Sausages

I love sausages and the low fat ones are not all that good. The exception in my opinion is Bowyers Mediterranean ones. These are spicy and taste wonderful in casseroles or with a tomato based sauce and pasta. They remind me of Toulouse Sausage I had some grilled today for lunch with my home made ratatouille and a little basmati rice. They are less than 5% fat and work out at 1 point each.

Grilled Meat and Salad

Further to my previous post this is what I am currently eating. In this case it was a rather nice ribeye steak seared and served medium rare with dry fried mushrooms, salad and a chunk of French bread. I added some very low fat mayo and a sprinkling of balsamic vinegar.

Sometimes I forget how tasty simple food can be.

Toad-in-the-hole

We had toad-in-the-hole for dinner tonight. Not the most summery of dishes but then the weather is vile and I needed something warm and comforting. My lovely husband made these and they turned out to be real whoppers. The Yorkshire pudding was feather light and the sausages juicy. Served with mash, cabbage and onion gravy they were fantastic. The toads worked out at 2 pts each. Just follow my Yorkshire Pudding recipe and add a lowfat sausage as they go into the oven - you will need to use a bigger tin to cook them in though but the amount of batter used and therefore the points will stay the same.

Simple home cooking

After spending time in Tunisia eating a lot of very rich and spicy food I have been craving plain and simple home cooking.

Today we had lamb chops cooked in the griddle pan served with garlic and rosemary dry roast potatoes and steamed green beans. It was just what I needed and the whole meal was just 5 points two for the chop and 3 for the potatoes. Thankfully the lashings of mint sauce I had was free LOL.

Quality over quantitity

I was thrilled to discover lots of fillet steak reduced at the supermarket. I bought the lot and put it into the freezer. I love fillet steak and I love a bargain so I was very happy, plus fillet is the leanest cut of beef so it's great for dieters. I weighed them and they were 4 pts each which is just a little more than a chicken breast and much tastier.

Beef Chimichangas

We love spicy food especially Mexican but it is so fattening. I made this low point version of chimichanga's today and if I say so myself they were lovely.

Beef Chimichangas
Serves 2 - 8 pts each

Filling
225g Extra lean minced beef
1 pack old el Paso fajitas seasoning mix

Sauce
1/2 can chopped tomato
1/2 pepper
1 small red onion
Handful of mushrooms
Clove of garlic
1/2 tsp dried mixed herbs
1/4 tsp dried chili flakes

4 Discovery Foods flour tortillas
80g WeightWatchers mature cheese grated

Brown the mince in pan and add water and the seasoning mix. In another pan add the chopped vegetables, tomato, chili and herbs. Cook until it has reduced and resembles a salsa.

Divide the beef mixture into 4 and place in each tortilla. Roll them and place in an ovenproof dish. Top with the sauce and then the cheese and cook in a hot oven or grill until the cheese has melted and is bubbling.

Serve with salad

Steak Sandwich

One of my favourite treats is a steak sandwich. I often use venison steaks as they are so lean a decent sized one is only 2 points. They also have a more intense flavour than beef and when cooked to medium rare are delightfully juicy.

Make sure your pan is smoking hot, season the steaks and then spray with oil from the mister, do not spray the pan or you will have a kitchen full of black smoke. Sear for a couple of minutes on each side then set to rest. I like ciabatta bread as the dry texture makes a wonderful contast to the juicyness of the steak and really absorbs the flavour.

Cut the bread in half and toast in the griddle pan - it literally takes seconds and both warms and crisps the bread. Add the steak to the bread and pour over and escaped juices.

Roast Gammon

One of my favourite roasts is gammon. I know some people boil them for days in strange and wonderful substances, cola, cider etc and then glaze them in pounds of sugar and various honeys and syrups but I don't. I buy good quality cured ham that is not too salty. I bung it in the oven and cover it in foil to steam. 40 minutes before it is due to come out of the oven I remove the foil and blast the gammon until it has a good colour. I then rest it for at least half an hour, it is so much nicer warm rather than hot (like chicken).

Simple but effective and no hidden points. It is one of my favourite dishes when entertaining, and so many people have commented that it is nice to have gammon that tastes like gammon rather than lots of other flavourings. When I spend a little extra on a nice piece of meat I want to be able to taste it.

Beef and Vegetable Chilli

Chilli has to be once of the most versatile dishes and the best thing about it is that it can be prepared in advance and is even better eaten the next day. My little boys will not eat red kidney beans although they love chilli so when they are sharing with us I replace kidneys beans with baked beans. Similar points but they are smaller and softer in texture.

Beef and Vegetable Chilli
Serves 4 – 2.5 pts each

½ lb (225 g) Lean minced beef
1 red pepper finely diced
1 courgette finely diced
1 red onion finely diced
1 large clove garlic chopped
1 carton passata
Small can of beans (red kidney or baked) 2 pts worth
2 stock cubes
Squeeze tomato puree
Dash of Worcester Sauce
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground coriander
1 tsp dried mixed herbs

Dry fry the mince until sealed and drain off any excess fat. Add the chopped vegetables and the spices and cook for a few minutes. Add the passata and the rest of the ingredients and stir well. Simmer for at least an hour.

For a completely veggie alternative leave out the beef and add Quorn. This can be made with most vegetables.

I serve this with jacket potatoes and a little extra low fat cream cheese. It's great with rice too and as a pasta sauce. Or serve in tortilla wraps and bake in the oven with lowfat cheese on top for a variation on the burrito. So many alternatives.

Leftovers

I cooked roast pork for Sunday lunch. A lovely lean leg joint complete with crackling. Fortunately my parents came for lunch and ate the crackling and removed any temptation. I am always at a loss what to do with leftovers. Reheating in gravy is fine but a little dull and feels like the same meal twice. So inspired by Chinese New Year I decided to try a new recipe based on a combination of Char Sui and the WW classic of Diet Coke chicken

Chinese Barbecue Pork
Serves 4 - 5 pts each

11 pts lean roast pork
1 can diet cola
8 tbsp ketchup
3 tsp chinese five spice powder
2 tsp garlic granules
2 tsp chilli flakes
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 sliced red pepper
5-6 sliced mushrooms

Heat the cola, spices, soy and ketchup in a saucepan until it thickens and then allow to cool completely. Slice the pork, mushrooms and peppers and place in an ovenproof dish. Pour over the cooled sauce and cook in a moderate oven until the sauce is reduced, thick and sticky. The pork should be thoroughly hot. I prepared the sauce the day before to ensure that it was cooled properly.

Serve with rice or a jacket potato.

Pork Chops with Barbecue Sauce

When I first saw this recipe for a barbecue sauce I was a little dubious but it does work. I have added a few modifications as I found the original too sweet. The original recipe is for "Diet Coke Chicken" but I think pork lends itself to barbecue more than chicken does.

Pork Chops with Barbecue Sauce

Serves 2 - 3.5 points each

2 Pork loin chops - all visible fate removed

1 Can diet cola

8 Tbsp Tomato ketchup

1 Clove garlic finely chopped

Splash of Worcester Sauce

Sprinkle of dried chilli flakes (to taste)

Spoon the ketchup into a pan and add the cola, garlic, chilli and worcester sauce. Bring to the boil stirring occasionally. Once this mixture has boiled it should blend together and thicken. Simmer and reduce until the sauce is the required thickness.

Pre-heat a griddle pan and cook the pork chops turning occasionally to get a good coverage of griddle lines. When cooked serve drizzled with the barbecue sauce.

Roast Lamb

Sunday would not be Sunday in our house without the smell of roasting meat wafting around the house. I love roast lamb it has to be my favourite roast and it doesn't have to be that fatty. Leg of lamb is incredibly lean and has a wonderful rich flavour. Another bonus is that mint sauce is free so you can enjoy that too. This Sunday I roasted a leg of lamb and served it with dry roast potatoes, green beans, carrots,Yorkshire pudding and lashings of gravy. Sometimes I serve it with garlic and rosemary dry roasted potatoes or with creamy root vegetable mash.

Roast Lamb
1.5 pts per thick slice - 4 pts per 100g

Preheat the oven at 230°C. Roast in the preheated oven for twenty minutes, then turn the heat down to 200°C/gas 6 and continue roasting until the fat is golden and crisp and the meat is done as you would like it. Lamb needs about fifteen minutes per 450g /lb of meat, plus the initial twenty minutes, so for a 2kg roast you should start checking after the meat has been in the oven for an hour and twenty minutes. This will give you medium-rare meat, still juicy and quite pink in the middle. For more well done meat up the cooking time to 20 minutes per 450g/lb

Lamb Kebabs

We have eaten early tonight I made lamb kebabs and they were wonderful. Much better than anything from a takeaway and no hidden points either!

Lamb Kebabs
Serves 2 - 6.5 pts each

220 g lean lamb steaks (all visible fat trimmed)
4 Pitta Breads
1/2 Courgette Grated
1/2 large carrot grated
Lemon juice
Tsp mint sauce

Cube the lamb and thread onto skewers. Cook in a griddle pan making sure each side is browned. You will not need any extra oil.
Mix the carrot, courgette, lemon juice and mint sauce together
Toast the pittas until they puff up and split.
Fill each pitta with 1/4 of the lamb and loads of the courgette mix

Absolutely fabulous!

You could also add onions, peppers, tomato, mushrooms etc to the kebabs to make this more substantial.