Vietnamese Steak Salad for lunch anyone? This beautiful, crunchy salad with noodles, griddled steak and a spicy-zesty dressing is delicious and guilt-free. Something lighter was definitely called for after indulging in those chocolate brownie parfaits and lots of fruity tea bread (coming up next week!). I love love love my food (can you tell?), but I always struggle to find a balance. I know I’ll never give up bread, chocolate (I’m eating a milky way whilst writing this), or dairy.  Making delicious recipes and sharing them with my family is something I get such pleasure from that the thought of removing it from my life - even temporarily - is so depressing! However, I think it is still perfectly possible to make food that’s tasty and satisfying whilst still being light and nutritious - like this Vietnamese salad:

Doesn’t mean I’m not going to indulge in crème brulee bars and butter chicken at other times though. I’ve been following the 5:2 diet for a few weeks.  Not a bad diet for a blogger - I just coincided the couple of days in the week that I don’t make recipes for the blog with the 2 fast days. I’m getting bored with it already though.  A bad cold - plus the children finishing school for a week - made me quit my fast day yesterday and open that packet of milky ways I mentioned earlier. So to round it up:

I love naughty stuff like chocolate, cakes, creamy/carby dinners, crisps and bread I also love the good stuff like fruit, vegetables, water and herbal teas

I think my big problem is that I want lots of both.  Also,

I’m not overweight (definitely not skinny though) - although I wouldn’t mind being half a stone lighter I go to the gym, but only sporadically

So how do I teach myself to just want to eat a little less overall? Right now I’ve no idea, but I’m working on it. Phew, thanks for the therapy session guys.  You really are the best listeners 🙂 Any tips or recommendations on how you keep a good balance? I’d love to know!

The Vietnamese Steak Salad Recipe:

Nutritional Information from Calorie Count - per serving:

Vietnamese Steak Salad - 84Vietnamese Steak Salad - 7Vietnamese Steak Salad - 72Vietnamese Steak Salad - 15