Spinach Ricotta Gnocchi

This started off with a healthy dinner in mind, but headed rapidly south when i started adding the cheeses!   Oh dear, not expecting miracles at my weigh in tomorrow, it's been a bit of a naughty week with the highlight being Sunday when I spent the afternoon parked on my bottom bits outside a wood fire pizza oven in satan's garden tasting a sample of every pizza making it's way out of the embers.  It was a true gastronomic apocalypse.

Anyway, back to tonight's dinner.  Spinach gnocchi made out of frozen spinach (thawed and drained) mixed with ricotta, parmesan, egg and flour.  Shaped into balls, simmered slowly in boiling water and then placed in a baking dish and smothered in tomato sauce and more parmesan.  Sounds good, tastes good too!

Ingredients for gnocchi
500g bag of frozen spinach
250g ricotta cheese
100g grated parmesan
2 eggs
150g flour
freshly grated nutmeg
salt and pepper

1 Bottle of your favourite tomato pasta sauce (I like the one with four cheeses as you don't have to add to much more cheese)
Grated parmesan to scatter over the top

Method
Thaw the spinach and squeeze out all the water.  Chop spinach finely before mixing it with the rest of the gnocchi ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Put in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Remove gnocchi mix from fridge and form into small balls.  Dust each ball with flour and place on a baking sheet.  Once you have shaped all the gnocchi, poach the balls for about 5 minutes in boiling water.

Once the gnocchi has been poached, remove from saucepan with slatted spoon and place in a baking dish. 

Cover the gnocchi with your favourite pasta tomato sauce and sprinkle over parmesan.

Bake at 180 for 30 minutes and serve with a green salad.

In my kitchen...

I recently renovated my 20 year old kitchen into a space I'm very happy in.  Just having such a pleasing surround has really made me fall in love with cooking all over again.  Here is a look at my kitchen and what's in it...

my pantry

wall oils, seasonings and wine racks

a place to dream...

too much coffee man, a gift for my coffee loving man

Banana Muffins - 2 Weight Watchers Pro Points each

Now muffins are a weakness of mine, but when looking up the pro points value on weight watchers, I realised some of them contained up to 15 pro points!  That's approximately half your daily allowance.  I was horrified and stopped eating muffins at once until I discovered this recipe where each muffin contains 2 pro points.   So you can enjoy a muffin with your cup of tea without having to worry about that moment on the lips.

Low Points Banana Muffins

Ingredients
30g butter
60g honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 ripe bananas
150g plain flour
1 heaped teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder
12 cup muffin pan lined with muffin cases
Chocolate chips for sprinkling on top

Method
Melt the butter, honey and vanilla in the microwave. 
Mash the bananas in a bowl and pour over the honey butter vanilla mix and combine.
Mix the dry ingredients in another mixing bowl.
Mix the bananas mix into the dry ingredients until just combined(don't overmix)
Divide the muffin mix equally amongst the muffin cases.
Top with chocolate chips

Bake for 25 minutes on 190 degrees

Thai Style Beef Salad

On my travels around Thailand the highlight for me was the daily menu.  So many new taste sensations.  I so enjoy the fragrant and spicy notes that Thai food has to offer.  My particular favourites include thai fishcakes, tom yum soup, green papaya salad, pad thai and those beautiful banana pancakes the street vendors whip up in a flash.  I had a real penchant for crunchy salads in the sweltering heat and curries also seemed to hit the right spot.  Here is an easy Thai style salad that is so versatile.  You can eat it with chicken or thinly sliced beef.  As far as vegetables go, anything from carrot to mung sprouts, cabbage to spinach leaves.  And finishing off with finely chopped coriander, basil or mint would do the trick.  Here is the version I made this evening.

Crunchy Thai Beef Salad

Marinade Ingredients
1 teaspoon chiu chow chilli oil (with chilli bits) or minced chilli
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1.5 tablespoons lime juice (I use it out of a bottle)
3 teaspoons fish sauce
1.5 tablespoons oil

Salad Ingredients
1/2 red onion very finely sliced
salt and pepper
250g shaved roast beef
1/2 bag mung sprouts
1/2 bag baby spinach leaves
chopped coriander

Mix the marinade ingredients.  Add the thinly sliced onion and salt and pepper.  Leave in the fridge for a couple of hours to let onion absorb the marinade.

In a bowl mix sliced shave roast beef, sprouts and spinach leaves.  Add the onions and gently mix together until all ingredients coated with the onion and marinade.  Sprinkle over chopped coriander.  Allow a couple of minutes for all the flavours to combine before you grab a fork and get stuck in.

And two days later I used the rest of the sprouts, spinach and onion to make the same with cold roast chicken

Simply Sushi

Sushi rice is a big hit in this household.  Whether it's seasoned rice served up with some teriyaki chicken on a plate, or sushi, my children's favourite.  Sushi is so easy to make at home if you have all the right ingredients.  I used to use a sushi rolling mat, but find these days I don't really need one if I am careful about how I roll.

To make enough sushi for 3 rolls (ie 24 pieces) which should be a good sized snack for 4 person.

Either follow packet instructions to cook 1 cup of sushi rice OR
Put 1 cup sushi rice and 2.5 cups of water in a rice cooker and leave until cooked.

Once the rice is cooked and cooled down, I season it with a couple of tablespoons of sushi vinegar from my local Asian supermarket.  It's a mixture of vinegar, sugar and salt, and is a must if you want to get decent tasting sushi.  You can make your own sushi seasoning by following one of the many available recipes on the Internet.

At this stage it's worth getting your fillings together and then it's time to start sushi construction.  Favourites in this household include salmon with cucumber/avocado and teriyaki chicken.

To make sushi simply follow the photo steps below...

Nori Sheets

Place the nori on a board and add a handful of rice

Press the rice flat to cover 2/3rds of the nori

Add your filling to the middle of the rice

Fold the nori over and start rolling into a sausage shape

Keep rolling and use water to glue the paper together

Teriyaki Chicken  prepared school lunch box stylee

To make salmon sushi that is not child friendly (ie wasabi) - I follow the same process except I add a strip of wasabi and mayonnaise before I add the salmon and cucumber

Add a strip of mayonnaise and wasabi before adding other fillings

Top 5 Teriyaki Chicken

When I say 'Top 5' I mean it makes the top 5 of my children's 'top 5 dinners of all time' list.  They would eat this stuff every night given half a chance.  It is so delicious with the balance of sweet and salty and with sushi rice what more could I hungry child want? 

To make the Teriyaki Sauce simple mix together the following ingredients:
1/4 cup light soy sauce
1/4 cup mirin
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons crushed fresh ginger(out of a jar)
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Then marinade enough diced skinless boneless chichen thigh or breast meat for 4 people (about 500g) for about an hour.

Using a slatted spoon remove the chicken from the marinade and transfer into an oiled frying pan and fry until brown.  Then pour over the marinade and fry until the chicken is cooked (5-10 minutes).  Then remove the chicken from the frying pan using a slatted spoon and continue to simmer the sauce until it thickens.

Serve the chicken on top of rice (sushi rice works fantastically and I use the leftover to make teriyaki sushi) and pour the thickened marinade over the top.  Garnish with some toasted sesame seeds.

Tonight we are having teriyaki chicken on sushi rice with some greens asian style.

Ingredients
1/2 sliced onion
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
1 teaspoon crushed ginger
1 sliced courgette
handful green beans
1 tablespoons soy sauce

Method
To make the green beans, trim and cut in half.  Blanche in boiling water for 1 minute.  In a hot non stick wok toss the onion, garlic and ginger in a little oil until soft.  Add the beans, courgettes adn soy sauce and stir fry for another few minutes.  Serve steaming hot.

A Big Bowl of Sunshine...

Felt like a sunny something for lunch, and came up with this hearty bowl of uplifting goodness.  Found myself eating two big bowls full for lunch. 

Prepare two red peppers for roasting by slicing in half, removing all the white bits and seeds, and spraying with oil.  Prepare a sweet potato for roasting by peeling, cubing and spraying with oil.  Roast in a hot oven for half an hour.

Saute a diced onion with 100g of fat free bacon bits until soft.  The bacon is totally optional.  I just love the flavour a little of it adds to soups.  Add 500g of frozen sweetcorn and 1 litre of chicken stock.  Boil until sweetcorn cooked.

Add the roasted veges to the soup and then blend with your kitchen wizz or in a blender until smooth.

Season with salt and pepper if necessary (stock is salty) and enjoy.

Mushy Peas and Prawns ... Thai Style

Thought I might try something different for dinner tonight to go with my celebratory glass of wine. (Haven't decided what I am celebrating yet, but definately celebrating)  This is so easy to make and is very fragrantly tasty

Peas and Prawns

For the Peas
Boil 500g of peas until they are cooked.  Drain. 

Add 2 tablespoons of thai green paste, 4 tablespoons of lite sour cream and a squirt of lime juice.  Use a blender or kitchen whixx to puree it into a pile of pale green deliciousness.

For the Prawns
Thaw 300g of raw frozen prawns.  Saute in garlic and a little butter until cooked.  Remove the prawns and deglaze the pan with some lime juice.

Serve up on a plate with the sauce out of the prawn pan poured over the top.

Wednesday weigh in...

Today I weigh 1.7 kgs less than a week ago when I started this blog so feeling pretty good about myself.  I have also lost a total of 4.7 kgs since I started my quest.  I don't feel as though I'm horribly deprived of my favourite things.  It's all about moderation really and the 80 / 20 rule.  Let's see how next week transpires.

Orange Soup

This is a real winner when it comes to my family.  Everyone loves it.  On Sunday night I made a big pot of the stuff to get me through the first few days of the week being back at work after a weeks hiatus looking after a sick child.  The perfect winter warmer

Orange Soup

Ingredients
2 onions diced
2 cloves garlic
100g fat removed diced bacon
50g butter
6 large carrots peeled and diced
2 large potatoes diced
6 cups chicken stock
2 oranges juiced

Method
Saute the onions, garlic and bacon in the butter(or a little olive oil if you're focusing on reducing your calorie intake and cholesterol).  After about 5 minutes add the carrots and potatoes and saute for another couple of minutes.  Cover with the chicken stock and simmer until the vegetables are soft.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add the orange juice.  Blend with a kitchen whizz into a smooth orange bowl of loveliness.

Monday night stir-fry

Monday nights are always a bit frantic.  First day of the week, back at work, tired, grumpy children ...  needing a quick easy tasty dinner and here it is...

Ingredients
1 red onion chopped
4 teaspoons crushed garlic
4 teaspoons crushed ginger
handful chopped beans (blanched in boiling water 1 minute)
1 chopped red pepper
handful bean sprouts
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 roast chicken breast shredded

1 packet cooked udon noodles
chilli oil

coriander

Method
Stir fry onions, garlic, ginger in a litte oil for 4 minutes.  Add the remaining ingredients and stir fry for another 4 minutes.  Serve up steaming in your favourite noodle bar with some chilli oil and coriander.

How did you get so Fat?

Yesterday we took a long drive in the pouring rain to look at cars as mine is getting a bit old and knackered.  On the way to a viewing we happened to pass this French patisserie where we have had the odd brunch before.  Unfortunately temptation took it's toll and we ended up popping in for some afternoon tea.  I enjoyed a cappucino and a slice of lemon tart (a weakness of mine that goes way back) and my partner had plum tart and a hot chocolate.  I decided not to beat myself up and enjoyed every taste because life is for living.  As long as I am good 80% of the time, I should be able to stay on track to reach my goal.

Plum Tart and a Hot Chocolate

Lemon Tart and a Cappucino

Bacon and Eggs without adding too much junk to the trunk

Every Saturday morning I get woken up to the phrase 'can we have bacon and eggs for breakfast'?  We all love bacon and eggs, but it can end up being quite a calorific meal.  What I do is eliminate bread and all the extra's from my plate, and just have the bacon and eggs.  To make it healthier, I eat low-fat chicken bacon, which doesn't taste that far off the real thing.  On the weight watchers pro points program, this bacon contains 1 point for 2 slices.  And if you add an egg, that equals 3 points for your entire meal.  Not bad really.

Low-fat chicken bacon

 

Fry in a non-stick frying pan with a quick spray of canola oil

Home-made Hummus

Supermarket hummus is great as there are so many varieties these days.  It's instant,  perfect for picnics, parties or to keep in the fridge at work to eat with rice cakes for lunch.  My only problem is the fat content.  Certainly the popular brands of hummus at my local supermarket are quite high in fat.  Don't get me wrong, supermarket hummus is often spotted on my shopping list, but I try and make my own when I can, as it costs less, is low in fat and my son just loves it.  He's not into the flavoured varieties, he likes plain old hummus.

My home-made Hummus Recipe

Ingredients
1 can chickpeas
1 roasted garlic (see below) squeezed out of it's skin
juice of 2 lemons
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 heaped tablespoon lite greek yoghurt
salt and pepper

I use my kitchen whizz to make hummus and it literally takes 5 minute if the garlic was roasted the night before(or when I last cooked in my oven).

Place all ingredients in a bowl and blend until you get the right consistency. 

My son's favourite accompaniment to hummus is brown rice crackers.