Creamy herb and garlic prawns with cauliflower rice

By popular demand I have been asked to share this recipe that I fluked tonight, so rather than procrastinate I am putting fingers to keyboard so I don’t forget.

IMG_20160316_192915 low resMidweek meals are a pain in the rear, nobody offers any suggestion as to what they want and even if the kids say 1 thing then they have been known to change their mind once it is on their plate. If I am disorganised or something seems too hard or time consuming, then bad things CAN happen. (Did someone say pizza?)

So in honour of improving my health and well being this concoction was created tonight.

Half a head of cauliflower
1-2 cloves of garlic (depending on your taste)
300g of fresh or frozen peeled green prawns
300ml of thickened cream
5 or 6 small tomatoes
Handful of whatever herbs you have on hand (preferably fresh) I used flat leaf parsley and chives.
Ghee or butter for cooking
Salt and pepper to taste

  • Thaw prawns (if frozen) I do this by placing in a bowl of warm water while I’m prepping other stuff.
  • Chop cauliflower in blender or Thermomix in short bursts so you don’t overdo it(Thermomix 2 seconds, speed 7) remove and put in hot frying pan with ghee or butter, fold it over every minute for about 5-7 minutes or until it has hint of brown. (Remove and set aside)
  • Next mince, chop or Thermomix garlic (Thermomix without washing the bowl, 2 seconds, speed 7)
  • In the same frying pan, lightly fry off the garlic, strain and add prawns until slightly pink (don’t overcook) then add cream, bring to the boil and reduce to simmer.
  • Throw in halved tomatoes and chopped herbs, salt and pepper, cook for about 3 more minutes.
  • Plate up like a true Masterchef and throw it on whatever plate you can find. Put a sprig of fresh herbs if you want it to look fancy. More pepper and voila, dinner is served.

Serves 2

So before you ask, no my kids did not eat this, but I did serve up some cauliflower rice (aka magic fairy dust) and a few small amounts went in their mouths.

NOTE: you could add more if you wanted like, kale, baby spinach, shallots or onions it depends on what your eating plan or WOE looks like.

 

 

BALLS BALLS BALLS

I got this recipe from doing the 36 Day Challenge at my gym EnVie Woonona and loved it so much I just had to share. This is my replacement for the chocolate or sweet cravings and it really works. I make these in my Thermomix and have worked out the weigh conversions, but you can make them in a bowl or blender. The only investment I had to make was the Protein Powder and I have used it for this and many other recipes now.

I used to think protein balls, protein bars and protein shakes were a bit of a wank and only for the serious body builder types but I was wrong, so wrong. I am sure like all foods they are not all tasty but these are AmazeBALLS.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Protein balls

(40g)1 Tbs Peanut Butter (I make my own in the Thermomix)
30g dried coconut
(12.5g) 1 scoop Chocolate Protein powder
(40g) ½ cup wholegrain rolled oats
(25g) 1 tbs pure honey (I have also used Golden Syrup and I hear Rice Malt Syrup is great too)

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl or in Thermomix 4 seconds on spd 7. If the mix is too dry add about 10ml of water and stir again. Divide mixture into 8 and squeeze and mould them into balls in your hand. You can also roll them in a little extra coconut to pretty them up. I keep mine in the freezer and remove a few minutes before you want to eat.

Delicious balls of protein.

Delicious balls of protein.

Makes 8 AmazeBALLS.

Nutritional info per Serve
Calories 69
Carbs 8.6g
Fat 3.6g
Protein 2.2g

Meal Planning – Week 3

Here is the wrap up of week 3 of my 36 Day Challenge.

This week of the Challenge the motto was “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff”.  My 2 personal goals were to make good choices when ordering out and to continue to eat 5-6 meals a day.  So again I did a meal plan for my dinners:

Mon – Beef stroganoff
Tue – Beef Pie with garlic peas
Wed – Chicken and bean enchiladas (Actual meal – went out for Mexican, I had 1 Fajita but then I made the mistake of looking at the dessert menu, hubby and I shared Churros)
Thur – Beef and vegetable lasagne (Actual meal – deli style salad)
Fri – Take away Thai (Actual meal – 2 steamed dumplings, Indonesian style Sate BBQ chicken, garlic and ginger seafood, small portions of each)
Sat – Catered Meal (Actual meal – Beef Massaman curry plus green beans– meal was served with rice and bread and I didn’t have any.)
Sun – Herb Crusted Lamb (Actual meal – platter with ham, rice crackers, hummus, carrot sticks – too tired to cook).

I was away from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon at a Scrapbooking Retreat and my previous self-imposed reputation as queen of the junk food had to be squashed. Normally I would do a shop run for copious amounts of chocolate, chips and soft drink. This time I did a shop run for little tins of salmon, portions of ham and some cream cheese and prepared the night before by making hummus and protein balls.  My weaknesses tend to hit when I’m tired and on these type of weekends we stay up late, so by Saturday I am constantly tired.

Saturday afternoon 12 out of the 30 women got up from their seats and went and did a 1 hour workout session that I had organised from the girls at EnVie Fitness. Definitely felt great after that, but as I got tired into Saturday evening I buckled and had 5 small Maltester chocolates, 2 kiddie size packs of Smith’s Chips and 2 pieces of Coconut slice (evening snack provided by the venue). I felt bad about all of those choices but the deed had been done so as morning came I just had to move on and get back on track. All other meals were provided by the venue and I opted at most meals to avoid high carb options such as wraps, bread rolls and toast and keep a good eye on my portions.

Some of the evidence of what was my little chocolate binge.

Some of the evidence of what was my little chocolate binge.

Overall this week I had no Alcohol, no sugary drinks at all, it was water all the way. My few slip ups of Churros and Saturday nights little binge were disappointing but I must move on.

So food wise I would rate that I was about 75% on track and exercise 100% all 4 sessions planned were done plus the Fit Fab Forty monthly challenge of push-ups were mostly done.

My planning and some shopping has been done for Week 4 and some food is already made and portioned. I will leave you with these wise words from the EnVie Challenge booklet:

“Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing perfectly”

Meal Planning – Week 2

So here we are wrapping up week 2 of my 36 Day Challenge. The first week of the Challenge focused on nutrition with the aim to eat 5-6 good meals per day, this week was focusing on exercise but not forgetting about nutrition.

So again I did a meal plan and my friends and Facebook followers were keen for me to post some dinner ideas again. So this week I will give you a rundown on my meal plan plus 1 of my favourite lunch options and a few great snack ideas.

So the meal plan looked like this:
Mon – Balsamic Steak with cannellini mash (Actual meal – yep I did it I ate what I planned)
Tue – BBQ chicken burgers (Actual meal – yep did it again)
Wed – Beef and vegetable lasagne (Actual meal – 3 days in a row boom)
Thur – Beef Pie with garlic peas (Actual meal – leftover lasagne, why cook when you can reheat)
Fri – Homemade Pizza (Actual meal – Homemade Pizza chicken and pesto pizza)
Sat – Healthy Take-away (Actual meal – Homemade Pizza again)
Sun – Beef Strog (won’t be having this tonight as we are going out so will have to make good choices).

Some snack ideas I have run with this week were homemade hommus and carrot sticks, peanut butter flourless muffins and my “always have in my handbag” option of mixed nuts (properly weighed portions of all of these pre-made).

My favourite fast and easy lunch this week, smoked salmon, cream cheese and rocket wrap. Delicious.

My favourite fast and easy lunch this week, smoked salmon, cream cheese and rocket wrap. Delicious.

So again I was pretty happy with my food choices and what I put in my mouth all week, except Friday night Pizza was accompanied by homemade margaritas. I am pleased that even though I have scheduled it in, there has been no take-away for dinners.

So food wise I would rate that I was about 80% on track (damn those margaritas) and exercise 120% all 4 sessions planned were done plus an extra session (as punishment for margaritas) and the Fit Fab Forty monthly push-up challenge is continuing.

Planning is about to commence for Week 3 but needless to say there are lots of good options stocked up in the freezer and fruit and veg shopping has been done.

I will leave you with these wise words from the EnVie Challenge booklet:

“There are so many tomorrows….. DO IT NOW”

PS: I’m a little bit scared for tomorrow’s half way Weigh and Measure I never like the scales.

As full as Fondue

There is a scale by which fullness is gauged in our house it is “Fondue Night”. This refers to a night when hubby and I were on our Honeymoon in Canada and dined in a Swiss restaurant at Chalet Lake Louise. On this particular night I was so excited by the food on offer, as usual I ordered too much, we had cheese fondue, meat and seafood fondue and chocolate desert fondue. Everything was delicious and therefore my brain did not register that I was full, so I kept eating. When we got back to our room we both quickly discovered that we may have over-eaten and both felt ridiculously full. I can assure you there was no romantic honeymooning after that, lying on our respective sides of the bed like beached whales, it hurt to touch my stomach, there was lots of moaning and groaning about how full we were. It was very unpleasant and uncomfortable.

Last night hubby and I had a rare child-free, grown-up night out at a Pop-Up Restaurant in our local area, 13 courses with matching wines (yes I’m pregnant and had a few sips, don’t judge me). Pop-up restaurants apart from Reality TV show types ie Masterchef are a rare thing in Australia but are common overseas.

All dressed up for a grown-up night out.

All dressed up for a grown-up night out.

Azarak Experimental Restaurant is, as its name suggests is experimental, but I can assure you all the experimenting must be done well before time because every course was a hit. It is food done differently and ooooh so tasty.  Invitations are only extended to people who express interest on their Facebook page and then you are randomly chosen and given a “Golden Ticket” to the event. You are told of the suburb where the dinner will be held but not the exact location until 24 hours before, so it adds to the excitement. They also taunt you with fabulous pictures of their food on their Facebook page leading up to your night. Now I can be a bit of a bogan when it comes to food and I would say this is only the 2nd time I have lashed out and tried what I would consider “fancy food” or fine dining so not being a “foodie” my review may be a little simpler than the actual dishes.

Round 2 - Bitter chocolate espuma, basils, marigolds.

Round 2 – Bitter chocolate espuma, basils, marigolds.

beets, tea-smoke labneh, purple clover, nasturtium pods

beets, tea-smoke labneh, purple clover, nasturtium pods

 

Eating my Curds and "Whey"

Eating my Curds and “Whey”

This dish makes my No 2 of the night, Carrots and their earth. Apparently slow cooked for 7 hours in earth. The chef then recreated the bed of soil using nuts and coconut, like a crumble to serve, delicious!

This dish makes my No 2 of the night, Carrots and their earth. Apparently slow cooked for 7 hours in earth. The chef then recreated the bed of soil using nuts and coconut, like a crumble to serve, delicious!

I started eating before I took a photo - Confit salmon, sea forages, shaved bonito. Mine was cooked well because I'm pregnant.

I started eating before I took a photo – Confit salmon, sea forages, shaved bonito. Mine was cooked well because I’m pregnant.

Called "V6" this is purple potato with vanilla oil and vanilla salt.

Called “V6” this is purple potato with vanilla oil and vanilla salt.

Pork belly - need I say more

Pork belly – need I say more

I was getting full with 5 courses to go and I pushed on, admittedly I tasted each of the final plates but didn’t finish them, mostly because I was saving myself for Dessert. The thing I should have done differently is “NO BREAD”. They had freshly baked focaccia and sour dough which came around twice in the early courses and because at this point you are still hungry, saying NO was not an option and I enjoyed every mouthful.

Fat duck and popcorn - this is their signature dish.

Fat duck and popcorn – this is their signature dish.

Fillet, wild garlic, wild forages

Fillet, wild garlic, wild forages

 

Round 1 of desserts - Un-fried egg, sorbet yolk with sweet gooey goodness as the egg white.

Round 1 of desserts – Un-fried egg, sorbet yolk with sweet gooey goodness as the egg white.

Named "Eat your damned vegetables" this was a mostly vegetable dish that tasted like a dessert, very tricky.

Named “Eat your damned vegetables” this was a mostly vegetable dish that tasted like a dessert, very tricky.

 

 

This was the reason I wanted to go along to sample the goodness - "Ultra" Violet Crumble - a delicious mix of pannacotta, honeycomb, violet meringue and then turned into a production with a live display of violet and milk sorbet churned with dry ice. Sitting to dine under UV/black lights with your dessert glowing at you, truly amazing.

This was the reason I wanted to go along to sample the goodness – “Ultra” Violet Crumble – a delicious mix of pannacotta, honeycomb, violet meringue and then turned into a production with a live display of violet and milk sorbet churned with dry ice. Sitting to dine under UV/black lights with your dessert glowing at you, truly amazing.

Check out the YouTube video of the dry ice display here.

The night finished off with a fun creation of a "Rorschach" which in this case was making a creation out of coloured tempered white chocolate. I was too busy licking the spoon between colours an was too slow to fold mine in half and my chocolate had set into a gooey mess but hubby's turned out well.

The night finished off with a fun creation of a “Rorschach” which in this case was making a creation out of coloured tempered white chocolate. I was too busy licking the spoon between colours an was too slow to fold mine in half and my chocolate had set into a gooey mess but hubby’s turned out well.

 

You should treat yourself at least once in your lifetime to dine outside your comfort zone, warning it could become addictive.

Apart from bragging about eating delicious food the other purpose of this story is about overeating, it is still difficult over 5 years on from Fondue night and 3 years on from Lapbanding to stop overeating. The challenge with eating with a lapband is I would love to have the freedom on a fine dining night to be able to consume everything but day-to-day be restricted, you know, the best of both worlds.

Over the last few weeks I seem to have issues with over-eating and have had sickly full feeling a few too many times, it could be the baby pushing on my stomach, but more than likely it’s my food intake causing the problem. I need to get my head back in smaller portion mode.

Are you a serial over-eater or do you go overboard rarely on a special night out?

Middle Eastern Platter

This platter is so easy considering most of the stuff you buy and serve so I can’t take a lot of credit for the flavours.

Lamb Koftas, tabouli, home made Hummus, Lebanese bread

Lamb Koftas, tabouli, home made Hummus, Lebanese bread

Platter consists of:
4 Lamb Kofta’s – my butcher makes these but you can buy them from a supermarket too
Hummus – homemade, see directions below
Tabouli – without dressing, I picked mine up from local fruit or BBQ chicken shop or supermarket.
1 piece of Lebanese bread
Juice from ½ a lemon for tabouli dressing
Serves 2

Grill koftas in frying pan until cooked through, when they are close to cooked place Lebanese bread over the top of them until it heats through, this soaks up a little bit of the fat coming off the koftas and makes the bread taste devine.

Drizzle lemon over tabouli before serving.
Serve ¼ of the hummus recipe below.
Cut Lebanese bread into strips.
Place everything on a plate or platter.
I use the strips of bread to make tiny little wraps with a chunk of kofta and topped with tabouli and hummus.

ENJOY!

How to make Hummus
Now I am blessed with a Thermomix which I use to make mine but you could use a blender or stick blender to make it too. This recipe is a variation from the Thermomix cookbook.

400g tin of chickpeas drained (save some of the liquid)
2 cloves of garlic
2 tbls (50g) Tahini
Juice of 1 Lemon (40-50g)
½ tsp (25g) Olive Oil
Salt to taste

Chop garlic, place chickpeas in blending device, add tahini, lemon juice and olive oil and blend for 1 minute, if the mix looks too thick add some of the saved liquid (1 tbls) from the chickpeas and blend again for 10 seconds, add extra if necessary and repeat, add salt to taste.
Serves 4

Nutritional info per Serve of the Platter*
Calories 529
Carbs 49
Fat 28
Protein 18
Sugar 3
Sodium 497
*Nutritional information is only as accurate as My Fitness Pal.

Recipe | Cajun chicken with Mango Avocado salsa

I have made a few variations of this over the last few years and I will explain where I vary it. This is usually a summer dish because of the Mango factor. I would also like to brag that the mint, rocket, curly lettuce, baby spinach and flat leaf parsley all came from my garden.

Home grown

Ingredients:

  • 250g of raw chicken (you can substitute this for prawns or probably most other proteins)
  • 1 teaspoon Dried Cajun spices
  • 2 pieces of Shortcut bacon
  • 50g Danish Feta
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • Rocket, baby spinach or other mixed lettuce.

Salsa ingredients

Diced and chopped salsa ingredients, stir through Mayo and lemon/lime juice.

  • 2 mango cheeks diced ie 1 mango
  • 1 medium avocado diced
  • Fresh or dried mint approx. 1 tablespoon (I have also used Coriander)
  • Flat leaf parsley ¼-½ cup finely chopped
  • 40g whole egg mayonnaise
  • ½ green apple diced
  • ½ cucumber diced
  • Pepper to taste.
  • Optional – squeeze of lemon or lime juice.

Destructions (my version of instructions):
Chop chicken into Tenderloins or smaller, place on baking paper (have enough paper to double over) sprinkle Cajun spice over chicken and fold baking paper over, beat chicken with rolling pin or other heavy object to flatten so that it cooks evenly and tenderises (I learnt this tip from Jamie Oliver). The other thing I find is flatter chicken appears to be more than it actually is, therefore feeling like you are eating more, (remember food is all in your head). Cook chicken in frying pan with Oil about 3-4 mins each side and flip it regularly.

Layer the lettuce, salsa, grilled chicken, top with bacon and feta and make it pretty with a sprig of parsley. Bon appetite!

Dice and cook bacon.

Combine all Salsa ingredients together and stir through Mayonnaise add lemon/lime and pepper.

Layer the Rocket/lettuce on a plate, add salsa, stack chicken on top, sprinkle bacon over the top and crumble over the Danish feta. Garnish with a sprig of parsley if you want to pretty it up.

For a lighter option:

Reduce the amount of Feta, take out the bacon (if you dare), you could also reduce the amount of Mayo (or use light Mayo), reduce avocado and eliminate the apple (but it does add a nice crunch).

Another variation:

Dice the cooked chicken and stir it into the salsa for an easy take to work lunch.

Serves: 2

Nutritional Info per serve: (you will find this on most of my recipes as I can be slightly calorie/carb obsessed)
Note this as per the recipe not the lighter option*
Calories                669
Carbs                     36
Fat                         42
Protein                   45
Sugar                     20
Sodium                 801 (a lot of this comes from the Cajun seasoning and bacon so eliminate or replace if you want to reduce sodium)

Masterchef quality if you want my honest opinion!

*Nutritional information is only as accurate as My Fitness Pal.

Recipe | Prawn Saganaki

Also known as garlic prawns, this tasty, quick, simple and healthy recipe can be made mostly from items that you can store in your cupboard or freezer. It is a recipe that I recently discovered whilst doing a low-carb kick and have made it several times since. Be warned I am not a chef nor do I claim to be a good cook, so when I find something this delicious and easy I tend to rave on a bit and add it to my midweek “go-to” recipes.

Ingredients:

  • 300g of thawed Frozen or fresh green prawn meat (you can generally buy this in the deli or freezer section of your local supermarket)
  • 400g tin of diced tomatoes
  • 1 tablespoon of tomato paste (optional)
  • 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
  • 100g Danish Feta
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 1 small brown onion diced (most types of onion would work)
  • 1/2 or 1 teaspoon of chili powder (make it to your taste)
  • 1-2 tablespoons of herbs fresh or dried, I use a variety of thyme, corriander, parsley, marjoram, or oregano depending on what is in the garden/cupboard
  • Salt and pepper to taste.
  • Optional – small piece of crusty toast.

Destructions (my version of instructions):
Set aside some herbs (before chopping) and a few chunks of feta for garnish if you want to get fancy.
Heat oil in a medium saucepan, add garlic and onion and heat until onion becomes clear.
Add tin of diced tomatoes, tomato paste, chili and herbs, heat all ingredients until it is bubbling about 5 mins.
Add prawns and feta bring back to boil then lower to a medium heat and stir occasionally until prawns are cooked, about another 5 mins.
Place into individual bowls, garnish with remaining feta and top with herbs.
Serves: 2

Nutritional Info per serve: (you will find this on most of my recipes as I can be slightly calorie/carb obsessed)
Note this does not include the bread
Calories 378
Carbs 16
Fat 12
Protein 40
Sugar 10
Sodium 739

Enjoy!