This Week's Meals #8

I have 8 meals on my plan this week because I couldn't decide between them. So it will be a matter of cooking whatever we fancy on the day and carrying one over to next week.

Last week's meals were all really good, the Pakistani Beef Curry was amazing. Would highly recommend them all. 

Asian Seabass and pak choi 

Beef Bourguignon and celeriac mash

Taco Lettuce Wraps (without the beans)

Gimme Some Oven

Chicken Vindaye (a Pondicherrian curry, the link is a YouTube clip from a Rick Stein programme. In it he says this curry is in his top 10 favourite things eat. You can't get better endorsement than that!)

Szechuan Hot and Sour Soup - I love this soup!!

Courgette Lasagne

Skinny Taste
Sundried Tomato and Basil Crustless Quiche 

Salmon Tikka with cucumber raita and coriander salad (without the wraps)

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Turkish Green Beans in Tomato Sauce

This is good old Turkish comfort food. I make this with lamb or chicken but vegetarians can easily substitute meat with potatoes and carrots. If I wasn't low carbing I would have made it with potatoes and meat.

Recipe:

Serves 4 with rice / bread or 2/3 on its own

1kg frozen sliced green beans
2 chicken breasts or 500g lamb chops or diced lamb
1 large potato cubed
1 large carrot sliced
1 heaped tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion
1 chicken stock cube

Brown your meat or chicken in the olive oil, remove then *add the onions to the pot and cook until onions are soft. Add potatoes and carrot and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add tomato paste, green beans, cooked meat / chicken and (crumbled) stock cubes. Add enough hot water to cover all the ingredients. Bring to a boil and then simmer, partially covered for 45 minutes to an hour. Stir regularly and add more water if needed. Turkish stews like this one are tastiest the longer they are allowed to cook slowly. You'll know it's done when the beans, carrots and potatoes are soft.

*Start here if you're not using meat or chicken.

Serve with rice, bread to dip in the juices and plain yoghurt. Or if you're low carbing like me, just on its own is perfect.

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No Carb Almond Flour Bread

I was never really big on eating bread, even before low carbing. But now I'm low carbing guess what, I fancy bread! I miss the convenience of toasties and sandwiches. So I was a happy bunny last night when I came across this recipe for no carb bread (and loads of other amazing recipes, I went a bit Pinterest crazy too). What makes it even better is that it's cooked by microwave, my baking abilities only stretch so far.

Recipe from Made By Margie

Makes about 4 slices

150g ground almonds
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons olive oil 
2 eggs 

Mix ingredients in a square (or whatever shape) Tupperware box, microwave for 2 minutes and voila! You have bread! 

It is really calorific per slice so probably not something I'll have while I'm dieting but it's also really filling, I only had half a sandwich and that was just right. 

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This Week's Meals #7

Back to meal planning. It is so much easier to eat well and save money when you meal plan. And it doesn't have to be time consuming, I save recipes using Pinterest so I always have lots to choose from. There's no harm in rotating recipes each week if that's your thing. Here's our plan for this week in no particular order

Mozzarella Stuffed, bacon Wrapped Chicken Thigh Caesar Salad with home made dressing

'Taze Fasulye' or Turkish Green Beans in tomato sauce with lamb (will add recipe in the week) 

Slow Cooker Pakistani Beef Curry and Cauliflower Rice

The Perfect Pantry

Spiced Slow Cooker Pork and Broccoli

Chilli Paneer and Cauliflower Rice 

Peppered Grill steaks and Salad 

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I'm back!!

I'm back! After almost a year I've decided it’s time to come back. I've been busy having a baby so I'm not sure where I'm going to find the time to blog again but I've been itching to write. I'll need to find the time somewhere!

Our gorgeous baby boy is 6 months old and he is my little ray of sunshine. He's so funny and curious and easy to be a mum to, I'm very lucky.

So, it may be that my future posts are about more than just food, since I can't not write about this amazing little creature but we'll see how it goes. Since having baby boy, I had almost 2 stone to lose. I've been 'dieting' since September, not even 3 months since I had him and it made me pretty miserable to be honest. I was calorie counting and although it worked when I stuck to it I was always hungry and felt deprived which meant it was pretty hard to stick to.

I've recently come across the low carb/high fat (LCHF) way of eating. The idea is that the fat fills you up and you can't overeat. I was really reluctant at first, I've been reading about it since November and I've only just seriously started giving it a go. For me, its working so far. 

What is LCHF?

"An LCHF diet means you eat less carbohydrates and a higher proportion of fat. Most importantly you minimize your intake of sugar and starches" (Diet Doctor). There is huge debate right now about sugar vs fat and whether carbs are really bad for you. There are also lots of different views on what LCHF means. For some it’s eating pounds and pounds of butter with minimal carbs for others it’s a bit more moderate. For me it’s no sugar and no grains. I get my carbs (because this is ‘low’ not ‘no’ carb) from lots of vegetables and some dairy. Alongside this a large part of my diet consists of good fats especially eggs, olive oil, coconut oil, nuts, avocado, meat and chicken with skin! Generally, 65% of my calories come from fat, 25% from protein and 10% from carbs. A typical week could look like this;

-          Slow cooked beef stew with broccoli / savoy cabbage

-          Crustless Quiche with salad

-          Burgers with cheese and red onions, gherkins and salad (no bun!)

-          Curry and cauliflower rice

-          Grilled chicken thighs with salad

-          Steak salad

-          Bolognese with ‘courgetti’ or cabbage

Citizen Chef

This way of eating works for me because I no longer have cravings and I only eat when I'm hungry. This is a huge shift for me, before LCHF I was either severely restricting calories to lose weight or I was existing on junk food (takeaways, chocolates, sweets etc.). I just couldn't do ‘moderation’, it was all or nothing, one extreme or the other. Now although it's still not easy, I have a much healthier attitude towards food, I eat when I'm hungry and I eat until I'm full. Calories still count but I eat enough to sustain me and to lose weight. I've only got about 6-8lbs to lose now and I know that not only will I achieve that but more importantly I'll be able to maintain it without developing an unhealthy attitude towards food. I can still enjoy all of my favourite foods without binging.

A little part of me is sad that I've restricted / cut out whole food groups but I haven’t been able to find an alternative. When I reach goal I will increase my carb intake so I've got to find a way of doing this without ending up where I started. 

So my food posts will look a bit different and I hope they're still interesting enough for you to stick around! 

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