Foodies!

Here's a couple of low-fat but very, very, tasty recipes that I've made this afternoon.

The first is Sweet & Sour Chicken and the recipe comes courtesy of the Hairy Dieters (Bikers) which you will find here

It's surprisingly quick and easy to make - and from all accounts tastes as good as a take-away:

Serve with a small portion of boiled rice.

Edit: This one went down so well with the husband (and that's a tall order!) that I'm going to make a quorn version of it for myself later in the week.  

The next one is a Baked Ratatouille and is a Weight Watcher's recipe, although I've tweaked it a little bit to my own taste.  Here's a photo before I cooked it:

Ingredients

1 red onion

1 clove of garlic

4 oz aubergine

1 courgette

1 small tin of chopped tomatoes

1 tsp mixed herbs

1 tsp capers

3 tbs breadcrumbs

1 tbs sunflower seeds

I didn't have sunflower seeds so I used pumpkin seeds and pine kernals instead - they both have a lot less calories than sunflower seeds so that's a win/win.  I also doubled up on all the ingredients as I had a huge aubergine to use up - so the ingredients above are for one very generous portion, whilst the photo shows at least two.

How To

1. Pre-head the oven to 180c

2. Slice onions, crush garlic, chop aubergine and courgettes into 1" cubes.

3. Combine these with the tinned tomatoes, capers and herbs in an oven-proof dish

4. Mix breadcrumbs and seeds and sprinkle a layer on top of the vegetable casserole.

5. Bake for 40 minutes. Cover with foil once the top begins to brown to save burning.

Serve with pasta or baked potato or eat by itself for a light meal.

Herbs & Spices 

Megarelly slow start to the day ... felt completely drained of energy and lacking in any get up and go. I've probably been too much of a busy bee over the past week or so. 

So took it easy until I started to feel better ... which was about 4pm!!! 

Still - burst into action once I was up to it and whizzed around the house. Back to work tomorrow and the only thing left on my week's 'to do list' is my ironing but I'll do that while watching telly tonight.

Was sorting through some boxes and found a big box of herb seeds I'd been gifted for my birthday. I hadn't exactly forgotten about them, more was at a loss as to where to plant them as the only available bit of garden seems to have morphed into Pepper Cat's toilet and ... well ... ratatouille a la cat pee doesn't really appeal. !!! 

Simon had the bright idea of putting them in a container so it was just a case of finding one the right size, as you have to plant them box and everything. Found a nice curver box in the garage which was perfect - so finally got around to planting them. Hopefully better late than never.

I look forward to reaping a tasty crop of assorted herbs! 

 Box 'n' all

 

All nicely tucked in for bed.

 NOW GROW !!!

PS - I lied about the Spices.

My very industrious and creative weekend!!

Friday. I re-painted the bathroom ceiling - not very exciting to look at but we get terrible mould - so I cleaned it all down, and have used anti-mould paint.  Shoudn't see another spec for 5 years!

Saturday. I refurbished my garden bench - 3 years out in all weathers has left it a little worse for wear.   Took me the best part of the day but I'm so pleased with the results.

Before

 

During

 

After

Sunday.  Linda, one of the nurses in our office is 50 next week.  We've had a collection and as her and hubby John are in Cornwall for their hols next week, we thought we would treat them to a meal at Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant.  So it has fallen to me to make a nice little wallet and card to give her.  

Pretty pleased with that little lot - and feel like I've put my week off to good use!  In fact I'm off to put me feet up now and read my book!

Satisfied!

I have satisfied my creative urges for the day!

I've been a little buzzy bee sewing away all afternoon and evening.

Here's today's spoils!

Here's the little heart idea I mentioned in my last post.  I've mounted it on some dark red felt (the lighting isn't too good here) and used some thick cotton ribbon as the hanger. 

As well as hearts I adore Roosters and have been wanting to make a rooster hanging for the kitchen for a while.  This is the stitched piece which I have literally just finished.  It needs pressing and mounting.  Not sure whether to put it on a black background or red - I'll try both and see how they look.   I'll report back when its' all finished.  I really enjoyed making this - the rooster design I found on the internet but the border was my own idea.

A finally I did another little heart possibly to mount or I may put it in a frame that I have waiting to be used.

Crafty!

Isn't it always the way.  The day before I go back to work inspiration strikes with a nice little craft idea.

I took some embriodery on holiday with me back in May and wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with the finished result.  I decided to make it into a wall hanging - so backed it with some nice green material and made a hanging rope from some string plaited together.  That's wasn't my inspired idea - but it has led me on to thinking about making some smaller hangings.  If you know me, you'll know that I love hearts, and my idea is to make some small hangers with red embroidered hearts on.   So that's this afternoon's tasks. I'll post a piccy up when I've done my first one.  I think I might make a start on some Christmas ones also ... 

Meanwhile here is the one I did today:

 

Sunday

Spent most of the morning and early afternoon cooking. We intended going out for a walk into Derbyshire around 4pm (weather permitting) so I decided that I needed to make the lasagne for tea early and ready just to heat up for when we got back.

Well, one thing led to another, and I had some avocados to use up - so the first thing I did was pull up a recipe for guacamole that I'd found recently.

I've never tried making it before but was really pleased with the results, so much that I had half of it for lunch. Healthy and raw! I'll get there in the end!!

Ingredients

• 2 ripe avocados
• 1/2 red onion,finely chopped
• 1 tsp chili (I used another frozen chili cube!)
• 2 tablespoonsCoriander
• 1 tablespoon of fresh lime or lemon juice
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 ripe tomato

How To Do

Cut avocados in half. Remove seed. Scoop out avacado from the peel, put in a mixing bowl. 

Mash the avocado with a fork

Add the chopped onion, coriander, lime juice, chili and salt  and mash some more.

Keep the tomato separate until ready to serve.

Remember that much of this is done to taste because of the variability in the fresh ingredients. Start with this recipe and adjust to your taste.

Pop in a dish with an airtight lid and put in fridge until you need it.

Just before serving, add the chopped tomato to the guacamole and mix.

I got a bit carried away and also a made a huge pan full of butternut squash and red pepper soup (thats lunches for me and Jenny sorted for the next few days) and some stuffed peppers.  Finally the thing I set out to do, I made the lasagnes!  A meat version and a veggie version. As I'm trying to stay away from dairy food, the stuffed peppers are for my tea which I might serve with the rest of the guacamole from earlier, and the veggie lasagne will do Jenny for tea today and tomorrow.

Oooh I feel all organised now!

The Stone Roses Save the Day!

Quite a pleasant day today! Becky is off on a field trip with school next week - to Whitby I believe! She needs some wellies so her, I and Jenny trooped off to Meadowhall yesterday to see what we could find. I half expected everywhere to be sold out as we have had so much rainfull this month (as of Thursday it was the second heaviest rainfall in June since 1910 - and may have gone into first place by now as Friday and Saturday were horrendous). 

We were really pushed for time though as Simon was taking Becky on a mystery tour (more of that later) so after a quick bite of lunch, Jenny went in one direction and Becky and I in the other. Walking past Republic a rail of Stone Roses t-shirts caught Becky's eye - they were reduced, and she's been after one for ages, so I thought I would treat her. The queue was really long and I was concious of the time, and that we'd still not bought what we came for when my eye caught shelves of trendy wellies over the other side of the shop. Ha ha - they had leopard skin or union jack wellies - Becky opted for the Union Jack ones. Cool Britannia. 

So panic over, and the Stone Roses (t-shirt) saved the day as we still had about an hour to spare so had a nice wander around doing a bit of window shopping. 

So we got back, and as Simon and Becky haven't been seeing eye to eye on much lately ( exam fever and uni choices, having a tidy bedroom and 'how many gigs are you going to this week?'!!!) - Simon decided that it would be nice to have some one to one time with her so organised a mystery tour. 

He took her to Starbucks (her second favourite place on earth) then to the cinema in Sheffield - they're both big fans of chick flicks and I think they saw The Five Year Engagement. Afterwards, the ultimate in Becky treats - her actual favourite place on earth - Nandos. I think that did the trick they were actually communicating normally when they got back. 

Jenny wanted to go to the cinema too so we headed off in the opposite direction to Chesterfield to see Men in Black III. Great film, with a really, really nice ending that I wasn't expecting. Made me go all 'ahhhh' and gooey. 

Food today was Cornflakes (and more rice milk!! Lunch was a very naughty but nice pizza hut deal, and tea was pasta with marscapone and tomato sauce. I'm not anticipating having lost any weight when I way in tomorrow again. I have incorporated some exercise this week though, which can't be a bad thing. Two cycle rides on Tuesday and Wednesday and a 3 mile walk on Thursday and again on Friday. I feel thinner, healthier and fitter, but the scales don't seem to be budging much! Oh well!!!

Mango & Pepper Risotto

We picked up an almost over-ripe mango which was reduced in price at the shop yesterday so I was looking for a way to cook it.  This is what I came up with, a concoction of my own this time!

Ingredients:

1 cup arborio risotto rice

1 red pepper

1 small red onion chopped

Half a mango - peeled and diced

Handful of small button mushrooms

2 tbsp olive oil

Vegetable stock

150ml boiling water

150ml white wine

1 tsp swiss vegetable bouillon

1 tsp chili   )

1 tsp ginger )  see below!

Mix all stock ingredients together in a jug.

How To

Put the olive oil into a large frying pan

Add the onion and soften for a few minutes

Add the red pepper and onions and soften for a few more minutes

Add the rice and fry for 2 minutes

Add the stock a little bit at a time, letting the rice soak it up.

Cover and simmer for 10 minutes

Add the mango and cover and simmer for a further 10 minutes.

Keep checking the moisture levels, if the rice is starting to get a bit sticky add either more stock or just pour in a bit more wine. (I'll let you guess which I did!!).

I intended to put some quorn pieces in to bulk it out a bit, but they weren't really needed, it was a filling meal in itself.  For non-veggies you could add some diced chicken breast, browned in the pan after the onions have softened.  

It was really scrummy and the nicest 'healthy' thing I've eaten this month. The mango was quite sweet and tangy and went perfectly with the rice.

A little footnote about the chilli and ginger. I found these little gems in the freezer at the supermarket yesterday.  I usually buy fresh chilis and fresh ginger for specific recipes and invariably I end up throwing away half of them because they go off before I get around to making another dish that needs them.

How innovative are they?  Little pouches of chili and ginger that you keep in your freezer.  Each portion contains 1 teaspoon.  I guess you could always make your own by using ice-cub trays, but it doesn't half save you the hassle!

More Sweet Stuff ...

Not sure what I would call this, it's a recipe I picked up from a raw food subscription - Cocoa Nuts maybe?

Ingredients

I.5 cups mixed nuts (I used cashew nuts and some almonds and walnuts I already had in the cupboard, but any sort will do)
1/4 tsp cinammon
Half cup of raw cocoa powder
4 tbs agave nectar
Half tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp shredded coconut
1 cup dates (or you can use sultanas or raisins if you prefer)
Handful of dried sour cherries (optional - Jenny saw these in the shop so we thought we would add some in)


How To:

Put the nuts and cinammon into a food processor until they are ground.

Add cocoa powder, coconut, agave nectar and vanilla and whizz up briefly.

Add the dates and process until the mixture starts to stick together.

Remove and put on a tray and press down.  Put in the fridge overnight to 'set' - then cut into bite size squares.  Store in a box and eat as required.


I've varied wildly in quantities from the original recipe - I tried to mostly halve the quantities  but found that I needed to put in more dates and agave nectar.  Mine turned out very nutty, with just a hint of chocolate so maybe in future I would put in a tad more cocoa powder, but otherwise I was really pleased with it

They're quite dense and filling so you really don't need a very big serving.

Pasta with Asparagus and Spinach 

Jenny made a lovely tea last night. She boiled up some penne pasta. 

Then in a large frying pan put a packet of baby spinach and some asparagus, along with the juice of half a lemon and a little bit of garlic. 

Cook it in a little oilve oil until the spinach starts to wilt and then stir into the cooked pasta. Simple but simply lovely!

Becky made the loviest cupcakes afterwards as well.  What a treat.  As I'd been so good all week I didn't refuse!