Saturday 31 January 2015

January 2015 - Heirloom tomato & haloumi salad


Just squeaking in here with my January recipe. Goodness it was a long hard road to get here. 

My cruise around New Zealand was amazing. The food was just incredible. So much variety and so good. I will post some of the photos I have in another post. I was incredibly good on the cruise though and didn't just pig out on the food. I came home without having put on any weight! Even though I tried a lot of food I ate small amounts of it. 

Unfortunately I came home and discovered that food didn't just appear in a buffet in front of me. The well cooked, tasty and mainly healthy food just wasn't appearing. I have actually put on weight since coming home and I have kind of fallen into a can't be bothered hole. A lot of people have said to me that if they lived on their own they wouldn't bother cooking. I have always said that I love to cook and, well, you have to eat decent meals. However, this past month the food hasn't been great. I have been eating breakfast most days. I do try to have a good lunch every day, even if it has involve buying it every week day. It is bloody expensive but it is better than nothing at all or just snacking.

I really need to get my mojo back. I need to get back into a routine. What I am eating is off a bit, I am not exercising as much and my sleep, while I am getting more it still isn't that restful.

Eat, sleep, exercise

They are the three main things that underpin all things in our lives. If there isn't some kind of balance there then a bunch of other things will sprout from it. 

The food has been random. 

My exercise has been less frequent. My main form of exercise is swimming and I got a new tattoo 2 weeks ago so have not been allowed to swim. They said give it two weeks but it isn't completely healed yet so will need another week. There are plenty of other forms of exercise though. So I really need to get off my butt and get out there doing them. 

Sleep is, well, I am not sure how to describe it. I bought myself a vivofit a few weeks ago. My doctor had suggested it as a way of keeping track of my sleep. It is really very interesting. I have been sleeping for a longer time than I had previously thought but I am very restless and don't hit a deep sleep for any length of time. 

When looking for another recipe to make out of this double issue this was one that caught my eye. Easy, quick and fresh. Even though it is a really easy recipe I still took a couple of short cuts but hey it got a good meal on my table. Do whatever you need to so that you can get back into it. I'm just going to write this as I did it.

Heirloom tomato & haloumi salad 
(serves 1)

1 tbsp garlic olive oil
1 tsp butter
1 slice sourdough bread, torn
haloumi slices
Mixed heirloom tomatoes (I got the cherry tomato mix)
1/2 lebanese cucumber, deseeded & sliced
handful salad leaves
your favourite vinaigrette dressing, I used Paul Newman's Classic 

Heat oil & garlic over a medium heat. Toss in bread & cook until golden. Set aside. 
Fry haloumi in the same pan until soft & melty (I cooked mine too long). 
Combine all ingredients.