Food Stuff!

I love tomatoes - but they have to be REALLY well cooked, I prefer black bits even.

I LOVE avocado and often have them together with my poached egg.

I am cutting dwn on bread and this is an ABSOLUTELY delicious, healthy alternative.

Beat an egg and add to cauliflower rice. Form this patte's and cook in coconut oil until golden brown.

I am working on a healthy corned beef pie!

Watch this space!

January 16th

Life is back to normal after a hectic few days. When doing the Christmas shopping I came across a gammon joint reduced to £2.50. I froze it and last week saw us having gammon in many recipes. This was my favourite - just chopped and cooked spare veg sandwiched between gammon and potatoes with a Quark cooking sauce for good measure.

The hens are still enjoying the comfort of their hen house as the "lock - up" regime is still in operation. They have an enclosed run leading out from the shed but as the weather has been so cold Bev is being quite maternal and staying inside - chicks (now fully grown) preferring to do as she does.

The farm to the back of our house has now its own maternity unit. New born lambs appearing regularly.

2017 is off to a good start - lots in the pipeline with our very first Burns Night this Saturday, 21st. Watch this space!

F is for FANTASTIC!

It's pancake Tuesday today. Whilst I DONT have a sweet tooth I can eat pancakes for England, but that wouldn't do my diet any good. This version however is totally Fat Free! I ate mine with lemon juice and sugar substitute!.

You need....

3 Eggs

2-3 Teaspoons sweetener (depending on own taste)

3-4 Drops of vanilla essence

Seperate the white from the yolk and put into separate bowls, Whisk the egg white until fluffy and add the sweetener,

In the other bowl add the vanilla essence then fold the yolk into the egg white.

Heat a frying pan with frylight, add the mix and spread as you would a normal pancake (i made two out of this recipe) after a few mins flip over.

 

You could add any fruit or yoghurt for instance to make it how you like it

Eat well for less.

On Saturday we had a roast lamb dinner with a selection of vegetables.

 I experimented with a sauce 1 bramley apple, 1 onion half a de-seeded red pepper roasted together.

Made up half a pint of stock then blitzed and added more water.

As this was an experiment I made a standard gravy too.

 

Sunday - the left over roasted vegetables.

 I finely chopped this and left to one side.

 

 

 

I then beat an egg and stirred into the chopped veg.

 

 

 

 

I made up a packet of super rice and stirred it into the mixed veg mixture.

 

 

 

 

Placed 3 red pepper skins into a roasting bag and cooked for 15 minutes.

 

 

 

I then stuffed the peppers with the rice/veg mixture and cooked for 30 minutes in oven.

 

 

 

 

In a pan I placed the left over lamb, some extra onions and poured in the rest of the experimental sauce. I added curry powder, cumin and some dried chilli flakes.

 

 

 

I served the curry with the stuffed peppers - gorgeous.

I sliced the peppers so we had 6 portions in all.

 

The following night there was sufficient for 2 more portions.

 

The lamb cost £12.50 and we got 3 evening meals from it.

 

I am particularly pleased as I made this recipe from scratch with ingredients we had in.

 

 

V is for Vegetable - but not as you know it.

 

I LOVE turnip - as a child I hated it, probably because Auntie Dot always made gravy with kidneys - which I despise to this day. I always would say I didn't want any kidney, or to leave it out of any steak & kidney concoctions - Auntie Dot would tell me to "Just eat the gravy!" Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and cabbage were another examples.

 

Getting back to the turnip. Whilst I love vegetables sometimes if I fancy a few together it can be a bit of a faff on - so when I heard about a "Singing Turnip" recipe at Slimming world I had to give it a go.

 

Place turnip in microwave - full power for 15 - 20 minutes, turning once. You will hear the turnip singing!

 

Scoop out the pulp - absolutely gorgeous.
I had made some ham hock, split pea, lentil, barley and vegetable soup, so I spooned some into the cooked turnip and ate as I would a baked potato - skin and all.

Delicious!

Goulash

This has to be the most talked about and sampled recipe at my local Slimming World group. It is absolutely gorgeous and ideal for the cold nights. I miss out the garlic.
Try it!

Healthy comfort food.

 

Whilst I maintain a healthy eating regime and maintain my weight loss, when the nights draw in and the days are cold I get the craving for good old comfort food.
Corned beef pie! Heaven.
No pastry however and I skipped the mashed potato in favour of sliced potatoes to give more texture. I also used double onions - absolutely gorgeous.

For Slimmingworld people - the whole pie was 2 syns - about 6 ample portions.







I fancy doing some smaller portions  for party/buffet food over the holiday period.

 

 

 

 

Corned beef pie.

 

2 slices corned beef – heated for 1 minute in microwave on kitchen towel.

4 large potatoes sliced and par-boiled
2 onions chopped & cooked.
2 spring onions – chopped
4 eggs
1 tub fat free cottage cheese
1 tomato – sliced

Beat eggs, add cottage cheese, corned beef, and onions

Line base of casserole with sliced potato
Add layer of corned beef mixture.
Another layer of potatoes
Add layer of corned beef mixture
Arrange tomatoes and sliced potato on top.

Cook at 200 degrees for 30 – 35 minutes.

 

ENJOY!

Terrific Tomato Pasta.

We go to the Isle of Man on Friday for the TT Races, my ABC Wednesday contribution is a little late as we have been so busy, but as with all of my contributions for this round I wanted to share something that had been a success here in the Nesbitt household, cheap and something I would cook again.

Planning meals is an essential part of my losing weight, together with regular exercise and a healthier lifestyle. I walk the dogs every day, attend a Zumba fitness class once a week as well as a total toning session. This is a manageable activity programme for me. I enjoy the beach walk - every morning, it sets me up for the day. A group of us are there, everyday and whilst the dogs play, run and exercise together, we pass the time chatting and walking - discussing everything from The Archers, Menus, the price of potato crisps in Asda and what jobs are on the list today. I also enjoy my Zumba and Toning classes - simply because the instructor is an inspiration - hilarious yet the results happen.

Often I plan my daily meals whilst out walking but there are times when I find myself unprepared or at a loose end as what to cook for dinner. These are dangerous times in a diet as becausesuch things happen when I am hungry it is so easy to reach for something which may be instant and filling but not a good choice for the diet. I have got a jacket potato down to 10 minutes in a microwave - 10 minutes is a good time to chop up a salad and get a decent filling together. Whilst this suits me Jon prefers a more substantial choice and that is where Bachelor's pasta Sauces come in!

I can get a Bolognese from start to finish in a matter of 15 minutes. Basically I boil 3/4pt of water and pour over the sauce mix. Microwave for 15 mins. Meanwhils in a pan frylight onions, mince (optional) peppers, mushrooms, chopped celery and any other veg floating around. When pasta is cooked stir into pan and add lots more chopped tomato and spring onion. It makes TONS and is TERRIFIC so so so TASTY! Now frylight have a garlic seasoned spray I often spray some thinly sliced French bread with thefrylight and pop into the oven for a couple of minutes - sprinkle parmesan on for a kick!

Sitting here writing this has made me so hungry - this is an ideal supper  for tonight - there will be enough for tomorrow night and it is an ideal way to use up anything lurking in the fridge!

Tata for now!

For more ABC fun follow the link in my sidebar.

S is for Smoked Salmon Quiche.

I know I keep going on about quiches without pastry but really they are just SENSATIONAL!

A couple of nights ago we had a change of plan when a planned BBQ had to be abandoned due to a change in the weather. (Surprise surprise!) A quick rummage through the freezer brought about a packet of smoked salmon trimmings which I defrosted and chopped up, together with half a red onion and a sizeable amount of rocket. 4 eggs were beaten and a carton of fat free cottage cheese was stirred in. All ingredients were given a final stir then popped into a flan dish which I had sprayed with frylight. I sprinkled some parmesan on top and popped into the oven at 200 for 20 minutes. Awesomeness! Even Jon commented how good it was!

My S contribution for ABC Wednesday, a journey I am enjoying!
For more contributions follow the link in my sidebar.

R is for Rice Pudding - My version.

One thing which never ceases to amaze me at Slimming World is the originality and strangeness of some of the recipes. I wonder who on earth puts some of the ingredients together?

 

I was experimenting with a Rice Pudding recipe - using cream soda. One of the gals had tried it out and thought it was too sweet and sickly - so I tried my own take on it, but using lemonade instead of cream soda. I didn't have any pudding rice so tried long grain rice. Basically I put some rice into a microwave dish and topped up with a can of diet lemonade. Microwaved on full power for 10 minutes and checked to see the lemonade had not dried up. I added another can and microwaved for a further 10 minutes then left to stand for 10 minutes then stirred in a tablespoon of crème fraiche. Tasted absolutely gorgeous. Comfort food in a matter of minutes. Tip - use a large microwave dish as the lemonade rises a lot!

 

This is my T contribution for ABC Wednesday - I am really enjoying this round.

Q is for Quirky Quiche

Since joining Slimmingworld and changing my eating regime one thing I have cut out completely is pastry. As we speak I have a quiche in the oven for my dinner tonight - ham, mushroom, sweetcorn, pepper and spring onion. On Monday I made the most of a cooked tuna steak and used that in a quiche, together with rocket, sweetcorn and red onion. Basic recipe is as follows:-

1 carton fat free cottage cheese
4 eggs - beaten.

Basically mix together the cheese and eggs then add any vegetables of choice. If using frozen veg make sure it is defrosted and drained to remove the excess water. Add any other ingredients ie lean meat, chicken, tuna then put mixture into a flan dish that has been sprayed with frylight. Cook until "set" and golden brown. I LOVE quiche at room temperature, definitely not straight from the oven, however when desperately hungry I can manage it when hot. Serve with salad. Trust me you will never go back to faffing on with any baking blind malarkey!

This is my Q in my ABC food adventure. I knew right from the beginning I would introduce the lovely Quiche for Q!

For more ABC fun follow the link in my sidebar.

P is for pasta, Passata and peppers.

Tomorrow night at Slimming world we are having a bit of a party. Our consultant is leaving after nearly a year. Jen was only ever temporary, standing in until a new consultant could be found, but we have all grown very fond of her and will be sad to see her go, hence the party.

We love any excuse to share recipes and food ideas so my contribution will be the above - so so so simple yet always goes down well.

I use a packet of Pasta Sauce mix (Bachelors) and make up with 450ml of boiling water.
I then add passata, peppers, red kidney beans, spring onions, left over cooked long grain rice and chilli powder, salt & pepper. I will serve in a Chinese lettuce leaf with extra salad.

This is my P contribution for ABC Wednesday - all about food!
For more fun follow the link in my sidebar.

O is for Out of this world.

 

We don't do Macdonalds - haven't done for years. When the gals at Slimmingworld were raving about this new recipe I had to give it a try! It was deeeeeeeeeellllllicioussssssss!

 

 

Burger in a bowl

 Frylight

500g extra lean mince. (I used one of my very low fat burgers)
1 onion finely chopped
2 garlic cloves crushed (I didn’t use any)
Salt & Pepper
½ iceberg lettuce shredded
8 gherkins sliced
1 red onion finely chopped
2 tomatoes roughly chopped.

 

SW super sauce

3 level tbsp extra light mayonnaise

5 tbsp fat free fromage frais
1 level tbsp American syle mustard
2 tbsp tomato puree
2 tsp white wine vinegar (I didn’t use any)
½ tsp garlic salt (I didn’t use any)
¼ tsp onion granules (I didn’t use any)
¼ tsp sweet smoked paprika  (I didn’t use any)

 

Frylight mince, onions and garlic until beef is cooked and onions softened.

Season.

Put all Sauce ingredients in bowl and whisk.

Mix together lettuce, gherkins, onion and tomatoes and divide between 4 wide bowls.

 

Spoon bees mixture in top, drizzle over the sauce and serve.

 

THEN EAT AND ENJOY THE LUSHNESS!

 

This is my late contribution for ABC Wednesday - for more exciting stuff follow the link in my sidebar.

New Potato Salad with Salmon and Eggs

New Potatoes are just so awesome right now....salads all the way!
Hello Spring.

Ingredients

for the dressing:
10 tbsp fat free salad dressing
1 level tbsp. dried mustard
2 tbsp finely chopped dill
Juice of 1 orange
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
for the salad:
600g small new potatoes
200g green beans, trimmed
6 eggs
200g watercress
600g hot-smoked salmon, skinned and flaked into large chunks
8 spring onions, thinly sliced
400g red cherry tomatoes, halved
1 punnet mustard and cress

+ anything saladlike

 

1. Make the dressing by whisking all the ingredients together in a bowl. Season to taste and set aside.
2. Cook the potatoes in a large saucepan of lightly salted boiling water
for 15-20 minutes or until just tender. Drain, cool slightly, then halve.
3. While the potatoes are cooking, blanch the green beans in plenty of boiling water for 4-5 minutes until cooked but still with a slight crunch. Drain, refresh in iced water, then drain again.
4. Cook the eggs in a saucepan of boiling water for 3-4 minutes. Drain, cool under cold running water, then peel.
5. Arrange the watercress on a large platter and top with the potatoes, green beans, salmon, spring onions, eggs and tomatoes. Scatter over the mustard and cress and drizzle over the dressing. Toss gently to mix well before serving.

 

 

With the change in climate, the egg laying production increase and happy days ahead this is going to be the regular recipe, be it adapted henceforth!

Let the good times roll!

 

 

This is my N contribution to the wonderful ABC Wednesday! For more takes on this idea follow the link in my sidebar!       

 

L is for Lunch, lamb and lush.

Yesterday we celebrated Mother's Day. I cooked a selection of curries, some had previously been frozen to free up the day. The two curries I cooked over the weekend were a Lamb Dansak and a Beef Madras.

Lamb Dansak
(Mary Berry version - altered to use frylight instead of oil.

• Frylight
• 1kg (2lb 2oz) diced lamb
• (shoulder or leg, or a mixture)
• 2 onions, diced
• 25g (1oz) fresh ginger root, peeled but left whole (I used frozen)
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled but left whole (I used frozen)
• 1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped
• 10 green cardamom pods
• 1½ tablespoons ground cumin
• 1½ tablespoons ground coriander
• ½ tablespoon ground turmeric
• 1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 200ml (7fl oz) beef stock
• 75g (3oz) dried red lentils - (I missed these out.)
• 3 tablespoons clear honey - (I didn't use honey as I don't like it.)
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 150°C/130°C fan/Gas 2.
2. Heat frylight  in a large frying pan. Add half the lamb and fry until browned. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside, then brown the other half of the lamb and set aside. Add more frylight  to the pan. Add the onions and fry for 4-5 minutes until beginning to soften.
3. Meanwhile, place the ginger, garlic and chilli in a small food processor and whiz until finely chopped.
4. Bash the cardamom pods with the end of a rolling pin to split the husks, then remove the seeds and grind them to a fine powder using a pestle and mortar. Add to the pan along with the remaining spices and the garlic and ginger mixture.
5. Add the remaining ingredients to the pan and add the lamb. Bring to the boil, then cover and place in the oven to simmer for 1-2 hours until tender. Check the seasoning and serve.

At stage 5 after adding the ingredients I placed the casserole dish in the fridge so the meat could marinate over night.


Beef Madras

Frylight

1 onion chopped
4 cloves 6 cardamon pods
2 fresh chillies (I use Asda frozen)
1 tsp dried ginger
2 garlic cloves peeled and crushed (I use Asda frozen)
2 dried red chillies
1 tbspoon medium curry powder
9oog braising steak – all visible fat removed
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
250ml beef stock
Salt.
Chopped coriander to garnish (I use Asda frozen)

Spray pan with frylight . Add the onions, cloves and cardamom pods. Stir fry for 3-4 minutes.

Add the chillis, ginger, garlic and dried chillis and stirfry for a further 2 minutes.
Add the curry powder and beef chunks and stirfry until meat is sealed.
Add the ground coriander and cumin and stock.
I placed the casserole dish in the fridge so the meat could marinate over night
I then slow cooked it the following day.

I prepared the spices for both curries on Friday afternoon and had a senior moment - not sure what happened but all I can say is I am not sure what exactly was in each of the curries, but they were delicious!

For desert I made a roulade which was so lovely, difficult to imagine it was diet friendly....lush!


Strawberry Roulade

0.5 SYNS PER ROULADE

500gms Quark
1tsp Vanilla Extract
7 tbsp Sweetener
1 tsp Baking powder
1 Punnet Strawberries (I used frozen summer fruits)
4 Eggs

Separate all the eggs, mix yolks with half of the quark, baking powder,vanilla essence, 4 tbsp of sweetener & whisk together well

In another bowl put the egg whites & whisk until stiff, then whisk together
half of the egg whites into the yolk mixture, then fold in the rest of mixture
Spread on baking parchment or foil & cook gas 4 or 180 for 15 to 20 minutes until brown.
Mix the rest of sweetener & quark spread on cake add strawberries & roll.

 

K if for Kofta, Kheema and Korma

For Mother's Day this Sunday, the family are coming here for a curry festival - a change from a traditional dinner. Curries are so much easier to prepare in advance and freeze, so that on the day itself I can load up the heated trolley next to the dining table and enjoy time with the family. I did the curry festival last year and decided to try a few new curries......Click on the links below to see ingredients.

Kheema Curry (Beef) with Saffron Rice

Kofta Biryani

Korma

This is my K contribution to ABC Wednesday.

H is for Healthy Pancakes.

Today is Pancake Tuesday...............these are heavenly and healthy!

Whisk 1 egg white till stiff, add sweetener. Stir 1 vanilla essence drop into yolk & fold into egg white. Fry light - cook till set then flip over. Serve with raspberries + spoonful of fat free greek yoghurt + 1 tablespoon water to thin out yoghurt! LUSH!

For more ABC fun follow the link in my sidebar.

G is for Goulash

There are hundreds of goulash recipes out there - this one caught my eye as I had the ingredients to hand and it was a healthy option.


1lb diced lean braising steak I bought £6 worth)
1 large onion (sliced) - I used 3
2 red peppers (sliced)
1/2 pint beef stock
1 clove garlic (crushed)
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 can chopped tomatoes
2 tsp paprika I added more!
salt and pepper

Basically I just put everything into the casserole dish and cooked it all day! Will give our opinion after supper. I must admit this is the type of cooking I enjoy - the slow way, everything in at once. I added some left over mushrooms, tomatoes and peas from last night's dinner and I will serve with rice - and I have some sprouts I will have with mine. Jon isn't a fan of sprouts!

This type of food is an excellent comfort food and so appropriate for such a bad week here in the Nesbitt household. I will explain another day.

For more ABC fun follow the link on my sidebar.

F is for ......Filipino pork abobo and a new favourite soup.

Another new recipe from my stash of recipe books. I have never made a pork curry before but it was very tasty.

SERVES 4 – READY IN 1 HOUR  20 MINS

Low calorie cooking spray
6 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
1 red chilli, peeled and thinly sliced
2cm piece root ginger, peeled and finely grated
1 tbsp finely chopped lemon grass ( I used dried with a coconut blend)
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely grated (I used asda frozen)
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground turmeric
100ml dark soy sauce
50ml white wine vinegar
4 tbsp tomato purée
4 bay leaves
700ml chicken stock
16 baby new potatoes (I missed these out and served with rice)
2 red peppers, deseeded and cut into bite-sized pieces
600g lean pork fillets, all visible fat removed, cut into bite-sized pieces
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Chopped fresh coriander, to garnish

1 Spray a wok or large frying pan with low calorie cooking spray and place over a medium-high heat. Add the shallots, red chilli, ginger, lemon grass, garlic, ground cumin and turmeric and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes until soft and fragrant.
2 Stir in the remaining ingredients and season well. Bring to the boil, cover tightly and reduce the heat to low.
3 Simmer gently for 45 minutes until the pork is tender. Ladle into bowls and garnish with the coriander to serve.

Last week at Slimmingworld one member brought us a new soup recipe she had tried - it was absolutely lush. Note of caution - garlic! Remember you can always ADD not TAKE AWAY. My attempt was indeed too much garlic - would use half this quantity next time - even less.

Lentil Broth

300g red lentils

2 onions
3 carrots
4 celery sticks
1 garlic
1 bayleagf
3 parsley sprigs (I used dried)
1.5 litres veg stock
Salt & pepper
1 fromage frais (I didn't use this)
Chopped parsley & paprika to garnish (I didn't use this)
 

Wash lentils soak for 30 mins

Spray pan & heat onions,carrots & celery.
Drain lentils and add to pan with parsley & stock
Bring to boil and simmer for 30 mins, removing any scum.
Remove bayleaf.
Transfer to blender & blitz.
Put back into pan and reheat.
Stir in fromage frais and parsley & paprika to serve.

For more ABC fun follow the link in my sidebar.
Next week - G! mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

E is for Eggs.

I LOVE eggs, indeed the main reason we keep chickens is to enjoy the wonderful eggs they produce. I have eggs every day for breakfast :-

Poached eggs on toast

Boiled eggs with soldiers.



I LOVE chopped boiled eggs with left over curries or chilli concarne

Egg and healthy chips - awesome.

 

Scotch eggs and salad

Slimmingworld Quiche.

This week as part of my challenge I made Egg Foo Yung.

Here is the recipe I used.

4 eggs
Cup of chopped onions
Cup of frozen garden peas
Cup of frozen sliced peppers
Frylight

Heat frylight in pan and cook onions. Add peppers and peas.
In bowl beat eggs and add cooked veg.
Stir in eggs.
Return pan to heat and add mixture a ladle at a time. Cook until brown and egg is set then flip over.

Wonderful.

I also discovered an authentic Chinese chicken and sweetcorn soup recipe. I never realised eggs were the magic ingredient.

1litre chicken stock
4 eggs
Left over chicken
Frozen sweetcorn.
1 tablespoon cornflour dissolved in tablespoon of water.

Pour stock into pan and blend cornflour into mixture.
Heat until thickens then pour in beaten eggs and whisk quickly.
Stir in sweetcorn and chicken pieces heat thoroughly.
Season to taste.

E for Eggs for ABC Wednesday.
For more fun follow the link in my sidebar.