A Hairily delicious looking week!
Oh, I am enjoying using the Hairy Dieters book - we have had some great meals from it!
The cod and prawn gratin was really tasty - I used their sauce recipe, with cornflour, and frozen pollock fillets rather than cod. They suggested putting frozen peas in, but I'm not a great peas fan. Instead I used a leek and some mushrooms. We had it with broccoli and it was filling. I'd also made a baked fruit compote using blackberries that I'd foraged last weekend (I think they'll be finished now with the rain. A lot of them had gone mouldy on the bushes) and some rather hard peaches. I've been having that with a 0% fromage frais for dessert.
Last night's Harissa Chicken with Bulghar Wheat salad was also good. I actually used a Quinoa/grain mix instead, but the end result was good. Due to a walk I did, My Fitness Pal said I had a few extra calories to use up, so I had a mini cake with my fromage frais. I was a tad peckish by the end of the evening, but I had a glass of milk with my night time pain killer and that helped me feel satisfied. Tonight we have a chilli planned, with salad and maybe bread. But maybe not.
So, I've planned next week's meals - they may change, of course, but this is what I'm aiming for:
MONDAY: Hairy Chicken Korma + rice. But I'm going to be using a piece of turkey breast that I've got in the freezer. I will probably throw some frozen spinach into the sauce to give a few more vegetable points to the meal.
TUESDAY: I don't want to go shopping until Thursday, so I'm going to be using stuff I've got around. I know I have chopped tomatoes and frozen "Italian style" vegetables, so I'm making a vegetable and pasta bake. No recipe needed for this. I may throw in some reduced fat parma hamthat I have - or we may have it "on the side" (or not at all!)
WEDNESDAY: We're having falafel burgers with an grilled aubergine and onion salad (this recipe, but without the chickpeas and with much less olive oil in the dressing!) I'll use the rest of the chickpeas to make my delicious hummus to go on rice cakes as a snack. If I use as small amount of tahini as possible it shouldn't be too bad on the calorie front
THURSDAY: I'm going to make a Hairy beef and potato pie. This uses pizza base mix to give the crust - an interesting idea, which I will embrace! It is also a recipe for 6 small pies. I think I'd prefer to halve the quantities and make 1 pie for two of us and an individual one - but it all depends on what foil dishes I can find. I don't want to spend too much on something that I suspect gets peeled off and thrown away.
FRIDAY: Another Hairy meal - this book has really taken over from the River Cottage Experience, hasn't it?! - tonight. We're trying the Pork and prawn noodle broth. There's no recipe of this on line at the moment - the pork and prawn balls are almost exactly as on this recipe,but with a tad of chilli, half the amount of prawns and no sesame oil. The broth includes sliced peppers, carrot, garlic, shallots, ginger, mushrooms and mangetout (not sure I'll be using those) served with 25g of rice noodles. I do have a Thai noodle pack that I got from Lidl. I may look at the calories on that and see if I can use it.
SATURDAY : Hairy Mushroom, feta and tomato baked peppers On this blog, somebody reviews and describes the recipe. She seemed to like it - let's hope we do!
SUNDAY: We've invited Gilles and Sylvie for lunch - must confirm it with them - and as Cathy arrives here today (that is today I'm writing, not today Sunday that I'm writing about!) I'll invite her to eat with us too. So I'm pushing the boat out a bit - but not a lot. We'll have smoked salmon paté (easy recipe - whizz smoked salmon, low fat cream cheese, and lemon juice together. Season. Serve with extra smoked salmon, if desired.) and then a Hairy Southern Style jambalaya. Afterwards, I'll be serving a Hairy Carrot and Sultana cake with ice cream, for those who want it. Now, while I'm not saying that's going to stay within my calorie budget for the day (especially as I'll be having wine too), the salmon starter is about 100 calories a go (according to MFP), the jambalaya is 341 and the cake 239. Of course, there'll be a bit of cheese eaten too, but if I don't have anything else to eat in the evening (or just a bowl of veggie soup) I shouldn't be TOO disastrously over.
As you may have gathered, I was very pleased about my weight loss last week. I was prepared for only 500g or so, so 2kg was great. I know I mustn't expect it every week though.
I am going to find this a little more difficult now though: As previously mentioned, friend Cathy is arriving today. She has a house out here that is being renovated (and she has just gone through a divorce, which we were all sad about, as we know her ex, Steve, well too.) and will be out here for a couple of months. She is very hospitable and the wine flows very freely there, together with the crispy-snacky-things that I love so well!! I will have to be remarkably strong willed to keep my wine consumption down when visiting - especially as I do love my wine along with the crispy-snacky-things!!! I don't quite know what I'll do - maybe try to stick to fruit tea (?!) and sit across the room from aforementioned snacks? We shall see!
The cod and prawn gratin was really tasty - I used their sauce recipe, with cornflour, and frozen pollock fillets rather than cod. They suggested putting frozen peas in, but I'm not a great peas fan. Instead I used a leek and some mushrooms. We had it with broccoli and it was filling. I'd also made a baked fruit compote using blackberries that I'd foraged last weekend (I think they'll be finished now with the rain. A lot of them had gone mouldy on the bushes) and some rather hard peaches. I've been having that with a 0% fromage frais for dessert.
Last night's Harissa Chicken with Bulghar Wheat salad was also good. I actually used a Quinoa/grain mix instead, but the end result was good. Due to a walk I did, My Fitness Pal said I had a few extra calories to use up, so I had a mini cake with my fromage frais. I was a tad peckish by the end of the evening, but I had a glass of milk with my night time pain killer and that helped me feel satisfied. Tonight we have a chilli planned, with salad and maybe bread. But maybe not.
MONDAY: Hairy Chicken Korma + rice. But I'm going to be using a piece of turkey breast that I've got in the freezer. I will probably throw some frozen spinach into the sauce to give a few more vegetable points to the meal.
TUESDAY: I don't want to go shopping until Thursday, so I'm going to be using stuff I've got around. I know I have chopped tomatoes and frozen "Italian style" vegetables, so I'm making a vegetable and pasta bake. No recipe needed for this. I may throw in some reduced fat parma hamthat I have - or we may have it "on the side" (or not at all!)
WEDNESDAY: We're having falafel burgers with an grilled aubergine and onion salad (this recipe, but without the chickpeas and with much less olive oil in the dressing!) I'll use the rest of the chickpeas to make my delicious hummus to go on rice cakes as a snack. If I use as small amount of tahini as possible it shouldn't be too bad on the calorie front
THURSDAY: I'm going to make a Hairy beef and potato pie. This uses pizza base mix to give the crust - an interesting idea, which I will embrace! It is also a recipe for 6 small pies. I think I'd prefer to halve the quantities and make 1 pie for two of us and an individual one - but it all depends on what foil dishes I can find. I don't want to spend too much on something that I suspect gets peeled off and thrown away.
SATURDAY : Hairy Mushroom, feta and tomato baked peppers On this blog, somebody reviews and describes the recipe. She seemed to like it - let's hope we do!
SUNDAY: We've invited Gilles and Sylvie for lunch - must confirm it with them - and as Cathy arrives here today (that is today I'm writing, not today Sunday that I'm writing about!) I'll invite her to eat with us too. So I'm pushing the boat out a bit - but not a lot. We'll have smoked salmon paté (easy recipe - whizz smoked salmon, low fat cream cheese, and lemon juice together. Season. Serve with extra smoked salmon, if desired.) and then a Hairy Southern Style jambalaya. Afterwards, I'll be serving a Hairy Carrot and Sultana cake with ice cream, for those who want it. Now, while I'm not saying that's going to stay within my calorie budget for the day (especially as I'll be having wine too), the salmon starter is about 100 calories a go (according to MFP), the jambalaya is 341 and the cake 239. Of course, there'll be a bit of cheese eaten too, but if I don't have anything else to eat in the evening (or just a bowl of veggie soup) I shouldn't be TOO disastrously over.
As you may have gathered, I was very pleased about my weight loss last week. I was prepared for only 500g or so, so 2kg was great. I know I mustn't expect it every week though.
I am going to find this a little more difficult now though: As previously mentioned, friend Cathy is arriving today. She has a house out here that is being renovated (and she has just gone through a divorce, which we were all sad about, as we know her ex, Steve, well too.) and will be out here for a couple of months. She is very hospitable and the wine flows very freely there, together with the crispy-snacky-things that I love so well!! I will have to be remarkably strong willed to keep my wine consumption down when visiting - especially as I do love my wine along with the crispy-snacky-things!!! I don't quite know what I'll do - maybe try to stick to fruit tea (?!) and sit across the room from aforementioned snacks? We shall see!
OH lordy, you are making me hungry. Well done on your weight loss btw. xx
ReplyDelete