Cumin Spiced Aubergine and Sweet Potato Cottage Pie 

Here is my version of the Cumin spiced aubergine and sweet potato cottage pie.

I roasted a sliced aubergine, red pepper, half a red onion, and two large tomatoes (quartered) - with a drizzle of olive oil, drizzle of agave nectar and 2 teaspoons of cumin.  I cooked them for about 20 mins.  The smell coming from the oven was heavenly!

Meanwhile I peeled and diced 4 medium sweet potatoes, and steamed them for 25 mins.  Once steamed I mashed them with a splash of soya milk and a tablespoon of margarine and a bit of salt.

Once the roast veg was done I put a layer in the bottom of a dish and covered it with a layer of mashed sweet potato.

I'll pop it in the oven to heat it up again for tea and serve it with some asparagus and snap peas I think.

This made 2 dishes so I'm freezing one for later in the week.

I also made some lunch for the Monday and Tuesday, which is this little lot:

I diced an apple, one tomato, grated a carrott, grated half a courgette, added 1 teaspoon of shelled hemp seeds, 4 tablespoons of cous cous (this needs to be soaked in a little boiling water for about 10 mins before its added to the salad.  Also a handfull of sliced almonds and the juice from half a lemon to stop the apple from going brown and to add flavour.  And a bit of salt to season it.  This made 2 portions like the one above.

In case you are wondering what the rest of the family are eating - I've done some chicken fajitas for Simon and Becky.  I've made a cheese sauce to pop over the top before I heat them up in the oven later:

I'm declaring the rest of June - Healthy Eating Month!

I've managed to drop 5lb so far this month by eating a bit better than I usually do - and feel quite a lot better for it.  I had a whole week of eating really, really well and my energy levels were great, my skin was better and I lost some of the poundage mentioned above.

So - head is in gear - and I've been looking into a raw food diet.  I don't think a completely raw food diet is for me - there's cooked stuff that I like way too much, but I'm going to try and incorporate more raw foods that I usually do - and we will see  where that takes us.

My goal is to have shed another 7lb by the end of the month. For the record I'm currently weighing in at 12st 1lb - so my goal is to be 11/8 by 30th June.

So the changes I'm planning on making are:

Cut way down on dairy products.  Try to cut cheese out altogether.  I've stocked up on Soy and Rice milk as an alternative to cows milk.  This isn't for the calorific content, because cows milk is actually quite low, but to try to aleviate some digestive problems I've been having for a while.

I love cous cous and so will be having a lot of this, mainly for lunches with raw veg such as red and yellow peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, sweetcorn and asparagus.  Main evening meals will be mainly noodles and pasta but cutting way down on the portions, and bulking the meals up with veg.  Roast veg with the pasta - sweet pototoes, onions, and  peppers are lovely, and mushrooms, peppers and onions with the noodles, cooked very hot but quickly in the wok with a generous dash of soy sauce.

Smoothies are great - I usually make them with whatever fruit needs using up, and add a big dollop of greek yoghurt and also some fruit juice.  I'm giving the greek yoghurt a miss and concentrating on just the fruit and juice to see what difference that makes.  Aiming for one of these a day.

I've pretty much cut out the fizzy pop now - apart from the occasional one when I'm out. I'm drinking mainly fruit juices, water or Ribena (and the odd bottle of wine of an evening).  I remembered to buy a big bottle of Ribena for work and have a jug in the fridge there that I keep topped up with nice cold water.

I've bought some shelled hemp seeds to give me some protein - they're quite nice, a little nutty,  and can be added to the cous cous, pasta or noodles.  Also nuts - just a handful as a snack or added to one of my meals is another good source of protein.

To stave off the hunger pangs, I'm having a banana a day when I feel at my most peckish - they're great for potassium, give a slow energy release and pretty filling too.

For puddings I'm sticking with mixed fruit salad - I'm not saying I wont have the odd treat of a chocolate brownie or blackberry crumble now and then mind you.

I was out for a family meal on Friday at one of our favourite places, The Inn, at Troway and had a gorgeous main course: Cumin spiced aubergine and sweet potato cottage pie.  It was to die for. I'm going to have a go at making my own version for my tea today.    The filling of the 'pie' was augbergines and tomatoes with cumin - but instead of the traditional potato topping, this one was made with sweet potatoes, so was pinky orange in colour, and tasted as sweet as anything.  I have no idea how they made it but I'm going to experiment by roasting the aubergines and tomatoes with a little agave nectar and then top it with mashed sweet potatoes. I'll report back later!