Week three, fast day five.

Today was a fast day so I was limited to 450-500 calories.  I had black coffee first thing this morning, as I always do, and then didn't have anything to eat until about 12:30 when I had a pot of low fat yoghurt for 100 calories.  In the mid afternoon I had a "tea" made with hot water, ginger, cinnamon and lemon juice.  I've been told that the ginger and cinnamon help to speed up your metabolism and there are only  about 20 calories so I figure it can't hurt and it doesn't taste terrible. For dinner I made a bastardised version of Somerset Stew served over steamed shredded cabbage.  Throughout the day I had coffee with a splash of whole milk, to total four tablespoons and 36 calories.  I measure it first thing in the morning and then use it as needed.  

The original recipe, and photo, for Somerset Stew came from the BBC.  

Here is my version of Somerset Stew.  This makes four very large servings at 219 calories per serving.

1 medium carrot, diced fine

1 medium onion, diced fine

2 stalks of celery, diced fine

420 gram can of Butter Beans, drained and rinsed

400 gram can of Mixed Indian Bean Salad in water, drained and rinsed (I bought it in Morrison's)

400 gram can of diced tomatoes

200 ml dry cider

250 ml water

2 Knorr Chicken Stock cubes

1/4 teaspoon of dried Thyme

Fresh ground pepper to taste

Steamed Cabbage to serve (1 cup is 33 calories)  

For those not fasting: Sausages, I used Morrison's Smoky Chipotle Chilli Sausages, and mashed potatoes.

Directions: In a large, non-stick, somewhat deep frying pan, brown the sausages.  Put them in a microwave safe dish and finish cooking that way.  Remove all but  tablespoon of the drippings and sauté' the carrot, onion and celery until lightly browned and softened.  Add the remaining ingredients and simmer for about 15-20 minutes.  If desired, thicken the stew with 1 Tablespoon corn starch/flour mixed in 3 Tablespoons of cold water.   

We really enjoyed this, it had great flavour and was very filling.  Even with eating 1/3 of a sausage, because I just couldn't resist, my calorie count for the day totalled 452.