Month: July 2012

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Duke Pudding – No 75

How can stale bread and grated old carrots possibly be decadent?

Trust me they are when you make them into a wartime “Duke Pudding”…

Seeing the rapidly drying bread on my counter top and the carrots beginning to get spotty in the fridge, it was time once again to turn nothing into something in true 1940s home-front style and create a truly delicious alternative comfort food, much needed today of all days. It’s that certain time of the month, you see, when every female on the planet synchronizes,   every chocolate shelf in every store is empty, and only a long night of undisturbed Brad Pitt movies will suffice (I got that from a friend) and every man, child and beast should consider moving out for 48 hours…

Duke Pudding is the 1940s equivalent of chocolate… it is, really it is. Today I was very nice to everyone…

ENJOY!

Duke Pudding

  1. Soak 2 breakfast cups of stale bread (about 5-6 slices) in a little cold water then squeeze the water out until it is as dry as possible.
  2. Beat out lumps with a fork
  3. Add two tablespoons of fat or margarine (I used 2 dessertspoons or 4 teaspoons), 2 tablespoons of sugar (3 tablespoons in North America), 3 tablespoons of dried fruit (4 tablespoons in the US), small teacup full of grated carrot (1 large carrot), 1 teaspoon of mixed spice or cinnamon.
  4. Stir 1 flat teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda into a few teaspoons of milk and mix and then blend well into the mixture
  5. Spread evenly into a well greased tart tin or pie dish and cook in a moderate oven for 30-40 minutes.

Serves 4

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Weigh in- 5 lbs off!

Heaviest weight: 345 lb
Re-started 1940s Experiment Oct 1: 299 lb
Last week: 240 lb
Today: 235 lb
Weight loss this week: 5 lb

Despite having women’s-problems-of-the-most-severe-nature, this morning, you can’t stop me from smiling…. This week, I’ve eaten healthily and well, never felt hungry, found out I can jog a little AND lost 5 lbs.

Even better news for me is that yesterday, despite rushing around Wal-Mart in haste, after work, doing some shopping, I stopped briefly, for a moment, to get my blood pressure taken and it came in as normal with a nice low pulse rate too!

And then I bought my very first pedometer.. just $8 but a good investment and will help me keep track of things to enter into a new app I am running on my computer and iPod called “Runkeeper”

When I think back to this time last year, when I walked I broke into a sweat, crushing lower back pain whenever I walked, headaches, really bad knee joint pain, inability to breathe easily when laying down, and just generally depressed and tearful I KNOW I’ll never return to that.

NOW I think I realize that to get what you want in life you have to want it more than anything and be prepared to make sacrifices and work hard to achieve it. FINALLY I am in control of something in my life and it feels good…

C xxxx

GOAL by October 1st, 2012:  Live for one year using wartime food rations- 100 wartime recipes re-created- lose 100 lbs of fat

To date: 64 lb lost- 74 wartime recipes re-created

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Jogging day 5- 1/2 mile at 4mph

I took advantage of the treadmill at work (poor thing) during my lunch break at work and did 1/4 mile walking at 3 mph, then jogged for 1/4 mile at 4 mph and repeated it all over again… jogging at 4 mph was a little challenging but I like a little challenge and I burned off around about 150+ calories. Not much but at least I was moving and it is definitely making me feel better about myself afterwards…

Just keeping my fingers crossed for my at home weigh-in tomorrow. I REALLY want to reach my goal of 100 lb off in one year..

Thank you to all my wonderful supportive friends and family at work, home and online….

C xxxxxxxx

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Jogging day 4- 1/2 mile

Just a quick update…

I couldn’t help it… the sun was shining, and the dog needed a run so I decided to go take another jog down my lane. I ran down to the bottom 1/4 mile and walked back up and pushed myself to do it all over again.

I haven’t sweated so much in years and years…

But you know what, I felt quite comfortable (well I was jogging very slowly and jogging down the lane is easier as it’s slightly downhill)… it was hard work yes but didn’t feel like it was going to kill me.

Weigh in Tuesday. I think I’ve lost. I’ve eaten plenty but kept my daily intake to around 1800 cals but have started exercising everyday again..

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Cheese sauce – No 74

Cheese sauce you say? Hang on, you are a vegan aren’t you? Well yes I am… BUT occasionally, I’ll use a dairy free cheese, as my cheese ration, just so I can make some recipes. This week I bought some dairy free cheese and vegan sausage for my cheese and meat instead of extra split peas, lentils and nuts…

Cheese sauce

  • 1 tablespoon of flour (2 dessert spoons in US and Canada)
  • 2 oz grated cheese
  • A little dry mustard
  • Teacup of milk (I use a dairy free alternative like Hemp milk)
  • Pinch of salt and pepper
  • teaspoon of margarine or butter

Method

  1. Blend flour and mustard with a little milk until smooth, add rest of milk
  2. Bring to the boil adding a teaspoon of margarine or butter as the milk becomes warm, and gently cook, stirring constantly, for a minute until the sauce thickens
  3. Add grated cheese and seasoning and stir over a gentle heat until fully melted

Serves 2-4

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Mock duck – No 73

Ignore the fact that my squished up vegan sausage used in this recipe with the addition of my lovely yellowy cheese sauce,  makes this look like a dessert dish served with custard… it’s not. Infact it was a most awesome and delicious “Mock Duck” recipe that I would highly recommend you try. It was simply delicious!

When you use “real” sausage for your recipe, aesthetically, it will be more pleasing. Vegan sausage has very little fat in it, real sausage will be fattier and squishier and you will be able to form into a smooth duck breast shape..

This would be most excellent served with small buttered new potatoes and some lightly steamed asparagus and some cranberry sauce!

Mock duck

  • 1 lb sausagemeat
  • 8 oz of onions grated
  • 8 oz tart apples peeled and grated
  • 1-2 teaspoons of fresh sage or 1/2-1 teaspoon dried sage (I used two of fresh as I love sage)

Method

  1. Spread half the sausagemeat into a flat layer in a well greased baking tin or dish (I used some foil to shape into a duck breast shape)
  2. Top with a layer of the grated apples, onion and sage
  3. Add the rest of the sausagemeat and try and form into a duck breast shape
  4. Cover with well greased paper or foil and bake in the centre of a moderately hot oven for 40 minutes or until the sauasagemeat is cooked.

Serves 4

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Jogging day 3- 1/4 of a mile

It was a beautiful day yesterday, warm and sunny and a nice breeze, so when my youngest Hobbit (Em) suggested and walk/jog down the lane, I set myself a challenge to see if I could jog all the 1/4 mile down our lane to the road, without stopping.

Jogging on the stony lane was much different than jogging on the treadmill. It is more difficult, you use more muscles and EVERYTHING painfully bounces up and down. It wasn’t a pretty sight..

But there is one thing I have learned from my experience so far this time around, to succeed you really cannot worry what you look like or what other people may think of you.

Bearing that in mind, I did my very first public jog (although my lane is so private there was only a slim chance we’d bump into anyone!) and YES I managed the whole 1/4 of a mile without stopping. I honestly surprised myself!

C xxx

 

GOAL by October 1st, 2012:  Live for one year using wartime food rations- 100 wartime recipes re-created- lose 100 lbs of fat

To date: 59 lb lost- 72 wartime recipes re-created

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Jogging day 2

Another little triumph on the treadmill at work during my lunch break..

As well as my normal walking, I managed to run 2 minutes at a steady 3 mph and just for the hell of it I ran a minute at 4 mph. The final minute at 4 mph made my legs turn to jelly and sweat horribly, but it raised my pulse and gave me a little bit of a cardio workout which will help in trying to reach my goal of 100lbs off by October 1st. The main thing is that I am taking things slowly, one step at a time, an extra minute jogging every-time I use the treadmill.

Today’s healthy lunch, chopped tomato, spinach and kidney beans..

I propped my iPod up and took a quick clip of my jogging efforts. Embarrassingly it sounds and looks like the treadmill is suffering under the weight of me. But if I can do this and think “the-hell-with-it” then you can too!!

I’ve learned that to succeed one has to not care how one currently looks…. it’s only temporary 🙂

C xxxxx

GOAL by October 1st, 2012:  Live for one year using wartime food rations- 100 wartime recipes re-created- lose 100 lbs of fat

To date: 59 lb lost- 72 wartime recipes re-created

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A tortoise but I jogged for 1 minute

It’s lunch break here at work…

I popped upstairs for 15 minutes as we have a gym upstairs at work. Work colleagues had all donated gym equipment from their homes .. it is such a wonderful idea!

I am just getting to grips with using a treadmill. I walked at 3 mph for 10 minutes then decided to start taking the first step towards jogging properly for the first time in 20 years. Taking it easy and carefully I did just one minute and sweated like a pig….but hey it’s a start and may well have burned a few extra calories.

Tomorrow I’ll do 2 minutes, then 3 minutes, then 4 minutes and eventually 1 km by October 1st.

And now I’m eating spinach leaves, tomatoes and kidney beans sprinkled with some chopped basil from our work place vegetable garden. I never grow tired of eating healthy food…

 

C xxxxxxx

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Exercise and eating less food

This past week has been rather traumatic. Not something I want to speak about right now. My head is still spinning and feel my life is out of control. But there is one thing I can still hold onto and that is my health…

So to facilitate weight- loss I’ve started counting calories (kind of) simply to ensure I do not go above 2000 cals a day but aiming for around 1800 cals.

I love food and eat a LOT of it! Using WW2 rations to feed myself (includes lots of free seasonal fruit and veg) my processed food intake is minimal and eating this way really has improved my health.

I’ve started exercising again. I’m sneakily jumping onto my daughters eliptical twice a day for a short session and walking twice a day too (about an hour or so of exercise). I’ve also set myself a new goal. I haven’t jogged in 20 years. I want to train myself to jog 1km by October 1st…. small steps

C xxxxx

 

GOAL by October 1st, 2012:  Live for one year using wartime food rations- 100 wartime recipes re-created- lose 100 lbs of fat

To date: 59 lb lost- 72 wartime recipes re-created