 |
| Recipe of the week... ... Tangy tomato, Pomegranate & Egg Curry |
Time taken: About half an hour
Serves: 2 super filing, super healthy, super tasty portions
--
Hi readers,
Are you hanging in there?? It’s Fri-YAY! Well done for
making it to the end of the week – high five! Especially if your week has been anything
like mine… looooong and tiring. At the end of such a busy week at work it’s
lovely to look ahead to the weekend and a glass of wine, seeing friends and family,
and sending NO EMAILS whatsoever.
 |
| The weekend is an email-free zone @hayleygeography |
How are you doing, readers? Has it been a busy week? What are
you looking forward to this weekend? I hope you have lots of funs plans lined
up, and potentially some rainy day activities! Don’t let a gloomy weather
forecast get you down when there are so many lovely shops and cafes and bars
and restaurants to visit, and a wealth of fun films out at the cinemas to go
see.
And if you want… as it is the weekend… you could just stay
in bed! You heard it here first. Why not, readers? If you feel like getting
stuck into a new book, or doing some baking or crafting maybe, or watching a TV
series from start to finish, or moving all the furniture around for nooo
reason. Then, I say do it.
 |
| Seize the day @whatsahyphen |
1.
Address the cues
2.
Increase wellbeing
3.
Change the behaviour
… this past week, I’ve been thinking through Rachel’s ideas
on ways we can change the behaviour. So, what do I mean by this? Well – say
you’re having a bad time with life today and it’s happening, you feel yourself suddenly
compelled to open the food cupboards and rifle through – it’s important to try and recognise as early as possible that these
food cravings you’re feeling link with your emotions.
If you can, try and identify how you feel different leading
up to an episode of emotional eating, versus a normal meal, and be on alert for
these signs. So, say you’ve got this down to a tee, your spidey sense are
tingling and you realise what’s about to happen… then what do you do?
 |
| What to do @besser_nord_als_nie |
What should you do to stop it? What do you do instead of
eating? Sadly – according to Rachel and I think I agree – there’s no simple
answer. It’s something you have to figure out for yourself. Which I know sounds
RUBBISH. But, as Rachel points out, things are generally more effective when
they come from you. If someone tells you what to do, you might go along with
it, but if the feeling comes from your gut then you’re more likely to follow
through.
Think of
possible behaviours to replace eating. To be effective, replacement behaviours
have to meet your needs, or solve an issue that’s causing you to feel emotional
and want to eat. And different replacement behaviours might be more or less
effective in different situations, depending on how well they meet your needs. Once
you recognise the signs of an emotional eating episode coming on, then it’s up to you to decide which alternative
action you should take instead of eating.
 |
| There's always another option @johnvellema |
What do you
think, readers? Perhaps, have a go at making a plan. Get specific about each
need you think you’re sometimes trying to fulfil by eating. Do you want
comforting? Are you trying to release frustration? Do you wish you had company?
Are you feeling down and in need of cheering up?
When making
a plan to change your behaviour, it's important to link the new behaviour to
the emotional need that you are trying to satisfy and/or the situation you
might be in when you perform the behaviour. Perhaps use the following formats:
- IF I FEEL
(emotion) THEN I WILL (new behaviour)
- or IF I
ENCOUNTER (trigger) THEN I WILL (new behaviour)
Then,
readers, act on your new plans. Remember to act with the intention that the
behaviour will fulfil your needs – you have to believe in it, just going
through the motions isn’t likely to be effective. Then, maybe evaluate your
progress after a couple of weeks of trying the new behaviours. How’s it gone?
What’s gone well so far? Try to recall some little (or big) victories and give
yourself a pat for achieving these. If your plans worked then your
challenge is to repeat them for another week.
 |
| You can do it! @j.oleskow |
Remember,
readers, don't be hard on yourself if you did end up eating. Maybe you’ve
identified some plans that didn't work? Or were there any plans you didn’t stick to? If not, why not? If it came
down to remembering your plans in time – how can you make sure that you don't
forget to follow the plan? Or maybe you’ve identified a new cue that you
weren't aware of before, but you see now it’s keeping you stuck in the emotional
eating habit loop?
However you get along, readers, hopefully all this has been
good food for thought for you. I hope you’ve been interested to read this
series of blog posts on the emotional eating habit loop. I certainly have found
it really interesting to think through and to write these posts! I feel like
the program with Rachel at re:wellbeing has given me some fresh understanding of myself, my thought processes
relating to food, and the factors influencing my eating behaviour during
emotional times. I’m grateful to have given this a go and intend keep it up.
 |
| Always grateful @wild_and_wandering_ |
I’ll come
back to Rachel’s ideas, and a short bed time yoga practice encouraged as part
of the re:wellbeing program, if ever I catch myself walking down a bad path
with food. I’ve taken away from this experience a lot of insight into how an
emotional eating habit loop can work and how it can be prevented. Also, the
importance of looking after your own wellbeing. If ever I feel myself reaching
for food to deal my emotions, I’ll hopefully remember that this too can be
overcome.
And NOW I have our recipe of the week for you, readers. Here’s
a cracking Gousto recipe, for a Tangy
Tomato, Pomegranate & Egg Curry that you might enjoy over the weekend. Give
it a go! Here’s the recipe, in just 10 simple steps…
--
Recipe: Tangy
Tomato, Pomegranate & Egg Curry
1.
Clear your mind and look forwards to the evening
ahead – let’s make it a good one. Set some calming music playing quietly in the
background, stretch your arms out – as high and as wide as they’ll possibly go!
And further! – then gather your ingredients together on the kitchen counter.
2.
Set the kettle boiling and gently rest your eggs
in a small saucepan along with a pinch of salt. Add your basmati rice to a
second saucepan – make sure this one has a lid.
3.
Add 250ml cold water to this saucepan, put on
the lid and bring to the boil over a high heat. Cover the eggs in the first pan
with boiled water and boil over a high heat. Once your rice pan is boiling,
reduce the heat to very low and then leave both pans to cook for the next ten
minutes.
4.
Meanwhile, peel and finely slice the brown
onion. Heat a large non-stick frying pan or wok over a medium heat with a
drizzle of cooking oil. Once hot, add the sliced onion with a pinch of salt and
cook for ten minutes or until softened.
5.
While your onion sizzles, there’s time to get a
little prep done. Set the kettle boiling again and chop the tomatoes roughly.
Peel and finely chop the garlic. Add the vegetable stock cube, tomato paste,
pomegranate molasses and 1 teaspoon sugar to a measuring jug. Dissolve in 250ml
boiled water – this is your pomegranate stock.
ChefBeHere Top
Tip: Keep an eye on the contents of your two saucepans. Once ten minutes is up,
drain the hot water from the egg pan and refill with cold tap water. Set aside
to cool. In the second pan, once all the water has absorbed and the rice is
cooked, remove from the heat and keep covered with the lid on the pan until
serving. Turn both hobs off.
6.
Once the onion has softened in your frying pan,
add the cumin seeds, curry powder, chilli flakes, and chopped garlic. Cook for
a couple of minutes until fragrant. Pop two dinner plates in the oven and heat
the oven to 200C.
7.
Add the chopped tomatoes, pomegranate stock, and
spinach to the pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 or so minutes until the
tomatoes have broken down and the sauce has thickened to a curry-like
consistency.
8.
Meanwhile, peel the cooled eggs and cut them in
half. Chop the coriander finely including the stalks. Remove the lid from your
rice pan and use a fork to fluff the rice and stir through the chopped
coriander.
9.
Pop your mini coriander naans on a baking tray.
Using oven gloves to protect your hands, carefully remove the two dinner plates
from the oven and pop your naans in to warm for a few minutes.
10. Serve
the coriander rice between two dinner plates. Spoon your tomato and pomegranate
curry out onto the plates and top each plateful of curry with some boiled egg.
Serve with a mini coriander naan on the side – and tuck in to a fiery tea!
 |
| What a wonderful bowlful of grub 😀 @chefbehere |
--
In the words of
Gousto…
“This curry combines boiled eggs with a sweet and sour sauce made with
fresh tomatoes, baby leaf spinach and pomegranate molasses. Cumin seeds and
curry powder bring an earthiness to the sauce, whilst chilli flakes add a
subtle kick. Served with coriander rice and a mini naan to dip into the sauce!”
What do you think, readers? Are you open minded enough to
give an egg curry a go? Does this look like the kind of food that just might
rock your world?? Let me know what you think! There’s just one fiddly
ingredient in this recipe – I’m looking at you… pomegranate molasses – and you
only need spend half an hour of your evening in the kitchen.
 |
| Spend the rest having fun! @mette_mie_ |
And, in my eyes, this is a pretty healthy curry. You have
egg, you have spinach, you have rice… lots of healthy, energy-packed
ingredients! Shout out, readers, what are you thinking? Would you take this
recipe on? And – if you do give it a go – please let me know how you get on in
the kitchen! Was the recipe straightforward to follow? Did you like the food?
Whether or not there’s a Tangy Tomato, Pomegranate & Egg Curry on the horizon… here’s wishing
you all a wonderful weekend, readers. Have a cracking couple of days!
Fluff safely,
Hayley
--
An informative footer
I’d like to note, the above is part of a series of posts that I’m
currently having fun writing, while undertaking a fresh start with food. Food
bloggers can’t admit they got bored with food, you say? Well, I beg to differ!
In August 2017, I made two wonderful decisions; I signed up for Gousto – a food
delivery company who send recipes and ingredients in the post – and I began a
health & wellness program to transform my food habits, with Rachel of
re:Wellbeing. In this blog post, and others like it, I share one of the
wonderful recipe that I’m taking on, and an idea that I’m exploring as part of
this fresh start.
If you would like to find out more about Gousto, please visit https://www.gousto.co.uk/
(I have a sneaky discount code! If you’re new to Gousto, then click
HERE for 50% off your first 2 boxes and I’ll get a discount too for referring
you… so errrrybody wins)
And, if you would like to learn more about re:Wellbeing, then visit https://www.rewellbeing.com/
