Fresh week - day 4

Day 4

Another successful day, I had a snack from graze.com at lunchtime but otherwise all fresh.

It makes a really nice change to eat fruit and nuts as snacks.

For dinner I managed a to make a fresh meal fast, I went slightly off plan as I really needed to add some meat to the meal so did sausages with grilled mushrooms and spring greens.

The mushrooms were grilled till soft then topped with some seriously strong spreadable (and cream cheese would do) and topped with cheddar before going back under the grill for a few minutes. I shredded the spring greens and cooked in a little olive oil and some seasoning.

Fresh Week - Day 3

Day three went exactly to plan.

Mine contained cashews, hazelnuts, macadamia, walnuts, brazil nuts and almonds

During the day I made my self a tub full of mixed nuts for snacking on and chucked in a bag of chocolate chips to make it more of a treat. Services like Graze do a great job getting me to snack more healthily but I always run out quickly and could make up a tub myself that lasts longer and is cheaper!

You can get a free graze box using code: 6FFYKCM or by clicking this link.

Real pizzas aren't perfectly round!

For dinner I stuck to my plan and made a  pizza albeit with ready made dough. I rolled out the dough on a floured surface which took a little while as the dough kept springing back rather than staying flat! I topped it with a fresh tomato sauce (tomatoes, peppers and seasoning) then mozzarella, peppers and chicken.

Into the oven at 200 degrees C for 15 minutes and its ready. Serve with
nice fresh salad. Don't worry if your pizza doesn't look like the ones in pizza hut or isn't round, it will taste amazing because its fresh!

Fresh week - Day 2

I knew day 2 would be difficult being out all day and evening.

I made some bread dough on Monday night by combining 500g flour with a teaspoon of quick yeast, 300mls warm water and 3 tablespoons of olive oil. I then kneaded until smooth and left overnight in the fridge in an oiled bowl covered in cling film.

Tuesday morning it had doubled in size so I knocked out the excess air and shaped into a loaf tin. I then left for an hour to rise for a second time before putting in the oven at 200 degrees centigrade for 25 minutes. The result was lovely but still a little doughy in the middle. I will try again but leave to rise a little longer and bake for longer.

Lunch was a panini from costa coffee, clearly freshly made, but not by myself.

Dinner was a sad affair of buffet sandwiches and coffee but I did avoid the Danish pastries!

All in all not a prefect day but not a fail.

Fresh Week - Day 1 complete

Healthy lunch and dinner achieved!

I haven't eaten raw carrot sticks since my mum made me lunch, but I was actually surprised how nice it was!

The roll was packed with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, Edam cheese and crumbed ham and actually kept me full all afternoon.

  

Dinner was Chicken and Mushrooms in a tomato sauce with Carrots and Rosemary crushed Potatoes.
Ingredients:

4 chicken thighs
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 Clove of Garlic
350g new potatoes
A sprig of thyme
A bay leaf
300g Carrots

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees and boil a pan of water.

First I chopped up the garlic finely, halved the larger potatoes, and roughly chopped the chestnut mushrooms.I peeled and sliced the carrots into equal sticks, this took a few minutes (if I had a Tefal Fresh express it would have taken seconds, hint, hint!)

The chicken was patted dry, rubbed in oil and seasoned before going in the hot oven on a baking tray for 20 minutes.

In a large pan I heated a tablespoon of oil and fried off the garlic before adding a tin of tomatoes with a bay leaf and the mushrooms. The potatoes were added to the boiling water and both pans simmered for 14 minutes. I then added the carrots to the boiling water for 4 minutes, took the chicken out of the oven and put it in the pan of tomato sauce.

Finally to make the crushed rosemary potatoes I drained the pan of water and put the carrots to one side. I crushed the potatoes gently with the back of a fork and heated a frying pan with a little oil. Once hot I added the rosemary waited a few seconds then fried the potatoes until crispy!

 Serve it all in warmed bowls and enjoy!

Fresh Week - Plan

If fresh week is about buying the right food then I win!

Unfortunately it's not! So today as planned I received a Veg box from Abel and Cole and also ordered some bread flour and yeast.

Now comes the tricky bit; planning a week of healthy meals from my fridge and box!

Plan A:

Monday: Dinner is already sorted as I have a HelloFresh! meal ready to make from scratch of Matador chicken and chorizo casserole with crushed new potatoes. For Lunch I am going to make myself a fresh roll with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, ham and cheese (I know the ham and cheese aren't organic/handmade etc but they're in the fridge!)

Tuesday: First hurdle; I'm out all day and not home till after 10 due to work events! I'm thinking make bread in the morning to atone for my sins later on? Healthy pack-up with said bread and carrot sticks then I'll have to make do with whatever buffet is served at the evening meeting

Wednesday: Home-made pizza with peppers, onions and chicken for dinner. The pizza dough is from the Tesco make it at home range but still better than frozen or ready made bases plus I can put all my own fresh toppings on top!

Thursday: I'm concerned that my lovely fresh food will not stay fresh! I have some carrots and  leeks in the fridge and the veg box potatoes are piling up so i think I will have a soup session. Leek and potato for the fridge and carrot and coriander for this evening with some homemade rolls.

Friday: Starting to struggle for ideas now, I'm not one of these people who can make a box of vegetables into a main meal easily. Maybe a vegetable stir fry with the spring greens, peppers and carrot with soy sauce and chicken stock for flavour and seasoning.

Saturday: Leek and Potato soup for lunch,  Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms with salad and potatoes.

Sunday: Dinner at the in-laws, usually a roast or casserole made from scratch.


Making the plan took a little more effort than I thought but there's nothing on there which is unachievable!

Fresh Week 13th May - 19th May - Fresh Start!

Today kicks off the start of Fresh Week!

Fresh week appears to be the invention of Tefal (based on my attempts to find any earlier example on Google) this year. Cynics may say it is designed to sell the new super slicing device but the ethos is definitely positive: A week dedicated to eating fresh food and avoiding processed ready meals.

This week the plan is to eat as much home prepared fresh food as possible.

I will hopefully update each day with my attempt to eat everything from scratch (with maybe a couple of short cuts!) during a normal busy work week.

If you would like to Win a Tefal Fresh Express and a Veg box from Riverford Organic click here.