Food glorious food

I’ve been trying lately to vary things up a quite a bit with what I eat.

In the past variety has not been something that I’ve done so well and I have tended to find things I like, can cook well, and eat them until I can’t face them any more.

This is a really bad idea for staying on plan – because if you get to that state then you’re already in danger of failure.

So – as mentioned in my last post I took a cue last night from the kind soul who gave me a Spicentice curry kit in the slimmer of the week basket and made a Chicken Jalfrezi from scratch. The only thing I changed was the oil, as the recipe called for 3 tablespoons.

When it came down to it I just saw it as a waste of syns and munched a couple of Hi-fi bars (less than half the cost of the oil at 6 syns) while I prepared it instead. In the end some fry light spray did the job just fine and nothing ended up sticking to the frying pan.

The instructions for this were pretty simple and were on the inside of the packet of spices – so I’m not claiming to be a champion chef!

Personally I felt I ended up with two filling portions rather than four – but I’m willing to concede that my judgement isn’t always the best in this area. I think I could probably have included more speed on the side to bulk it up – but I’m not sure it would have looked quite as cool on the plate!

Although I’m not a typical man I do make one concession to masculine stereotypes and thats being the type of guy who doesn’t usually read instructions (another habit i’m trying to change). In this case however, they were nice and easy to follow, well laid out – and pretty hard to mess up.

I left the chicken marinading while I chopped up everything else and grated the ginger.

I decided to use half a tin of chopped tomatoes rather than one fresh one – which seemed to me to be more for show than flavour in the recipe.

Not so long ago I accidentally bought a miniature grater – wondering what the heck I would EVER use it for. Well it turns out it’s actually very good indeed for an inch of ginger.

Once all the marinading was done, and the chicken cooked I added some microwave brown basmati rice (2 syns) and served with LOTS of freshly chopped coriander.

I absolutely adore the fragrance of finely chopped coriander stirred into a dish after the heat is turned off. It just fills the room with earthy pleasure!

I have to say I REALLY liked this curry, although I’m not sure about the amount of salt the recipe states it requires. I put less than the amount it wanted me to in and felt there was still a slightly saltier taste than I would have preferred at the end of it.

It’s all personal taste however – and if you want to try it for yourself you can find the kits here. I think (from what was said in group when this was mentioned several weeks ago) Ocado also sell them, but they don’t seem to be in Tesco or Sainsburys.

Half of this was boxed up for a later meal and I went to bed pleasantly full and sleepy.

I awoke this morning with another culinary mission in mind and ended up quite literally shedding blood for Slimming World – but despite introducing the end of my thumb to the business end of a cheese grater my lunchtime meal of Pork and Apple Burgers (from the pages of the club magazine last month) turned out to be absolutely DELICIOUS.

This was completely syn free, and outrageously tasty. I haven’t eaten bread for a while and didn’t really fancy having the wholemeal bun just for the sake of it. It’s personal choice however – and I can see how some people would think it’s just not the same without it.

The recipe was also very simple to follow and relatively quick to prepare (I don’t have a food processor and doing it by hand slows me down a bit.)

The ingredients are things that are probably mostly in your cupboard anyway – and the instructions are also child’s play to follow (as long as you have thumb sized plasters close by to stem the resulting arterial spurts).

I used Braeburn apples in my burgers, which next to Cox’s Pippins are my favourite supermarket variety due to the tangy flavour. I often bemoan the range of apples today and find it exasperating that we are reduced to 4-5 main varieties. However – these were very fresh and the sharp flavour really hit the mark with the pork.

I also only used two medium potatoes here as I’m cooking for one.

I couldn’t help getting a shot of my magnetic measuring spoons in action. They stick together like magic!

They’re my favourite kitchen thing ever!

After mixing in the parsley, onion, apple and garlic (I prefer my onion and parsley chopping a bit rustic – which can make the patties a bit less cohesive but the cooked texture is way nicer) I portioned the burgers into six rather than four as I don’t like the idea that something won’t thoroughly be cooked through when I eat it.

It was about 8 mins each side on a medium grill setting for me – but I also set off the smoke alarm somehow before turning them – despite them (in my view) not burning at all. Due to this on the second side I put some spray oil on top of them and this seemed to do this trick – enabling them to ‘sizzle’ a bit more, rather than dry grilling.

The potato wedges were seasoned only with salt in my case and spray oil. I had toyed with adding garlic – but as the burgers already contained it I thought I’d keep it simple.

In my oven 30 mins cooking time was more than enough.

The accompanying salad was half an orange pepper, a few handfuls of cherry tomatoes, 2 sticks of celery and 4 leaves of romaine lettuce. This was tossed in some cider vinegar, which went REALLY well with the salted wedges.

So there you have it. This is the living hell that I am forced to endure with Slimming World.

Sometimes I don’t know how I cope.

Actually internet – I’ve just realised that I haven’t had my Sunday coffee or diabetic meds yet. I better get on with that immediately!!!

I hope you’re having a smashing weekend, and whatever you’re eating you’re enjoying it as much as I am!

Davey