It's That Time Again....

 All dishes still to be cooked this week and any in the near future will be with weight loss in mind.  I know that when it comes to this subject, many of us want to run screaming for the hills; fat content, weighing and calorie counting don't figure in my plan life is too short but lots of fresh vegetables, smaller portions and tasty little bites of treats do as does a wee bit of gin and tonic and wine...lets face it, you didn't expect any less. I don't intend to tell you my weight gawd help us all as I don't have scales but when I'm down a few dress sizes, I'll letya know!  

I'll work out the calorie and fat content of some meals for those that requested it last time.

I like something sweet in the mornings so that's when I'll be treating myself: digestive biscuits with margarine and jam, Welsh cake, croissant or cookie but just the one.   Lunches will be soups, light snacks, crackers like Ryvita with goats cheese, tomatoes and salads with light sprinkling of nuts and seeds.

The fridge and freezer heave with leftovers yet I have lots of fresh food; it's a battle over which to eat first.   Fresh veg should always be used so today I made chicken soup with chickpeas and grilled vegetables with halloumi cheese.   The kids had a separate meal of salmon pasta.

Pan-fried Salmon Pasta with Parmesan, Lemon and Peas

Cook pasta as per instructions.   Drain and drizzle with a little olive oil, a knob of butter, a large handful of grated Parmesan cheese, a good squeeze of lemon juice and a heaped teaspoon double cream.   Mix well and add in the cooked salmon, cooked peas and top with a good grinding of black pepper and some more grated Parmesan.

 Chicken Soup with Chickpeas

 

This recipe was taken from Sophie Dahl's 'Voluptuous Delights'.   I highly recommend it, I love this soup!   Mildly but expertly spiced, delicate yet full of flavour, I could live off this for a long time.   I intend to make it at some point with the addition of cubed potatoes, maybe some toasted cumin seeds and serve it with flatbread.   Delicious.

 

1 medium onion, chopped**

**white onion but I used red this time, worked well

2 tbs olive oil

Half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon 

Half a teaspoon of ground ginger

3/4 teaspoon of ground turmeric

A pinch of ground cumin

1 swede or turnip, peeled and chopped

2 celery stalks, washed and sliced

2 litres/8 cups of chicken stock

750g/1.5 lbs skinless, boneless chicken thighs, chopped **

**I used two free range chicken breasts this time around....approx 250g...I think the recipe suggestion is rather a lot of chicken but I think thigh meat would work better

400g/13oz can of chickpeas

Salt and pepper to taste

Fresh chopped parsley or coriander/cilantro, to serve

Sweat the onion in the oil in a big, deep pan over a low heat.   Add all the spices, stir to coat and cook for several minutes.   Throw in veg and stir, cooking gently.   Add stock and chicken and cook for a further 15 minutes.   Add chickpeas and cook for another 10 minutes.   I put lid on and simmered slowly.   Season to taste.   I added a squeeze of lemon juice too.   Serve with the chopped herb of choice and Sophie recommends a splash of olive oil but I didn't use this time.

 

Grilled Vegetables with Halloumi Cheese

 

Sophie Dahl again!   Tasty although I hate it when veg goes soggy so make sure the veg is thinly sliced so that it crisps up quickly. This was nice but I'm unsure if I'd make it again until my grill is fixed (I used the oven this time).   Thinly slice aubergine and courgette (eggplant/zucchini).   Salt the aubergine and leave for 30 minutes...this will draw out the moisture.   Rinse with cold water and pat dry.   Place with the courgette on a tray, sprinkle with ground cumin and then combine 2 tablespoons olive oil and the juice of half a lemon and drizzle over veg.   Grill for a few minutes (I actually used the oven as my grill isn't working...grilling would be MUCH better) and then turn over.   Add halloumi cheese and blast under the grill under golden. 

Artichoke Tart and Jersey Royal Potatoes with Pesto

Salmon coated in Panko Breadcrumbs with Baby New Buttered Potatoes

The kid's chocolate cupcakes with Nutella and Malteser Topping...well done kids, delicious!

Ryvita with Brie, Pesto, Olives, Cherry Tomatoes, Parmesan Shavings and lightly grilled Parma Ham

 Day One: Today's breakfast was two digestive biscuits with margarine and jam, lunch was crunchy salad and dinner and supper was the chicken soup with a little of the grilled veg.   I ate two chocolates with coffee as I had visitors.   Lets call it dessert.....

What Soup?

Yesterday I spent £46.28 on the weekly shopping bill. Brian and I will be going out for dinner tonight so there will be a few less meals to think about. But first, last week....

I have been cutting down on what I eat the last few weeks as I'd like to lose a bit of weight; I've lost four pounds so far. When 'dieting' before, I found that the cost of fresh, healthy and low fat food could sometimes be high but in fact, with a bit of organisation, dieting or in my case, changing some of my eating habits can be cost effective: lose pounds and save pounds!

The best discovery I've made so far to eating healthy but feeling full and being able to eat when you want without spending a lot of money is...wait for it....SOUP! Every day this past week I've made soup which I've had for my lunch with bread and occasionally for dinner. A large pot of soup costs approx. £1.00. Seriously. Here is an average ingredient and cost list for a pot of soup:
Knorr Chicken stock cube approx cost. 16 pence (Using home-made stock £0.00 pence)
Lentils approx cost. 18 pence for 100g (£3.78 x 2 kg)
Carrots x 2 approx cost. 20 pence
Onion, large approx cost. 16 pence
Turnip,small, half approx cost. 30 pence
Leftover chicken/ham approx cost. 0 pence

Some soups are more expensive than others of course but I've used a lot of leftover ingredients which have already been costed for the week so a lot of items haven't cost much at all. This week I had the following soups:
Chicken & Rice
Watercress & Spinach
Lentil
Tomato and Basil

Chicken & Rice
Home-made stock was used for this but a Knorr chicken stock cube is great. Chicken carcass was boiled with a bay leave, half a carrot, half onion and a few black peppercorns and leftover herbs. This was then simmered for a few hours, drained and left to get cold. Any 'scum' or fat that had risen to the top was scraped off and then I re-simmered it to concentrate the flavour.

I threw a carrot and quarter of leftover turnip into the blender. I chopped an onion and all of this was added to stock. Boil and then simmer. Any leftover veg can be used as the base for this soup (except green veg!). If you like to blend your soup then make sure you do this before adding the rice and chicken; I've made this mistake and it isn't good. I then added a cup (approx. 100g) of basmati rice, washed. I cooked the soup for approx. 15 minutes on a simmer and then added the chopped up leftover chicken. After a few minutes, the soup was ready. Brian, wee'est 'un and I loved it; the other two are not huge soup fans.

Watercress & Spinach
I do have a nice recipe for this but on this occasion, I added leftover leaves which I'd used for salad to the leftover pot of chicken and rice soup with an added cup of chicken stock (Knorr this time). It was delicious and very healthy not to mention ready in 2 minutes. For adults only!

Lentil
Knorr Chicken stock cube, lentils washed and added to stock, brought to the boil and simmered whilst preparing rest of vegetables. Two carrots and half turnip were washed and chopped small and added to pot alongside a chopped onion. Once it was almost ready, leftover ham was added to the pot. Again, Brian, wee 'un and I loved it.

Tomato & Basil
There are many recipes for tomato soup; this one is a very quick version. A chicken or vegetable stock cube is dissolved in a small cup of hot water and added to approx. 350g passata (sieved tomatoes, Asda sells jars at approx. 90p for 700g and smaller cartons) and bring to the boil, immediately turning down to a simmer. An onion is blended so that it is almost mushy but finely chopping would do and added to the passata. You could add a chopped garlic clove at this point too. The tomato soup is simmered for five minutes and then I add a teaspoon of sugar and a good pinch of salt (sea salt somehow works better) and a very good grinding of black pepper. I also add a fine grating nutmeg but don't buy it just for this. It is important to taste this soup and make sure it is to your liking...add more salt if you feel it is too bitter and more pepper for spice. At the end I add a handful of chopped basil leaves and give it a quick blend with the hand blender. I then serve with a few chooped leaves sprinkled on top. There is virtually no calories in this and if you add a chopped up chili then you have spicy tomato soup.