Rising to the challenge

Into week two of this boot camp thingy and I am feeling good about it - it's amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it! I have reset my goals too to make it a bit more of a stretch for me for my November 18 target (For 12WBT week 2 bloggerschallenge - my reward will be a new summer wardrobe if I meet my goals!). I also can't believe how much food you can actually eat on a 1200 calorie per day meal plan if you don't go out for dinner every night (this probably seems like a natural connection for most people, but even things like sushi and salads can be full of stuff that adds up really quickly). So the past week we have eaten every night at home - pretty sure this is some sort of record for me, we usually have at least 5 meals a week not homemade, there are so many fabulous eateries in Melbourne, we really are spoilt for choice. Some of my favorites for a quick bite include Huyen Linh in Pascoe Vale (super fresh and fast Vietnamese, not upper class but cheap and tasty), in the CBD there's Sushi Burger (self explanatory), +39 (pizzeria), and Manchester Press (pictures of boobs in your coffee, and best bagels EVER), Hellenic Republic in Brunswick (George Calombaris from Masterchef's joint, do the banquet if you are a first timer and you get to taste all the best bits)... I could keep listing but we will be here a long time. So eating at home has meant I have had to make time to do groceries and cooking, which I had a bit of a whinge about at first, but so far so good.
Also this week J decided we needed a Costco membership which I was a little against at first, but once he dragged me in there I was convinced - very much worth it! 850g punnet of strawberries? YES PLEASE! Plus lots of other things in bulk it will take a whole year for the two of us to get through, but so many bargains.
One thing that was still pretty expensive was bread - the price of bread these days is crazy, especially for one little loaf of '12WBT friendly' Burgen at around $5 (or two for about $8 at Costco). Since I got the Thermomix I have been trying to make my own. Back in the 90's it was all the rage to have a bread-maker, I used to love staying with my grandparents and waking up to the smell of fresh baked bread. This one is a little healthier and it a great way to get back into baking your own bread (if you don't have a Thermomix, get one, as you are missing out. Or just mix/knead like you would usually for bread)...

Grainy-Awesome Bread
(adapted from TMX basic bread recipe)

Makes 1 x 30cm(ish) loaf

30gm Be Natural 5 Whole Grains cereal
500gm boiling water
1 sachet dry yeast (about 2 tsps)
310gm bakers/unbleached flour
30gm olive oil
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
180gms whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons poppy, sesame, linseed, flax seeds, mixed
Olive oil spray

Put cereal and boiling water in TMX. Reverse/20secs/soft. Leave to cool until 37 degrees. Add yeast and leave for 5 minutes. Add 150gms bakers flour, oil, sugar, and salt, 15 secs/sp 3. Add remaining flour, knead/90secs/closed lid. Add a little more flour if needed. Cover the dough with a clean dishtowel and let it rest for 15-30 minutes somewhere warm. Knead on a lightly floured board until smooth, add more flour if it's sticky. Oil spray a large bowl and place the dough inside and cover with the dishtowel. Let the dough rise again until it's doubles in size (about 1 hour). Knead again on lightly floured board for a couple of minutes, then shape into a loaf. Sprinkle a baking sheet with half of the seed mixture and place the loaf on top of the seeds.Spray with water and sprinkle remaining seeds. Please in cold oven in the center. Bake for approx 30-35 minutes at 170 (fan forced) or until cooked through.

TIPS if you have a TMX - substitute 100gm of the bakers flour for 100gm of your own milled flour from whole wheat (mill for 1 min/sp 9).