Week 12 – some healthy eating (and the odd biccie!)

DSCN0839I think last week I was still scarred by the custard cream spread incident (a reminder of my shame here), and I didn’t find it difficult to stick to a week of deliciously healthy menus. Taking advantage of the weather, which had turned cold again, I ate stews, soups and jacket sweet potatoes, plus my usual stirfry.

I served my venison stew with big old suet dumplings earlier in the week, and although I made the dumplings in exactly the same way as always, they were especially delicious. Lightly and flavourful, I couldn’t resist having two with my stew … and frankly I felt positively restrained as Andrew managed to hoover down three of them!

DSCN0838I made my favourite leek and potato soup for lunches this week, which was so warming and comforting in the office. I kept looking out of the window at the grey sky (and the sky really outdid itself on eclipse day on Friday where I saw precisely nothing of the sun!) and feeling chilly, so the soup was a good antidote.

I have re-discovered sweet potatoes as well. Andrew hates them (and any sweet vegetable such as butternut squash and parsnips, although he can tolerate carrots and swede), so I don’t usually have them. I bought a few this week and had one as a jacket potato, and another cubed with rosemary and olive oil thanks to this lovely recipe by Sarah Mira.

For the coming week I have no plans for socialising, so intend to have porridge for breakfast and jacket sweet potato with roasted veggies for lunch. Dinners should be as follows:

  • Tonight – pork buns by Jamie Oliver for my latest Cookbook Challenge
  • Monday – chicken and pearl barley stew
  • Tuesday – leftovers from tonight as this is a big bit of pork belly – I might make it into some kind of Vietnamese pork noodle broth
  • Wednesday – ox cheek stew
  • Thursday – smoked sausages with lentils
  • Friday – prawn and tomato pasta (I’ll be making courgette ‘pasta’ to have with mine, as it’s fabulous!
  • Saturday – steamed steak and kidney pudding

Do you have any nice meals planned for this week, and do you have any tips for cooking with my new favourite sweet potato?

And don’t worry about me suddenly becoming all healthy and virtuous – I cooked up a batch of these bad boys (oaty shortbread) and ate five in quick succession – whoops!

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2 Replies to “Week 12 – some healthy eating (and the odd biccie!)”

  1. I love sweet potato in a curry, there’s something about the way the sweetness offsets the pungent spices and heat that just works for me. I made something slightly similar to this (http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1555/chicken-sweet-potato-and-coconut-curry) last week, and chucked in some frozen spinach for added health points. The pork buns you’re doing for this eve sound amazing – let us know what they’re like please!

    1. Thanks Amy, and for sharing the recipe. I haven’t been able to sneak sweet potato into Andrew’s meals but that sounds gorgeous – might have to do one just for me :). Pork buns were really good – I’ll post up the recipe asap. I am full up now though!

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