Healthy one pot stew and not a carb in sight!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I can't believe we are already on day 2 of 2014..... 3.5 months now until we get married and time's going so quickly! We are both ridiculously excited, but as you can imagine the diet.is.ON. 

With that in mind I decided to make a hearty but healthy stew with what I had in the fridge and cupboards, with not a carb in sight (not a complex one anyway)! 

What you need: (enough for three hungry bears, with enough for seconds!)

5 medium/ large carrots

1 medium onion

1 large leek

1 large handful of fresh cranberries (please note, these are sour and not sweet!)

2 tsps paprika

1 tsp salt

2 tsps mixed herbs

1/2 tsp pepper

1 1/2 tsp dried sage 

5 chicken thighs

2 chicken stock cubes (in 800ml boiling water)

2 tsp coconut oil

Directions:

• Set oven to 180 degrees (fan assisted) 
• Chop up all veg and set aside  Keep cranberries separate to main veg

• Place a pan on high heat with coconut oil. Brown off your chicken thighs on each side (5-6 minutes)
• Take the chicken out and put on a plate to rest

• In the same pan, sweat off the vegetables until they begin to soften
• Add in your salt, pepper, paprika, mixed herbs and sage
• Add back in the chicken thighs and cranberries and mix together

• Sweat off for a little longer (1-2 minutes) 
• Add chicken stock in 800ml of boiling water and mix 

• Pour all pan ingredients into large casserole dish 
• Put in to oven and leave to simmer for 35-45 minutes

• Take out of the oven and add 2 inch cube of butter (allow to melt, stir in) and serve straight away

We had ours with some stir fried cabbage and peas but you could have it with anything, sweet potato, butternut squash, mashed potato, parsnips and other roasted veg or even just bread and butter- for those not needed to diet! 

 If you find that your sauce's still quite watery at about 20 minutes in to cooking then I recommend adding 1 TSP corn flour added in with some warm water. 

 Enjoy!

Frit Ta Ta! My skinny pizza....

A healthy, quick dish which can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or supper and served hot or cold. What is this wondrous creation you ask? The Frittata.

 

An Italian dish, seemingly similar to an omelette or quiche- but without the crust! The Frittata is usually packed with a multitude of ingredients such as meats, cheeses, herbs, spices and / or vegetables.

 

The difference from the Frittata to an omelette is that the omelette is usually folded in half, with half the filling on one side whereas the Frittata stays flat and is usually stacked with the ingredients all over it, making it thicker and slightly more indulgent!

 

The great thing about the Frittata is you can literally put whatever you want in to it. We decided to make our Frittata with the following ingredients:

 

2tsps coconut oil

10 eggs

10 large baby tomatoes

1 large onion

1 red pepper

Chorizo (we used about 10cm cut in to cubes of a normal supermarket chorizo)

3 large handfuls of Spinach

1 log of goats cheese (about 100 g)

 

Pepper and rock salt to flavour

 

Pan:

Best to use a deep frying pan, the smaller the pan, the thicker the Frittata etc - depending on how many ingredients you have and how many eggs you want to use. 

 

Oven:

Pre-set oven to 200degrees to bake the Frittata for 10 - 15 minutes once it has set in the pan. 

 

What you need to do:

• In the frying pan allow your coconut oil to heat up, then put in all your vegetables and fry off until softening

 

• Add in your chorizo and fry off for another minute
• In a jug whisk up your 10 medium sized eggs, add a pinch of salt and pepper

• Add your spinach and cover all the vegetables, then mix in. You will find that the spinach wilts very quickly- even though it may look like a lot when you put it in

• Pour in your egg and stir around until it begins to set. Leave for 5 minutes on a low heat to allow to set

• Add in your lumps of goats cheese and allow to melt slightly on top

• Once the goats cheese has melted, place in the oven (or under the grill) and allow to bake for 5 - 10 minutes until golden brown

• Take out of the oven and allow to cool - you will find that it shrinks slightly as it cools

 

• Season with some more pepper and serve hot - or allow to cool and serve cold with some salad. The Frittata can last up to three days in the fridge and as the flavours infuse the more the tastier it gets!

I am going to try this again next week with brocolli, sundried tomatoes, butternut squash and bacon, you can literally try it with anything! The "healthier" pizza, some could say!

Enjoy!

Please Sir, can I have some more?

I seem to have lapsed from my New Year's blogging routine and totally neglected it in the process. The last month has been crazy busy with lots of things on the go, mostly the usual stuff; work, visiting family, birthdays etc!

We're off on holiday next week for just over two weeks of total relaxation and fun- I hope. Plus, most excitingly I'm going to see my best friend, Amy, who lives in Singapore. 7 years ago (this makes me feel so old) Amy and I went out to Singapore on our way to SE Asia and Australia on our Gap Year...Since then Amy moved out to live and work in Singapore whilst I moved to London. This was 4 years ago and I am still yet to visit her, which is terrible as she is forever coming over to see me! However, now we're booked and lift off is in sight and I can't tell you how excited I am! 3 very painful jabs from a sadomasochistic nurse and a small mortgage worth of Malaria tablets and we are pretty much set to go!

As with any pre-holiday period I have joined the masses and been doing everything I can to prepare for the dreaded bikini reveal...(dreaded being the operative word).. Having given up every carb known to man (this also includes most vegetables and fruits!)I have existed- for the last month - on a diet of protein and the occasional green leaf. It is a sad sad day when a green leaf added to your lunch of chicken breast and boiled egg suddenly becomes something to be excited about!

Although not being totally stupid and surviving on the polluted London air for my three meals a day, I would say I’ve done a mixture of the Zoe Harcombe Diet ( a total legend in my opinion who makes a huge amount of sense regarding cravings, candida, intolerance and blood glucose) and then The Dukan Diet (Undecided on this one, but apparently it is the Middleton's desired dieting guru, so I probably shouldn't complain given how wonderfully fabulous they all look) - However, flaws and many a rumbling tummy, I have managed to lose just over a stone and even managed a few petrifying exercise classes... I will NEVER step foot in a circuit class again - 7 days of severe pain - side walking up stairs and having to be rolled out of bed each morning (not a joke)was not the high point of my dieting existence. However, all this moaning and groaning aside I do feel much better, my body seemingly cleansed of the usual naughtiness and am hoping that I will keep the weight off (Yeh right scream the Raffles Singapore Sling's and monkey nuts).

                   

So, with a week to go I am getting very excited- although don't resemble anything close to the bikini goddess I was setting my sights on achieving! I can't wait to blog about all the things we get up to and to be honest, I just cannot wait to be somewhere warm- London has been a freezer for the last month! Although, saying that, I am sure to eat my own words as the humidity in Singapore's so high I think I will be spending a lot of my time trying to tame an afro on top of my head! No glossy locks for me, just two weeks of untameable top bun!

                   

Right, time to sign off as I have Total Body Conditioning to get ready for, lucky me! I hope you are all having a much more indulgent evening!

Until next time.

Emi x