Month: January 2015

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Vegetable Soup – Recipe No. 139

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Here’s a pretty standard quick wartime recipe for vegetable soup.

I’m all for making dinners cheaply but sometimes you have to take a short cut now and again, especially if your life is busy. Not strictly in the spirit of the 1940s but it’s still the same food!

In this case, when I was doing shopping in Aldi’s and saw a large packet of fresh chopped mixed veg for soup. At only 99p I thought why not. The veggies inside the pack were fresh leeks, carrots & turnips.

To this I added a couple of fresh chopped potatoes and a couple of tablespoons of dried lentils and cooked the veg in a seasoned vegetable stock.

It made a thin and pleasant soup, enough for 4 large bowls and all I added in addition was some extra salt and pepper.

All this for about 35p a bowl and less than 200 calories!

Ingredients

1 pack of vegetables for soup from Aldi’s (or a chopped turnip, a few chopped carrots, 1/2 large leek chopped)
2 level tablespoons of dried lentils
2 potatoes chopped
1.5 litres of vegetable stock (or any stock)
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Place chopped vegetables and dried lentils in the stock
Bring to boil and simmer until vegetables/lentils are tender
Add salt and pepper to taste

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I need your help….

facebookhealth I mentioned a little while back that I had finally got myself a full-time job. What with not being able to work in the latter part of my life in Canada and then moving back to the UK, it took two years. To say I am relieved is an understatement…

Just to make things EVEN better, the company that I work for PMS DIECASTING, LASER SCANNING, REVERSE ENGINEERING 3D & GO TOOLS, is wonderfully forward thinking, much like the newspaper I worked for in Canada.

My job is as a ‘Digital Media Coordinator’ and part of my role is creating & maintaining social media streams as well as updating websites.

My employer has given me the go ahead to run with a ‘workplace wellness’ page on Facebook. PMS Diecasting already supports its employees in a number of ways so I think this in addition is a wonderful thing.

You know me, loving food and recipes and always trying to get inspiration from others, I’d like to build a social community where people can share healthy recipes, encourage their employers to support workplace wellness, share their steps towards taking control of their health, being brave to take the first step…. become a ‘Health Hero’.

So we’ve called the page ‘Health Heroes 2015’… It will hopefully go live in a few days, at the moment I am busy adding recipes and content when I get a spare half hour in between other responsibilities here at work.

So I NEED your help… I wondered if you would be so kind as to sign up for ‘Health Heroes 2015’ by liking the page I have created?

CLICK HERE TO LIKE HEALTH HEROES 2015

Look forward to seeing you there and thank you!!!

C xxxx

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Irish Potato Pancakes – Recipe No. 138

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So I got hungry tonight after my stew ran out at lunch time.. ( Two platefuls with mash)

I did have a large lettuce sandwich for dinner later but felt restless and hungry this evening, so decided cooking some ‘Irish Potato Pancakes’ would help so as I type this up I’ve enjoyed some for supper!

Super easy to make!

Irish Potato Pancakes

Ingredients

8 oz mashed potato
1/2 oz melted margarine
1 or 2 oz flour
1 level teaspoon of salt
pinch of pepper

Method

Chop up two washed (not peeled) medium sized potatoes
Place in boiling water and cook until soft enough to mash
Drain and mix the potato, salt, pepper, margarine and enough flour to make a stiff dough.
Roll out to 1/4 inch thick and cut into 8 pieces
Fry in a greased pan browning both sides
Spread with margarine or sandwich fillings (I just enjoyed as they were)

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The Charleston Stroll

So I was looking on the internet for some sort of dance/fun workout to try and get moving in addition to trying to walk a little more. I tried a bit of beginners Zumba, beginners Hip Hop, in fact quite a few beginners workouts but nothing took my fancy after attempting each one for several minutes and looking rather ridiculous.

And then I saw this little video. A very simple ‘Charleston Stroll’ and thought ‘EVEN I COULD DO THAT’ (with some perseverance and practice!)

And then I saw these guys and gals funking it up a bit and loved it!!

Even this 310 lb (hopefully less when I weigh in on Tuesday) frame can at least attempt the simple one!

Oh yes, Charleston Stroll 1940s workout!!

C xx

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Supersizers Go Wartime again…

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I was just reminded on my 1940s EXPERIMENT TWITTER about ‘Supersizers Go Wartime’ and then I realized I had indeed watched the series in 2012 and thought it was rather FUN!

So I’m just posting the videos again incase you missed it or haven’t watched them in a while like me!

Once all my daily chores are done I think this will be an evenings viewing tonight!

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Ministry of Food WWII Leaflets

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I’ve been collecting old Ministry of Food WWII pamphlets on Pinterest. Anytime I find a new one I pin it. Thought you might be interested! Wish I had a collection of real ones but this is the next best thing!

CLICK HERE FOR COLLECTION OF WW2 MINISTRY OF FOOD LEAFLETS I’VE BEEN COLLECTING ON PINTEREST

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137 Wartime Recipes All On One Page

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I’ve updated the index page for all the wartime recipes I’ve created in my blog.

CLICK HERE FOR ALL 137 WARTIME RECIPES

Sorry it’s been a while coming but I’m trying to keep myself busy so I don’t snack!

I’ve been home for two hours. Caught up with my children, cooked another stew, ate two plates of stew while watching some weight loss stories on YouTube (as you do when you need motivation) and now updating my blog.

It’s 8 pm and I think I’ll be in bed and asleep by 8:30.

My day started at 5 am and I’m getting older…

PS: A HUGE triumph for me at work today. A big tin of Christmas Quality Street was opened. I walked past the tin maybe 20 times throughout the day and you know what? I didn’t even go there…. instead I ate my porridge and piece of fruit

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35 pence stew with baked potato

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So yeah….

So hell…

So how easy it goes on again.

Oh and Happy New Year!

Jumping on the scales at Christmas and having not lived 100% rationing for sometime, it wasn’t really any surprise to find that my scales have jumped WAY UP to 310 lbs or in English (which I’m still trying to adjust to) 22 st 1.5 lbs.

I feel quite the failure…

Why do some of us let it all go to pot? I’m angry with myself…really angry.

On the plus side I guess I’ve been busy, been happy, been going places, been doing things and enjoying a very busy life. I hardly know if I’m coming or going.

Although I now have a full time job, am still financially challenged…rent and commuting costs take up 3/5 ths of my wage and I’m still trying to catch up with rent and bills from trying to live on a small part-time income and then more unemployment before finally the elusive full time job crossed my path late September.

So getting back to a rationing way of eating is once again vitally important to ensure weight loss and spending less.

I’ve started making cheap, nutritious stews again as my main staple on a daily basis and the ingredients for a large plateful with a baked potato costs me about 35 p…

Yes honestly…

I’m not going to include this as a numbered recipe as I already have so many wartime stews in my blog. This one is a mixture of many but in this one I’m using frozen veg from Sainsbury’s just for quickness.

Now I’m working and commuting, sometimes frozen veg comes in handy.

So here’s my quick recipe that makes 3 plates full of stew and currently being a godsend to me, left on the side in a pot to dip into when I’m really hungry.

Ingredients

1/2 bag of Sainsbury’s Frozen Vegetable Stew Pack (62.5p)
1 onion Sainsbury’s basic (10p)
Few teaspoons of Bisto powder (10p)
1 large Sainsbury’s Basics potato (10p)
Tablespoon of dried lentils or pre soaked kidney beans (5p)
Pinch of mixed herbs, salt and pepper (2.5p)

Method

Chop up onion (or leek) and fry in pan (I use a little water instead of fat)
Add 1/2 bag frozen veg and pour over 1 to 1.5 pints or more of boiling water and mix
Bring to boil and add lentils and seasoning and herbs
Make up a Bisto powder thin paste and add to stew and stir.
Simmer for 20 minutes and thicken, adjusting water, thickening and seasoning.
Just add anything to make the flavour more interesting! (I used some spinach past it’s sell by date)

It takes a photo…

Yes. Richard took me to Barcelona for the New Year.

10382979_10152579566767361_6082782789758557918_nIt’s an amazing place let me tell you, beautiful architecture, vibrant and so many things to see. Alas my extra weight gain was noticeable to me. Slow walking, back pain, having to sit down frequently, all self inflicted….it creeps back up on you when you don’t keep an eye on it this weight gain.

I really noticed it on the holiday snaps too. I’ve enclosed one, not happy.

Time to get busy…

C xxx