My new favorite toy

Okay so it's not exactly a toy, but it sure is fun!

It's my portion plate! A smaller than average plate (mine is a peter rabbit childs one, teehee), that divides your plate into 3 sections; the largest section for veg, and two smaller, equally sized sections, one for protein and one for carbs. I use my plate for basically every meal, unless i need a bowl. But it's great, it means that if i have something relatively unhealthy in my meal, i can balance this out with double the amount of something good, so the 'naughty' part of the meal, will never be the dominant part.


Like i said, my plate is a childs plate, which i found in the back of my moms cupboard, but there are proper adult portion plates on the market. Alternatively you can make yor own by marking on divisions onto your own plate.
Pretty simple huh!

Rooobarb.

I was kindly given 4 stalks(..branches..sticks?!) of rhubarb the other day by a friend of a friend of a friend who grows his own! So for lunch today, i thought i'd whisk up some rhubarb and greek yoghurt, for a sweet and tangy treat! Yum.

I figured such a complex and ambitious dish would need documenting, no?! So that's what i did. For my first photographed post i give you...Rhubarb and Greek Yoghurt *rounds of applause* ;)

The delightful twosome.

So firstly you want to chop up the sticks, into 1 inch chunks and place in a saucepan.

Add just enough water to cover and enough sugar to taste, not too much as you can add more later, a couple of small table spoons will do it.

Add a lid and let simmer for a few minutes, until rhubard looks soft and sringy, keep tasting to see if you need to add more sugar. Drain it, add to a bowl with yoghurt, ice-cream, soft serve, whatever you want and enjoyyy!!

In the words of jim carrey it was B.E.A.Utifull!

Oh chocolate chips how i love thee..

Why is it that eating a handful of chocolate chips is so much more appealing than munching on a bar?! It must have something to do with their cute little innocent size or maybe because you automatically feel less guily popping in a few chocolate chips than gobbling on a solid block of the good stuff?!

Well i recently bought nestle milk chocolate chips, (cue another image from google... i need a camera), souly for the purpose of baking chocolate chip cookies, or muffins, or anything yummy that takes my fancy.
Yet i find the packet is quicky diminishing before my eyes, (there's only so many times i can say to myself we must have mice...), even with a half a bar of tesco finest organic equadorian milk chocolate(holy yumster!) in the fridge, i still opt for the chocolate chips :S I wonder how easy it is to create your own chocolate chips..*rubs chin*

All that said, i am now gonna dig my trotter into the packet of goodness and please my snout :)

Be jealous my friends be jealous...oink.

Oh so innocent..

For tonight's dinner i was feeling rather lazy and sluggish from my cold, so instead of whipping up something from scratch, i grabbed an innocent veg pot: roasted vegatable couscous which i'd picked up from the clearance section at the supermarket earlier today and decided to give it a go.

Ingredients:
Tomato, cooked rice (water, brown rice, red rice), cannellini beans, borlotti beans, carrot, tomato puree, onion, red onion, cooked cous cous (5%) (water, durum wheat semolina) (contains gluten), roasted beetroot (5%) spinach (1%), water, vegetable oil, coconut sugar, pumpkin seed (0.5%), cornflour, garlic, lemon juice, sea salt, parsley, basil, thyme, black pepper, caraway seed.

At 460 calories i was a bit shocked, but then the majority of the pot is taken up by rice, beans and pulses-all calorie heavy.
Taste wise the veg pot was a bit bland, smelled delicious but lacked a bit of pizaz! Texture wise, it was a bit sloppy, i added some seed mix to add a bit of crunch otherwise the rice, soft veg and beans can all contribute to a big mush!
On the plus side the veg pot did fill me up, par from a crisp bread i used to soak up some of the juice, i didnt need an addition to the meal, the veg pot was very satisfying :D You can't knock innocents lack of additives in the veg pot, the pot does consist of a variation of veg all quite fresh and interesting. Overall as far as a quick microwavable dinner goes, tonights veg pot was a thumbs up. Probably wouldn't repurchase at £1.79 again though, only if i came across another one in the clearance section!

The daily plate.

The daily plate is a website, part of the LiveStrong group which aids you to count calories, track what you're eating through the day as well as providing a food journal and endless advice and information on dieting.
I joined the website a month ago and am enjoying it imensely, i feel it's really made a difference to the way i eat on a daily basis (in a positive way!), it's movivating, interesting and most importantly fun!!. Unlike a simple food journal the daily plate offers so much more and all in one place!

My favorite part of the website though is the MyPlate- Track your food and exercise, as well as nutrition consumption by simpling entering what you have eaten that day to your 'daily plate'.

After signing up, you first decide on a weight loss goal, i.e 1 pound a week. You will then calculate your daily calorie allowance, this is done by entering your age, weight, height, all that good stuff, then entering your activity level i.e moderatly active(cleaning, child care etc).
Once you've calculated your calorie allowance you keep track of what you've eaten throughout the day by adding it to your plate, this can either be done through selecting from a huge database of food, or alternatively adding generic calorie amounts, the calories are then subtracted from your total allowance, informing you of your remaining calories for that day.
There is also the option of entering exercise done that day, which in turn will be taken away for your Net total calories.
Additional applications;

• Daily Water Consumption
• Net Calories By Day graph
• My recipes
• My meals
• Fequently eaten
  

and much more!..The best part is you can sign up for free! I really would reccommend the website for anyone has trouble tracking their intake, or just for pure curiosity to see exactly what you do eat in a day! It's quite surprising! And no im not affiliated with the website in anyway, i've just enjoyed it and spreading my experience. ;)