Day 51: Loc Lac

Today’s Exercise: 34 minutes on Wii Fit, 11,500 steps

Sometimes we are attracted to food because of the ingredients. Other times it is because it is part of a certain cuisine. For today’s recipe the reason that bookmarked the page was because the name brought a smile to my face. Go on. Say it out loud. Loc lac. It’s one of those words like ‘bungalow’ that is guaranteed to give you a grin. Unless it’s just me which, in that case, completely disregard this idea.

Anyways, loc lac is a chance to add another country to my growing list of Thin Cooking nations. Due to some recipes existing currently in the cache limbo, incase I fall ill or anything, there are a number of countries that I have yet to cover here but have already added to my list. One nation on there which has yet to be added, for the sheer reason that I am yet to write it up, is the Ivory Coast. So I guess y’all be reading about those biscuits around my birthday since I sure as hell ain’t cooking dinner then. Hahahaha.

Ingredients (serves 3)

• 200g chicken breast, cut into chunks
• 225g peeled prawns
• 1.5 tsp sugar
• 1.5 tsp salt
• 1.5 tsp ground black pepper
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 pinches of chilli flakes
• 3 tsp oil
• 3 tbsp tomato ketchup
• 3 tbsp oyster sauce
• 3 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1.5 onions, very finely chopped
• 6 leaves cos lettuce

Mix together the black pepper, salt, sugar, ketchup, oyster sauce, chilli flakes and garlic. Add the chicken and prawns and stir well so that they are completely covered by the sauce. Place this in the fridge for 1-2 hours to let the flavours sink in.

Heat a wok with some low-calorie spray and then add the onion. Stir fry for a minute and then add the chicken and prawns with all the marinade. Stir fry this for 8-10 minutes to make sure it is cooked through. Serve with 2 leaves of cos lettuce (and some steamed rice if possible).

Adapted from here

Verdict: This is very different to anything I have cooked so far due to the power of the black pepper. Some of us had to drink a bit of Pepsi Max between large bites. This was actually lessened by taking a bite with the rice, meat and the lettuce. I thought two great leaves of lettuce looked a bit… out-of-place but when you actually have the loc lac they are a god send.

Maybe next time I’d half the amount of black pepper… maybe that way my mum can finish it. Haha.

Calorie Count: 176 calories per serving (plus rice)

Day 50: Virgin Sangria

Today’s Exercise: 10,500 steps

Ah the August bank holiday, the true time to have a BBQ and do that back to school shopping for the little bairns. It is also a sign that summer has all but left us (granted this month hasn’t quite yielded the amazing weather we expect). Hope remains that there may be some warm days to come in September and as such today’s recipe is a drink I have made myself a few times to enjoy the summer sunshine.

What’s this though? Virgin sangria!? Seriously though I have made this for many different people (first time for my good university friends Emma and Hannah) and most who have tried this have enjoyed it and always gone for that second glass. Good sign me thinks ^^.

If you have an open mind then is a gorgeous little summer drink that sits well in a pitcher. If not then regular sangria is possibly the healthiest alcoholic drink you can make (see article) so if you are entertaining a bunch of people it would be a nice idea to maybe make a pitcher of both and then truly decide for yourself which is nicer. But seriously, who doesn’t like a good mocktail?

Ingredients (makes about 7-8 servings):

• 1 litre pomegranate juice
• 500ml mango juice
• 1 orange
• 6-8 strawberries
• 2 kiwis
• 1 mango or papaya (I use mango as can usually never find papaya)

Mix the juices together in a pitcher and set aside. Then peel the orange, kiwis and mango. Wash all the fruit and thinly slice then put them all in the pitcher with the juices. Give it a good stir then leave in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving.

Adapted from here

Verdict: The original recipe calls for a lot of sugar but if you buy decent juices (like Rubicon brand mango juice) then the sugar actually makes the drink taste a tad artificial and nowhere near as refreshing. This version is lovely but would definitely feel out-of-place when it isn’t summer, so drink up while you can.

Calorie Count: 139 per serving (assuming you actually eat the fruit which, to be honest, no one ever does)

Week 7: Weigh In

Current Weight: 228 pounds

Weight change from last week: 2 pounds down

Total lost so far: 16 pounds

What is that in the corner of my post? Why, my good sir or madam, it is a bottle of Ketjap.

What? Ketjap. It’s an Indonesian sweet soy sauce used to make Satay sauce.

Why? Well we had a BBQ today and (seeing how my Dutch boyfriend moved in this week) I decided to make satay sauce for the sausages, chicken and other such gubbins one has when using smouldering coals to heat up food.

Typically speaking this is not a Thin Cooking recipe because of the generous quantities of peanut butter involved (if you want a recipe for it just ask) but the reason that I mention it is because of the sheer and utter mission it was to find ketjap. There are other things that are hard to find (such a Boemboe Sate and Sambal Olek) but his lovely family sent them over with a jar of true Dutch peanut butter. However, ketjap is actually a rather central ingredient so the search started early last week and culminated in its amazing discovery this morning in an out-of-the-way Tescos.Saying that such a discovery didn’t make me squeal like a little girl would be a lie… ah well I now have ketjap.

Alongside this I managed to get some Tom Yum paste, hoisin sauce and some tamarind (I could have gotten some galangal but I thought that would give me an excuse to go back soon. All in all it’s been an interesting week for food searching.

Day 47: Bacon Wrapped Monkfish in a Thai Green Curry Sauce

Today’s Exercise: 33 minutes on Wii Fit, 10,500 steps

I have never cooked with fish before. Phew it’s better getting that out into the open. Ok I have made a pasta bake with tinned tuna and cooked putanesca using anchovies in a jar NEVER have I ever cooked using an actual fillet of fish. The first thing that really struck me was how cold it made my hands. I have handled refrigerated meat before but the fish actually makes you feel cold to the bone.

In any case with the first piece of fish that I have handled being so *cough* expensive this really couldn’t go wrong. Monkfish itself is rather interesting, especially the etymology of its name. Supposedly it comes from when a large specimen washed up on a European shore and, because of the elongated lower jaw, it resembled a monk. Due to this the creature became known as the ‘sea monk’. When a live version of this fish was found it was therefore dubbed a ‘monkfish’ because of the legends that began to spring up due to the early sighting.

There, now you can’t say that I don’t provide interesting stories. Even if most of my posts include rants about Morrisons not having ingredients I need.

Ingredients (serves 3):

• 250g monkfish fillet
• 250g smoked streaky bacon, halved
• 1 aubergine, diced into 3-4cm cubes
• 1 jar pre-prepared Thai Green Curry sauce (they recommend Loyd Grossman but I used Sharwoods)
• 2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius. Use low-calorie spray oil to coat a baking dish and the add the chopped aubergine. Then wrap the monkfish in the bacon and place on top of the aubergine. Bake this for 20 minutes.

Then take it out of the oven pour over the sauce and bake for a further 10 minutes. When cooked sprinkle the chopped coriander on top and serve. We had it with steamed jasmine rice.

Adapted from here

Verdict: If there was a fictional character that I could use to describe this dish it would be Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’s Truly Scrumptuous. Although the aubergine seeds made it a tad bitty the flavours were vibrant and delicious. The smokey flavours of the bacon marinated the fish giving it an even stronger taste whilst the aubergine cubes soaked up a lot of flavour from the sauce and the juices of both the monkfish and the bacon.

It’s a pity monkfish is expensive (thanks for the treat mum) as otherwise I would happily make this again.

Calorie Count: 405 per serving

Day 46: Asian Vegetable Noodle Soup

Today’s Exercise: 32 minutes on Wii Fit, 12,000 steps

Call me crazy (hears the distant call of ‘you’re crazy) but my new obsession with cooking appears to be trying to cover as many nation’s cuisines as possible when I am looking up recipes. Yesterday marked a first appearance for Italy (win!) SO today marks… no new country. Blerg.

The reason for this recipe was that I randomly found a head of Napa cabbage in Sainsbury’s (great to see more than one supermarket are stocking it now) so HAD to buy it. However, it also meant that I was searching until midnight for a decent recipe. It would have taken less time if there wasn’t copyright issues with a delicious Vietnamese recipe (double blerg!!!).

Nevertheless in came myrecipes.com (one of my new favourite recipe sites) to the rescue with a tasty sounding vegetable noodle soup. God bless recipe databases.

Ingredients (serves 3):

• 6 spring onions (including leaves), chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp fresh ginger, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp chilli flakes
• 1 litre  water
• 1 litre stock (I use my own chicken stock, but this can easily be made using vegetable stock)
• 4  carrots, peeled and in diagonal slices about 1/4 inch thick
• 1.5 pound napa cabbage, shred the leaves and chop the stalks into quarters lengthways
• 3/4  tsp salt (try to use Lo-Salt)
• Grated zest of 1 lemon
• 2  tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4  pound noodles (preferably vermicelli… but as if I could find those today!)
• 1 1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil

In a large saucepan fry up the spring onions, garlic and ginger with some spray oil. Do this for a minute and then add the chilli flakes, water, stock and soy sauce. Bring this mixture to the boil.

Then add the carrots and simmer for 5 minutes. Follow this with half of the cabbage and the salt, stir and cook for 5 minutes. Then add the rest of the cabbage with the lemon zest for a simmering of 5 further minutes and then stir in the lemon juice. Keep the soup hot on the lowest possible flame.

Now cook the noodles as per the package instructions. When cooked strain and then toss with the sesame oil. Divide them between the three bowls and ladle the soup over and enjoy.

Adapted from here

Verdict: Seeing how this is essentially glorified cabbage soup I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed it. Minor niggle is that it COULD have been more flavourful. It doesn’t help that I was unable to find bok choy so had to double the amount of napa cabbage. The bok choy would have added an extra peppery/mustardy hint which would have been much appreciated.

For extra flavour I would suggest adding maybe a dash of soy sauce to allow a fuller taste. Also, whilst one of the people who ate it could have done with less lemon flavouring I for one liked the subtle layers of sweet and sour that the zest and juice added.

In the end, this is a great base recipe that you can add other things too… such as wontons.

Calorie Count: 267 per serving

Day 45: Spaghetti Carbonara

Today’s Exercise: 32 minutes on Wii Fit, 1o,000 steps

For no reason whatsoever I finished my workout today with a complete and utter thirst for Spaghetti Carbonara. It was after this that I realised that no pasta dishes had yet been covered (or Italian food for that matter) so I dug up my own recipe (which was, in fact, the first recipe I ever shared with a friend) and used my new favourite website to find out the calorie count.

BIG MISTAKE!!! When I found out each serving was about 900 calories the word ‘shock’ didn’t even begin to cover it. So I resolved to make a version that is better for the waistline: and here it is.

(Sorry for the blurriness, using the boyfriend’s camera as mine was full)

Ingredients (serves 3):

• 250g dried spaghetti
• 3 egg yolks, beaten
• 4 tbsp white wine
• 2 garlic cloves, halved
• 15g low-fat spread (preferably Flora Light)
• 6 slices turkey bacon, cut into cubes
• 1/2 cup parmesan, grated
• low-fat oil spray

Firstly mix the egg yolks together with the parmesan and set aside. Then heat a few sprays in a large frying pan (or wok) and cook the garlic halves for 2-3 minutes, just don’t let them burn. Then add the bacon pieces and cook them for 5 minutes, continually stirring them so (again) they don’t burn. Then add the wine, stir it in and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the wine has fully evaporated. Then take the bacon off the heat and set aside.

Cook the spaghetti as per instructions then strain (keeping a mug of the water) and then add the spaghetti to the bacon mix and toss. Follow this with the butter and cheese mix. If the sauce is a little bit dry then add some of the discarded pasta water.

Verdict: For an improvised low-fat version of a much beloved pasta dish we were all very impressed with how tasty this was. For a low-calorie pasta dish I was especially surprised with how creamy the sauce was too. This was (for me) as good as the version I used to make (for half the calories!), fantastic.

Note that the white wine is essential to this recipe as it well and truly brings out the taste of the turkey bacon.

Calorie Count: 468 per serving

Day 44: Sweet Potato Chips

When a vegetable tastes as good as sweet potato then I am always suspicious of its nutritional value. I mean we don’t count normal potatoes as vegetables do we? But no! They are filled with antioxidants, minerals, fibre and Vitamins A and C. Such a pleasant surprise and as such I dug up recipe to make this delicious tubers into chips.

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• pinch of paprika
• 3-4 sweet potatoes, cut in half then each ours into four smaller pieces

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius and use a low-calories oil to grease a baking tray. Then mix the olive oil and paprika in a bowl, add the sweet potato and shake to cover. Then bake for 40 minutes.

Adapted from here

Verdict: Having tried making this multiple times in the past I am resigned to the fact that you can never make sweet potato chips that are truly crispy. However, despite that these were mighty tasty and simple to say the least. The only hardship is actually cutting the sweet potato which is tough but, in the end, worth it.

Calorie Count: 320 per serving

Week 6: Weigh In

Current Weight: 230 pounds

Weight Change From Last Weigh In: 6 pounds down

Weight Lost So Far: 14 pounds

That’s right peeps I am back!

I had a fantabulous time in Australia and then a great getaway to London with the boyfriend and two of our great friends (followed by a  real sadness at seeing them head up north again).

To my own abject shock I haven’t actually put any weight on but have, in fact, lost over a pound a week. Whilst it is true that I did try not to just eat cheese and sit around for my jaunt down under and into the English capital it isn’t as if I was as strict with myself. Actually in the last few days I have eaten nothing but fast food!!!

Maybe now I have calorie counts in my head I am instinctively avoiding the big fatty foods. For example I had a salad instead of fries when we went to McDonald’s (yea the cashier had a slight shocked expression on his face). Now, however, I am back in the metaphorical saddle (henceforth known as the kitchen) and I have a whole bunch of new recipes to make for my happy little culinary guinea pigs.

TO THE KITCHEN!!!

Day 39: Garlic and Coriander Rice

As you have seen I don’t exactly make my own recipes. Instead I prefer to use those written by others with the exception of this one. The reason that I made this is because my mum has a thing for coriander leaf… seriously for a while she would add it to everything or ask me to cook only things that could be supplemented with them. Therefore I invented this as a perfect side dish to any chinese-influenced recipes that I wanted to make.

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 400ml water
• 2 chicken stock cubes (if possible it is better to use 1 and a half)
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 150g jasmine rice (or long-grain rice)
• 1/2 handful of fresh coriander leaf, chopped

Rinse the rice in a sieve with some tap water. Then put the oil, garlic, 400ml of water and stock in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and then stir-in the rice. Put the lid on the saucepan and cook for 10-12 minutes (or until the liquid has been completely absorbed).

Finally fluff it with a fork, stir in the coriander and serve.

Verdict: I always love making this and it always goes down a storm at home. What more is there to ask?

Calorie Count: 280 per serving

Day 37: Red Cabbage

So at the weekends I don’t traditionally cook since that is my task during the week. However, seeing how I have started this blog I am opting to cook side dishes so that I build up a backlog of blog entries that I can wheel out when I am revisiting a past recipe, feeling too ill to cook or for some reason am eating out. Therefore enjoy this vegetable accompaniment made on July 18th to my mum’s roast gammon, then I made it again the day after when I made myself the rest of the gammon in the form of a stir-fry.

Ingredients (serves 2 as a side):

• low-fat oil spray
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 8oz red cabbage, shredded
• 4oz apples, peeled, cored and diced
• 1/2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated
• 2 pinches of ground cinnamon
• 250-300ml vegetable stock
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat a few sprays of the oil in a medium saucepan. Add the onion, red cabbage and apple and cook gently for 5 minutes. Add the ginger and cinnamon and the vegetable stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer gently for 15-20  minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated and the vegetables are tender. Give it a good stir every minute or so to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Adapted from here

Verdict: This is the first time that I have had to correct a recipe whilst I was cooking it as something just didn’t seem right. Firstly I added an extra pinch of cinnamon as otherwise there was very little taste but also I quadrupled the amount of stock required. The original recipe, when halved, called for 75ml of vegetable stock but having put this in it disappeared immediately and there was a high likelihood that the cabbage would burn. As such I made it up to about 300ml. The end result may have tasted a bit salty (note for next time, do not add extra salt) but it was delicious and moist.

The apples added a subtle sweetness that well complimented the dish, but when I make this for christmas I am likely going to add a tablespoon of cranberry sauce or subliment the stock with some fruit juice so that this has the perfect mix of spice and sweet whilst also tasting very much like Christmas.

Calorie Count: 75 calories per serving