Thank you diabetes

I've now lost a little over 80 pounds and feel so much better for it. The extra energy, from not carrying that extra weight, not to mention the pressure off my heart, lungs, the ease of movement from not having all that extra on my knees, on my feet, all this is amazing. I still have a huge amount further to go, but I'm getting there.
Now I've lost enough for everyone to notice the difference, it's amazing the little, and big things that pick me up and help me do this, each and every day. The compliments are wonderful. I appreciate each and every person who has told me how much better I'm looking, how I should be proud of myself, or how they are proud of me. Thank you so very much everyone who has told me this. I love you for it.
I love the fact that I can sit in armchairs now and not feel pain as my thighs are squeezed against them. I love that my clothes are baggy, or gone as they are just too big to wear any more. I love that moving is easier, so I do more of it, so it becomes even easier, so I do even more of it. I love the Lao folks for whom losing a great deal of weight is rarely a good thing, who didn't want to ask me directly why I'd lost so much, so called Kam, my housekeeper to see if I was alright and if they could help in any way. It is so very kind and thoughtful. I love that someone called the other morning to ask if I wanted to go to Zumba. I'm not ready for that yet, but I love the fact that you did that. You wouldn't have - for very good reasons - this time last year.
I love that I'm losing weight, and getting fitter and getting my life back and getting my spark back and I wouldn't have been doing any of these things if I hadn't got diabetes, so maybe, maybe I love that I got diabetes. Of course it would have been so much better to do this without getting something so serious. I don't like waking up and pricking my finger to test my blood before I've eaten. I don't like the odd time I screw up the blood sugar, going too low, then bouncing too high as I try to fix it and yoyo-ing around for a day or two until I sort it all out. I don't like the dizzy spells and the muscle cramps and the pins and needles and the nightmares I've had about going blind. I don't like that my stupidity with what I ate has caused me to probably shorten my life by several years. That is so very stupid. But if I'm truly honest, this time last year, on the path I was on, I didn't, deep down, expect to be around by this Christmas. And if friends and family are honest too, neither did they.  And now, thanks to diabetes, now I expect to live a much longer, much more active and much healthier life for many many years to come. We can't tell the future. God knows this year has shown that more than any other, but I feel so full of optimism, that had all but evaporated, a year ago.

Pork with leeks and beans

Ingredients

For the leeks and beans:

2 large or 4 small leeks

1 tin butter beans 

1 tablespoon butter

200 ml vegetable stock

1 apple

For the pork:

500 grams pork tenderloin - sliced into 1 cm pieces

1 clove of garlic

3 tablespoons white wine

 1 teaspoon butter

1 teaspoon oil

1 teaspoon finely chopped sage

1 tablespoon grainy dijon mustard

2 tablespoons cream

Clean and chop the leeks into 3 cm lengths. Peel and dice the apple. Fry the leeks and apple in the butter until they start to brown. Add a spoonful of thestock and cover the pan. simmer for 10 minutes, adding more stock as necessary to prevent from burning.

Meanwhile, melt the butter and oil in a pan. Fry the pork pieces over a high heat, until browned. 

Finely dice the garlic.

Remove the pork from the pan and deglaze it with the wine. Once you have done this, add the garlic, sage and mustard to the wine mixture and stir. Return the pork to the pan and cook for a further minute. 

Add the strained butter beans to the leeks and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, stir the cream into the pork and allow to bubble, stirring all the time.

Turn of the heat and spoon the leek and beans on to a plate. Top with the pork and pour some of the creamy sauce over.

Eat immediately,

Caesar Salad

This salad, simply leaves and dressing, is so good. Of course you can add grilled chicken, avocado, olives, capers, and so on, but it stands so wonderfully well on it's own. Traditionally it's made with raw egg yolks, but as I'm wary of using those, I substitute them for the yolks of hard boiled eggs. I don't personally think that it makes a huge difference to the taste, but it definitely makes me happier to eat the salad. It also contains croutons, and these could easily be substituted with, say, roasted almonds, but they aren't a huge part of the salad, volume wise, and by the time they have been toasted with olive oil, they aren't going to have a huge impact on the GI, so I use them. But then have to resist the temptation to eat the rest of the bread!

Ingredients
For the dressing:
2 cloves of garlic
6 anchovies
2 tablespoons lime juice
1.5 tablespoons smooth dijon mustard
The yolks of two hard boiled eggs
Half a cup of olive oil
Half a cup of grated parmesan cheese

For the croutons:
1 teaspoon rosemary
1 teaspoon thyme
Pepper
4 garlic cloves
3 tablespoons olive oil
Fresh bread

Also:
The heart of several romaine lettuces
Shavings of parmesan


Mix the dressing ingredients in a blender.
For the croutons, preheat the oven to 200C.
Chop the rosemary and thyme into tiny pieces and add to a jar with the pepper, finely chopped garlic, and olive oil. Shake vigorously.
Slice the bread then tear into tiny pieces.
Pour the oil mix over the bread and mix well to coat.
Scatter into a roasting tin and put in the oven for about 10 minutes till crispy.
Put the whole lettuce leaves in a bowl. Pour over the dressing. Mix gently with your hands.
Arrange on a plate. Scatter the croutons over and finish with the parmesan shavings.

Asparagus soup with ham 'croutons'

500 grams asparagus, woody bits removed
500 ml vegetable stock
4 tablespoons cream - or thick yoghurt
a handful spinach chopped
one onion, finely chopped
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon butter
diced bacon or ham

Fry the bacon or ham in the butter. Once crispy, remove, and put on a piece of kitchen towel to remove any excess oil. Keep the fat in the pan.
Set aside some asparagus tips for decoration and chop the rest into 2cm lengths.
Fry with the onion in the bacon fat.
Add 100 ml of the stock and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the spinach and remove from the heat.
Using a hand blender, blend the mixture into soup adding more stock if necessary. Add the cream and heat till almost boiling. Add more stock as necessary and remove from the heat.
This is delicious hot or cold, served with some of the cream - or yoghurt, the bacon and the asparagus tips. Also delicious hot with a freshly poached egg dropped in.

Chocolate and coffee panna cotta

Ingredients

350 ml cream

1 sheet gelatin

1.5 tablespoons soft brown sugar (less if you like really bitter!)

100g chocolate, shaved into pieces

1 tablespoon instant espresso powder, made up with a little hot water to a thick paste.

 2 tablespoons milk

Cut the gelatin into small pieces  and soak in the milk.

 

Warm the cream with the brown sugar until it is completely dissolved..

Make the coffee to a paste and stir into the milk

Add the gelatin in milk and stir until completely dissolved.

 

Put into ramekin dishes, spinkle with the chocolate and stir through.

Leave to set overnight in the fridge.

Italian Beef Stew

Ingredients

1 onion - chopped up finely

2 cloves garlic, diced

1 tablespoon regular oil

1 teaspoon dried Rosemary, finely chopped

1 red pepper, cut into thin strips

1 tablespoon olive oil

500 grams beef, cut into thin strips

1 large tin tomatoes, or 1 kilogram of fresh tomatoes, roasted and finely diced

200 ml vegetable stock or beef stock

Generous handful of olives

Parsley to serve

Heat the regular oil in a large frying pan. Sweat the onions, garlic and peppers with the rosemary.

Heat the olive oil and brown the beef in a separate pan - or the same one, having set the onions, etc. aside.

Once browned, add the tomatoes and the onions, etc.

 Simmer for around 15 minutes

Throw in the olives.

Cook for a couple more minutes and serve warm with the parsley sprinkled over.

Cobb Salad

Ingredients:

Lettuce, a vinaigrette, and EAT COBB:

Egg
Avocado
Tomato

Chicken
Onion (spring!)
Bacon
Blue cheese

For the vinaigrette,  we used:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1.5 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon lime juice
0.25 teaspoon Dijon mustard
A little minced garlic
Salt and pepper

Lay the leaves on a plate.
Boil and peel the egg.
Poach or grill the chicken
Dice everything into cubes a little under 1cm.
Fry the bacon in its own fat.
Arrange all the ingredients on the lettuce.
Shake the vinaigrette ingredients together in a jar and pour over the salad.
Eat immediately.

Falling off the bone ribs

I've missed ribs. They are great low GI food, until the sauce goes on, then the sweet sticky delicious gooeyness just turns them into a totally hopeless food, GI wise. But, there isn't any reason you can't do the fall apart ribs and put a more GI friendly sauce on.
These ribs were oven roasted with a rub, and then you can choose what sauce to add before barbecuing if you wish, or eat them as they are, delicious.

Ingredients
1 kilo pork ribs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons paprika
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon Chinese all spice
Juice of two limes
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 cup of black tea

Preheat the oven to 180C.
Remove the membrane from the ribs and place them in a roasting tray.
Mix the oil and lime juice and rub that over the ribs.
Mix together all the other ingredients, except the tea and rub them into the meat.
Add the tea to the tray and cover with silver foil, shiny side up.
Cook for 3 hours.
Either serve like this, using a fork (or your fingers) to tear apart the meat, or add a sauce and barbecue.

Roast chicken with white beans, capers and limes.

Ingredients:
Four chicken pieces, skin on
Two tins haricot blanc
Two tablespoons capers
Three limes, thinly sliced

Preheat the oven to 180C.
Rinse the beans and put in a roasting tin.
Add the capers.
Place the chicken pieces on the beans and add the slices from two limes.

Add a cup of water
Roast for 30 minutes, turning once.
Turn the chicken again so it's skin side up (where possible).
Turn the heat right up and cook for ten more minutes.
Meanwhile cook the rest of the lime slices in a dry pan until slightly caramalised and serve.

Steak salad with horseradish cream

So full of flavour. A real treat.

We made the salad a luxury one as we were having steak, but of course, you can put whatever you want in it. a

Ingredients:

 One piece of sirloin steak

Half an iceburg lettuce

A handful of each of the following:

green beans, topped, tailed, stringy bits removed and sliced

cherry tomatoes, halved

mange tout, topped and tailed

A few spears of asparagus, tough bottom removed

A few sticks of celery, sliced finely

A few spring onions, sliced finely

One courgette (we used several mini ones), sliced into rounds

A selection of lettuce leaves and pea shoots

Two tablespoons whipped cream (or yoghurt - ideally greek)

A little butter and maybe some olive oil

One tablespoon regular oil (not olive oil or butter - both of which have low smoking temperatures)

Salt and pepper

A spoonful of horseradish (mustard or wasabi are ok substitutes)

Optional extra ideas - olives, capers, carrots, cucumber, guerkins, artichoke hearts, peppers

First remove the steak from the fridge to bring up to room temperature.

Next, boil the green beans and the asparagus. 

Then boil the mange tout. 

Once they are ready, dip them in cold water to stop the cooking and leave to completely cool.

Fry the courgette in butter, then put to one side to cool (you could also oven roast them if you prefer).

Fry the tomatoes in olive oil or butter, set aside to cool (you could also oven roast them if you prefer).

Make a non stick pan very hot then add the regular oil.

Put the steak in, season it, but don't move it for two minutes.

Turn it and season it.

Don't touch it for two minutes.

Turn it.

After one more minute turn it.

After one more minute remove from the heat and put on a cutting board. Do not cut it yet.

Rub it with butter.

Toss the lettuce together in a bowl

Arrange the rest of the salad (leaving aside some spring onions) over the lettuce.

Mix the cream (or yoghurt), spring onions and horseradish together.

Slice the steak which has now rested.

Arrange on the salad and top with the horseradish cream.

Bacon, tomatoes and poached eggs

Simple and delicious!

First cook the tomatoes. We used cherry tomatoes that we had halved, but you can cook them whole and squash them. They are going to go under the egg for when the yolk spills out so you want plenty. It doesn't matter if they are warm or not - either way tastes good.
Put some water on to boil.
Next cook the bacon in it's own fat. If the quality isn't good, it may have been pumped with water, which will need draining, but most bacon here is great quality done by local butchers who care! How crispy you want your bacon is a personal thing!
Add a spoon of vinegar to the water. This helps to hold the white together.
When the water is boiling, turn it down to a simmer and use a spoon to stir it fast until it spins on it's own. Pour an egg into the centre. Allow to cook until the white is held together then turn the gas off. Use a slotted spoon to pick it up carefully and check that the white is cooked. Ideally you want the white completely done and the yolk still runny.
Serve immediately on the tomatoes with the bacon on the side.

Cheesy creamy mushroomy eggs en cocotte

These are easy, impressive, and both delicious and filling.

Ingredients - per person

100 grams mushrooms

2 dried mushrooms, soaked in very hot water for 20 minutes

One clove garlic, finely diced

One very fresh egg

One tablespoon cream

A sprinkling cheddar cheese

Two teaspoons butter

Preheat the oven (to around 180C).

Chop the mushrooms finely. 

Melt 1 teaspoon of butter and cook the garlic. Next add the mushrooms. Season. Cook gently until all liquid has gone.

Add half the cream.

Grease the dish with the rest of the butter and add the mushrooms.

Make a dent in the mushrooms and pour in the egg.

Pour cream over and sprinkle with cheese.

Half fill a baking tray with water and add the dishes. Cook for around 15 minutes until the cooked. Ideally serve immediately, though I was surprised to realise it works well cold and microwaves well (though the yolk may harden!)

Lentil and sweet potato soup

Ingredients

4 sweet potatoes

125 grams red lentils

2 onions

3 tablespoons paprika (mixed with chilli powder if you want)

1 tablespoon oil

A generous handful of coriander

1.5 litres vegetable stock

Salt and pepper 

Peel and chop the sweet potatoes. Arrange on a baking tray with one quartered onion. Add salt and pepper and roast for about 40 minutes until beginning to caramalise.

Finely chop one onion and the leaves and stems of the coriander, leaving aside a few leaves for decoration later. Fry in the oil.

Add the paprika.

Stir and fry a little more till completely coated.

Add the lentils

Stir to coat thoroughly, then add the stock. Bring to a fast boil then simmer for 20 minutes.

Chop up the roast onion and add that and the sweet potato to the soup.

Cook for about 5 more minutes then liquidise half the soup. Stir in the rest and serve with the coriander on top.

Cinnamon apples with pistachio cream

Ingredients
6 apples
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons soft brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1 lime

2 cups cream
1 cup yoghurt
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 tablespoons pistachios
1 tablespoon mixed nuts and seeds

Peel and slice the apples into circles. Soak in lemon juice to stop from going brown.
Mix the butter, sugar and cinnamon powder together.
Arrange the apple slices on a baking tray.
Spread the butter mix over the apple slices.
Bake for about 15 minutes until starting to caramalize.

Meanwhile, put the nuts in a tray and roast for around 5 minutes to bring out hte flavour.
Whip the cream. Stir through the vanilla essence. Add the yoghurt and stir together. 
Mix in the nuts and seeds and serve with the warm apples.

Chocolate mousse with ginger berries (egg free)

High cocoa chocolate is fairly low GI, so using a dark chocolate, and not adding extra sugar makes this a great low GI dessert. Berries are low on the GI scale too.
I love desserts! Especially this one.
Not using eggs means that this can be safely made when pasturised eggs aren''t available.

100 grams dark chocolate - ideally 70 - 80 %
200 ml double cream
Pinch salt
A handful of mixed frozen berries (we used blueberries, strawberries and blackberries)
half teaspoon finely grated (or chopped) ginger
generous pinch ground ginger

Put some water on to boil and break the chocolate into a pyrex dish with a lip that allows it to fit over the boiling water, while steam can escape.

Once the water is boiling, turn down to a simmer and put the broken chocolate dish over the water, taking care that the bowl doesn't touch the water.


Warm the  cream and salt, taking it just below boiling point.

When the chocolate is melted (and take care with this, if you leave it too long, it'll spoil), pour in the cream and mix thoroughly. If you are too slow with this, you'll end up with lumps of solid chocolate in with the mousse - I can think of worse problems!

Leave to set. Ideally overnight or for around 4 hours.


Meanwhile, gently heat the fruit with the ginger until it breaks down.

Pass the fruit through a sieve, if you want.

Serve with the mousse and some cream.

Ratatouille with poached eggs

The key to this is to cut the ingredients into small 1cm cubes to help it work with the eggs.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
200 grams cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 tin tomatoes (opened and diced)
1 courgette, diced into 1cm cubes
1 red pepper, sliced into thin strips around 3 cms long
4 aubergines, diced into 1 cm cubes
2 onions, diced into 1cm pieces
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
A generous handful of basil leaves, torn, with a few leaves set aside for decoration
2 teaspoons oregano
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
500ml vegetable stock
3 eggs
Salt and pepper to taste

In one pan fry the onions and red peppers with one tablespoon of olive oil.

In another fry the cherry tomatoes with the rest of the olive oil.

Add the garlic to the onions.
Fry for a couple more minutes over a low/medium heat.
Add the oregano and the rest of the vegetables, including the tinned tomatoes.

Simmer for 30 - 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add stock as and when needed.
Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.
Stir the balsamic vinegar through the vegetables.
Break the eggs into three individual bowls.

Make three dips in the ratatouille and pour the eggs into each dip.
Simmer gently for around 10 - 15 minutes until the white is cooked but the yolk is still runny.

Sprinkle with basil leaves.

Serve immediately, eat communally from the pan.
Delicious.