SMOKY BBQ BEANS

We decided to create our own chicken takeaway meal tonight.
Who wouldn't love chicken in breadcrumbs with this really intense side of SMOKY BBQ BEANS.
The beans added that little kick which chicken often needs because it can be so bland.
The side dish was quick and easy to prepare and there was enough to feed an army! So if you're having a party, this will prove very economical (and sought after). We're not sure what we enjoyed the most …. the beans or the chicken. You tell us.
The beans are very low in calories and certainly complimented the rest of the meal. As a side dish this will easily serve four to six guests - here's the recipe:

FESTIVE SHOPPING - RAISING AWARENESS

When it comes to festive shopping why not make it a little less stressful. After hours on your feet wouldn't it be nice to come home to something you've prepared earlier? 
Being prepared is one thing, being aware is another.
While you are out shopping, look out for these eye catching Christmas tree decorations!
The UK male cancer charity ORCHID has launched a campaign to raise money for life saving research. The campaign has been endorsed by a number of celebrities too.
'Check your bauballs' - is designed to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of testicular cancer.
Why not grab a 'bauball' at just £5 each for this worthy cause.
They are available from House of Fraser stores now and from the end of November you can by them online at http://www.checkyourbauballs.com.
Why not raise a smile along with raising awareness and decorate your tree with bravado!

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Now for being prepared - this is something we like to do and it has helped us to keep the weight off. Festive shopping can be quite demanding and you probably won't want to be standing around in the kitchen rustling up a meal from scratch. So having a meal half prepared is better than arriving home with only enough energy to pick up the phone and dial a takeaway.
This PASTA AND MEATBALLS recipe will serve you well. I've no idea why I thought of this particular recipe…  but it will certainly hit the spot after a long day.
You may be surprised to find just how much you've 'worked out' while shopping. But what does all this mean for you?
During my last shopping spree I clocked up over three whole miles! Walking each mile (relative to my height and weight) was equal to working out at around 80 calories per mile - or 240 calories in total to be precise. Take in a few stairs and shun the escalator and you can add a few more calories to that total.
If you would like to know more about calories and just what it can do for you and your weight, then why not take a look at our calories page for more details. 
Now what better way to spend your calories! You can prepare most of this beforehand - here's just how easy it is to make:

Slow cooked beef curry

For this BEEF CURRY we used a supermarket beef joint labelled 'slow roast'. I wasn't too sure what part of the animal the joint came from, but it contained very little fat. 

Usually when we slow roast, we like to use meat such as brisket or shin as it has a good marbling of fat which helps tenderise the meat. 

Because we were making a this curry in the slow cooker, I thought it wouldn't matter too much. In fact, the end result was a very rich and tender curry which wasn't swimming in fat. 

If you love curry, this simple mix of spices will serve you over and over again, with all types of meat, fish and vegetables. Take a look at our recipes - we've tried the spice mix a number of times. Your initial outlay on dry spices will not be wasted - and you'll enjoy some very fresh tasting curries. This beef curry was surprisingly low in calories too (see recipe). Here's how to make it:

Chicken in tarragon sauce

Cooking food from scratch doesn't have to be time consuming.
We saved time and money by buying ready filleted chicken strips and a tub of creamy tarragon sauce. Normally we would make the  sauce, but decided this shortcut was worth testing out. With a new supermarket in town, we popped in to see what was on offer.
It was a very tasty meal to come home to, and knowing it was going to be ready within 15 minutes really helps when you are peckish.
We were pleasantly surprised the sauce had such a robust tarragon flavour. It was actually cheaper to use than buying the separate ingredients. The whole meal was surprisingly lower in calories than we anticipated too. Here's how we made this:

Easy leek and potato soup

This was our first attempt at LEEK & POTATO soup. Leeks are now in season and should taste at their best or sweetest. You'll know when something is in season because it'll be cheaper.
I chose to make mine without cream to start with, just to see how it turned out. I also used a ratio of half potato to leek - making the recipe is easy to remember.
Why not take a look at the other great soup recipes here?
Here's how I made the soup, together with a rough count of calories and what we thought of it:

Scallops and black pudding

Simple yet very tasty SCALLOPS & BLACK PUDDING. Serve these to your guests just as they are, or add a little salad and eat as a starter or main, depending on the number of scallops.
We used a very tasty black pudding from Bury's. Loved the texture of this black pudding - it didn't fall apart when fried - making it the perfect crisp for our scallops.
Black pudding is approx 380 calories per 100g, and as you use very small amounts it's hardly going to break the calorie bank.
Shared between two, our 'starter' came to around 250 calories. Take a look at how we made them - at around 40p each. We sourced our scallops in a different location than usual, so they were a bit more expensive but very fresh. Here's how we made them:

GLORIOUS RED CABBAGE

This glorious RED CABBAGE is like a jewel on the plate.
It's a very easy dish to make and freeze. Everyone loves this at Christmas and it will brighten up any plate. Very low in calories too.
What prompted me to make the red cabbage now was I spotted a huge football sized cabbage on sale at our local fruit and veg stall. It weighed just over 2 kg and cost £1. I can't resist a bargain! A couple of hours later and I had enough red cabbage to feed Bristol. The recipe below is based on a half kilo red cabbage and will feed six to eight people:

Poached eggs

Someone asked me about POACHED EGGS the other day. They were unsure how to get the best results.
This has to be one of my favourite quick fix lunches. Low in calories - 80 calories per egg - and very satisfying.
The method I use is very quick and easy, and I wished someone had told me about it earlier!
We served ours with a couple of slices of hot buttered toast, and lunch came to around 400 calories.
Here's my tip on achieving a perfect poached egg:

Secret to great pizza

After experimenting, we think we've found out why our PIZZA has risen so much.
Just look at the results - a well risen, light and fluffy pizza.
No need for an expensive pizza stone to achieve these results either.
We made the dough and prepared the topping before going out for a couple of hours. When we returned, we turned the oven on and the pizza was ready within 20 minutes. No need to dial a takeaway and this pizza is less than £1.50 each!
Here's how we made this pizza:

275 calories - hot smoked trout salad

This HOT SMOKED TROUT salad tasted as if it had a lot more calories than it actually did. It was packed with flavour and it gave my tastebuds something to think about.
It was the perfect lunch, and a great way to eat potatoes. Just 275 calories too. You could always substitute the trout for hot smoked salmon.
We've always aimed for a lunch at around 400-500 calories, so I'll be eating something else between now and dinner. There's no need to experience hunger to lose weight. You don't have to deprive yourself of anything. Why put your body under stress?
Here's our fabulous recipe:

150 calorie leftover asparagus and pea soup

ASPARAGUS AND PEA SOUP. After an extravagant weekend, we wondered what to do with the leftover asparagus. Soup was an obvious choice.
We had half a bunch of asparagus left, and of that, mainly the stems rather than the tips.
Once upon a time, the stems would have been discarded. But the flavour we extracted has certainly made us realise what you can do with just a small amount. The bonus - a bowl of luxurious soup at a fraction of the cost of its shop bought counterpart.
With just a little imagination, we turned what would have been composted into a very tasty lunch. The soup is around 150 calories per portion. Here's our easy recipe:

Roast belly of pork

If you are roasting BELLY OF PORK - it's the perfect opportunity to go for a walk - and a little exercise never goes amiss.
In fact we often take the opportunity to walk while something is slow roasting. It looks after itself and doesn't mind if you're too late back. Walking is a great exercise and burns a few calories helping us to keep the balance right.
Although the pork belly is a fatty cut of meat,

Spicy BBQ beef ball in breadcrumbs

This little morsel - BBQ beef in breadcrumbs -was a bit of a showstopper. We wanted to add a little texture and crunch to our dining experience, where we were cooking 'beef three ways'.
The beef ball recipe although experimental, turned into one of the finer elements on the plate.
Our guests were more than impressed and so were we! The beef ball was placed ceremoniously on a bed of sweet onion puree (I'll post that recipe later) and helped balance the whole plate.
Everyone wanted to know how to make them. We had searched for something akin online, and found nothing, so we came up with our own recipe.
They would certainly work as appetisers on their own. Here's our recipe:

Beef with orange spiced carrots and onion puree

This was our dinner party meal - which we enjoyed experimenting with.
Yesterday I posted how to make the balls of beef, and today I'm concentrating on the ORANGE SPICED CARROTS which will compliment lots of meals.
The dinner is more time consuming than technical, but the bonus, especially when you are entertaining, is that a lot of the components can be prepared beforehand.
Besides the melody of beef, the sweet onion puree and orange spiced carrots were a firm favourite. Even if you are cooking a simple beef dish - dressing up the vegetables like this is easy to do.
Take a look at this fabulous recipe for the

Spiced orange cake

I baked this spicy orange cake using a Mary Berry recipe. The recipe involves cooking a whole orange and adding it to the cake mix. I was intrigued.
Although I followed the cake recipe, I made a slightly different butter cream icing. Instead of mascarpone, I used cream cheese.
The cake was beautifully moist with a soft, crumbly texture. It was slightly more dense than your every day sponge cake, although not stodgy. The home made candied peel was very refreshing too. If you ever fancy a nice cup of tea and a slice of cake, then this is definitely one to try.
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Do you know how many calories you can eat 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.

You'll find our WEIGHT LOSS PLAN here. 

Copyright © forget dieting forever (2013), all rights reserved. Please do not copy any of this material without our express permission.

Minced beef chilli

Chilli con carne is a favourite in our household. Quick and easy to prepare and freezes well, so why not double up on ingredients.
I used this BBC Good Food recipe as a guide to see how the well the spices worked together, although I used  a whole fresh chilli rather than chilli powder. The heat slowly builds on the palate, rather being a raw kick of heat. For this dish we used one large chilli including the seeds. Instead of adding a little sugar, I added a square of dark chocolate (as suggested). I can certainly recommend this recipe which has a good depth of flavour.
REMEMBER: We all have a calorie allowance - do you know yours?

Read about our UNIQUE METHOD of weight loss - eating the food we really prefer to eat, rather than   being told to eat. It's all about taking control - you make the decisions.

Copyright © forget dieting forever, all rights reserved.

CHICKEN GRAVY & VEGETABLES

Tasty gravy is often banned on a typical 'diet' yet it can, to some of us, be the most important part of the meal.
We love this sort of meal and often find ourselves eating it when we've had less vegetables than usual. Perhaps we listen more to our bodies now? We enjoyed this chicken dinner again this weekend.
For the gravy, we generally don't use stock cubes. The naturally intense flavour of the chicken can easily be achieved: here's how to make tasty gravy and how to cook a very moist roast chicken.
Meat and two veg might be an old fashioned standard, and it can be achieved without too much fuss and bother. The bonus - you'll have a very filling meal without too many calories.
The leftover chicken went into a hearty chicken soup - using the stock and a little pearl barley, which we are eating today.
***
Do you know how many calories you can eat 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.

You'll find our WEIGHT LOSS PLAN here. 

Copyright © forget dieting forever (2013), all rights reserved. Please do not copy any of this material without our express permission.

CRISPS & SNACKS

We were chatting with a friend who has a very physical job. He said he couldn't understand why he was putting on weight when he only ate one meal a day. On closer examination, it emerged he could easily eat FOUR BAGS OF CRISPS - one after the other, as a snack.
With such a physical job, he was probably looking for the salt. A half decent bacon sandwich would probably work out to be lower in calories and be a lot more satisfying. Or perhaps he could have eaten a hearty breakfast? This simple HAM & EGGS is around 500 calories - less than three bags of crisps.
When we explained this to him he couldn't quite believe it. It's easy to ignore or simply not register what you are eating between meals. The snack habit can be difficult to break - but when you snack because of hunger, then eating more at proper meal times can help break that habit.
Once we started eating enough at meal times, we soon put hunger at bay.

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REMEMBER: We all have a calorie allowance - do you know yours?

We began our weight loss journey in January 2011 - and began our blog in June 2011. Here's a link to the first post. (here's the link).

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! I'm currently going through the photographs and replacing them with more website friendly versions which will allow the blog to load quickly. 

Read about our UNIQUE METHOD of weight loss and find out how you can lose weight eating the food you love.

Copyright © forget dieting forever, all rights reserved.

Turkey, bacon & lettuce

Here's a lovely combination - turkey, bacon & lettuce. The turkey was exceptionally moist and goes perfectly with the salty bacon. Soft fluffy white bread, toasted on one side gives a chewy, crunchy bite.
We spread the toasted side of the bread with cranberry sauce, topped with turkey, bacon and finally lettuce. Add a dollop of good mayonnaise on the other slice of bread.
To achieve tender, moist slices of turkey breast we used this method:

Short rib of beef

We bought JACOB'S LADDER (short rib of beef) the other day but ended up with far too much - double the quantity we actually needed.
So... we decided to try the short rib cooked two ways.
The other day we braised the beef ribs in a slow-cooker overnight, using this fabulous short rib of beef recipe.
This time we slow roasted the meat in the oven after rubbing the beef with spices. Slightly more expensive to roast in the oven, but was it worth the effort and expense?