Blogtober.

Hello all.

I've decided to start my blog up again. It's been a over year since I posted something my blog and what a time it's been! 

I saw the idea on YouTube about others posting daily videos naming it 'vlogtober'. Most that I've seen are recipe videos so that is exactly what i'm doing to do but in blog form! Lets see if I actually can keep it up! 

Laura x

Simply Cook BBQ Tandoori Chicken.

So I decided a few weeks back to try out a simply cook box. There has been offers going about for £1/£3 for your first box instead of £8.99, it's very easy to cancel your subscription if you don't want to carry on. You can also choose which box you would like! I chose the box that has meals under 600 calories. For my first simply cook meal I decided to make this;

For each recipe which is in the box you get a wee recipe card and a box of spices to go along with it. You also have a tear off part of the card for a shopping list for yourself. 

For the tandoori chicken you had a box of smoked chilli blend and tandoori paste. If got myself a large bowl, added my boneless chicken thighs & squeezed the juice of a whole lemon, covered the chicken with the smoked chilli blend then added the tandoori paste and natural yoghurt. You mix this really well and leave to marinade for as long as possible, I only had 30 minutes to marinade mine! 

Whilst the chicken was marinating I then got into my sweet potato wedges. As it was only me having sweet potato I cut up one large sweet potato into wedges, moved them into a mixing bowl, sprayed them with frylight and sprinkled over the seasoning that came in the box. The recipe says 20-25 minutes but mines took about 35-40 minutes so just keep checking! 

To cook the chicken you have an option to do them in the oven or grill them. As I never had room in my oven I decided to do them in the George Foreman grill, they took about 7-8 minutes roughly but I just kept checking them to see if they were cooked. Some pieces of chicken took longer than usual because of the size. I just served mine with the wedges, salad and a dollop of leftover natural yoghurt on the side! 

& verdict? I'm not sure about it! It was good to try something different but other than that nothing special! I wasn't quite sure in the seasoning for the wedges, they tasted quite like a herby spice? I prefer paprika/Cayene pepper or peri peri salt from nandos on mine. The chicken was alright but parts of mine wasn't cooked, the rest was fine! I'm not used to using boneless chicken thighs, I don't like any chicken on the bone and I'm used to using chicken breast all the time! So maybe if I do try it again it'll be chicken breast for sure! 

Verdict;

5/10

Laura x

Quick and easy low calorie 'garlic pitta bread'

So tonight I had planned to have Tuna Pasta Salad for my dinner, everytime I have this I always enjoy it with garlic bread. On the bus home from work I normally check the tesco app and calories of the items I want to purchase. Upon checking the garlic bread calories no matter what kind I looked at from slices, ciabatta, baguettes and even the low fat garlic bread they all came to around 140-180 calories per ONE slice. I was totally shocked. I couldn't just not have my delicious tuna pasta with garlic bread and I can't have just one slice! So I thought to myself what could I do? I then thought I'll do it at home using my weight watchers pitta breads! I then looked at the calories on garlic butter in tesco, well that was a big fat no! 85 calories for 20g? No thanks. Then I had the best idea! 

Ingredients;

1 Weight Watchers Pitta Bread (109 Calories)

10g of Flora Light (28 calories)

5g of Lazy Garlic (5 Calories)

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees. Put 10g of flora into a small ramekin, I then added the 5g of garlic then mixed together. You then take your pitta bread and spread the margarine/garlic mix on top of the pitta and evenly spread it. Pop the pitta bread on the wire rack of your oven and bake for 5-7 minutes then voila... Your garlic pitta bread for only 142 calories! I didn't take a very good picture but here is the end result! 

Another 10/10 from me! 

Laura. X

Quick Goats Cheese & Mushroom Risotto.

Today's recipe I decided to try something new. I always pick up the tesco magazine everytime a new one comes out. It's free and contains lots of recipe ideas and the majority are 'healthy'. What drew me to this one is not only does it sound amazing it's also low in calories and takes less than 10 minutes to cook. The best for someone who's as busy as me! 

Ingredients;

Frylight. 

200g pack of button mushrooms halved or quartered.

1 Garlic Clove, crushed or 1tsp lazy garlic

2x 220g packs of microwaved wholegrain and quinoa rice

50g of sundried tomatoes in oil, drained and halved

125g pack of goats cheese

250ml of hot vegetable stock

Parmesan Cheese (optional)

This recipe serves 4 people but I cut the recipe down to do 1 person. 

You heat the pan, spray some frylight and add the halved/quartered mushrooms and the garlic and fry for 5 minutes till mushrooms are golden. Whilst cooking the mushrooms/garlic cook the rice following the packet instructions. Once rice is cooked add to the pan with the mushroom mixture and also add the tomatoes. You then stir in the goats cheese, ideally break it up piece by piece and stir in until melted and creamy. Once the cheese is creamy in the mixture gradually add the stock, stirring until absorbed. Season the risotto and divide into separate bowls. Add Parmesan shaving if you want. I just added a little extra goats cheese as I was within calories. 

& this was the finished product! 

I will defiantly be making this over and over again! 

Calories; 337 per portion.

10/10

Laura. X

103 Calorie Mug Cake.

Tonight I decided to start using my blog again. The recipe I wanted to try? The 103 Calorie mug cake! It's great to kick this those cravings with very little calories. & how do you make this delicious sounding cake? 

Ingredients;

1 Egg

2/3 tsp of Sweetener

1 Sachet of Options.

Firstly, you get your mug and crack in your egg. You then beat your egg, add your sweetener and sachet of options (I had mint praline 😍) and beat more till it's a mixture like consistency. I've heard that if you don't beat it enough then it'll be too eggy. You then stick it in the microwave for 50/60 seconds then check your cake to see if it's done. After 60 seconds I checked mine and ended up putting it back in for an extra 15/20 seconds but that's just my personal preference. Just keep an eye on it! 

& here is my finished product!

You can top your mug cake with whatever you like or just have it the way it is. I had 22g of Haagen Daas (60 Calories) as I was craving something a little naughty. Would definitely be making this over and over again. 

10/10. 😍

Laura. X

Honey, Chilli and Lime Salmon

Tonight I decided to make one of my favourites! Honey, Chilli and Lime Salmon Fillet. I found this recipe a wee while ago whilst browsing on Pinterest for new dinner ideas. It's actually a slimming world recipe but also good for low calorie. 

Ingredients;

2 Salmon Fillets.

1 Teaspoon of Chilli Powder.

1 Clove of Crushed Garlic.

Juice of a Lime.

2 Teaspoons of Honey (2 Syns)

Salt and Black Pepper.

Fry Light.

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees.

The Recipe

I chose to use Tesco 2 Boneless Salmon Fillets (251 Calories) and for the marinade I used 2 teaspoons of Sweet Freedom Honey (13 calories per teaspoon), Juice of a whole Lime (20 calories), 1 teaspoon of chilli powder, Crushed Garlic and salt and pepper. I put all ingredients into a bowl and mixed it together, I then put the salmon into an oven proof dish, sprayed with some fry light then covered the salmon evenly with the marinade. I then put in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until cooked and juicy. It is recommended that you check the salmon every five minutes and keep spooning the marinade over the salmon to keep the flavour.

This is my finished product;

I decided to serve my salmon with Asparagus and Cauliflower cous cous. Tesco currently have a new range of healthy foods in the vegetable section and I really enjoyed the cous cous, it's a better and healthier alternative to Rice. I had 60g of Asparagus at 12 calories and 105g of Cauliflower Cous Cous at 42 Calories. So a 351 calorie dinner and it's so so filling. Definitely recommended and will be making this dinner over and over again. 

Laura x

Two Ingredient Pancakes.

So I found the recipe for these pancakes online a wee while ago and I've saw a few of my fellow instagrammers have these for breakfast a number of times so I thought I would see what the fuss was all about and give them a try!

I was feeling lazy when I woke up this morning so I decided to do the mix in the blender. I cracked two medium eggs into the blender and added a chopped up banana, I then wizzed them up in the blender until the mix had very few air bubbles in it. I then heated up the pan on the hob and sprayed with fry light, I then poured the mixture into a ladle and poured into the pan. I like to have individual pancakes than a bigger pancake! I managed to get 3 and a half pancakes out of my mixture. 

and here is the result;

The picture does not look appetizing at all, I'm still learning on temperatures when cooking and wasn't sure how long to cook on each side! I had these pancakes with a drizzle of sweet freedom honey. They were alright but I think I need to work on my cooking before I decide whether I like them or not. You can have any toppings you want from fruit to chocolate shot. Whatever you fancy!

Laura x