Good morning…We have had some much-needed rain my curry plant which I moved is now sprouting  I have stopped watering that as ( hubby) was overzealous and it didn’t like it. My sourdough is looking good…Fingers crossed dogged persistence seems to be paying off…I am nothing if not stubborn…haha…I give myself the same talk every day…

Who do you cheat??? Yourself!

The fibre in our diets was the topic last week and it raised some interesting questions…

Robertawrites said

I am sure you are right about our fibre intake being too low, Carol. Wild rice is nice but it takes a long time to cook.

Yes, it does …However…I know wild rice takes longer to cook however to cut down on the cooking time for brown or wild rice, soak it overnight. For brown rice, the water-to-rice ratio is 2 to 1. For wild rice, cover with a generous amount of water, several inches above the rice. Soak the rice in a covered pot and keep in the refrigerator about six hours or overnight. It works a treat and even hubby ate some yesterday and that was a first he is getting quite adventurous in his old age…

Tidalscribe said…

I always use wholemeal flour for baking and brown basmati rice – I love the smell when it’s cooking. But I encounter great opposition when I try to sneak in wholemeal pasta! However, Cyberspouse does make a great vegetarian bolognaise with mushrooms, a can of five beans, peppers, courgettes and of course tomato, onion and garlic.

Janet has the same problem I have always encountered and we have to be sneaky…haha…Isn’t it funny how families can be opposed to some changes try making your own using half and half whole wheat flour to start and colouring with a vegetable colour…My grandkids love the coloured pasta. Cyberspouse’s spag bol sounds nice I love mixed beans.

But if they are getting adequate fibre from your baking and rice depending on how much pasta they are consuming in a week does it matter?… I would do sneaky, sneaky, slowly, slowly…haha Or get them to help make pasta it is known fact that what you help cook you are more likely to eat/try…Good Luck 🙂 x

There were also comments about how increasing fibre in the diet had helped with medical conditions and how doctors are recommending that we increase our fibre which is lovely to hear please keep those comments and experiences coming everyone loves to hear what works and if something doesn’t for you …Did you try an alternative that did? no one size fits all we need to experiment and find what we like to eat and what improves our health.

My alcohol-free February is going well day 14 TODAY and I feel great…Tummy is a little flatter I have increased my fibre and am cutting out those added sugar items eating lots of lovely fruit…my new favourite smoothie is tomatoes and passionfruit just whizz them together with some crushed ice ..very nice …I love passionfruit and there are lots at the moment so a lovely way to use them…

I know sometimes if you are trying to lose some pounds, eat healthily and we get those urges to just eat. It does seem that sometimes we try so very hard and are met with problems around every corner sometimes it is not us…There is a real reason and there may be something we can do … Sally’s posts are great, informative, sensible advice …Factual and common sense… Sally said…

I explored the physical events in my life from childhood that might have resulted in the inability to sustain a healthy weight. Whilst I could pinpoint a hormonal imbalance from puberty, and a cycle of crash dieting as contributors to my eventual morbid obesity. It was the more important discovery of a series of extended courses of antibiotics at age 10, that was to result in a breakthrough.

It is not just my health that was compromised, many millions of the population, particularly in developed countries also have been put at risk, with an estimated 70% of us with a candida albicans overgrowth, seriously undermining our health.

What is Candida Albicans

Candida is a fungal infection of the intestine. There is a delicate balance of bacteria in our gut and it works very much like a waste-disposal unit. However, certain conditions can activate…

.Read more by clicking the link below…

https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2019/02/16/smorgasbord-health-column-size-matters-the-sequel-candida-albicans-sally-cronin/

Of course, I cannot go without leaving you with an easy and healthy recipe…

Thai food is a great choice for gluten-free and dairy-free eaters because it is rice-based and uses a lot of coconut milk. … Traditional Thai soy sauce is gluten-free, but just be careful when eating out as restaurants may use wheat-based Chinese soy sauce.

Thai food is low on carbs,  includes lots of fresh vegetables and herbs and most dishes are cooked very quickly so everything retains its colour and flavour, in fact, preparation most times takes longer than the actual cooking.

This Larb recipe can be made using chicken or Pork. I have used Pork Mince for this.

Larb Moo.

Ingredients: Serves 1-2 people.

• 200 gm Pork or chicken mince.
• 3 shallots finely sliced.
• 2 spring onions finely sliced green tops as well.
• A handful of fresh Mint, pick the leaves from stem and tear the leaves into large pieces( mine is a big handful)  I love mint.
• A handful of fresh coriander chopped.
• A few Thai Basil leaves for the decoration.
• I Lime use half to a whole lime juice depending on personal taste.
• Dried chillies..dry roasted in a pan and grind in pestle and mortar.
• 1 large tbsp toasted rice. ( recipe below)
• 1-2 tbsp Fish Sauce.
• A small amount of palm sugar….I use it sparingly or not at all.

Lets Cook!

Using a small saucepan dry cook the mince, I add a small amount of water to stop it from sticking.

Stir until cooked, remove the pan from the heat.

Stir in toasted rice, sm amount palm sugar, chilli( as desired) start with 1 tsp and once all ingredients added ..taste and add more if required.

Stir in the mint and coriander, shallots and spring onions, stir well but carefully.

Add fish sauce and half of the lime juice.

Taste! if required add more chilli, fish sauce and or lime juice and Taste again as lime and chilli. Put in a serving dish.

Garnish with Thai Basil leaves.

Serve with steamed organic brown or wild rice /Thai sticky rice or if you don’t want to eat rice it is lovely served in lettuce cups.

As an accompaniment serve with sliced cucumber, sliced white cabbage, green beans and Thai basil leaves.

Thai’s eat a lot of raw vegetables with Larb which is why it’s a fairly healthy meal and if a chicken is used it has even fewer calories.

It is an ideal dish if you are watching the calories as are many Thai dishes.

NB: To make the dried rice mix, Take a thick bottomed pan and put it on a medium to low heat, cover bottom with uncooked sticky rice( if you don’t have any) normal rice will do. Stir until rice turns a golden brown colour, tip into pestle and pound until powdery but slightly coarse.

N.B. Glutinous rice is gluten-free. The misleading name simply comes from the fact that glutinous rice gets glue-like and sticky when cooked. … It all comes down to starch content.

You can store the rice in a small container and it will keep for 6-8 weeks…

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I do…I love this salad.

Having lived here 7 years and just discovering that this salad mix can also be shaped into little patties fried in a little oil and you have those lovely little Thai cakes they serve as a snack… Wrapped in a cabbage leaf and a squeeze of lime juice they are very tasty… You live and learn ..Don’t you?

That’s all from me for this week I hope you have enjoyed this post…How is your healthy eating going ???

Thank you for reading this post I am happy that you joined me today for our little chat on how we can improve the health of both our body and our purse/wallet.

I hope you thought so  too xxx

About Carol Taylor:

Enjoying life in The Land Of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.

I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetable ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.

Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use contain to improve our health and wellbeing.

The environment is also something I am passionate about and there will be more on this on my blog this year

Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride also and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…….Then, I will be happy!

Carol is a contributor to the Phuket Island Writers Anthology: https://www.amazon.com/Phuket-Island-Writers-Anthology-Stories-ebook/dp/B00RU5IYNS

Connect to Carol

Blog: https://carolcooks2.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheRealCarolT
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carol.taylor.1422

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/caroltaylor56/pins/

Thank you once again for reading this post I hope you all have a great week xx