Curry in a Hurry

As you know, I am absolutely not a fan of processed food but every so often I’m tempted to the dark side.  Over the weekend I found myself in Iceland (as you do) and decided to give their new Spicy Chicken Tikka sauce a try.  We’ve been talking about the new Slimming World range in class and, well I was there and it seemed like a good idea at the time.

To make it even more processed I decided to use Iceland pre done chicken tikka strips, they’re fat free (and syn free for my SW friends) and ready in 3 minutes.  

 

Doesn’t get much easier right?

OK, I’m still me and I did make it slightly more complicated, I added onions, garlic, chilli and peppers first to give the sauce a base.  Then I added some Tikka dry spices and before throwing in the defrosted sauce and the defrosted chicken.  While I was doing that I boiled some baby new potatoes and drained, cooked them with the same spices but added mustard seeds and black onion seeds plus boiled some basmati rice which I also sprinkled with black onion seeds to make the flavours cohesive.

This is the result:

Slimming World Tikka Masala with Bombay style potatoes and Basmati rice

I have to say it was really good!  The entire meal took me about 20 minutes including making the Bombay style potatoes from scratch and there was more than enough for a few portions for the freezer.

OK, I will never be a processed food fan but this was a good emergency find and we’ll see if the scales like it this week!

Kathy xx

Breakfast at my desk!

In class it’s been commented on that I eat a big breakfast….I admit it, on a morning I’m hungry!  I like breakfast and I don’t see why I should be miserable.  So this is my breakfast at my desk, and I’m not embarrassed (well, only a little bit!).  

I have Weetabix Muffins and it gets worse, a portion is FOUR but I already ate one when I remembered to take the photo (!!!) plus every day I have a huge, and as you can see, I mean huge, portion of fruit.  It may well take me about two hours to eat it all but I don’t care.  This combination, with different flavor Weetabix muffins and different huge tubs of fruits has been my start to the day at least five days a week for more than two months during which time I’ve lost more than 20 pounds of my total 75 pound weight loss in six months.

So I proudly post my breakfast ….it works for me, and I make them for other people who have lost weight starting the day the same way.  You can add fruit or not add fruit, dip them in yogurt or just eat them with coffee but this is my huge breakfast and it works...honestly, try it and start the day off properly!

Kathy xx

To carb or not to carb

And that really is the diet question….personally I say no to as many as I can, but sadly I’ve yet to meet a carb I didn’t like, in fact I think I could pretty much exist on a carb only diet!  Until they find a way for me to do that and not end up looking like a small bungalow I dodge and weave my way through bread, cakes, pasta and potatoes.  

When I’m really focused on losing weight I cut carbs out completely.  Truth be told, it can make me a little tired but apart from that I seem to be ok with it - but I have done that on and off for a few months now.  Again, I’m not a nutritionist, this is just my own experience but for me, and it seems a bazillion other people, carbs don’t help in the diet journey.

Don’t get me wrong, I do eat carbs but it’s usually (a) I’m cooking for someone else or (b) my Mum and Dad are cooking and they’re like the carb police – ever meal needs a protein, a carb and a veggie so I get what I get and I don’t get upset!  When I’m left to my own devices I’m happy to go without or make an alternative.

Luckily for me I love stir fries.  I have prawn or salmon stir fry at least twice a week and it  plays well into my belief that healthy, filling, tasty food does not come for a packet.  I know I go on about that but I passionately believe that processed food is, when eaten regularly, bad for you.  I like to know what I’m eating and what the people I love are eating when I cook for them.  Even my cakes and treats are made from scratch and no, they’re not healthy!!!

So try my baked salmon or prawns with veg and julienned courgettes.  Chicken works just as well and I’ve even had it with chilli con carne.  Looks weird but it was really tasty.   

It’s only 25 minutes to make and I promise you, you’ll enjoy it!

Kathy xx

Flaked salmon with stir fry veg and courgette juliennes

Diet Shepherd's Pie

I love shepherd’s pie, well I love anything with mince in it full stop (ok, so I’m not really all that posh!) and as the weather’s getting cool I decided to make a healthy shepherd’s pie.  

It’s a hearty, warm meal that fills me up, doesn’t feel especially ‘diet-y’ and won’t sabotage my hard work.  

I put the recipe here:  Diet Shepherd's Pie recipe

As anyone that regularly reads my blog knows, one of my aims is to have food that doesn’t make me feel like I’m dieting, missing out or giving up things I love.  For me, losing weight is a challenge that I have to focus on every single day and it is a whole new way of life.  I can’t eat and drink what I want, I have to watch everything and will always have to, so sharing meals with people not on a diet and having them enjoy it is really important to me.

For anyone on Slimming World with me this recipe is syn free apart from a tiny amount of low fat spread in the mash.  I used ‘I can’t believe it’s not Butter’ and for the whole lot added about 3 tsp which is 3 syns.  These ingredients made 6 portions so that’s ½ a syn per portion.  The cheese on the top was my healthy A for the day so for me that’s more than acceptable plus my non-SW friends loved it.  Double bonus.

Diet Shepherd's Pie

I don't freeze Shepherd's Pie because I don't like the way mash defrosts, it seems runny to me but I do batch cook the mince and freeze that ready for a potato topping.  My American friends tried this and used little croquettes cut upp on teh top and although it sounds amazing I'm not advocating that version as it most certainly is not a diet one!!! 

Kathy xx

The processed food dilemma

I’ve long been a supporter of fresh food, cooking from scratch and knowing what goes into the meals I eat and serve others.  I’ve a basic rule, I shop from the ‘outside’ of the supermarket….let me explain – if you imagine your local supermarket (pretty much any of them) you enter to lovely fresh flowers, fruit and veg.  There’s the bakery, deli, butchers all around the edge of the store.  Simply, everything that needs to be delivered often is at the edges and everything that can live longer than Cher is in the middle, that’s a gross generalization but you get the point.   So I mainly shop around the edges.

At class people seem surprised that I make my own meals but it’s simple:

•  I want to know what I’m eating
•  I want to control the salt, fat and other undesirable aspects of my food
•  I know how much of everything has gone into a meal
•  I equate food with love, and I cook to the palates of my guests which means I cook from scratch

One of the most common arguments I get is that people don’t have time.  I don’t always have time either but there’s nothing lengthy about reheating a previously made meal or putting together a stir fry which is just a protein of your choice and whatever veggies you have in the fridge chopped up, 10 minutes later you’re done, which I think is faster and better than a frozen box of salty rubbish.  

As for ideas, I have stir fry a couple of times a week fall back on prawns, chicken and sometimes beef.  I bake salmon with soy, lime and chilli flakes and serve it flaked on stir fry veg.  I add baby leeks, onion, mushrooms, courgettes, anything that’s in the fridge and needs eating, it all get chopped up and thrown in.

When I have time, mainly on a weekend, I batch cook and rely on my slow cooker.  I make chilli, bolognaise, cottage pie filling, meatballs, curry, casseroles – you name it, I make it in my slow cooker using fresh ingredients then simply divide up and freeze.  

I tend to cook one thing a week and have built up a stock of foods that I defrost and have during the week.  Again, I know what’s in my meal, the portions are appropriate and they’re all pretty much syn free for my Slimming World friends.  My non Slimming World friends don’t know, but that’s ok, they’re happy with what I make and so far haven’t spotted the difference!  I love to make sure my lean mince is in the slow cooker a good 6 hours to infuse flavor and make sure it’s tender.  A problem I found in the beginning was removing fat removes a chunk of the flavor.  Slow cooking infuses flavor into my meals without the need for fat, perfect!

All I can suggest is you try it, try not eating from the middle of the shop for a week…cut out the processed food and see how you feel, it’s not always easy because we’re conditioned to rely on pre-packaged stuff but give it a whirl and you’ll be glad you did – good luck!

Kathy xx

A Faux Taste of the Caribbean

I’ve been making Faux-Ribos (fake Haribis) for a while now and try new flavor combinations when I can but a recent trip to Asda inspired me when I found a Muller Light I’ve never seen before – coconut with a hint of lime.  I used lime sugar free jelly and made tropical faux-ribos which were lime and coconut flavor.

Ok, I’m not a huge coconut fan but have to say they’re really good!  I also tried them on another non-coconut lover who liked them too.  Yes, I admit this does beg the question ‘why make them if no one likes coconut’ but they’re worth a try and yup – thumbs up.  I’ve been asked to take them to group tonight where a selection of probably more non-coconut fans will give them a yes!

For us Slimming World people, an entire batch is 3 syns, the photo below is about 1 syn worth.

Not sure what to try next, maybe a holiday to Jamaica to see if I really don’t like coconut!

Kathy xx

Lime & coconut Faux-Ribos (fake Haribos)

When your get up and go has got up and gone

As I get close to six months on my diet journey a lot of people are asking me how I’ve done it and I get a lot of requests to share my willpower!  

What I wanted to touch on is that I, and a fellow dieter who consistently loses weight, have been accused of ‘finding it easy’ or ‘not having to try’ which frustrates us both no end.  It is not easy, not at all and I do have to try.  Every day I try.

I’ve had many, many times where I’ve wanted a glass of wine, Haribos or toast with butter…sometimes all of them together - but I don’t.  There’s no secret, no magic wand – I just don’t.  Of course I want to cheat, but every time I get close I stop and take a breath.  I think about all the reasons I started this journey and what it means to me.  

We talked about this in class the other day, what the everyday changes are and for me there’s loads.  I love that I can now buy clothes anywhere, the seat in my car seems bigger, I don’t have to look around restaurants and think ‘where can I sit’…it’s so many little things and some big ones.  The look I get when friends see me for the first time in months and don’t know what to say.  Being told for the first time in my life at 42 that I’m petite, dainty or small.  All these little things add up and contribute towards motivating me, but when they’re not enough and I still want to fall off the wagon I rely on plain old habit.  

Over the past few months I’ve created a little routine for myself and whilst it’s not exciting it’s what I need to stay focused: 

I always have breakfast, and it’s always a decent size to set me up for the day.

I have a salad with something meat –ish and a yogurt for lunch. 

I have a very low fat, usually carb free dinner.  Often I have fish and stir fried veg or chilli

I love coffee and I have flavoured coffee all day but I have skimmed milk.

When I go out I usually go for chicken or fish, no dressing and salad or a plain jacket potato.  I’ve been known to steal a couple of chips though….

As far as booze goes, I’ve swapped my daily wine for maybe a couple of glasses a week.  Oddly enough I found I missed the glass more than anything, drinking from it as I watched TV was a habit and for a while I had my wine glass with sparkling water in.  On an evening I’d add slices of lemon or lime just so it felt ‘different’ to a daytime drink.  The delivery man from Tesco used to curse me as he carried them all into the house!!

If I need to snack I always have fruit on hand, it’s chopped and ready to eat plus I have a selection of slimming world bars in the fridge.  I don’t want to be poking through the cupboards as I’ll only find things I should avoid - so when the munchies hit I go straight to the fridge and know it won’t knock me off track.

So that’s my advice for what it’s worth, create a routine and it’ll carry you through; motivation is what got you started, habit is what will keep you going.

I hope it works for you, it does for me.

Kathy xx