Fakeaway 2: The Teesside "Parmo"

Should you ever find yourself wandering the mean streets of Middlesbrough you might notice something a little bit peculiar. The chip shops (of which there are many) all advertise the sale of Parmesan. I couldn't work it out at all the first time I came across it. Why would you put Parmesan on fish and chips? Or was it some kind of deep fried cheese dish?

The first thing to know is that Parmesan is actually pronounced Parmo (I made this mistake so you don't have to my friends). And the second thing to know is that a Parmesan is actually breaded chicken, fried and then topped with béchamel sauce.

I've been wanting to try and recreate this at home for a while now. The feedback from the Boro native was that it might not be 100% authentic (not enough grease I suspect) but it was exceptionally tasty.



Serve your Parmesan with oven chips and a sharp little salad of cherry tomatoes dressed in balsamic vinegar.

Ingredients

2 skinless chicken breasts
1 slice of bread from a medium white loaf
10g Parmesan, finely grated
Tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp crushed dried chillies
1 egg white
10g butter
10g plus 1/2 tsp flour
200ml skimmed milk
35g Cheddar, grated
Scant tsp of mustard

Serves 2, 10 pro points per portion

First, bread your chicken. Under a sheet of clingfilm, pound out the fillets until they are roughly a centimetre thick all over.

Make the breadcrumbs mixture by blitzing up the bread and combining with the thyme, chilli and half the Parmesan plus seasoning.

Sprinkle the chicken with the half teaspoon of flour then dip in the egg white and then the breadcrumbs. Turn the fillets several time in the crumbs, patting the crust on firmly. Leave the fillets in the fridge for half an hour or so to firm up.

Meanwhile, make the béchamel. Melt the butter over a low heat and add the remaining flour. Now add the milk, little by little, stirring briskly to ensure no lumps. When all the milk is incorporated and the sauce is smooth, season and stir through the mustard, the Cheddar and the rest of the Parmesan.

Preheat the oven to 200. Now, in a non stick pan over a medium high heat pan fry the chicken for a couple of minutes on each side then transfer to an oven proof dish and spoon over the cheese sauce. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until the sauce is browned and bubbling.

Serve and eat while reflecting on the vagaries of language.

Mid week check in

Two and a half days in to this slightly curtailed week and I am rocking it (as the kidz say. At least they might do - at thirty one I don't really know; I eschewed Radio 1 for Radio 2 a good while ago).

Anyway, after a tough day on Tuesday getting back into the swing of things, things have become easier - as they always do. I'm feeling positive, strong and happy, sticking to points and meal plans. A loss on Monday would be nice but it sometimes takes time to get things moving so we'll see how it goes.

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend - try to be good, and if you're going to be bad then for goodness sake do it properly!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

On losing that losin' feelin'

Well, weighed in this morning after a frankly nail biting weekend at the London marathon and for the second week in a row the scales crept upwards.

There will be no beating up of self, no tears and recriminations, however there will be some musing as to why I've floundered.

So #1 - a long weekend away after a week of holiday meant that I never quite got my head back in the game. Which is daft in the extreme - I had a Sunday, a Monday, a Tuesday, a Wednesday AND a Thursday to be on track and that might have mitigated any weekend shenanigans. Lesson learned - don't ever hesitate to get back to tracking even if you know it will only be for a couple of days.

#2 - People running a marathon are supposed to carb load in the run up to the race. People who are only watching a marathon probably should not do so with QUITE as much enthusiasm. If you want to eat like a runner you have to, y'know, run.

I've been on track today and it has been really, really hard. There was some proper, light headed, wobbly hunger this afternoon and a misplaced fancy for one of the bottles of lager currently lurking in the fridge on the journey home - overcome by a banana and a cup of tea respectively. Baby steps, but as long as they are in the right direction this week that'll be enough.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Meal Planning, er, Tuesday

One day late....


After last week's pasta glut, this week it appears to be the turn of the humble spud to take centre stage. Not what you might call entirely balanced but never mind. I like potatoes.

So - meal plan:

Tonight - chicken Kiev with mash and veg. I had a retro craving! I'll make extra mash to go inthe fridge for...

Salmon fishcakes later this week. With salad.

I'll also be serving seabass in fennel butter with new potatoes and, if the fennel bulb in the bottom of the fridge is still viable, braise it as an additional side.

Friday sees the return of the fakeaway! This week I will be taking on the (in)famous Teesside Parmo.

And then my weekend treat will be haggis - with neeps (mashed) and tatties (roasted) on Saturday and in toastie form on Sunday.

As always, head over to Mrs M's for more meal planning fun.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

This is what a two pound gain looks like...

Want to see some Instagrammed pictures of food? Of course you do! I just wish I could apply an Instagram filter to my life and wander around slightly sepia tinged and out of focus…

So. All good holidays start with lunch. Ours started with lunch in one of our favourite restaurants in the world, J. Baker’s – (D needed sustenance for the seven hour drive the next day). I have waxed lyrical about this place before but I’m astounded that after years of going there to eat we haven’t had a duff course, let alone a duff meal. I just wish I could eat there every day.

Lunch #1

The delicate cauliflower whip with curry oil (pictured above) was followed by a superlative dish of mackerel with a giant couscous salad, then “Blood Balls” with a pork and potato “pie”, an excellent plate of cheese and finally a flourless chocolate cake with raspberry and stout foam. All blissful, although the lightly spiced mackerel just about won the best dish of the day prize and had me frantically scribbling notes on the back of a napkin as to how I could go about recreating it at home.

Lunch the next day was perhaps more rustic, but delicious nonetheless. This is the second year running that we have stopped off at the Clachaig Inn on the drive up to Ardnamurchan and it didn’t disappoint. We ordered a selection of starters (“Scottish tapas!” laughed the barmaid – “Exactly!” said we) of excellent quality produce.

Lunch #2

And here we see smoked salmon, black pudding, haggis and venison pastrami all served with the ubiqutous oatcakes. I do love a nice oatcake, particularly if it is topped with some form of spiced offal.

While for the majority of the week our lunch consisted of picnic sandwiches and possibly the best brownies in the world ever (or slices of a very interesting beetroot cake that my parents had picked up from a Dumfries’ farm shop) we did manage to squeeze in a trip to the very lovely Café Fish on the Isle of Mull. Again, I think that this is a venue I’ve praised before but it is well worth a trip – and the Good Food Guide agrees with me, calling it their fish restaurant of the year 2012!

Lunch #3

The beauty of Café Fish is that it treats the excellent local produce with respect. There’s not a lot of flashy cooking going on here, but really, when you have beautiful ingredients, there doesn’t need to be.

Of course three indulgent lunches alone do not a two pound gain make (at least, I don’t think so) but factor in some whisky and some wine, some excellent Scottish cheese and (whisper it) a homecoming pizza and you begin to see where that pesky 32 ounces might have come from. Still, onwards and downwards eh, comrades?

Recipe corner - whisky and stem ginger brownies

I can’t really take credit for these brownies. Which is a shame because they are seriously, seriously good.

They came about because of an unsatisfactory Starbucks brownie. D’s, not mine I hasten to add, I’m not that bad at weight watching! Anyway, the brownie was disappointingly dry so I rashly declared that I would bake some myself that we could take up to Scotland with us and that they would be as satisfyingly damp and fudgy as brownies should be. “If they’re going to Scotland,” said he, “They should have a Scottish theme.” And so the whisky and ginger brownie concept was born.

I’m not the biggest fan of alcohol and chocolate in combination – odd when you consider how much I adore the two things separately. But the whisky here is not in your face, it just adds a subtle spiciness that works incredibly well with the chocolate and the little zinging pieces of ginger. You could add a little ground ginger to the flour if you wanted to make the taste slightly more overt.

At 6 pro points a piece, these are obviously not the lowest point option treat in the world but they’re about the same as a chocolate bar – and well worth the expenditure in my opinion. Fortunately they keep excellently well – for at least two weeks in a tin, or even freeze, so one is denied any excuse to scoff the lot in one sitting.

Ingredients

185g unsalted butter
185g dark chocolate
85g plain flour
40g cocoa
50g white chocolate chips (I used buttons here)
50g stem ginger, chopped
2tbsp whisky
3 eggs
275g golden caster sugar

Makes 20, 6 pro points per brownie

Prepare your (approximately) 20cm square tin (I spray mine lightly with oil and put baking parchment in the base) and preheat your oven (180 or 160 for a fan).

For this recipe you’re going to require three bowls. In your first bowl, place your dark chocolate, butter and whisky. You are going to melt these together – you could do this over a bowl of simmering water but I think by far the easiest way is to use the microwave. A couple of minutes at a medium setting should suffice – give it a brisk stir every thirty seconds or so to ensure that nothing untoward is happening. Once the mixture is melted and glossy, set aside and allow to cool slightly.

Now you can sieve your flour and cocoa powder together in a second bowl. Add any spices at this stage, and perhaps a decent pinch of salt.

The eggs and sugar will require whisking together until pale and doubled in volume – this took about a minute in my beloved Kitchen Aid.

Gently, gently take your cooled chocolate and fold it into the whisked eggs: a rubber spatula works well here. You need to be very careful and fold as opposed to stir so that you retain the air you have whipped in. Once the chocolate is incorporated, sieve (again) the cocoa and flour mixture into the mix and again, fold it gently in. Perseverance is required here as it will take a while to come together. Finally, stir through the chocolate chips and ginger pieces.

Pour into the tin and bake for 25 minutes. The difficulty with brownies is to know whether they are ready or not – a skewer inserted into the cake should have some crumbs clinging to it and the top should be shiny and crisp looking and starting to come away from the sides of the tin. I also found that as I removed it from the oven it had the slightest hint of a wobble to the middle of it which had disappeared less than a minute later. The resulting brownies were the perfect amount of squishy.

I’m linking this up to Mrs M’s April Recipe Link party to spread the word – boozy brownies for all!

Meal planning Monday - and a post holiday encounter with the scales

Just a quickie this morning - the wanderer has returned and her inbox is quite full.

So, post holiday weigh in – done, and two pounds on. For over a week of indulgence that’s not too bad at all and with a bit of effort on my part should swiftly disappear.

Meal planning – well, it’s a short week this week as we’re off down to London on Thursday. I don’t think I’ve mentioned on here yet, but D is running the London Marathon. He has therefore requested plenty of pasta on the menu which suits me – I love the stuff.

I’m planning a shop for tomorrow so today need to cope with the rather meagre contents of the cupboard, so that old faithful standby macaroni cheese will make an appearance tonight.

I’ve got some of these meatballs in the fridge – I was intrigued to know what a Tees Valley meatball tasted like, so we’ll have them tomorrow with spaghetti. A pack is only supposed to be one portion, so I’ll bolster the meal with a rocket and Parmesan salad and some garlic bread.

And on Wednesday I’ll be trying this yummy looking sausage pasta dish from Jenny’s lovely blog – sausages, cream, mustard – can’t be bad!

As always, plenty more meal planning fun going on at Mrs M’s.

Out of Office

In a couple of days time we'll be here!

Ardnamurchan - the place is prettier than the name

I'm so looking forward to this holiday.  I really need a good blast of fresh air to get rid of all those cobwebs.

Hopefully all the walking will offset all the eating and I will not come back significantly heavier.

So adieu for the time being, and may you have a very happy and peaceful Easter.

Scottish sheep!

2012 Quarter 1 - Review

It's hard to believe that we are one quarter of the way through 2012. Well, it is for me, but then I am perpetually surprised to discover that it is no longer 1996 and that Robbie has returned to Take That and left again.

Time for a progress review I think and time, too, to look back at the resolutions I made in January. Or was it December? See, perpetually confused.

Firstly - what was the news from the scales this morning? Well, a (nearly) booze free week and three gym trips paid obviously paid dividends as I tracked a four pound loss. That means last week’s gain is knocked squarely on the head and an extra two and a half pounds come off for good measure. It also means that I have achieved my aim to lose a stone and a half for Easter. Cue an excited little jig.

Looking back at my results since January (all of which are tracked on a spreadsheet – of course I’m that sad!) I see I’m averaging a loss of 1.7 lbs a week, which is just where it should be.

I wish I could understand why it is that I’ve managed to make such steady, consistent progress over these last three months, unprecedented in the history of this blog. Certainly, the fact that there has been no particular pressure on me seems to be a good thing, so I shall continue with my policy of little or no goal setting. I’ve also, looking back, noticed that I’ve never before actually regularly quantified my gains or losses on here – so I’m going to keep up with that as the accountability obviously helps.

What else? Well, meal planning – that needs to be continued. Although there is no meal planning post today (one or both of us is out most evenings this week) I’ve done this most weeks and that structure has made it a lot easier to keep away from the takeaway menus. What’s fascinating as well is the variety of food that we have been eating – there aren’t many meals have been served twice in 2012.

My gym attendance is still not quite where it could be, but at least I am attending. I’m getting to the stage now where my overall fitness is reasonable enough that I’m thinking about going back to one or two of the classes that I used to enjoy on a regular basis. I’ll never love exercise – and, to be honest, I think I could lose the weight with WW alone, but there is no question that it does give one a virtuous glow.

Overall, sterling work across January, February and March. Not perfect – but then I’ve stopped requiring perfection of myself and it seems to make life a hell of a lot easier! Roll on quarter two…

Recipe Corner - A simple but excellent little potato salad

Potato salad is not something I think to make very often. But I think I must have been inspired by Jenny’s recent post on the German style sausage with potato salad, because when I saw that I had half a bag of new potatoes leftover in the bottom of the fridge I developed something of a craving. One swift adjustment of the meal plan later, potato salad and smoked sausage was on the weekly menu.

Now in the past, I would have just gone down the route of combining potatoes with some mayonnaise (probably extra light – for shame!) some chopped veggies, seasoning, nice enough but nothing particularly exciting. But a couple of tweaks later, inspired by a recipe I found online of Diana Henry’s (a cookery writer who earned my enduring adoration with her fabulous Gastropub cookbook) it was elevated several notches. The notion of soaking the potatoes in stock beforehand is genius, as is the combination of mayonnaise and crème fraiche.

I have used full fat mayo here, and half fat crème fraiche. This latter ingredient is fast becoming a staple in my fridge – I often use it in place of cream and absolutely adore it – it is rich, creamy with a slight edge of sour and significantly lower in points than cream.

Hopefully, the summer will continue in a similar vein to the amazing week we have just had and then this salad can make its barbecue debut! As one of several side dishes, this would comfortably serve four. Oh, and it would probably work very well with some fresh herbs added to the dressing – I wondered about mint while I think Diana suggested chervil and parsley.

Ingredients

400g new potatoes
50ml good vegetable or chicken stock
30g mayonnaise (be a divil and go full fat)
40g half fat crème fraiche (Yeo Valley is an excellent brand)
Squeeze of lemon juice
Small bunch of spring onions, chopped
Seasoning

Serves 2 (as a generous main course), 8 pro points per portion

Put the potatoes in a pan, cover with salted water and bring to the boil. Cook for about 20 minutes, or until tender.

Meanwhile, chop the spring onions and combine with the mayonnaise, crème fraiche, lemon juice and seasoning to taste.

When the potatoes are cooked, slice and, while still warm, pour over the stock. Part cover and leave to stand for about 10 minutes to allow the potatoes to absorb it.

While the potatoes are still warm, mix through the dressing. This can be served chilled but is probably best slightly warm or, at least, at room temperature.

Recipe Corner - Winter Minestrone soup (just in time for spring...)

Providing a soup recipe always feels like a bit of a cop out. I mean, the basic premise of soup is: cook ingredients, blitz, consume. But a hearty, tasty soup is the dieter’s friend. Soup is, apparently, more filling than consuming food and water separately. It said so on the BBC website. But I could have told you that from anecdotal evidence; I NEVER have soup as a starter when I go out to eat because I never fancy a full meal afterwards.

This soup is particularly robust, and you get a generous portion for the points. I do recommend blitzing some of it, which is not usual with any sort of minestrone, because the whizzed up potatoes and beans provide an almost creamy texture which makes the soup feel more luxurious than otherwise.

If you have the points the pesto croutons are a lovely addition.

Ingredients

For the soup:
Tbsp olive oil
90g (approx 3 rashers) back bacon, chopped
200g (approx 1 medium) potato, peeled and diced
1 tin (200g drained weight) of haricot beans (drained and rinsed)
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
Onion, peeled and chopped
2 sticks of celery, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tin of tomatoes
750ml chicken stock
2 tsp dried sage
40g Parmesan cheese, finely grated

For the croutons:
4 slices of bread from a medium white loaf, cut into squares
Tbsp olive oil
40g pesto sauce

Serves 4, 5 pro points per portion for the soup with an additional 5 pro points per portion for the pesto croutons

Chop your vegetables as desired – I prefer a fine dice for this sort of soup.

Heat the oil in a saucepan and fry the bacon and onion for about five minutes. Keep the heat quite low so that the fat renders from the bacon and the onion turns golden brown.

Now add the carrot, celery and potato dice and the crushed garlic and cook for a few more minutes.

Next go in the tomatoes, stock and sage, plus seasoning as required (remember the stock and the bacon will be quite salty), bring to the boil and then reduce and simmer for around 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, drain and rinse the beans and prepare your croutons. Slice the bread into squares, mix the oil and the pesto and toss the bread in the mixture. Season. Preheat the oven to 180.

After 30 minutes, add the beans to the pan and continue to simmer. Place the croutons in the preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes. Grate the Parmesan.

Just prior to removing the croutons from the oven, take about a third of the soup (ensuring you have a good range of the diced ingredients) and whizz up in a blender until smooth. Return to the pan. Check the seasoning, adding more salt, pepper or sage as necessary.

Serve, sprinkled with Parmesan and the pesto croutons (or not, if you’re feeling virtuous).

So what’s new with you?

Or, the Foodie tries so you don’t have to…

So, firstly, let’s talk chocolate cheese. Cadburys Philadelphia Light. This particular product has the Weight Watchers messageboards aflame (in so far as an internet messageboard can ever said to be aflame…) and, frankly, with good reason. If you like chocolate cheesecake then it is very important that you try some of this glorious stuff soon. The mini pots, or a 30g serving from a fullsize pot, are 2 pro points. You can smear it on toast, or cake, or biscuits, or fruit, or just eat it with a spoon. Luscious.

Image from The Grocer website.  May provoke attempts to break through computer screen with a spoon.

 And next up on my product review list is an epic fail. Lurpak Lightest. I bought it out of interest because I like Lurpak and think the Lighter version is a pretty good ingredient to have in one’s fridge for cooking purposes (as opposed to smearing purposes – if you’re having butter on toast or crumpets etc. then it needs to be the proper stuff.) The Lightest is obviously a step too far. I had to melt it for use in a banana loaf – it looked like scary alien mucus and refused to cream properly with the sugar. I then (foolishly) attempted to use it as the basis for a white sauce. Terrible. I have never before had to sieve a white sauce, but the roux just would not cook out properly. And, it doesn’t taste nice. It may be low in points (1 pro point per 10g serving) but that is all that can be said for it.

Meal Planning Monday - 26th March 2012

Well, we all knew it was coming eventually - small gain on the scales for me this morning, quite expected what with my lack of focus last week.  It's a temporary blip though, I'm still keen to get to that stone and a half mark before I head to Scotland, so Virtuous is my watchword this week.

With that in mind, what will we be eating chez nous?

Tonight we're having cheesy chicken and leek pie, with roasted broccoli on the side (D may get some mash but I'm abstaining - see what I mean about virtuous?)

For the rest of the week: the winter minestrone soup, which didn't get made last week is back on the menu despite the fact that it is no longer winter.

The broad beans are still propagating in my freezer - do the damn things breed in there???  So spaghetti with broad beans, peas and goats' cheese one night.  D has requested chilli con carne - a favourite of his, so that's lined up - a good slow cooker dish for an evening where I feel like minimal effort.

Oh, and did you know it's bacon connoisseurs week?  So the lovely Jenny tells me, and I'm always one to mark a Week...we've got some decent bacon and one night we're going to have good old bacon sarnies.  I thought about doing something a little more adventurous, but really, you can't beat a bacon sandwich.

And that gets us to the weekend.  There may well be another pie in our near future, as I have some game mix in the freezer and we're fast leaving pie weather behind us (we hope) but we'll see.

As always, head over to Mrs M's for more meal planning fun.

Steady as she goes

After a run of good results and general enthusiasm, I’ve had a bit of a slump this week. Not just with regards WW but eating in general, as evidenced by the fact that for the last two evenings I’ve had sandwiches for supper. Not that there is anything wrong with sandwiches for supper, I just recognise a touch of malaise about my person.

I’m not unduly worried. Since Christmas, I’ve been very busy, regularly away from home at least one night a week; looking back through my calendar I see I’ve only had one day off (which was the day after a job interview, and which I spent wandering around London feeling teary and pessimistic – not the most relaxing way to pass the time). What I’m trying to say is that I think a bit of malaise, weariness, whatever you wish to call it, is allowed. We’ve got a week in Scotland coming up over Easter which will be the perfect opportunity to do some recharging of batteries and get a good dose of fresh air and vim. And, hopefully, haggis.

So, I’m going to set myself a little mini goal which is to be a further two pounds down by two weeks today (Good Friday), the day before we head off. This will take me to a stone and a half loss since Christmas, which would be a lovely milestone to reach and if I manage it I’m going to pop into town and buy myself something nice to wear down to the local pub in Kilchoan. I’ll shift my normal Monday weigh in back a few days to accommodate. Hopefully aiming for this will give me that little bit of extra enthusiasm to carry me through this last pre-holiday stretch.

Meal planning Monday - 19th March 2012

Happy Monday pop pickers!  It started out as a beautiful day, all sunshine and daffodils, so spring might be finally sprunging. 

Despite ending the week on minus fifteen points (which show up as red in the tracker to further highlight the shame) I lost three pounds this week, taking me to a total of nineteen since the beginning of January.  I am (very tentatively) describing this as a roll.  As for the minus points - I blame, in part, my discovery of salted caramel profiteroles on Saturday night.  Yes, you heard, salted caramel profiteroles.  Such deliciousness.

Anyway, on with the meal planning for this week.

• Tonight, we'll be having a "Sunday" roast.  This is because I roasted a chicken and prepped some veg yesterday and we then decided to have sandwiches (although, note to self, roast chicken and home made sage and onion stuffing sandwiches are fantastic.) 
• Tomorrow I'm away for the night, so D is fending for himself and I will be trying not to drink too much.
• Wednesday - I'll be travelling back from Liverpool and won't arrive till quite late, but I'm hoping D can be prevailed upon to put together a winter minestrone soup with pesto toasts.  He's pretty nifty in the kitchen, I reckon he'll manage.
• Thursday - Salmon in a creamy mustard sauce with pasta.  Salmon and mustard is a surprisingly lovely combination.
• Friday - Bacon wrapped pigeon breasts with a warm salad of Puy lentils, apple and walnuts.
• Saturday - D is out so I'm home alone.  There may be cheesy chips involved.
• Sunday - The remainder of the roast chicken will be transformed into a cheesy chicken and leek pie with mashed potatoes and roasted broccoli.

As always, pop over to Mrs M's for more meal planning fun.

A dirty little habit…

This blog could quite well be called “The WW (sometimes) EatsPrettyMuchEverythingIndiscrimately-ie” because I am no longer allowed to call myself a foodie.

But I can’t help it people, sometimes I just have to give in to the dark side. For tea last night I had…

Can you see what they are? Well, I’ll tell you.

1 x box M&S “frites” (9 pro points) topped with grated cheese (2 pro points), low fat mayonnaise (1 pro point) and a good hefty pinch of sea salt. They are, my friends, cheeeeeezee chips.

I blame D – he introduced me to these one lunchtime at a Leeds hostelry, but to be honest, I’m surprised I didn’t discover the phenomenon sooner. I mean, I come from a family where we believe that pretty much any meal is improved by a layer of melted cheese. But actually, I’m not the world’s biggest chip fan – I’d nearly always rather have mash or roasties. So the notion of cheezee chips entirely passed me by.  No more.

I’m now slightly obsessed. I’m already wondering when I can next indulge.

A few pointers if you wish to join my long, dark teatime of the soul – you don’t want your chips to be too thick or too crisp. Thinnish, but with a good amount of bend. Not too much cheese (only time you’ll ever hear that from me!). And cheap mayonnaise. The good stuff just won’t do – it has to have that tang of articifial preservatives.

Normal (cooking) service to be resumed shortly.

In which I distract myself on the journey home across the Pennines

I would like to offer a hypothesis that among those people (for sake of ease I'll use a feminine pronoun but it equally applies to men) who can be called "slim" (or perhaps, rather, average-ish of size) there are probably two distinct types.

Type A is your natural slim person. Your typical A has never been on a diet in her life and seldom weighs herself. She doesn't really need to because she naturally regulates herself. If she has a large slice of cake mid afternoon she might not have much for dinner. On the other hand, a hungry day is a hungry day - she'll eat if she needs to because she knows perfectly well she'll be less hungry (and eat less) tomorrow or the next day. Perhaps after Christmas, or a week away, her favourite jeans will feel a little tight so she'll cut out the mid morning biscuit for a while and fit in an extra swim. No big deal.

Type B, on the other hand, has probably been on some sort of diet for as long as she can remember. She tried out the Cabbage Soup one, and the weird one with the frankfurters and bananas and had a glorious few days on Atkins mainlining protein until she realised it WAS possible to get sick of cheese. She is slim now but the rituals: of weighing in, of self denial, of wondering if she is slim enough...they never leave her.

I have been wondering, you see, if it is ever possible to move from Type B to A (or, I suppose vice versa; although every child probably starts out fairly A-ish and then picks up habits and thought patterns elsewhere). This migration, it is what I aspire to (assuming I reach the Hallowed Halls of slim first - nothing like getting ahead of oneself!) Actually, I was thinking today it is one of the reasons that I like Weight Watchers as a diet plan. As you juggle your points and sacrifice a biscuit in the afternoon for a piece of naan bread with your curry, you are making the kind of decisions that your Type A makes naturally - without a tracker and a constant, twitchy desire to check up on the nutritional information. So do you, can you ever lose the tracker and the twitch?

And now I've just thought of a quote from Friends (there really is one for every occasion) when Monica says something like "I owe it to the fat girl inside me - I never let her eat!"

Do we EVER get to ditch the fat girl?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Meal Planning Monday - 12th March 2012

Greetings from not so sunny Manchester! I am writing this from a tram which is rather exciting - I haven't been on one for years.


I lost a pound on the scales this morning which I didn't really deserve. Towards the end of last week I was really struggling; resenting being away from home, resenting being slightly hungry all the time and just generally being rather grumpy.

Anyhoo, I was prepared to accept a gain and seeing a loss was like a gentle nudge to say you CAN do this which is exactly what I needed. It may yet catch up with me though, so best behaviour is required this week.

Onto meal planning - and the beginning of the week sees me roaming again (although home in the evenings) so simplicity is key. That's why Monday and Wednesday will probably be soup, eggs on toast or pasta pesto and Tuesday will see us enjoying the second half of the oxtail stew that we made a few weeks back.

On Thursday we will be having an old favourite - a Madhur Jaffrey prawn curry.

Friday - lime and pepper crusted tuna with cucumber spaghetti and crushed new potatoes.

No firm plans for the weekend as yet, but I am seeing a roast chicken in my future at some point; I still have Christmas sprouts in the freezer to use.

As always, head over to Mrs M's for more meal planning fun.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

In which I miss my kitchen

This is the fourth week out of six I have been away from home and it is beginning to take its toll.

The weight loss has continued, slow but steady (a further pound off this week) but, oh, it is beginning to be a trial having to navigate mass catering for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Actually, I’ve given up on breakfast altogether (and yes, I know that is a terrible habit but I’ve got to create some room for manoeuvre somewhere and I’ve never been a fan of the Full English at half past seven in the morning – it is more of an eleven o clock meal to my mind).

I am proud of myself for conquering the chattering voice in my head that says if you can’t point properly then there is no need to point at all. I guestimate everything I eat, tending on the side of caution, and trying to stick to the simplest iteration of whatever is on offer. It is frustrating though, to fuel my days with mediocre food. I have realised how lucky I am to enjoy cooking and to enjoy the challenge of providing myself with meals that are not only WW friendly but good to eat as well.

Hopefully some more food (and less whinge) based posts will follow next week. In the meantime, hug your ovens people, and give your worktops a fond stroke. You’d miss them if they weren’t there.

Recipe Corner – Friday Night Fakeaway

D hates the phrase Fakeaway. He thinks that it sounds like something uttered by a maniacal WW leader trying to persuade people that chicken breast rolled in egg white and crushed cornflakes tastes better than a KFC (this has actually happened to me, and to be strictly fair, I’ve never tried cornflake crusted chicken so can’t confirm for sure whether or not it is preferable to a visit to the Colonel).

Anyway, I know what he means – the point about takeaway food is, sometimes, that it is just a little bit…well, dirty. There’s no other word for it. Takeaways should be an occasional pleasure that come tinged with a little bit of guilt.

Actually, I don’t advocate feeling guilty about any foodstuff, which is a breakthrough if ever I heard one. If you (and by you I mean me) are prepared to take the hit on it: be that a gain at the scales or several trips to the gym, or a day of fruit and salad and little else, then I say go for it. But I still think that to experience the full pleasures of a takeaway there should be a bit of mess, an avoidance of cutlery where possible, and a greasy chin.

This is not dirty; there will be no excess grease. It is very tasty though

Oh, and my top tip for the day. I always buy large pieces of root ginger and freeze them, then, when I need to use them for cooking, grate them straight from frozen. There is no need to peel, either before freezing or using, and they are far more amenable this way - not to mention they keep for a much longer period. Chillies freeze equally well.

Lamb seekh kebabs

Ingredients

180g lean lamb mince (16% fat or less)
3 fat garlic cloves, crushed
1-2cm fresh (or frozen) ginger, finely grated
Small handful of fresh mint, chopped
1 green chilli, finely chopped and seeds removed
Tsp garam masala
½ tsp chilli powder
Small handful of fresh coriander leaves, chopped
10g butter
1 large onion, thinly sliced

To serve: 2 pitta breads
2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

Serves 2, 11 pro points per portion

These couldn’t be easier to make. In a large bowl, combine the lamb mince, garlic, ginger and other herbs and spices and a generous pinch or two of salt – the easiest way is to just get your hands in there and squish well (a technical term, I’m sure). Then form into four fat sausage shapes. You could mould them around skewers if you so desired, although I have to say that I didn’t bother. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for at least an hour to allow them to firm up.

In a moderate oven (180-200) bake the little kebabs for around 30 minutes.

Around halfway through the kebabs’ cooking time, melt the butter in a large pan and, over a very gentle heat, start to soften the onion. Add a generous pinch of salt to allow them to sweat without colouring.

Remove the kebabs from the oven, slice in half long ways and place, cut side down, in the onion pan for a minute or two. This will help them to form a pleasing crust. Meanwhile, toast and split the pitta breads.

To serve, spread the soft, buttery onions out over the pitta bread, top with the kebab meat (four pieces per person) and drizzle with sweet chilli sauce. I suggest serving with some sort of chipped potato - I made wedges which I tossed in some oil, paprika and dried chilli flakes before roasting for around 45 mins. They’re roasties by any other name but nice nonetheless. Oven chips would also work here. Remember to add on the points for any accompaniments.

Recipe corner: A thing of stew-ty

A fantastic recipe and an even better pun – what more could you ask for?

One of the very few plus points about growing older is the fact that I seem to be less hungry all the time. I was going to say that I seem to be losing my appetite, but that is probably stretching the point; I still require regular feeding or else I start to droop and sulk. But I don’t require the volume of food that once I did which means I can make my points work harder in terms of quality rather than quantity. This is good, because many of my very favourite things in the world are point heavy, as I suspect this is the situation whatever measure (points, calories, syns…) that you are using.

The recipe below is a case in point. 16 pro points per portion is pretty hefty. Factor in a couple of accompaniments (last Saturday we had this with mashed potato and broad beans tossed in butter, garlic and Iberico ham) and you’ve got nearly an entire day’s consumption in a single meal. It was worth the hit, believe me, but some austerity throughout the rest of the day was required – not to mention a trip to the gym.

Oxtail is not an easy cut to come by – we ordered ours from an online butcher, and I can’t think why it is not more popular because it produces the most fabulous stew. It breaks down into tender beefy shreds and gives the surrounding gravy an incredible unctuous quality. Of course, this is partly because it has an incredibly high fat content, but it does ease one’s conscience a little bit when the cooled fat is removed on the second day (this and the shredding of the meat are messy jobs – I would advocate getting a nearby husband to get his hands dirty while you direct operations from a safe distance).

The original recipe, by Sam and Sam Clarke of Moro, was to be found on the BBC website, although it now appears to have vanished. I have tweaked it very slightly by reducing the amount of oil required – I also used my slow cooker for the first stage although you could just as easily do it in the hob. Don’t be put off by the fact that this is prepared across two days – it is pretty straightforward to make and tastes just…fantastic.

 Oxtail with Rioja and Chorizo

Ingredients

1.5 kg Oxtail (weight including bone), in chunks
1 carrot, quartered
1 onion, quartered
1 celery stick, quartered
Tsp black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
Large sprig of fresh thyme
Tsp cloves
2 garlic cloves, peeled and slightly squished
1 bottle of Rioja
Large sprig of fresh parsley, leaves stripped
Salt and pepper

Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
120g chorizo, sliced into rounds
2 tbsp flour,
1 tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp dried chilli flakes
½ tsp fennel seeds
Tbsp tomato puree
Salt and pepper

Serves 4, 16 pro points a portion

The day before serving, season and then brown the oxtail in a large pan. I found that you did not need to add any oil at this stage – the oxtail’s own fat will be render out sufficiently. NB: depending upon the size of your pan, you may need to do this in batches. Remove from the pan (transfer to slow cooker if using).

Add the carrot, onion and celery to the pan and cook for about five minutes, tossing regularly to ensure that it browns on every side. Then add the peppercorns, bay, thyme, cloves and garlic and cook for a further couple of minutes. Again, transfer to the slow cooker if using, or return the oxtail to the pan.

Add the parsley and rioja, season well and top up with water if required to cover (in the slow cooker, no additional liquid will be necessary even if the meat is not fully submerged). Cook for around 5 hours on High (or simmer gently for around 2 hours) until the meat can be pulled from the bone easily. At this stage, transfer the oxtail to a large bowl and strain the juices over it. Allow to cool and then refrigerate over night.

On the day of eating, remove as much of the solid fat as possible from the cooled stew. At this point, you should also shred the meat from the bones. This is a fairly easy, albeit messy job.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and sweat off the onion and carrot for about 10 minutes – add a good pinch of salt to allow them to soften without colouring. Add the chorizo and cook for a few more minutes. Then, stir in the flour and cook off for a couple of minutes before tipping in the paprika, fennel seeds and tomato puree. Ensure everything is fully coated in the beautiful orangey paste.

Now you can bring the shredded oxtail and stock to the pan. Season again to taste. Bring to a simmer and cook for 15-20 mins, allowing the gravy to reduce slightly and thicken.

Serve with accompaniments of your choice (although I think it would be wrong not to have it with mashed potato…)

Monday morning, 6am

Two pounds off this morning ladies and gentlemen, which takes me to the magic stone mark since my refocus (I hesitate to call it a restart) at the beginning of January.

Although I am determined not to put pressure on myself - and avoid deadlines at all costs - I was super keen to hit that milestone (so witty...) this morning - psychologically, it feels like a huge boost.

The next two weeks I'm off delivering training, so potentially tricky on the weight loss side of things (and no meal planning!) But I feel in a good place to face these challenges with, if not a song in my heart then, at the very least, a grit-teeth smile.


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Sunday night sarnies

Look at these beauties...


I have rediscovered an old friend tonight. You are looking at a toastie consisting of:
2 x slices from a medium white loaf (5pps) with
10g butter smeared on the outside (2pps) and
60g smoked salmon trimmings (2pps) combined with 50g light cream cheese (2pps) and a good scrunching of black pepper packed inside...

Then toasted in my faithful Breville for 4 minutes and garnished with salad.

A delicious, luxuriant tea with the added bonus (from my point of view) of being a nostalgic delight; I used to eat these on a regular basis as during my student days.

Happy Sunday!

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A little stumble (but not a full on fall)

So, as you may remember, last Monday, in a fit of something in between enthusiasm and smugness, I told you all about how I had dragged myself out of bed in order to swim at the ungodly hour of six thirty. As Lesley quite rightly pointed out, this is probably not deserving of too much kudos until it has become a regular occurrence. Well, I am pleased to say that I repeated the same feat on Thursday morning too. Early exercising is not set to become a regular fixture in our routine but we have both agreed that in order to hit the requisite (although required by whom I don’t know) number of workouts per week, they may sometimes be necessary and I’m proud that I proved I can do it…even if I don’t much like it.

As it is, the last few days have been a bit pear shaped and yet I still managed a half pound loss yesterday morning – I like to think that Karma gave me a little reward for fighting against every instinct of my inherently lazy nature not once but twice.

Back to this latest slip up, and it’s the same old chestnut with me; stress = poor choices. I had to travel to London for a job interview last Thursday and despite the fact that I had planned out my strategy with regards food and drink I still faltered, especially when the interview didn’t go as well as I had hoped. And then, having faltered, I didn’t pull myself up straightaway; I sulked on Saturday afternoon, refusing to go to the gym and having a nap instead, and then wasn’t as stringent as I could have been on Sunday (although it turns out fish finger sandwiches are not so pointy as you might expect). Little things but….meh. I hate the fact that I’m such a Pavlov’s dog about it all. I read the blog posts that I write when everything is going well and that person sounds so happy and sorted and healthy – in fact, that person is so happy and sorted and healthy, and yet the sulky, sleepy, cheese-on-toast eating, gym spurning alter ego is still around and closer to the surface than I would like.

Still, for all that, the scales continue to creep downwards – I’ve lost 12 pounds since the turn of the year and I’m going to go all guns blazing for a decent loss this week that will take me up to the 1 stone mark. Onwards!

Meal planning Monday - 20th February 2012

Well, here we are again. It’s Monday which means two things: weigh in and meal planning. Let’s leave you in suspense with regards the weigh in, shall we? And move straight to the meal planning.

I’ll be away Tuesday night and home late on Wednesday night, so only five household meals to be accounted for this week. We’re still on freezer clearing duty: you’ll notice broad beans to make a sneaky late appearance – I swear that the bag doesn’t appear to be going down at all!

• Tonight – leek and goats’ cheese tart (using pastry from the freezer and goats’ cheese that is currently making the fridge smell a wee bit suspicious)
• Thursday then becomes a belated Shrove Tuesday! Yes, we’re having pancakes for tea. The sensible option would be to cook something light and nutritious and then follow it up with a couple of pancakes; I’m not sensible so I’m going to just eat pancakes. With lemon juice and sugar. Mmmmmm.
• Friday – it’s Fakeaway night! Lamb seekh kebabs in pitta bread, probably with some kind of chilli condiment, and spiced potato wedges.
• On Saturday we’ll be having a stew of oxtail with chorizo and rioja. We’ve made this recipe before and it is absolutely wonderful, so I’ll probably blog about this one separately. At the moment, the plan is to serve it with mashed potato and broad beans with serrano ham. Gorgeous.
• Finally, Sunday, and I’m going to be digging out my beloved Breville to make an old favourite of mine from my university days – smoked salmon and cream cheese toasties.

As always, plenty more meal planning going on at Mrs M's.