A is for Adventure.....Cooking Adventure.

ABC Wednesday - Round 14, how time has flown. For this round I am going on an adventure - A cooking adventure. Each week I will cook a recipe I have never cooked before. Conditions of the recipe must be no fancy ingredients I have to travel the globe for, must be healthy and tie in with my Slimming World programme, be the time of food both Jon and I like ie not arty farty and I must have the recipe in my collection of recipe books/slimmingworld magazines.

Over on facebook my longtime blogging pal Crystal Jigsaw has started a new group.
A small, friendly group where we share what we're having for tea (or lunch, brunch, breakfast, supper, and those snacks in between). Lighthearted, fun, informal and a place to dip in and out of whenever the mood takes us. Share recipes and suggestions, tips and advice, but strictly no lecturing on what's good for you and what's not.

So I have decided to link all together - everybody is welcome.
I will also have an independent reviewer - my neighbour Emma. I always pop in to her house when she's at work and let the dogs out for a run and leave her light on as it's dark when she gets in from work - so I will have her tea ready now each Tuesday night.

To kick start the first week then it is A for Analucian meatballs. I looked through a few of my recipe books and whilst there was countless renditions of Avocado(very high in calories) and  Aubergine recipes(Jon doesn't like it)  I found this recipe in the August/September issue of Slimmingworld magazine.


Analucian meatballs

 
 
600g pork mince
small handful fresh coriander finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin,
1 tsp ground coriander,
1 tsp ground nutmeg,
1 tsp ground cinnamon,
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped,
salt and freshly ground black pepper,
frylight,
small handful fresh flat leaf parsley finely chopped for garnish. 

Note - M&S spice jars are big enough to fit a teaspoon inside to ensure accurate measurement of spices.

1. 

Put all except parsley in bowl, season and mix with fingers until well combined. chill for 1 hour. 

Roll into bite size balls and put in frying pan sprayed with fry light over medium heat and stir fry for 6-8 mins until browned all over and cooked through, 

I cooked off a sample and it tasted very nicely spiced.

 

 Whilst the recipe says to serve with tomato sauce. (Tomato Sauce = 400g passata, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 2 tblsp tomato puree and 1 deseeded finely chopped red pepper, place in pan and bring to boil, reduce heat to low and cook 12-15mins or until pepper has softened. Whizz until smooth and serve with fresh parsley.)

I will be serving mine with this

with lots of extra vegetables.

So, A in my great Adventure is Analucian meatballs. Next week it may well be Baked sardines with potatoes!

Watch this space.
To join in the ABC fun follow the link in my sidebar and if you feel like sharing our fun group on facebook follow the details from Crystal's blog.

Under the Weather.

Last Wednesday, for no apparent reason I felt very lethargic and quite low. On Thursday I was craving for a chip butty with lots of butter and soft white bread. I should have known I was going down with a cold.
By Thursday night I knew, so on Friday had a good long session on the beach with Bing and dosed myself up with Day Nurse and went to bed where I slept for most of the day. Every 4 hours I would take my tablets, as stated on the packet.
Jon and I, together with a  group of neighbours were all going out for a meal, so I wanted to feel my best.

The meal was a great disappointment and we didn't stay late.

Saturday saw me up early as I was marshalling for the Great Santa Run, raising funds for a local hospice.

The fresh air did wonders and I really enjoyed the day. You can read about it here,
On Sunday we had a great walk on the beach - I definitely think the outdoors is the place to be when unwell!

On Monday I was looking through some cookery books and came across on of my all time favourite snacks. Tinned Mackerel on Toast. For the first time in nearly a week I had a genuine appetite and have had 3 similar meals since.

Lush!

I was so looking forward to eating it I just remembered to take a photo before I finished off the lot!

Perfect comfort food......what's yours?

For more ABC fun follow the link on my sidebar.

Comfort food : Rice Pudding.

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.....so 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!

Mrs Nesbitt's Curry.

I have been experimenting in the kitchen and have come up with my own curry recipe.

Depending on personal taste and level of heat liked 1 teaspoon of the following spices + 1 teaspoon of garam masala. From watching Rick Stein's curry expedition it would appear that different regions have their own versions of garam masala. I have my own version but I can't tell you what's in it.......not because it's a secret - I forget what's in it.... but it's yellow! A while ago I had a spice revamp/clear out and put all the various spices into one big jar! Mrs Nesbitt's own Garam Masala - I can never reproduce this to taste exactly the same - such is everyday life here in my kitchen!

 

 

Getting back to the plot - mix all spices together.
Cut two chicken breasts into pieces and put to one side. (Away from Dog's noses!)

In a pan cook through some chopped onion with  oil of choice. I use Frylight - or water.
Add spices and water to reach a paste stage and add more water.

Add garlic - again according to personal taste and who you are with - I use the prepared frozen cubes - so easy and convenient.
Add diced chicken and cook through - usually 5 - 10 minutes.
Stir in chopped veg of choice - I always have a bag of frozen chopped peppers in the freezer.

Add Passata - until mixture is nice and thick and chicken and vegetables are covered.

 

Crumble in a chicken stock cube.

Simmer for 5 - 10 minutes until all veg is hot and mixture is thick. Add more water or passata if needed.

Just before serving stir in a Mullerlight Coconut Yoghurt.

It will look like this and taste amazing!

I made this only a couple of nights ago and Jon said it was the best curry I had ever made, and it's all my own take on a curry.

I served it with  rice.

Hot Stuff.

I dropped Jon off at the dentist last week and used the time to have a look round the Asda supermarket. To be honest I didn't even know there was an Asda in Redcar - last time I was there it was a Netto. I don't really get excited about supermarkets but I had time to kill and bought a few bits and bobs - including a bag of sweet potatoes for £1.
I had a butternut squash at home so decided to use them together and make a curry.
I added a few bits and bobs to a Slimming World recipe and made the most of what we had in.

4 sweet potatoes
1 butternut squash
2 teaspoons ginger
2 teaspoons garlic (I use asda chilled garlic - 2 of)
2 teaspoons chilli powder
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons dried coriander
2 teaspoons cumin (recipe said turmeric but I didn't have any in)
2 cubes frozen coriander
2 cubes frozen chilli
2 tins chopped tomatoes
1 pint veg stock

Stir all dry ingredients together add to garlic, coriander and chilli in a pan and stir in tomatoes. Transfer to casserole dish and add stock and cubed potatoes and squash. Cook in oven till tender - although it could be cooked on hob. I had a few green beans which I stirred in at end.

Something hot n spicy for Sunday!

I am not sure where I saw this cartoon but it did make me laugh and seemed appropriate to share in the new Weekend Cookery challenge I am taking part of.

As I shared on Friday I am following Slimming World's Diet and was thrilled to lose 1 stone. I would like to lose a further 2 stone but am happy with the progress I am making. All the recipes I share will be what I eat on a regular basis as part of my diet.

From time to time we have taster sessions and the recipe I am sharing today was voted one of the favourites at class.

Denise's hot n spicy lettle something.

1 tin chopped tomatoes

2 tins kidney beans

1 tablespoon curry powder

1 teaspoon chilli

Blitz tomatoes + dry curry powders in processor

Add kidney beans and blitz till beans are just broken up - not mushy

Meanwhile in microwave or on cooker scramble 2 eggs

Stir in some of the spicy mixture

Enjoy!

This mixture is also great on a crispbread on top of fat free cottage cheese.