Foodie Friday - What I Ate In June

Last month was the month when I started to take my weight loss seriously again. I'd had about a month off but June was the month when I tried to get back on track. I still had the odd treat - my life isn't about denial after all, but by and large I think I ate pretty healthily. Probably down to the weather my salad intake increased, my fruit consumption went up, I snacked better and I cooked a lot of the recipes, that helped me at the start of my journey.

Although I'm not doing Slimming World, I have found myself cooking a lot of recipes that feature on the plan. One recipe which I fell in love with is curry or chickpea dahl loaf. The original ingredients are curried rice, and chickpea dahl. I had neither and didn't fancy a trip to Tesco, so I made a variation. First of all I made a sort of baked bean dahl, I fried some garlic, and chopped onion in Fry Light, and then I added some jalapenos, some cumin, coriander and curry powder, and a can of baked beans. I then cooked it down till it was quite thick. I didn't have any curry rice, so instead I made do with a packed of golden vegetable rice, to which I added some more jalapenos and some curry powder. It was really nice and just as good as the original and dare I say it slightly cheaper to make.

I served it with some mixed vegetables and potato salad which I made with low fat salad cream, and I also served a portion with baked sweet potato, Slimming World type chips and homemade coleslaw. There really is nothing like homemade coleslaw, it's fresh and you know exactly whats gone in it. You really need a food processor or a slicer to make it but it's well worth it.

I also served some homemade coleslaw with some crustless cottage cheese quiche and some boiled Jersey potatoes.

My mums obsession with burgers also continued in June, so on a few occasions this month I tucked into a lovely veggie burger. This one was crammed full of salad, ketchup and low fat salad cream, with just a sneaky piece of Stilton.

For someone who never used to like blue cheese, I'm now a bit of a fan. My mum always seems to pick up a bit in the reduced section when she goes shopping and I can't resist. Like me my mum is a huge bargain hunter so she regularly scans the reduced sections in the supermarket for cut priced fresh food. As well as the Stilton so also spied a bag full of courgettes for less than 50p! I wasn't sure what to do but after having a little look at this website from one of QVC UK's food demonstrators, Home Economist, Simon Brown, I decided to try and make a courgette and Stilton soup. I just used my basic broccoli and Stilton recipe, and replaced the broccoli with courgette. It was really good, and it's made me wonder what other vegetables I can try, I'm definitely thinking kale or cauliflower but I'm not sure what else would work. If you have any suggestions please leave me a comment x 

It's always worth having a look in reduced sections in supermarkets especially when it comes to fruit and veg. June also saw us pick up a large ripe pineapple for less than £1. I love fresh pineapple but it's such a bind to peel and chop, so I cut the leaves off, and chopped it into large chunks and put it skin and all into my juicer. OMMMGG it was so good and so much nicer than any bought pineapple juice, you could really taste the freshness of the fruit.

I don't know whether it's down to the warmer weather or not but I seem to have put my juicing head back on and this month I've also made several Juicemaster Homemade Sherbet Lemonades. In case you don't remember it, it's just lemons, and green apples. It is so refreshing on the palette and it's really quite filling.

Despite the fact that weather is nice today and it has been for a few days now, for a lot of June , it was rainy, miserable and anything but summery, so I made a few meals to ahem warm the cockles of my heart so to speak, starting off with some more Slimming World inspired meals, including Diet Coke Quorn,

and Mushy Pea Quorn Curry.

I also made an old favourite, my Indonesian Rice With Tofu, which is a meal that I always find super quick, filling, and comforting in equal measure.

In order to get back on track, I've had to improve my snacking a bit. Obviously I've cut down on the picking and so on but when I have snacked I've tried to make better choices.

Fruit is the big one, I'm not the biggest fruit eater out there but juicing helps and so does the availability of good fresh produce and  British strawberries. I had some with a bit of Easi Yo Green Yogurt and some with a cheeky bit of evaporated milk but no sugar because they really were sweet enough.

Instead of reaching for chocolate bars  and the like, I've tried to go for slightly healthier options to help combat cravings and my sweet tooth. Poundland has proved invaluable and I've gotten slightly addicted to these yogurt covered fruit pieces and raisins

and these compressed real fruit sticks and mini raisin packs are great when your on the go or just need something sweet in a hurry. Obviously they still have a bit of sugar in them but it's definitely better than reaching for a bar of chocolate.

I've also been pretty obsessed with rice cakes, and these yogurt covered beauties from Aldi really are the one. For less than 100 calories each you getting something that tastes a lot naughtier. 

Something that I've also loved in June are these Udi's Toaster Pastries. 

Basically they're pop tarts but for those gluten and wheat free minions like me. They come in just the two flavours strawberry, and apple and cinnamon but they are really nice and filling, whether for breakfast or as a snack. They're normally about £3 a box but they are currently just £1 in Tesco.

Life isn't worth living if you cant treat yourself though and in June I did have the odd treat though including my Mum's Gluten Free Lemon Sponge Cake 

and some lovely gluten free flapjacks also made by Mummy Lou x 

The only other area where I've been bad is with my passion for coffee shops. As much as I love my coffees I June and so far in July I've been a bit obsessed with the cooler coffee shop options. I've had a couple of Starbucks Frappuccinos including the new Coconut Mocha which I loved despite not being the biggest fan of coconut, and I've also had a couple of Costa's Creamy Coolers.

Yes I know there are healthier Costa options but at times only the whipped cream will do. That said the Sticky Toffee one doesn't come with whipped cream but my favourite Raspberry and White Chocolate Creamy is back and it's totally divine. In fact I may have had another one today!

I do want to try the new Starbucks Yogurt Frappuccinos, and I also want to try some more of the Costa Ice drinks so I will definitely be making several more trips and earning my loyalty points before the summer is out.

I haven't had the best of healthy eating weeks this week in fact it's been lousy, partly down to something I will be showing you next Friday, but I've had my fun, and I've proved to myself that it is possible to have treats and eat well and still lose weight so who knows what I'll be showing you next month :)  Thanks for reading and happy cooking, and happy scoffing xx