SMOKY POLENTA CHIPS

A very quick and easy dish - and economical too. Use the quick cook Polenta and these will be ready in no time. So how many calories are there in these chunky Polenta chips?
You can also buy ready made blocks or rolls of plain Polenta, and simply cut these into your desired shape. But by making your own, you can add whatever flavours you like.
If you want to incorporate a bit of smokiness, then follow the recipe below.
We cooked the chips three ways as a trial - deep frying, shallow frying and baking.
The results were interesting, yet we found there was one clear message for us.
Here's how we made these gorgeous light and fluffy chips, and the results of our taste test:

Celeriac Slaw

We often make our own COLESLAW but today we wanted to try a new ingredient: CELERIAC.
The salad was inspired by Ottolenghi although I couldn't find his recipe.
I know BARBERRIES are used in the salad, but we couldn't find any, so I substituted them with another ingredient.
The end result was very tasty - and this would go well with something like buffalo wings.
I was really impressed by the texture of the celeriac and think I might even prefer it to white cabbage. Here's the recipe:

ROCK CAKES

ROCK CAKES were once a traditional British tea time treat. These small, hard mini fruit cakes have a rough surface - resembling a small rock, hence the name. They are so quick and easy to make too.
After receiving a sample of the recently launched Speculaas spice, based on Steven Vandotsch's Dutch grandmother's recipe, I thought… why not spice up my grandmother's traditional rock cake recipe? Her recipe didn't include spice (possibly due to availability when she first started making them), but you'll find rock cake recipes which do use cinnamon and/or mixed spice.
The Speculaas spice is a mix of nine different spices - the main one being organic real cinnamon from Sri Lanka. It can be used in most recipes where regular cinnamon (cassia) is the main flavouring ingredient. The aroma is very warm and inviting and the spice transformed my rock cakes, with its sweet complexity.
Very more-ish.
My rock cakes turned out less 'rocky' than my grandmother's - which I suspect was because I added just a touch too much milk. They should look like little pointed rocks.
Here's what they looked like inside -  incredibly crumbly and aromatic - and perfect with a cup of tea. Slice open and spread with butter if you wish.
I've estimated the calories in each rock cake below. Here's the recipe my grandmother always used infused with the Speculaas spice:

Chipotle aubergine

Chipotle chillies transformed our lunch - spicy aubergine, couscous and chicken. Having been inspired by an Ottolenghi recipe using aubergine, I thought I would try a different spice. This is a very quick and easy recipe.
Slice the aubergine in half lengthways, score the flesh and spread with Chipotle paste. Bake in a hot oven - 180ºC - for around 20 minutes.
We enjoyed ours with the spicy couscous (yesterday's blog post) and some sliced chicken. Plain yoghurt cooled everything down a notch and finished the dish off nicely.
Aubergines are very low in calories (approx 150 calories per eggplant). The whole dish was approximately 450 calories and very filling.

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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).

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

SPICY COUSCOUS

This SPICY COUSCOUS recipe was so easy to make and so tasty, I feel it deserves a blog post all of its own. It looks tempting and colourful, and if you love spicy food like us, you'll enjoy this; on its own, or as part of another meal. Add sausages or chopped chicken and it makes a great lunch box as it's delicious cold too.
Here's our quick and easy recipe:

PICCALILLI

This was our first attempt at home made PICCALILLI.
There are so many recipes around, and most call for salting the vegetables for 24 hours before cooking. However, I found a few recipes where the salt stage was left out - which intrigued me.
We decided to compromise with the methods - and used a shorter brining period.
This recipe yields two large (800g) jars of bright yellow, spicy, crunchy vegetables at a fraction of the retail cost.
Most recipes using a similar amount of vegetables, use around 200g sugar. I adjusted this slightly. We used pointed sweet red peppers for added colour too.
With the reduced sugar content our piccalilli works out at around 400 calories per 800g jar - around 50 calories per 100g. This works out much lower than most shop bought varieties which seem to range anything from 70-100 calories per 100g.
As we weren't sure how hot and spicy the recipe would turn out, we added one whole sliced red chilli to one of the jars.
Here's our recipe and taste results:

Harissa roasted sweet peppers

Spicy Harissa ROASTED SWEET RED PEPPERS - lunch was ready within the hour.
At around 380 calories this was very satisfying and packed full of flavour.
Look out for the pointed red peppers - their sweetness compliments the earthy lentils.
My new pressure cooker came in handy too, as I was able to pre-cook the lentils while the oven was heating up. They were ready in under 10 minutes, compared to 25 minutes using the conventional method.
Which ever method you use, this meal will be ready within the hour. Here's our quick and easy spicy recipe:

JERK PORK

JERK PORK skewers with sweet potato wedges. Why not bring a bit of colour and sunshine to your meals.
I was inspired by a delicious Jerk turkey recipe by MizPepperpot (which I will make another day when I have the ingredients). Being pushed for time, I used what I had in the fridge (Clara's Jerk Seasoning) and pork. The meal was ready in under an hour and economical too.
The JERK PORK skewers were refreshingly spicy. They can be cooked on the barbecue or grilled and will be ready in no time.
We served ours with a salad, this pineapple salsa we made the other day and these delicious sweet potato wedges.
The SWEET POTATO WEDGES were very easy - just coat in a small amount of oil and sprinkle with cajun seasoning. Cook in a hot oven until soft - about 40 minutes. They cook very well on the barbecue too. They disappeared very quickly...
Marinate (cubed) pork tenderloin fillet in a ready made Jerk paste for at least 20 minutes. Thread onto skewers with fresh pineapple. Brush with oil and cook on the grill or barbecue. Make sure they are cooked all the way through - depending on the size of the meat cubes depends on cooking time. Rest the skewers before serving.
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).

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

PINEAPPLE SALSA

A refreshing, colourful and spicy PINEAPPLE SALSA recipe.  This will perk up your meals and add interest. Makes a great bbq side, which we're sure will disappear fast. We served ours with jerk pork. Here's our quick and easy recipe:

Beef chilli and beans

Shin of beef chilli with pinto and kidney beans made for a luxurious meal.
The shin of beef contains quite a lot of silvery looking tough membrane. This doesn't need removing as it breaks down whilst cooking, and adds lots of flavour.
We invested in a pressure cooker as we regularly cook with tougher cuts of meat. A slow cooker is great if you plan ahead, but the pressure cooker is fab if you want to be more spontaneous.
After a busy day at work you can pick up a budget cut of meat and enjoy it that very evening.
This meal normally takes around 6-8 hours in a slow cooker. It took just 20 minutes in the pressure cooker and the results were impressive.
I also bought dried pinto and kidney beans after reading how quickly and easily they can be cooked under pressure. Again, the results were pretty amazing. Although I was prepared, and had soaked the beans beforehand, they can also be cooked using a fast method in the pressure cooker.
For this dish I used my usual beef chilli recipe, but replaced the can of kidney beans with the pre-soaked kidney and pinto beans. After 20 minutes at high pressure, I turned off the heat and let the pressure drop naturally. As for the beans, we were really impressed with the creamy, silky texture of beans cooked this way. Great if you are on a budget as dried beans are a fraction of the price of tinned beans. The real bonus - a very rich and tender, budget meal in under half an hour.
Here's the recipe: