OK, week 1
First rule of diabetic cookery class is that you don’t talk about diabetic cookery class!!
I am assuming this applies to personal details of participants – I’m sure you’ll love to be enlightened by hearing the recipes, and a great service to share them with fellow diabetics.

So, today’s recipe was Bean and Mushroom Enchiladas with salad
I made mine without the sodding 12 inch enchilada, left out the low fat yogurt (low fat is better for you according to the nutritionist) and used about half the suggested quantity of cheese, and only ate about 75% of the mushroom mix.
My version was 742 calories and 87 grams of carb.
If I’d eaten a ‘full portion’ with the bread and suggested quantity of cheese – 150g carb and 1292 calories!!!!
Next week – taa daah – she’s going to teach us about portion sizes

I will go – if only to give her my food diary which I’ve annotated the nutrition of her full suggested meal.

Oh Frog, what are we going to do with these people. Have you been sent here by your diabetic nurse.

I have just read an article in Woman & Home entitled The New Food Rules, find your weight loss secret. I nearly choked on the advice. Example: Food lists, starchy carbs – you need to eat one portion from this at every meal and aim for 4 servings per day e.g. 1 slice granary bread, tennis ball sized jacket potato, handful of cooked rice or pasta etc etc. Then they talk about the perfect day, I wont list every food BUT breakfast, 1 slice of granary bread (1 carb), lunch 4 ryvitas or handful of rice (2 carbs) dinner, handful of pasta, (1 carb). Total 4 carbs per day (but not grams just carbs). Low fat yoghurt and low fat spread and a spray of oil for cooking.

If these are the NEW food rules, how long will we have to wait for our diet.

Hi Sunshine Girl
No, I wasn’t ‘sent there’ – it’s the same community centre that I do the regular monthly cookery class at, which I always really enjoy.
I’ll go again – to preach BSD – although one woman asked me about it this morning, and no,, she couldn’t possibly give up pasta or potatoes, she likes them!

I’ve decided that next week I will cook my own meal rather than working in a pair, google any ingredients that look a bit dodgy and adjust the recipe as I need too. I could have made this mornings’ one quite easily without the lentils, and that alone would have taken out 45g of carb and 265 calories – leaving my already reduced portion at 40g of carbs and 481 calories – not ideal, but an improvement!

thankfully, not a woman & home reader. mental note made not to get it!
I did read part of a magazine called Psychologies at the GPs the other day – interesting recipe for spinach & walnut balls that were v good on carbs and calories. I must track it down on the internet.

I suppose people have to try LCHF to feel the benefits for themselves before they can understand, and while they ‘can’t possibly give up potatoes and pasta’ that’s never going to happen!

I guess lots of people equate ‘low carb’ with ‘Atkins’ which hasn’t really had the best of press, maybe for good reason. Also, people are very slow to change their ideas. Given that we’ve had ‘low fat’ drummed into us for so long ‘mainstream’ thought may never change. Suppose all we can do is keep banging the drum!

I’m not certain about ‘substituting’ high carb foods. I made courgette lasagna last night . The bolognese was fine, the courgette was ok too but the white sauce substitute of ricotta mixed with an egg left much to be desired!!!! I’m sure there may be another way possibly with butternut squash between the layers and omitting the sauce altogether. Don’t know will have to experiment ! Would like to know how the spinach and walnut balls work out.

Hi Verano
I thought the lasagne sounded nice when you said you were going to make it – sorry to hear it was a bit of a disappointment!

Agree with you generally on substitutes – except my intense chocolate low carb ice cream – AMAZING!!!
– and because it doesn’t have any dairy, it’s more chocolatey than any chocolate ice cream I’ve ever had before. (and I have eaten an awful lot of chocolate ice cream!)
I had some with raspberries yesterday – an unbelievable taste combination.

Hi Frog

What make is the ice cream? Intense chocolate mmmmm sounds lovely especially with raspberries! I’m not a great lover of ice cream but just now and again I get a yearning! But I do like chocolate Lindt 70% is my tipple!

Hi Verano

It’s amazing – it’s actually called a frozen smoothie, rather than ice cream, and tastes wonderful
I found mine in Waitrose when I was looking for the elusive oppo
http://www.waitrose.com/shop/DisplayProductFlyout?productId=421873
100g is 70 calories and 8.5g carbs – generally 50g feels quite a comfortable serving

As well as the chocolate, there’s a red berry one, and a green one – spinach & avocado, which I am curious about and do plan to try

Hi

Thanks for that looks interesting. Have googled it but it looks like only Waitrose/Ocado stock it. Next time I have an order from them will definitely try it. My nearest Waitrose is about 15 miles away!!

Well I got a “personalised care plan” from my GP. And it talks about a third of each meal being carb with the examples being bread, pasta, potatoes and rice coupled with low fat everything. Having started 4-5 weeks ago at 337lb and currently at 304 and averaging 950 calories a day I think I’ll stick to this for a while.

Oppo is also stocked by Holland & Barret if that helps, Verano. I love the Salted Caramel flavour.

Jules, I hope you make it clear to your doctor that you ignored his advice. Let him think it has worked and then sell him the BSD.

Thanks SunnyB will have a look when I get home.

Yeah!
the Growbag to Gourmet cookery was brilliant – lots of cooking with seasonal vegetables, and Halloumi
the soups had some potato in,, so I just had a couple of spoons (I ended up making one of the potato soups somehow, so felt I ought to taste it!), and chard stalks were fried in breadcrumbs, but I estimate only about a teaspoonful on the couple of pieces that I tasted.

Given that this course wasn’t aimed at diabetics, tons more sensible than DDCC!
I do feel stuffed because I was sat in front of some left over chard – and all of it was delicious, but stuffed in a good way, rather than DDCC tons of beans and lentils way!

I had to estimate the quantities that I has, but I think around 21 carbs and 276 calories (that sounds very precise, but just the result of plugging everything in to FatSecret)

Sadly the growbag element (gardening) clashes with Kayaking at the moment, but they are planning to move the time slot, and they’ve just recruited someone new who is going to be involved with developing gardening a the centre and lots of other community garden projects in the area.

Whoops – I was just reviewing the recipe – printing out last weeks food diary to take to DDCC tomorrow – I realised the entries for the individual recipe ingredients looked a bit odd.
The database entries that I had selected for lentils and beans were dried, rather than the nutrients for drained canned pulses – made a bit of a difference!!! – or it a just have been dodgy entries on the FatSecret Database.
Having worked it out again, the recipe is 436 calories, + 62g of carb, so not quite as horrendous – and without the tortilla & low fat yogurt which I left off, 211 calories & 26 carbs, plus I only ate about a third of the mix, so quite a bit less – plus the salad though, which I but green beans and avocado in, & oil for dressing, so another 200ish.
Feeling a bit mean now for saying it was rubbish!!! – the grow bag to gourmet cookery was still tons better though 🙂

today’s recipe was quite good – with the rice left out.

It was a west Indian dish called Jollof Rice and Chicken (sans rice, BSD style) – all cooked in one pot, quite spicy with lots of chilli and ginger. Without the rice, it was about 15g of carbs and 250 calories (the rice would have added 50g of carb!)
Jamie Oliver had donated loads of veg to the centre at the weekend – lots of colourful tomatoes, and purple and orange cauliflowers, so I just blitzed cauliflower into couscous – looked amazing because of the colours, and everyone else tasted and liked it too.
I tried a spoonful of the recipe that one of the others had made with the rice – very stodgy, didn’t like it as much.

I steamed some cavelo nero too, and drizzled some walnut oil on it – tasted really good.

Sounds great Frog 😃

good recipe today – cauliflower pizza with vegetables, which I made without any changes – a first!
most of the others didn’t deliberately change the recipe, but missed the bit about squeezing the water out of the cauliflower, so lots of rather gloopy pools of cauliflower and soggy bottoms.
It was I enjoyed the one I made – but for all the faff of making the base, I think I’d be as happy to eat the veg mix with some cauliflower that’s just been blitzed and microwaved.

But – the DDCC element – apparently no one can subsist on less than 130g of carbs a day “because your brain needs it”
Lots of sharing of ‘healthy plate’ photos with bread, potatoes, white pasta, rice – and a tiny sliver for all that yummy low fat dairy 🙂

Oh dear!!!!

Our brains our shrinking …. so how come we all feel so much more alert! No afternoon involuntary naps for me anymore!! Must be the shrinking brain needing less sleep!!!!

So glad you’ve tried the cauliflower base. Sounded like such hard work to me I’ve never bothered …. now I won’t !!!!

How many of these so called professional don’t seem to realise there are plenty of good carbs in other things besides the white devil carbs. We don’t need rice and pasta when we have cauli and courgetti.

Hi Verano & Sunshine-girl

Scary isn’t it! she was also telling them all that the normal range for the HbA1C test was 6-7
According to the NHS website “An HbA1c level 6.5% (48mmol/mol) or above indicates type 2 diabetes.”
– and the normal range is 20 – 42 mmol/mol, from my online patient record.
I usually try not to interrupt too much, but I did interject on that one and say I thought she was wrong.
To be fair, she was trying to encourage them to eat wholemeal or seeded bread, wholemeal pasta and brown rice.
(with jam – but we won’t go there!)

One woman asked me about my diet again today (the same one that couldn’t possibly give up pasta when she asked me about it the first week).
It’s impossible to have a salad without potatoes in it apparently – but she only has the small potatoes in salad, so they don’t really count.
Oh if only I had a brain that wasn’t carb deprived so that I could understand that one!

Sometimes I think you can only suggest ideas, give them the science then they have to make their own choices.

I just think we are so fortunate to have found this way of eating. We know this is the way to go and as they say ….. you can lead a horse to water……!!!!!

I had a Koean beef meal tonight without rice! I added more peppers and mushrooms but it really did need something ‘bland’ like rice! I didn’t give in but next time I make it I will definitely have it with cauliflower rice!

Hi Verano
the cauliflower rice is dead simple – I just blitz in a food processor & microwave for a minute – if its with something liquid like a curry or casserole, I use it uncooked – the ‘sauce’ of whatever its with heats it through

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/whats-best-way-cook-cauliflower-rice offers different options – I might try the roasted version with spices one day, but as you say, it’s more about having something bland on the plate to balance out the rich or spicy food.

Sometimes I use courgetti with something that I’d generally have with rice & wouldn’t dream of having with pasta

I made a nice beef casserole with peppers yesterday, but feel a bit too full after the big lunch.
Danger time though – if I don’t eat, I’ll get the munches come time around midnight!

Korean beef sounds nice – there’s a Korean kimchee restaurant and takeaway near an office where I used to be based – all very healthily cooked, and always so beautifully presented.

Hi Frog

Yes I often make cauliflower rice but the cauliflowers here are iffy! Really looking forward to getting back to decent vegetables especially to cougetti puttanesca !

Korean beef is adapted from a Waitrose recipe for Korean Pork. It’s quite high calorie but carbs are only 19g which could be reduced by putting less brown sugar in. It’s also quite spicy but you can put less chilli bean sauce in to make it milder. I’ve tried it with chicken but it didn’t take on the flavours the same as beef. It’s nice for a ‘treat’ meal occasionally.

thanks Verano, found the waitrose recipe.

I made ‘proper’ pizzas this evening, and eat both of them! (very tiny!)
After not being overly impressed with cauliflower pizza base, I was fixated on pizza – I’d seen mini tortillas in Tesco that were about 13g of carb and thought I’d try those as a base.
Local Tesco didn’t have them; don’t know if you’ve seen those Warburtons Thins? Obsessed by making pizza, I got some of those instead – 18g of carb. Made a perfectly acceptable thin pizza base. (I crisped them up a bit on my pizza stone, then added the veg topping and mozarella, and baked until the cheese was melting and bubbly)

Better than the cauli base – but at the end of the day, I think I’d have enjoyed the veg topping by itself just as much.

Just wanted to share did a really gorgeous fish dish with some red snapper (get me 😉 ) on a bed of green lentils. It was a James Martin recipe and he did c 70g of lentils per person when for our three servings I did 26g each and we all agreed that was right amount. Added a small salad of baby spinach with some baby plum tomatoes and 1g of flaked almonds dressed with tiny splash olive oil and balsamic. Total count for entire meal was 303 calories and 8 carbs, even adding in all the oil, stock cube etc. Son not on BSD thought was great and wanted recipe.

Just goes to show you can do absolutely delicious meals with very few calories/carbs. Would do again with other fish or meat.

that sounds nice Igor – I love fish with lentils.

Just back from DDCC today – quite a nice recipe, teriyaki salmon with stir fired courgetti and mange tout type beans (not quite mange tout, not exactly sure, have to google and find out)
Got to try out a larger model of spiraliser, which was interesting.

Importance of exercise was the topic for today – with a walk.
I went off ahead, varied the route, did an extra half mile and got back 20 minutes before the rest of them did – which is fine, I appreciate it must be hard arranging that sort of stuff for a very mixed ability group. BUT – for the ones that didn’t feel like doing a walk, the alternative was to join a pasta making class that was going on in another part of the centre 🙂

The woman that couldn’t possibly live without having pasta, and thinks it’s impossible to make salad without potatoes (but it doesn’t count because she only uses small potatoes), see earlier posts on this thread, will hence forward be known as Mrs Carby.
Gems today from Mrs Carby (who took the pasta class option) included “it’s too hard to keep a log of carbs, but I did it for one sandwich” “I looked it up and it said there are no carbs in tomatoes, so it must be wrong, because there aren’t”, and the final gem was “I’ve been doing this for sixteen years, so I know all there is to know about carbohydrates”
Bet she does, she stuffs so many down her throat!

One of the other women who did the pasta making course did it because she is going to the gym this afternoon – so she doesn’t need any more exercise today, and she thought everyone was walking too slowly for her. Could have come with me or done the same thing as me and packed in an additional 1.8 miles?!?

Hi Frog

Hope you had a good weekend.

The menu sounds like a vast improvement on earlier weeks. I love teriyaki salmon but how do you make that without too much sugar?

Mrs Carby sounds like a hoot and if nothing else at least she brings a smile to all our faces!

All in all, sounds like an interesting group of women!

Hi Verano
Dorset was great – lovely and sunny, and my friend had found some really great recipes.
Did you have a good weekend?
I did my own check on the teriyaki sauce ingredients before I made it- the only thing that was a bit dodgy was a quarter of teaspoon of honey (between two), so I just left it out. Tasted fine, and I didn’t tell the guy (it’s a mixed group, about 50/50) that I was cooking with he is lovely, but in his 80s – I think he is more used to plain food, but eats everything without question, so he wouldn’t have known if it had tasted weird!

Hi Frog

Yes good weekend here but mealtimes a bit askew and I have realised I can’t do asked anymore. ….. got really really hungry but managed to avoid binge!

Interesting that you left out a quarter if a teaspoon of honey I think I would have put it in!!! I do use the odd teaspoon of sugar here of there especially in tomato recipes. Think I will make teriyaki salmon on Sunday, my grandchildren are coming for lunch and they love it on skewers!

Just about to make my final report on 7day reboot … can’t believe what happens when you stick to the plan like glue!! Question is what next????

OK – you’ve inspired me Verano – I have no weekends away, celebrations planned, and the only meals out can be very BSD friendly restaurants I WILL have a VERY strict 7 days and see!

I’ll post the salmon teriyaki recipe
I did pause on the honey and think how much damage can half of quarter of a teaspoon do – the other side of the argument was how much difference can it make to the taste.
If I’d been making it at home, I simply wouldn’t have had honey here – or some of the other ingredients,
I decided at the weekend that I need to do an audit of what spices I do have, and maybe get some more.
I definitely want to have a go at making the aubergine curry that my friend Ann cooked for me a the weekend.

Hi Frog

Jan has started 800/50 but would like some company. I plan on 800/35 for a week. Come and join us if it helps …. haven’t a thread yet!

I look forward to the salmon recipe. I actually don’t like honey unless it’s ‘hidden’ in something but I always have it in as my OH loves it!

Can I ask about the aubergine ? I haven’t eaten it for many many years because when I did have it, on only one occasion, it was ‘slimy’. Is it still the same?

I have a great butternut squash and chickpea curry recipe but it is rather high in carbs. Only have if when I’m desperate for spice and stodge !! It’s roughly 20g of carbs but only 250 odd calories. Freezes beautifully.

No, not slimy!
I really like the taste of aubergine – I will post that recipe too
My favourite is ratatouille – I haven’t made that for a few weeks
Years ago you had to salt it and drain aubergine, which was faffy and took ages – I don’t bother, but apparently the bitterness has been “grown out of them” now. this wasn’t the article I read that in – but here is a similar one:
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/feb/10/salting-aubergine-eggplant-crossing-sprouts
It also absorbs mega amounts of oil if you put large quantities of oil in when you cook it, which will contribute to it being slimy. The original recipe talked about using tons of oil, then draining it off. Duur?!
I will make it myself, and do it with as little oil as possible, then post it.

I also bought some delicious aubergine ‘dip’ from Waitrose – it was called a dip, but more of a pate consistency. I added yogurt to make it more liquid.http://lovemoorish.co.uk/moorish-baba-ghanoush-ish-aubergine-dip/

Hi Verano
I have posted the teriyaki salmon recipe – 210 calories, 3g of carb (2 without the honey!)
I haven’t posted the courgetti recipe; it was just courgetti, sugar snap peas or mangetout, chopped ginger, shallot and garlic with sesame oil. In the class yesterday, a bit short on time, and just stir fried the courgetti and mangetout in the remaining marinade. which tasted fine.

the aubergine curry I think may break the copyright warning on BSD site
google “lake palace aubergine recipe” and its saved on lots of places – Ann said she uses lots less oil, when I have sorted out having all the herbs, I’ll make it and see how little it can be done with.
From the book, it was suggested as a side (for 6 to 8), but we had it as a main, and Ann froze some, so would easily serve 3. We had it with lemon dhal (lovely, but a bit carby) and a side of spinach – it would be fine with cauliflower rice rather than dhal.

Hi Frog

Thanks for the recipes. The salmon is similar to one I make but being a bit lazy I put the salmon in an oven proof dish, pour over the marinade with the addition of some lime juice and fresh coriander. Leave to stand for a short time, cover with tinfoil and bake for 15 mins ,180 fan. I just sling the ingredients in without measuring but for the sake of BSD I will measure in future!!

Like the idea of the courgetti with anchovy but not sure about pine nuts. Will give at a go!

Let me know about the aubergine …. it will have to be ‘wonderful’ fir me to try it!

Just checked the aubergine curry …. mmmm …. not sure it’s for me … all that oil … aaaarrrrrggggghh!!!!

Not sure that you need all that oil, I reckon it must give the aubergine a weird texture. I make a similar curry but bake the aubergine (occasionally with a spray of oil). I dry fry the spices first before adding the tomato and a chunk of paneer.

Jules that sounds much more to my taste, even though I don’t like aubergine!!!! Do they go slimy when you bake them because it’s the texture rather than the flavour I dislike ?

If you keep the slices thick and just bake them until they slightly change colour they keep their shape and “vegetable” texture.

Will try. Thanks

Hi JulesMaigret – my friend Ann, who made it for me at the weekend, said she didn’t use nearly as much oil, but hadn’t measured how much, we certainly didn’t need to drain off excess oil, nor did the remaining portion that we stuck in the freezer the next morning look particularly oily, but baking the aubergine sounds like a great idea, will definitely try that – probably easier too.

Verano – I did like the pine nuts with it, but I love them anyway, so a bit biased. I made the same dish for lunch though, and forgot about the pine nuts until the end, and it was still really nice. the pine nuts add crunch, and an extra dimension to the flavour. I decorated the top with a couple of cherry tomatoes today; it looked like something you could serve happily to guests.

I bought a new spiraliser and it makes much more definitive curls than the tiny one, so that added to how nice it looked. I took a photo today, and asked the techhies if they can add it to the recipe. (I eat it on Sunday to see what it was like before I entered it here, hence no photo!) The thicker curls taste better too – the smaller ones tended to go too mushy if you weren’t really careful with cooking

Hi Frog

Which Spiralizer did you have? I’ve got a salter but have just bought the OXO good grips. Hope it will be ok.

My cooking lately seems to have gone down the pan!

A few days ago I ‘actifried’ cauliflower … huge mistake ended up with a few charred bits of leather! Last night roasted cauliflower with yogurt and Indian spices…. ugghh! So giving cauliflower a miss for a while and next time will just steam it and mash with something!!

Will definitely try your cougetti just need some variation!

Hi Verano
I got the Salter one – did you not like yours if you’ve bought a different one?
I was going to get the cusique one that Lynne recommended a while back, but I spotted the salter one on sale in Morrisons – was only £12, ans I’d used one that morning at the cookery school and found it OK.
Love the squidgy courgette core that it makes – I just chop it up and add it in with the spirals

I just use cauliflower rice raw for crunch if its with a gloopy sauce, or zap it in the microwave for a minute to warm it through

Hi Frog

I bought the OXO to take to my apartment because I can’t buy one there and I wanted something small for packing. I only want to do courgettes with it so I hope it does work. I did manage to buy a very cheap one when I was away, it ‘screwed’ the courgette through a tube but it just kept turning on itself and ended up as mush!

I find the salter fine even if it’s a bit of a faff to clean … only sliced my finger once so far while drying it!!!!

I found some Thai salmon curry in the freezer yesterday so put it on a bed of raw cauliflower rice and heated in the microwave for 4 mins and it was lovely!

Yes, my last one made them a bit mushy in comparison to the new one!
Curry sounds lovely – glad you like the cauliflower now!

And, haven’t got time to do a longer post now, will do it later, the vegetable cookery course this morning was all about aubergines, and how to cook them using less oil.
Made two lovely recipes (one with anchovy, so will def need to buy some more!) – but left the print out there, so hopefully will get an email of them. – plus an assortment of plain aubergine done with different cooking methods. All tasted really good.

Look forward to your aubergine tips when you get a minute.

I decided to try the OXO Spiralizer out before I go away so will let you know. If it’s no good will just send it back!

Low fat ways of cooking aubergines
This was actually from the seasonal vegetable cookery class rather than DDCC
1) Salt the aubergines to draw out the moisture – this means that when you fry them, they use lots less fat. This used to be done to remove the bitterness, and no longer needed for that, but makes a much better base to fry.
In the 80’s, cooking ratatouille meant me covering my Mum’s kitchen with paper towels neatly laden with a single layer of aubergine or courgette. NO more!
I just diced the augergine, coated in salt, and left it in a colander. I put a bowl underneath to see how much liquid came out; lots in the first ten minutes, hardly any after that, so you don’t need to leave them soaking in the salt for ages.
Rinse in water and pat them dry with a clean tea towel or kitchen roll – the dryer the better.
Heat oil (we used vegetable oil rather than olive oil, because its better at high temperatures, as is rape seed oil), until its smoking, and then fry the aubergine in small batches until golden brown.
2) Bake them in the oven whole – pierce the skin, but no oil needed at all. This is for when you just need the flesh of the aubergine, not slices or rings. Obviously, it depends on the size of the aubergine, we baked mediumish ones for 40 minutes on 180c.
Let them cool, then scoop the flesh out.
You need to bake them a lot longer than you would for stuffed aubergine – with that you need to retain some shape, so that you have something to stuff, and there is likely to be further cooking once the stuffing is in.
3) Griddle them – one of those griddle pans with a ridged base. Cut the aubergines into slices, brush one side with oil, place oil side down on the heated griddle pan. While the bottom is cooking, brush the other side with oil, then flip over. The charred lines from the griddle make them look beautiful. Spraying with oil would probably work with this method.
4) As someone on this forum suggested, brush lightly with oil (or spray) and bake in the oven on a high temperature.

They all tasted pretty good, and not oily or slimy.
I didn’t get to measure the oil for each method, because there were half a dozen of us making different recipes, the griddle pan ones probably won because they did look stunning!

One BSD Friendly recipe that we made was Caponata – main ingredients included aubergine, celery, which I don’t usually like, passata, anchovies and tuna. One person in the class was vegetarian, and we simply whipped out a portion for her and then added the fish – still tasted good apparently. Loads of recipes if you google it, so I won’t record in the recipe section here as well.
We were told that the flavour improves if it’s eaten the following day, but we ate it all within half an hour of making it 🙂

Really interesting and thank you.

I have my grandchildren coming at the weekend and I’m making Greek so I’m going to give the griddled version a try. You never know I may be converted.

Thanks

Morning Verano
My sister always says she finds it hard to choose presents for me – I’m definitely going to start dropping griddle pan hints – scary that Christmas is getting quite close now!
We didn’t try it yesterday, but I did wonder about what the impact of salting the aubergine would be on griddle pan (and baking slices) methods – next time I cook them I will try.
Vegan Ethiopian cookery class coming up next week – and I think I’m free on the community gardening afternoon too.
The premise of seasonal vegetable cookery it that we’re cooking with veg from the community garden, but because it’s not fully up and running yet, there were an awful lot of Waitrose wrappers in the bin 🙂

Hi Frog

I do have a griddle pan but only use it for steak and halloumi. Will try the aubergine though. Just wonder if it was salted first if it would go a big floppy . I really don’t know.

Vegan Ethiopian … mmmm …. will be interesting … maybe!!!

Can’t think that far ahead … his many weeks is it?