Eating out

We made this wrap last night and at 400 calories, it became a delicious handy lunch. Travelling to our secret destination - looking forward to a great dining experience later. We're not afraid to eat out and soak up the ambience, something that might put a 'dieter' off. Being aware of what's in our food will give us a rough idea of the calories. Walking is our friend - giving us additional scope for the evening. We'll hope to send a few twit pics. In preparation for the onslaught we've already taken in a breathtaking stroll, which should leave us with plenty of spare (calorie) capacity for later.

CHICKEN FAJITA WRAP (serves 2)

Pack of tortilla wraps

250g chicken breast (cut into strips)

fajita seasoning

one or two peppers

one large onion

greek yoghurt 

sweet chilli sauce

First marinate the chicken in the fajita seasoning and a little oil. (Optional - add a sprinkle of smoked paprika and a dash of lime juice to the marinade).

Fry some colourful peppers and onions in a little olive oil then remove and set aside. Place the marinated chicken into the frying pan and fry until cooked through. This won't take long. Just cut one open to see that it's cooked - it should be white inside. Place on a paper towel to rest for a minute or two.

Spread the wrap with greek yoghurt** and sweet chilli sauce (we used Chinese sweet chilli sauce - that's all we had).  Add some shredded lettuce then top with the pepper mix and chicken. 

Wraps are around 200 calories each, so we find it's better to use one wrap and pack it out with filling!

It's annoying that wraps can only be bought in packs of 6 - so don't forget to freeze the rest for another day. I roll mine up and wrap in cling film. 

**You could use sour cream or creme fraiche. We tend to use whatever we have in the fridge - saves money. Sometimes we spread with mayonnaise.

Losing weight eating the food we love!

REMEMBER: We all have a calorie allowance - why not find out what yours is? We like to post our main meals to show you what CAN be eaten.

You won’t find us posting every last morsel though – but we hope this gives you an idea of how far calories can go!

Read about our UNIQUE METHOD of weight loss and find out how we have lost weight eating the food we love.

Copyright © forgetdietingforever 2013, all rights reserved.

Home made burger and chips

This time I've made CHICKEN burger and chips. It's nice to know you can eat whatever you fancy - and still lose and/or maintain weight. Believe me - we've been eating like this for a couple of years now.
In my old 'diet obsessed' mindset, (thankfully long gone) I would never have contemplated food like this: chicken burger and chips!
One day I asked myself was I really enjoying life eating 'diet alternatives' such as

Beef and barley soup

This beef and barley soup was really 'beefy', almost like an oxtail soup. I would estimate this lunch at around 450 calories at most.
We made the beef stock on Sunday; placing left over roast beef bones and scraps into a large pot, covering with water and stock vegetables and left it to simmer for an hour or so.

Today I used half the stock (one litre) to make this soup. Preparation took around 10 minutes and cooking 30 minutes. See our recipe below.
I don't know what it is about cheese rolls, but they seem to go well with all my soups! If you are new to this weight loss method

Sunday roast beef & Yorkshire pudding

Here's our Sunday ROAST BEEF DINNER with all the trimmings and a very tasty gravy (made from the roasting juices with fat removed). We did have a lot of different vegetables - surprised ourselves just how many!
From Monday to Thursday (if you follow our weight loss method) the same meal with boiled vegetables should easily fit into the day's calorie allowance as it works out at approximately 500 calories. The Sunday roast would be around 800 calories, but it's very filling.
With plenty of beef left over, we did just that and enjoyed a similar meal last night. Compare both meals and you will see the difference. We reheated the beef by placing it in a saucepan with the gravy and heating until piping hot. Add some freshly cooked vegetables and you're away.
TIP: You can buy individual packets of frozen, sliced roast beef in gravy, and if I recall, they are very low in calories and won't break the budget.
I'm not sure what will happen to the last of the beef? There's enough for a salad/sandwich or even a beef hotpot or pie. Depending on how much time we have, will depend on how we eat it.

Losing weight eating the food we love! 

REMEMBER: We all have a calorie allowance - why not find out what yours is? We like to post our main meals to show you what CAN be eaten. 

You won’t find us posting every last morsel though – but we hope this gives you an idea of how far calories can go!

Read about our UNIQUE METHOD of weight loss and find out how you can lose weight eating the food you love. We lost 7 STONE IN WEIGHT with this method.

Copyright © forgetdietingforever 2013, all rights reserved.

SEA BASS on Thai style noodles

We love fish and this SEA BASS on spicy Thai flavoured noodles was delicious.
This dish is under 500 calories. Onion bhajis go well with this dish, we missed them this time (I think we also missed the crunch factor). Quite often we'll make onion bhajis or occasionally we've bought them from the local curry house...

THAI STYLE NOODLES

Serves 4

****

1 fresh chilli diced finely (add seeds if you want more heat)

10g of sesame seeds - dry fry to add a 'toasted' flavour if you wish

1 tablespoon of fish sauce

2 tablespoons of sesame oil

10g demarera sugar, use white sugar if you don't have this

1 tablespoon of lime juice - fresh if you have it

Coriander - preferably fresh

Sea bass fillets (around 130g each)

Egg or rice noodles

****

Mix all the above ingredients together. This can be done during the afternoon. Add the fresh

chopped CORIANDER about 10 minutes before serving.

Cook your preferred noodles (rice or egg) then rinse under cold water to stop he cooking process. This process can also be carried out earlier. When ready to serve, add to the thai dressing and stir.  

Cook your fish and serve on the COLD noodles (if you prefer warm noodles then just reheat).

TIP: Make more noodles than you need, as they can be added to many dishes - taken as part of a packed lunch, eaten with other hot and cold foods, or eaten on their own.

Losing weight eating the food we love! 

REMEMBER: We all have a calorie allowance - why not find out what yours is? We like to post our main meals to show you what CAN be eaten.

You won’t find us posting every last morsel though – but we hope this gives you an idea of how far calories can go!

Read about our UNIQUE METHOD of weight loss and find out how we have lost weight eating the food we love.

Copyright © forgetdietingforever 2013, all rights reserved.

Saturday lunch and weekend plans

A little decadence never goes amiss. We added clams to one of our favourite spicy pasta recipes. It was - as ever - very delicate and fresh tasting, with that little hint of spice on the back.
I estimate the dish round 450 calories and it should keep us going until dinner. Take a look at our delicious recipe here - you MUST at the very least make this easy tomato sauce.
If you are using dried pasta, it's worth looking out for BRONZE PASTA. Some dried pasta can be slippery, but bronze pasta has a rough texture which helps the sauce stick to it. We tried it and it does work! It's a little more expensive, but we feel it's worth it.
Dinner is going to be another fishy affair and I'll post the details later - two mouth watering courses awaits us.
Sunday we're having a full roast dinner - roast beef, Yorkshire pudding and all the trimmings.

Losing weight eating the food we love! REMEMBER: We all have a calorie allowance - why not find out what yours is? We like to post our main meals to show you what CAN be eaten.

You won’t find us posting every last morsel though – but we hope this gives you an idea of how far calories can go!

Read about our UNIQUE METHOD of weight loss and find out how we have lost weight eating the food we love.

Copyright © forgetdietingforever 2013, all rights reserved.

Best ever CARROT CAKE

Well, it's Saturday and we allow ourselves a normal calorie allowance.
This fabulous CARROT CAKE is one of our most tried and tested recipes - we've been making it for years and it never ceases to amaze us. It's extremely easy to make and I can rely on it turning out well even when I'm in a hurry. Always moist and deliciously spicy. We have to thank Delia Smith for this recipe, although we submitted white flour for the wholemeal flour she recommends. She describes it as low-fat!! Try telling that to your tastebuds.
After devouring this, we're off for a leisurely walk in the countryside. When we return, we'll be enjoying spicy pasta with prawns and clams! Can't wait.
Losing weight eating the food we love! REMEMBER: We all have a calorie allowance - why not find out what yours is? We like to post our main meals to show you what CAN be eaten.

You won’t find us posting every last morsel though – but we hope this gives you an idea of how far calories can go!

Read about our UNIQUE METHOD of weight loss and find out how we have lost weight eating the food we love.

Copyright © forgetdietingforever 2013, all rights reserved.

DIETING - TOP 3 TIPS TO BANISH BELLY FAT

Is your waistline is giving you cause for concern?
My belly is shrinking - and there is a noticeable change in its shape at the moment. Not only can I see the difference, but the tape measure confirms it and my clothes do too.  Over the two years we've been following our method, we have both experienced what can only be describe as 'reshuffling' of our body fat. We're not sure why this is, but we know it goes on, because we can weigh the same yet our clothes are looser. Just lately I've been experiencing loss of body fat which is taking me down a size in clothes. This happened to my partner last year - he showed no discernible weight loss on the scales, yet he became physically smaller. It's as if something is going on behind the scenes - while I'm only loosely following the 'method'. This tells me what I've always suspected - that everything I do, no matter how small, IS contributing to the bigger picture!
During the two years of following our weight loss method, I've noticed at times there seems to be more weight loss around my belly - just like this week. Based on our personal experience, here are our three top tips to banish belly fat:

Slow braised lamb in red wine

Straight from the freezer and you would never have guessed! We froze this lamb in red wine (and the mash). Both resurrected beautifully and we're giving it a 10 out of 10. If only ALL ready meals tasted like this. See our recipe below.
With food as expensive as it is these days, why not boil up the whole bag of spuds, mash and freeze in handy portions.
After an early evening stroll to the pub, we returned to this delicious meal. Everything was ready within 15 minutes - the fresh broccoli and cauliflower taking the longest time to cook.

If you would like to know more about how we achieved our fabulous weight loss see OUR IDEA.

Read more about our successful weight loss journey - Our Experiment

For the slow braised lamb recipe:

Thrifty pork and lamb

Here's what we ate last night for dinner. We enjoyed it so much on Saturday. Not wishing to waste the tasty spring cabbage, or the rest of the apple sauce, we ate it all over again! But, if you look closely enough, you'll spot the difference. Some things we keep to the weekend. Can you see it? After a salmon sandwich at lunch time, we're having something out of the freezer later. We love testing recipes for their freezer 'stamina' - and we'll be giving our marks out of 10 for this dish later!

BBQ flavoured brisket

Who would have thought this budget cut of meat could taste THIS good? It's now one of our firm favourites. Brisket is commonly used to make pastrami or here in the UK it's used for cheap pot roasts. We tried this idea some time ago and now like to cook this when we know we're going to be out and about. Today we were in the garden (expending a few calories) and really looked forward to this succulent beef dish. It was nice to know we could just leave it to cook without too much attention. We were more than ready to devour this after a couple of hours outside. If you don't have all the spices to hand, try simply seasoning with salt and pepper. The dish works out at around £1 per person. There'll be plenty left over for tomorrow's lunch. Here's the recipe:

Roast loin of pork

After watching 'Food and Drink' where Michel Roux Jr cooked the perfect roast loin of pork (on the bone), we thought we would give it a go. He gave some tips on how to make the perfect pork crackling and how to roast the pork. We served ours with our own very easy apple sauce (see recipe below) and a delicious gravy.
So what's the verdict?

Sunday lunch

With the weather being irresistibly sunny, we thought we would have our main meal later this evening. We're cooking BBQ brisket of beef, and it will look after itself while we soak up the sunshine.
LUNCH was simple smoked salmon, scrambled eggs and buttered toast.
We chose this lunch because we're going to tidy up the garden and we know this can be quite strenuous. We've found when we do work in the garden, we end up looking for SALTY snacks afterwards. I suppose with exercise and perspiration, the body loses salt. Have you ever found the urge to eat crisps after exercise?
We know smoked salmon is quite salty, so why not have an indulgent lunch which will help us stop snacking on crisps etc later.

Losing weight eating the food we love!

REMEMBER: We all have a calorie allowance - why not find out what yours is? We like to post our main meals to show you what CAN be eaten. You won’t find us posting every last morsel though – but we hope this gives you an idea of how far calories can go!

Read about our UNIQUE METHOD of weight loss and find out how we have lost weight eating the food we love.

Copyright © forgetdietingforever 2013, all rights reserved.

Saturday night... cheese board

We decided we wanted some cheese as a starter - here is our very (hello Cornwall) Cornish selection of cheeses: St Endellion brie, Cornish Yarg and Cornish Blue. If you get a chance to try them - you won't be disappointed. I recall a friend asking me "what... you can eat cheese and lose weight"! That's exactly it - eat what you love, just work out the calories and if they fit into your chosen calorie allowance for the day - eat it. That's our philosophy and it's worked for us.
I'm really looking forward to the PORK LOIN, on the bone, as cooked by Michel Roux on his programme 'Food and Drink' last week. There were some really good hints and tips - and we'll let you know if they work.
They suggested drinking a good red wine from Portugal with the pork - so off we went to the supermarket and found a TOURIGA - and we'll be taste testing that in a short while.

Losing weight eating the food we love!

REMEMBER: We all have a calorie allowance - why not find out what yours is? We like to post our main meals to show you what CAN be eaten. You won’t find us posting every last morsel though – but we hope this gives you an idea of how far calories can go!

Read about our UNIQUE METHOD of weight loss and find out how we have lost weight eating the food we love.

Copyright © forgetdietingforever 2013, all rights reserved.

Saturday menu with BUDGET yoghurt and beef

Here's our fruity breakfast - full fat greek yoghurt with mixed fruit berries.
BUDGET TIP - when your favourite red fruits are out of season and expensive, use frozen. You may find the fruit a little sharp, but we add icing sugar if this is the case.
I like to add the icing sugar, heat through then let it cool. It doesn't take long. If it's still too sharp, add a drizzle of honey. You choose how much yoghurt and fruit you want, to suit your chosen calorie allowance. I follow mine with toast to fill me up, unless of course, lunch is not too far away. So what's on our menu for the weekend? See what's on ours:

FABULOUS FRIDAY

This was my lunch today. I go through phases - and after so much soup of late, I'm ready for a bit of crunch. I bought a couple of supermarket salad pots and mixed them together with some salad leaves. The wheat berry salad was delicious and I loved the texture - which reminded me of pearl barley.
The wheat berry - if milled, produces whole wheat flour. Next time, I hope to make my own salad, and will add wheat berries to my shopping list.
Lunch came in at around 500 calories with half a buttered roll.
One thing we always do now is season our salads and add olive oil. We found the oil helped fill us up for longer. If you don't like oil, then don't use it - perhaps try mayonnaise instead? Do you ever put salt and pepper on your salad leaves?
After last night's gourmet evening out, I'm not sure what's on the menu later. It could be fish and chips - we'll see.
SATURDAY we are making another NEW dish, and I'm getting excited thinking about it - and will post the recipe tomorrow.
Losing weight eating the food we love!

REMEMBER: We all have a calorie allowance - why not find out what yours is? We like to post our main meals to show you what CAN be eaten. You won’t find us posting every last morsel though – but we hope this gives you an idea of how far calories can go!

Read about our UNIQUE METHOD of weight loss and find out how we have lost weight eating the food we love.

Copyright © forgetdietingforever 2013, all rights reserved.

Eating out and special occasions

Enjoying life and social events without worrying about our weight is part of our philosophy - and freedom! Gone are the days when I used to feel guilty about eating food that wasn't listed on some restrictive 'diet' or other. Having the freedom and choice to eat whatever we fancy is so much more relaxing, and we believe this way of thinking has actually helped us lose weight. Why? We think it's because we stop focussing on something we can't have. Most 'diets' tend to have a negativity about them - can't have this or that. But, because nothing is forbidden on our method, then food rarely plays on our mind. How often have you eaten a saintly salad only to find ...

Spicy sausage

Here's an impressive budget dish - great for sharing and it won't hang around for long. There's something about beans and sausages - they just go so well together! I love to experiment and try out different types of sausage, and some can be unexpectedly spicy. For this slow-cooked dish, I used chorizo flavoured sausages, although they weren't too spicy so I adjusted the amount of chilli flakes to compensate. Click 'read more' for the recipe:

A postcard from BRAZIL

Last week I found myself in the super sunny (and stunning) Rio de Janeiro. I had a hotel room with an iconic view - the beautiful Cococobana beach - and an eyeful of Brazilian sunbathers to boot. I guess most people in this scenario would find themselves gravitating to the warm sands and shoreline in hunt of a tan...me being me however, went straight on the hunt for some local cuisine. In London, South American tucker is fairly limited to Mexican tapas served by the likes of Wahaca, or more recently Peruvian ‘ceviche’. There are a few Brazilian restaurants around, but none offering more than a carnivorous BBQ feast - attracting body builders galore on a protein mission rather than the likes of myself.
So I was pleasantly surprised when in Rio I was first told to sample their famous ‘pao de queijo’;

Cheat's salad

Lunch on the run!
Now here's a little cheat's way of making a very good salad. It's around 450 calories - but you could make it meat-free and perhaps swap the meat for some crunchy toasted croutons instead? How easy is this salad to make!

Plans for the week ahead

I'm going for budget this week, using up some of the weekend's ingredients.
With the snow set to visit us again - I'm getting out the slow cooker! I'm going to try a new recipe - and can't wait to see how it turns out. There can be nothing nicer than walking into the house after a long day at work, to be greeted by the aroma of something ready to eat. I've chosen these dried pinto, cannellini and black eyed beans to add bulk and texture to my casserole - and I'll post the recipe tomorrow.
I've got 50g of each variety soaking away - this should take around 8-12 hours. I usually do this overnight, but if I forget, then I've always got a couple of spare tins of ready cooked beans I can use. You'll find both dried and canned beans in the same aisle at the supermarket.
I've got some pak choi and half the pork tenderloin left in the fridge, so I'll use that to make a delicious Chinese style pork and mash later on this week.
MY LUNCH RECIPE

I've had a bowl of this delicious soup - to use up the roast chicken we had yesterday. I can't begin to describe the depth of flavour in this humble soup when using the carcass for stock. Even more pleasing was the amount of soup that can be made - 6 glorious 400g portions at an amazing 150 calories at most! A huge portion too, and I also had a large fluffy roll with cheese to bring my lunch up to a more respectable 400 calories. Here's the recipe:

HOW TO COOK PERFECT ROAST CHICKEN - SUCCULENT AND CRISPY

There's nothing quite like a Sunday roast dinner... Everyone congregates in the kitchen - so we have to hide the chicken. But it's so satisfying.
TIP FOR A SUCCULENT SUNDAY ROAST CHICKEN.  We cook our chicken in a large metal oval roaster - with a lid. If you don't have this, then use a metal roasting tin and cover tightly with foil.
Chop stock vegetables and place these in the roasting tin, add enough water to just cover the vegetables. Then place the chicken on top. Next, place the roasting tin with lid on, onto the hob and bring it to the boil. This helps give the chicken a burst of heat to start the cooking process.
Now place into the oven at the normal cooking temperature for HALF the cooking time. (Calculate the cooking time according to the instructions on the pack). Remove the lid. Pour out most of the liquid at this stage and save for making the gravy later. Return the roasting pan to the oven (with the vegetables), sprinkle with salt/pepper or chicken seasoning and continue roasting for the remainder of the cooking time.
HOW TO MAKE PERFECT GRAVY. Remove the chicken to rest on a plate. Return the liquid you removed at half time. Boil on the hob, stir to loosen any bits that have stuck to the pan. Sieve all the juices back into a saucepan (or fat separating jug) and remove the fat from the top. You will see the fat floating, and this can be scooped off. Taste and season if necessary, then thicken with cornflour if you wish. If you need to add a bit of colour you can always add a splash of gravy browning. Delicious.
We've never failed to produce a wonderful moist roast chicken by cooking it this way.
Enjoy.
If you miss eating something, it might just play on your mind until... you find yourself craving it. So why not eat the food you really love - just like we do. We lost 7 stone in weight eating the food we love.
With our simple method, you might just wonder why you never thought of it yourself. But, thinking outside the 'diet' box has had an amazing impact on our lives.
Take a look at our METHOD of weight loss and find out how we have lost weight eating the food we love.
Copyright © forgetdietingforever 2013, all rights reserved.

LAMB RUMP with cherry sauce

Various components of this dish were made beforehand. I suppose that's what they must do in all the fancy restaurants.

LAMB RUMP WITH CHERRY SAUCE

Ingredients (serves two)

Lamb rump (150g per person)

Jar of morello cherries (in light syrup or juice)

Shallot

Garlic

Port

Water

Take the meat out of the fridge so it comes to room temperature.
CHERRY SAUCE. This can be done earlier. Drain the cherries. The juice can be used to cook the cherries, but if you've bought a jar of cherries in syrup, then replace the liquid with enough water to cover. Save the syrup, as you may want to use a little of this to sweeten the sauce. Add a dash of port, chopped shallot and crushed garlic to the cherries and water/juice. Boil for around 20 minutes then blend and pass through a sieve. If you want to save a few of the cherries to decorate your plate, then feel free (we forgot today).
Fry the lamb, brown all sides then place into the oven to finish cooking. We put ours in the oven for 5 minutes as we like it pink. Rest the meat - this is the most important part of the process.
We served ours with minted pea puree - literally blend some cooked frozen peas with some mint and salt/pepper. Put into a saucepan and reduce to your desired consistency.
Our fondant potatoes - strangely enough we cook ours the wrong way, but they taste great. We boil the potatoes in stock until cooked, then when we're ready to eat, we fry them in butter/oil for just a few minutes either side until we see a nice looking crust/crunch!
We like to do a QUICK calorie count, and we work on the lamb being two calories per gram. That's 300 calories for the meat. If we estimate 650 calories at most, this dish is well within our WEEKEND calorie allowance.
Losing weight eating the food we love!
REMEMBER: We all have a calorie allowance - and we like to post our main meals to show you what we are eating. You won’t find us posting every last morsel though – but we hope this gives you an idea of how far calories can go!
Read about UNIQUE METHOD of weight loss and find out how we have lost weight eating the food we love.
Copyright © forgetdietingforever 2013, all rights reserved.

Weekend menu - CHEESE GOUGERES

We've already made tonight's APPETISER - and as we had some gruyere cheese to use up, what better than these little beauties! The recipe from Alain Ducasse was not too difficult - easier than we anticipated: CHEESE GOUGERES. We made ours earlier, then popped under the grill to warm through.
Lunch was a PRAWN sandwich.

Dinner - we've opted for some LAMB RUMP. We're looking at serving this with a delicious sauce, fondant potato (yummy) and a selection of vegetables. Recipe and pics to follow later!

If we have room, we may be tempted with a dessert.
SUNDAY: I think a roast chicken dinner is on the menu.
Losing weight eating the food we love!
REMEMBER: We all have a calorie allowance - and we like to post our main meals to show you what we are eating. You won’t find us posting every last morsel though – but we hope this gives you an idea of how far calories can go!
Read about OUR UNIQUE METHOD of weight loss and find out how we have lost weight eating the food we love.
Copyright © forgetdietingforever 2013, all rights reserved.

Pork stir-fry

PORK STIR-FRY

It's Friday night - and we're off to the pub. We know we'll be hungry later despite eating our sandwich before we go. So what better that this fabulous, quick and easy stir fry. Not only is it super tasty and very satisfying, but it's an unbelievable 300 calories per portion. Here's our fabulous recipe:

A little bit of exercise

Exercise can sneak into our daily routine, along with all the benefits without us realising if only we let it. Modern society is all about convenience and doing things in record breaking time. If we decided to make time to go to the gym, then equally we can commit to allowing ourselves a little extra time to turn our every day chores into mini workouts. They all add up in the end.
Today I parked the car a little further away from the shops and returned with two heavy bags of shopping. I weighed the shopping when I got back, to find they weighed 3.5 kgs each. After a few minutes carrying the bags, I became aware of just how heavy they were. I'm really happy that I no longer carry that extra weight. It's so easy to forget the weight loss we have achieved. So it was a good reminder for me. Why not weigh out your weight loss in potatoes - carry them around for a while and see just what it feels like. Equally, if you have decided you want to lose a certain amount of weight, then find out what that feels like - a small bag of potatoes perhaps?

Losing weight eating the food we love!

REMEMBER: We all have a calorie allowance - and we like to post our main meals to show you what we are eating. You won’t find us posting every last morsel though – but we hope this gives you an idea of how far calories can go!

Read about OUR UNIQUE METHOD of weight loss and find out how we have lost weight eating the food we love.

Copyright © forgetdietingforever 2013, all rights reserved.

Cod in breadcrumbs

I bought some COD today because it looked really fresh and plump - and was so much cheaper than the chicken breast I had on my shopping list.
The last time we had fresh cod we served it like this.
But tonight, I'm planning on keeping the cod in one large piece before bread crumbing and oven cooking.

Cooking the cod in the oven is really easy to do.  Remove the skin from the cod and lightly dust with flour, dip in beaten egg and coat in fresh breadcrumbs.  Spray lightly with oil and place on a lightly greased baking tray. Depending on the thickness of the fish, will depend on the cooking time - around 15-20 minutes in a hot oven (180 degrees). 

Losing weight eating the food we love!

REMEMBER: We all have a calorie allowance - and we like to post our main meals to show you what we are eating. You won’t find us posting every last morsel though – but we hope this gives you an idea of how far calories can go!

Read about OUR UNIQUE METHOD of weight loss and find out how we have lost weight eating the food we love.

Copyright © forgetdietingforever 2013, all rights reserved.

Midweek meatballs

We had around 0.5kg of minced beef left over from the weekend. So we thought what better way to use this up than to make it into meatballs. We actually made 28 meatballs in the end - which is very economical, giving us 4 portions. The meat would go further if you added some breadcrumbs. The whole meal worked out at around £1 per portion - which is not bad. And what a tasty bunch these meatballs were...

Tuesday's winter warmer

Losing weight eating the food we love. Today I've enjoyed this really tasty home made chicken and winter vegetable soup, topped with a gruyere crouton. The dish would be just as delicious without the chicken...  If you haven't got time to make soup (and save ££££s) then choose something ready made - something you know you'll really enjoy. Just check out the number of calories. Eat enough! If you don't  you'll most likely find yourself sticking your head in the cupboard looking for snacks.

CHICKEN & WINTER VEGETABLE SOUP

INGREDIENTS

1 chicken carcass (if you have one)

6-8 chicken wings

2 litres water

200g chopped tinned tomatoes

400g tinned cannellini beans

3 large carrots

200g waxy type potatoes (Estima, Maris Peer or new potatoes will work well)

half a swede (cubed)

handful of frozen garden peas

3 large onions

one leek

2 sticks of celery

2 outer leaves of a cabbage (shredded)

2 bay leaves

thyme

rosemary

garlic

salt/pepper
To serve: french stick and gruyere or cheddar cheese

Place the chicken wings and carcass into a large pot and cover with two litres of water. Add one bay leaf, half of the leek, one grated carrot, one stick of celery and some thyme and rosemary. If you have fresh herbs that's great, but use dried if necessary. Bring to the boil, skim off the foam, then simmer for at least an hour - I usually keep mine going for a couple of hours if I'm around. This will make a very nice stock for the soup. Remove the chicken pieces, and when they are cool enough to handle, remove the meat and discard the rest. Chop the chicken and set aside for later.

Strain the stock and begin to make the soup by adding in all the other (chopped) vegetables - except for the cabbage & peas. Add a little salt and pepper, minced garlic, rosemary & thyme and the 200g of chopped tinned tomatoes. Boil, then simmer for around 25 minutes until the vegetables are soft. 

Now blend about a quarter of the soup - this will thicken it without the need for flour.

Finally, add the CANNELLI beans and bring to the boil. Next add the chopped chicken and SHREDDED cabbage and peas. Test for seasoning again. Cook for a further 5 minutes. Serve with toasted french bread croutons with gruyere (or cheddar) cheese.

For the soup/crouton and a couple of slices of french stick on the side - I would estimate around 400 calories.

****

We love home made soup because we can control the contents - we know how much salt there is in our food. I often find that ready made soups contain a lot more salt.
REMEMBER: We all have a calorie allowance - and we like to post our main meals to show you what we are eating. You won’t find us posting every last morsel though – but we hope this gives you an idea of how far calories can go!
Read about OUR UNIQUE METHOD of weight loss and find out how we have lost weight eating the food we love.
 Copyright © forgetdietingforever 2013, all rights reserved.

Chicken, chorizo and couscous

Losing weight eating the food we love. Here's what we had for dinner tonight:

SPICY CHICKEN, CHORIZO with BARLEY COUSCOUS

Method - slow cooker

INGREDIENTS

6 large chicken thighs
50g sliced chorizo
1 or 2 peppers - red and/or green

35g sultanas
35g flaked almonds

400g tin chopped tomatoes

400g tin chickpeas

1 tablespoon tomato puree

40g dried apricots, chopped (optional)

1 small chilli (I left mine whole and placed in the slow cooker - then removed before serving)

3 cloves garlic - chopped

1 small piece of ginger - grated

2 tablespoons Ras El Hanout rub (large supermarkets should sell this)

enough stock/water to cover

salt and pepper to taste
cornflour to thicken if necessary
yoghurt/paprika to garnish
*****

Marinate the chicken overnight if possible in the Ras El Hanout rub. We keep the skin on, as it will help the chicken stay nice and moist. 

Brown the chicken pieces in the frying pan first. Place all the ingredients into a slow cooker and cook until soft and tender (around 4-5 hours on high - see your cooking instructions). I've found if you place a whole chilli into the pot (remove before serving) the 'heat' is very subtle and less punchy. 

You may want to add the vegetables at the half way stage so they don't lose all their texture.

Once cooked, remove the skin and bones from the chicken and return the flesh to the pot. 

Reduce the liquid to thicken and concentrate the flavour. 

Add a little cornflour to thicken if you prefer. We try to let ours marinate for a day - as the flavour intensifies. So try to make the day before if you can bear it.

This was easy enough to make using the slow cooker and should serve 6 people.
We served ours with BARLEY couscous - slightly nuttier than usual. Decorate with a spoonful of cooling yoghurt and a sprinkle of smoked paprika. We estimate the dish to be around 500 calories. 

If you don't have a slow cooker, this can be cooked in a casserole dish in the oven, or simmered gently on the hob.

*****

Read about OUR UNIQUE METHOD of weight loss and find out how we have lost weight eating the food we love.

We all have a calorie allowance - so why not enjoy it? We try to post our main meals to show you what we are eating. You won’t find us posting every last morsel though – but we hope this gives you an idea of how far calories can go!

Copyright © forgetdietingforever 2013, all rights reserved.

DIETING? What drives us eat?

Losing weight eating the food we love is important to us - why? We think it helps eliminate food cravings and ultimately over-eating. There are many reasons for over-eating, and what we see can often make a great impression on us. Do you ever see something delicious and find it plays on your mind?
The steak and ale pie we cooked yesterday is the perfect example of things playing on our mind. I saw the suet pastry in a newspaper article over two months ago - and I've been wanting to try it ever since!
Here's my breakfast and I love making this when I have time. It's one of my favourites, and really filling. The marmite soldiers are not mine of course ;o).

Today we're having the bresaola and goat's cheese salad for lunch, and I'm making a batch of chicken and vegetable soup. It's essentially the same as this 'ham with everything' soup (see photo below) but I'll use chicken wings instead of ham.
Tinned cannellini beans are a great standby, and I love using them in soups. I'll post the recipe later.
REMEMBER: We all have a calorie allowance - and we like to post our main meals to show you what we are eating.
You won’t find us posting every last morsel though – but we hope you'll see just how far calories can go!

If you would like to know more about how we have achieved our fabulous weight loss eating all this wonderful food - see OUR UNIQUE METHOD.

Copyright © forgetdietingforever 2013, all rights reserved.

Steak and ale pie

Losing weight eating the food we love. Here is what we've been eating! It's been a bit of a meaty weekend, and today - we made our own steak and ale pies. Very rich and filling and brought a smile to the gloomy winter's day.

The shin of beef (1 kg) was placed in a slow cooker and covered with an English ale. We threw in the usual thyme, bay leaf, leek, carrot, onion, celery and a star anise. Use whatever stock vegetables you have.
It was cooked overnight and left to cool while the stock was reduced and thickened slightly with cornflour.
We filled TWO 9"/23cm pie dishes with the meat, some lightly fried onions and covered generously with gravy. The pastry was made using beef suet. 250g of self raising flour to 125g of suet. Around 150ml of water was added to form a dough.
It's economical to make two pies, both on calories and on cost/time. I've worked out that each pie contains around 1600 calories each!! I had a quarter of the pie (see photo) and that was enough for me - as the pure ingredients were just so rich and filling, and I couldn't finish my plate. Each quarter of the pie was packed full with around 100g of beef.
This plateful with the mash, peas and carrots should set you back around 650 calories.
The suet pastry was something new we wanted to try. It was tasty, but softer than your usual short crust. I think I prefer the latter... however, it was still very delicious. The shin of beef could have been turned into a casserole, but we've been wanting to try this pastry for a while, ever since we saw it in a  newspaper. At less than £1.50 per portion, this meal was pretty economical too.
We all have a calorie allowance - and we like to post our main meals to show you what we are eating. You won’t find us posting every last morsel though – but we hope this gives you an idea of how far calories can go!

If you would like to know more about how we have achieved our fabulous weight loss eating all this wonderful food - take a look at OUR UNIQUE METHOD.

Copyright © forgetdietingforever 2013, all rights reserved.

Home made beef burgers

These home made beef burgers are so tasty with 100% meat content. Forget dieting, eat the food you love and lose weight. These burgers are so simple to make too. 

BEEF BURGERS & SALSA

Burgers

minced beef (allow 100g per burger)

one onion or shallot

garlic

salt/pepper

Salsa

one large tomato

lime juice

chilli

coriander

BURGER: We used 100g of beef per burger - you can make them whatever size you like.To make the burger simply put the minced beef into a bowl with some chopped onion, salt, pepper and garlic plus ANY other seasonings you fancy e.g. chilli, mustard etc. Knead the beef with your hands until the mixture starts to stick together. You are probably wondering if you need to use egg to bind the mixture, and the answer is you don't; if you knead the mix enough, you will find it all sticks together nicely without egg.
But you may wish to make the beef go further and you can do this by adding some breadcrumbs - and this time you will need to add an EGG to bind it all together.
SALSA: This was made by finely chopping one tomato, one shallot (or onion) and one clove of garlic. Add a dash of lime juice (you could use some from a bottle), a little coriander (dry or fresh) and some chilli (flakes, powder or fresh). It's so simple to make and once you've tasted the freshness, you may never buy the ready made version again!
We served our burger in a bun, with some home made wedges.
WEDGES: cut some raw potatoes into wedges, boil them for 15 minutes then let them cool down until ready to cook. Coat with a little oil and your favourite seasoning.  Scatter onto a baking sheet and place in the oven, on a high heat until crispy.
We kept the cost down by using ingredients we already had. This meal cost us around £1 each. The bread rolls were heated in the oven while the wedges were cooking. It was delicious.
Not too sure, but estimate around 750 calories for this dish.

We all have a calorie allowance - and we like to post our main meals to show you what we are eating. You won’t find us posting every last morsel though – but we hope this gives you an idea of how far calories can go!
If you would like to know more about how we have achieved our fabulous weight loss EATING ALL THE FOOD WE LOVE - take a look at OUR UNIQUE METHOD.
Copyright © forgetdietingforever 2013, all rights reserved.

The weekend is here...

And everything stops for RUGBY - of course. So with very little time in the kitchen, we've decided on an easy, budget menu to go with a pint or two!
Tonight we're having  home made burgers, with home made salsa and wedges. We've prepped the wedges and we're going to boil them first, then put them away in the fridge until later. The less there is to do, the better. Here's how we made the burger last time:

Take some LEAN minced beef, add some finely chopped raw onion, salt, pepper and garlic and mix together. Knead the mixture for a couple of minutes (using your hands) until the mixture begins to stick together. Some recipes use an egg to bind the mixture together, but this isn't necessary if you knead the mixture like this. Shape into patties and fry. We had ours plain - but you could add mustard, chilli, cheese... whatever you fancy. They are so easy to make!

Tomorrow we're going to make a steak and ale pie. I've been wanting to make one for ages, ever since I saw a recipe for pastry made with suet. So I'll put the recipe up later. For now though, we'll throw the shin of beef into the slow cooker, cover with ale and let that cook overnight.

I realise it's a bit of a meaty weekend, but after having this horrible cold my body is asking for energy. We don't eat a lot of pastry, so once in a while doesn't hurt. Our motto is - NOTHING IS BANNED. That doesn't mean we eat like this every day. I'll try and work out the calories later - but if you've seen our weight loss method, you'll know we have a full calorie allowance to play with today. So on occasions like this, when a good pie or burger is called for, then we know we can sit back, watch the rugby and enjoy it.

We all have a calorie allowance - and we like to post our main meals to show you what we are eating. You won’t find us posting every last morsel though – but we hope this gives you an idea of how far calories can go!

If you would like to know more about how we have achieved our fabulous weight loss EATING ALL THE FOOD WE LOVE - take a look at OUR UNIQUE METHOD.

Copyright © forgetdietingforever 2013, all rights reserved.

PASTA

First let me apologise if you find any of our pictures missing. Storage was becoming an issue, so I have deleted some old photographs. I'm busy sorting through the blog and labelling recipes etc. If you have any questions, then please let me know.

Chicken & bacon sandwich

Well it's Friday and what better way to celebrate than this hot chicken and bacon sandwich? You can pick up ready cooked chicken breasts if you are busy, then add a couple of slices of fried bacon.
We used 40g of chicken and 30g of hot fried crispy bacon. See our TIP on cooking bacon. Cooking most of the fat out of the bacon, and spreading the bread with mayo brings this sandwich to around 400 calories. Why not add something extra, and bring the calories up to a more respectable number - fill up and you will be less likely to snack later.
This is a popular sandwich and you can buy them everywhere - just look at the number of calories. You'll probably find those higher in calories contain a lot more mayo. Our full fat mayo was lightly spread onto both slices. But... if you are at home and want to make this more special, do what we did, and add the hot crispy bacon. EAT the food you love. And whenever possible make it taste irresistible.

If you would like to know more about how we have our fantastic weight loss eating all the food we love - see the UNIQUE METHOD

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

We keep mentioning CALORIES - see why!

Copyright © forgetdietingforever 2013, all rights reserved.