Quick and easy dinner !

Firstly apologies for my long absence, it's been a while.... 2 months to be precise.

I will be honest, my head hasn't really been in "the zone" for the last month or so and I've been losing and gaining the same 5lbs. But enough is enough. I am now 25lbs lighter than I was on January the 1st and I KNOW this is a trigger time for me. It seems that I get to a stone and a half off and then get stuck. I've done 2 stone before but never more. I am DETERMINED to beat that this time, so I need to get my bum in gear.

This is what we had for dinner tonight. We were running late and the original meal plan would have taken just too long. In the end this worked out much better, it was fresh, light and zingy - just right the the vaguely summer like weather that we have (fleetingly I'm sure) at the moment.

I can't really say that this is a recipe, it's more of an assembly job but SO worth making and a very reasonable 11pp per serving, less if you use light or extra light mayo.

SWEET CHILLI CHICKEN SALAD
serves 2 @ 11pp per serving

1 pack of Uncle Bens Spicy Mexican Rice
1 pack of Waitrose Sweet Chilli Mini Fillets
Assorted salad - whatever combination you like
Corn on the cob (these are mini cobs so 1pp each)
2tsp mayonnaise (I have used full fat Hellmanns here but any would do)
2tbsp sweet chilli sauce

As I said - this isn't even really a recipe. It involves chopping some salad, heating the rice, opening the packet of chicken and arranging it on a plate !!
Drizzle the mayo and sweet chilli sauce over and tuck in.

For me, this is a lovely combination of flavours and really hits the spot when you want something healthy and slightly spicy but just CBA to cook !!

Ooops !

Well the diet hiccup lasted longer than that Friday sadly. It lasted a whole week and I paid the price with a huge gain on the scales yesterday. I had fun though and so it's not all bad.

Reading some posts on the WW forum I have found a new quote that I need to concentrate on more which is "don't focus on the week just gone but focus on the week ahead". I've not had a great few weeks but over the last 14 weeks I've lost 14lbs in total which isn't bad - not quite what I'd have liked but it's still a stone gone forever !

I have some photos and recipes to be uploaded so watch this space.

A diet hiccup...

but a very tasty one I must say. Out shopping today and I was so hungry I could have chewed my arm off. Not the best choice but I only ate the bottom half of the bun and half of my chips.

A "giraffe" burger - thankfully not of the long necked kind but a cheese and bacon

 burger at our local branch of Giraffe.

Philly stuffed chicken in parma ham

I have had a long busy week at work, the Husband has been off with the boys (gotta love being married to a teacher) and we're both flagging. I got home from work last night on my knees to find my lovely husband had made me a yummy low point dinner - he really is fantastic !!

This was served with jacket potatoes which added another 8pp by the time I'd added some extra cheese *blush* but I had them to spare. Normally I'd serve these with 150g new potatoes (3pp) and either veggies or salad.

PHILLY STUFFED CHICKEN WITH PARMA HAM
serves 2 at 7pp per person

2 medium chicken breasts
2 tbsp garlic & herb light Philadelphia or whatever flavour you like
4 slices of parma ham

Make a slit in the side of the chicken.
Stuff with the philly then wrap the parma ham around the chicken
Wrap in a foil parcel and bake at about 200C for 20-30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked.

Because the chicken is cooked in it's own juices and steam it comes out lovely and juicy with a great pre-made sauce when you open the parcel (take care doing this as steam comes out which can burn your fingers !). Don't forget to use that as you've pointed it already !!

Sausage casserole

I'm a few days behind at the moment due to a spectacular BT fail. We've been without broadband and a landline since Wednesday morning. Luckily it all came back on today but it's been a very strange experience.

This is one of my favourite comfort food meals. It's like a tarted up jacket potato with beans really but it's so much more than that. Again the PP values can be tweaked depending on what you have to play with. I still have quite a few PP to play with so I can be more generous but you can use lower PP sausages or just fry light (shudder) if you wish to reduce values further.

SAUSAGE CASSEROLE
serves 4 at 8pp per serving

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion chopped
1 clove of garlic crushed
250g mushrooms sliced thickly
8 reduced fat sausages (I have used both Waitrose extra lean and Tesco Butchers 1/2 fat for 5pp per 2)
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Good shake of mixed herbs
Squirt of tomato puree
1-2 cans chopped tomatoes depending how much sauce you like. I always used two cans.
S&P to taste
400g can baked beans

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the vegetables. Cook until soft and remove to a bowl.
Add the sausages to the pan and brown, then add the veg back to the pan.
Add the Worcestershire sauce, herbs, puree and tomatoes and simmer until the sauce is thick and reduced.
Season to taste and add the beans for the last 5 minutes.

I served this with a a 250g raw weight baked potato for 5pp and 20g of Cathedral City light cheese for another 2pps

Pizza !

I love pizza in all it's cheesy gooey-ness. I love it's versatility but I hate the amount of points it usually comes with.

I've been trying and tweaking this recipe for a while now and this is the best I've managed. Even the Husband said it was the best pizza I've ever made. It IS still quite point heavy but if you're careful the rest of the day then it's perfectly manageable. I use my breadmaker to make the dough which is simplicity itself but it's perfectly ok to beat the hell out of it yourself if you prefer !

Apologies for the most SHOCKING photo ever but this was son no2's pizza which looked like a cat and he didn't want to eat as it was so cute !

PIZZA
Serves 4 with the basic dough/sauce/cheese worked out at 12pps (add toppings on separately)

So I started by making a basic tomato sauce - very simply onion, garlic, celery and carrot slowly sauteed in a tablespoon of olive oil, chopped tomatoes, oregano, a pinch of sugar, worcestershire sauce and some tomato puree. All slow cooked for an hour or so with a bay leaf. That worked out at 1pp a serving but to be honest probably negligible for the amount you'd need on a pizza.

The dough for 4 people was

5g Dove's Farm yeast
300g strong white flour
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt
170ml lukewarm water

I put this on my pizza setting for 45 mins, knocked back and then proved in a warm place for another 30 minutes. Split into 4 and then rolled out to the thickness you like.

Then it's easy ! Splodge on some tomato sauce, add toppings of your choice (I had red onion, mushrooms and sliced courgette with some chorizo) and the add 60g of grated mozzarella per pizza. Bake at 200C for about 10-15 minutes.

ENJOY !!

Teriyaki tuna

This recipe came about through a catalogue of errors really. Firstly it was meant to be a salmon recipe but the Husband came back from the shops with only 2 salmon fillets and a random reduced tuna steak. So, the kids had the salmon as I know they'll eat it and we had the tuna.

I've made this recipe before and it's very yummy. I can't take credit for the idea as it's off the WW website but I have tweaked it little. Spicy and more veggies than you can shake a stick at. It would have been even better if the Husband hadn't thrown away my dish of marinade before I added it back to the pan. Told you it was a catalogue of errors !

TERIYAKI TUNA NOODLES

serves 2 at 13pp per serving

3 tbsp teriyaki sauce

1 tbsp lime juice

1 tsp chilli powder or chilli flakes

350g tuna steak cubed

1 tsp olive oil / spray oil

1 cloves garlic

4 spring onions

Variety of stir fry veggies - I used baby corn, sugar snaps, pak choi, 1/2 a pack of mixed stir fry etc

2x150g packs straight to wok noodles

150ml chicken stock

Coriander to serve

Marinate the tuna in the lime juice, teriyaki sauce and chilli

Fry the veggies in the oil until soft. Remove from the pan and add the tuna. Stir fry for a couple of minutes

Add everything back to the pan with the noodles, reserved marinade and add the stock - enough to give as much of a sauce as you wish.

Heat through and serve with the coriander.