Good morning fasters, Hi Cinque. Yes Monty arrived yesterday, my girlfriend took my boys (woof) for a few hours so he could relax, sniff the new smell and I could get some cuddles in. He is magnificent. When the boys arrived home all hell broke loose😫Monty was like a bird that was trapped inside! Pictures were knocked off walls ornaments broken, poor baby panicked and my boys were curious as to what this white thing running around the house was….I now have him in the spare bedroom with is food and litter and water, I keep going in for cuddles and reassuring him, my boys stay by his door hoping to meet him. It will be a long process, but we will get there. I have him booked into the Vet next week, he is still “complete” so need neutering soon. But it will get him on there books for check ups etc.
I haven’t eaten much at ll over the weekend, so very low cals, salad and chicken breast planned for dinner, it’s awfully muggy and hot here again, so salads are so easy.
Have a lovely day one and all, prayers for our sickies, and prayers for the innocent people of Ukraine this tragedy should never been allowed to happen. Our problems are minor in the scheme of things…… Those days are behind us 🌻CG

LJoyce, are you finding the 800 working better than 5:2 …..I’m asking because most days I don’t get very high with cals and think I’ll try 800, stringently for a week, starting today, just to test it. So I take it fasting isn’t included when doing 800?
Cinque I forgot to say how yummy your recipes sound, I often do a silverbeet casserole (I have plenty growing) I add tomatoes and sliced onions, it goes to nothing as you know in the microwave, sometimes add diced bacon, and top with tasty cheese, I can eat it by the bowl full, worth a try. 😘

Wow, Thankyou so much for the fabulous explanation, I’m 71, sit around 80K but originally went from 100K down to 68K and over three years it’s crept back on. Yet meal sizes are small, don’t eat junk food I like a whiskey and zero coke, but average 1-2 a day, so not heavy….but due to chronic back issue’s , can’t walk much, just getting around the house some days is too painful. My appetite isn’t big because I don’t exercise or burn it off. It still boils down to what and how much we out in our gob! Often ease is a problem too, when living alone, a toastie “will do” 😳anyway, I’ll try what you suggest, thanks again LJoyce….🌻CG

Hello friends, just a pop in as life is crazy right now. I thought it was busy before but wow. All good here, we had a scare where the surgeon saw something dodgy in a scan and sent Mr Anzac for a full body Pet scan to check that the cancer had not spread. It has not thanks to God. Tomorrow we have a session with the nurse who will look after him in hospital so we can learn what we need to do when he comes home as he will need special care. Radiation therapy starts Wednesday

I am so close to moving into the 90’s – 91.1 this morning. Slowly slowly slowly going down

I have read all of your lovely posts but no time for replies just now.

Take care all

Morning all

I’ve been a bit absent recently but I’m checking in this morning. Struggling a bit with not being able to get out for some exercise during the week. I did manage to get plenty in the weekend. I spent the weekend digging drainage trenches, laying coil and shipping in gravel to pack around it. I also got out and walked my parents’ dog because my father had to have a big lump cut out of his leg and needs to put his feet up for a few days. My wife continues to improve but gets fatigued very quickly so she’s been getting her family to help her harvest and weed her beloved veggie garden. We’re still getting huge amounts of produce from it.

Anzac, great news that it hasn’t spread, I hope that the radiation therapy goes well on Wednesday. You’re doing extremely well to lose weight during this time. I tend to stress eat so I don’t think I would be in the same position as you.

Thin, have fun with the locks. When you move through them is that called “picking the locks”?

Countrygal, Too true, When I first started on fast800 I lost 24 kilos in 12 weeks without really doing much exercise besides a few games of tennis a week and a few rounds of frisbee golf. It wasn’t until I dropped weight that I was able to really up the exercise. As the saying goes, you can’t out-run a crap diet.

Ljoyce, I’m guessing that my TDEE over winter is a lot lower than during the summer. My goal this winter will be to focus on food that is lower in calories but higher in nutrition. Lots of vegetable soups, stews and casseroles. Try to stay away from the winter “comfort food”.

Well I’d better get to work. I’ll catch up with the news on the previous page later. Have a great day everyone

Hello all from a warm sunny Roxburgh.

Yes, back in our old stomping ground and enjoying a beautiful calm early autumn.

Anzac, So pleased to hear your good news re Mr Anzac and well done losing weight during such times of stress, I think I would totally be the other way and gaining it. I do hope you can soon find a way to reel in your bosses to make those deadlines more attainable for you.

Thin, I feel for you with you re your toilet woes. Funny how you take things like toilets for granted until you’re not plumbed in to anywhere permanent, emptying the cassette seems to be quite a fixture in our “house” and something to definitely consider whilst travelling. Shame about the juvenile buzzard, such fabulous creatures. We watched a NZ falcon swoop down into our paddock the other day to eat his kill which he had carried in his massive talons, only to witness in horror as another larger falcon came and took over the eating. We assume the first one was the juvenile, when OH went to have a look where they had been feasting, all that was left was a little fur and blood, rabbit we think. Nature amazes me. Good luck with those locks, where are you heading to this summer?

LJ, I loved your bookcase with the photos and plants, it looks lovely. I have had many houseplants whilst flatting over the years, however, none now, just my herb pots. Pleased to hear the funeral went well and without a hitch, people who are generous with their time are the best I reckon, it’s the one thing you can’t measure. Well done with the weight loss too, keep it up. You certainly seem to have the 800 summed up well and under control.

CG, I just love your ragdoll cat, he is gorgeous. I had to chuckle whilst reading your description of introducing him to the boys, sounds like it’s going to be fun for a while. Good luck to you. I am also adhering to the 800 principles, although somewhat looser than maybe I should but find it works for me. I discovered a long time ago that whatever I do has to be sustainable, so going hard and fast wasn’t a fit for me as I knew I would put it all back on again once I reached goal weight and relaxed again. So, I chose to take the slow and and steady road and if I plateau, which I seem to do often then I would learn from it, which I have in bucket loads. Bread is a killer for me, good I’m not that keen on it, avo’s are my friend and I lose more weight eating either no meat or fish as my main protein source.

Neil, Good news your wife is making such good progress and how wonderful to have supportive family around to help with the amazing vegie harvest. I do hope the fatigue is only short term and she can soon be back out there tending them herself. I do hope the weather gets a little better for you soon so you can get exercising again, although it does look like some rain is forecast over the next few days, with some heavy downpours this time next week!

Lindsay, What fabulous news for Mr L, so pleased to hear the surgery all went well. Isn’t the body’s’ ability to mend with a little surgical intervention extraordinary? I am sure you’ll have trouble stopping him talking soon, haha? Well done you with your blood results too, just reinforces what we already know about this WOL being so good for our health.

Cinque, I love your new Community idea, sorry, I don’t have an interesting name
for you, but I will keep thinking, just make sure you don’t overdo it? Health wise I mean, are you still minding the Grandies?

Me – First of all, thank you all very much for the birthday wishes, I know it was back at the beginning of the month, but I haven’t posted since. It was a quiet one, as we were back house sitting again at the same property near Wanaka. So lots of dog walking, gardening, not quite so much watering, but tending to the vegie garden and harvesting tons of tomatoes. A branch snapped off the fruit laden pear tree so I harvested that fruit into more chutney, jam (with ginger) and pear & rhubarb torta, to use some of the eggs too. I was scrambling three eggs daily to feed to the dogs, they loved it, not sure the owners were too pleased when they returned, they must have wondered what the dogs were waiting for sat at the end of the kitchen bench every morning?! Anyway, it was a most enjoyable sit and they were obviously happy with us as they have asked us back a third time from 14 April for another 10 days, but we have declined that one and hope to return next summer maybe. I do miss the dogs though. We are currently staying at the local racecourse which is peaceful with amazing views of the mountains all around us and a huge pine tree windbreak from the south. Good news on the weight front, I finally got back into the 65’s today, the first time since last October. Walking most days and mixing it up with some hilly days too. Did a big walk yesterday up the Bullock Track which is straight up and at ’em, all 750 mtrs, in 20 – 25’c brilliant sunshine, not a cloud in the sky, coming down was longer but nowhere near so severe. Not too sure where to from here, depends where the sunshine takes us. Lovely to hear all your happenings in life, sorry to anyone I’ve missed,

Turn

Lots of great reading today.

Neil, so good that Mrs N. is recovering, albeit slowly. I loved your expression, ‘you can’t outrun a crap diet’. Well I wouldn’t really call it picking the locks, that doesn’t seem to encompass the heavy lifting component. We ‘did’ five locks yesterday, travelled two miles and it took us over three hours! I found the locks really stiff, or was it me that was stiff? OH had to help me with the last two and he agreed. I read my blog post from a year ago when we’d come down this way and I’d commented that these ten locks were wide, deep, stiff and leaky. But it was absolute heaven in the remote Leicestershire countryside, we passed only one other boat and moored opposite a 14th century church surrounded by fields of newborn lambs. So much entertainment.

Turn, I loved your post. What a great summer you’ve had. I completely relate to your weight loss approach. I never understood the impatience to lose lots of weight quickly. I was very content to drop half a kg per week for a year. Bread is the killer for me too, although I do like it but have learned I can’t have it if I want to stay slim. To answer your question, we are heading towards York this summer. We have to travel on tidal rivers for the first time. Like you, our dog owners in Spain have asked us back to sit for them but this time at their apartment in Andorra. I’ve booked flights out of Manchester to Barcelona for July and we will have to leave the boat unattended canal side. After York then, we will make our way west to find a suitable mooring spot hopefully not too far from the airport …

We’ve had the most amazing week of warm and sunny weather but sleet and 5C is the forecast for tomorrow. Yes, it’s never long before the conversation turns to toilets when boating! All is fixed now and most boaters are discussing fuel costs. Diesel has shot up from £1.05/lt to £1.46/lt which may account for seeing no boats on the move. 40% is significant. Thanks Putin.

CG, so Monty is gradually settling in. How funny about covering everything with the towel. You made me laugh about your gardener.

Lindsay, that’s wonderful news about Mr L’s op. You say it’s temporary. Can it be re-done if necessary?

All quiet here. Day after FD for me. I’m slowly moving further away from my trigger weight. I became addicted to sugar again in Spain and it’s taken a long time to wean myself. Not worth the pain. Just when we’d become used to glorious sunshine and 19C temperatures, it’s snowing. A swan is nesting on the opposite bank. The boat is a floating bird hide.

CG, good morning. It settled at first but now the sun is out and it’s snowing hard but turning to slush. We are toasty warm inside – we have a Morso diesel stove running almost continuously and three radiators that we can turn on using a timer if needed. Sometimes if we’ve turned off the diesel stove while underway, we employ the radiators about an hour before mooring, as a free bi-product of engine cooling. That way, the boat is warm when we come inside while the diesel fire gets going. I like to cook on the diesel stove – making use of free fuel. Today I’m going to make a Hairy Bikers’ steak and ale casserole, using a can of Guinness, to slow cook all day. OH will have mashed potatoes with his.

I’ve never been able to go sugar-free like Cinque but I find it’s much easier to avoid added sugar than to try and wean myself off. In Spain, moving around a lot, I couldn’t find food products I am finally used to in England, for example, they only seem to have one muesli and it’s sugar-laden. When we arrived, it was Kings’ Day, bigger than Christmas for children there, and they celebrate with a wonderful almond treat. Our hosts left platters of them for us everywhere we went and that got me started. And way too much alcohol didn’t help. Two months of 5:2 have put me back in order. I won’t go back to 6:1 until I’m another kg down.

Perth (the Oz one) for 30 years. Before that, I lived in the USA.

Hi Betsylee what a lovely long post. Regarding your soup, I use coconut milk (lite) as it’s lower cal, or almond milk, I also like a few heads of broccoli in it. To thicken, I often put a large potato, the amount of potato spread through the soup per serve is quite minimal, also a stick or two of cerlery, a carrot and always an onion. Now I love beetroot, but not in this soup mate 🤮and season with chopped parsley salt-and pepper and whatever herbs take your fancy ☺️, blend in blender, and freeze in portions…..in zip lock bags…..Enjoy 🌻CG

Hello everyone. Trying to get something posted before I head off to the physio.

Betsy, my cauliflower cheese soup recipe is also on the site that Thin mentioned. https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/southern-hemispherites-fd-recipes/page/2/ (I posted it in June 2019 if you are scrolling through trying to locate it)
I make and freeze it without the cheese and then I can control those extra calories each time I thaw a portion. It has lots of flavour even without the cheese – it’s a frequent go to soup for me in the colder weather. My cauliflower soup does have a peachy colour to it – from carrot NOT beetroot. It can be successfully made using frozen cauliflower (when the fresh variety is too expensive). You can add potato to the soup (it will be thicker), but I don’t as I want the basic soup to be very low calorie. My usual version is approx 100kj (24cal) per 100ml
Well done on your March weight loss.

CG, I like the idea of using coconut milk, it would change up the flavour of the cauli soup.

Thin, a day inside in the warmth working on a jigsaw sounds really nice. As does that stew. You mentioned that you wouldn’t have potatoes with yours – does that mean you never eat them (in addition to the bread ban) or is it a food you eat sometimes? I must experiment with beer/ale recipes – I cook with wine as it’s in the fridge but never do other alcohols as I’d have to go and buy them. Might be worth it though.

Neil, hope you are dealing ok with the frustration of stubborn scales. You know it will shift eventually.

Anzac, very glad to see that you had some positive results with your husband’s health. You didn’t need further worry.

Lindsay, I hope the myotherapist can fix your arm, excellent that the issue isn’t something permanent. Also very pleased to hear that the vocal cord injection worked so well. It must be wonderful your husband to be able to engage in conversations again.

Well I must go. I want to get to the physio early so that I have time to walk in the nearby parklands.

Take care everyone.

Turn, excellent to read your update. Also excellent that you have gotten down to 65, well done.

Betsy my usual caullie soup is started with frying up 3-4 rashes of diced bacon and a large onion, I add the caulie floweretts to it, and don’t forget to add the diced up stems## a stick or two of celery# then a carton of stock of choice (whatever is in the pantry, boil it all up, then turn to simmer and add a can of coconut milk, makes it lovely and creamy, then whisk with the stick blender, now the parsley, salt and peppar, taste first as bacon can be salty 🥰 soup is so versatile , I often make a “fridge” soup, with whatever veg are looking not too well 🧐you can always add lentils for thickening too which makes it a full meal, especially served with thickly buttered crusty french bread stick 😂😂😂 CG 🌻

My pleasure, just a country cook 😃the idea of all the butter on the bread stick is, I live in dairy country and adore butter 🥴it goes with everything 😘

Thin, It’s a while ago, but I seem to remember it was the chicken and bacon casserole where I ended up with a vastly different calorie count. I think the main problem was that 4 rashers of streaky bacon can vary a lot in weight i I think because both the length and thickness of the rashers can vary. Leeks also vary between small immature ones (usually sold here trimmed in packs of 3, but hard to find) and giant leeks the size of a baseball bat usually sold loose and much easier to find. When the weight of the item isn’t specified it’s quite easy to follow a recipe exactly, but when you actually weight your own selection of ingredients and calculate the calories exactly it can be quite different to those stated in a recipe where weights aren’t stated. I remember weighing my 4 rashers of streaky bacon and working out that it was over 400 calories worth, although I think the recipe said 4 rashers was around 140 calories.

Morning all. Thin, how lovely the sky is blue for your next adventure.

Glad to hear your wife is improving Neil. Anzac, thinking of you and hoping all is going well.

To answer your question Thin – OH’s treatment is temporary as they wait to see if his nerve regenerates. The treatment is meant to last 3-6 months before the chemical is absorbed, but sometimes it lasts longer. It can be done again, and if the nerve doesn’t play ball, OH will get a permanent version. The ENT said it was often better to have a couple of temporaries, because it enables him to adjust the injection site, if needed.

Thanks for the tips on soups and recipes, Thin, LJ and CG. I needed a reminder. I’ve always loved Cinque’s Nigerian bean stew from the recipe pages. And I am so heartily sick of the recipes in the good doctor’s (well, his wife’s, I think) cook books.

With OH starting to be more normal, I am refocusing on weigh loss. I am weighing daily, but taking the Sunday to Sunday weight, if that makes any sense. Slowly, slowly, this time. I don’t know I can do the full Fast800 again…well, not at this time.

OH and I celebrated our anniversary yesterdday – he took me to an amazing French restaurant on a hill with a beautiful view through big glass windows. It was so clear yesterday we could see to the Scenic Rim, which is around 100 kilometres away. The food was lovely – so French. And actually, not too damaging. I ordered well, and the choices were good, and the portions reasonable. ‘clean’ food ….beautifully cooked, and not too trissed up.

I’ll head off now – DS is just parking and is bring the kids, before they head off on holiday – a welldeserved one I must say – tomorrow.

Back a bit later – but in the meantime, best wishes to you all…Turn, Betsy, Cinque, Calif all.

Good evening all.

Hi MsO, good to know that you’ve been quietly persevering with 5:2, even though not posting, and have done well. What post-grad study are you doing?

Countrygal1, my first soup effort was okay, but I think I can do better. I found some chicken stock I’d frozen a while back and used that for my base, added 1/2 a cauli, 1 medium-sized potato, some onion (what I could salvage, as it was on its way out), a medium-sized zucchini, 21/2 tsp of crushed garlic, and about 50 ml of full cream milk. I thought that would work fine, but then it seemed too fluid-ey (a friend told me that the zucchini probably added a lot of liquid to the mix, darn!) so I added another potato.

Once pureed, that made three serves, one into the freezer, one to the fridge for tomorrow, and one with a lovely rye-sourdough roll for dinner. That was very filling, so I didn’t need much else. Next time, though, I think I’ll use milk as my fluid base, with some chicken stock cubes, to see if I can give it a more creamy taste. Still, it wasn’t bad for my first try. I’ll probably throw in some cooked and diced chicken breast and some silky tofu if I make a bigger batch, so that there is plenty of protein, especially if it’s going to be used as a main meal. And definitely use broccoli, not zucchini for my “green”. Maybe celery, too.

Thin, yes, I got you! 🙂 I forgot it was April 1st when I posted, but yes, I was joking about the beetroot.
It will be good when you get past known territory into new areas and new vistas.
Re jigsaws, I occasionally do one online using my iPad – and then feel appalled at “wasting” 2 or 3 hours. At the moment, literally every flat surface in my home (except my bedroom furniture) is covered in either books or papers, which does make doing an actual jigsaw somewhat challenging. Even my poor treadmill is covered in papers. I actually need to do something about organising better, as my mind feels disorganised just seeing it all.

Interesting discussion re calorie counts of foods. When I’m being really careful, I always measure everything exactly, but when I’m not minding if I have 1000 or 1300 calories, I don’t bother. Re bacon, it’s not something I eat very often, and very very rarely buy, but tiny bits in a soup might be nice.
LJoyce, I wonder if the calorie count given assumed that all the fatty parts of the bacon strips were cut off and discarded?

LindsayL, happy belated anniversary. It’s so good that Mr L is taking more of an interest in life. Let’s hope 1) that the “temporary” fix lasts a good while, and 2) that the nerves regenerate so a more permanent fix isn’t needed.

Okay, enough for now. Stay safe and well everyone.

Good morning,
What a lot I have to catch up on. Luckily there is an extra hour to do it in!

MsO Hello! Lovely to see you here and big congratulations on your 5:2ing workouts, and managing to keep your business going inspite of everything. Best wishes.
You will feel so good when you get nicely into that healthy weight range.

Hello Country Gal,
Hello to Monty, Oh dear what a shock those dogs would be for him. Is he beginning to realise they are not as frightening as they seem?
Your silverbeet casserole sounds so wonderful, what a list of things that go so well together!

LJoyce, How did the porridge loaf turn out?
I love oats in my loaf, they make it softer.

Thin,
My Gordon Ramsey recipe?
(What the f*** are you talking about you f***ing idiot? Why would I f***ing swear cooking f***ing carrot soup???)
😀 😀
It is a very good recipe. The only one of his I have in my repertoire.

Anzac, Oh my heart what a fright you and Mr Anzac had on top of everything, and what wonderful relief to find he scanned okay.
So proud of you managing to keep your weight going down. You DO want to be in your best health possible, going through this difficult time. All power to you.
How did Mr Anzac’s first session go?

Hi Neil, sending you good wishes that you can keep your exercise up somehow, and those bad habits down somehow.
Best wishes to Mrs Neil, won’t she love it when she can get properly back into the garden. All the wonderful produce will surely help her recovery.

Lindsay HOORAY! So wonderful to hear the Mr Lindsay has his voice back. I have my fingers crossed it has grown even stronger. How delightful that there are further interventions that mean he should be able to keep that vocal chord plump and strong!
And HOORAY for those blood results. They alone make all your hard work worth while. I do hope you are able to manage some better sleep, it makes all the difference.

Bad sleep has been my problem this week and it makes my CFS symptoms worse. So not only do I continuously want to eat because I am so tired, but added extra because I am dizzy and shaky and my brain is sure that eating something will help. (It doesn’t). Luckily the last couple of nights I have slept a lot better (hence chirpily catching up with you all today 🙂 )

Hi Turn, well done with your slow and steady weight loss.
Haha the dog story. How will they explain to their owners that they want scrambled eggs?
I haven’t minded the kids for a while, but I am hoping to do some lovely holiday things with them (term ends on Friday).

Betsy hello! Thanks for that name idea. I will give the ideas to the group to think about (if I get to do it – no response yet).

Re soup: What an impressive adventure.
I have a zucchini soup recipe I absolutely love that is very similar to your cauliflower one (if you don’t notice the tsp of butter that is added). It is so simple it is hard to believe it tastes so good, and when I made it once with stock, instead of water, I was disappointed because it muddied its delicate taste. I think it would work without butter.

Zucchini Soup
500g of zucchini, cook in boiling water to cover, until soft. Cool and blend.
Mix in 1 cup of milk, 1 tsp butter, salt and pepper.
Reheat gently to serve.

On soups generally, I have always preferred a potato in soup, rather than cream. So my cream of cauliflower soup has a carrot and a potato but no cream. And so does my celery soup, also a blended one.

Apologies one and all, I may have been responsible for messing up the recipes thread with my lack of concentration on fast day calorie counting. In my defense I was encouraged to add recipes there, and I stopped when I realised they really weren’t suitable.

Lindsay, Happy Anniversary! What a beautiful dinner, and view.
https://www.thesite.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Anniversary-Wishes-681×426.jpg

Haha re Dr Mosley’s recipes. I hope you find some gorgeous different ones to make for a change.

I am hoping to make chili con carne today with lots of black beans in it too. It will be ready to eat tomorrow.

But it is fast day today, so I have yuba and shiitake soaking for my miso soup 🙂 It is nice to be feeling healthily hungry.

Cheers all!

Good evening everyone.

Thin, yes you’re right, if I were doing a 500 cal FD, I’d definitely calorie count every gram of food eaten. At the moment, I’m just trying to stay several hundred calories below my current TDEE, to create a calorie deficit. That means eating around 1200 calories, give or take a couple of hundred. It’s not really 5:2 as such.

I know I’ll have to move to doing a strict 5:2 as the weight comes down, or I’ll stop losing weight, but at the moment I seem really tired all the time so I’m easing my way down gently. That’s the plan with the soups. If I can manage to create some good soup recipes I enjoy, I’ll then aim for a couple of days a week of soups = FDs.

The soup I made on Saturday works out at around 380 calories. Three portions = about 130 calories each time, suitable for FDs. Add the roll, it’s different though.

That’s 1/2 a small cauliflower less than 70 cals, 2 medium potatoes 210 cals, 3 tsp crushed garlic 15 cals, 1/4 sm onion 5 cals, medium zucchini 30 cals, chicken stock 250 ml 15 cals, full cream milk about 50 ml 35 cals.
For a FD, with little else eaten, that would be entirely reasonable.

For Saturday, I ate one soup serve with a buttered (marg-ed) rye-sourdough roll, around 250 cals for the roll plus 175 for the generous marg., so 555 calories for the meal. I added about 450 cals for dessert. Note though that I ate one breakfast biscuit (55 cals) around lunchtime to take my meds, and 1 biscuit mid-evening (50 cals) to take other meds, so overall calorie count for the day was only 1110 calories. Eating this way seems to suit me at the moment, and I don’t feel deprived. Sometimes I eat a bit more, sometimes less, and the scales are gradually going down.

What I’ll do if I make a more substantial soup – with maybe bacon, maybe chicken, tofu, whatever, is not eat a bread roll, to keep the calorie count down. That should work.

All of the above is to show that I do have an idea of the number of calories I’m eating and yes, I know it’s not “kosher” 5:2. With more weight off, I should have more energy. I hope so. I’m tired of being tired. All my recent blood tests were fine, mildly elevated cholesterol as usual, but otherwise no problems, so all I can do is persevere with the weight loss, but I just can’t put pressure on myself.

Countrygal1, yes, it’s been cold here, too. I think you’ve been having a lot of rain over your way? Are you okay? No flooding? At least the forecast is for slightly better weather over the next several days – even 26 and 25 for Melbourne over next weekend.

Cinque, sorry to read of your sleep problems. Let’s hope they’re over for now.
I may try your zucchini soup, but how do you keep it from being too watery? I wouldn’t use cream in soup, but full cream milk instead of my usual 2% milk will give it a more creamy taste. I only used the chicken stock last time as it was in the freezer and had been there a while, and even then I threw in a dash of milk.

Hope everyone else is doing okay. Stay well!

Morning all.

How’s Monty settling in CG?

We’ve had a weekend of dog shows – our girl took top honours on Saturday but then nothing yesteray. Judges are meant to judge to the standard, but of course it’s subjective and yesterday’s judge put up the oldest (and therefore the most solid and coated) dogs. I’m okay with that – my girl is only two and a half, and the breed doesn’t mature for a while. Saturday’s judge saw her worth, so that was enough.

Thin isn’t it great being busy? Too easy to wander into the kitchen (or galley?) when time hangs heavy.

All this cauliflower soup talk and on the way to the show yesterday I passed the fruit market which was advertising them for $2 each. I stopped and got two on the way home. Not the biggest, nor the best quality don’t think, but okay. Soup tonight!

Gosh Cinque, poor sleep on top of your condition makes life difficult. A dreadful feeling, laying awake at night with all manner of stuff running on full speed through a wakeful brain. Glad to hear it’s been a little better. Thank you for the beautiful flowers.

I have a zucchini recipe that came with the pressure cooker, and it is amazing. Problem is (a) I can’t find the recipe book, and (b) the pressure cooker terrifies me. I’ll see if I can locate the recipe though – it does have a little butter, but so few calories otherwise, and it’s so delicious my OH eats it happily ….athough generally he doesn’t care for zucchini.

OK must fly ….off to the GP for my next B12 shot. My levels were okay, but she felt a higher level would help with the current stress. It’s the second in the series of 3. Then to the myotherapist for treatment for the sinovitus, and then home to celebrate Miss 6’s birthday ….her little party was cancelled on Saturday because the kids next door, who were to come, have tested positive on Saturday. Her third birthday event interrupted. She is sanguine about it all. I love how they adapt. She popped home from playing next door recently to ask for a mask because her friend had the sniffles. No issue. Back she went, all masked up. (the neighbours are lovely – the mum sent her daughter over with her negative RAT before Miss 5, as she was then, went to play).

Mr OH is off to his eye specialist today – one of the downsides of the immunotherapy is that it affects his eyesight, which is already very poor. Gosh he’s been through a lot.

How is Mr Anzac going, Anzac? Are you both okay?

have a terrific day all.

Good afternoon everyone.

Cinque, sounds like you are struggling to get your sleep pattern sorted – mine’s all over the place too.
I rarely make soups that contain meat, but the chicken and veg soup does sound comforting – especially with the corn, I love corn with chicken. In the early days of 5:2 I used to make chicken and veg soup on FDs and then add a packet of konjac noodles to turn it into chicken noodle. I stopped doing it because I found out the hard way that konjac noodles cannot be frozen – they become inedible (like rubber bands) and ruin the soup.
As to the porridge bread, I’d describe it as “worthy”. In other words, full of fibre, very dense and a small portion is enough – which is not a bad thing. I often use oats in a loaf or on the outside. The main difference this time is that I used mostly rolled rye and barley and soaked it overnight in cultured buttermilk.

Lindsay, well done on Rosy’s success on Saturday. Lovely story about your granddaughter. All the talk of soup has inspired me too.

Betsy, do what works for you. If I’ve noticed anything here it’s that everyone has their own method of controlling their eating.
Your description of the soup being a bit watery had me thinking about why mine never is. I’ll explain why below.

Thin, I started out the same way with spreadsheet full of calorie counted FD recipes and then just relied on a few, although the choices have changed a bit over the years.

CG, I gather from your description of Monty relaxed with the spaniels, that they have now adjusted to each other. It’s good to have harmony back in the household.

After all the talk of soups I decided it was the week to make some, even though the weather is heating up here in a few days, they freeze well. Like Lindsay I saw a cauli at the supermarket that was much better priced than they have been in a while – $3.50 (they have been $6 here) – it was very firm and fresh. As I tend to cook by instinct rather than recipe I decided to document what I did with photographs as it’s probably more reliable than the recipe I previously posted.
https://imgur.com/a/7dVPUWe The fresh ingredients are a cauliflower, a huge onion (or 2 small), 4 smallish carrots and chopped garlic. The flavours are chicken stock powder, ground pepper, oregano (or parsley or thyme) and not featured was a couple of pinches of nutmeg that I added when blending. I put the chopped onion in the pot with a small knob of butter, lots of pepper and a pinch of salt – which stops the onion browning but allows it to soften. Then I add the garlic and roughly chopped carrots and cauli and stir for a minute or so. I add enough boiling water to almost cover the the veg – I think this is key to getting a thick soup, don’t submerge the veg in liquid. If I’m using dried herbs I’ll add them now and also 2 heaped tsp of chicken stock powder. (I don’t use homemade stock because it doesn’t have enough flavour unless you make it with whole older chickens (which are hard to find), lots of stock veg and then concentrate it. Made with the just the bones it has hardly any flavour.) I simmer the veg until it’s very tender then I add 3-4 tblsp skim milk powder – this gives me the creamy dairy flavour without the diluting the soup. I also added a couple of pinches of nutmeg. Then I pureed it with a stick blender. The final soup is an apricot colour from the carrot and very thick. I will add a handful of grated cheese directly to the bowl of soup after I heat it in the microwave tonight – that makes it even thicker. I didn’t use any potato, but I still end up with a very thick soup. It tastes nice without the cheese, but even better with it.

On the weight front it has not been a great week. My weight was stubbornly stable for most of the week, but declining sleep led to a poor eating day on Saturday which saw my weight for the week up by almost a kilo. After several nights of falling asleep later and later, I actually got no sleep at all on Friday night. By 5am I admitted defeat and got up. No sleep means my body craves any other source of energy it can get. That resulted in a bacon and egg toasted sandwich at 7:30am, muesli for lunch and roast chicken breast and veg for dinner followed by a scoop of low fat icecream and raspberries for dessert. Not a horrendous day, but I am strongly punished for any deviations from my 800cal low carb regime at present.
I am determined to get back onto Fast800 but am fighting cravings now that my body is out of ketosis. I will persevere.

No guesses what I am having for dinner – cauli cheese soup and I will team it with 1 slice of toasted porridge bread and a boiled egg.

Hope you are all going well today.

Good morning,
CG, I missed your post a couple of days ago, so lucky LJoyce mentioned Monty settling in. Ooh so cute to think of them all happy together.

A 21 yo grandchild is so impressive. I had my house all ready for my daughter’s babies, but blinked my eyes and they are both at school. They’ll be turning 21 before I finish this post, at this rate!

LJoyce, oh no the frozen konjac noodles. And haha the worthy bread. I bet it has great flavour, and personally I’d have it over white frothy bread any day.

Your soup looks wonderful and so lovely and thick.

I had a busy day yesterday and skipped lunch, which I was very pleased about. Felt chilly this morning and made porridge. Lovely.
Getting myself into the headspace for fasting tomorrow.

Cheers all.

LJ, maybe you can re-gift the chocolates to someone else in SA who appreciates their worth. And oh, the frozen konjac noodles, I learned that the hard way too.

Thin, yes I had just considered including them with the other Haighs easter chocolates I need to buy. I”m sure I can make that work. They are hidden away for now. It doesn’t solve the influx of chocolates on easter Sunday, but that is a problem for another day.
I do nerdle every day and wordle and quordle most days. My system with quordle is to put in 2 or 3 words with no repeated letters. My choice of second and third words are chosen with the initial clues in mind. I also ensure all vowels are covered by those 3 words and the most common consonants. Then if I’m certain of an answer I’ll put it in (no point waiting as 4 of your 9 words must be used for the 4 solutions). If I’m not certain of any words, I work on the word that is most likely to give me some good clues for other words too. It almost always takes 8-9 words for me to solve, but this system seems to work as it’s rare that I don’t get all 4 words. Although the words that rely on a “y” but contain no vowels always have me scratching my head wondering what on earth the word could be.

Morning all

I had my weigh-in today, I’m down just over half a kilo and I’ve been getting out each day to get a morning walk before work or playing a round of frisbee golf at lunchtime each day.

I’ve been pretty busy with either work, doing things around the home (my wife still isn’t up to much at the moment) and working on the frisbee golf course.

Haven’t had too much time to read through the posts but I hope you’re all doing ok.

Have a great one everyone