Fat Fighters

Ok....

Not that great at taking pictures of meals sometimes....so this does not do it justice.

It is only about 350 cals (best I could work out) and low fat.

SERVES 4....

ingredients:

450g (1 lb) cooked chicken meat (skinned
6 crisp lettuce leaves (such as iceburg) shredded
8 button mushrooms - sliced
2 largish tomoatoes - sliced
1 red pepper..seeded and diced
4 hard boiled eggs, chopped.

dressing :

3 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 tablespoon red wine or malt vinegar
half teaspoon soy sauce
quarter TEASPOON French Mustard or same of English Mustard Powder
Chopped Parsley to garnish
Season to taste.

method :

1....Cut chicken meat into thin strips or chunks and reserve. Arrange lettuce on serving plate.

2....Arrange prepared vegetables, chopped eggs and chicken attractively in rows on lettuce.

3....Make dressing. Put all ingredients in screw top jar and shake. Spoon a little over reserving rest to serve seperate

Serve with nice home made bread.

Oh...the craving....

'Chis and Flips' as we affectionally say when we don't want people to know we are going to stuff our faces with all that batter and soggy chips.

I worked out a recipe that gives you NO MORE than 410 kcal per portion
Ok takes about an hour to sort but is well worth it.

Ingredients

* Four white fish fillets
* Two tablespoons milk
* 75g fresh breadcrumbs
* Cooking spray – such as Fry Light
* Salt and black pepper
* One egg
* 900g peeled potatoes
* Vegetable oil

Cut the potatoes into 1.5 cm wide chips, and add to a pan of boiling water. Cover and cook until the chips are just tender, then drain. Beat the egg, milk and seasoning together in a shallow dish, pat the fish dry and dip it in the mixture, and then in the breadcrumbs. Place on a baking tray and spray with the low fat cooking spray.

Add the oil and the chips to a large bowl and coat them well. Put the chips onto a baking tray, season well and cook for 20 minutes at the top of the oven. Cook the fish for fifteen minutes.

Serve the fish and chips with a side salad, or some peas. Alternatively, you could make your own mushy peas with frozen peas, Greek yoghurt and lemon juice.

This low fat dessert recipe for cheesecake uses ricotta - a good protein provider for what is also an easy low fat dessert recipe, that everyone will love.

Serves 8 persons

Preheat the oven to 180C, 350F, gas 4. Prepare an 18cm round loose-based flan tin.

Ingredients

75g white self-raising flour

2 tablespoons caster sugar

2 teaspoons sifted cocoa powder

30g low-fat margarine

2 teaspoons water

1 egg yolk

Ricotta filling ingredients

150g low-fat ricotta cheese

1 egg

1 egg yolk

70g low-fat plain yogurt

55g caster sugar

2 teaspoons white plain flour

2 tablespoons dark chocolate chips

2 teaspoons of coffee-flavoured liqueur.

Method

In a large mixing bowl add self-raising flour, the sugar, sifted cocoa powder and low-fat margarine. Mix until even breadcrumbs are formed. Add the water and egg yolk, and mix until it forms a dough. Knead the pastry for a couple of minutes on a floured surface until smooth. Cover and refrigerate for 30mins to rest.

When ready, gently roll the pastry and then cover and press over the prepared flan-tin. Cover the pastry with baking paper, leaving an extra 5cm all the way round. Fill and cover with baking beans or rice.

Bake in the preheated oven for ten minutes. Take out the pastry from the oven and remove the paper and beans. Then bake for a further five minutes, or until the pastry is a light golden brown. Leave to cool.

To make the cheesecake ricotta filling.

With an electric mixer in a medium sized mixing bowl, mix the ricotta, the egg yolk and whole egg, yogurt, sugar and flour, until smooth. Then add the choc chips and liqueur, and mix through the mixture.

Pour into the cooled pastry case and fill evenly. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cool. Chill before adding fruit and decoration

NOTE: The above pic is a DOUBLE layer with a vanilla layer topped with strawberry.

DIET FOR STRESS: This diet is designed to help you cope with the
stress that builds up during the day.

Breakfast:
1/2 grapefruit
1 slice whole wheat toast
8 oz. skim milk

Lunch:
4 oz. lean broiled chicken breast
1 cup steamed spinach
1 cup herb tea
1 Oreo cookie

Mid-Afternoon snack:
The rest of Oreos in the package
2 pints Rocky Road ice cream, nuts, cherries and whipped cream
1 jar hot fudge sauce

Dinner:
2 loaves garlic bread
4 cans or 1 large pitcher Coke
1 large sausage, mushroom, and cheese pizza
3 Snickers bars

Late Evening Snack:
Entire frozen Sara Lee cheesecake (eaten directly from freezer)

Additional Rules for this Diet:

1. If you eat something and no one sees you eat it, it has no calories.
2. When you eat with someone else, calories don't count if you do
not eat more than they do.
3. Food used for medicinal purposes NEVER count, such as hot chocolate,
brandy, toast and Sara Lee Cheesecake.
4. If you fatten up everyone else around you, then you look thinner.
5. Things licked off knives and spoons have no calories if you
are in the process of preparing something.
6. Anything consumed while standing has no calories. This is due
to gravity and the density of the caloric mass.
7. Anything consumed from someone else's plate has no calories
since the calories rightfully belong to the other person and
will cling to his/her plate.

REMEMBER: STRESSED SPELLED BACKWARDS IS DESSERTS.

My daughter is 35 weeks pregnant and I am sorting some recipes for 'after birth' for her to lose those pounds and myself, as I had an accident near a year back and have shoved on a few myself.

Looking to cook and freeze....this one came to mind.

SERVES 2 so easily adapted....

Ingredients

* 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast fillets
* 2 cloves garlic, chopped
* 1 tablespoon dried rosemary
* 1 tablespoon lemon juice
* salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preparation method

1. Preheat oven to 190 C / Gas mark 5.
2. Cover the chicken breasts with garlic, then sprinkle with rosemary, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Place in a baking dish and bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until juices run clear (baking time will depend on the thickness of your chicken breasts).

Can be served with either green veg, salad or even rice.

What's happened to all the good ideas?

A laugh is as good as shedding a few calories on a treadmill..

Now I am all about losing weight at present...was a chef but had an accident and broke my neck. Since I have been home (and inactive - shoved on way over 16 pounds in weight) these last 10 months.

Many may think that to even THINK about eating curry (or derivations) this weather is unheard of...but it is actually quite a nice meal easpecially when couple with BBQ food.

Some time ago I devised a wrap which could be eaten hot or cold.

At only 289 kcal, protein 12g, carbohydrate 54g, fat 5 g, saturated fat 0g, fibre 5g, salt 1.08 g

SERVES 4 PERSONS

You can use your own variation of veg but here is mine...

CHAPPATI

Ingredients

* 325g Fine wholemeal flour
* 1 tbs oil
* 250ml Water
* Handful Flour for dusting

METHOD

Mix flour and oil in a bowl and rub lightly. Add water gradually whilst kneading until a soft dough is formed. Cover the bowl and leave for 10 minutes.

Divide the dough up into 12 to 14 small portions.

Lightly flour your working surface and dust one portion at a time, roll it with a rolling pin on the work surface, using more flour as necessary to prevent it sticking

Once you have rolled out all the disks, heat a frying pan and place the rolled chapati in the pan. Cook one side for 20 to 30 seconds, turn it over and then cook the other side.

These can be stored on a plate and covered with a kitchen towel until you are ready to eat them, If they get too cold, you can heat up quickly in the microwave for a few seconds.

FILLING

Small sweet potato
8 cherry tomato
small can chick peas
1 tsp mild/medium curry paste
500g spinach
1/2 tsp corinader

1. Cook the sweet potatoes in a pan of boiling water for 10-12 minutes until tender. Meanwhile, put the tomatoes, chickpeas, and curry paste in another pan and simmer gently for about 5 minutes.
2. Preheat the grill. Drain the sweet potatoes and add to the tomato mixture. Stir in the spinach and cook for a minute until just starting to wilt. Stir in the coriander, season to taste and keep warm.
3. Sprinkle the chapatis with a little water and grill for 20-30 seconds each side. Spoon on the filling, top with yogurt and fold in half to serve.

Sorry I've been away from here so long, there just wasn't anything to report (neither weight loss nor gain) but now I'm back with some good information:

According to this article, "Gentlemen prefer Miss Average: The 'perfect' centrefold body is ousted by homely shape of girl-next-door in new study"

They go on to say: "It is a finding that will quicken the hearts of size 14 women everywhere - gentlemen prefer Miss Average.
Men find the homely shape of the girl-next-door more appealing than the 'perfect' proportions of models and centrefolds, a study found.
Most attractive of all is Miss Average - a 5ft 4in female with a 30in waist and 40in hips who wears a size 14."

Click on the above link for the whole article.

And have a little snack now
Just don't overdo it!! xx

My son is getting married at the end of August and the outfit, photos and "most fabulous mother-of-the-groom" award are waving to me!
Every now and again, I take three days and eat nothing but fruit and vegetables. In the past I did it regularly but havent for a couple of years or so. So, to help to continue my (slow) weight loss I have breathed life into it again.
Today...day 1...I had a kiwi and a clementine for breakfast with hot water with a slice of lemon in it.
Lunch was (as I was out and about and wasnt prepared) a large, hastily bought banana (not ideally enough, but on day one my not-too-noticeable hunger pangs coped).
Evening meal was a jacket potato with carrots and cabbage (the same as my family but without the meatloaf and gravy!). Probably an apple later.
I allow myself black coffee, water and herbal teas but nothing else.
Tomorrow I will make a pan of veg soup for variety.
As I only ever do this for 3 days at a time I dont have too much time to get bored or overly tempted .
At the end however I will not only have lost weight, but will have a relatively squeeky inside and a feeling of achievement.
Yes I know it is only about 500/600 calories a day but it just nudges the scales, my incentive and my discipline back into action. I will be less likely to want to undo the good when Friday morning arrives.

I had been off since last week Wednesday - and have eaten so much food that my face has a remarkable similarity to the full moon (again!).

Don't even dare to step on the scales

Unless I do it this way:

Click for larger picture. (sorry if I've posted this before)

You all have a successful week!!

xx