Tuesday 15 September 2020

The Ration Challenge - Day Two


Day two and a very similar start.  A cup of hot water and my usual vitamin tablets, I always take these and I'm really pleased that I am still allowed to have them.


Then it was time for breakfast, the last of the neon yellow rice that I cooked yesterday.  I should have been having some Dahl with it, but I hadn't gotten round to making any yet.


Later I decided to sort out my chickpeas.  

I had left them soaking overnight and then first thing I drained and rinsed them, and after bringing them to the boil in a pan of water I left them simmering away for an hour while I took Suky out for a walk.

Just over an hour later they were nice and soft so I drained them, and while they cooled off a bit I weighed them.


I double checked what I needed to be able to make out of them and altered all my figures as originally I had thought I would only get a cooked weight of around 170g.  Calculator in hand I worked out the new numbers.


First stop was the hummus, as that was on my menu plan for my lunch.


A large tablespoonful of Peanut Butter was added to the chickpeas along with some oil, water and a heaped teaspoonful of Cumin.  I've just realised as I type this that I should have added some garlic powder ... oops!!  Too late now.


The rest of the chickpeas were weighed out, 23g for the Chickpea Curry for later in the week.


Somewhere along the line either my maths had gone wrong or I'd lost some chickpea weight, and I just had 73g left for my falafels.


 The hummus was spilt between two pots and the other chickpeas were added to the stack.


Then I put a little bit of water into the hummus dregs in the Nutribullet and quickly gave it a whizz, this will be the basis for my Pasta Sauce for my tea. 


The fridge is starting to fill a little bit with prepared foods, something I think I will be really grateful for in another day or two as already I feel myself slowing down a bit.  Possibly due to a lack of sugar and maybe also partly due to not having any caffeine in my system.

Oh ... I'd kill for a coffee, well not quite but almost 🤣🤣


Next job was to make some flatbreads to have with my hummus.  Halfway through making it I decided to use half of the dough for the pasta for tonight.


Dinner - Hummus and two flatbreads washed down with some cold water straight from the fridge.


I rolled out the pasta after my lunch and hung it to dry in the sunshine.


While the pasta dried out I got stated to make the Dahl that will go with my rice for breakfast tomorrow and be used in a lot of this weeks meals.  

I used 130g of my red lentils, just over half of an onion and some salt, garlic powder and cumin.  It made enough for these three jars and will be used for at least six meals, so half a jar for each of the meals.  Gosh usually one of these would be enough for me to have with rice.


It was a busy cooking day and no sooner than my pans were free I had to start to make my tea.  A splash of oil, a couple of onion slices and a spoonful of the kidney bean mixture went into the frying pan and the pasta went into my saucepan.


I tipped the hummus-y contents of the Nutribullet cup into the pan and instantly I had a pasta sauce.  Ladling the cooked pasta into the sauce meant that some of the starchy cooking water went in, and made the saucer richer and smoother.


And within minutes I had a small dish of Pasta with Hummus Sauce for my tea.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me in this Challenge up to now, my fundraising page is up and running still and will be for the next couple of months.  Nip over if you would like to see the new total.



Sue xx



14 comments:

  1. I'm filled with admiration at your creativity - and the total is fantastic.
    xx

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    1. Thank you, it is coming to me a bit easier this year and is inspiring me to keep my food simple from now on, think of the money I could save basing future meals around these core ingredients and just adding more vegetables and fruit ... I already have a follow on Challenge in my mind.

      The total is amazing ... both mine and the overall total that is now over a million pounds raised.

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  2. So impressed at your imaginative cooking. Good luck with rest of the challenge. The amount you have raised is truly tremendous. I watched News night last night, very depressing story of right wing nut jobs fighting the police, marching and demanding an end to illegal immigration (their words, not mine). I want to bed with a heavy heart. Your post has reignited my general hope and wishes for the future. Thank you, Sue, you are inspiring.

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    Replies
    1. There is some really depressing news doing the rounds at the moment, I've been trying to get up to date with happenings at the teatime news bulletin so I don't go to bed with all the woes of the world on my mind. Remember there are ALWAYS more good people than bad, they just don't make the headlines!!

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  3. The really quite small amount of food you're (and thus the refugees) are allowed is pretty shocking when we think about it, isn't it. And they have to cope with that week in, week out. Really puts our lives into perspective.

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    Replies
    1. It really does doesn't it, I'm already getting a bit fuzzy headed now and then ... I went to hang the keys up in the fridge instead of the cupboard yesterday, how people cope with this level month in month out and sometimes for years I really don't know. I guess you get used to it over time, but it's not good for health or your soul!!

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  4. Without your imagination the food could be very bland and samey! I love you glass storage jars.

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    Replies
    1. There seems to be a lot of Challengers living on rice with dollops of lentils or eating things all in one go. I need flavour and for things to be a bit more balanced to give me a semblance of healthy eating.

      Which jars? The four little one stacked on top of each other are Gu pudding pots with Pringle tube lids (I was SO happy when I discovered this neat little fit) and the others are a jam jar and two washed out Vego Chocolate Spread jars. Nothing gets thrown away here and I will always buy something in glass rather than plastic if I can.

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  5. Seeing your serving sizes is always eye opening for me.

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    Replies
    1. Well they do have to be small this week if I want the food to last. But I do eat relatively small amounts anyway I agree 😃

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  6. Wonderfully creative meals. Just like another poster the serving sizes astonish me.

    God bless.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you. I simply can't eat large portions of food. If you gave me a plate piled high with food I wouldn't be able to eat any of it, I just shut down ☹️

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