These were incredibly quick and easy to make and as I had all the ingredients except the golden syrup in the cupboard, sort of free. Result.

Peanut butter bars (makes 8 bars)

4 tablespoons organic crunchy peanut butter
4 tablespoons light corn syrup or golden syrup
1 1/2 cups/100g whole rolled oats
1/2 cup/50g golden raisins/sultanas
1 tablespoon whole-wheat/wholemeal flour, preferably stoneground

A non-stick cake pan/tin 6×9 inches/23 x 15 cm

Preheat the oven to 375F/190C/Gas 5

Put the peanut butter and corn syrup in a saucepan and heat very gently until melted, about 3 minutes. Add the oats, golden raisins/sultanas, and flour and stir well until thoroughly mixed and the mixture has the consistency of breadcrumbs.

Pour the mixture into the cake pan/tin and press in with the back of a spoon. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Score into bars or squares with a knife while still warm, then allow to cool before cutting through and removing the bars from the pan/tin. Once cool, the bars can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

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Here it is pre-oven

and post oven

and on the plate.

The blurb said (yes, I know, why do I take so much notice of what the blurb says?) that it didn’t need much in the way of accompaniment other than a light salad but I had been tempted to have it with a burger but took a trip to the tip while it was cooking and had it on its own when I got back. A burger or sausage would have gone nicely with it, although, at 719 calories per portion, maybe stick to the light salad they suggest.

Potato and leek boulangere (serves 4-6)
Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: 1 hour
Suitable for freezing
Calories per serving (4 portions): 719
kj 2996
Protein 18g
Fat: 51g (saturated fat 32g)
Carbohydrate: 50g

Ingredients
25g (1oz) butter
500g (1lb) leeks, sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
875g (1 3/4 lb) potatoes, scrubbed and thinly sliced
4 tomatoes, sliced
300ml (1/2) pint double cream
300ml (1/2) pint milk
125g (4oz) smoked cheese, grated
salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Use the butter to grease a large, deep 30 x 30cm (12″ x 12″) ovenproof dish. Put in half of the chopped leeks and garlic, cover with half of the slices of potato and season well.
2. Cover with a layer of the remaining leeks and garlic, then the remaining potato slices and season well again. Cover with the slices of tomato.
3. Mix the cream with the milk and pour over the top.
4. Cover with grated cheese and bake in a preheated oven, 180c, Gas Mark 4, for 1 hour or until the potatoes are cooked and the cheese well browned.

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Next up was pasta with spinach, shiitake mushrooms and tofu.

Upon reading the ingredients (tofu, shiitake mushrooms, spinach, soy sauce, sesame oil and garlic), I wasn’t keen on having it with pasta, feeling it was more of an oriental dish and I had to restrain myself from having it with rice or noodles, but the blurb assured me it went perfectly well with pasta, so I thought I’d be brave. Wrong choice. It didn’t really go with pasta (especially not the big shells I’ve been unsuccessfully trying to cook for a few weeks) and the leftovers will be served with rice.

Last night’s meal wasn’t much of a success either. I don’t usually make fancy or fiddly food but it said preparation was 10 minutes. Was it heck. More like 30 minutes. Still, it looked pretty.

Unfortunately The Meat Eater wasn’t keen and although I said he wasn’t getting tonight’s potato-based meal unless he finished his dinner, half of his roulade went in the bin. I thought it was ok, but the soufflé-type texture got a bit boring after a while. Thinner slices as a starter or as a side to something more substantial would have worked better.

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I also loved the soup. Easy to make and whilst probably a bit hearty for a summer’s day (well, it would be if we had a flipping summer’s day), it was very filling.

Along with the soup, I decided to excel in today’s flurry of domestic goddessing and made some home made bread. Well, home made as in out of a packet mix and made in the bread maker. I used half the packet and 2 hours and 53 minutes later, out came the smallest loaf of bread in the world. Is it just me or does it look a bit like a curly dog poo?

Still, curly dog poo notwithstanding, the bread was quite dense and very filling but very nice, especially as I had it while it was still warm, fresh out of the bread maker.

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Ingredients

1 aubergine
1 block of mozzarella, sliced
2 tomatoes, sliced
olive oil
salt and pepper
basil leaves

Method
Cut the aubergine in half lengthways
Score the flesh and drizzle over some olive oil
Bake in the oven for 25 minutes at 200c
Layer on the tomatoes and mozzarella, season and bake for another 5 minutes
Scatter over the basil leaves

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And I didn’t even have a massive portion. Full of self-control, me.

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I came out the other end 3lbs lighter, with a flatter stomach and I might be imagining it, but my teeth look whiter, too.

Although the detox ended yesterday, I didn’t want to jump straight back into eating loads and put the weight back on immediately, so this morning I had a blueberry and blackberry smoothie with soya milk and for lunch I had the Popeye Power juice which is in the kids’ section of Juice Master Keeping It Simple and contains spinach, apple, pineapple, lemon and ice and as you can’t taste the spinach in it, it would be a good way of getting kids to eat something green and nasty other than bogies. Dinner will be tofu and stir-fried vegetables with Basmati rice.

I’m going to hopefully incorporate juicing into my lifestyle, not just because it’d be a waste of the £66 I spent on a juicer, but because I love smoothies for breakfast anyway (I’m not a fan of solid food first thing, so smoothies are perfect for me) and the juices are lovely (except for the ones with avocado), filling and nutritious enough for lunch.

Do I recommend it? Definitely.

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I was going to skip breakfast but I make the Detox Special from day one as that was nice but takes flipping ages as I’m chased around the kitchen by a wasp, attracted by all the fruit pulp.

Lunchtime

I’m back from the gym and have made an executive decision. I’m not going to have the Beyond Detox for lunch as is on the programme, as I can’t face the avocado again, so I’m going to have the Detox Special again. And yes, I know I moaned about having to have it for breakfast and lunch on day one and now I’m voluntarily having the same thing twice in a row. I’ve run out of carrots though, so I’ll have to leave that out.

I also forget to add the beetroot and I could add it in afterwards but I’ve only got one large one left and I don’t want to cut that just for one slice, so I leave it out, so it only contains 2 apples, a slice of lemon, an inch of broccoli stem, a quarter of a yellow bell pepper and blended with ice, and without the carrot it’s a lot thinner and without the beetroot, it’s green instead of red.

5.27pm

I’m getting hungry as I have done for the last two days around this time and it’s not been made any better by me thinking about what I’m going to have for dinner tomorrow. I’ve decided to stick to a juice or smoothie for breakfast and lunch and then a healthy meal in the evening. Tomorrow’s dinner will be stir-fried tofu and veg with basmati rice. Although, strangely, the thought now – even though it’s only been three days – of eating something hot that requires chewing, seems strange. Ah well, I’m sure that’ll only last until it’s in front of me.

7.31pm

That’s it! I’ve just had my last ‘meal’ of the 3 day detox and very nice it was too. It was the Dreamy Detox that I had for yesterday’s lunch. The Meat Eater is currently eating tortellini with tomato and mascarpone sauce. Jealous, me? Nope, not at all. But only because it’s ham and bacon tortellini. He was very kind and didn’t make any garlic bread though in case I caved in.

I’ll do a summary and conclusion of the detox tomorrow. Now I’m off for some pizza and wine.

Just kidding.

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I have my lemon with hot water, then make the Super Detox Smoothie, which I’ve been looking forward to, as I love home made smoothies and this one contains 1/2 a small pineapple, which gets juiced, then poured into a blender along with 1 handful fresh blueberries, 1 handful fresh blackberries, 200g low fat live yoghurt and 4 ice cubes.

I don’t have much of a sense of smell but the smell of the fresh pineapple juice coming out of the juicer is amazing (if you don’t want to clean a juicer for just a bit of pineapple, you can leave it out). I add it to the blender with the blueberries, blackberries and the yoghurt and whizz it up. I’m used to adding soya milk to my smoothies, not yoghurt, and so it’s a bit sour but still, it’s very nice. And makes a change from flipping beetroot.

I don’t have to have beetroot again until linner when it’s the H2O Detox again and then dinner is the same as last night’s – Beyond Detox. I’ll try to blend the avocado properly this time. I know I moaned yesterday about having the same juice for two meals in a row but I’m going to moan again about having the same dinner two nights in a row. Considering how Jason Vale is the self-proclaimed Juicemaster, couldn’t he have devised a programme with a bit of variation? It is only three days, after all.

10.15am

Just back from a run and very surprisingly, I don’t want peanut butter on toast and a mug of hot chocolate. I usually have a cup of Options hot chocolate at 11am every day but the thought of all those chemicals now isn’t appealing at all. I was quite thirsty on my run, so I must have lost a bit of fluid by drinking all that juice and could be a bit dehydrated. Interval training while detoxing probably isn’t the best idea in the world. Tomorrow I’ve got to run 3 miles, so I’ll see how that goes.

11.11am

Forget what I just said about not wanting hot chocolate. I’ll be strong though and have a cup of Choco Yogi Tea instead.

12.00pm

I’ve just had the results in for my Open University Creative Writing course (which I sporadically blog about here). A Grade 2 pass, yippee! Just what I wanted (well, obviously, I’d have liked a distinction but that was never going to happen as I’d only had one assignment in that grade).

So, for my celebratory lunch, I’ll be having a Dreamy Detox?

Bah. Can I stick a vodka in it?

The Dreamy Detox consists of 2 apples, 1 slice of lemon, 1 inch slice cucumber, 1 stick celery (if you didn’t forget to buy any), 1 inch piece fresh ginger which is all juiced then blended with ice.

Doesn’t make much, does it? It’s really nice and refreshing though and makes a change from red liquid.

I’ll be making this one again, for sure. Yum.

I’m supposed to be making the H2O Detox between lunch and dinner but I’m going to do without it and just wait for dinner. I can’t be bothered to drink a litre of very weakly flavoured red coloured water and will just stick to plain water.

19.21pm

Just had dinner of Beyond Detox. I blended the avocado properly this time but I’m still not keen. I’m supposed to be having it for lunch tomorrow, but don’t think I can face it.

That’s day two over with. Just one more left.

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I read the book in one sitting, ordered a juicer and a blender and then decided 7 days was too long to go without eating anything and as my juicer came with a free copy of Juice Master Keeping It Simple, I thought I’d do the 3 day detox that’s in there instead.

This involves consuming, in liquid form, the following fruit and veg over three days:

That’s 3 carrots, 22 apples, 3 lemons, 1 yellow bell pepper, 1 1/2 cucumber, 3 celery sticks, 3 broccoli stems, 1 large beetroot, 2 pieces ginger, small handful parsley, 2 avocados, 1/4 cup blackberries, 1/4 cup blueberries, 1 medium pineapple, 1lb spinach, 3 1/2 litres water, 1 tub natural live yoghurt.

Celery got missed off my shopping list and I did buy beetroot but forgot to take it out of the cupboard to include in the photo and only remembered after I’d put everything else back. The only thing I’m not looking forward to is the avocado. I hate avocados. Bleurgh. But I don’t want to leave them out because they are very good for you and I’ve got to get some calories from somewhere.

Jason Vale reckons that in three days, I’ll have a flatter stomach (not that I’m overweight; I’m 5′ 6″ and weighed in at 9st 6 and 3/4 this morning, but I would like to lose half a stone although obviously I’m not expecting to lose weight in three days), a better mental state and I won’t want to eat so much crap. Yay. He also says to not watch any TV for three days as it’s a mind polluter but that’s just bollocks so I’m going to ignore that bit.

Each day starts with a cup of hot water with a slice of lemon. This doesn’t bother me in the slightest as I gave up ‘normal’ tea a few years ago and had lemon and water then.

Don’t you just love my cow mug ? I’ve got a pig mug too.

Then breakfast, lunch, linner (a horrible word Jason’s made up meaning in between lunch and dinner), and evening ‘meal’ is a juice or smoothie.

Day one’s breakfast is the Detox Special:

This contains 2 apples, 1 carrot, 1 slice lemon, 1/4 yellow bell pepper, 1 inch slice cucumber, 1/4 piece celery (if you don’t forget to buy it, like I did), 1 inch broccoli stem, 1 inch slice raw beetroot, ice.

I usually have a banana smoothie for breakfast, so a juice won’t be too much of a change. Everything gets juiced, then ice is added afterwards (or crush it in a blender). Due to the beetroot, this turns out a gorgeous crimson colour

and it tastes good too – kind of like creamy apple juice – which is handy as it’s also going to be today’s lunch.

12:45pm

I’m back from the gym and feeling peckish. It’s lunchtime and what I’d really like is a cheese sandwich (although I don’t usually have sandwiches for lunch; I usually have soup in the winter and salad in the summer and I probably want a sandwich now because I can’t have one) but I’ve got to have the Detox Special again. I’m quite surprised I’ve got to have the same juice twice in a row but it’s the only time during the three days anything’s repeated in the same day. 

In between lunch and dinner, I have to drink the H2O Detox which is 1 inch beetroot, 1/2 an apple, 1 inch slice pineapple, 1 inch slice lemon and 3/4 litre of water. Jason Vale reckons it’s lighter than a juice but more filling than water. I hope so, as I’ve just had ‘lunch’ and I’m still hungry.

I used tap water and it’s a bit weird, although not unpleasant, kind of like very weak pineapple flavoured water. I think sparkling water would work better.

I’m getting a bit bored of drinking red liquid and my hands are very dry after washing the juicer three times already today.

6.30pm

It’s taken me all afternoon to drink the H2O Detox and I’m hungry and it is dinnertime but I decide to wait a while to have my ‘dinner’ and have a cup of Yogi tea instead. I think I’m allowed to drink herbal tea aren’t I?

Meanwhile, The Meat Eater’s taking advantage of the fact that I’m not cooking anything for three days and barbecues himself a steak.

About an hour later, I give in to my stomach which is rumbling noisily and make Beyond Detox. This contains 3 apples, 1 large handful of spinach, 1 inch of beetroot, 1 inch slice cucumber, parsley which is all juiced, then blended in a blender with avocado and ice.

I’m not looking forward to trying this as I hate avocado, and spinach juice doesn’t sound particularly appetising, but it’s quite nice and actually tastes like banana. Unfortunately, I didn’t blend the avocado properly and so have to eat lumps of avocado and it takes me about 30 minutes to finish my dinner but it’s certainly very filling. It’s just as well it tasted ok, as I’ve got to have it another two times.

So, that’s day one done and I’ve survived so far. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s breakfast which is a blueberry and blackberry smoothie.

I could do with a pizza though.

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