Chicken Tikka Masala

Posted February 2, 2014

Filed under Recipes

A tasty, points friendly version of a classic weekend takeaway dish.

Image courtesy of artur84/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Servings: 4/6

Pro Points: 9pp (at 4 servings)

6pp (at 6 servings)

+ extra for rice

Filling & Healthy: 4pp (at 4 servings)

3pp (at 6 servings)

Preparation time: 15mins

Cooking time: 50mins

Ingredients

Olive/vegetable oil or oil spray
2 medium onions, roughly chopped
2 red peppers, chopped into large chunks
70g tikka masala curry paste
4 medium, skinless chicken breasts (165g each), cut into bite-sized pieces
400g chopped tomatoes
2tbsp tomato puree
400ml reduced fat coconut milk
Brown rice to serve

Method

Heat the oil in a non-stick pan. Add the onions and fry very gently over a low heat for approximately 15-20mins until golden brown (add a splash of water to prevent them sticking if required).
Add the peppers and the curry paste and fry for 5mins to cook the spices.
Add the chicken and stir well to coat it in the spices. Increase the heat and cook, stirring frequently, until the chicken is browned all over.
Add the tomatoes, tomato puree and 100ml water. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 15mins until the chicken is cooked through.
Stir in the coconut milk and heat through.
Serve with boiled brown rice.

Top tip 1: For a spicier dish, add a tsp of medium curry powder with the tomatoes.

Top tip 2: For a slightly thicker sauce, add 1tbsp corn flour mixed with a splash of water with the coconut milk. This will add 1pp on Filling & Healthy at 4 servings. The Pro Points values for all other serving sizes remain the same.

The Results are in – Week 3

Posted January 27, 2014

Filed under My Progress

Weight loss: +0.5lb

Current weight: 12st 2.5lb

Weight loss since start: 4lb

Lbs to go to reach next target: 1lb

I must admit, when I stepped on the scales this week I was absolutely gutted. I’ve still stuck to the program, still not had any alcohol or chocolate and still kept up my new exercise routine. I honestly could have cried (although I’ve also had an extremely stressful time at work over the last few days so I am slightly emotional anyway).

However, I soon had a little chat with myself though and realised that only 2 weeks ago I was moaning that I’d ‘only’ lost 0.5lb. Therefore, it surely makes sense that I don’t give myself too hard a time about putting on this amount. It may well be due to some kind of natural fluctuation in my weight and I may well end up with a bigger loss next week.

Whatever the reason for it I’ve decided to view it as a positive and make sure that I’m concentrating on feeling ‘satisfied not stuffed’ this week and hopefully it will also motivate me not to go mad on alcohol and chocolate once I’m allowed them again on Saturday.

What’s gone well?

I said in last week’s post that there were a couple of moments when I’d felt like I couldn’t be bothered to go to my fitness classes. Well, I’m happy to report that this week it is beginning to feel like just part of my routine.

I’m also really pleased that I have managed another week without chocolate or alcohol. To be honest, I’m not even missing it. The only time when I did feel like a glass of wine was on Sunday when my dad came round for a meal for his birthday. I am looking forward to having a glass of wine or a cocktail next weekend, but I won’t be going crazy!

Me & Mr FFF went to the cinema on Saturday to watch The Wolfman of Wall Street (really good but really long film – 3hrs!). As I had plenty of weekly points available I did treat myself to 2 scoops of Ben and Jerry’s (1 FroYo & 1 ice-cream) and we shared some popcorn. However, the popcorn wasn’t that tasty so I didn’t eat much of it. I’ve never done this before – in the past I’d just munch my way through it anyway. But this time I thought ‘This really isn’t worth putting into my mouth’. So I didn’t. Simple.

What’s been difficult?

I’m starting to worry about whether I’ll be able to control my chocolate intake when I allow it back in to my diet next weekend. I’m not too bothered about the alcohol as I don’t drink much anyway. Chocolate however, is another story. I could quite happily scoff my way through a large bar of chocolate in about 20 minutes. I’ve also got a few chocolate gifts left over from Christmas in the back of one of my kitchen cupboards.

I’m planning on having a couple of drinks on Saturday evening but no chocolate. That way I’m not going to be treating myself to chocolate straight away on 1^st February. I might even lay off the chocolate for the rest of that week.

I’m also going to bag-up my Christmas chocolate into 3/4pp portions and keep them out of sight at the back of the cupboard.

The week ahead

I’m going out for dinner with my sister on Wednesday. I’ve had a look online at the menu for the restaurant we’re going to and there are at least 3 options I can have with a choice of veggies, salad and new potatoes.

I’m still going to have a nice relaxing bath tonight to unwind but I won’t use my Lush products as I didn’t lose this week. Instead, once I’ve stayed on track this week, I’m going to treat myself to a Lush bath on Saturday.

As I’ve already achieved my January target of losing 4lb, I’m going to set myself a mini-target of losing 1lb this week to help motivate me to stay on track. If When I achieve this goal I’m going to buy myself a bunch of flowers as a reward.

Thanks for reading.

PS What do you do to help you stay on track following a weight gain?

Fruity Lunch Crumpets

Posted January 26, 2014

Filed under Recipes

I needed something quick, easy and filling for lunch the other day but fancied something a bit different. I already had the crumpets (stock-cupboard Filling and Healthy food item for me these days) and quark for another recipe. I was going to use pineapple but forgot about that when I called into the shop and picked up mango instead. I tried it anyway and it was so delicious I also had it the following day! Servings: 1 Pro Points: 7 Simple Start/F&H: 0 Preparation time: 1min Cooking time: 3mins Ingredients

2 crumpets
2tbsp quark
a few chunks of mango, sliced into thinner pieces (see photo)

Method

Toast the crumpets.
Top the toasted crumpets with the quark.
Divide the mango pieces between the two crumpets and enjoy!

Top tip: Keep crumpets in the freezer as a useful fall-back food. If you take them out in the morning they will; have defrosted by lunchtime, or use the defrost function on your toaster.

Slow Cooker Balsamic Beef

Posted January 21, 2014

Filed under Recipes

I often develop my own recipes by altering other people’s. I came across this recipe just before Christmas and it was so delicious I’ve made it twice since! It didn’t need anything changing to make it more delicious and I can’t take the credit so click here to take you to the recipe itself.

It fits with the Simple Start plan and if you’re counting points you just need to point the amount of beef you serve yourself (plus any sides of course).

Although slow cooker recipes tend to be easy anyway, this really is INCREDIBLY easy and gives you an amazing result.

If you have a slow cooker, if you cook nothing else this week, give this recipe a go.

If you don’t have a slow cooker, buy yourself one and then try this recipe!

Top Tip: I used the leftovers (although it was difficult to save any!) as a filling for a wrap to take to work for my lunch.

The Results Are In – Week 2

Posted January 20, 2014

Filed under My Progress

Weight loss: 4lbs

Current weight: 12st 2lbs

Weight loss since start: 4.5lbs

Lbs to go to reach next target: 0!

Wow! I’m so pleased I stuck with the program this week and achieved a great loss!

What’s gone well?

As I said in last week’s results post, I was disappointed at my weight-loss last week but I still rewarded myself with my Lush bath and reminded myself that a) it was still a loss that brought me one step closer to my target and b) I’ve made healthier choices with my food and exercise that have made me feel better in myself.

Having leftover portions of plan-friendly meals in the freezer definitely helped me to stay on track this week. Although I plan my meals a week in advance, for some reason I hadn’t included a meal for Friday night. I realised this on Thursday but was able to fall back on some leftover Moussaka after I’d been to my spinning class.

I’m also delighted that I’ve been able to maintain my ‘No chocolate or alcohol in January’ goal, even though the past two weeks at work have been pretty horrendous.

I’ve also made what I think is a big step for me in addressing my habit of comfort eating: I work with children and we all sit down to eat breakfast at 11am. The children have toast (white bread) with jam, marmalade or lemon curd. I’d been eating this in Week 1 and using my daily treats for it. However I replaced it with a banana this week to try to help increase my weight loss. On Friday, I felt very stressed and tired and I was going to have a slice. I was thinking ‘I’ve been good all week and it’s Friday. So I can treat myself and use my daily treats’. But then I recognised that this would not help me to break the comfort eating habit and that I need to stop seeing food as a reward. I ate my banana and I felt very virtuous!

What’s been difficult?

I have been slightly tempted to miss a couple of exercise classes this week with no other reason than at the time, I felt like I couldn’t be bothered. However, I reminded myself that sitting on the sofa won’t help to bring me closer to my goals and that once I’d completed the class I’d feel better. I managed to keep the motivation going but I know I’ll need to keep an eye on this over the next couple of weeks.

The week ahead

It’s my dad’s birthday this weekend and he’s coming round for dinner. I’m going to make some kind of beef casserole and I’ll have a look at my Filling & Healthy cookbook and recipe cards for a suitable desert. I think the hardest bit will be not having a nice glass of wine with my meal but I am determined to complete Dry January.

Thanks for reading.

PS How do you stay motivated to exercise?

Spaghetti Bolognaise

Posted January 20, 2014

Filed under Recipes

Put a twist on this classic by using pork, chicken or turkey mince. I like to use a beef stock cube to add richness to the sauce but you could match the stock to your choice of mince if you prefer.

Servings: 4

Pro Points: Chicken [3]

Beef [4]

Pork [5]

Turkey [3]

+ extra for spaghetti

Simple Start: 0

Preparation time: 10mins

Cooking time: 40mins

Ingredients

Olive/vegetable oil or oil spray
1 large or 2 small onions, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
500g of your choice of chicken mince, extra lean beef mince, extra lean pork mince, or turkey breast mince
400g chopped tomatoes
400g passata
Beef stock cube, made up with 100ml of hot water
200g mushrooms, sliced thickly
2tbsp dried mixed herbs
Salt & pepper
Spaghetti to serve

Method

Heat the oil in a non-stick pan. Add the onions and garlic and fry gently over a medium/low heat for approximately 5mins until softened.
Add your choice of mince. Increase the heat slightly and fry until browned.
Add the tomatoes, passata, stock and mixed herbs and stir well.
Bring up to the boil. Stir in the mushrooms then reduce the heat and simmer for 20-25min until the mushrooms are cooked through.
Season to taste and serve with cooked pasta.

Top tip: Add some chopped mixed peppers and extra tinned tomatoes or passata to make this go even further (and reduce the points per serving if you are counting Pro Points). E.g. If using chicken mince and adding 3 peppers, you are able to get 6 servings at 2pp each (excluding pasta).

Rewards – Be Nice to Yourself

Posted January 19, 2014

Filed under All Things Weight Loss

As per my previous post, I find it more manageable when I break my overall weight loss goal down into more manageable smaller targets. I also like to reward myself for achieving these goals. I don’t know if it helps me to stay on track but, as the saying goes, it’s nice to be nice and I don’t see any reason why this shouldn’t apply to being nice to yourself.

When I first started Weight Watchers, I would reward myself for having a good week by eating a great big cream cake, or a McDonald’s or something else that I wouldn’t spend my points on during the week. I got into the habit of seeing the evening after my weekly weigh in as a bit of a “no man’s land”.

At first, it started off pretty small, but eventually I was binging most Mondays after my weigh in. A typical week would see me polishing off a large McDonald’s meal with thick-shake, a pudding or cake of some description and a chocolate bar (or two)! Not only was this making me feel sick, but I realised that it wouldn’t be doing my weight loss any favours.

With this in mind, I have decided to stay on track even on the evening following my weigh in and to reward myself with non-food based items.

This month, I’m going to reward my weekly weight loss by having a bath with a fabulous bath bomb or bubble bar from Lush. I really love these products as they make a bath feel really special, however they are quite expensive so it’s a treat to use them.

For achieving my January target of losing 4lbs, I’m going to reward myself with a back massage. It’s a bit of an extravagance but they are so nice and at £15, I’ll be saving at least that just by not buying the items needed for my post weigh in binges!

How do you reward yourself for achieving your weight loss targets? I’m hoping to mix things up with my rewards as I journey towards goal so I’d appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks for reading.

Simple Salmon Stir-Fry

Posted January 16, 2014

Filed under Recipes

One of my favourite, quick and easy mid-week dinners is a salmon stir-fry.

Servings: 2

Pro Points: 6 (+ extra for rice)

Simple Start: 0

Preparation time: 0mins

Cooking time: 25-30mins

Ingredients

2 lightly smoked salmon fillets
A selection of prepared stir-fry vegetables
Brown rice to serve
Thai 7 Spice or Chinese 5 Spice
Soy sauce
Olive oil

Method

Preheat the oven to 170˚c/160˚c fan/355˚f/Gas mark 3. If using, cook the rice according to the instructions on the packet.
Meanwhile, wrap the salmon fillets in foil and place on a baking tray in the oven. Cook for 20mins.
Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan. Add the vegetables and stir-fry for 2-3mins.
Sprinkle over 2/3tsps of the Thai or Chinese Spice and 1/2-1tsp Soy Sauce according to your taste.
Serve the salmon on top of the rice surrounded by the vegetables.

Top tip: If you’re counting Pro Points, exchange the rice for boiled noodles and add them to the vegetables before adding the spices and soy sauce.

The Results Are In – Week 1

Posted January 13, 2014

Filed under My Progress

Weight loss: 0.5lb

Current weight: 12st 6lb

Weight loss since start: 0.5lb

Lbs to go to reach next target: 3.5lb

I’ve got to admit that after a full week on Simple Start, with 3 gym sessions, no alcohol and no chocolate, I was hoping to lose about 2lb. However, as I’m always reminding the other members in my meeting when they’re happy with a small loss – it’s a step in the right direction and it all adds up in the end. Time to heed my own advice!

What’s gone well?

I’ve been really motivated this week and so I’ve found it pretty easy to stick to the plan. Even when I visited my Nan at the weekend and was faced with a table full of chocolate, chocolate biscuits and mince pies, I didn’t cave. This was helped by the fact that I’d planned ahead and taken some soup and an orange with me.

Panzanella with Bacon

I’ve been loving cooking and eating fantastic, flavoursome food including several new recipes from the Simple Start and Your Week materials. My favourite new recipe was the Panzanella which I added some bacon to for a protein boost after my box fit session on Sunday. I made extra so that my lunch for work on Monday was taken care of and added chicken and extra mixed salad leaves.

I’ve also enjoyed sharing a couple of my own recipes for Beef Rogan Josh and Cottage Pie with my followers.

I was delighted to find that one of my old favourite recipes fits perfectly into the Simple Start programme: Baked Sweet Potato with Spicy Mince and Beans (The Smart Cook p.88). I had some of this in the freezer and had it twice this week!

I’ve also managed to stick to my new fitness regime attending 3 classes over the course of the week : Body Pump, Spinning and Box Fit.

Baked Sweet Potato with Spicy Mince and Beans

What’s been difficult?

My lunch break at work has been shortened from 30mins to 20mins. I previously often relied on taking in and heating up leftover dinner for my lunches. I won’t have time for that now so I’m going to have to think about some cold meals I can take instead and how to factor in the time to make them in my already busy week.

By the time I’d finished work, been to my Spinning class, come home and eaten dinner on Friday, I really didn’t feel like sitting down to plan my meals for the following week and do my online shopping. I just wanted to flake out in front of the TV. However, I reminded myself that for me, planning ahead is crucial to staying on track. I did it and, though it wasn’t my favourite way of spending a Friday evening, at least it stopped me from having time to think about wanting a glass of wine!

The week ahead

I have a meeting to go to straight from work on Wednesday and then the photography course I’m doing has been moved from Thursday to Wednesday as well this week so Wednesday is going to be a particularly busy day. To help me survive it and stay on track, I’m going to order a baked potato with beans for my lunch at work and take a sandwich with me to eat when I get to college. I’ll also make sure I’ve got some extra fruit to snack on too.

I said last week that I thought it was important to reward myself for reaching my goals and that I was going to write a post about this. While I didn’t get chance to write about this last week, due to getting back into the swing of balancing work with eating properly and exercising, I have been thinking about this and will post about it tomorrow so keep an eye out for that.

Thanks for reading.

PS If you’ve got any tasty, easy, cold lunch ideas for me, please share!

Cottage Pie

Posted January 12, 2014

Filed under Recipes

Cottage Pie

I adapted this from the recipe in the Simple Start material as I don’t like Quorn mince.

Servings: 4

Pro Points: 8

Simple Start: 0

Preparation time: 15-20mins

Cooking time: 50mins

Ingredients

900 g Potatoes, peeled and quartered
Spray oil
350 g extra lean beef mince
1 large onion, chopped finely
1 medium leek chopped finely
1 medium carrot, chopped
225 g swede or turnip, chopped
Beef stock cube, made up with 500ml hot water
2 teaspoons Dried Mixed Herbs
3 tablespoons skimmed milk
Salt and Pepper, to season
Vegetables to serve

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 190˚c/180˚c fan/375˚f/Gas mark 5.
Put the potatoes into a large pan of water, bring to the boil and cook for 15-20mins until tender.
Meanwhile, soften the onions in a large non-stick pan with the oil spray.
When the onions have softened, add the mince and stir until browned. Then add the leeks, carrot, swede or turnip cook gently for 5mins to soften the vegetables. Stir frequently and add a splash of water if necessary to stop the mixture from sticking.
Add the beef stock and the herbs. Stir well and simmer for 10-15mins. Season the meat mixture to taste. While the mince is cooking, mash the potatoes with the skimmed milk.
Spoon the cooked mince and vegetables into a large oven proof dish and top with the mashed potatoes.
Cook in the oven for 25-30mins until piping hot throughout and browned on top. Serve with cooked green vegetables.

Top tip: If you’re not a fan of peeling potatoes, use New Potatoes to create a ‘rustic mash’: cook and mash them with their skins on.