I didn’t really know what to do for dinner today (18th July) so it ended up being a bit of an odd mix.

Sweet Potato

I think i had had this before, but i don’t recall ever cooking it myself. I picked one up in the shop as i needed to choose a new vegetable fairly quickly. I decided just to bake it like a jacket potato and see what happens. I definitely over-cooked it, but it wasn’t too bad. I had half of it (my housemate eating the other half). I was surprised that the tastiest bit of it was the skin, and I’ve just realised as I’m writing this that it didn’t require any butter. I certainly wouldn’t have eaten a plain baked potato without butter so that is definitely a plus for that.

Potato Salad

I knew I would like this as I’ve made it many times before. Some boiled new potatoes, chopped up in a bowl with salt, pepper, chives and some light mayo. The one thing I did differently was a lot less mayo, even using the light mayo it’s surprising how quickly the calories can mount up. It was definitely a success and I’ll make sure to use less mayo going forwards.

Mixed Salad Leaves & Dressing

I chose the same salad leaves and honey & mustard dressing as yesterday, and they’re definitely going to be a good option going forwards. Next time I buy a salad dressing I’ll probably try a different one just to see what else is out there.

Chicken Sausages

Sausages have always been one of my safe foods, but I’m all too aware of the fat levels and the high calories that come with them. I decided to try Heck’s plain chicken sausages and I was pleasantly surprised! 15 years ago I think sausage alternatives were generally pretty dry and tasteless, but I’m glad I’ve found these. They were nice and juicy and tasted good. They don’t quite measure up to a proper butchers sausage, but for the sake of health I could happily swap to these most of the time, I’ll be buying these again! (and trying some more Heck varieties)

Beetroot & Feta

After the success of my salad i decided to pre-chop my beetroot and feta so it was there and ready to grab, and while this was still nice it did lose a bit of its freshness. In the future I won’t prep it before hand and just do it on my plate. either way this was still nice and worked well with everything else.

Honey-Glazed Carrots

This is one of the foods I was more sceptical about. Carrots were always the vegetable that as a child I was told “eat your carrots, you like them!”, but I didn’t! I think I tolerated them at best. Over the years I have eaten carrots when they’re part of a bigger dish like a stew, but I rarely choose them. I decided to get some of the Chantenay carrots and roast them with some salt, pepper, garlic and a drizzle of honey. They tasted ok and my fiance loved them, but I’m not sure if I would choose them. Having said that I would definitely eat them if someone else put them in front of me, so I guess that’s a small win!

This was definitely an odd mix for dinner and probably too big a portion, but a week ago the only thing on that list I would have even attempted to eat was the potato salad, so another win overall!