Day 6 (28th Jan)

Another day in which I skip a meal and end up hungry. I even had soup sitting in the fridge, ready to eat, so I don't understand myself.

Breakfast:
Honey nut cornflakes with milk
Orange juice
clementine

Cherry coke zero

Dinner:
Tacos (mince, taco shells, salad and cheese)
Orange juice
mango and passionfruit yoghurt

Snacks:
clementine
3 pieces of dark chocolate orange

days 4 and 5

Day 4 brunch:

2x crumpets with butter
blueberries
orange juice
tea with milk

dinner (chinese meal out):

salt and pepper and chili smoked chicken
chicken gyoza dumplings
wonton soup
beef crispy noodles with vegetables
sweet and sour pork
boiled rice

green tea
water

Day 5 brunch:

2x crumpets with nutella
tea with milk

cherry coke zero x2

dinner: 

tacos (hard shell) with mince, cheese, salad (tomato, onion, red pepper, lettuce, pea shoots)
cherry coke zero
low fat peach yoghurt

2x twix fingers =(
clementine

Day 3

breakfast:

toast with peanut butter and nutella (carbs and protein)
grapes (fruit)
orange juice (fruit)
tea with milk

lunch:

cottage cheese and lettuce sandwich (carbs, protein, veg)
tomatoes (veg)
blueberries (fruit)
birthday cake (carbs)
trail mix
coke cherry zero

dinner:

Baked potato with cottage cheese, tomatoes and pea shoots (carbs, protein and veg)
orange juice x2
a twix single finger (carbs)

Day 2 (Tuesday 24th January)

Breakfast:
Coffee with milk and sugar
honey nut cornflakes with milk (carbs and protein)
handful blueberries (fruit)
Orange juice (fruit)

Lunch:

'Bruschetta' with wild garlic pesto, onion, tomato, red pepper, lettuce, pea shoots and cottage cheese (carbs, protein and veg x2)
carrot sticks (veg)
coke cherry zero

(yoghurt pictured but I ended up not eating it as I was full. Should have only done one slice of bruschetta rather than two)

Snacks:
clementine (fruit)

Dinner (out at a friends'):
Home-made toad-in-the-hole (carbs and protein) with brocoli and carrots (veg and repeat veg) and haggis (protein)
slice birthday cake (carbs)
water
tea with milk

total day fruit and veg unique: 7 plus 1 repeat

inspired by 100 days I'm going to start food tracking again

probably for like, 3 days tops.

Monday 23rd Jan:

Breakfast:
Pain au chocolat (carbs and fat) + handful grapes (fruit)
Lychee juice (fruit but also a lot of sugar..)

Lunch:

Bread x2 (carbs), cottage cheese (protein), pea shoots, lettuce, carrots and baby plum tomatoes (veggies x3), dressing (oils), mixed pine nuts and pumpkin seeds (protein?)
Lychee juice (repeat fruit)

Snacks:
way too many chocolate biscuits (carbs and fat)
grapes (repeat fruit)
trail mix (nuts and seeds - protein + dried fruit)
blueberries (fruit)
coke zero cherry x2

Dinner:

Salmon in lime and coriander (protein)
paprika home-made oven-cooked chips (carbs + oils)
roasted red pepper and carrot (veg and repeat veg)
lettuce and tomatoes (repeat veg)
clementine (fruit)

total day:
protein x3
carbs x4
fruit and veg x8 unique plus x5 repeats
oils x2

Stir fried veg in black bean sauce

When I was at uni this was my standard takeaway option. As it's a vegetarian dish, it ended up being cheaper than alternatives, which left some money for me to order soup and rice too. When I first discovered the joy of Asian supermarkets, I bought a pack of fermented black beans and followed a recipe to the letter. It resulted in a rather bitter but delicious version of the takeaway meal I was used to. Over the years since, I've gotten lazier with my cooking and still have a tight budget, so this version is cheaper, quicker and a lot less authentic, but none-the-less tasty.

Mixed Vegetables

use a selection of veg that you have to hand. Tonight I used:
1/2 broccoli head chopped into sections
couple tablespoons peas
few cherry tomatoes, halved
1 head pak choi leaves with greens separated from whites
greens of 3 spring onions, sliced

Black Bean Sauce

2 tablespoons fermented black beans, soaked in boiling water for 20 mins then drained
2 cloves garlic, diced
whites of spring onions, sliced
large dash sesame oil
large dash dark soy sauce
small dash chili oil
small dash oyster sauce
sprinkle of ground ginger (or fresh diced)
sugar to taste
splash of white wine (optional - I had some leftover. Chinese rice wine is better if you make Chinese food enough to justify the purchase!)
sprinkle of sieved cornflour

Sesame oil and water to cook
Rice to serve

Method

After draining the beans, mush them up with the back of a spoon.
Mix in the other ingredients, adding sugar to take off the bitterness, to your taste.
cook the rice.
when rice is nearly done, heat sesame oil in a wok and add the broccoli and whites of the pak choi. (If you are using different veg, then this is where 'longer to cook' things go, like carrots, white cabbage, pepper etc). Add a little water and stir fry for a few minutes until the veg starts to soften.
Add the other veg and the sauce, and stir fry for a couple more minutes until everything is heated through.
Serve spooned over the rice.

Tuna burgers with paprika chips

Originally written 3rd January 2016

Necessity is the mother of all inventions. Certainly the case when I'm looking at an empty fridge wondering what the hell I want to eat and trying really hard not to cave into takeaway. These oven chips are my go-to use of lingering potatoes, and really easy. You can pop them in the oven with a timer and pretty much forget about them. The burgers were an experiment.

Tuna burgers:

Tin of tuna
1/2 small onion (spring onions would work well here but I didn't have any)
handful black olives
hot sauce
paprika
salt
chili powder
black pepper
2 garlic cloves
egg

Chips:

potatoes (skins on)
olive oil
paprika
salt
pepper
chili powder

chop the potatoes into chip shapes, leaving the skins on. Put them into a bowl along with the seasonings and mix well. Lay out on an oven tray and put in oven at gas 6 for 40ish mins.
Use the same bowl, with the remains of the seasoning mix, to make the burger mix. Chop the onion, garlic and olives finely and add to the bowl with the tuna and seasonings. Mix well. Lightly beat the egg and then add to the mix. Shape mix into patties and fry lightly a few minutes each side in olive oil.
serve with salad or other side.