A very successful dinner last night.

As our daughter has an intolerance to wheat, gluten and dairy, we had bought a Fajita Kit a couple of weeks ago. Tonight I used this to save some time and create a healthy dinner for all of us.
The kit came with the tortillas, salsa and the fajita spice mix.
I used one chicken breast, plus a red and a green pepper and one onion to make the fajitas.
I added some salad leaves and slices of avocado when building the fajitas with the salsa.
A big hit, the aromas in the kitchen were wonderful. A great store cupboard hit, full of nutrients and very low fat.

Lunchtime Dilemma

I'm used to cooking lunches for my daughter and me, but not for hubby. Yesterday it was salad, but today I thought I'd cook a little something.
What did I have left, 1/3rd tin tuna (well I did leave for daughter yesterday, but she didn't get back until tea time), also had a box of cooked pasta left from yesterday?
I didn't want to waste this and came up with the following dish and whilst it was cooking, I could nip outside into the garden to grab the fresh flat leaved parsley.

Pasta with tomato, courgettes and tuna sauce

Ingredients (serves 3)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
1 clove garlic finely chopped
1 courgette, cut lengthways into quarters, then chopped along the length
1 tin tomatoes
1 tablespoon capers
1 tablespoon fresh parsley finely chopped
1/3 tin tuna

Method

You need to cook the pasta if you haven't got any ready to reheat.
In a small pan, heat the oil gently and fry the onion until soft, add the garlic and courgette, fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the tinned tomatoes and break them up with a spoon as you cook (I prefer tinned tomatoes as they don't have as much water). Add the capers and parsley. Cook for 5 minutes. Just before serving carefully add the tuna, but try not to mask it, a couple of stirs will do. If using precooked pasta, add it to the sauce and heat through. If fresh cooked pasta drain and toss through sauce.
Serve

For the first evening meal for my hubby, I decided that a simple chicken dish would be the best, but with lots of different vegetables to ensure that we were all following the recommended diet. I also stretched the chicken to feed 3 of us, so it was economical. I bought a whole free range chicken and then took the breast off for our meal. 

Electric Steamer

We were lucky to receive an electric steamer last year from my sister-in-law, which is brilliant for cooking the vegetables to serve with the dinner, just pop them in using however many tiers as necessary, I even cook my rice in it too, saves on pots and pans and also doesn't need to be watched. The biggest benefit is you don't need salt and keep the vitamins and minerals in the veg, none is cooked away in the water.

Potato Ricer

I also have a potato ricer, this is amazing, no worry of lumps and I don't need butter or milk unless turning into "creamed potatoes". I use the potato ricer to produce small threads of potato, I carefully spoon them onto the plate when serving without compressing them. I also use the ricer directly onto fish pies and cottage style pies, low calorie, lovely crunchy top.

Chicken Fricassee

Ingredients (serves 3)

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 banana shallots, finely diced

1 red pepper (I used a long thin pepper) cut into thin strips

2 large chestnut mushrooms, halved and cut into thin slices

1 organic chicken stock cube

1/2 pint water

1 free range chicken breast, cut into small bite sized chunks

handful of french beans, cut into small pieces

Skimmed milk

2 tablespoons cornflour

Method

Heat the oil gently and add the shallots, gently fry the shallots until soft, then add the peppers, keep frying until they soften. Once the peppers and shallots are soft add the mushrooms and fry for another minute.

Add the water and stock cube and turn up the heat until the stock is bubbling, add the chicken and beans and lower to a simmer. Cook for about 10 minutes until chicken is cooked and the beans are just tender.

Mix the cornflour in a small cup with enough water to make a thin paste. Carefully add this to the pan stirring constantly, thin out the sauce with milk until it is the desired thickness, it should be thick enough to cover the vegetables and chicken with a thick layer.

Check seasoning and add pepper if needed.

I served with mashed (riced) potatoes, tender stem broccoli and carrot batons

Feedback from family was yum.

The Heart Manual provided by the hospital recommend the Mediterranean Diet to help protect against further heart attacks. 

We are now following this diet more closely, the main difference will be the red meat level for us as we have had more red than white meat every week.

"Research has also shown that following a Mediterranean diet can reduce the chance of developing conditions such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and even Alzheimer's disease. See separate leaflet called Health Benefits of the Mediterranean Diet.

Switching from a Western to a Mediterranean diet represents a healthy lifestyle choice. It can reduce the risk of a premature death and increase the chance of a healthy retirement, free from long-term medication."  from Patient.co.uk

I was always told that you need to "Eat a rainbow", as the colour of each type of fruit or veg tends to mean that they contain specific vitamins and minerals, carrots are full of carotene with is Vitamin A. By mixing the veg in your meal, you will ensure a good mix of the different minerals and vitamins that a healthy body needs to grow and fight infection. The chart above shows the colours and how they benefit the body.

Time for a recipe in my next post.

Yes, dreams can come true. 

After the events of the weekend, today, my hubby was discharged from hospital and I can now start caring for him and helping him get his bounce back.

Through the lifestyle profiling done whilst he was in Bournemouth Hospital Critical Coronary Unit it looks as though his heart attack was due to genetics, not lifestyle. This is a relief as we have always been careful with our meals. Still, there is always more to be done, improvements to be made. The team in CCU were amazing, we can't thank them enough for saving him.

Lunch today - this is first major change, a light lunch every day, not just a snack if and when.

Tuna Salad (serves 2)

2 oz cooked and cold Seeds of Change Semi-wholewheat Tortiglioni

2 handfuls of salad leaves with beetroot shreds

Half an avocado

2 inch chunk cucumber

1 large tomato

1/3 tin tuna fish in spring water

Extra virgin olive oil

Organic cider vinegar

Freshly ground pepper

Method

While the pasta was cooking (yes I do add a little salt to the water, it is better than salting later), I started preparing the rest of the ingredients. I find that cucumber can make some people a little gassy, my solution is to peel the cucumber, then slice horizontally through the middle of the chunk and using a teaspoon, scrape out the fleshy seedy centre. Then cut the cucumber into small cubes.

Remove the avocado from the skin, again use a dessert or tablespoon to push between the skin and the flesh to remove the edible part. Again cut into small chunks.

I like to assemble the salad on each plate as I prepare, then sprinkle over a few drops of olive oil, plus a couple of drops of cider vinegar, toss on the plate.

Add the tuna to the plate and flake and fluff gently. If you like you can add 1 teaspoon of mayonnaise to the tuna and lightly mix.

When the pasta is cooked (yes, it will be a little more chewy than the normal type, but much more tasty), drain the pasta, return to the pan and immediately run cold water over the pasta for about 1 minutes, strain and you have cold pasta.

Add pasta to the plate and serve. You may like to grind some black pepper over the salad before serving, but that is personal preference.

Excuse the pun, but I need to fill the fridge/freezer with food that meets the Mediterranean Diet requirements, so my bags were full of chicken, fish and lots of vegetables. It was difficult to know what to buy, whether hubby would be discharged from hospital this week, so I decided to fill the freezer with fish and pop a fresh chicken in the fridge.
Trying to remember what is allowed in the vegetable list was fun, I remember after Dad's heart op that he wasn't allowed grapefruit or lots of green cabbage, broccoli or kale (cruciferous veg). I erred on the side of caution and bought green beans, courgettes, organic carrots, red and green peppers, avocados, tomatoes, onions and some salad leaves, add to that apples, pears and cherries and I'm hoping that I've managed a supply of rainbow colours of veg and fruit to use for meals and snacks.
This is going to be an interesting week. Hopefully hubby will be home and I can start cooking up some scrummy dishes.

I'm just waiting to have our normal conversation:-
Me: What do you fancy for dinner?
Hubby: Food!
Me: What kind of food?
Hubby: Cooked!
I'll know my superhero is back then.

It takes a life changing moment to make your realise that perhaps we aren't fuelling our bodies effectively.My husband suffered a Heart Attack on 13th December 2014, luckily I have somehow remembered indicators to watch for and managed to get my husband into A&E within 25 minutes of noticing. Luckily it was 5am, roads were clear of traffic and still sticking to the speed limits, I managed to get him to hospital faster than an ambulance could have.The good news, he was seen quickly, the ECG showed that he was in the middle of a heart attack, they rushed into action, recalled the specialist team and stents were fitted within 30 minutes of him arriving at the hospital. He has been good and one day later is on a mobile monitor plus the consultant is pleased with his progress. He has started eating, is rattling with the number of pills he's on and is only allowed red meat once a week, this is going to need some careful planning for a guy who loves his red meat, lamb, beef, pork and goat. 

Despite always cooking healthily, very low salt and low fat, and free range/organic there are going to be some more changes, lots of chicken, fish, whole grains and .......... whispers quietly 'vegetarian' options 
I feel a new blog coming on about our healthy heart journey sharing the recipes, it will benefit the entire family and hopefully others who may have concerns and want to keep the "clogging of those arteries" at bay.
Thank you for all the amazing support and kind wishes that we have received, it's been heart warming and has brought smiles and tears too, which has been good for the soul, helping my husband recover, and our daughter and me to have the strength to stay positive. Xxxxxxxxx