Finding the chase and cutting to it

The temperature dropped this week in the UK, as the wind was coming directly down from the Artic. Today, it was 20°C, but on Thursday at the same time, the temperature outside was 13°C, with over night dropped to 4°C.

That meant we got to see the heat pump properly in action. It worked really well, we were cozy. Without costing the earth. More importantly, our annual carbon footprint is currently 0.3tonnes of CO₂ per annum and that’s including me using the electric car for commuting.

Yawn, this, again?!

Rude! The main topic today is food. Today, it being the weekend, I cooked some cheese soufflés. They turned out surprisingly well – always a bit risky doing something for the first time.

For me, getting cheese soufflés premade from the supermarket would mean a lot less washing up (7 items, not that I’m counting). But the premade one needs 1.2units of insulin. My home made one doesn’t need that.

Because I made it at home, I used corn flour, so it was glutton free. My one tasted a little bit nicer. I made it with Gruyère, but I’m keen to try it with some English cheeses and maybe some Irish. That will reduce the food miles dramatically. Cooking it in our combo microwave meant it used as little power as possible.

Economising, eh?

Not really. I mean, my shopping this week came in £50 less and I bought alcohol for us both.

But it is more than that. The food works better for my insulin.

Cooking at home, my insulin requirements have dropped considerably.

Traditional northern European food is brilliant, lovely blood sugar curves, without scary peaks and troughs. For lunch, I did meatballs, with boiled new potatoes, broccoli, baby corn, and green beans. A touch of bisto gravy and redcurrent jelly. Delicious: I needed less than 2units of insulin!

Much of the southern European and American cuisine features huge amounts of processed flour. Often with huge amounts of oil. I appreciate that studies show that olive oil is good for you, but it’s nearly twice as calorific as sesame oil! Huge amounts of fat, with sweet sauces and vegetables. Little fibre. I don’t see how that’s beneficial long term for desk jockeys.

Many professional chefs, as my fella says, distain having skins on tomatoes – which is a key source of nutrition and fibre.

This week’s plan is as follows:

• Sunday – I am doing a smallish chicken for lunch with veg. In the combo microwave to reduce the energy required. We’re sharing white chocolate cookies for afternoon tea. Then toast and eggs or cheese or baked beans. I should get a portion of chicken stock out too.
• Monday evening – carrot and ginger soup with dough balls.
• Tuesday evening – vegetarian risotto.
• Wednesday evening – spaghetti bolognese.
• Thursday evening – remainder of the soup, with fresh wholemeal bread or a baguette.
• Friday evening – quorn chilli with brown rice.

It’s then my husband’s turn to cook for the week. If my son wasn’t coming round tomorrow, the roast chicken would have been portioned (£3.15! from Waitrose for a 1.59kg chicken) to do a coq au vin on Sunday with rice, and a chicken risotto on Tuesday.

As a back stop, there’s the makings of pasta carbonara. Or onion soup with some of the grated Gruyère that I haven’t yet used.

Easy!