Lovely medium raw fillet steak on a bed of spicy veg. Looks like a massive plate. I had no trouble finishing it off.

I feel a little bit guilty, we just discussed this week at work what a burden to environment beef is. Our company has nothing to with food unfortunately, but the topic came up as Barry who looks after our environmental agenda presented some numbers and suggested that we stop serving beef in our canteen. Not entirely unexpectedly to anyone apart from maybe Barry his proposal didn't go down well with the audience mainly consisting of middle-aged Yorkshire men who recognise three food groups: pork, beef and gravy. (I know I'm being prejudiced and unfair, I actually know a vegetarian Yorkshire man, young Adam from work and it is entirely possible there are others.) In the debate I supported Barry perhaps slightly hypocritically considering my secret steak habit and the fact that I don't eat in the canteen because I'm based in our Southern office. But opposition was fierce. The main reason for this tended to be "I like beef". Fair enough.

But stats are very much supporting poor heckled Barry, I hope it's safe for him to return to work soon. According to him 26% of all greenhouse gases come from food production, and about half of that from beef. If you disagree with the numbers talk to Barry, but I had a quick look and although there are lots of estimates out there, whatever numbers you go by the fact remains, beef is quite a culprit.

So I am going to improve my ways and do some vegetarian cooking tomorrow. I am planning to do some chickpea and hummus patties for which I prepared this nice light hummus already.

But I did pop into Waitrose and got two venison steaks so as not to make this move too cold turkey-like. I think deer are less farty than cows, just by looking at their physique you can kind of make this conclusion, so they probably burden the environment less than their more flatulent domesticated cousins. And one can't very well be expected to eat chickpea burgers all the time, can one?

Gorgeous Scottish venison with broccoli, asparagus and a salad.

My Friday night dinner date with Jamie Oliver - unfortunately we disagreed about mackerel.

So today I made this lovely light hummus. This (and the steaks) are all part of my convoluted new lifestyle which aims to invigorate  my sad middle-aged metabolism and get rid of some excess belly blubber. Included is a menu of lots of protein, complex carbs, fibre, controlled amounts of fat and thus sadly very little cheese, apart from cottage cheese which is not really cheese.

And combined with my new HIIT exercise regime I can already see a little change and scales confirm a loss of about 4.5 pounds or 2 kilos. And I can do a set of shitty commando planks without wanting to strangle Emi Wong, one of my youtube trainers.

And back to the hummus. Even compared to my best ever silky-smooth hummus with lots of tahini this lower fat version is really tasty. For this version I didn't peel the chickpeas because I thought this way it probably has more fibre in it. I have no evidence of this. But I have first hand evidence and can testify in court that peeling them is boring as hell. I used good quality chickpeas (a glass jar = good quality in my world), so the hummus was still really smooth and velvety. I didn't add any oil at all and only one not too heaped tablespoon of tahini. One day when I am industrious enough I will do them both and taste test them side by side.

But I can recommend this on it's own. And I will tell you how it works in the hummus and chickpea burgers once I get to them.

Best ever low calorie hummus

Calories in the entire pot 360 kCal, fat 15g

200g of drained chickpeas and some of the liquid
1 level tbsp of tahini
1/2 clove of garlic
Juice of half a lemon
1 tsp cumin
Salt

Grate the garlic and add all ingredients in the mixer. Mix well, check the taste and add more salt or lemon if necessary.

Silky smooth and creamy hummus

My main event for Easter is always a slow cooked leg of lamb. This year we did this on Saturday, because we were going to be out on Sunday and I don't want to leave the lamb in the oven while we are out. I know you are supposed to pop the leg in the oven, then put on a colourful jumper and find some dogs from somewhere and go frolic on a frosty meadow with a large family to come back all rosy cheeked a few hours later to feast with those same people and dogs. I don't watch Jamie Oliver for nothing.

But I can't do it, I don't have any colourful jumpers or dogs, my small family would not frolic, Husband might, but the two teenagers would just slouch around the meadow fiddling with their smartphones looking bored and complaining because there was no WiFi. But mainly I just don't trust the lamb not to catch fire or do something else catastrophic on it's own. So I only make it on the days I am staying home or possibly just quickly popping in the corner shop.


I made my 4-7 hour leg of lamb ( 6 hours this time) with garlic, mint and rosemary. It was soft enough to serve with a spoon and maybe the best lamb I have had in my life. I served it with herb and garlic roast potatoes, a fresh minty chickpea, pomeganate and feta salad and garlic ciabatta. After a little break we finished the meal off with tea, my Easter cake, a Victoria sponge with vanilla icing and Daim chocolate chip cookies.

Chickpea and herb salad with feta and pomegranate

This is a lovely fresh and a bit different salad to serve as a side to any dish, but goes particularly well with lamb. The secret is to marinade the chickpeas ahead of time, so they soak all the flavours of the vinaigrette and herbs.


1 cup chickpeas (either soaked and boiled or canned)
1 lemon, zest and juice
1 garlic clove
3 spring onions
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 tbsp cider vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt
Pepper
1/3 - 1/2 cucumber
75g salad leaves (rocket, spinach etc)
Handful of crumbled feta (100g)
Seeds of half a pomegranate

Drain the chickpeas and put them in a bowl. Add the zest and juice of a lemon, a minced garlic clove, the chopped spring onions and herbs, vinegar, oil, salt and pepper. Mix well and leave to marinade for an hour or two,

Slice or halve the cherry tomatoes, cube the cucumber and mix with the salad leaves. Pour on top the chickpeas and mix so that the marinade also flavours the salad vegetables. Decorate with the pomegranate seeds and feta and toss lightly.

Lately husband has been on freezer food. Last night stuck on M4 behind an accident I texted him to defrost some moose samosas from the top shelf of freezer. He got it a bit wrong somehow in the microwave and you could have used them as murder weapons and then eaten them, so there would be no evidence. Except you actually couldn't eat them. And there'd still be the body.

Overall there's been too much time spent in the car recently and it's so wet and my driver's side wind screen wiper is tired. And do you know what really annoys me? People who don't know how to do the zipper thing. Two lanes merge, we all nicely take our turns, one from one lane, one from the other. Not that difficult if you can count to ONE!

Mostly it works, but every once in a while there is someone who will just push their nose in when it's not their turn. Well, not in front of me! If I have learned nothing else from my father, I have learned this. After all what will it come to if we abandon all rules and laws and order.

Tonight I wasn't home that much earlier, but just in time to do a quick healthy soup out of the scraps I found in the fridge veg compartment and the cupboards. Husband likes to eat reasonably light on week nights although sometimes I despair when after a super healthy and carefully prepared meal he finds my chocolate stash (there for surprise coffee guests etc.) and comes and proudly announces he just had six Lindor Strawberries and Cream Special Edition balls (= probably at least third of his intended daily calorie intake).

But I forgive him for his chocolatey trespasses because he brings me  thoughtful little presents every once in a while. Like tonight a lovely package from Halfords - a windscreen wiper!

No time for shopping - feel almost like a post-war ration superwife feeding the family with this.

Chickpea, potato and coconut soup (serves 2), ready in less than 20 min.

Oil
1/2 onion
1 celery stalk (small)
1 carrot
1 potato (large)
1 1/2 cup water
1 vegetable stock pot (or cube)
Salt
Pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
215g can of chickpeas (drained)
125g coconut cream

Spoonful of natural yoghurt, fresh parsley and chickpeas to decorate (optional)

Chop the onion, carrot, celery and potato. If you need to cook quickly chop the carrot and potato quite finely. Heat a splash of vegetable oil in a soup pan. Add the chopped vegetables and saute on medium heat for 5 minutes. Add 2/3 of the chickpeas, thyme, water and stock cube, salt and pepper. Let cook until all vegetables are soft.

Blend with a hand blender until smooth. Add the coconut cream and the rest of the chickpeas reserving some for decoration. Add some water mixing the soup until required thickness. Bring to boil. Ladle into bowls and decorate with the rest of the chickpeas, spoonful of natural yoghurt and fresh parsley.



I used a pretty tired looking stalk of celery and the carrot and potato had seen better days, so I am linking this recipe to Credit Crunch Munch hosted this month by Travels for Taste and run by Fab food for all, and Fuss free flavours.