So the challenge for week 1 was to eat a minimum of two different fruits or vegetables at breakfast, lunch and dinner time. I didn’t anticipate it being particularly difficult, but it took a little planning to make sure I didn’t skimp! I think I did quite well as quite often had more than the required two per meal. Here’s how I did… and yes, I made pretty much everything from scratch!
Monday:
- Breakfast: Porridge (made with hazelnut milk), with hazelnuts, yoghurt coated sunflower seeds, flame raisins and banana, sweetened with honey.
- Lunch: Carrot sticks with roasted onion houmous, cheese and tomato quiche, and a small bunch of grapes.
- Dinner: Salmon in herb butter with baby new potatoes, sweetcorn, fine beans and asparagus.
Tuesday:
- Breakfast: Porridge (made with hazelnut milk), with cinnamon and hazelnut butter, omega seed mix, raisins and banana (no added sweetener at all).
- Lunch: Homemade potato, leek and carrot soup with tomato wrap.
- Dinner: Sweet potato and paneer curry crisp bake, roasted parsnips, peas and sweetcorn.
Wednesday:
- Breakfast: Fresh mango and banana with Yeo Valley Greek yoghurt with honey, omega seed mix sprinkled on top
- Lunch: Homemade potato, leek and carrot soup with tomato wrap.
- Dinner: Stir fried chicken breast with mushrooms, ginger root, onion, carrot, red pepper and courgette, in a hot chilli and ginger sauce.
Thursday:
- Breakfast: Green smoothie (apple juice, water, spinach, banana and mango)
- Lunch: Homemade potato, leek and carrot soup with Kingsmill 50/50 bread
- Dinner: Homemade penne Bolognese with tomatoes, onion, garlic, spinach, courgette, red pepper and mushrooms (see my Awesome Sauce recipe for the basis of this delicious dish!)
Friday
- Breakfast: Green smoothie (pineapple juice, water, kale, banana and pineapple)
- Lunch: Homemade tomato and basil soup (tomatoes, onion and garlic) with Kingsmill 50/50 bread
- Dinner: Sausages with colcanon (mashed potato with kale), carrots, asparagus and green beans
tomato and basil soup
Saturday:
- Breakfast: Green smoothie (pineapple juice, water, kale, raspberries, pineapple and banana)
- Lunch: Homemade tomato and basil soup (tomatoes, onion and garlic) with cheese on toast
- Dinner: Sweet potato and paneer curry crisp bake, baby new potatoes, roasted parsnips, carrots, green beans and sweetcorn
Sunday:
- Breakfast: Green smoothie (orange juice, water, spinach, banana and kiwi fruit)
- Lunch: Sundried tomato and mozarella panini with salad (cucumber and lettuce)
- Dinner: Roast beef, mashed potatoes, carrots, peas, and swede
I was supposed to start the green smoothie challenge on Wednesday, but when I got up in the morning to make my breakfast smoothie, I discovered that my trusty blender of five years had given up the ghost, and as it was New Year’s Day and no shops were open, I had to wait till Thursday to buy a new one, so my smoothie came later in the day. So, to cover the extra day, I’ll continue the challenge to 31st January instead of 30th January.
I’ll be continuing with the green smoothies every day throughout January as part of my 30-day green smoothie challenge so at least one meal every day will easily have at least two fruits or vegetables in them. However, I plan to build this into my diet permanently, so the two fruit or veg at every meal is staying!
A wonderfully healthy menu. Unfortunately I just can’t come at the idea of a green smoothie. Drinking something green just doesn’t seem right to me. Silly how you get ideas in your head that you just can’t shift. I know I should like them but just can’t.
If you don’t like the idea of drinking something green, put it in a travel mug with a lid and drink it through a straw so you don’t see the colour and get put off. I was a bit weirded out to begin with too, when I first tried them last year, but after managing to drink a couple of them and realising they taste kind of fabulous, I got to like the colour. I’ve yet to persuade my 5-year-old to try them, despite calling them Hulk smoothies to entice him, but I actually enjoy them now and am adding more greens this time round than I did last time. 🙂
That’s a great way to overcome my aversion to the concept of drinking something green. I love your idea of calling it a Hulk smoothie.
Great menu for the week, and I like the weekly challenges. I too find that the green smoothies is the best way to get the raw vegetables into my diet that I just wouldn’t get otherwise! Keep it up!
I’ll be continuing with the green smoothies for the rest of January, as well as three other months during the year. I love them, but I couldn’t do them every day permanently.