Tweak week 2

I hope you found the first tweak week's suggestions helpful and that you are feeling better. Regaining control after all that mayhem leading up to the holidays is empowering, me thinks! Anyway I digress – if you're up for it here's another week with another lunch and supper grid.

Tweak week 2

San Choy Bow

(“Culinary Lucky Dip”)

Meatballs and tomato sauce

(“Saturday night slob”)

Asian Spiced Salmon

(“Life with GOM: Chapter two”)

Baked jacket potatoes

Winter coleslaw

Chilli

(“Saturday Supper with Strictly”)

Monday :       Asian Spiced Salmon                     San Choy Bow

Tuesday :      Rice cakes with Cream                  Meatballs in tomato sauce

                      cheese & cashew nut paté             with rice or spaghetti

Wednesday :  San Choy Bow                               Chilli

Thursday :     Meatballs                                       Baked jacket potato with Asian Spiced Salmon

                                                                              and Winter coleslaw

Friday :          Chilli                                            Weekend – hurray!

By the way – are you a cabbage fan but don't like it boiled to within an inch of its life – try this :

A sweetheart cabbage

(or a Savoy)

2 carrots

1 medium onion

1 pepper

all finely sliced

plus any other stray vegetables that you've

got in your fridge – again finely sliced

heat a glug of rapeseed oil in your wok until hot

throw (not literally) in all the above and

stir fry – add a tsp of garlic paste if you feel

inclined

season with sea salt and black pepper

keep it moving for 2/3 minutes

add a slug of Balsamic vinegar and

a slug of dark soy sauce

keep it moving for another minute ensuring

that all the veggies are coated

Serve straight away

It just so happened that I had a sweetheart cabbage in my fridge last week and this is what happened to it – there wasn't a scrap left!

… 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.