Not according to plan... Vs ... My Greek success

Weight loss = +0.5lb

Meals planned = 7.... Actually cooked according to planning = 2

Success rating for week = pfffssstttt!!!

Well as you can see from my weekly round up I've not had the best week... And when you read what I actually ate picture me sat here hanging my head in shame.

I learnt an important lesson this week, when you have an internal audit at work don't try and organise a meal plan as you never know when your going to actually get home! And you know what... It really doesn't hurt once in awhile to have the naughty meals and not follow the plan, Infact its quite a treat. However.... I will say that physically I have noticed the difference. I have been more bloated and had a few digestive issues, I think mainly due to my system not being used to the increased fats etc. 

So are you ready for a laugh?

Monday - Planned = chicken nuggets, chips and corn on the cob

Actual = KFC Variety Bucket - picked up on way home after leaving 1.5 hrs later than planned.

Tuesday - hotel overnight 

Had Salmon and new potatoes at hotel restaurant and no dessert 

Wednesday - Phad Thai Noodles

Actual - Chinese takeaway after leaving work 45 minutes late and getting stuck in traffic.

Thursday - Planned - Spaghetti Bolognaise

Actual - children had beans on toast we had Indian takeaway. Tired and long day!!!

Friday - nothing planned as friends wedding reception 

Saturday - Greek Night

Actual ..... Success!!!!

I cooked Pork Souvlaki, Rice stuffed vine leaves, made a Greek Salad, and Tzatziki. At this point before you make the same mistake I did and think this is simple, please note the pork needs to be marinated in olive oil, seasoning and oregano for at least 6 hours.

The vine leaves, firstly are difficult to buy and I ended up buying them off an Internet site called sous chef and secondly take at least 45 minutes to cook to ensure all rice cooked through.

I used varying books for this, the main one was vefa's kitchen. It's a simple combination of dill, parsley, rice, onions and spring onions.

The Greek salad I made up using my memory for what we ate on holiday, romaine lettuce, cucumber, tomato, red onion, black olives, feta cheese with marjoram in too and for the dressing olive oil, red wine vinegar salt and pepper. Something fun about leaving the cheese in a block and smashing it up on top of the salad.

The souvlaki I read various different recipes and all common theme.. Olive oil, oregano, I added salt and pepper. Then popped under grill until cooked through.

For the Tzatziki I used the recipe from

Jamie Oliver's Mediterranean book, I also found this on bbc site which is similar;

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/383616/tzatziki

We spread it all out on a blanket on the floor and had a carpet picnic while watching a film, and it did take us back to our holiday. A hit with all, but next time I will ensure I give myself more time and read the recipes beforehand to ensure my timings are right.

Sunday - Planned - Roast dinner

Actual - roast chicken, mashed potato and vegetables, lovely filling and simple.

So as you can see, not the best week but not the worst... And on a positive note my shopping bill was low this week as I just put all stuff brought in preparation for last week in freezer so only needed to buy basics lol.

Here's to trying to get it right next week....

Back to the Blog, Burgers, Curry and Pasta Bakes.... its been a busy week :-)

OK, so I got a new job and got side-tracked. Result, planning and meals etc went out the window and no time for writing the blog. Don't misunderstand, it is not that the job itself was so demanding that I had no time, more that with learning new company etc I found myself not finding time to organise at home. But 3 months later I am settled in and 1/2 a stone in weight bigger!!! Remember in one of my first posts I mention that I am not perfect and I mess up.... well here is a prime example :-)

Sooooo, fitbit back on my wrist, diet back on, meal planner has had dust blown off and I am back in action baby! We had a wonderful weeks holiday in Lesvos Greece, in a rented villa by the sea, where I got to completely relax and unwind and sort my head out, refocus so to speak, and also completely fall in love with the Greek cuisine, many a taverna visited, Greek Salad munched and soulvlaki demolished. First week back and meals planned, shopping ordered to match, no take aways, no cheating... and here's what I did.

Full week planned, made sure 2 fish based dishes, then there was 1 white meat and 3 red meat, nothing planned for Saturday as it was my mother-in-laws birthday so we were eating at the party. To be honest I normally only plan 1 red meat dish, usually at least 1 veggie day and fit in 1 seafood, but first week back so thought I would be kind to the family. So;

Monday - Lamb chop with veg, new potatoes and mint sauce - done, and was lovely, managed my calories allowance on fitbit by having more veg and 1 chop then a few potatoes.

Tuesday - Turkey chilli, homemade guacamole, sour cream and rice and pitta bread- now I did this and it was my own smokey chilli recipe using chunks of turkey breast. I apologise now as I am out of practise on the blogger I completely forgot to take pictures....doh!!! But this was just me and the hubby as kids ate at their grandparents so I could add more spice, was lovely, cooked late so we ate it on trays while watching TV, really lovely and comforting, also as turkey lower in fat and I cook using no oil so good for the diet :-).

Wednesday - British burgers from the Jamie Oliver's 15 minute meals book, again forgot pictures... arrgghhh... but it took me 20 minutes and everyone loved it. I have been asked to make it again. So Mr Oliver it was a hit. I will say compared to some of his other 'quick' meals it had less ingredients so was genuinely pretty speedy. The burgers themselves have a splash of ale and wholegrain mustard so a nice 'tartness' to them. The longest bit of this was the accompanying salad, so you could always do chips or a simpler salad to cut time, it should be easy as all shredded in food processor, but getting all the ingredients out took time. I have found a website with Jamie's own short films of these recipes, so if you want to try it here is the link;

Jamie Olivers British Burgers

Thursday - Salmon Curry from the 'Hairy Bikers - Mums knows best' cook book. I have cooked this before and was a big hit with the family especially Daddy Aspinall, which is a massive thing btw as Jimbo doesn't really do fish but luurves this dish so definitely decided to do it again.

It's an easy dish to make but does involve a little bit of prep with grinding spices and marinating, it takes me about 40 minutes to make, but honestly it could be quicker. First frying off the spices then adding salmon, finally the tomatoes.

 As I am back on my fitbit (for those of you who are thinking "whats fitbit?", its a tracker I wear on my wrist that records my steps and activity, it then syncs to my phone and calculates  my calorie allowance, I love it because it encourages me to be more active and I can plan meals to suit the allowance), I have to weigh everything to ensure i am eating within my allowance. So I weigh all ingredients as it goes in, then I know total calories for the dish, at the end I then weigh the total cooked food and can then calculate how many calories per gram of food, which will give me the quantity (grams) I am allowed, so I then just weigh out my portion.... have I ever explained I am a bit of a geek and when I focus on something I do it pretty meticulously and thoroughly lol.

It is a really lovely fresh curry, not too 'hot', it is spicy but in a taste way not a heat way. Both my children love it and they are not spice fans so it should tell you something. This curry has to be tried the tastes are amazing, but warning.... tumeric stained fingers for days afterwards! Link below to the 'mums knows best' series on BBC.

Hairy Bikers

Friday - Rigatoni Pasta Bake with Tuna and 2 cheeses - from Mary Berry's 'Cook now eat later', this is another I have cooked before and must be Morgans second favourite meal behind Chicken Pie. It is really easy, but takes about 45 minutes to an hour depending on distractions.

I have made lots of different pasta bakes before, but what I love about this one is the way you layer the ingredients in the pan rather than mix them together, it results in a lovely fresh filling meal rather than a stodgy one, which some pasta bakes can be. So I started by weighing and prepping all ingredients, which as you can see are a few... but don't be daunted as its pretty simple. 

The hardest thing really  is the white sauce, but as with all white sauce, gradually add milk and don't rush and it will be lovely and smooth.. OK so splash of milk stir until all mixed, another splash and stir again, so on and so on until all milk gone and you have a lovely white sauce. The layers are then, pasta and onion, the tuna/tomato/chive and caper mix, the 2 cheese sauce and then double cream spread on top with the remaining cheese then pop in the oven.

This is a pasta dish that everyone has extra helpings of and I never have any left over. Weirdly the whole dish was only 2000 calories, because I use skimmed milk in my sauce, low fat cream and it only calls for 175g of dried pasta which is the highest calorie ingredient. Believe me making these low calorie substitutes makes no difference, still a yummy moreish dish.

Link below to a website where you can find this book and basic recipe details;

http://www.eatyourbooks.com/library/recipes/729593/reggiori-pasta-bake-with-tuna

Had a lovely afternoon shoe shopping with Morgan on Friday and I had calculated my meals for the day and factored in enough exercise to ensure I could have a treat out at the cafe, in fact Friday proved pretty successful as not only did I eat a bacon sandwich for breakfast, have a scone with cream, tuna pasta, but also wine and chocolate on the evening whilst watching tv :-) believe me I sat and enjoyed every mouthful.

I am sat here on a Sunday afternoon writing this, after just eating my Roast Beef Dinner, next weeks meals are planned and shopping has been delivered. I have stuck to fitbit for 5 out of 7 days, but yesterday as I was at a party I took a day off... then today I have not monitored which is pretty crap of me.... fingers crossed I haven't messed the weeks efforts up but I won't know until I weigh myself tomorrow morning. Wish me luck people. Here is to next week and hoping I manage 6 out of 7 days instead of 5....