Recipe corner: Red lentil, courgette and cheese loaf

I have never been the greatest advocate of yawningly “worthy” food so this recipe is something of a departure for me. Years ago, for reasons lost in the mists of time, D and I decided to detox the Carol Vorderman way and spent a very miserable week eating really bad food. I think that we managed about five days before falling face first into pizza. Ever since, anything like “lentil loaf” which sounds suspiciously like it has been plucked from the pages of a “clean eating” (bleurgh) book has made my toes curl a little bit. Nevertheless, I would commend this particular recipe to your attention because it is, quite simply, delicious. It makes me wonder if I should be a bit more open minded – after all, I’m quite a fan of spiralising vegetables as well – but then I remember back to Carol’s recipe for hummus, which resembled nothing so much as wallpaper paste, and I quickly change my mind.

Anyway, this loaf is utterly brilliant for anyone following the WW Flex programme because lentils and other pulses are now pointed at zero, which means that a slice of this makes a really low point, satisfying meal especially with a bit of salad and perhaps a cheeky hard-boiled egg (also zero point. Everything I eat at the moment, I serve with an egg on the side.) Last time I made it, D fried slices in butter and had them in a sandwich which, he reports, was most excellent. But frying things in butter and eating them with bread is (sadly) not the WW way unless one has run a half marathon and has oodles of points to spare. Behold the loaf in all its glory:



And here, in cross section, with the afore mentioned salad and egg (plus a drizzle of salad cream and another of sriracha). This entire lunch box was 3 Smart Points:



A note on reduced fat cheese. I love cheese. The notion of reduced fat cheese makes me slightly sad. Reduced fat products in general can be awful – and I utterly reject such aberrations as plasticky low fat spreads and “lite” mayonnaise. But I genuinely think for cooking, especially midweek, bog-standard cooking, a decent reduced fat Cheddar will do the job perfectly well in most cases. Pilgrims Choice is fine, as is Cathedral City – I need to try some supermarket own brands and if I come across anything particularly good, I will report back. If you are not counting points then feel free to use whatever cheese you like. A nutty Gruyere might work well with lentils. If you are counting, what I would suggest here (if you are so inclined) is to sub a proportion of the reduced fat Cheddar for a good smoked cheese as it will give the most wonderful flavour to the loaf. I used 50g of a very, very smoky (full fat) cheese and 75g of reduced fat Pilgrims Choice and it still worked out at 2 Smart Points per portion.

Ingredients

175g red lentils
Tsp vegetable Bouillon powder
350ml water
Courgette, grated
120g reduced fat Cheddar, grated
3-4 spring onions, chopped
Tbsp sriaracha (or other hot sauce)
Tsp dried chilli flakes
Squeeze of lemon juice
Egg, lightly beaten

Cuts into 8 decent slices, 2 Smart Points per slice (WW Flex)

Put the lentils in a large pan (big enough, eventually, for all the ingredients), stir through the stock powder and then pour over the water and set over a low heat. Bring the pan to a gentle simmer and then cover and cook for 10-15 mins until the lentils have absorbed the water and formed a thick paste. Mine cooked incredibly quickly and needed a splash more water after just 5 minutes, so it is worth checking regularly.

While the lentils cook, preheat the oven to 180, line a loaf tin (I always tend to use loaf tin liners such as these, but greaseproof paper would do as well) and prep the other ingredients.

Allow the lentils to cool very slightly and then stir all the other ingredients through and pour into the prepared tin. Bake for 45-50 mins until set firm and browning on top.

"Healthy" eating?

I came across a blog the other day, in the course of one of my random blog hopping exercises, of a girl who was losing weight while following a fairly strict vegan diet. Reading through what she ate on a daily basis was quite amazing – here was someone who was actually doing a Gillian McKeith In Real Life! Someone who didn’t have to go on the TV and extol the virtues of such a regime for the cameras while secretly fighting a burger craving*.

It made me feel a little inadequate, I must admit. I wouldn’t say I have a bad diet, I cook a lot from scratch, I try and eat plenty of fruit and veg (made easier, it must be said, by the fact that WW have now made fruit zero point) and try to be conscious of eating a good variety of foods to get in a range of nutrients. But I am never going to be someone who tucks into a bowl of roasted cauliflower for breakfast.

Then I started thinking about some of my sins. I often have a jar of ready made sauce in the cupboard so I can bung something together quickly if needs be. I am no stranger to the takeaway. I prefer a bag of French Fries to a handful of unsalted nuts. And (oh, hang your head!) I recently purchased a bag of frozen alphabet potato shapes on a whim. I started picturing my “Table of Shame” – you know, when McKeith used to take someone and lay out their weekly food intake in order to shock them into embracing their new diet. Was I the only person who used to look at that and think, “Oooh, I haven’t had Jammie Dodgers (or fish and chips or cheesy Wotsits etc…) for ages!”

But here is how I justify my less than flawless food habits. We all talk a lot about “healthy” eating, and when we use the word “healthy” we generally are referring to physical health – that food which will provide our physical bodies with sufficiently nutritious fuel to function at peak efficiency. How about mental health though? Let’s not pretend that emotions and food are not related; apart from the odd person who genuinely doesn’t given a monkeys about what they’re eating and, literally, only eats to live, we all make that connection. You know, a particular dish that will put a smile on our face after the shittiest of days, or a favourite chocolate bar that is the oral equivalent of a great big hug. If what you’re eating is (to your own palate) worthy but joyless, you won’t be particularly happy. And I personally believe that good mental health makes a significant contribution to the health of the physical body.

I would support the right of the author of the blog that set off this chain of thought, or Ms McKeith or anyone else to eat and drink exactly as they wish. If cauliflower for breakfast makes them happy then good for them. But for me, I’m going to try and learn to balance eating a diet that feeds my body and a diet that feeds my soul too – and that very likely means the odd indulgence and regular deviation from the path of nutritional righteousness. Sorry Gillian.

*NB: This is a complete and utter guess on my part – I’m just projecting.

Detox Day 3 – whoopsadaisy!

At about half past seven last night (which is usually teatime in our household) I realised that I couldn’t be bothered to wait another hour for dinner, let alone engage in a vegetable chopathon. So I cooked pasta pesto (a long-term friend) instead. Er, this is not detox food, unless you are trying out some weird detox which involves wheat and cheese (and if you are, and it works then I want details!). I take a bit of comfort from the fact that most of the constituents in the pesto (oil, basil, garlic, pine nuts) are allowed.

So there we have it, sheer bloody laziness runs roughshod over weakling attempt at better health. It’s not all doom and gloom though. The pink Bircher muesli continues to go down well at breakfast (although this morning it didn’t seem to be as satisfying as previously: my arm had tooth marks in it at about quarter to nine) and lunch for today is the remains of a delicious roasted tomato and red pepper soup that we had for tea on Tuesday, plus I have been loading up on some rather gorgeous plums and nectarines. So, if the point of detoxing was to get my levels of fresh fruit and veggies up than it has succeeded on that one count.

Oh, and I have rediscovered my love for oatcakes (although every time I eat one I imagine what it would taste like topped with a wodge of cheese). I think these are going to be featuring in my lunchbox quite heavily in the next few weeks. Soooo good, and the Waitrose ones we have in at the moment are only half a point each.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to get my mouth round another plum (oooh, matron!)

Detox Day 2 - Reboot and Pink Muesli

Well. Day 1 did not go quite according to plan. Maybe the problem was that there was no particular plan to accord to (or something).

Fairly early on yesterday morning I started to get a thumping headache and felt distinctly nauseous – so much so that I couldn’t face the smoked mackerel salad that I had prepared for my lunch. I wondered if this was all the toxins leaving my body, until D pointed out that if I was so toxic that three hours without caffeine and alcohol could leave me feeling that rough I probably needed to be in some sort of drying out clinic. I suspect part of the problem was dehydration – at work, I generally fill my water bottle when I go to make tea or coffee. Anyway, I survived, albeit in a floppy, miserable kind of way.

I’d perked up by the evening (a sneaky can of Diet Coke may have been involved – bad). Our evening meal was lovely last night – griddled tuna steaks with sweet potato and coriander mash. I can never quite make up my mind whether I like sweet potato or not – I keep eating it, so I suppose I must. It is definitely improved by the addition of fresh coriander and a drizzle of sweet chilli sauce – these little tweaks make it far less sickly. Although I must confess that it wasn’t till I had drizzled said sauce over it that I realised that it might not strictly be detox suitable food. Ah well. The aim here is to try and eat cleaner – not necessarily get Carol-Vorderman-swimsuit-ready in five days and it definitely improved the overall taste of the dish.

And this morning I have eaten an incredibly worthy breakfast and so am sitting at my desk feeling ever so slightly smug. Oats, pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries soaked overnight in pomegranate juice and served with a handful of mixed summer fruits – my version of Bircher muesli coming in at 3.5 points a bowl. It was pink, which made me happy, and tart which also made me happy (I have something of a sour tooth). The portion looked a bit weeny when I prepared it last night but it was pretty substantial when I came to it today. Had I more time in the mornings I think the addition of a grated apple would be pretty good as well.

So, feeling far more groovy than this time yesterday, onwards!

Foodie on a detox

A good few years ago the great British public were being besieged with pictures of Countdown’s Carol Vorderman looking rather smug and svelte in a swimming costume. Anyone else remember this? Eventually, curiosity got the better of me and I purchased her “Summer Detox Plan”, not initially intending to follow it just to get an idea of what it involved. Such was her enthusiasm for the plan though, I decided to have a go at following it. And since I did most of the cooking and the meal preparation, D was told that he was going to be following it as well.

We didn’t do too badly – lasted nearly two weeks. It was a curry that broke us in the end I think. Anyway, the point is that after the initial shock to the system, we both felt very well on it, and (although I didn’t weigh myself back in those days so relied on instinct and tight jeans) lost a good few pounds in a relatively short space of time.

Recently, I’ve been a bit lackadaisical with the diet. Stress at work and one thing and another has led to quite a few greasy takeaways and more than a few pints of cider and bottles of wine. Things are improving, but even when I’m pointing, I’ve noticed that I’m not always making the best choices. I need something to give me a kick up the arse – mentally, even if not physically. The idea of a detox period – nothing too long, mind, has been playing on my mind for a little while and I had decided to go for it - if nothing else, to give myself a bit of a challenge.

The plan was to follow it for five days, starting yesterday, adopting the basic Vorderman principles of cutting out wheat, dairy, caffeine and, as far as possible, processed stuff but deviating slightly by including a small amount of white meat and fish alongside plenty of fruit, vegetables, water and peppermint tea. And keeping a tally of points to ensure reasonable portion sizes.

Unfortunately, I did such a good job of toxing on Saturday night (wine was involved) that I felt fairly deathlike yesterday and hot water with lemon juice was just not going to cut it – I think we’ll gloss over the actual contents of yesterday’s food diary, but it won’t take an awful lot of imagination for you to get the gist. So the detox was postponed briefly.

I’m on it today though, albeit with slightly less enthusiasm than when I was planning it last week. Currently, I’m enjoying an extremely juicy white nectarine, and there is a smoked mackerel salad sitting patiently in the fridge. Tea tonight may be a roasted red pepper and tomato soup, or possibly tuna steak with sweet potato and coriander mash. Hopefully, by the end of Thursday I’ll be glowing with health and all ready to start retoxing again.