… and another thing

Remember the suggestion sprinkling bran flakes on top of fruit and yogurt for breakfast – I thought you might be interested to know that you can get spelt flakes too. They are expensive - £3.86 for 375g but I suppose you're not using a large amount per breakfast so you might consider it worthwhile.

“Doves Farm” make a healthy range of flapjacks – useful for “on the go” and stashing in the car/about your person for emergency purposes - gluten free too.

I know I've mentioned “Mrs. Crimble” products previously but – did you know there is a range of gluten free snacks – both sweet and savoury.

“Nairn's” make a whole range of products but they are probably most famous for their oatcakes. They also produce gluten free cheese oatcakes. If you get fed up with rice cakes and feel like a change these little gems are well worth keeping in your pantry/emergency/on the go stash. You get 3 packets of oatcakes, each containing 5, per box. It's true that gluten free products are more expensive but this is one I believe is worth it.

My final snack tip (for the moment) I found in Home Bargains, one of the cheaper “bargain” stores if you get my drift. Rice Thins are made by Rice snax. Suitable for vegetarians and gluten free. Available in different flavours – sour cream and onion, salt & vinegar to name but two. Another handy store cupboard item. Thought you might like to see a photo

I'm sure that there will be more stuff to add to this list – it's a work in progress!

Tweak sweet!

For those with a sweet tooth and needing a sweet hit after lunch or supper there are loads of choices :

if biscuits are your thing, you can buy sweet

flavoured rice cakes – I mentioned the brand

Kallo – they have a blueberry and vanilla

version as well as caramel

check out what fresh fruit is in season or,

what is on offer or reasonably priced – prepare

ahead, box and fridge, then you're ready to roll

check out the frozen fruits, these days you can

get pretty much anything you like

if using frozen fruit, defrosted, use the juice

from it to drizzle over frozen yogurt

if you are a jelly person, there are sugar free

versions out there – add frozen fruits to the

jelly

check out frozen yogurt - “Yoo Moo” make

vanilla and cherry to name but two – there are

other brands out there

of the non frozen variety check out “The Collective Dairy”

range of yogurts – loads of different flavours

plus “Straight up” in other words plain and

simple

“Skyr” produces a fat free, reduced sugar

high protein yogurt – honey and strawberry flavours

A small tip – low fat usually means high sugar so check the labels.

Another small tip – check out the baby aisle for individual pots. You can make your jellies in these dinky little pots. They are well made with lids that fit – perfect for travel and safe for the dishwasher. They also come in fab colours – have a look at the photo.

How cool are they!

Tweak week 1...

….recipe help

Take a look at the Nasi Goreng recipe (Culinary Lucky Dip) and you'll see there's very little to prepare for Monday supper. You don't have to make the omelette top. You can use microwave rice. Put your prawns in a sealed container in the fridge on Sunday to defrost in time for use on Monday evening.

Smoke the chicken fillets – poach them in chicken stock for 6/7 minutes and allow them to cool in the stock. The smoked chicken fillets should be small – set your timer and leave to their own devices! When you are smoking your chicken fillets include the extra 175g to include in the Nasi Goreng.

The soup really is straight forward and can be on the hob simmering whilst you are moving on to make your paté.

I've said baked jacket potatoes plural, since you may be serving more than one person in your new “tweak week”. Wrap the required number in foil and bake whilst your oven is on.

For the potato filling :

120g approx tin of tuna in sunflower oil

sweetcorn

one red onion, chopped finely

one tsp garlic paste

pinch of chilli

salt and black pepper

malt vinegar

1 tsp creamed horseradish

Flake the tuna using a drop of the sunflower oil. If you are using tuna already drained then use a drop of rapeseed oil. Add malt vinegar, season and add the remaining ingredients, mix well.

Roast your beetroot in your trusted foil tray.

The Squashed does take some boring slicing and dicing but it's not too bad – if you're feeling adventurous peel and dice a small bunch of beetroot into small cubes and add to the recipe – it's not compulsory – just a thought. If you can't be bothered to prep the bunch of beetroot then buy vac packed organic beetroot – cube it and add it when the Squashed vegetables are cooked.

The tweak sheet

Tweak week 1

Nasi Goreng

Carrot, coriander and chick pea soup

Smoked mackerel paté

Baked jacket potatoes

Smoked chicken fillets and Squashed!

Tweak week 2

San Choy Bow

Meatballs and tomato sauce

Asian Spiced Salmon

Baked jacket potatoes

Winter coleslaw

Chilli

Tweak week 3

Pulled chicken

Spie

Baked jacket potatoes

Chicken stir fry with noodles

Couscous

Ratatouille

… Lets do lunch – and supper too

You all know how much you multi-task, juggle balls in the air, split atoms – any of the above - indeed my second post was called Multi-tasking Morning (MTM). So, I am taking for granted that things haven't changed too much and you still spend some time in the kitchen at the weekend so here's another MTM for you, not too tasking I hope you'll agree!

Your MTM list :

Tweak week 1

Nasi Goreng

(“Culinary Lucky Dip”)

Carrot, coriander and chick pea soup

(“Thoroughly Thrifty Thursday”)

Smoked mackerel paté

(“Canapés”)

Baked jacket potatoes

Honey roasted beetroot

(“Kitchen investments and Wednesday supper”)

Smoked chicken fillets and Squashed!

(“By the way”)

Gives you lunches and suppers for your first 4½ days :

Monday:         CCC soup                                          Nasi Goreng

Tuesday:        Paté and rice cakes                           CCC soup & dumplings

Wednesday:   Nasi Goreng                                      Smoked chicken & Squashed!

Thursday:     Jacket potato                                     Paté and pasta

                      & tuna filling

Friday:        Smoked chicken                                 Weekend – hurray!

                     & Squashed!

In an office it really depends on variables – do you have your own office or are you sharing space with others – what sort of facilities are available - a microwave would be very helpful!

Home based is easier in some ways in that you have access to your own kitchen. In other ways it's more difficult – by that I mean that you won't give yourself any time off, so, work as if you were in an office and take an hour!

That's your first tweak week options - have a look at the tweak sheet in the following posts, there's more!

Neat pieces of kit

I would never recommend spending dosh unless I felt it was worthwhile and good value.

Here are three pieces of kit that are worth a look.

Treat yourself to a posh water bottle – a filter version is also available – portable, cheaper than buying small bottles of water on the run. I've said previously very often we mistake hunger with being dehydrated. What is also true is that if you have a bottle of water with you - you can take a slug or two and it becomes a really good habit.

Whichever of the work/life categories you fall into the water bottle is a must for everyone.

Treat yourself to a soup mug – if you're a soup lover, or casserole for that matter, have a look at Sistema mugs. I've attached a photo to illustrate. These mugs are easy to source. They come in fab colours and, as you can see from the lid they have really tough clips to secure properly and a microwave vent that is easy to use. You can freeze your soup in the mugs if you wish, so it's a “pull from the freezer” and go!

Crock-Pot Food Warmer Lunchbox – this “does exactly what it says on the tin” – in other words you can re-heat home cooked food. It holds 600ml of food – enough for one person. Have a look at the photo. It has a travel lid and a handle. Plug the lunchbox in when you arrive at work – hot lunch will be ready and there are no food aromas driving your work colleagues crazy. The inner pot removes for easy dish washing. Now for the good bit - £24.99 – I bought one for a Christmas gift and was so impressed with it I ordered one for myself. I don't think it matters whether you use this at the office or at home – it still saves time, effort and money.

… and your stall out!

How much coffee or tea do you consume – how much sugar do you take? Boot camp this is not – whatever your intake try and halve it or at least reduce the number of cups or mugs you drink – use a smaller one. Whilst this suggestion might sound ridiculously simple it all helps.

These days there are all sorts of fancy herbal/fruit teas if that's your bag. Me, I'd rather drink water – don't think me virtuous – I'm not remotely civil until I've had two small mugs of strong coffee in the morning - try anything more complicated than “good morning” at your peril!

Unless there's a good reason I don't drink tea or coffee after 12 noon – water only, until the sun goes down – metaphorically speaking I mean – I'm not suggesting I hit the bottle at 4pm!

If you have a problem with drinking straight water then buy Hi Juice low sugar cordial to add some flavour.. If you have to commute to your office you can buy tiny bottles of cordial which stash very conveniently in the portmanteau or briefcase you carry.

Alcohol has to be the top of the Achilles' heel list, equal probably with the other usual suspect, chocolate. Once again, only you know what you've consumed. If you're really strong willed then you won't consume any for the 4½ days and then only moderately for the remaining 2½. Set your own rules and if you like, keep a record of what you do eat and drink and then compare it with the original list you made.

The snack attack

I mentioned hunger pangs in Setting the scene – usually occurring 4pm or thereabouts.

If you must snack then think ahead and have a supply of a healthy version in your handbag, briefcase or car – by healthy I mean a small box of raisins – a handful of Brazil nuts or almonds. There are really good nutrition bars out there – have a look at Perkier – perkier.co.uk or Trek – naturalbalancefoods.co.uk. Please note - a bag of crisps – kidding yourself that because they are reduced fat it's ok – it's not! Do what you like at the weekend (within reason) but if you want this to work then you've got to play the game properly – you're only deluding yourself.

Bon chance!