This Week's Meals #9

I'm not having much time to post other than the weekly meal plan. Our little person has gone from just sitting up to crawling all over the place and attempting to climb on top of anything he can get his hands on. I know everyone says they grow up so quickly but the speed at which he is learning, developing his skills and growing is scary. He'll be a little toddler soon!

This week's meal plan is based on using up what we have in the freezer and fridge, although I will need to stock up on fresh vegetables. Since moving to LCHF we don't tend to eat from the 'store cupboard', so most of our food is whatever needs the fridge or freezer. This point makes me feel good for some reason, I think its because if it can go off it is good for you and hasn't been fiddled with!

On the subject of LCHF and my diet, after 4 weeks of struggling to stick to calories and no weight loss the scales are now moving again and I have lost another 2lbs this week! The thing is, in that 4 week period I didn't gain any weight either, at all. If I was eating like I was before and not decreased my carb intake I'm positive I would have gained weight by not sticking to a calorie allowance in that 4 week period (I ate more calories I need to maintain to my weight too). So, this week I've concentrated a little more on the calories and its started coming off again.

The other thing that has helped is that I have made more of an effort to walk everywhere with little person in his pram. He loves being outside so its good for him too. We did 15 miles last week, which is not bad for someone who hasn't exercised in years. I don't believe exercise is strictly necessary for weight loss but it does earn you extra calories if you are trying to lose weight. It also makes you feel good, plain and simple! I've loved being out in the chilly sunshine, its interesting the things you notice when you are walking that you would never notice driving. So I've set myself a target of 100 miles in 8 weeks to keep me motivated to carry on! Mapmywalk is my new favourite website!

Here is this week's plan;

Monday - Steak Salad, straight forward steak fried over a nice big salad 

Tuesday  - Jamaican Beef Curry (in slow cooker) with cauliflower rice. The recipe is for goat but I don't have goat in the freezer! I've made this with lamb and it's oh so good!

Wednesday - Courgette Lasagne (this is what was missed off of last week's menu as I had 8 meals planned)

Thursday - Sausages, broccoli, carrots and gravy

Friday - Eating out with the big man

Souvlaki For The Soul

Saturday - Fish Pie with cauliflower mash topping  I love the recipe on the blog (see link) because it has a few options for the topping to choose from.

Sunday - Poussin and roasted vegetables (likely to be peppers and red onions). Don't normally have poussin lying around in the freezer but it was reduced because of its sell by date, so had to try it.

Have a good week everyone!

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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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This Week's Meals #6

Just a quick one this week as we're at Mr A's parents for the weekend so will be eating there.

Monday - Turkish Leek Stew with garlic bread

Tuesday - Dinner at Mum's

Wednesday - Delia's Cauliflower Cheese and Broccoli Soup 

Thursday - Beetroot Risotto from Good Food. 

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This Week's Meals #5

Monday: Nigel Slater's Hot Chicken Cakes. On their own these are not substantial enough for Mr A, so I'm going to shape them like little patties and have them in whole wheat burger buns.

Source

Tuesday: Dinner at Mum's

Wednesday: Prawn and Chorizo Gumbo

Source

Thursday: Sausages and Cauliflower Mash 

Source

Friday: Nigella's Spaghetti Puttanesca

Saturday: Middle Eastern Lamb Koftes with yoghurt, salad and pittas (or may even make my own hummus!)

Source 

Sunday: Turkey Roulade - I'm going to make this up as I go along but it will be turkey breasts stuffed with sage and onion stuffing, wrapped in bacon

We probably won't get through all 6 meals, as its Easter weekend I'm hoping we'll be out and about. If that happens the meals will just roll over to next week, because I'm good at that!

With baby on the way I've been thinking about how much we currently spend on food and what we can save. We try to be 'careful' but don't really budget. I'll always make sure I plan meals ahead, cook from what we already have and only shop for what we need but I still think we spend too much for just 2 people. What would you say is a reasonable budget for 2 people for a week?

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Chocolate Coconut Milk Ice Cream

Soooo easy and so delicious!!! I never really craved anything sweet until I got pregnant so I've been looking for healthier alternatives for things that might curb my cravings. This ice cream from Detoxinista  fits the bill perfectly! Check out her other recipe's too, so many amazing healthy alternatives that don't make you feel like your missing out.

We had this with fresh raspberries....

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Turkish Pasta Bake - 'Firinda Makarna'

'Firinda Makarna' is translated as 'pasta in the oven' and is a really easy, tasty alternative to a usual pasta bake

Ingredients:
1 packet of pasta - you can find 'makarna' in Turkish / Greeks and looks just like spaghetti just thicker. If you can't get your hands on makarna I'm sure this would work with any sort of pasta
500g beef mince
1 onion, finely chopped
Dried mint
Parsley - handful, finely chopped
salt and pepper

For Cheese sauce topping:
1 pint milk (I used half full fat, half semi skimmed)
1 packet of halloumi cheese, grated
1 cup grated cheddar
1 egg
1 tsp mustard powder (optional)
3 tbsp plain flour/sauce flour

• Preheat oven to 200C.
• Get the pasta cooking according to packet instructions, I break them in half
• Whilst the pasta is cooking fry the onion until soft and add the mince, salt and pepper and sprinkle of dried mint. Once fried well throw in the parsley and stir.
• Drain pasta and create layers, starting with the pasta and then the mince mixture. You should get about two layers of each.
• To make the cheese sauce,, pour milk into a saucepan and before the heat goes on whisk in the egg. Put the heat on low and keep whisking gently. As the milk warms up - before boiling add the halloumi and half of the cheddar in handfuls at a time and keep whisking, don't allow to boil too much. Turn the heat up to medium and add the mustard powder and flour spoonful at a time, whisking in between. Keep stirring well with a whisk until the sauce is very thick and paste like.
• Once its very, thick take off the heat and pour all over the pasta and smooth over on top. Sprinkle with a bit of cheddar and put in the oven until browned on top, about 30-45 minutes
• Once its out allow to cool a bit then cut into squares.

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This Week's Meals #4

I know what you're thinking, what is that ravioli still doing on the menu!? No, we're not eating it for the third week running but I was either too lazy to cook that night or it wasn't what I fancied (or both). But I'm definitely making it tomorrow!

Monday:  Caprese Ravioli with Roasted Tomato Pesto Sauce from 'Proud Italian Cook'

Source: Proud Italian Cook

Tuesday: Dinner at mums

Wednesday: Malvani Prawn Curry from 'Enjoy Indian Food' with brown rice

Thursday: Meeting my friend Dea for dinner after work

Friday: Come Dine with Me number 3 at my friend Helen's!

Saturday: Szechaun Hot and Sour Soup from Allrecipes

Source: Allrecipes

Sunday: Turkish Pasta Bake, 'Fırında Makarna.' Recipe and photo's to follow!

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Dolma: Turkish Stuffed Peppers, Artichokes, Onions and Cabbage Leaves

This was the first meal on our plan this week. Dolma literally means "to stuff" in Turkish. The most common version of dolma is stuffed vine leaves.

A few weekends ago my mum came round with some artichokes that someone had sent her from Cyprus so I decided to make dolma with them and other veg we had. Artichokes are notoriously difficult to prep and also start to go brown if you don't rub them with lemon juice after you've prepared them. My mum is a bit of an expert at preparing artichokes, I never really appreciate how good a cook she was until I got in to cooking myself. Anyway, I found this helpful guide on how to prepare artichokes for stuffing.

The stuffing:
250g beef mince*
Handful chopped parsley
1 medium brown onion, finely chopped or grated
2 tbsp uncooked rice
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato or pepper paste
Juice of 1 lemon
1tsp cumin
Salt and pepper

Mix all ingredients together. *For a vegetarian version just leave out the mince and add more rice, or use cous cous or bulgar wheat.

Preparing vegetables for stuffing;
Peppers - just cut the tops off and remove flesh and seeds
Cabbage leaves - add leaves to boiling water until soft, about 3-4 minutes
Artichokes - once prepared the artichokes need to be cooked in boiling water for a few minutes before stuffing
Onion - cook in boiling water until layers come away easily without breaking

Once the vegetables are prepared all you need to do is fill them with the stuffing mixture and place them in a pot. I then made up 250ml of vegetable stock, to which I added 1 more tablespoon of pepper paste (could use tomato paste too) and poured this around the stuffed vegetables. Make sure the stock doesn't go over the top of peppers or artichokes, so full just half way. Cover and cook for approx. 30-40 minutes.

Once cooked, the dolma goes really well with plain yoghurt, tzatziki or hummus (or salad, or home made chips!)

Hope you try this recipe, would love to hear from you if you do!!

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This Week's Meals #3

I didn't get to make some of the meals from last week's plan, so the Caprese Ravioli is back on the menu this week, can't wait to try them!





Monday:  Turkish stuffed artichokes, peppers, onions and cabbage leaves from me! Made these on Sunday ready for eating after work on Monday. Recipe and post to follow later in the week.

Tuesday: At mums for dinner

Wednesday:  Faux Prawn and Chorizo Paella from  Eat, Drink Paleo

Source: Eat, Drink Paleo

Thursday:  Caprese Ravioli with Roasted Tomato Pesto Sauce from 'Proud Italian Cook'

Source: Proud Italian Cook

Friday: Szechaun Hot and Sour Soup from Allrecipes

Source: Allrecipes

Saturday: Chickpea Base Pizza's from Not Just Apples

Source: Not Just Apples

Sunday: Cajun Chicken Kebabs with Spiced Yoghurt Dips and pitta from Lavender and Lovage 

Source: Lavender and Lovage

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"Fire and Spice" Class at Morgan's Kitchen

I loved this class! Last week me and my sister went on a 'Fire and Spice' class with Morgan's Kitchen in Camden. It was about using different spices and chillies. The class started off with a quick talk of all the different types of chillies and what to look out for when buying chillies. We then got to cook with different chillies and spice blends and made 'Piri Piri Prawns' and 'Chinese Chilli Chicken'. Haven't made either before and they were really tasty. I'll post recipes for both soon.

To be honest I don't think I learnt anything I couldn't teach myself using the internet but it was fun to do something different with my sister. We're going to try out some more cookery classes regularly. It was also fun to do something different with cooking. I'm really enjoying my blog and combining it with all the cooking I do at home. I'd love to turn it into something more, in fact I know I will one day....

Some of our purchases from the class, can't wait to try these out....

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This Week's Meals #2

Monday:  Caribbean Sweet Potato Patties with Spicy Coconut and Spinach Sauce from Cook, Eat, Live Vegetarian

Source: Cook, Eat, Live Vegetarian

Tuesday:  Eating at mums. I've just started yoga classes on Tuesdays within walking distance from my mums. My mum is a typical Turkish mum and wouldn't hear of me being that close and not popping in to eat with them, which is absolutely fine by me!

Wednesday:   On Wednesday me and my sister are taking a cookery class called 'Fire and Spice' at Morgan's Kitchen in Camden. We'll learn how to use spices and chillies and make our own mixtures to take home. I'm not that great when it comes to mixing different spices so this class is right up my street. At the end of the class we get to eat our dishes, so I'll post some pictures and hopefully a recipe!

Thursday: Turkish Stuffed Artichokes and Peppers from me! Recipe and post to follow later in the week.

Friday:  Singapore Noodles from 'Dietitian UK'

Source: Dietitian UK

Saturday:  Chilli Marrakech from BBC Good Food

Source: BBC Good Food

Sunday:  Caprese Ravioli with Roasted Tomato Pesto Sauce from 'Proud Italian Cook'

Source: Proud Italian Cook



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Falafel, Salad and Pickles

This was on this week's meal plan and I found the recipe on 'Flourishing Foodie'. I've tended not to bother making my own falafel as they always turn out too dry or too crumbly, but I really fancied falafel this week! This one was a bit crumbly but I know what to try next time to avoid that, for example using dry chickpeas like the recipe suggests rather than tinned chickpeas that I used. Next time I'll also add a bit more flour (I used gram flour instead of plain) and maybe another egg and keep them in the fridge for longer to firm up a bit more.

There is nothing else I would change as the taste was absolutely perfect!

We had them with lettuce, tomato, olives, gherkins and pink pickles that our neighbour gave us. I think they're pink because she used beetroot but can't be sure because there wasn't any pickled beetroot in the jar!? I also made a tahini sauce, with tahini paste, pinch of cumin, lemon juice and water. The idea was that we choose whatever we want from the platter and stuff them into pitta's, but I skipped the pitta's to save room for more falafel. Either way, this was a perfect Friday, night in meal.

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Turkish Pea Stew ('Bezelye')

Tonight's dinner was this pea stew. Like most Turkish dishes, the base of this is gently fried onions and either chopped tomatoes or tomato paste (or even pepper paste). You could serve it with it plain rice but its fine on its own with just a dollop of yoghurt. Turkish people tend to eat bread with absolutely everything and I like this with soft buttered bread dipped in the juices, yum! If you're veggie or just want a meat free dish you can easily leave out the chicken without effecting the taste too much.

Ingredients;
2 tbsp olive oil
1 heaped tbsp pepper paste
3 medium chicken breasts, cubed (optional)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 large carrot, cut into small chunks
1 medium potato, cut into small chunks
400g frozen garden peas
1ltr vegetable or chicken stock
Salt and pepper

Fry onions for 2-3 minutes without letting them brown, add pepper paste and fry for another few minutes. Add chicken breast and stir fry until they turn a pale colour, add carrots and potatoe and fry for a further 5-6 minutes. Add peas, give it a good stir and add stock, salt and pepper. Simmer gently until cooked, about 40 minutes.

Hope you enjoy! Would love to hear from anyone that has tried this!!

I'm also submitting this recipe into 'Made with love Mondays' which is a weekly series hosted by Javelin Warrior's website 'Cookin' with Lov'  to "promote, share and celebrate foods made entirely from scratch. Always Fresh, Always from Scratch", my kind of cooking! 

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This Week's Meals #1

Because of my recent uncontrollable hunger, unless I pre plan and prepare weekday meals I can quite easily eat whatever is easiest or closest. This usually ends up being a take away or junk food so I'm trying to make an effort to plan mid week meals that's are quick, easy and nutritious. Here are this week's meals, I'll blog about how I get on with them too! The other thing about this weeks meals is that they are all made from ingredients we already had in the house!

Monday - Turkish Pea, Chicken, Potato and Carrot Stew ('Bezelye') from my mum

Tuesday - Eating at Mums

Wednesday: Chicken Wings with cumin, lemon and garlic from BBC Good Food with side of grilled corn on the cob 

Thursday: Sweet Onions and Lentils from BBC Food

Friday: Spicy Falafels from Flourishing Foodie with salad, pickles and tahini sauce.

Saturday: Jerk Chicken with Rice n Peas from BBC Good Food

Sunday: "Tidy Friday Pan Fry" from Nigel Slater on BBC Food

I'll be entering my weekly meals in to 'Meal Planning Mondays' over at Mrs M's blog from now on!

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Spinach Lasagne Rolls

I made this a few weeks ago when I was making a conscious effort to eat more spinach for iron. I found it on one of my favourite blogs Skinnytaste. I made it the night before we were going to eat it and then just put it in the oven when I got in from work (love it when I'm that organised!).

I used fresh lasagne sheets from Sainsbury's, they're really wide so I cut them in half length ways and made two rolls with one sheet. I finished it off slightly different to the original recipe in that I covered all the rolls in the tomato sauce and sprinkled on the the mozzarella (shredded a mozzarella ball in the food processor). The carrot made the sauce quite sweet so I might use less carrot next time.

Source: Skinnytaste 

For a pasta dish it was really light and genuinely delicious! A perfect midweek meal that freezes well too! 

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Nigel Slater's Spaghetti Bolognese

All this talk of beef and horsemeat made me crave Spaghetti Bolognese today. I've made this version before, its Nigel Slater's. Its really rich and tasty. The recipe includes milk and red wine which might sound strange but works really well.

The recipe suggests cooking it in batches and freezing it, a really good idea but with Mr A's amazing capacity for food, we hardly ever have leftovers in our house so I'd have to make huge, industrial size quantities. Having said that if I get really organised before baby comes I am going to make extra portions of meals and freeze them. I'm probably not going to have the time or energy to cook once baby comes. Although I know Mr A won't let us go hungry and will cook us up some meals too!

What's your favourite freezer friendly meals?

 

Mr A's spag bol mountain:

 

 

 

I'm putting this recipe forward for the 'Dish of the Month' challenge hosted by Farmersgirl Kitchen. I know this recipe isn't particularly challenging or different but it tasted bloody good when Spaghetti Bolognese was exactly what I wanted!

 

 

 

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