Anyhow, onwards. I've now adjusted my overall goal deadline to the end of October as 5.5lbs in 3 weeks seems highly unlikely at this stage in the game.
This weekend has been yet another busy one. On Saturday we went to Polesden Lacey with friends. It's a gorgeous place where it really didn't matter that it was raining. D, Mr K and N and N can be seen in this photo below, taking in the landscape, including a pack of sheep heading up the distant hills.
The house itself doesn't look all that imposing but inside reveals a large quantity of art, including beautifully carved hinges. Yes, the hinges of the doors were worth looking at.
There are also a few opportunities for children to get involved. Something that seems to have popped up everywhere recently is the ability to dress in the era of the house. In this case, Edwardian. D was adamant that he wouldn't get involved but the hats were just too tempting.
The grounds are great - I particularly loved the tree-lined walkway - like something out of a period drama. D loved the space to be able to have a bit of a run and also the play area hidden in the middle of the woods. Also covered by branches, so protected from the falling rain.
Thanks to a faulty fire alarm we spent some time conversing in a small tent with the Dorking and District Radio Society who had managed to have conversations with people as far afield as Brazil. Pretty impressive.
Sunday has been spent celebrating (!) the start of a new term with colleagues and was an excellent excuse to make a LOT of bread that I could have little bits of and not kill the diet (bye bye to this week's weekly points though...) I'll be sharing some bread recipes (HURRAH!) here soon.
A few weeks ago, I posted about my August foodie penpal package. It was a great mix of different things:- ingredients, snacks to have straight away and mostly things that I could just try out.
One of the things that I'd never cooked with before is dill. Dill is one of those herbs that is so synonymous with a particular ingredient (salmon!) that it never really featured in my cupboards. According to the packaging it's good for digestion and with vegetables.
The soup I had been planning to make for this week was a double batch of beetroot, lemon and chive.
Instead, I made a normal-sized batch, with a few adaptations and then made this one with the other half of the beetroots: -
Stats: 4 servings 1 propoint each
one red onion, finely chopped
one garlic clove finely chopped
500g beetroot, peeled and diced (or chucked through a mandoline if you have a new toy to play with)
one carrot, peeled and finely sliced
600g hot vegetable stock made with OXO cube
1 average-sized potato (about 200g) peeled and diced
half the juice of a lemon and all of the zest
a heaped teaspoon of dried dill
Sweat the onion and garlic in a large pan for about five minutes, until the onion begins to turn translucent, either using a splash of water or a few sprays of frylight. Add the beetroot and carrot and sweat for a further five/ten minutes. The beetroot will begin to release its juices, preventing sticking.
Add the stock, dill and potato and cover. Simmer for half an hour. Add the zest and lemon juice.
Blitz with a stick blender and serve. I had some spare points so served with two thirds of a stone baked garlic bread from M&S. D opted to dunk the entirety of his in his soup and eat around it. I have no idea.
What we're eating this week: -
Monday - Tesco Mexican bean burger (6pp), 50g couscous or rice (5pp), med veg or green beans
Tuesday - Cheat's Thai Red vegetable curry with coconut rice (11pp) (we didn't manage to get to this last week as I was just too tired to make it.... thankfully, the majority of the ingredients keep....)
Wednesday - Middle Eastern ratatouille (2pp) with M & S stone baked garlic bread (7pp)
Thursday - M&S count on us vegetable moussaka (9pp)
Friday - Sweetcorn fritters (6pp), salsa
What we're eating this week: -
Monday - Tesco Mexican bean burger (6pp), 50g couscous or rice (5pp), med veg or green beans
Tuesday - Cheat's Thai Red vegetable curry with coconut rice (11pp) (we didn't manage to get to this last week as I was just too tired to make it.... thankfully, the majority of the ingredients keep....)
Wednesday - Middle Eastern ratatouille (2pp) with M & S stone baked garlic bread (7pp)
Thursday - M&S count on us vegetable moussaka (9pp)
Friday - Sweetcorn fritters (6pp), salsa
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