PASTA SHELLS WITH PEAS & CHILLI

So how many calories are there in "Conchiglie pasta with yoghurt, peas and chilli"?
The original recipe for this dish is from Yotam Ottolenghi.
I adjusted the ingredients to make two portions. With a few further adjustments, e.g. using a little less oil, pasta and Feta, we estimate each portion at around 600 calories.
The pasta was satisfying enough using less Feta, yet we could easily have eaten it without cheese. The heat from the chilli lifted the whole dish to a new level and contrasted well with the creamy dressing.
We've lost over seven stone in weight between us, making small changes like this to our diet.
Keeping an eye on what goes into your food can add up to a BIG difference in your weight. If you carry on eating food you feel comfortable with, you'll find it easier to lose weight. Once upon a time I thought I had to go on a specific 'diet' to lose weight, but as you'll see (throughout this blog), we just carried on eating our usual food - while paying attention to the small details.

REMEMBER:  - Do you know how many calories you are allowed each day?

Here's a link to our very first blog post about our weight loss journey, which we began in January 2011. We started this blog as a way of recording what we ate while losing weight. The blog is a food diary, and contains lots of recipes, tips and ideas about losing weight.

Take a look at the recipe:

Shepherd's pie

Shepherd's pie on one of the hottest days we've experienced so far this year! And… very welcome it was too after a long, long day. This is a great budget recipe.

For a 'shepherd's pie' you will need lamb mince (look for lean mince). Swap to beef if you prefer, and you'll be making a 'cottage pie'.

After an extremely busy day, we arrived home to reheat this gorgeous, satisfying shepherd's pie within half an hour. 

It certainly made a nice change from a cold salad. With approximately 600 calories per large portion, this was extremely filling and well within our calorie allowance. As we have always said, if you eat something that really hits the spot and fills you up, you'll be less inclined to pick on something later as it will take a while to digest. Here's our recipe:

PORK TENDERLOIN - CHINESE STYLE

If you're looking for ideas for the weekend, why not try this PORK TENDERLOIN recipe. It's a very economical cut of meat, and goes a long way. Cooking it Chinese style like this gives it a lovely twist. Serve with pak-choi and mash like we did here, or add noodles instead. Very quick and easy to prepare too. 

CHINESE STYLE PORK TENDERLOIN

Ingredients per person

180g mash 

100g pak choi 

200g pork tenderloin
1 tablespoon Hoisin sauce
1 teaspoon Soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon of Chinese five spice
garlic clove
tsp fresh grated ginger

****

Marinate the pork in a mix of: hoi sin sauce, garlic, ginger and soy, over night or at least for couple of hours.

Cook uncovered in the oven at 180º for around 20 minutes.

It will take longer to cook according to the thickness and starting temperature. If you take it straight from the refrigerator, it will take a little longer to cook.

Check the pork is cooked through - do not serve pink. You'll find resting the piece of meat for 5 minutes before slicing will also help keep it moist.

TIP: The MASH was made by baking some large unpeeled potatoes (as if making jacket potatoes) then scooping out the flesh. This makes great mash because it's not water-logged and the flavour is more intense. A similar result can be achieved by microwaving the unpeeled potato. Don't throw away the potato skins either - they can be filled with a little cheese and/or sprinkled with your favourite spice. 

We put ours in a plastic bag and freeze until we're ready to eat them, then spray with a good oil and put them into a hot oven to crisp up.

****

Do you know how many calories you are allowed each day?

Here's a link to our very first blog post about our weight loss journey, which we began in January 2011. We started this blog as a way of recording what we ate while losing weight. The blog is a food diary, and contains lots of recipes, tips and ideas about losing weight.

Here's how to FORGET DIETING. 

Copyright © forget dieting forever (2014), all rights reserved. Please do not copy any of this material without my express permission.

CHICKEN CURRY SOUP - 250 calories

CHICKEN CURRY SOUP - for when you fancy something light and spicy.
We ate this gorgeous soup again yesterday and it was a tasty as ever.
I've included the original recipe below (for those who haven't seen it before).
I had to make a few minor changes, based on what I had in the cupboard e.g. substitute the turnip with a parsnip. And today I topped it with toasted cumin seeds for a bit of crunch.
This is a different and very simple way to use up leftover chicken - while achieving your curry fix at the same time. You can make it with or without chicken - perhaps add butternut squash, or whatever you have to hand.
It's packed with blended vegetables and contains very little fat, so you get all the curry flavour for under 250 calories - depending on the amount of rice used. We found 15-20g of dried rice was plenty per portion.
There's a big debate at the moment over the best way to lose weight: FAT versus SUGAR. Well all I can say is we have successfully lost lots of weight eating a varied diet. Take a look at what we have eaten - it's all here on our blog. Why not see what we did with our CALORIES - to achieve such a fantastic weight loss result.
Here's our curry soup recipe - you can make double the quantity and freeze if you like.

GAMMON STEAK

GAMMON STEAK, egg, beans and chips makes for a simple mid-week dinner. At around 600 calories it's very satisfying and filling. Our chips were home baked with the skin on.
We used a slightly waxier potato (Harmony) than normal because that's all we had available. They still work well, with a lot of flavour, but the outside doesn't crisp up as much. If you're after a crispier result, then use a more floury potato, which we recommend.
We've got some tips worth thinking about (below) when buying gammon. I wouldn't be surprised if these tips end up on some cookery programme or other very soon. Some things are obvious to some people, and not to others. So please give us a 'shout out' if you pass any of our tips on to others, and help spread the word.

Spicy lamb kebabs

Are you dieting? Dieting can often be so restrictive you never get to eat the foods you love. We devised our weight loss method to include everything.
If you are looking for an amazing LAMB KEBAB then look no further. We were so bowled over by the taste experience that we've put our usual Sunday lunch on hold to make another one today. It is so much better than any other kebab we have ever, ever tasted. We had thought there was a lot of faff involved in making the kebab and it may not be worth the effort. BUT... we were proved wrong! Our efforts were more than rewarded by the final outcome.
What more could you want after a few drinks relaxing with friends. Everything was prepared before we went out, so the meal was ready soon after we returned.
The predominant flavours were lamb, lemon and that subtle (building of) heat running through the whole experience.
We love spicy food, and the lamb was infused with a selection of spices - including SUMAC, a tart lemon spice, which we used for the first time today. If you can't find this spice, you could use the zest of a lemon instead. If you prefer to buy a ready made spice mix, this will certainly save you time.
We went the whole hog and made our own flatbreads (using yeast). But to save time you can always buy them ready made, or use tortilla wraps. I was impressed with the texture of these flatbreads - sort of deliciously chewy yet soft.
We estimate our late night kebab at around 600-650 calories. Not bad. I suspect if you compare this to a takeaway, you will be saving lots of calories. If you omit the flatbread (200 calories), and eat this as a salad you'll have a delicious lunch at around 400-450 calories. Here's our recipe:

Beef teriyaki

BEEF TERIYAKI

We marinated a sirloin steak in a teriyaki sauce overnight. The sauce contained: equal portions of MIRIN, Sake, soy sauce and sugar. We used 2 tablespoons of each.
The sirloin steak (together with the sauce) was fried according to our taste - then the steak was removed and rested. During the cooking time, the sauce reduced and caramelised nicely.

RICE

We cooked some basmati rice earlier on in the day then left it to cool. The cold rice was cooked in oil (we used groundnut) together with one beaten egg and peas. This was absolutely delicious and so very delicate in flavour. We are certainly going to eat this again - perhaps adding a few fried onions and mushrooms maybe.

SAUCE

The side dish was pak choi cooked briefly.The sauce for the pak choi was the same as we used for the steak (uncooked).

Each steak was around 175g (approx 260 calories). The fried rice amounted to approx 250 calories each - no more than 300 calories, so we estimate the whole meal to have been somewhere around 550 to 600 calories.
NOTE: We can understand why teriyaki salmon is popular now, and plan to make this next time. We also think the sauce will could work with a slow cooked piece of meat, so we might experiment with that another day.
If you would like to know more about how we have achieved over 6.5 stone weight loss eating all this wonderful food - see OUR IDEA

Read how we put 'our idea' to the test  -  Our Experiment

We keep mentioning CALORIES - see why!

Copyright © (c)forgetdietingforever 2012, all rights reserved.

Chicken tonight

This is what we are eating before walking to the pub. We roasted half a chicken - it saves waste, and there is still a lot left over for nibbling on later.
The chicken was marinated for an hour in peri-peri seasoning (skin on). We could take the skin off, as this is the fatty bit, but we've found it protects the chicken from going dry when cooking. When it's cooked, we'll usually eat the really crispy bits of skin. With new potatoes, corn and watercress/parmesan salad, this is a very filling dinner at around 600 calories. I forgot to buy the coleslaw again - which we usually like to eat alongside. Our walk to and from the pub should make the first pint free!

If you would like some other recipe ideas then have a look at our MENU PLAN.

Click here if you would like to know more about OUR IDEA.

If you have any questions - feel free to email me on forgetdietingforever@gmail.com.

Copyright © (c)forgetdietingforever 2012, all rights reserved.

Double lamb chops

We couldn't resist picking up some Welsh lamb today - as the opportunity arose. Served like this with a small salad and some new potatoes, the meal comes to around 600 calories because the double chops were much bigger. By the time we removed the fat, the meat content is quite small. As the chops were so thick we cooked them for about 5 minutes either side. They were still pink in the middle, and we rested them for about 5 minutes, then put back in the pan briefly and flash fried.

A really simple dish, ready in the time it took to cook the potatoes - 20 minutes. Costs less than a couple of ready meals for two.

Lunch was a salmon sandwich on the move with some crisps and melon. This came to around 500 calories in total. Breakfast was strawberries and greek yoghurt with a slice of buttered toast and marmalade. With tea and coffee, today has still been a 'good' day for me at around 1500 calories in total.  

Copyright © (c)forgetdietingforever 2012, all rights reserved.