Courgette and Runner Bean Chutney

I have been swamped with runner beans and courgettes from my allotment. The obvious thing to do was make chutney!

Courgette and Runner Bean Chutney

1 1/2 lbs of runner beans - cut into thin slices - across the bean
2 large courgettes - cut into 8 lengthwise and thinly sliced
2 medium onions - finely chopped
1 large cooking apple - chopped
1 fresh chilli - finely chopped
1lb brown sugar
20 fl oz cider or white wine vinegar (I used a mix)
2 tsp mustard powder
2 tsp turmeric

Put everything into a large pan, stir well, bring to the boil and simmer for about 2 hours. Essential to stir well towards the end of cooking to make sure the chutney doesn't stick. And shut the kitchen door or your whole home will smell of chutney for days! Put into warmed sterilised jars with non metallic lids. Store for about a month before trying. Best served with bread, wine and good company.

 Chopped and ready for cooking

 I used yellow courgettes - so pretty!

 About 1 1/2 hours into cooking

The finished chutney

Juicing - Day Three

Solid Salad Lunch for Day Four

Bored with juice! Not hungry, not ill, not irritable, just plain bored.

I succumbed to the home grown tomatoes and cucumber today - it was glorious!

I've done three days on the juice fast (with the above mentioned minor hicup) and decided that I'm going to carry on the juicing but with added whole vegetables just to preserve my sanity.

I don't feel this is a cop-out, it's an adaptation to keep me going.

And I've lost three and a half pounds. :)

Juicing - Day Two

 Watermelon and blueberry - a purple drink

I started to worry if I was "doing it right"! I wasn't getting any adverse side effects - I badly wanted to bite something, but that was it. I'm not at all hungry but I really miss the texture of solid food.

The biggest temptation today were the tomatoes that had ripened on the plants in the garden. Just imagine -  sun warmed cherry and plum tomatoes, freshly picked off the vine, popped into the mouth and crunched. I resisted. I felt proud.

 My worries ended at around five o'clock when I started to get a headache, by the time I went to bed it was thumping. I took a painkiller - no point in martyrdom!

I must try harder with green juice tomorrow, I'm afraid I skipped one and drank more coconut water. If only every drink could be purple - watermelon and blueberry rocks!

Juicing - Day One

OK, that went suprisingly well!

I started the day with hot water and lemon rather than my usual coffee. I didn't miss the coffee at all - I had a hot drink and it satisfied me. I have been cutting down on coffee over the last few weeks to two cups per day and last week I moved to one per day - I'm hoping I escape caffeine withdrawal symptoms! Talking of symptoms, I did some reading on the Reboot community page and it seems I can possibly expect:-

• Nausea
• Diarrhea
• Constipation
• Hunger
• Fainting
• Itching
• Bad breath
• Anger
• Headache
• Dizzyness

So far, I feel perfectly normal. Fingers crossed for day two.


The Juices

I'm following the  Joe Cross Five Day Reboot Plan You drink five juices during the day. The juices are categorised by colour and suggested recipes are given.

Breakfast was orange - I had a mix of carrots, apples and ginger - it was very nice.

Mid Morning - unflavoured coconut water - I love this!

Lunch was green - apple, cucumber, celery, lemon and kale. Here I hit a problem - it was bloody disgusting! I do not like juiced kale - no two ways about it - adding extra apples and lemon couldn't disguise its utter rankness! Pinched nose and chucked it down my throat. YUK! From tomorrow I substitute romaine lettuce for kale.

Afternoon was red - watermelon, red apples and blueberries - yum!

Dinner and Dessert - green and purple or orange - I cheated and juiced a pineapple - I couldn't face another green juice.

 One day down!

Juicing

I started this blog to remove my food posts from Facebook - I'm sure everyone was sick of seeing my dinner in their newsfeeds. However, it looks like I haven't eaten anything since March by the documentary evidence in this blog!

Anyway, I've decided to dust the blog off and kick start it again - pretty much what I'm doing to myself from today. I'm starting a five day juice fast - nothing passes my lips unless it is fruit or veg and has had the crap beaten out of it first by the juicer.

Breakfast - a mug of hot water flavoured with a slice of lemon.

Watch this space!

Mushroom Rice

 

Ingredients

Serves: 4

• 1 knob butter
• 6 mushrooms, coarsely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 spring onion, finely chopped
• 450ml (16 fl oz) chicken stock
• 200g (7 oz) white rice
• small handful chopped fresh parsley
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preparation method

Prep: 5 mins | Cook: 25 mins

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook mushrooms, garlic and spring onion until mushrooms are cooked and liquid has evaporated. Stir in chicken stock and rice. Season with parsley, salt and pepper. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

My Thoughts

I didn't have any spring onions so substitited a shallot. I used a Knorr Vegetable Stock Pot and added a glass of white wine as the rice was cooking as there wasn't enough liquid in the original recipe. Good mushrooms are a must; you need them to add flavour to the rice and not just soak up flavour like the fairly tasteless white mushrooms - I used nutty brown chestnut mushrooms. It needed no additional salt, there was enough in the stock.

I made this as a side dish and think that serves four is a bit optimistic. It would suit three normal appetites or two piggies!

I'd make this again; it was quite delicious.