Food/ Recipes – Page 6 – Life is a Journey

Foodie Friday

Posted on March 1, 2013October 10, 2026 by Libby Withnall

First an update on my sugar free challenge. I continued on for another week – making it three weeks – with the exception of chocolate fondue on the weekend. However, my weight has gone up this week and I really don’t know why. So the last few days it’s been difficult to stay motivated and I have had a few things with sugar. I’ve been reading a bit about food intolerances causing, not only inflammation, but an inability to lose weight, so I wonder if that might be something I’m dealing with. When I look at my food for the week I had more bread than normal. Hmm… might have to set myself another challenge and eliminate more foods from my diet.

This week saw lots more grocery buying (again). First a shop at Woolworths…

Then my main big shop at Coles….

This weeks meals included…

Breakfast made by Amy…

A green smoothie….

and a Cheese & Pineapple Jaffle…

Lunches included a vegetable burger sandwich…

A cheese, hummus and salad roll…

a veggie bite salad wrap….

and a cheese, corn and camembert quesadilla when out for lunch with a friend….

Dinner featured a peri peri wrap….

a BBQ cooked by Kevin on his new electric BBQ…

Cheese tortilini with tomato sauce….

Zucchini slice and corn…

Tacos….

and Pumpkin Pasta bake….

Snacks included fresh fruit…

Chocolate fondue for 2 …. shared with Amy….

and a cream sponge cake for when one of Amy’s friends was over (and I hadn’t had time to prepare anything else)…..

Tell me, did you have any yummy food indulgences this week?

Foodie Friday

Posted on February 22, 2013October 10, 2026 by Libby Withnall

First up an update on my 2 week sugar free challenge

To sum it up in case you don’t want to watch the video – it didn’t help at all with my arthritis (as hoped) but I did lose 2.5kg. The best thing, however, is I really have no desire to eat anything sweet. And my appetite and desire for food is greatly reduced. I really happy I did the challenge and proud of myself for completing it. I’m going to stick with sugar free on a day-to-day basis but will no doubt have a treat or two at special events/occasions. I mean, I can’t see myself never having a cupcake or some chocolate EVER again, even though at the moment I have no desire for it.

This week involved a HUGE grocery shop.

And since my uploaded speed with YouTube is now half decent, I did a grocery haul video for you this week.

On the menu this week. Breakfast included cheese on toast (which I had a real craving for).

French Toast and a green mango smoothie.

Pear (sugar-free) pancake.

Toast with marmalade.

Lunches included Thai takeaway – just one veggie spring roll for me.

and some homemade ice cream for desert.

Most days I had my usual salad but one day I enjoyed a wrap by the pool.

And I also had lunch at a cafe with my best friend, Leanne.

Dinners included Mushroom Risotto.

Taco (TVP) Salad

Quorn burger, sweet potato and veggies.

Creamy Quorn Curry

Bolognase Vol A Vents

Snacks included healthy carrot cookies (recipe from Heather’s Whole Food Kitchen class) – which were actually rather nice and I will definitely be making again).

There were cheese and crackers and a gorgeous plum.

I did also enjoy a Hot Cross Bun (yep, it’s got some sugar but I enjoyed this AFTER my challenge ended).

And spotted (with a squeal of excitement) and bought but not yet eaten – Choc Orange Tim Tams. If you’ve been around here long enough you’ll know how much I love orange chocolate. One day … for a treat with friends.

Tell me, did you find anything squeal worthy in the supermarket this week?

Foodie Friday

Posted on February 15, 2013October 10, 2026 by Libby Withnall

I seem to have spent a fortune on food this week (but things were a little run down I guess). I actually did 3 seperate shops this week.

Woolworths on Satudary, Aldi on Tuesday….

and Coles for my big shop on Thursday.

So how is my sugar free challenge going? I’m pleased to report it’s going well. I find I’m not enjoying sweet things like tinned pineapple (in juice) which I’ve always loved. And I tend to feel full a lot quicker. Most of the time I’m not bothered that I can’t eat sweets but I do miss baking. I tried to make a new healthy choc cake today but it was a big fail. On the negative side my arthritis is as bad as ever (due to the humidity) but on the plus side I lost 2kg last week :-). I’ve got 4 more days to go and will then make some decisions as to how I proceed.

Breakfast this week…. By pure chance I made a protein pancake on Tuesday….

Fried egg on toast….

Veggie scramble with toast…

and French Toast made by Christy…

I made some Lentil Soup which I know doesn’t look the best but I promise it tastes amazing…

And there were afternoon teas with the girls. The watermelon this week has been the best all year.

Dinner included…. Quorn fillet,mashed potato, mushroom and brussel sprouts…

Quorn Bolognase…

Santa Fe Casserole… again doesn’t look the best but tastes great….

We had one dinner flop. I made mushroom sauce (which I’ve made before) over pasta. Not sure if it was the wholemeal pasta (first time trying this) or because I missed the chicken stock cube from the sauce. I’m thinking it was the pasta.

There was also a special Valentine’s Dinner of Yorkshire Pudding and Roast Veggies.

Oh, and if you want to see the video I made BEFORE starting the no-sugar challenge, I finally managed to get it uploaded (yay!!!)

Linking up with what am I eating.

Tell, me did you have any outstanding success or failure in the kitchen this week?

Foodie Friday

Posted on February 8, 2013October 10, 2026 by Libby Withnall

I have to apologise for being such a bad blogger of late. I guess I’m still settling into the school routine and I’ve been making more of an effort to spend more time with the girls – like having our sit down afternoon tea. Plus as you will read soon, I’ve taken on a new food challenge this week – which has taken up some time with researching and planning and such. AND our internet has been mucking up. I’ve given up waiting to upload our weekend away video and will just share the photos (should be tomorrow).

Anyway, onto Foodie Friday.

This week featured a fun weekend in Sydney with LOTS of food treats, starting with mushroom crepes at Pancakes at the Rocks.

Then there was a delicious high tea enjoyed while cruising around Sydney harbour.

Dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. Amy, Kevin and I shared potato skins and nachos.

Breakfast at Gloria Jeans.

And finally lunch at Wagamama’s.

On Wednesday I started a 2 week challenge to eliminate processed sugar from my diet. I did film a video but it’s taking too long to upload. I will still have a couple pieces of fruit a day but no juices, added sugars, and for this two weeks no sugar substitutes like maple syrup or honey. And I still buy foods with little/no additives and preservatives. I’m doing this to help my imflammation/arthritis and to break the sugar habit. Kevin has joined me which is fantastic as I think he has more of a sugar addiction than I do.

Obviously there was a big clean out of the pantry – look at all that space up on top where all our chocolate and dried fruit was.

At this stage it has all been moved out to our garage pantry. Out of sight out of mind.

I also filmed a grocery haul and luckily enough I took a couple of photos.

This week I did muffin tin Monday for the girls – it’s been such a long time since I did one of these.

Other meals this week included cruskits with cheese and tomato….

Homemade falafels with hummus and some veggies….

A very misshapen veggie patty (note : don’t cook them in the George Foreman Grill)…

Overnight oats….

and popcorn….

I’m only 3 days into my no-sugar challenge but besides being hungry much of yesterday, things are going well. If anyone has gone or tried going sugar free I’d love to hear about your experience.