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Spinach Gives Dishes A Lift

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Basella alba, or Malabar spinach (also Pooi le...

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I grew up with Popeye on TV, though in our house, admittedly, it was in black & white. Popeye got his strength from spinach and I suspect there’s an entire generation of children who grew up associating spinach with strength and Popeye. (Of course my entire image of Popeye was ruined by Mad Comic, but that’s not really relevant!)

Spinach isn’t one of those vegetables that I eat that often. I don’t know why, but it never quite made it on to my list of “staples”. You’ll always find pasta, tuna and tomato in my kitchen, but spinach (in any form) is usually absent.

Over the last couple of weeks, however, it’s been an ingredient in several recipes that I’ve prepared and I have to say I really like it. You can cook it in a number of ways and add it as a simple vegetable side or combine it in sauces.

But, more importantly when you’re on a diet, it’s really really good for you. Spinach contains oodles of vitamins (A, C, E and K), as well as being a good source of iron and calcium (odd that!), so not only does it taste good, but it also does your body good!

I’ve found it fresh, in tins or as frozen balls. The frozen balls are handy if you just want to add a “taste” and are cooking for one.  A full tin won’t kill you, but I know it’s not to everyone’s taste.

I like it anyway 🙂

Pita With Chicken

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Foccacia with mozzarella and tomatoes

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The recipes provided by Tesco Diets are pretty good and varied, but I’ve ended up reworking quite a few of them. Either because I didn’t quite have all the ingredients (finding ricotta in Tesco proved impossible, though SuperQuinn did have it) or I needed to finish off an open pack of something.

Bearing in mind that I have to keep my daily intake of calories to within about 10% of their recommendation it’s not that hard to swap things around a bit and add more vegetables etc., Obviously if you add stuff that’s high in calories then you’re going to have problems maintaining your daily quota. (I know the diet takes into consideration more than just mere calories, but it’s the easiest thing to keep an eye on when you’re tweaking).

One of their recipes is for “Pitta calzone with chicken and tomato”. It’s not bad, but could be improved upon 🙂 So I took their recipe and added in a couple of extras, namely garlic and onion, plus a more diverse range of herbs. The end result is pretty good, though you may need to play with the quantities a bit depending on the size of the pitta bread you’re using. (I didn’t realise there were so many different types of wholewheat pitta bread until I started this diet! I used to just grab some pitta to have in the freezer as a “standby”. Now I’m consciously selecting which pitta I want – oh what have I become?)

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Pitta With Chicken

This is really tasty, but the pitta might fall apart so make sure you have a knife and fork to hand when eating it!
Course Dinner, Main Course
Cuisine International
Keyword chicken, pitta
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 1

Ingredients

  • 2 pitta bread
  • 2 to matoes diced
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1/2 onion
  • 100 g chicken fillet uncooked
  • 40-50 g mozzarella roughly half a ball
  • 1 tsp Mixed herbs
  • Black pepper to taste - can be omitted
  • 1 tbsp Thyme
  • tbsp Oregano

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 190C
  2. Slice the mozzarella and put to one side
  3. Dice the tomato, onion and garlic
  4. Mix together with the herbs and oregano (remember to rub the oregano between your hands to release the flavour)
  5. Slice the chicken into thin strips / pieces.
  6. Fill the pitta bread with the tomato mix and chicken
  7. Top with the slices of mozzarella
  8. Cook in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes (fan ovens may take less time)
  9. Serve and enjoy

Recipe Notes

Make sure that the chicken slices are thin or they may not cook through fully. Depending on what kind of tray or plate you use in the oven make sure that the pitta are not on top of each other, or the chicken will not cook, while everything else will be brown

 

Sticking To A Diet When On The Road – Any Tips?

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A salad platter.

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I travel quite a bit for work. I love it. Or at least I used to. I still love travelling, but now I’m determined to get this body of mine under control and stick to the diet a whole new set of challenges opens up.

So I’m now practically dreading it because I’m really worried about being able to stick to my diet when I’m “on the road”.

There are three meals a day that I need to get through somehow.

Breakfast shouldn’t be an issue. Unless I end up in some really bizarre hotel they’ll have cereals and fruit etc., so if anything I might get more variety than I do at the moment.

Lunch could be the first hurdle. If I’m eating out in a restaurant ordering something light like a salad shouldn’t be a problem. However a lot of the time you don’t really have a choice. If you’re at a conference you have to eat whatever is available.

And what about dinner in the evening? It scares the hell out of me! Sure, if there’s a restaurant involved with a menu that I can order salad or something light off, then I’ll be ok, but there’s no guarantees.

How to other people manage it?

What kind of things are “safe”? What is best avoided? I can think of a few obvious things, but beyond that I get rather stuck.

So if anyone has any helpful tips I’d love to hear them!

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Scrambled Eggs Without Butter

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On weekdays I stick to simple and easy breakfasts ie. the most complicated equipment needed being a kettle and the toaster.

At the weekend, however, I’m not in a hurry and I don’t have to get up until I feel like it. So making scrambled egg for breakfast is a good option. I’ve always associated scrambled eggs with butter. When you’re on a diet, however, butter isn’t exactly something that you’re going to be shoving on anything – never mind using enough of it to cook!

Fry Light Sunflower Oil Spray

Fry Light Sunflower Oil Spray

The solution, apparently, is to use a low calorie spray instead. One of the more popular options in Ireland seems to be Fry Light Sunflower Oil Spray which is pretty versatile. I was curious about how the product stacked up in terms of calories, cholesterol etc., so here’s the breakdown:

  • Less than 1 calorie per spray
  • no cholesterol
  • gluten free
  • no artificial preservatives
  • suitable for shallow frying, roasting and baking

And based on my limited experience of using it the taste is fine ie. you don’t actually notice.

So here’s the recipe for making scrambled eggs for one person using a light sunflower oil spray instead of butter:

Fry Light Sunflower Oil Spray
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Scrambled Eggs Without Butter

This is a tasty and quite filling breakfast when you have the time to make it
Course Breakfast
Cuisine French
Keyword eggs, omelette
Prep Time 1 minute
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 6 minutes
Servings 1

Ingredients

  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons of low fat milk
  • mixed herbs to taste
  • black pepper
  • 2 slices of brown bread or toast made from brown bread
  • low fat spread
  • Fry Light Sunflower Oil Spray or equivalent

Instructions

  1. Beat the egg in a bowl with the milk
  2. Add any herbs you want to add extra flavour
  3. Heat a frying pan and cover it with a couple of squirts of the oil spray
  4. Pour the egg mixture into the pan
  5. When the egg mixture begins to set stir it energetically with a wooden spoon or spatula
  6. Keep stirring until the egg is cooked enough for your taste
  7. Serve the egg on the bread

You’ll notice that it’s only using one egg and a small quantity of milk, but you really don’t need anything more.

 

Supermarkets Don’t Like Singles

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Supermarket

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Supermarkets seem to hate single people. They probably aren’t really aware that they hate us, but they obviously do.

Apart from a couple of exceptions, such as Marks & Spencers, most supermarkets assume that there are at least two people eating their food. Want some chicken? It’s a pack for two? Want a bit of pork? No problem, but it’s a pack for two people.

Why is that?

Well I kind of know the answer to the question, but it doesn’t make it any less annoying.

I’d love to be able to go into a shop and not have to buy packets of food that are designed for two or more people. I hate wasting food. I was brought up to respect food and not to waste it, so I’ve spent years eating more than I probably should have done due to the way supermarkets package food.

You could ague that there’s nothing to stop me (or anyone else) from holding over the other half of a pack of meat (or whatever), but the reality is that once you open the pack the meat starts to go off. Sure it’ll probably still be edible, but it starts drying out and looks distinctly inedible.

The solution?

Shop somewhere that has a butcher’s counter and get the butcher to give you only what you need. It might cost a little bit more than the packaged meat, but you’ll get to choose the cuts that you want and you won’t end up being tempted by the leftovers.

In Ireland we still have a number of excellent craft butchers, so if you can get to one it will be worth your while plus you’ll also be supporting local business. Where I live there are a couple nearby and SuperQuinn has a very good butcher on site. Other supermarkets can be a bit “touch and go”. Tesco’s meat counter isn’t exactly stellar, though that might vary depending on where you live. Dunnes Stores’ meat counter isn’t exactly amazing either, so I wouldn’t use it unless I had no choice. As far as I know none of the discount supermarkets have a butcher in store, so they’re out.

If anyone knows of Irish supermarket chains that actually cater to singles I’d love to know about them.

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Getting My Cooking Mojo Back

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Goulash

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Living alone and working odd hours means that it’s all too easy to get lazy when it comes to food. Hungry? Eat. Don’t have any food to hand? Order a pizza from Dominos, or jump onto Just Eat..

End result? Let’s just say it hasn’t helped.

Not cooking also meant that I’ve got out of the habit of doing it. But with the diet I’m now on I have to cook and prepare food every day (though I’ve managed to make it as easy as possible!).

The knives, strainers, weighing scales, wooden spoons, ladles etc., have all been dusted off and are now in constant use.

I’m loving it!

I’ve also found that some of my kitchen gear is really lacking. Chopping boards aren’t “exciting”, but I’ve grown to hate the ones I have, as they don’t have any lip and food just goes all over the place.

So off to buy a new chopping board or two!

Body Mass Index

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English: The graph shows the correlation betwe...

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Weight by itself is completely meaningless.

You have to put it into the context of a person’s height and build.

Body Mass Index (BMI) is probably the most common way of calculating this using a mathematical formula.

It’s not a new formula, as a bit of research revealed. It’s been around since the 19th century and was originally known as the Quetelet Index, after its inventor Adophe Quetelet.

Since he was Belgian the formula is based on the metric system (woohoo!)

To calculate your BMI you simply use this formula:

BMI =
( kg/m² )		 weight in kilograms
————————————
height in meters²

The result of the calculation will tell you (roughly) how worried you need to be.

BMI Weight Status
Below 18.5 Underweight
18.5 -24.9 Normal
25 – 29.9 Overweight
30 & Above Obese

Of course if you don’t want to sit down with a calculator and do the math yourself there are plenty of free BMI calculators available online – many of which allow you to input either Imperial or Metric measurements and also offer you the option to compare your results to other people in the same age group.

My own BMI is dropping, as I shed weight (maybe “shed” is a little dramatic, but it sounds good!), but I’m still way above 25. I probably was in the 18.5 – 25 range when I was in my 20s, but I’m now heading towards 40 and getting that number back down is not going to be easy.

But, and this is sort of fun to watch, with every weigh in I can see that number changing. Based on my past experiences weight goes up and down even if you’re doing your best to stick to a diet, so I expect it to fluctuate.

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