Day 31

Saturday, and instead of a lie in I got up at 7:30am to drive to a park in Buckinghamshire so OH can do a Park Run. My reward was a latte from the cabin shoppee, which was actually very good, and paying £2.50 for less than hour of parking!

Did get to have a late breakfast in Windsor before strolling round town. Much has changed since I was last there.

Free lunch of lamb dosas, coleslaw and feta cheese – as they were left over in the fridge.

Had way too much for dinner. Made chicken balti, spiced cauliflower and saag paneer. Tummy hugely bloated – shouldn’t have gone back for seconds. Pweeep!

Day 30

Started day with best breakfast ever! Folded omelette with fresh tomato, peppers and crumbled boerwors 🙂

Had an egg muffin as a mid-morning snack – these were definitely worth the effort to have grab-and-go good food. Not normally a snacker, but trying to make sure I eat plenty and besides, these are really yummy. Health is important to me, but enjoying delicious food ranks higher in my list of priorities.

Much of the stuff on my ‘no-go’ list are actually things I never particularly enjoyed; like cheap cakes and bread stuff. Not to say I don’t enjoy a bit of cake, but it has to be good stuff and not just filled with bicarb and overly sweet. I do still get a fancy for pizza now and then, but if I think of the supermarket oven ready ones it turns my stomach.

Snuck in a coconut macaroon with my afternoon espresso – well, it is Friday.

Quite a lot of plantain chips with dip before dinner, oops. Nice, tasty pork larb with stir fried Chinese leaf cabbage and a couple of glasses of cava. Time for bed… zzzzzzzzzzz

Day 29

Positive day at work, which is nice. Couldn’t resist a chocolate dipped paleo macaroon with my morning cuppa 🙂

Some new lunch boxes I ordered arrived last night; annoyingly they’re smaller than I expected. Reviews said you can fit a generous sized lunch in – I don’t know what their idea of ‘generous’ is but it would barely take half my lunch salad. Tempted to return them, but might just keep for breakie on the go, or afternoon snacks, as they’re sooo cute

Smoked mackerel with eggs is fast becoming my favourite lunch, especially with Swedish mustard dressing. Lush and pretty darn healthy too.

Experimental dinner tonight; little meatballs made from boerwors in tomato sauce, w/roast butternut, broccoli and gem squash to help clear the fridge. Veg boxes arrive tomorrow and we still have way too much left 🙁

Day 28

Another long drive this morning. Thankfully schools haven’t gone back yet, but does mean I’ll have to leave a lot earlier next week. Even after cooking up a storm at the weekend, the fridge is still crammed with veggies. Think it’s due to us having a couple of meals out over the bank holiday, but does mean I have to start upping the veg content of all our meals.

Lunch will have made a good dent in the stash – roast butternut squash, coleslaw, tomatoes, broad beans and peas, and braai chicken.

Trying to be a bit more domesticated so have scheduled a few cleaning tasks to get done in the evenings. Feel much more relaxed in a clean, tidy home. Tonight I will be mostly emptying the fridge and stock taking.

Dinner was a cottage pie, topped with shredded sweet potato and accompanied by sautéed red cabbage and green beans. A rather yummy (paleo) coconut macaroon for dessert too – I’m so spoilt 🙂

Day 27

Rather nice egg muffin with chorizo, pepper and onion for breakie, with fruit and yogurt. Did not want to get up – bank holiday weekends always do this to me. Just when I get used to not having to get up, POOF! time for work again.

Hot shower helped wake me up (thanks to hubby for fitting that over the weekend) but still hit the coffee bar before 10am looking for a caffeine fix.

Fortunately I put in the extra effort yesterday and had a yummy lunch to look forward to; roast butternut, feta, peppers and toasted pinenut salad, with a boerwors garnish 🙂 Colourful food always makes my day better – well, sometimes only my lunch ‘hour’ but still better than nothing.

Returned home to a stack of dishes, but tried to be disciplined and house proud and cleared the lot before turning on the TV. Kept dinner to 1 pan so I didn’t mess up my nice tidy kitchen; just some steamed veggies with cold, lamb and sweet potato koftas. Simples 🙂

Day 26

OH went for a morning run again, so again I overslept. Popped out to have a late brunch at Café Rouge and pick up a few more bits from Waitrose and Tesco. Lovely and sunny so got things ready for a braai; green bean and feta salad and a coleslaw. While I was in the kitchen I thought it best to crack on with prep for the week ahead. As well as the huge tub of coleslaw, I now have a whole pack of hard boiled eggs (peeled), a dozen egg muffins, lamb and sweet potato meatballs and a weeks’ worth of chopped fruit salad, AND made packed lunches for work tomorrow. Should make things a little easier. Still not managed a run.

Day 25

OH went for a run in the morning so I overslept. No serious side effects from the bread yesterday.

Had sticky chicken drumsticks and some more pork, beef and chorizo burgers with roast butternut squash wedges for dinner.

Adding this retrospectively as I’ve not been able to post for a couple of days. Worryingly I actually can’t recall much more about Sunday.

Day 24

Long lie in and OH actually didn’t go for a run in the morning. Quick brunch of coffees and egg muffins before hitting the farm shop for a few long-weekend braai provisions, and a lot of mince. Spent my afternoon culling 7 years’ worth of food magazines – actually quite an emotional job.

Left lunch a bit late so went to a local pub for a drink and some seafood. Had a few bits of bread too so will see how that goes….

Beef, pork and chorizo burgers for dinner. Just wrapped in lettuce and no sides as couldn’t be bothered.

Day 23

Good start – working from home so got to wake up late and enjoy a coffee in bed and chorizo, pepper and egg muffins mid-morning. Should have used the opportunity to have a hot, cooked lunch but actually quite warm so stuck with herring rollmops and raw veg salad. Tried to enjoy al fresco, but scuppered by a bloody wasp!

Lamb curry with a side of spiced cauliflower, and more gooseberry fool for dinner 🙂