Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Recipe: Pressure cooker lamb ragu

Since getting out of hospital I've started cooking again. Part of my depression recovery plan is to make sure Noo and I eat better. We all know it's critical for good mental and physical health whether you're a late 30s mum or an almost five year old boy. Hell, we all need good food and exercise.

So far we've had chicken sticks, spagbol, tuna rice and veggie patties, and cottage pie served with salad. Tonight Noo and I made ham and pineapple pizza together which was delicious. But the recipe I wanted to share with you now is for a dish I made a little while ago while we were up the Mountains, before I went to hospital. I took all the photos as I was cooking but somehow life got in the way of me publishing the recipe.

Earlier on this year I was the lucky winner of a Tefal Cook4Me pressure cooker. I entered a competition on Kate Says Stuff and was so stoked when I was notified by Kate that I'd won. The massive box arrived soon after and both my parents and I were amazed at its size. Where the hell would we fit this appliance into our already stuffed apartment?

The obvious solution was to send the Cook4Me up to my parents house in the Blue Mountains. We have a bit more space there and it is the perfect place to cook and eat hearty food like lamb ragu.

I must admit I had doubts about the appliance. Why? It looked too good to be true. I recently bought a slow cooker and I didn't like it at all and actually gave it away to Noo's day care. The Cook4Me however is awesome. So good I'm thinking we've got to get it back to town so I can use it more often!

I got the recipe from my favourite recipe website Taste.com.au but I adjusted it for the pressure cooker. The original recipe can be found here.

Without further ado - my first go of the Tefal Cook4Me...


Cook4Me Lamb Ragu


Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 kg half leg of lamb
1 large brown onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
About a 10 cm chunk of bacon speck cubed
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1cm pieces
2 sticks of celery, cut into 1cm pieces
1/2 cup fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme, sage, parsley - whatever you've got)
1/2 cup red wine
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 x 400 g cans diced tomatoes
2 cups chicken stock

Pasta of your choice
Parmesan cheese to serve


Method

1. Prepare

I like to take out all the ingredients I need and prepare the veggies, herbs and meat so everthing is laid out ready to go. I didn't read the recipe correctly and so cut my lamb into large chunks rather than cooking the 1 kg half leg as a single piece, as you can see in the picture below. I highly recommend not doing what I did because you don't get that really tender melt in your mouth thing happening with the meat if you do.

Also have the Cook4Me out and ready to go.





2. The Browning

Add the olive oil to the bowl of the Cook4Me. Using the manual setting, brown the lamb using the 'browning' function on the Cook4Me for a couple of minutes on each side. You can set the timer on the machine but I just went freestyle and used my noggin to determine when the meat was browned.

Remove meat from cooker and set aside.


3. Sauteing

With the Cook4Me still on 'browning' mode, add pre-prepared onion, garlic, speck, carrot, celery and herbs to the cooker. Saute, stirring occasionally, until onion has softened.




4. The Saucy Bit

Add wine and cook for 1 minute. Add tomato paste, diced tomatoes, 2 cups of chicken stock. Stir to combine.


5. Introduce the Meat to the Sauce

Return meat to the Cook4Me and stir to combine or if using a whole piece of lamb ensure meat is covered with the saucy bits.




6. Speed Cook

Batten down the hatches! Close the lid on Cook4Me following the instructions. It's really super easy compared to our old pressure cooker which is now doomed to be heading for the garbage bin, if it hasn't already been let go of it's old duties thanks to a younger, smarter worker taking its place.

Set the Cook4Me to 'quick cooking' for 20 minutes. The cooker will tingle with a bell sound when it has completed the 20 minutes and steam will shoot out its rear. It is all rather exciting! I just couldn't wait to see what the end result was inside.

If the ragu needs more cooking you just need to shut up the pressure cooker again and set it to cook for a further 10 minutes or whatever you think it requires.




7. Finishing Touches

Shred the lamb with a couple of forks. Remove any fat or bone from the ragu.

Cook whatever pasta you wish to have with your lamb ragu. Chop up fresh parsley and shave up some parmesan.


Yummy lamb ragu with pasta


There you have it! It actually took way longer to prepare all the ingredients than it did to cook the ragu. Writing this post took double the time of all of it (gosh I'm slow!).

Everyone in my family loved this recipe and even fussy eater Noo gave it the tick of approval.

I would highly recommend the Tefal Cook4Me. I'm so glad I won it! Can't wait to get back up the Mountains to try other recipes in it.


V.

PS. I was under no obligation by either Tefal or  Kate Says Stuff to write about my prize. I just felt like it. So there.






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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

The power of pineapples

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I am having a really tough time of late. I wrote about it in my last post. I feel like my heart is breaking, my soul is quaking and my entire sense of self worth is dissipating. Like that rhyme? Me neither really but I'm struggling with words at the moment. I'm struggling to be a parent, an aunt, a daughter and a blogger. The four things I love being the most.

I just want everyone to go away from me for a while so I can close up all the blinds in our apartment and watch episode after episode of great television, movie after movie and escape this stuff going on in my brain. I'd have comfy trackies and uggs on. Our couch would be arranged just so it was like a snug cave and I'd be enclosed in it covered with my duvet. By my side would be an endless supply of diet coke, coffee, homemade cookies and chocolate. I'd snooze on and off in between shows. There'd be no commitments, no texts buzzing, no emails. Just me, my remote control and my comfort food.

But, of course, life goes on. I took on board a lot of the advice given to me in my last post. For Noo's behaviour to improve the both of us need more structure to our lives. For my mood to improve I need to look after one child at a time. I felt terribly guilty about it at first but I've decided to put Noo into daycare on Tuesdays so he will now be attending four days a week. It will be an excellent warm up to the five days a week he will need to endure next year anyway. Plus I can't be a quality mum if I'm completely stressed out of my mind all the time. Choosing to put Noo in that extra day is a win/win for everyone really.

One of the areas of concern for me regarding both Noo's and my behaviour and our health is our diet. I've spoken at length before about my fussy eater and of my own weight issues. I've tried to understand why he has very little interest in food. He won't sit still long enough at the table to eat a whole meal, he only likes certain foods and then those certain foods can change all the time. It drives me insane!

I recently got involved in a campaign for Australian Pineapples. The offer of a session with well known nutritionist Dr Joanna McMillan was too good to pass up. Dr Jo offered me some really great advice both in regards to my nutritional needs as well as for Noo.

Now I must admit that my slip back into depression (looks like my meds have stopped working effectively according to my GP and I'm seeing Shrink tomorrow to confirm) has really thrown me and I'm using chocolate as a way to get through it. I know you could call it self sabotage. I call it that! But my resistance is low as my mood swings from delicate in the morning through to full blown tears and woe in the afternoon.

My beautiful mum has stayed in the city with us for going on a month now. She is my confidant and my shoulder to wipe all the snot and tears on during the really awful episodes. She knows me so well and can see the cracks begin to appear on my psyche before I do. I really don't know how I'd survive sometimes if it wasn't for my mum!

Now back to pineapples. When my mum is here she makes sure we all eat properly. She doesn't do all the cooking but gives me friendly nudges to get me off my bum and into the kitchen. That coupled with some inspiring recipes from Dr Jo, as well as the winning entry for my giveaway from Claudia from Little Cottage Big Life, means we've had a few delicious and nutritous meals around here lately.


The first recipe came from Joanna McMillan.

Pineapple, Sweet Chicken and Chili Curry

Serves 4-6

Dr Jo's yummy pineapple, sweet chicken and chili curry
Ingredients

750g chicken breast or thigh, chopped
500ml coconut milk
1tbsp red curry paste
½ tsp fish sauce
3 kaffir lime leaves
½ fresh pineapple, diced
2 red chilies sliced (seeds removed if required)
2 chicken stock cubes

+ Serve with brown rice and steamed vegetables

Method 

1. Pour coconut milk, fish sauce, curry paste and stock into pot and dissolve to creamy consistency.
2. Bring curry to the boil over medium heat.
3. Add chicken and continue to cook over medium heat for 5 mins.
4. Add pineapple, kaffir lime leaves and chilis.
5. Continue to cook over low-med heat for 15 min.


This is how my attempt at this recipe turned out:


My version


I embellished the recipe a bit. Actually, a fair bit. I think this is why I don't do diets very well. I'm always adding to the recipes. My mum, the retired chef, says it's the sign of a good cook!

For starters, I used thighs instead of breasts. So much tastier! I also browned them off a bit rather than solely poaching them. I also used way more curry paste. I didn't have any Thai red curry paste so I just chucked in half a jar of korma paste which was delicious. I put the paste in just after browning the chicken. Frying it off a bit brings out the flavour of the paste.

We had a lonely eggplant in the fridge so I chopped it up and added it early on before all the liquid went in to make sure it got that nice browned off look and taste.

I'm not a massive fan of the old stock cube. The stock you buy in the tetra pack is the goods for this sort of cooking and it is one of our cupboard staples that is always stocked up. I just whacked in enough til it looked and tasted right.

The fish sauce levels were upped a fair bit too. Fish sauce is the weirdest ingredient isn't it? Stinks in the bottle but brings out the flavour in so many Asian style dishes.

This time around I omitted the chili because I was hoping Mr Fussiest Eater in the Universe might try some. He didn't but oh well, I tried.

We had kaffir lime leaves in the fridge which was lucky because I'd forgotten to buy some when out that day. The pineapple came in last, but by no means least, because it was so delicious.

My mum was sceptical when I told her about the pineapple campaign because she said pineapple wasn't currently in season. It's a tropical fruit right? While we've had a mild Autumn here in Australia, it certainly hasn't been tropical. I've been really surprised by how yummy and juicy the pineapple we've been buying has been. Not to mention some of the other 'out of season' fruit I've bought over the last week or so: rockmellon, watermellon, strawberries, papaya and passionfruit. YUM!

As you can see from my picture, my curry was heavily garnished with corriander and chopped scallions, as my mum calls them, or green onions or shallots as Aussies usually refer to them as. We also had some steamed brocolini on the side.

All in all it was a delicious meal! I had some the following day for lunch as well and my dad, who came down from the Mountains for a couple of days, also got to try some of this delicous pineapple chicken curry and was really impressed.

Do you know what? If you've managed to read this far, my post has gone from sadness, to happiness about pineapple, and my mood has lifted. The power of pineapple? Or, most probably, the power of distraction!


If you want to check out more of Dr Joanna McMillan's pineapple recipes check out the Pineapple Australia's website. I'm going to do the Quinoa Salad with Pineapple and Corriander next. YUM!





Do you like fruit mixed with savoury dishes? 

V.

PS. Thank you to all the lovely readers who entered my competition a couple of weeks ago. You had some awesome ideas for me. I can't wait to give sweet and sour pork a go. Also, I'm thinking I really need to try Kylie's mood lifter - dancing to 80s music in my undies sounds like something that could really help me right now!


Disclosure: I was given a free half hour session with Dr Joanna McMillan to discuss my nutrition issues as well as a $150 Woolworths gift voucher that was given away to one of my readers. No cash has exchanged hands. All opinions are my own in accordance with my disclosure policy.





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Saturday, May 18, 2013

Sell yourself, miss something, apologise and be happy

Oh my! We are already well and truly halfway through May. This year is flying just as I expected it would. I wish I could slow down my perception of time to that of a child. Remember when the summer school holidays seemed to last forever? I must admit though that this Sydney summer seems to have gone on a long time. The sun just keeps on shining and we are still in t-shirts so I shouldn't complain.

I am a week behind in the #blogeverydayinmay challenge. Rather than drop out I'm going to attempt to catch up in a couple of posts. Here we go...


Day 11: Sell yourself in 10 words or less


This post seemed way too difficult to write over the last week. Something weird has been happening to me. I've had some pretty full on emotional ups and downs over the last six or so years but the last week takes the cake. I've been spontaneously bursting into tears. Seriously. It happened in the supermarket the other day. Crazy shit is going on in my brain.

I just have to think of something sad and I'll start crying. Or the kids will stress me out and boom! I'm losing it. I'm really struggling with looking after both Noo and Mala (my niece) on Tuesdays. How do you mums with more than one in your brood do it? One kid? No probs. Two? Send me back to the asylum!

My sister offered to put Mala in daycare an extra day but I said no. I really want to be the person that can handle this. I should be able to handle looking after two kids for eight hours on one day a week! I love how close Noo and Mala are. Noo asks about her all the time and Mala beams when she sees him. When Noo goes to big school next year they won't be able to have this special day together as often. I really want to make it work.

So ten words to sell me? When I'm feeling so crap about myself?

When I was young and learning to type I used to practice typing this sentence over and over so it is the sequence of words I can type the fastest out of all the others. And it just happens to have 10 words.

Vanessa is the best person in the whole entire world.

It is silly, immature and clearly inaccurate but what the hell! No one is going to mark this shit.


I just aim to get these two home in one piece at the end of the day


Day 12: What do you miss? (a person, a thing, a place, a time of your life...)


What do I miss? I miss living in London and travelling. I wouldn't change my current situation for the world but I do sometimes miss the freedom of living on the other side of it from my family. I miss the freedom of not having a kid, of not having to tell anyone where I'm going to be, of not being accountable. But only for a second.

I miss the trips abroad organised on a whim on pay day. I miss the art, the nightlife and the gigs. Oh how I miss the music! Occasionally I even miss the drugs and the alcohol. But rarely.

Hell, sometimes I even miss the Tube.

     Said no one ever!

  Ok, maybe I did.


In New York City for my 30th birthday celebration


I really hope one day I'll leave Australia again to visit some places I haven't been to yet. But I never want to go back to the life I used to have. Even if I do miss it just a tiny bit.


Day 13: Issue a public apology. This can be as funny or as serious or as creative as you want it to be.


I want to apologise to my son and my family for not being an easy person to live with. I'm sorry that my moods can be erratic and that I can't handle stressful situations very well. I'm sorry that I'm forgetful and vague sometimes. I'm sorry that my anxiety overwhelms me so much sometimes that I burst into tears in the middle of the supermarket (I clearly can't get over this!) while trying to look after two kids with the help of my mum. (Thank god she was there but seriously? Anxiety attack when mum was even there to help? WTF?)

I'm sorry that I haven't gone back to full time work yet and that I'm shit at cleaning the bathroom regularly. I'm sorry I leave stuff all around the apartment. I'm sorry I don't cook dinner every night. I'm sorry I spend so much time in front of my laptop.

I think that is all I'm sorry about at the moment. I bet there's more though. That's enough for now!


Day 14: Ten things that make you really happy


  1. My son. Occasionally he drives me nuts but 99% of the time he is the light of my life. Seeing Noo smile. Watching his reaction to experiencing something new. Hearing him say "I love you" for the 20th time in one day.
  2. My family. All of them. What would I do without them? They are my everything. They get me. It has taken a long time but I think they finally accept me for who I am - neuroses and all! That makes me happy and sort of nullifies my apology (see day 13 above).
  3. My blog. My lifeline. My 24/7 counsellor. My fun. My mental stimulation. My community.
  4. The warm autumn sun. Not too hot and not too cold.
  5. Looking out onto Sydney Harbour from any viewpoint. Blue, grey or black. Just looking at that deep blue Harbour and the city that envelopes it sends pure joy and love through my veins. I wasn't born here and I've spent over ten years of my life in other cities but Sydney will always be home to me. 
  6. Being entertained and/or provoked to think. Watching a great TV series/movie. Reading a page turner or a great newspaper piece. Seeing live music. Viewing amazing art.  
  7. Drinking a really great cup of coffee. The smell of it, the taste of it, the feel of it. Coffee I love you. You make me very happy.
  8. Eating food that flavour bombs your tongue and makes you want to close your eyes to enjoy not only the taste, but the smell and texture all at once. Think a freshly made cake, dumplings from Din Tai Fung, my brother's BBQ and his homemade sauces that go with it.
  9. Shopping makes me so happy! Especially if the item is on sale. Purchasing something that I know I will love for a long time. Especially footwear and clothing. I probably have an unhealthy relationship with spending money but still it makes me happy. 
  10. Losing weight. Seeing the numbers go down on the scales. I really need to bring this kind of happiness back into my life. Really.


Recent clothing purchases and my new Duo boots


I love these kids! They make me crazy sometimes but I love them and they make me happy.



Phew! Only 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 left to catch up!


Do you want to issue a public apology? Maybe tell me what makes you happy.

I hope you're having a great weekend wherever you are.


V.








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Friday, May 10, 2013

Day 8: Some free (nutrition) advice and a giveaway

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Day 8, Wednesday: A piece of advice you have for others. Anything at all.

I'm two days behind with #blogeverydayinmay. A very minor head cold, combined with lack of sleep, has made my brain feel a little muddled up making it difficult to write coherently. I'll confess I spent most of yesterday on the couch sleeping and watching TV.

My very late day 8 is all about advice. Rather than me give you some advice I'm going to tell you about the professional advice that I got last week. And then I'm going to offer a $150 Woolworths gift voucher to the reader who can give me the best bit of advice.

        Read on for more details...


The BB and the (famous) nutritionist


The Skype session started and Dr Joanna McMillan's familiar face was beamed into my bedroom. It felt really weird speaking to someone I know from the telly. I was quite nervous at first but it didn't take long before Jo's friendly smile assured me I was in good hands.

Dr Jo asked for my background story. "How long have you got?" I replied with some playful sarcasm.

I tried to sum it up in a few sentences: I told her that I had a history of drug and alcohol addiction as well as anxiety and depression. I told her I had five years of sobriety under my belt but was still very much addicted to sugar. I told Jo how I'd quit sugar for seven weeks last year but when I fell off the wagon with a chocolate cake on my birthday I have not been able to get back on it. I told her about my lapband and my struggle to maintain a healthy lifestyle because of my self saboteur who visits with all too much regularity. That about sums it up, right?

First up Dr Jo told me to stop being so hard on myself. With five years of sobriety up my sleeve I ought to be proud. And of course I am but I told her I wish I could do with sugar what I did with booze and drugs - let go of it. She told me I needed to take baby steps to turn my food habits around. And that jumping in the deep end with any extreme lifestyle change (like IQS or 12wbt - both of which I have attempted) was only doomed to fail.


Back to basics with you BB!


With the Alcoholics Anonymous slogan in mind we talked about "taking one day at a time", or even one meal at a time, rather than me setting huge unachievable goals that were doomed to fail. Dr Jo suggested I take "baby steps" and make small changes to my everyday eating habits.

From the Day on a Plate food diary I gave Dr Jo she concluded that I snack too much and that I needed to give more structure to my meals throughout the day. The day I diarised was actually a really good day for me and I admitted I usually eat a lot more chocolate, cake and ice cream.


A day on the BB's plate



Oats for breakfast - salad and cheese for lunch - a (tiny) bite of Noo's ice cream in the arvo


7.30am Black plunger coffee with one sweetener

8.00am Half a cup of Uncle Toby’s quick oats served with 1 cup of low fat milk, 5 chopped fresh strawberries, 5 raspberries, sweetened with 2 teaspoons of stevia, plus a dessert spoon of Benefibre for added fibre

11.00am 1 fun sized Kit Kat and a can of Diet Coke

1.30pm Shared two plates of mixed salad at the 13 Rooms exhibition pop-up café with my mum. The salads included quinoa, vegies, beef, salmon, rocket, white beans. Very healthy and gluten and sugar free. We also shared a cheese platter with gorgonzola and triple cream brie, fresh figs and grapes and lavosh crackers

3.00pm a mouthful of my son’s choc top Mr Whippy soft serve

4.00pm three slices of my son’s spinach and ricotta Turkish gozleme

5.00pm Black plunger coffee with one sweetener

6.00pm handful of plain potato chips and a handful of red grapes

8.00pm four chocolate covered scorched almonds


All in all not that bad a day. Usually I would have also had at least an ice cream or piece of cake plus much more chocolate.


Advice from the expert


The best advice I got from Dr Jo to incorporate some better eating habits into my day include:

  • Take one meal at a time. Aim to make the next meal a healthy one. And then the next and the next. Slowly but surely make changes to my everyday rather than expecting to wake up one morning as a health freak who never eats sugar, cake, chocolate, ice cream, hot chips... because that ain't gonna happen. I need to make gradual change.
  • Back to basics - Eat three solid meals a day. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Seriously, that basic. Eat until almost full so I can be sustained through to the next meal without reaching for a bag of Malteasers. 
  • Make sure half my plate is salad or veggies. The other half needs to be divided three ways: protein, carbs and oil - oil being just a little bit.
  • Try to reach for health snacks between meals - a piece of fruit, handful of nuts.
  • Think of cutting back chocolate and other sweet foods like giving up cigarettes: go without for one minute, five minutes, one hour, two hours... and see how it feels and build up from there.
  • Dinner is my weakest area. Because Noo is so fussy and won't eat very much I've got lazy about cooking for one. I need to get more disciplined with dinner to avoid snacking on junk all through the evening until bedtime. Make something easy (eg steak and salad). Sit down at the table with Noo. Eat together. Offer Noo foods he doesn't usually like. Don't resort to giving him treat food.
  • Take large doses of fish oil (9000mg a day). This has also been told to me by three psychiatrists. Fish oil has been seen to help with mental health issues like depression, anxiety and ADHD. 
  • Don't rush into personal training, aim to go for a half hour walk every day and build up from there.
  • Notice as you slowly take control.
  • Avoid black and white thinking. If I have a piece of chocolate don't see it as a major fail and fall completely from the wagon. 

There's some really great advice there that I'm slowly incorporating into my everyday.


Giveaway!


Now it is your turn to give me some advice for the chance to win a $150 Woolworths gift voucher.

Just answer one of the following three questions in the comments below for a chance to win. The most creative answer will win the $150 gift voucher.

1. What is your most delicious, nutritious and simple recipe for dinner that is suitable for one mum and one fussy eater?

2. What healthy activity do you do to relieve stress (rather than eat junk like me)?

3. What is your most delicious, nutritious snack for kids?


My session with Dr Joanna McMillan and this post were sponsored by Australian Pineapples. Extra points will go to entries that include pineapples in them.






Competition details:

1. Answer in the comments section one of the questions above.
2. Like babblingbandit.me on Facebook.
3. Follow babblingbandit.me on Twitter.
4. Subscribe to babblingbandit.me (see the form at the bottom of the post).
5. Australian residents only. Sorry!
6. Most creative answer wins.
7. Judge's decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into.
8. The winner will be notified by email so please ensure you subscribe.
9. This giveaway is in NO way sponsored, endorsed, administered by or associated with Facebook.

EDIT: Competition closes next Friday 17 May 2013.
Entrants who don't use Facebook or Twitter will not be penalised as long as they subscribe my email.

COMPETITION CLOSED

GOOD LUCK!

V.

Disclosure: I was given a free half hour session with Dr Joanna McMillan to discuss my nutrition issues as well as a $150 Woolworths gift voucher to giveaway to one of my readers. No cash has exchanged hands. All opinions are my own in accordance with my disclosure policy.




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Thursday, December 27, 2012

A very BB Christmas

I am so full.

End of story.

No, really. Tis the season to eat and eat and eat. And I've done just that.

Check this out. The evidence.



Click on me for a better look



My sister and I pre-ordered our meat back in mid November from the Urban Food Market online store which took the pressure out of food shopping on Christmas Eve. Neither of us has a large fridge so stockpiling is not possible. Considering we are all cooks in our family it defies belief that we have shit fridges, but there you go.

Delivered around midday on Christmas Eve, a 4.5kg leg ham, 4 day cured 2.2kg duck and a 2kg beef tenderloin were then prepared to feed seven of us. A quick trip to the local shopping centre to top up on fresh fruit and veggies and we were set.

On Christmas morning, after Noo discovered Santa had been, leaving presents under the tree and a piece of white fur trim from his coat in the balcony door, the wrapping came off each gift in record time. Not a single toy was of the superhero kind but if Noo was disappointed he didn't show it. That is the trouble with the mid year toy sale layby and store option: the kid can grow out of what mummy chose over the six months to Christmas.

While Pa was setting the table in his usual OCD style of perfection, Nanna and I set to getting lunch ready. First in the oven was the duck. Cooked for 50 minutes in the almost brand new oven it looked perfectly done until we chopped it up and found the meat around the thigh joints a little too pink. I can't blame the duck, or should I say the cooking instructions that came with it, because our new ovens have been a bit unreliable with their temps lately, despite the fact that they are top of the range and should be working perfectly.

Once rested, quartered, deboned and sliced the duck was tossed through an Asian style noodle salad. I pinched the salad recipe from here. It's a Jamie Oliver number that I had to heavily modify the dressing because it was just too oily. I added more lime juice, mirin and rice wine vinegar to give it some zest. Unfortunately I had to leave out the sesame oil because Mala is very allergic and we can't even risk the slightest contact with her. I love sesame oil but I love my niece more. Obviously.

Second animal part to be baked was the delicious tenderloin of grassfed beef. My mum can trim and tie a tenderloin as quick as you can say 'Jack Robinson who the hell is Jack Robinson' after a career in corporate catering where she would do dozens in a week. Once roasted and rested the beef was laid on a bed of watercress and topped with a herb and caper dressing, minus the capers (we ran out).

Last, and maybe least, was the leg of ham. Mum (or Nanna to Noo) carefully removed the skin off the ham only to find it didn't have a scrap of fat under it. A liposuctioned pig leg! Or maybe one that had been on a rigorous exercise regime running around that organic pasture it came from. We couldn't even score the leg because there was nothing to score. It was glazed and wrapped in foil and then baked in the oven and as suspected came out a little dry thanks to the lack of any lovely white fat to keep it moist.

Luckily Mum had made a delicious fresh plum sauce and with it that leg tasted a fine piece of bovine. It was also lovely today cold.

The trio of organic free range meats were accompanied by a potato and hazelnut salad and roast kumara and some weird little cranberry puffs that Mum made but I didn't try.

For dessert the Christmas classics were covered: Christmas cake, mince tarts and pudding served with ice cream, custard and brandy butter. Once again mum outdid herself, if the dried fruit farts we all are producing are anything to go by!

Just typing the details of this meal is making me feel full all over again.

Yolanda, Cal and Mala joined us, along with another couple who have been friends of my parents for decades. It was a great mix. Everyone ate, wore silly hats, played with toys and generally had a great time.

We also got a new addition to Noo's cat family thanks to our friends that joined us. Lulu. The perfect cat for Noo to practice his 'Ls' on. She walks, she purrs, she meows. Noo loves her.

I think The Cats are now complete.






Noo and I hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas. And that you don't feel as full as I do. Blurgh.

Day 1 of the BB sugar detox starts again on 1 January.


Here's to 2013!



V.


PS. This is not a sponsored post. I just like Urban Food Market. Service is awesome, produce fantastic (they just need fatter pigs).

Monday, December 3, 2012

The BB sugar experiment: Off the wagon and on to Santa's Christmas Sugar Sleigh

I need help! A chocoholics anonymous meeting quick! I'm back on it!

On the Santa's Christmas Sugar Sleigh that is.


Merry Christmas and hand me the chocolate!


It has been 19 days since my birthday when I broke my seven week abstinence from sugar with chocolate birthday cake and I haven't been able to get back on the wagon since.

I ranted and raved about how good I felt being sugar free. How refreshed and energetic and headache free I was. You guys congratulated me and it felt great. I lost 5.5 kg in six weeks and it felt great. My skin was clear, my mind alert, my clothes looked great, I was back in my jeans again...

What the fuck happened? The silly season happened, that's what. Let's point the finger! 

Not only are my headaches back but I'm Hungry. All. The. Time. And Santa, I blame you.

So why is it so easy to fall back into old habits even though the new ones make you feel so much better?

I weighed myself this morning and I've only gained 1kg in 18 days which isn't bad but it isn't great either. And I haven't been binging on sugar over the last couple of weeks but I have indulged in ice cream once and chocolate quite frequently, particularly over the last week.

Chocolate is only in the apartment because of Christmas. I bought some for Noo's Advent Calendar and for donating to our preschool's Christmas raffle prize pool. I refuse to accept responsibility - Christmas decorations and messages of Christmas merriment and cheer are EVERYWHERE and are entering my subconscious as a message to indulge.

It is lucky my mum has got on the quit sugar bandwagon because mum and I can be such bad enablers of each other's addiction at any time of the year. My mum has actually been amazing this time around on a diet. She's there where I was before my birthday: determined to resist all temptation despite Christmas. She has dropped several kilos and is feeling so much better in herself and in her clothes. I'm really proud of her.

But it is Christmas. 'Tis the season of let's get merry and eat. And eat. And eat.

My mum makes the best Christmas pudding, brandy butter and custard in the whole world. No really. Absolutely divine. And mince tarts? YUM! There's no way I can resist such deliciousness that only happens once a year.

Do I give in and enjoy Christmas for what it is and restart on 1 January with a whole stack of New Year's resolutions?

Or do I fight Christmas? Get back on the horse (reindeer?) and rejoin the battle to resist all sugary, chocolaty, festive scrumptiousness?

How do you handle Christmas? If you're on the quit sugar bandwagon are you going to stay there or join me on the Santa's Sugar Sleigh until New Year's Day?


V.






Friday, November 30, 2012

Fussy eaters: Confectionery confessions

I know I carry on about this a lot but it is the parenting issue that causes me the most distress: My almost four year old rascal Noo has no real interest in food. Fussy Eater should be his middle name!

Noo's tiny little 11 month old niece Mala, on the other hand, eats everything that is given to her and consumes twice the amount of food in a day than her older cousin does even though she does have real food issues.

Noo could, if he wanted to, eat anything. Mala on the other hand has serious food allergies to dairy, nuts, sesame seeds and eggs. Her current weight is also considered "off the chart" as far as what she should weigh for her age (according to those silly growth charts that cause a lot of parents mostly needless worry!).

My sister and her husband have always been careful about Mala's diet, not just in regards to the foods she is allergic too, but in limiting her sugar intake as well. Yo has always been vigilant with feeding times and patient, yet persistent when it come to the long, boring slog that feeding a little one can be.

Mala's parents have always fed their little girl the most delicious combos of mashed meat, veggies and grains, along with fresh fruit and soy and other non-dairy products suitable for kids her age. I am sure this why Mala has an awesome appetite!


YUM! I would eat this: Mala's lunch today.


When I picked Noo up from daycare last Thursday I noticed on the board outside the kitchen that the menu of the day included fish fingers, veggies and chips. I made a comment to the teacher standing by that he mustn't have eaten much that day. I made that assumption because I rarely see Noo eat vegetables. And fish fingers? Forget it.

The teacher went on to tell me that he ate everything off his plate, even the veggies with a little coaxing. I was gobsmacked, if a little sceptical... or maybe it was just defeat I felt.

Noo eats well at school but terribly with me.

I know I've discussed Noo's food issues in this blog several times over the years. I even admitted I felt responsible for his terrible eating habits when I wrote this post about my fussy eater and how I thought his consumption of sugar could possibly be to blame.

Confession time...


Noo has always been a terrible eater. From the moment he was born to this very day he has been a pain in the arse with food. As his mother, his only parent, I feel I am the one responsible for this and I have struggled with how to deal with it, especially considering my own sugar addiction.

Do you want to know my worst parenting secret?

On my mum's advice, I used condensed milk on Noo's dummy all his first year of life. There, I've said it. It was so effective in keeping him soothed and quiet I became addicted to it as much as Noo did. There was always a little pot of the sweet white syrup in the nappy bag along side the nappies and wipes.

My parents thought it was a completely normal practice to dip a dummy in condensed milk before popping it into an infant's mouth. They didn't do it to hurt their precious grandson and neither did I. We just wanted him to be happy... and soothed.

But think about that! (Actually, you probably don't have to think that hard to know that what we did was terrible.) Here was a baby that refused to attach to the breast, was bottle fed and also had a dummy dipped in condensed milk everyday, several times a day. Sugar was a dietary staple from the very beginning.

I know. Bad. Very bad. Go on. Judge me. I judge me! Call DOCS now. Actually, you better not, they have more serious cases of abuse to work on!

I knew in my heart it was wrong but it worked so well to keep him quiet and as I was living with my parents I went along with it. My parents are strong people and I can be heavily influenced by them. I cannot blame them though. I am the mother, I make the decisions and I should have put my foot down. That first year of Noo's life was so challenging. I just did what I thought worked. I couldn't look toward the future to see what the long term consequences might be. I was just surviving day to day.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Mala is a mere 11 months old and eats twice as much as Noo does now at nearly four years old. Her mother never caved to the pressure from mum and dad to give her baby condensed milk (and yes, they did suggest she do it!). As I said earlier, Mala is allergic to dairy foods so it is so lucky Yolanda stayed strong!


YUM! Home made beef and vegetable stew then watermelon for lunch.
She also had half an avocado and some baby crackers.
Oh and some boob to top up.


Now I believe Noo's taste buds have been ruined by sugar in his first year but still I allow him to eat lollies and chocolate. Even when I gave it up. I am so weak at saying no to him. Over Halloween we had heaps of the crap laying around the house. Although I never let him sit there and binge he pretty much has a couple of chocolate or lollies everyday. Add that to the BBQ sauce on fish fingers (which he ate for me earlier in the week!), the Nutella on toast, the fruit flavoured yoghurt squeezies... The sugar load adds up!

Below is a little collage I did a little a couple of weeks ago for a confessional post like this. It has just taken a while to write it!


Check out the sugar hidden in nearly every corner of the kitchen!


The other vice I let Noo indulge in is what my skinny little redhead calls a "Warm Chocolate". It is a hangover from the days when he used to suck on a warm bottle of milk more than a few times a day. "Hot Bo!", "Hot Bo!", Noo would call after putting the sofa cushions in position for him to lay back and suck back the warm and comforting liquid that became a meal replacement for a fussy, lazy eater.

When I was certain Noo's milk addiction was keeping him from eating properly I threw out every bottle and teat in the house. Not long after "Mama", Noo's dummy, was disposed of too. But then came along Warm Chocolate in a sippy cup.


Transformer the cat, Noo and his warm chocolate, Peekaboo the bird
and Marco the dog in bed earlier this week.


"Please, Mummy, can I have a warm chocolate?" 


Do you know how many times a day I hear this request? Ah, probably between 4 and 100 times! He goes straight into position on the couch (or in bed), cushion in just the right spot behind him so he can balance his Warm Chocolate, Transformer and the iPad all at once.

I'll admit there have been plenty of times I've let him feast on chocolate milk because I haven't had the time or energy to fight him to eat proper food. This is where I take responsibility but we are finally making some changes.


2013: the year we finally give up milk as a meal substitute


Just like with Hot Bo and Mumma, we are giving up Warm Chocolate.

Here is my plan of attack:

  1. Throw out all but two sippy cups until Noo's 4th birthday on 22 December when remaining two sippy cups will be chucked (I can't make the kid go cold turkey!).
  2. Cut out night time Warm Chocolates immediately (started this on Monday this week). 
  3. Give Noo an awesome mug he can call his own for his 4th birthday so he can sit up at the dining table and have a warm drink in the morning like a grown up.

I'm hoping by taking away the comfort of laying down to suck back sweetened milk will reduce the attraction of the Warm Chocolate. 

By not letting him have any warm drinks at night means he will feel more hungry and therefore more compelled to eat the food I provide for him.

I will also stop buying chocolates and lollies... after his birthday and Christmas.

Fingers crossed this works with as few battles as possible. I've just got to take responsibility and get this little kid eating for me.

Do you have a fussy eater? Any tactics you'd like to share on how to get fussy eaters to, well, EAT?


V.

Linking up with the ever awesome Grace from With Some Grace
to do a bit of floggin'




Saturday, November 3, 2012

Recipe: Harissa roasted veggies with chicken and brown rice

Lately I've been babbling a lot about the return of my cooking mojo (see here and here).  Rather than teasing you with just food photos on my Instagram feed, I thought I'd share with you some of my recipes of late. Some are original babblingbandit.me creations but some have been adapted from other sources.

This one has been adapted from Taste.com.au which is probably my most used recipe source. I also love the Fairfax Cuisine website. On Taste.com.au they call it Brown rice and harissa roasted vegetable salad. I have jazzed it up a bit and have christened it...

Harissa roasted veggies with chicken and brown rice


Harissa roast veggies with chicken and brown rice

What you need:


1 cup brown rice
1 medium zucchini
1 small eggplant
1 small red capsicum 
1 medium red onion
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon of harissa powder
500 grams organic minced chicken
1-2 tablespoon pine nuts
Juice of half a lemon
Store bought hummus 
Handful of chopped coriander and mint

What to do:


1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.

2. Add brown rice to a pot of boiling water (around 3-4 cups), return to boil then turn down to medium heat and boil gently for 30 minutes. Strain. 

3. Chop veggies into small pieces, keeping onion separate.

4. Mix 1 tbsp of the olive oil with the harissa in a large bowl.

5. Add chopped veggies excluding the onion to bowl of harissa paste. Stir ensuring all the vegetables are coated in paste. Spread veggie mix on a tray lined with baking paper. Bake for approximately 30 minutes stirring occasionally.

6. Meanwhile, add remaining olive oil to large frypan or wok and saute red onion on medium-low heat until onion has softened and gone translucent.

7. Add chicken mince to pan, stirring to break up chunks and mix together with onion.

8. While chicken is cooking, in a separate pan gently fry pine nuts to bring out the flavour. You can do this under the grill as long as you watch the nuts closely because they will burn easily. Also, probably not so easy if you've got your veggies still roasting away in the oven!

9. When chicken is cooked through stir cooked rice through the chicken and onion mix. Then combine roasted veggies to the mix, as well as the pine nuts. Season with salt and pepper.

10. Remove chicken, veggie and rice mix from the heat. Stir through freshly squeezed lemon juice.

11. Serve with a dollop of store bought hummus, chopped coriander and mint and with either lemon or fig wedges.

Serves 4

I made this for my dad and me during the week and dad loved it! It is seriously yum bowl food that is sugar free, low in fat and is packed with flavour.

And obviously you can make this without the chicken if you're having a meat free night.


V.



Wednesday, October 31, 2012

babblingbandit.me does Droptober: It was all about the food

One of the best things about registering for Droptober - Just lose 2kg has been the return of my cooking mojo (for pictures see here). When I came home from London five years ago I lost it. I wrote about it back in 2010 so this has clearly been a long term issue. My cooking mojo has come and gone since 2007 but mostly I have been a lazy eater. Especially this year.

Back when I was working the usual Monday to Friday I always spent half my afternoon (if not more) thinking about what I would cook in the evening for dinner. I looked for recipes online or in my many cookbooks and then I picked up anything I needed from the supermarket on the way home. Preparing and cooking food was a way to wind down after a big day at the office. I loved it.

Post my break down in 2007, as my interest in food waned my waistline expanded - weird, right? You'd think I should have lost weight if I didn't care about food any more. But I replaced my drug and alcohol addictions with chocolate, lollies and cake. I ate whatever was easiest: cheese and crackers for dinner, or pizza delivery or greesy Chinese takeaway or coffee and biscuits. Lots of high fat and sugar loaded, low nutrition food.

I tried Lite n Easy, Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers. None of them inspired me to feel any love for fresh fruit and veggies. I even discussed it with my old psychiatrist: Why don't I care about cooking and eating well when it used to be such a part of my daily routine? She thought I might have an association with the whole preparing/cooking/eating ritual with having a glass of wine or four. But I didn't think that was it. Before I lived in London, I never drank during the week and I was cooking most nights then. There had to be more to it.

Now most of my family are watching their weight in the lead up to summer. Even my parents have a plan to get back on the weight loss bandwagon starting from 1 November. Yolanda was trying to give our mum a pep talk the other day to get her psyched. Yo told mum all she had to do was the following, for just one month to see what happens:
  1. Quit all sugar
  2. Stop eating butter and cheese
  3. Eat red meat only once a week
  4. Walk every day
That shouldn't be too hard. Yo didn't say she had to count calories or write down what she ate and calculate points or go to the gym. But our mum, the retired chef, exclaimed: "I'll just have to lose interest in food!". Now that is a weird theory, for sure. It makes the assumption that if you want to lose weight you can only eat boring food not worth having an interest in. I know, and I bet you know, that is so not the truth!

Personally, I believe the opposite and participating in Droptober has helped me realise:

When I feel good and care about myself, when I 'heart my body' and want to treat it right, my love affair with cooking and eating good food is reignited. 
The colour and vibrancy, the smells, textures and tastes of fresh fruit and vegetables, meat and nuts, seeds and legumes and grains... become alive again!


How good does this look? YUM!



So here I am, on the evening of the last day of Droptober. As of this morning I am DOWN 3.5kg since the beginning of the month, far exceeding the Droptober goal of losing just 2kg but 2.5kg short of personal goal of 6kg.

But I have achieved a HUGE amount:


I have gone 40 DAYS without a single bit of chocolate

I have been (almost) sugar free for 40 days

My mood has been stable for the whole month (minus 48 hours last weekend)

My energy levels have been high

The headaches I've been suffering from for YEARS have completely disappeared

And, last but by no means least, I have raised $330 (as of this evening)
for the Droptober charities Variety - The Children's Charity and Kid's for Life.


How good is all that!

Rather than singing yeehah and gorging on the nearest bit of chocolate I'm on to the next challenge: Sarah Wilson's "I quit sugar pre-Christmas program" and the BB sugar experiment continues. Plenty more on that to come.


V.






Tuesday, October 23, 2012

babblingbandit.me does Droptober: 8 days to go

I just cannot believe it is the 23rd of Droptober already! Where have the last 22 days gone?

There were four days in Melbourne for the ProBlogger Training Event 2012. We also had my mum's birthday lunch on the first Saturday of the month. Um... what else? Looking after Miss Mala Moo, my beautiful niece. Several dates. Playing with Noo. The odd spot of blogging...

It catches up alright! 

Now there are only eight days left until Droptober is over. I'm feeling the pressure to drop this weight in time. I started off really well and between when I registered on 24 September through to one week into the month, I was down 2.4kg. Awesome start! I've had two training sessions with the lovely Mike Jarosky and I've done as much incidental exercise as I possibly can. 

My eating has been better than it has been in a very long time: I'm 29 days chocolate free and, except for a few minor slips, I've been completely sugar free. I've continued to eat fruit but only around two pieces a day. I've pretty much stuck to three meals a day with either a piece of fruit or a handful of raw nuts for a snack.


Some of the yummy whole food I've eaten during Droptober - Just lose 2kg!


Despite all this exemplary behaviour I haven't lost any more since that first weigh in. Yo, my sister, keeps telling me I look good and should stop weighing myself. But when the numbers on the scale go down it gives me motivation! I thrive off watching those digits get smaller and smaller. But they're not helping me while they hover around the same place.

Why are they torturing me? Why aren't I losing this weight? 

You know, I don't think I'd feel bad about the numbers on the scale if it wasn't for the pressure of Droptober and the want to lose weight as promised to my sponsors (don't forget it isn't too late to sponsor me too! It is all for charity!). But on the other hand, if it wasn't for Droptober I wouldn't have this rock solid commitment to keep pushing past what I see on the scales to keep up the good eating and exercise.

So with just over a week left I am reinforcing my commitment to change by undertaking a three day juice detox. Yolanda and her husband are in it with me which helps enormously. We're living on mostly veggie juice for three days with only one light meal a day. Fingers crossed this is the kick start my body needs to start dropping the kegs again.

Wish me luck! 

How do you stay motivated when trying to lose weight?


V.

Linking up with Jess for #IBOT


Sunday, October 7, 2012

babblingbandit.me does Droptober: Week 1 round up

If you follow babblingbandit.me on Twitter or Facebook or you've read this post about my failed attempts at losing weight in 2012 or you've read this post about me finally getting inspired, you will know that I'm currently undertaking Droptober - Just Lose 2kg.




And guess what?

It is working!

I had a sneaky jump on the scales on Friday (even though I usually only weigh in on Mondays) and discovered I'm down 2.5kg since last Monday 24 September. How awesome is that! I'm finally back on the weight loss bandwagon!

All I've done is cut out sugar, cheese and reduced my serving sizes. I've become more conscious about incidental exercise so have taken all the physical options: take the stairs instead of the lift, walk instead of the car, that type of thing.

The next step is to raise the intensity.

On Friday I did my first training session with Mike Jarosky, the founder of Droptober. It was awesome. Hard and a bit nerve racking at first, but still awesome. I hadn't done a proper workout since about March and was a bit worried about my lack of form. It didn't take long until we were right into the session. Mike pushed me just hard enough. He wasn't scary or intimidating like some trainers I've had in the past. And he explained and demonstrated each exercise clearly and helped me when I needed it.

The session went like this:

2 minutes uphill walking
15 back pulls
15 swiss ball squats
15 push ups
20 second plank
15 curl-press
10 step ups each Side
500 metres on the bike

After going through this circuit three times we walked back in the direction of my place and hit the steep steps from Hickson Road to Kent Street. Dead Man Steps they should be called. First time we went up, I thought I actually might pass out. When I was told I had to do it again straight away, I nearly fell over. But I did it. And it felt great.


Very flushed exercise glow after first intensive workout

Food is another area that has improved hugely since signing up for Droptober. I'm becoming more interested in healthy food again, with cooking and being active in making healthy food choices. I'm becoming more present to my body sensations so I'm only eating when I'm actually hungry, not snacking constantly through the day on shit.


My warm veggie, tuna and farro salad


My brother's prawn and salad Vietnamese summer rolls


Seven days into Droptober and I'm kicking goals. The weight is coming off and I'm feeling great.

I'm very pumped for what next week has in store. It will be a challenging week full of temptation as I'm heading to Melbourne for the ProBlogger Conference which I'm very excited about. More on that soon!


V.


Disclaimer: This isn't a paid sponsored post, although Mike Jarosky has generously given me his time to train me for one hour. All opinions are my own, as always.









Sunday, August 19, 2012

Fussy eaters: We need to quit sugar

Noo is one of the fussiest eaters I know. I've heard some shocking stories about other kids too, like the one that subsists on nothing but fruit toast and then there's another kid I heard about the other day that will only eat canned spaghetti. Breakfast. Lunch. And dinner.

Then there are the kids that eat everything. I am so frigging jealous of those kids' mums. We know one little boy who will snack on cucumber at the park while other kids have muesli bars and other junk. Another baby I know eats cold grilled mushrooms. Without being force fed! I'm for real here! I seriously shit you not. Even my eight month old niece, Mala, eats more than Noo does on a daily basis. Noo is three and eight months!

Noo has been a fussy eater since the day he was born. After he eventually evacuated my body after a 39 hour labour, he refused to attach and I had to be hand expressed by a midwife. We were in hospital over Christmas for about six days and he left there 370 grams under his birth weight. For seven long weeks I tried to get that bub to attach but it was no use. I double pumped to express what I could for him but he still wasn't gaining enough. It was terrifying.

I eventually had to put him on formula just to make sure he was eating enough and by the 8th week he finally started to gain some weight. It was slow. And he is no different now. Noo is indifferent to eating. He only likes a few kinds of food. He'll eat most things laden with sugar (chocolates, lollies, cake frosting, ice cream) like most kids. But he also loves sushi. Strange, but true. He absolutely loves those little cooked tuna rolls with soy sauce and pickled ginger. Seriously! And wait for it. His favourite bit is the seaweed on the outside. WTF? I don't even really like the 'black bit', as Noo calls it.

Usually Noo's best meal of the day is breakfast. Most days his grandmother or I can get him to eat a bowl of warm oats with honey. But when he is sick, like he has been for the last week, he just doesn't eat at all. Even chocolate doesn't interest him. He can lose a couple of kilos every time he gets a cold. The weird thing though he is always full of energy and always has a smile on his gob (except when I try to take his picture!).

Check out what we had for breakfast today...

BB_Breakfast
Click on the picture to see it better

For Noo I served dry Nutrigrain which he seems to like at the moment but didn't touch this morning. It was on sale at Aldi so I thought I'd give it a go. It is so sweet I really expected Noo to like it. He drank all his freshly squeezed juice and drained the yogurt squeezie. This I was happy with. Only a couple of strawberries were eaten but he sucked back that antibotics and he has no trouble eating the vitamin chews.

I ended up eating the fresh fruit, washed down with black coffee accompanied by the multitude of tablets I take every day.

Everything on that tray, bar my meds, has been sweetened. Since I first started reading Sarah Wilson's "I quit sugar" a couple of weeks ago, I have been really aware of the fact that Noo and I eat Too. Much. Sugar.

Could too much sugar be making my son a fussy eater?


Tomorrow Noo (although he doesn't really realise it yet) and I are starting Sarah's eight week program to see if we can turn this fussy eating around. Noo and I will spend the next week reducing our sugar intake. I plan to make this experiment a blog series. I've already been doing a stack of research on the whole sugar controversy. And yes, it is controversial because there are so many differing opinions out there about just how bad sugar is to us. And not just sugar. The different kinds of sugar. Its a bloody minefield out there!

I'm nervous about it. Shitting myself actually. Scared about how to deal with Noo and scared about letting go of my one last vice. I am not going to kid myself that this will be easy, or even possible. I couldn't even complete a bet with my mum and sister recently that I could go a whole month without chocolate.

But I'm will to give it a go. It can't hurt. It would be amazing if I could get Noo to eat better and if I could get back on my weight loss journey. I've got 10-15 kegs to go! More on that next time...

Have you quit sugar before? Or do you have a fussy eater? Any tips?

V.