Setting the scene

How snug are your jeans – this is the burning question.

The jeans – or a similar favourite piece of clothing - are the key. There's no need to bother with scales – an inanimate piece of intimidation – that sounds so weird – how can a pair of scales intimidate?

If “BC” (before Christmas) you were happy with your eating habits then it's just a matter of reverting to your previous routine. However, the brain plays tricks – very quickly we get used to all that rubbish i.e. sugar and fat and we like it. It's all the more difficult therefore to get a grip.

Have you done the dirty deed as suggested in Coming next … tweak week! And written down what you've consumed in the last week? When you read it did you think “ouch – did I really consume all that?”. I promise you that no-one can hear you so an expletive or two is permitted under the circumstances.

There ain't no magic to this – try and eat three meals a day – if you can't or you know that you're going to struggle because you've got to drive three hours for a meeting or you've got to take your child to an appointment slap bang in the middle of the day then plan for it. There are products out there that will do the job or, if you prefer and have the time to make a lunch-box either for yourself to pop into the car or for yourself and your child – make it an adventure and you get to share – it ain't rocket science, it just needs a little thought, planning and prep.

If you need any encouragement then remember you're going to be sensible for 4½ days!

A few preliminaries :

Think about your daily routine – are you :

home based

office based, commuting daily

in the car for long periods

and a few questions :

Do you eat breakfast

Do you take a lunch-break at a regular time

Do you get hunger pangs at the same time

every day – commonly referred to as a “snack attack”

That should keep you pondering for a while!

Lets begin …

Spend time choosing a breakfast, a lunch and an evening meal that fits in with your working day. Your choices need to be practical to suit you – it's no good choosing scrambled egg on a piece of toast for breakfast if you know you have to drive to the station to catch a train and are not good at getting up in any event – you'll be heading for the nearest fast food outlet before you can say “chocolate bar”.

By the same token some of us can't face eating breakfast at 6am in a hurry – then don't – choose a portable option that you can eat on the bus or train or when you arrive at the office. If you have to drive a distance then sorry – get up a little earlier so that you can eat before you leave home.

Breakfasts :

Home based

If you're at home then the world is your lobster! If you like a cooked breakfast and have the time, try good old fashioned baked beans on a thin slice of wholemeal toast – quick and easy.

You can tweak and create the “full English” by using Quorn based products like bacon or sausage, scrambled egg, mushrooms cooked in stock and grilled tomatoes.

If porridge is your bag and you make your own with either skimmed milk or water then great – if you don't like the faff check out Perkier as mentioned previously – they make porridge in conveniently sized pots, just add water.

If it's cereals that you love, Shredded Wheat or Bran Flakes are the most nutritious – try shredded wheat with warm milk and a sprinkle of sugar substitute.

Fresh fruit and plain yogurt is fab – sprinkle with Bran Flakes.

Office based – commuting

Probably the most awkward to cater for – limited space on public transport, be it bus or train. If you need or prefer to eat en route then a bar like Perkier or Trek is probably the best option. Add a piece of fruit – the banana being the original fast food cos it comes in its own wrapping.

At the office the instant porridge pot is a strong contender.

If you are a devotee of the “continental” breakfast you could make a sandwich using thin sliced wholemeal bread – cut off the crusts if you are feeling really committed. Fill this sandwich with Quorn wafer thin ham or chicken slices – no butter or spread – substitute with a trace of Branston sauce or HP or Dijon mustard or, if you're in the “love it” gang – yeast extract!

If you love fruit and grapefruit in particular, you can buy segments in juice – not syrup – ready to eat so no fuss and performance. Easily transportable in small pots.

Ditto the fresh fruit and yogurt sprinkled with Bran Flakes – note to self – keep the flakes bagged separately otherwise they'll be very soggy by the time you get to the office – yuk!

Coming next …tweak week!

I'm going to give you my two pennyworth as to how you can “tweak” and its got nothing to do with limp celery sticks and ships biscuits – in truth I have absolutely no idea what a ships biscuit tastes like but it don't sound too appealing!

The trouble with January is that it's winter-time and so with that season you want comfort and warmth – do not despair, it just takes a little planning.

The aim will be to get back into sync – you've just spent so much time food shopping for the festivities that “normal” has long since disappeared into the ether.

Part of your tweak has to be an inspection of your food cupboards. If you have treats leftover from the holidays either freeze them if possible or bite the bullet and give them away. New broom sweeps clean and all that!

So, as well as back to the saving time, money and effort mantra, you'll reduce your waistline at the same time.

Here's a small task – if you've a mind to – write down what you eat and drink for a week – be truthful and keep your notes. You may want to compare with your new regimen.

The idea then is that if you are strict for 4½ days you can relax a little at the weekend and may be have a treat or two – not to be confused with consuming vast quantities of alcohol or chocolate or whatever your Achilles' heel might be.

It won't be as difficult as you think!

The “T” word

Have you noticed how things have changed. For years from Boxing Day onwards virtually every advert on the television was for holidays. I know they haven't disappeared altogether but they seem to have been overtaken by adverts promoting a particular answer to weight loss.

The fashion these days is you spend a small mortgage on having pre-prepared “healthy” “well-balanced” meals – aka ready-meals – delivered a month at a time. 'Tis your prerogative of course and I'm all for convenience during the working week but would venture to suggest that whilst they may be “healthy” and “well-balanced” I think you might find that the tiny portion size might have something to do with it!

If you've been celebrating New Year with friends and family how many times were you asked about any resolutions you were going to make? If by some chance you are contemplating changes regarding the way you eat then I'd like to make a couple of suggestions.

If you do want to change the way you eat, make the resolution privately, to yourself. That way you'll immediately do away with any outside pressures - “how much have your lost this week?” - “oh, I've lost xlbs – i.e. more than you have”. It becomes competitive and adds pressure and you'll be heading for the hidden chocolate bars/biscuits by the end of the first week in January.

So I'm suggesting that you “tweak” what you consume – hence the “T” word. In other words make adjustments to what you eat. I know that you aren't going to like this but if your ultimate aim is to get onto an even keel, then exercise – i.e. doing some form of – will make a huge difference – adjustments alone won't cut it!

It's a bit like the tortoise and the hare …... slow and steady wins the race!

Festive Feedback

Remember what I said in “Pause for thought ...” about ringing the changes and doing something different – i.e. chips with everything. I am happy to report that it worked like a charm.

Of course I took with me a couple of surprises, one savoury, one sweet. Bullseye on both.

The savoury extra was pulled chicken – conveniently boxed and frozen in small foil containers. This is the recipe mentioned in Madness III – tee hee! One box out to defrost and one stashed in my Sister's freezer. Fast forward to Christmas night – peckish – one slider filled with chicken, can't remember what else went with it but I do know that it vanished at the speed of light.

Now for the sweet surprise. This is not my recipe, it comes from the Waitrose Magazine September 2015 – The Sweet Spot - Pizookie – pizza-cookie. It's absolutely true what they say - “utterly addictive”. I know that you can get the recipe on line because I forwarded it to a friend on Boxing Day – give it a go, it really is a show-stopper - find the recipe here. One or two minor points that aren't mentioned in the recipe from the magazine. It's 160 fan – I left my pizookie in for 30 minutes and it was still squidgy inside. I have also frozen it. Defrost when you are ready to use – you can re-heat the whole pizookie in a warm oven for 10 minutes or you could portion and zap on medium for 20 seconds in the microwave – serve with or without ice cream but you'll definitely need spoons.

“... I've just eaten my bodyweight in amazing goodies!....pulled chicken is amazing”.

“... The pizookie tastes fantastic and the pulled chicken is incredible...”

Not traditional festive fare I agree but it's great to serve food that is a little outside the box and just as much of a treat – all the more so for the cook when you can make ahead and freeze – no effort at all.

Courage mon brave! Or – be brave my friend.

P.s. A message received on Christmas Day

“ … Thank you for my HEAVENLY nut roast! Sheer bliss on a plate – an amazing Christmas dinner!”

Who'd have thought it!

Santa came early for me this year - my Editor and IT consultant, aka my nephew Lucas, bought me a website www.miammiamcookery.com – so much easier – it will take you straight to the blog. The best present!

Way back in the year, in the post By the way I mentioned chatting to Bernie Keith (bernie.keith@bbc.co.uk) on his BBC Radio Northampton morning show. In early December I received an invitation from the lovely Sarah, his Producer, to Bernie's outside broadcast from his home on 23^rd December to do a food demo in his kitchen during the show. Mad woman I hear you splutter – and you'd be right!

To cut a long story short I decided to make, among other things, tuna pastries (see Summer Holidays) and White Christmas (see Crossword Clue) for the sweet hit. The pastries are quick, easy and tasty and make a great canapé. The White Christmas is, you may recall in feedback from the taste testing - “...better than Rocky Road!” Good choice I thought.

Off I went on my merry way with my comforter – the satnav!

It was the best morning. I've cooked in confined spaces, surrounded by people, many times before but this experience took it to a whole new level. You must have heard the expression “vertically challenged” - a suitable description of myself – for once being so challenged came into its own – duckin' and divin' with trays of tuna pastries and trying hard not to injure guests when trying to open the oven door! The guests were kind and the recipe for the tuna pastries requested – they all disappeared.

A lady guest spotted the huge bowl of white chocolate melting on the hob and “was intrigued”. When the time came to assemble I tapped her (politely of course) on the shoulder and asked if she would like to see the end result. I tipped the remaining ingredients into the melted chocolate – “it's difficult to believe all those ingredients will disappear into the chocolate”. I can confirm that they did. I was then able to utter those immortal words, “... and here's one I made earlier!” offering the sweet treat to the guests from boxes that were ready to eat – depositing the one just made into Bernie's fridge to set. Went down a storm, even though I say so myself!

It was such fun and great to put faces to names that I've been listening to for ages - thanks for the invitation Bernie (and Sarah of course).

P.s. The following morning en route to Derbyshire, listening to Bernie. before we were out of range, I'm delighted to report that he'd found the tray of White Christmas in his fridge - the remaining boxes he'd taken into the Station and sampled whilst on air – he liked it!

What a way to start the holidays!

A pat on the back!

Over the last couple of weeks you've taken multi-tasking to a whole new level – you never knew it was possible to keep so many balls in the air!

Now is the time to regain your sanity and, after all that rich food and perhaps a little over indulgence, you might fancy a smidgen of spice.

The only trouble is that you can never predict when the fancy may take you – unless of course you can predict the future – in which case you'll be collecting your lottery win!

Furthermore, if you make a curry sauce from scratch you need all manner of fresh ingredients - some of which are not always easy to get hold of if you live in the sticks - and it takes forever to make.

Here's my answer – and I'm not going to apologise to the purists out there – this recipe is fast – the curry sauce base takes no time at all and for the most part you'll have the ingredients in your pantry. I concede that you may need to invest in a jar of Kecap manis (sweet soy sauce) and if you can't get hold of star anise powder then use one whole spice.

Give it a go :

Curry sauce base

1 medium onion, finely diced

glug of vegetable oil

2 cloves of garlic, crushed or 1 tsp of garlic paste

2 tsps mild curry powder

1 tsp star anise powder or one star anise

*3 tsps of of dark soft brown sugar

*1 tbsp Kecap manis

*1 tbsp dark soy sauce

*1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

*1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

160ml coconut cream

350g bag of prawns, defrosted

500g Charlotte (or similar) potatoes, cooked, peeled

and diced

2 handfuls of petit pois, defrosted

Fresh chopped coriander - optional

Mango chutney – optional

Serves 4

Mix together in a small bowl or jug all the ingredients marked *.

Soften the onion and garlic in a glug of vegetable oil, in a large frying pan. Add the curry powder and star anise and cook the spices on a medium heat so that they release their flavour – 2/3 minutes.

Add the mixed ingredients and then the coconut cream and simmer for another 2/3 minutes. Your sauce is ready to use whenever you are.

I added the prawns, potatoes and petit pois – served it in bowls with spoons – add a sprinkle of chopped coriander if you have it – it's not compulsory. I love mango chutney and finished my bowl with a large blob!

This sauce is really kind – you could keep it vegetarian by adding whatever veggies you have to hand or add cooked chicken. It's not a “blow your head off” curry sauce – serve it with rice or noodles or garlic bread if you don't want to include the potatoes. I can tell you it ticked all the boxes for me!

Since my next missive will be on 3^rd January I'd like to close by wishing you a happy & healthy New Year. Thank you for your support and I hope you'll stay with me in 2016.

Happy New Year! xxx