The diet wagon that is! Well, mostly. Ignore Sunday, it was Mother’s Day and I fell off it headfirst into a box of Lindt chocolates before staggering out and tripping arse over tip into some Maltesers. What can I say? I’ve always been a bit clumsy.
A small selection of my recent eats, I won’t bore you with the recipes unless you want to see one in particular, but from top left and going clockwise: protein pancakes, stuffed peppers, king prawn salad and courgette fritters (the bomb.com), brussel sprouts with garlic parmesan and chicken.
In an effort to be able to get all my veggies in the one shop, I went to a local farm store over the weekend and I was BLOWN AWAY by the variety and quality which was apparent as soon as you walked through the door. Nothing prepackaged, peppers the size of Leila’s head and prices that floored me. I walked out with 4 carrier bag-fulls for less than £15 – throw in a packet of chicken breasts, some pork medallions and my weekly food bill was under £25. There should be next to no waste this week too as I was able to select exactly what I needed, in the quantity I wanted it.
Is it worth me investigating a proper butchers? I’ve only ever been in one once or twice to buy some steak for a special occassion. T’was very, very expensive and I think it put me off a bit.
But here comes a slight downer, I haven’t actually lost any significant weight. I’ve been doing it for nearly a month… 1200kcal daily target and I’m usually just under that. I’ve had a total of 5 piggy days (spread out) since I started and I’m in a bloody holding pattern. Time to up the exercise? Bah.
Any of you currently following a healther eating plan? How are you doing with it?
I’m on Weight Watchers and have been for the last 7 weeks. I’ve hit that spot between a rock and a hard place, but have lost 1/2 stone so far. I think (very) gradual and slow weight loss can be hard to get your head around if, like me you’re used to crash dieting and instant results. My WW leader also told me something handy “sometimes your body works in arrears, you might be really good for two weeks but your body wont necessarily translate the results you’re expecting for another week or three after” Just soldier on!
PS- I think you’re fanfreakintastic.
I think that you’ve probably hit the nail on the head. I’ve come down from (what was originally 19st) and am really used to seeing 4lb losses per week. I’m still just over 13st but seeing as I’m no longer crash dieting… I can’t really expect to see those same kind of losses.
Mr. L said to me yesterday, it doesn’t matter how quickly you lose it – just keep plodding downward and it’s all good! Sensible man.
Super, super good luck with WW – and I hope you get those arrears paid back with interest next week! x
They all look fab, would love the pepper one and prawn salad recipe. X
Hi Adele…
Stuffed Peppers (this serves 2 and these ones were meatless ‘cos we’d run out!)
3 peppers, halved and insides scooped out.
100g brown rice (dry weight)
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
4 cloves garlic, sliced finely
1 onion, chopped finely
6 mushrooms, chopped quite finely
fresh basil (or 2tbsp of pesto)
Light (low fat) Mozarella
Put the rice on to cook whilst you’re preparing the veggies.
Use 1kcal spray to fry off the onions until they become translucent. Add all the other ingredients (including the rice) and continue heating until all the flavours are well combined.
Spoon veggie/rice mixture into the peppers and compress.
Lay thinly sliced mozzarella ontop and cook on the middle shelf of a pre-heated (200 degrees fan) for around 25/30 minutes.
The peppers will still have a little bite, which is as we like them… if you want them softer, you could give them 5 minutes on their own in the oven first.
Prawn salad is really basic, I’m lazy and buy a bag of salad because I know I’m gonna get 3 meals out of it and there’s less waste when it’s just me eating it.
Chuck all the salad bits into a bowl, add the prawns (I like Youngs King Prawns). Make a dressing of 1/2 tbsp olive oil, 1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar (really basic but yum). Dump the dressing on the salad and mix well to coat the leaves. Sprinkle with grated parmesan (I buy in a packet and keep in the fridge).
I’ll do the courgette fritters recipe below x
I always shop at independent stores and markets if I can. Butchers will be more expensive but it might be worth eating less meat (particularly red meat) and when you do, make it one really good steak or a lovely piece of lamb or something.
I would like to give you a new vegetable of the week as well please. Fennel. I am obsessed.
Kathrine x
sorry, I thought you just said “eat less meat”.
OH GOD YOU DID.
I seem to be living off pork medallions and chicken breast atm. Basically I’m trying to sneak as much meat for as little calories 😉
Everything looks lummy. I’m starving!
haha get the tea on!
Everything looks good, but I’d love to know how to make the courgette fritters, please!
They are amazing, I really feel like I’ve been missing out on these. You can batch make them and freeze them too… I did, but haven’t reheated yet – I’ll let you know if they heat crispy when I try this week.
Ok, I think the secret to these tasting so good is dill. Lots and lots of dill. And squeezing as much water from the courgette as possible. I’ve just bought a potato ricer off eBay to help with the job next time.
OK, so – for about 6 fritters…
2 courgettes – grated (boring, laborious – if you’ve got a food processor, better)
1 tbsp dill (dried is fine)
1 large egg (2 small/medium ones)
1 cup plain flour (try adding 1/2 cup first and a little bit at a time until you get consistency you want)
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic (squished or finely chopped)
Grate the courgette and leave to drain in a colander for 20 minutes. Sprinkle a little bit of salt over and toss to encourage the draining process. This is unlikely to be enough though and I ended up squeezing it between my hands to drain excess liquid – basically you want the courgette as dry as possible.
Add all the ingredients to the bowl and mix. By now, you should have about 1/2 cup of flour in the bowl – sorry I can’t work in grams very well, I’m addicted to my measuring cups.
Getting the mix right is a balance. Too wet and they’ll fall apart in the pan… too dry, and they’ll do the same. You want a sticky, non-sloppy consistency. Just add a little more flour, it’s not an exact science because it all depends on how dry you squeezed the courgette.
The second key to making a good fritter is a non-stick frying pan. You’ll turn the air blue if your pan isn’t non-stick. I used 1kcal spray (about 20 sprays).
Spoon the mixture (2 tbsp per fritter-ish) and fry on a low/medium heat – you don’t want to sear the outside too quickly or the middle will be raw.
I usually cook these on low for a good 5-7 minutes, then flip and turn the heat up to medium until I get a nice colour ontop.
Serve with a dollop of yoghurt or sour cream.
Sound even nicer now I know they are made with dill, which I love (ikea used to sell dill flavour crisps which I would buy in bulk). I’ll be making them this weekend for sure – thanks for the recipe X
Can you share the stuffed pepper recipe? tks
Hi Mary, I’ve written it in reply to another comment above x
These recipies look so yummy!
I am not following any particular eating plan, but my husband is and has stopped losing weight. Today we did a test for the foods he can tollerate and guess what? He was eating all the things he was intollerate to. No wonder he could not lose more. If you (or any other reader) has not done it, I suggest you do. You will be surprized, mostly by what your body tells you. Like the food you never want to eat and it turns out it is not compatible to your system anyway.
Also, you are lucky to have local markets with such nice prices. In my area they are very expensive so we do not save much by choosing them over the commercially packaged ones. There is some movement now, for products to reach us (consumers) straight from the producers, without intermediates, so we just wait and see…
That’s really interesting… I know I’m insulin resistant but have never considered food intolerances. I’m probably just intolerant of food in general. 😉
Those stuffed peppers look awesome! Protein pancakes look interesting, I was looking up recipes for them yesterday. As for butchers, I’d always buy from them if I could afford to just to support a small business – the meat is usually more responsibly farmed and slaughtered, too 🙂
I didn’t like the protein pancakes too much – they were really dry, I think it’s the kind of thing that needs a lot of tweaking to get the recipe just right yano? Yeah – I’ll give the butchers a go next week!
Those meals all look delicious! In regards to your weight loss stalling, maybe try upping your calories slightly? I’ve heard that can sometimes kick-start your body, an dunder 1200 is still very low. Good luck with the final few lbs 🙂
Thanks Rachael, I think it’s probably my expectations that need lowering more than anything xx
Actually, I wouldn’t mind if you posted recipes for the lot. 😉 It all looks super yummy!
Butchers and farmers markets are just amazing. The quality is outstanding, and you get everything in the quantity you actually need. The butchers around here in Kent aren’t that expensive, so the boy makes regular runs for all our meat. Beats the supermarket any day. 🙂
Hi Anna,
I’ve posted the fritter recipes and stuffed pepper recipes above in the comments. x
Do you need to know special words to go in a proper butcher? Cos like um, I don’t know how many “lbs” of stuff I need! I wonder if I can just point and say shit like ‘3 chicken breasts’. Only one way to find out!
I’ve picked up my Mum’s habit of answering ‘How much do you want?’ with ‘Five pounds worth…in money!’ Always gets a bit of a raised eyebrow but since I’m awful at guessing weight of mince etc it stops me going over budget and having to ask them to put some back!
Yay, just checked back and saw it! Thank you ever so much. 🙂
Haha, no, I’m absolutely clueless (I have no idea about cuts and what not) and they usually just sort things out for me after my very very vague instructions. Felt like a right idiot the first time, but they know what they’re doing.
Went to my local butchers today for some mince, and paid good attention to the price as it was discussed among the comments earlier on. Got 600 grams of outstanding lean beef mince for £2.80. Seriously good quality mince AND cheaper than anything from the supermarket.
Oh, that’s bloody good! You can easily pay that for much fattier, poor quality meat in the supermarket. Hmmmm, ok you’ve convinced me – I’m gonna brave the butchers when I get back off holiday x
It looks delicious, Charlotte – please share the recipes, I need some inspiration for my cooking!
Thanks lovely, I’ve shared the fritter and peppers one above… the protein pancakes weren’t nice enough to share. The sprouts was the best attempt at “roasting” sprouts so far. Not that I actually roasted them, just cooked them in a heavy-bottomed pan until they didn’t look like they were gonna break a tooth.
For the sprouts…
15 (ish) Brussels Sprouts, 1 onion, 1tbsp balsamic vinegar, 4 cloves of thinly sliced garlic.
Using low kcal oil spray (about 30 sprays = 30 kcal) and fry everything until cooked. Keep adding a tbsp of water to stop things sticking. I put the lid on for about 5 minutes to create a bit of steam too. The sprouts still came out with a ‘roasted’ rather than boiled flavour. Sprinkle with parmesan and toss in the pan just before serving.
I grilled a chicken breast with a bit of cajun spice sprinkled ontop.
I’d love to see the recipes, it might stop me from eating so badly!
Hi H,
I’ve added them to comments above (except the pancakes, they looked pretty enough but I wouldn’t waste my calories on ’em again). xx
Hi Charlotte,
I’ve got a lovely recipe for you to try. It’s for Salmon Burgers (hopefully you like Salmon!)
It’s very very simple and very quick and the results are fabulous.
To make two burgers: (each approximately 300 cals, so hopefully fits your diet)
Take two salmon fillets, chop them into cubes(ish) put them in a food processor with a bunch of coriander and a tablespoon of red thai curry paste. Blitz until roughly minced. Make into burger shapes and fry each side for approximately 4 -5 mins.
I dust mine lightly in flour before frying to make it crispy.
I’m currently in love with them.
Serve with vegetables or salad for limited calories!
xxx
Hi Janie,
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I don’t think I’ve ever had proper salmon (only smoked) – I’ll give it a go though, it sounds really nice actually… annoyingly I had a bunch of coriander that I bought with good intentions and threw away a few days ago!
First of all, you’ve lost about 6 stone. Yay for you! Keep that in mind when things slow down coz that is a hell of a feat.
Second, I wholeheartedly agree with Marianthi about the intolerances. I’m wheat intolerant and I’ve lost a lot of weight just by cutting out the bread etc.
Finally, don’t be afraid of the butchers. I just ask for “enough for 1/2/3 people”, and I always get the right amount. Also they are really great if you want to make something but you don’t know which cut will work best. I also like the supermarket meat counters, although I tend to stick to the things that are on special offer, so some degree of flexibility is required for meal planning. They are a godsend when I’m just cooking for me, as I can buy one portion and have no waste, rather than buy a massive packet of meat and then never cook half of it.
Thank you, I think I’ll give it a go and see what happens – it is so terribly tragic that I’m a bit excited about this.