Cinque, I would love your flatbread recipe! It would be nice to have an alternative to the high calorie tortillas. I like the idea of the triangular shaped mountain bread. Is it rounded on one side? It looks that way from the photos of the packages on their website. That’s how I would shape the flatbread. It makes so much more sense for wraps.

When you make hummus, do you include the tahini? I usually leave it out because of the calories. I don’t really miss it with all the garlic, lemon juice and spices.

LJoyce, negative self talk can be a real problem for me. Not in general, I’m usually more positive than negative, but there are certain things that I can’t change anymore that the voice inside just can’t let go of. Or things that are shortcomings that I probably don’t have enough will to change, but that voice keeps nagging me about. Big thing for me. And it causes a lot of stress. Pricilla Perfect is a great name.

Cali – I don’t usually add tahini, I add a small amount of sesame oil instead. It helps to emulsify the hummus and I can get the same sesame flavour with far fewer calories because the oil is toasted and has a stronger flavour than tahini. If I accidentally add too much liquid, I add tahini (or nut paste if I don’t have any) to thicken it up. To avoid this I usually add the lemon juice but no cooking water to start with, until I can see how thick it is after the first blend.
The mountain bread is a rectangle not a triangle – the triangle is just a design printed on the front of the packet. The mountain bread pieces are rectangles of approx 9 x 12 inches. It’s a bit easier to see in this photo https://www.flickr.com/photos/melanie_hughes/4319899687

LJoyce, I remember now about the sesame oil. I had forgotten. I haven’t made hummus in several weeks, but I’ve used the sesame oil, at your suggestion, and it worked really well. It doesn’t take much. Several of my friends use it now too, after trying mine. LJoyce, your influence has spread around Northern California. 😊

Just joshing with you LJ, my name’s not really Gladys!

Cinque, I’m not doing much at all today. Mostly beating myself up for over-eating last night and feeling grateful that it’s a FD today. Just sipping a hot peppermint tea and trying to find a quiet place to meet some friends for dinner on Tuesday where I can do the least amount of damage.

Yes. Well, it’s a great FD so I’m happy for that. Pottering like you Cinque.

DD is working a ten hour shift and OH has gone to see Star Wars.

About 40 years ago when my son was small there was a male version of Barbie. I wasn’t sure that boys should have dolls, but he came with a uniform and quite a decent version of a Scorpion CVRT (Combat Vehicle, Reconnaissance, Tracked, or small tank). To my surprise he was still available when my grand son reached that age. In his case it was it was a Royal Marine SBS guy in a black kayak.,

Cali – 100g gain per slice – probably worth it if it was a good pizza. And you know 400g will shift in one FD.

Penguin, the reason for the docco was 2-fold. Barbie is turning 60 and they have just released a range of new body shapes for her – I notice they haven’t added wrinkles despite her age.

FD for me today. I ate a little too much over the weekend and although I haven’t counted calories I know I went over my TDEE – I’d estimate by about 20%.
I have a very small piece of salmon that I’ve thawed and will team with veg tonight.

Cali – gee wouldn’t that sell well!

Apart from a few collectors, no. My barbie was my favourite toy when I was 9, but I’d outgrown it by 11 and I couldn’t tell you where it is now. Probably went into the rubbish decades ago. The only toy I still have is a small teddy bear that is wearing blue overalls that my mum made for him. He has jointed moveable limbs and was so well loved he’s missing rather a lot of fur and his glass eyes fell out years ago. His texture is odd – I suspect he’s filled with either wood shavings or straw – it feels course like that.

Hi everyone,
Not up to date on reading, just saw 2 Gladyses at the top of the page, and Cali’s Xmas lights on the bottom.

Hope everyone’s FDs and nonFDs are going well through this Silly season and you’re managing varying functions well.

We’ve had a hectic time of travelling ready for Christmas, a couple of last minute get-togethers with friends, a grandchild’s birthday party, and getting ready for Christmas. We did manage just a little Christmas decorating.

Check-in: I have no idea what my weight is. Packed quickly for Christmas trip and 2nd time I’ve left my travel scales at home. Clothes fit OK so going by Cinque’s system. My goal is to get to 1st January at or below 65.3kgs. A FD for OH and I today. 4.17pm and I’m a little hungry, so going outside to fiddle with washing, with a drink of water first.

Cali – our Christmas lights outside are all solar now. Put them up and forget them. Even goung away they just look after themselves and add to the streetscape for the neighbouring children (and adults).

Will read up later on,
Onwards and downwards folks,
Merry and Mr M

Like CalifDreamer I have nothing from my childhood, it was just too long ago and i have lived in over 40 houses. I still have some of the kid’s toys. I’m not sure how we managed that – some of them have been through twenty houses and more than one country. The grandchildren played with them in their turn but are now either too old for them or not interested because they are not electronic or digital. Most are now too battered to be of interest to collectors so they will go.

Good morning everyone,
I do hope you wake up to a good day.

Mexican Tortilla
This recipe came from a children’s book and it is so easy and good!
Sift together
100g plain flour
1 tsp salt
Mix in 2 tbsp olive oil
Mix to a dough with 4 tbsp of warm water.
Knead til smooth
Divide into 4 balls
Flatten and roll each as thinly as possible
Cook on a hot pan 1 minute, turnover and cook 30 seconds on the other side.
Store with paper between them so they don’t stick, and put in a plastic bag. They will keep in the fridge for several days.

i generally use about half the oil, and sometimes wholemeal flour, and cook them under the grill. They take longer to cook, I can’t be rolling them thin enough! I also find the dough keeps well, covered, in the fridge if I want to cook them over a few days. I use my food processor to make the dough, I love the way it comes together and cleans the fp bowl as it goes around.

Cheers to those of you waking up after a lovely fast day yesterday!
Best wishes to those who are fasting today, I hope it is a good one!
And for those of us having a sensible delicious eating day, enjoy!

It is a hot grey morning in Melbourne, but rain this afternoon!

Thin, I also use atta for making all flatbreads – if google is right, it’s just Indian wholemeal. But they always have “Jimmys atta flour” at my local supermarket so it’s what I use. I think the bran and wheatgerm might be ground a little finer than in my normal wholemeal flour which seems to be nicer in a yeast dough.

Thanks Cinque, I don’t have a tortilla recipe, so I’ll have to try this.
I mostly use a roti recipe for flatbread as it has yoghurt in it rather than oil and that appealed to me – lately I’ve been using kefir to mix it up.

Yesterday’s FD went well. NFD today, but haven’t eaten yet – but I’m planning a hommus and salad wrap for lunch.

CalifDreamer. Good luck with that one. UK Amazon responds with books about military chaplains.

Penguin, there are lots of different atta flours on Amazon’s US site. Doesn’t this one look interesting? Cinque, I would think tortillas or flat breads without oil would break easily when trying to roll them. But cutting the oil in half works out ok?

For NFD holiday celebrations, doesn’t this look good? I love olives! Two different people emailed me this link this morning. I think this would be good with a cream cheese/goat cheese blended base:

https://cafedelites.com/antipasto-cheese-ball-christmas-tree/

Whilst I was writing that last post my kefir was straining. Normally I throw away the very thin whey liquid, then stir the grains to release a thick, creamy product. This time it didn’t work. No creamy kefir, just about 800ml of grains! A curd cheese cake is clearly going to feature in one of my next NFDs.

I just checked on atta flour as I couldn’t remember if it is the word for wheat flour or any flour ( whole wheat, but sometimes it is used for other flours) and they said it is generally a hard wheat, so oops I was wrong.
Maida is the white wheat flour.
Those tortillas are wonderful with the whole 2 tbsp of oil, but I am always scungy wth oil and they do still work.
Mm Penguin, I saw the Hairy Bikers making curd tart on the TV the other day, and thought of you.
Lovely homehelp is here now vacuuming, what a lovely sound.
I’m writing on my iPad which led me to having an extra penguin on the end of my last post, but this time I’ll add flowers with my good wishes to everyone 🌸🌺🌼🌺🌸

Put your glasses on CalifD, that’s a chapati pan not chaplain! Or, as Cinque says, aka a tava. Great job with your weight. You’re our shining star this month. I like the antipasto Christmas tree.

Cinque, I know what you mean about 25C feeling different in different places. OH always reminds me that 25C would be a warm summer’s day in England.

Is this a new Hairy Biker’s series? One of my favourite winter FD meals is the ‘Hairy Biker’s Healthy Cottage Pie’ (see our recipe page). The portion is minuscule but it is so, so tasty and the OFMs love it. It freezes well too. I haven’t watched much TV since we were introduced to Netflix a few months back. I’ve been enjoying series 2 of ‘The Crown’. I’ve made an exception to watch ‘Endeavour’ on ABC as I was a huge ‘Morse’ fan. I think they’ve done a great job with the young Morse & I very much like the character ‘Thursday’.

I have to say I’m a bit disappointed with our Amazon so far. None of the items I’ve checked on have been particularly great value and, in some cases, can already be found on the merchant’s own website at exactly the same prices so what’s the point really? Three Westfield shopping centres near us (which have all recently been sold for squillions of dollars) are undergoing massive expansion. This seems odd given that retailers claim to have been doing it tough for some years. There are scores of physical shoppers in these malls but I also see delivery vans stopping in my street several times a day.

I’m not much of a shopper, I like getting rid of ‘stuff’ but not accumulating it. Certainly no childhood toys here. Having moved continents twice, plus gone travelling with a backpack for 12 and 24 months respectively, I’ve rid myself of everything and started again several times. It’s the most liberating feeling in the world.

Good idea wearing the corset jeans to venture out LJ!

I’d go for more tissue paper LJoyce, it always looks luxurious.

Yes it is old Hairy Biker reruns of ‘Best of British’

Thin, I so enjoy Endeavour too. I think they did a good job making a young Morse, and set the period so well… but mostly I am with you just loving Inspector Thursday. So glad to know someone else loves him too.

The talk of atta and mustard oil highlight the constant stress I have balancing between needing a minimalist pantry (cost, waste, space) and wanting olive oil, peanut oil, mustard oil, sesame oil, walnut oil…. and about 12 different types of flour, another dozen types of legumes, various vinegars, and so on!
I absolutely love mustard oil, especially for Indian recipes. They have never warned me at purchase!

Fast day tomorrow! First for a couple of months!

Cinque – FD tomorrow – I’ll take that as a sign you’re feeling better.
I might try putting together one box of shortbread tomorrow morning and see what it looks like. If I’m too unhappy I’ll get more boxes from Mount Barker tomorrow as I have an appointment there. The reason I’m worried about adding tissue paper is due to the way I feel when I receive those gift baskets wrapped up in cellophane. Once you unwrap it, you find that you’ve actually got more scrunched up balls of clear cellophane than actual gift – it always looks stingy to me, so I resist doing it to others.

After my bread indulgence mid-afternoon, I’ve made a salad plate with a dollop of hummus for dinner.

Penguin – there was time when olive oil was considered to be suitable only for cleaning out ears and was sold in pharmacies rather than the supermarket. Sometimes our regulators take a bit of time to develop common sense.

The only reason I know about the olive oil was reading about it in one of Elizabeth David’s cookery books, which always seem to resemble novels as much as recipe books. She mentioned that during WW2 one of the few blessings was that olive oil was not rationed as it was considered a medicine. So she could buy as many bottles as she liked from the pharmacy. I doubt she had many Mediterranean veggies to pour it over though.

The last of the snow went overnight and the last of the daylight is going now, so I have come down off the roof. I have been assessing the damage done. We got away lightly – about 10 feet of guttering on a north facing single storey needs to be replaced, otherwise everything seems fine. Cinque, 25 deg C is my ideal as well, especially at this time of year!

Good morning all. Just wanted to pop in and wish you all a very happy Xmas. Have not been on the scales since my daughter arrived on the 11th, weight then was 68.6. I will get back into it when they leave. So my next FD will be 2nd January and then it will be countdown until I leave for my 6 week overseas trip on 25th March. I have my 4yr old grandson curled up asleep next to me and that means more than a few extra kgs.

So glad you are feeling better Cinque. Thin and Merry thinking of you.

Take care everyone and all the very best. I will be back to join you again in the New Year.

Hi Intesha, good to hear from you. Enjoy your time with family.

Penguin & Cinque, 25C is my ideal all year round. I think it’s why spring and autumn are my favourite seasons and also when I most enjoy being outside in the garden.
I’ve noticed that the Christmas day forecast for all of our southern states is mid-20s which should be lovely – although it looks incredibly hot up north.

I finally got all the trays of shortbread baked, cooled and put into airtight containers. I have about 190 pieces. I ‘m about to try putting 19 pieces in one of my gift boxes to see whether it looks adequate of stingy. I could make up one more double batch of dough – more work, but probably cheaper than buying more boxes.

This afternoon I’m driving my aunt & uncle out to the cherry farm so we can all purchase our boxes of christmas cherries. We will have afternoon tea at their cafe, but as it’s a FD for me I’ll restrict myself to a pot of tea.

Have a good day everyone.

LJoyce, great suggestion on the Mountain bread chips. I wish they sold that brand here. But Cinque’s tortilla recipe would probably work too. There are a lot of tortilla brands in our stores. I’ll have to check out the calories on them. I usually cut up wheat pita bread for hummus and use it untoasted. Or veggies.

Thin, re Stranger Things, I like Sci Fi but usually only the intelligent type, the potentially believable situations. For example, Michael Crichton was a favorite author. Stranger Things isn’t that. It’s more fantasy, some of it eye rollingly so. But we watched one episode and got hooked on it because it’s well done. The kids are cute and endearing, and they are believable as kids, even if the situations aren’t. Try watching the first episode. It was very popular over here.

Intesha, Merry Christmas! Glad to hear you’re having fun with your daughter.

Penguin, glad the roof damage wasn’t too extensive.

Cinque, mid 20’s sounds wonderful! I’ve felt cold all day. Today’s high was around 9. I’m coming over there!

Merry, we had a string of solar lights in our back garden, along the wall, in the summer. They were tiny lights but very bright. I think the hot sun during the days finally killed them. I need solar lights indoors. 😁

100 grams down this morning so 59.1. Only 200 grams less than Dec. 1st but I think that was after a FD. Only 100 more grams to reach my initial goal. Slow, but dependable. I have to remind myself of all the good (and often fatttening) foods I’ve eaten lately and still (slowly) losing.