Low fat chicken curry

Using the lovely curry sauce posted last week we made a flippin gorgeous chicken curry for supper last night and it went like this

Serves 4

4 Chicken breasts chopped
Quantity of fresh green chillies ( however many you like - we like lots )
Garam Masala to finish
Fresh chopped coriander
Yogurt

Simply fry halved chillies and chicken in Spray oil until coated, enough curry sauce to cover and simmer gently until chicken is cooked through. Add a good shake of garam masala and serve with - well - whatever. we had ours with salad and blob of yogurt.

Lovely....and healthy!

Debs

The best curry sauce.

After a very long search Mr Debs found this great curry sauce recipe and with a few modifications here it is.

Spray olive oil
7.5cm ( 3 inches )  fresh ginger chopped
6 onions peeled and chopped
4 fat cloves garlic crushed or chopped
10mgs ( 2 teaspoons ) ground cumin
20mgs ( 4 teaspoons ) ground coriander
5mgs ( 1 teaspoon ) chilli powder
5mgs  ( 1 teaspoon ) turmeric
10mgs ( 2 teaspoons garam masala )
10 cardamom pods lightly crushed
3 bay leaves
10mgs  ( 2 teaspoons ) ground fenugreek
3  x 400g tins tomatoes
Half a tube tomato puree

Heat spray oil in a large pan and fry onions, garlic and ginger until onion is just beginning to go brown.
Add all the spices and cook gently for a few minutes.
Add tomatoes and tomato puree - mix well and add 1 pint of water.
Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 - 40 minutes.
Remove bay and cardamom pods and cool.
Blitz with a blender or liquidizer to required consistency.
Done.

This will store in the fridge, covered, for up to a week.

When used we add lots of fresh chillis, more garam masala, salt and pepper and coriander to finish.

As a basic sauce this is very good, it just needs the addition of the above at cooking time.

Debs

Chicken Caesar

We had a very good day yesterday kcal wise so decided that maybe a chicken Caesar would be a good healthy supper. It kind of is and it kind of isn't and this is why....Parmesan cheese, Caesar dressing, croutons!

So, could we make a healthy Caesar? It took some doing and we did end up with a great result but it was still quite hefty on the calories. Now I always have a different version of this anyway as I'm not too keen on lots of sticky sauce and I like my chicken with a blob of piri piri so mine went something like this.

Serves 1
1 100g chicken breast baked in foil ( 30 minutes at 180 )                              180 kcals
1 rasher lean back bacon grilled                                                                     72  kcals
Handful of romaine lettuce                                                                                0 kcals
1 Tablespoon low fat Caesar sauce ( I used Waitrose )                                    49 kcals
1  Tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese                                                           60 kcals
2 Tablespoons baked not fried croutons                                                          50 kcals
Blob piri piri                                                                                                    20 kcals 
2  Heaped tablespoons thinly sliced red onion                                                     0 kcals
                                                                                                                   ------------
                                                                                                                       431 Kcals

Ok so not really low but really tasty and this is the thing - I couldn't finish it as it was way too much food! Also it just didn't need the croutons or maybe even the bacon so next time it'll be 309 kcals. Unfortunately we ate this before I thought to photograph it - such is the problem on a diet so next time I'll pop a photo in.

Debs

Ok so not my pic but one liberated from the web!  Thanks to this site.

Summer veg and goats cheese frittata.

What with the calorie restriction and Sams new vegetarian lifestyle, it seemed like a good idea to embrace some veggie food ( intermittently ) and the perfect place to start was with a book that I bought Sam a while back. We had a plumbing meltdown in the kitchen and Sam came to my rescue so he was rewarded with a copy of HFW's Veg . Lovely book with a couple of recipes that I keep meaning to try. The only fly in the ointment is that Mr Debs is a committed carnivore and every suggestion of a lovely veggie meal is met with    ' Sounds great, can I have a pork chop with it? .

Anyway, as we are all dieting, there is a little more flexibilty in the camp so I made this lovely dish for myself and Sam and the big guy had roasted chicken thighs with extra hot piri piri sauce - a not insubstantial 1000 kcals.

Serves 4-6

400g Waxy new potatoes sliced into 5mmish slices
About 300g mixed summer veg - I used asparagus tips, fresh peas and broccoli
Few squirts of spray olive oil
2 Bunches spring onions chopped
Bunch chives
7 Large Eggs
75g  Goats cheese - soft or crumbly
Salt and pepper

In a large saucepan of salted boiling water, boil potatoes for a couple of minutes, add all the summer veg      ( not spring onions) and boil for a few minutes until just cooked - drain well.

In a large frying pan add onions to spray oil and gently fry until soft, add all the veg and turn over gently just for a couple of minutes.
Whisk eggs well and add salt and pepper - add to frying pan.
Gently move veg about so that it has an even distribution of veggies for each slice and leave to cook for a few minutes until still slightly eggy on the top.
Crumble goats cheese and chopped chives onto the top of your fritatta and pop under a hot grill until sizzling.

Mmmmmm veggies

This was really nice with a huge salad. I worked out ( yawn ) that cut into four pieces, each slice is about 280 kcals...not a lot really as it made a substantial supper. I think that the next time I make it I would ommit the goats cheese and use some strong cheddar instead as I found the goats cheese gave it a kind of sour taste without really enhancing the whole dish.

Debs

Sardines?

Mr Debs watched Horizon's fascinating programme on fasting last week and so embarked on it yesterday. Two days of - for men - 600 kcals. Really not a lot for a big fella so after a couple of boiled eggs for his breakfast/lunch we ate fresh grilled sardines for tea with a huge salad. Now, I like fresh grilled sardines but every now and again I hit a woolly one. Why is this? Why the woolly texture? Yuk

Debs

Today's food is.......

I am eating between 1300 and 1400 kcals per day and so this is how it is made up today:

Breakfast - Tinned tomatoes on Marmitey toast 


1 slice lovely Burgens bread   124 kcals
1 Tin Tomatoes    80 kcals
1 teaspoon Marmite

Lunch - well no lunch really as I was so full up from breakfast but ate a banana and a couple of cups of Bovril at about 4ish - 80 kcals


Well dinner, I'm sorry to say that I was pretty hungry at 7 O'clock when Mr Debs served up a fillet steak, grilled mushrooms, grilled tomatoes and 4 ( slimming world ) sin free chips - 350 kcals ( forgot to photo as I was actually very hungry).

Now I know that it's not enough calories but I'm enjoying a couple of whisky's with diet lemonade - 150 kcals and I'll put any spare calories towards tomorrow ( 566) as I don't want to go too low at this point. If I have to lower my calorie intake down to 1000 for a couple of weeks then I can later on.

Debs