New Years Day

Promised the Darling a slap up breakfast, major yum but oh so bad....lots of cheese, chorizo, potato fried in oil.....you get the picture.
Based on a recipe I found on the net but with some changes.
This is my CHORIZO, POTATO, AND EGG STACK.
Heat a good tablespoon of oil in a heavy based frypan over medium heat, grate a medium sized potato into the pan, add 1/4 finely chopped onion.  Fry until potato is cooked through and quite crispy.  The potato will stick, just keep scraping it up and turning it over.
Slice 1 small chorizo sausage into rings, add to pan to crisp.
Scoot potato, onion and sausage to one side of pan, add two eggs and fry.


Toast two slices of good bread, top with mashed avocado if you like it, top with grated sharp cheese, place under a grill to melt.  
Dollop a teaspoon of Greek Yoghurt and a teaspoon of mild chilli sauce onto the melted cheese
Layer the crispy potato and onions then the chorizo sausage, top with the fried egg and serve.  
Big Thumbs Up from the Darling but not something that should be on a diet site...ooops!.
As you can guess, not a pretty dish, and anyway I forgot to take a pic but did better for Lunch.

CRAB AND AVOCADO SALAD with JAPANESE DRESSING 

based on

a Nigella Lawson recipe from her T.V. Show ' Express'

Ingredients I used:

1 tablespoon mirin

1.4 teaspoon wasabi paste

1/2 tablespoon rice vinegar

2 drops sesame oil

good pinch Maldon sea salt

Place all these in a screw top jar and shake well.

Divide dressing between two mixing bowls

To Bowl 1 add:

splash of lime juice

scant 2 cups finely sliced Chinese Cabbage, toss together and plate on serving plates.

To Bowl 2 add

1/2 de-seeded long red chilli, sliced thinly

1/2 cup fresh shredded crab meat

toss well and press crab into a mould, I used a 1/4 cup measure.

Turn out onto shredded cabbage

Garnish with:

1/2 ripe avocado balled using a melon baller around the crab and

a smattering of green onion slices on top of crab.

Well, that worked....not!

I feel a bit like the little chappie above, off colour.  
Bad chest and sinus infections, am just starting on my 4th course of antibiotics, and boy did I have to put on a scene at the Dr.'s to get them.
So along with being so ill I thought it could be rather advantageous to be a horse (they shoot horses, don't they?) there was also Christmas and that schmozzle of waiting to see if any of those who had invited themselves to various meals would actually confirm for one and turn up for two, or would they get a better offer in the meantime.
I worked out a Christmassy Menu, with most of the foods being able to be frozen if not needed, except of course the salads and vegies but I thought I could manage those with just a little wastage.  Wrong!!!!
Another storm and power surges and half our power lines went down, result, only one fridge so lost the vegie side of things anyway!
Not to worry......
Here we go again
Yesterdays Lunch for 4 was from Donna Hays 'the instant cook', this pic scanned from her book.

I used a combo of sweet potato wedges and halved kipfler potatoes.  Instead of the wedges of avocado I used a melon baller to scoop out rounds of avocado.

Served it with a shredded roast chicken, o.k. so it was a take-away chicken, but still nice and moist and quite acceptable.  Leftovers went home with Sis for her daughter.

day six

walked for far too long on the treadmill, listening to an audio book......fair wore me out.
Took the easy way out and had Meatballs in Tomato Sauce with spaghetti for Dinner. 
Pic to come.

day five

...disjointed day, what with a car service and a couple of electricians climbing through the roof cavity.  Seems we have a few power points without an earth?!  Bit of a startlement, still, it will all be sorted out soon.

Breakfast didn't happen, busy, busy even the coffee was a non event.
Lunch was a ham and salad sandwich on toast.  A new experience for the Darling.  Thankfully he enjoyed it.
Dinner tonight was the other end of the fillet steak, with a jacket baked potato with chilli and onion cottage cheese topping.  The Darling would prefer chilli chunked potatoes (so frankly would I- but all that oil.....won't be seeing them for a little while), and of course a nice big salad.

Stephanie Alexander has a great recipe and insight into making a quick steak sauce or Red Wine Jus.  Tonight I just didn't have the get up and go......so caramelised half a brown onion with the finely sliced eye of a bacon rasher.  Removed the onions from the pan when done, re heated the pan to high and did the steaks, removed them to plates when done and schlonked a good schlonk of red wine into the hot pan, added a little water - stock would have been better- popped the onion/bacon back into the pan and reduced the liquid.  Poured it over the steaks for a tasty steak sauce/Jus.  Yep, your right, hardly gourmet but still and all, tasty.

And that's what it is all about........tasty, within my energy levels, and healthy eating.

One of the Electricians eyes bugged, and he yelped 'There is a Mountain Cat in the House' when the Cat streaked by.........agreed, he is a big boy, but I ask you....how could you be scarred of this

he adopted that box, no one has the heart to take it away form him......but the Grandies are working on a plan for an upgrade, complete with toys.  We will see what the school hols bring.

day four

woke to rain, brilliant, a wonderful excuse to stay indoors and quilt.  Lost 3 1/2 hours sleep time last night, so a bit below par this morning. 

Quilted, watched a doco and made Yellow Tomato and Parmesan Salad for Lunch, and for dinner a Risotto, based on the oven baked Risotto with Bacon and Peas. (Donna Hay 'the instant cook' P66.
Followed the recipe but halved the ingredients, after 25 mins there was a lot of stock still in the dish, transferred it to the oven top and stirred, risotto became very creamy and incorporated all the stock.
Sliced a chicken breast and lightly pan fried it in the same pan I used for the bacon and leeks.

This risotto would be nice served with a salad, but tonight I relied on the peas.  Very tasty dish, more so than the pic in the cookbook would lead you to believe.
Forgot to take a pic.  so here is something completely different.....the view through the french doors of my sewing room to the house across the street.....talk about seeing just what you want to see....all I ever notice is the lovely flowers, the pic is reality, warts and all.

day three....

woke early and feeling rested...bit of a surprise as the nights sleep was pretty broken.
The dreaded shopping beckoned, so off I set, shopping list in hand, half way down the hill I decided to pick up the Grandies.....hehehe, those little guys hate food shopping as much as I do, so they can be relied on to find and supply some light entertainment.  
We had a few distractions, about 2 1/2 hours worth actually, we were expected home and hadn't even got near the supermarket......however we did buy a few absolute necessities for Xmas, you know the things, advent calendar, decorations for the yard, etc...etc.
We stopped off at muffin break, I had a flat white, they had a feed.

Eventually we had a trolly full and scooted back home to ham and salad sangers for lunch, then a board game or two and then off to the park, got them home about 4 ish.....believe me, it's the only way to attack the dreaded shopping.

A quick lie down with a cuppa, courtesy of the darling and eventually made a bit of a quick meal.  Butterflied fillet steaks with a tomato sauce, jacket baked potato with a greek yoghurt and cottage cheese topping and a green salad.  No sign of Donna at all, but still, although not pretty it was healthy.

Tomato Sauce     makes about 2 cups
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato ketchup
tinsy pinch of brown sugar - unless of course the canned tomatoes contain sugar
cracked black pepper and salt
1 teaspoon oil

heat the teaspoon oil in saucepan over medium heat, add onion and garlic and cook over low heat until onion becomes translucent.
Add canned tomatoes, ketchup and sugar if needed.
Season with pepper and salt.
Cover and simmer gently until thickened.
Herbs to suit can be added if desired.  Basil, Thyme, Parsley, Oregano

Potato Topping
1/4 cup greek style yoghurt
1/4 cup cottage cheese, creamed or other
1 teaspoon sweet chilli sauce
dash of minced chilli
finely sliced green onion to garnish.
Mix yoghurt, cottage cheese and chillies together, sprinkle green onion over.

day two

Not a good day......not much sleep last night and so a flop early on this morning.  However, I did research a few exercise vids and get a bit of a go on there.  Lost a lot of the day sleeping..........that is always such a conflict, I know if I sleep I need it, but heck, what about getting things done??!!

Breakfast was toast and peanut butter, no butter and lunch was 1/4 cup of left over chicken salad and 1 cup of cabbage salad at about 2p.m.......when I woke up.   Bugger. 

Tried to cram in a days activities, well at least a small semblance of same with the result Dinner was a non event.....thankfully, a portion of left over Beef and Red Wine Pasta sauce was in the freezer.

 So Dinner tonight was Pasta and Salad.....

!/2 Cup Pasta, !/4 Cup sauce, 2 Parmesan curls and a salad.

day one....

I have a number of Donna Hay cookbooks, o.k. o.k., so who hasn't.  Her style of food preparation and presentation is simple and easy, something I really need at this time of low energy levels.
And so, using these wonderful books and recipes as a base, with my own twists, that is deleting or reducing an ingredient to suit personal taste, I begin my journey of weight loss. 
Not saying how much I weigh (v.b.g.) but I do need to loose a fair chunk of me, so am aiming at .....erk....dare I put in words?......it's a tad scary.....the menu created and time frame I have allowed myself is just 3 months, is it possible to loose 20kg in that time????
We will see.
Dinner tonight is Shredded Chicken and Celery Salad (based on Donna Hay 'the instant cook' Page 42), with a side of Coleslaw, well not so much Coleslaw as cabbage salad - can't be scoffing down all that mayo on day one now can I? and of course there will be a potato salad for the darling with a small helping of same for moi.....this eating plan is, after all, about healthy eating and having had pneumonia for the past 6 weeks and with the cough still hanging around I don't want to shock the old system too much.

Shredded Chicken and Celery Salad Version  Serves 4
2 cups shredded chicken
1 cup  thinly sliced celery (1 stalk)
1/3 cup finely chopped parsley
1/2 cup Greek style yoghurt made up to 2/3 cup measurement with whole egg mayonnaise
salt and cracked black pepper
4 cos lettuce leaves, cut into wide slices.

Place all ingredients except lettuce in a bowl and toss together, chill to serve.
Place lettuce on plate and pile chicken mixture on top.

Coleslaw or Cabbage Salad      Serves 6 as a side dish
2 cups finely shredded white cabbage
1 granny smith apple, finely diced
1/4 green capsicum, finely diced
1 green onion, finely sliced

Dressing:
1/8 cup Greek style yoghurt
1/8 cup whole egg mayonaise

Mix all salad ingredients in bowl, mix together yoghurt and whole egg mayonaisse, stir through cabbage mixture.  Chill to serve.


Warm Potato Salad      Serves 4
3 small red skinned waxy potatoes, washed, cut into chunks and steamed
1 teaspoon olive oil
4 button mushrooms, thickly sliced
1/2 small red or spanish onion, sliced
1 rasher bacon, fat removed and cut into 1" squares
1/3 frozen peas
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Using a non-stick pan, heat the olive oil and cook the bacon, onion, mushrooms until onions are just beginning to caramelise
Add the frozen peas and lower heat until peas are heated through.
Toss in the steamed potato chunks, and stir together in pan.
Sprinkle parmesan cheese over top and toss to melt. 
Place in serving bowl and serve warm. 
Can be made ahead and slightly warmed in microwave.
Carrot rings can also be steamed with the potatoes and added to the salad.