The Cambridge Mummy blog on… Ham in coca cola recipes

Posted on December 20, 2011 by cambridgemummy

For a friend who has never done it, despite owning a slow cooker, here’s how I do ham in coca cola, along with a round up of other people’s ham in coca cola receipes – from nigella, to delia, everyone’s done it at some point!!!

1. Buy a big piece of unsmoked ham, (I buy £25 in money’s worth), buy coca cola – the branded stuff, enough to cover the ham in the slow cooker entirely, and one or two onions, and some brown sugar. And you must buy a disposable tin foil tin from the 99p shop – this is vital !!!
2. Wash ham to get rid of gunky bits. Put in slow cooker.
3. Take skin off onion or onions, chop into 4 – big chunky bits, add to slow cooker and cover with coca cola.
4. Turn slow cooker on and leave to cook for at least 8 hours if not more. Look at the cooking time if you’ve got a Huge Bit of Ham.
5. Take ham and mushy onion out of the slow cooker. Keep some of your “juices”. They are lush. Don’t panic if it’s split into two. We just re assemble it as best we can. And eat a bit whilst we are there ;)
6. Score ham, the rub in lots and lots of brown sugar – demerera sugar, wahtever you like, but brown is always nicer.
7. Some people add cloves n “stuff” but I don’t.
8. Put some of the “juices” over the ham and onions in the tray – they make a congealed sauce that is drool worthy.
9. Put into very hot oven to crisp up – meat and for juice to evaporate and thicken.
10. When you’ve got a crispy topping, turn the oven off and leave to cool where it is.
11. Remove from oven. Ensure husband is to hand to stop you gorging on it there and then.
12. Eat as snacks, meals, sneaky bits on the side. Put sauce into a bowl for dipping or jug if it’s runny enough. Eat the onions yourself. They are a treat for the chef !!!!!

Please note: our ham looks NOTHING like the picture. It’s burnt, crispy, chewy, dripping with juice and doesn’t hang together nicely for slicing like the image. It’s the first I could find!!

Here’s ham in coca cola nigella style
http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/ham-in-coca-cola-171

Here’s ham in coca cola delia style, but it looks quite different receipe wise
http://www.deliaonline.com/community/yourrecipes/maincourses/Ham-in-something-other-than-coke-in-a-slo-cooker.html

Here’s ham in coca cola from the good food channel
http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/516270

Here’s a whole conversation on ham in coca cola from Mumsnet!!
http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/food/874709-Christmas-Ham/AllOnOnePage

The Cambridge Mummy blog on running highs and diet lows…

Posted on December 3, 2011 by cambridgemummy

So on Friday morning, I went out in my bobble hat, gillet and full kit, to do the couch to 5k thing. And I did it brilliantly! I really did. I Know. I’m so Modest ;)
I did my lunges across the width of the football pitch and a bit of extra jogging. I’ve really struggled to get going with the running. It’s so hard! My shins – the pain – I don’t know how to explain it. And the burning in my throat is something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.

With all that in mind, on Friday morning, I wasn’t expecting all that much. Not least because I’d eaten so much the day before, not that I’m sure that has any effect on it. I was going very very slowly in the walking and slowly in the jogging bits. But I did them all – 60 seconds of jogging x 9. And it made me feel amazing. So I don’t mind how slow I was. I posted a couple of random pictures to Facebook to show how happy I was. Here they are in all their glory:

I had two work do’s on Thursday. Fish and chip lunch, followed by cream tea and then Wagamama’s, and then Pizza Hut and ice cream today, so I’m not expecting to have lost any weight in the morning. I’m hoping to stay the same, at 13st 8lb. We’ll see. I may have gained a bit. I just don’t know. We’ll see. Anyway, I got a pair of jeans for £15 today in Dorothy Perkins and they are a size 18. Think they might be a bit big, but I got 18′s and 20′s and the boys were playing up so I didn’t have chance to get anything in a size 16 to test them out.

Regardless of the weigh in, I’ve make some brilliant healthy choices for myself this week. And eaten some not so great foods when I’ve wanted to. But I hope that whatever it is, I’ll remember how “high” I felt on Friday, how great it was to be jogging and making the times. How happy I was to be out in the sunshine and how I managed to do my lunges and my legs are feeling good today. It’s a sign to take it on to more running, less walking and more lunges at the end.

Fingers crossed for a good day tomorrow :)

W and his food….

Posted on May 3, 2011 by cambridgemummy

I was so busy today with work stuff, that the time flew by. E has been having lunch at pre school for ages now, but W was doing his first time having a packed lunch there. Lovely Bloke was fretting about it, especially as they both ate very little for breakfast. Fast forward to 3.30pm and I go to collect them. It’s one of the perks of self employment – being able to pop out for half an hour, to do the school run. Turns out W has eaten apple at morning snack and eaten a lovely afternoon snack. But at lunch time he did a lot of watching and not enough eating – other than his cake and salami.

E ad W got into the car and started devouring their packed lunches with fervour. It was actually quite sweet in some ways – they had been too busy / nosey / distracted to eat at lunchtime. Upon arriving home W doesn’t want to go digging in the garden. Instead, he proceeds to request, nay demand, food. And lots of it. He had a second portion of crackers, and salami, and apple. And then sausages which E took me to the fridge and instructed me to cook “right now”….

I fret so much about their eating. I really do. E is in a phase of eating beef and chicken at the moment, followed by him adopting the muscle man pose. We then have to feel his “big strong muscles”. It’s quite funny really, as he used to not eat much at all. God willing, W will follow in his footsteps at some point. At the moment, all he wants to eat is Salami and chocolate. And drink hot chocolate. He loves to drink his hot chocolate.

It was the programme last week, My Child Won’t Eat that’s altered my perception at the moment – if W is eating something, surely I should just let him get on with it? It’s important that he eats a balanced diet, but surely instead of a perfect diet, how about him just eating some good stuff and some stuff that’s not so great. And if that’s all he wants to eat, I should maybe let him.

I’ll probably go back to fretting about their food next week, but for this week, I’m going to be a bit more relaxed about it….
Do you fret about about the amount of food your baby, toddler or little people? What’s your approach…..

To spanx or not to spanx?

Posted on April 18, 2011 by cambridgemummy

I’ve got my SIL’s wedding in June and I’ve been trying to use it as a focus for my healthy eating and also, to maintain myself a bit more – you know, cleansing, toning and moisturising etc. And of course, I’ve been looking at spanx, as something to improve the look of my dress and smooth out my lumps and bumps.

I actually don’t like spanx, but if I use the phrase you’ll all know what I’m actually talking about. I’ve had branded spanx and they made me sweat. A lot. It was horrible. So instead I’m now trying out Triumph’s super hold em in pants. They aren’t anything nice to look at but good grief, they have an effect on me. Here’s a picture of a model who looks nothing like me, wearing a pair :)

BIG pants

.
Surely I should be happy with this now I’ve got something useful? But no, here we go again, me and that voyage of discovery to inner happiness and acceptance of what I look like…. So here’s my dilemma – if I’m working to be happy with myself and who I am, isn’t it wrong to try and hide and re arrange bits of my body, so that they aren’t on show?

I am what I am, I am making progress and it’s having an effect. I feel empty enough without my comfort / reward / motivating food eating, so what is the solution? I don’t have a smart one liner to finish this blog post, it’s all just what I’m thinking about right now and will be I suppose for the journey to Lancaster to see my parents at their caravan / holiday home place. So that’s a 4hr journey plus breaks and traffic jams. Plenty of time to think about it then !!!!