in Grand Frais, where I can usually find the more exotic ingredients! I'll be going there for the Chinese leaf anyway, and it's not out of my way on the Friday shopping run (from my lesson to (Grand Frais) to Lidl to Carrefour to another lesson...)

Thank you for all your lovely comments! I can't reply to all the ones on the Grow Your Blog post - most of which were admiring the Dormousehold's Management Team (I haven't told them, as they might get big headed!)  But it is so lovely to read them all - and they will be entered in my Giveaway (to be drawn on 15th February)

From last week's post, I can reply to your comments though:

Pompom: Yes, do try leeks! I like them very much - they make a good basic filling for a quiche, and I always think they go well with ham. We had a ham, leek and mushroom pie yesterday (in a cheese sauce, topped with thinly sliced potatoes) It was lush. And leek-and-potato soup is a classic!

Purrfect Lady: We didn't have the quinoa in the end, as (possibly TMI) Mr FD can't eat too many lentils, so I changed the recipe. In fact he cooked the pork in a tomato and pepper sauce on Wednesday - it was delicious. We'll have the lentil/quinoa mix another day. I don't cook it very often, but I don't remember mine going mushy...

Maria: I think that this week everything was successful. The Fish gratin was a bit "Meh" but it was perfectly edible. Just not as interesting as it might have been. I'm quite excited about some of next week's recipes though - especially Saturday's duck! 

Busy Little Chicken: Sorry you missed the Grow Your Blog event, but you've still got another follower in me! I like your blog very much and encourage any of my readers to pop over to see you!

Thank you everyone for popping in. Tell me - which day do you think sounds the most tempting?!

Not with the Hairy Dieters!!!