Day 3 – An Epiphany

31Mar11

So far so good. Yesterday passed off without too much trouble. I got a crazy sweet tooth in the afternoon, so relented and had a sugar free Werthers Original, courtesy of my diabetic girlfriend, which seemed to do the trick. Sweeteners are a grey area on this programme, given that some can actually promote weight gain, according to a significant body of research.

So, onto day 3. Breakfast time. After two days, I was a little tired of my (albeit delicious) sausage casserole type thing, and really fancied some baked beans. Most beans are perfectly fine, but due to regular baked beans having more sugar than beans in them, they’re off the menu for the duration of the experiment. Never one to be defeated by such trivialities, I decided to make my own. Find out how after the jump.

This is how:

You need:

• Some beans. ‘Proper’ baked beans are made with haricot beans, but I had a tin of black eyed beans in the cupboard, so I used them. I recommend using tinned beans, as with dried you need to soak them overnight. This is shit if you’re hungry.
• A red pepper
• An onion
• A clove of garlic
• Oil for frying
• Seven or so blitzed cherry tomatoes (normally cherry toms, chopped and whizzed around in a blender)
• A tablespoon of paprika
• A splash of worcestershire sauce
• A pinch of mustard powder
• A pinch of chilli powder
• Salt
• Pepper
• A dash of cinnamon
• A dash of all-spice (not Old Spice, that would be rubbish!)
• Oregano

Chop the onion, pepper and garlic finely, and fry in the oil until soft. Drain the beans and chuck them in the pan, along with everything else apart from the water. Give it a good stir, and the paprika should give everything a lovely red colouring. Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring regularly. Keep an eye on the mixture, and if it’s looking too dry, add some water to moisten everything, bring to the boil then return to simmer. Easy.

Remember, this recipe was essentially made up, so use what you have in your cupboards / fridge, and experiment! I’d never realised making baked beans was so easy, and they taste so much better than shop bought varieties. An epiphany indeed.

I had the beans with some fried mushrooms, Jamie Oliver Italian Style sausages, and a couple of slice of organic bacon. Best breakfast I’ve had in a long while, truth be told.

Remember, if you’d like to start your own weight loss (and many other) experiments, I’d totally recommend you check out the book that got me started on this – The Four Hour Body by Tim Ferriss. I’m particularly looking forward to the chapter on improving sex, although a quick skim through suggests it’s not a chapter to read in public!

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Tags: baked beans, four hour body, slow carb diet, weight loss