Saintly Seafood and Saffron Risotto

Risottos are creamy, gooey affairs full to bursting with cheeses and cream and butter and take hours of standing over to keep them topped up with stock and wine so hardly anyone ever cooks a risotto at home. I'm pretty sure no one cooks a risotto mid week at the very least! Well not only is this risotto completely dairy free it is super easy and super quick! This is a regular on our mid-week menu. We love authentic paella and this is as close as you can get without a paella pan, a big enough burner and a Spanish Mama.

Nutritional Facts: 
Calories: 350
Fat: 10.5g
WW PP: 8.5
Carbs: 46g
Sugar: 3.8g
Fibre: 3.1g
Protein:14.7g
Serves: 4 

Prep time: 15 minutes.
Cooking time: 38 minutes.


Ingredients:
1 tbsp Flora Cuisine
1 onion peeled and finely chopped
8 slices chorizo roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves peeled and grated
225g risotto rice
225ml white wine (Lidl do a 255ml bottle of South African Chenin Blanc for €1.79. It's not the best for quaffing but cheap and perfect for cooking of course if you want to get a big bottle make sure it's something you're gonna drink)
600ml chicken stock
Pinch of saffron (expensive for the tiny amout you get but it's essential to the flavour)
Large pinch of smoked paprika
2 garlic cloves whole (seperate from above for frying the seafood with)
100g king prawns (fresh or frozen - Fresh is always best but if you're on a budget this is still delicous with frozen prawns)
100g mussels (fresh or frozen as above)
1 medium squid or a handful of squid rings(clean squid and cut into pieces)
small bunch of fresh flat leaf parsely


Method


1. Preheat the oven to 180C (160 for fan assisted). Warm 1 tsp of flora cuisine in casserole dish  or pyrex dish. ( I just used a 9 inch square baking tray and it was fine) Chuck in the onions and chorizo. sauté them over a lowish heat for  8 minutes or until the onions have softened and the chorizo has released all of it's oill and coloured a bit.  ( I bet you will want to eat it at this stage) Add the garlic and fry for a further minute. 


2. Stir through the rice (Don't worry you don't have to do anything to it before hand) and fry for a minute, then pour over the wine and stock. I like to maybe just add 400ml of stock at this point and reserve 200ml to add about 10 minutes into baking as you may not need the entire 200ml. It all depends on how gloopy you like your risotto. Sprinkle in the saffron and a good bit of smoked paprika. Then pop the lid on your casserole dish or just tin foil over the top of whatever you are using amd pop it in the oven for 25 minutes. Like I said at 10 minutes add some more stock and stir through.


3. The rice should have absorbed most of the liquid but will still be a bit gloopy. Toss the seafood in the remaining olive oil and add these with the two cloves of garlic to a hot frying pan. It will only take a couple of minutes to cook or heat these through (depending on if you bought raw or cooked seafood) just make sure they are hot all the way through. You will probably get some water coming out of these so drain them before stirring them into the risotto. Finally add the parsely and stir before serving with a flourish of parsely. 


Note:


Rice expands in your stomach, so it may not look like much in the bowl but give it 15 minutes and you will be feeling full.



I didn't add any salt to this dish as there is plenty in the stock but it can be added as this stage if you feel the need. try to opt for low sodium if you can. If you are more of a paella than risotto person just add 300-400ml of stock for a dryer consistency.


If you're not into seafood try this will chicken instead.


A 125ml glass of the white wine you may have left over will go beautifully with this meal and will add only 85 cals to your total...sure go on...treat yourself...you deserve it.

Beefcake Beef Burgers that will Blow ANY Fast Food Burger Out of the Water

Everyone knows that for a burger to taste really good it has to have a certain amount of fat in it right? Well I can tell you now that is WRONG and I know two BBQ loving carniverous men who know a thing about what constitutes a good beef burger that will agree with me. These burgers are less than 5% fat. We all need some fats in our diet to absorb fat souble vitamins so I think 5% is juuuuuuust right baby bear style. Goldilocks would be lovin these burgers and they are so easy that lazy little brat could probably have made them herself. You can have these made, eaten and half digested in the time it takes to have a take away delivered and OF COURSE they are low calorie. Weighing in at  a mere 327 calories per serving, these babies are even lower in calories than the Turkey Burgers!!!  Every time I look at this photo it makes me salivate and I'm not even much of a red meat eater!

 Nutritional Facts:

Calories: 327
Fat: 10.5g
WW PP: 10
Protein:32.7g
Carbs: 25g
Sugar 3g
Fibre 0.8g 

Serves 4:

Ingredients:
500g of reduced fat or extra lean beef mince
1 red onion finely chopped
2 large garlic cloves finely grated or crushed (grating is better as you don't waste any of the clove then)
4tbsp of chopped parsely (or a 1/4 cup)
3 tbsp of tomato ketchup
a pinch of reduced sodium salt


To serve:
4 small sesame seed buns (each to be no more than 50g)
A decent handful of lettuce
sliced gerkin
1/2 a small red onion

Optional toppings: Ketchup, lighter than light Helmans Mayo ( half a tsp contains 1 calorie and amounts of fat, and sugar not even worth mentioning), Mustard, Low Low Cheddar Cheese spread (1/2 a tsp  contains 10 calories and less than 1g of fat ), sliced baby plum tomatoes.


METHOD

1. Combine the mince, onion, garlic, parsley and ketchup in a bowl large enough to get in with your hands and give it a good squish and season generously.

2. preheat your grill to a medium/high heat (to be honest I usually just wack it up as high as it will go) grill the burgers for about 10 minutes on each side but it depends on how good your grill is. check after 7 minutes on each side...I also find that the second side can cook quicker than the first so do keep an eye on it.

3.Toast your buns and garnish. top with burger, onion, gerkins and whatever other toppings you like and then the top of the bun.

4. See if you can actually get your mouth around it!

A little tip for a super yummy low cal sauce combine 1 tsp of lighter than light mayo with half a tsp of mild yellow mustard. Its a bit like Eddie Rockets Secret Sauce just without the Secret or the calories and fat! ;) I also serve mine with a sizable side salad. It's important to get those vitamins and minerals into you. The side salad in the photo consists of a vairiety of lettuce, onion, plum tomatoes, red pepper, grated carrot, cucumber, a sprinkling of sweetcorn, gerkin, a sprinkling of red wine vinegar, salad seasoning and the tiniest pinch of salt. Lots of flavour for minimal calories!

Not so Cuddly Katsu Curry. Just like Wagamama's!!!

Almost everyone loves a curry and my all time favourite is Wagamams Chicken Katsu Curry but one serving contains a belly busting 1300 calories and over 50g of fat. You would never think it looking at it innocently sitting there on the plate looking all lovely and healthy....it's that bit of salad they stick on the side that does it! I love a good chinese curry as well if we're getting a take away but that has even more calories and fat. 1400 calories is an approximation of whats in the average take away curry. When I decided I absolutely had to lose the weight take aways weren't out per say, they were just limited to once a week or once a fortnight, but rather than spend allllll those calories on one meal I decided to make my own curry and with rice it weighs in at a healthier 554 calories and only 9g of fat! It's not an enormous portion but it's enough to leave you sitting there giving your belly a satisfied rub and doesn't it look yummy!

Nutritional Facts:
Calories: 554 ( this is the calorie count after the low cal swaps have been made as below)
Fat: 9g
WW PP: 13.8
I will work out the carbs and sugars etc and post them later
Prep time: Aaggesss
cooking time: 1 hour. (If you're cooking this entire dish from scratch for the first time allow yourself a good hour and a half )

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon groundnut or vegetable oil.  (I recently discovered Flora Cuisine. it has 40 less calories per tablespoon than olive oil and 45% less saturated fat. It's definitely worth swapping to.)
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 5 whole garlic cloves, peeled no need to chop
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped ( I buy the big bag of tesco market value carrots that are much cheaper but smaller so use four of these)
• 2 tablespoons plain flour
• 1 tablespoon medium curry powder (this will result in a mild curry that leaves a slight after burn in your mouth, you can change the amount to suit your own preferences)
• 600ml chicken stock (I make mine up with 1 and half organic chicken stock cubes)
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce (using light soy will save 69 cals in this dish)
• 1 bay leaf (fresh is best but dry will do)
• ½ teaspoon garam masala (readily available in all supermarkets)
• 4 x 100g chicken breasts (it's hard to find  chicken breasts that are an exact weight and they can be expensive - we buy a whole chicken and fillet it outselves. The Tesco value chicken is around the €3 mark and each breast is about 200g so split each one in half. We keep the chicken legs for our low cal roast and freeze the wings until we have enough to make a whole bunch of buffalo wings)
• 100g flour, seasoned with lots of salt and pepper
• 1 small egg, beaten lightly
• 120g cornflakes, bashed in a pestle and morta or just crushed with your (clean) hand no need to get all fancy
• 5 spritz’s of 1 cal fry oil

Serve with sushi rice and salad.

(You will need a food processor or a blender for the sauce)


Method:

This dish can be complicated to time so I like to make the sauce in advance and just reheat it when everything else is done.You can make it the night before and it will keep fine in the fridge. I also like to have my chicken prepped and ready to go before I put the rice on as the rice will need constant attention for the first 15 minutes or so.

1. Heat the oil in a small pan and add the onions and garlic. Sautee for a couple of minutes then throw in your chopped carrot. Turn the heat down and leave to sweat for about 10 minutes giving it the occassional stir to stop the onions sticking. They will soften and start to caramelize.


2.Stir in the flour and curry powder and cook them for a minute. Slowly pour in the chicken stock bit by bit until combined (do it slowly to avoid getting lumps) then add the honey, soy and bay leaf.  Bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a slow simmer and cook for 20 minutes this will allow all the flavours to combine and the sauce to thicken so don't be tempted to skip the 20 minutes.

3.Finally add the garam masala. Don't add the salt and pepper until its all been blended up and tasted. It will need a good wizz in the blender to make sure there are no lumpy bits left. it's probably best to remove the bay leaf before you blend.  Season to your own taste and if the sauce is too thick or too strong for your liking add a few drops of hot water. and thats your sauce done.

4. To prep the chicken preheat the oven to 200 C.  You're going to need to dirty a lot of dishes! You will need a plate for the flour seasoned with salt and pepper, a plate for the beaten egg and a plate for your crushed cornflakes. You want the cornflakes crushed very small indeed. If you leave them big they will just flake off the chicken when you try to cut it.

5. Flatten your 100g chicken breast out so that it's no more than 2cm  thick. (I give mine a GENTLE bash with a rolling pin) then coat it in the flour, making sure to cover every visible inch, then dip in the egg and finally in the cornflakes making sure to thouroughly coat the chicken. try not to leave any of the chicken visible. (this is gonna stick to your hands) Do this for each breast and place in a baking tray then spritz with oil. Only put in the oven once you have your rice simmering away. 20 minutes is all it with need when it's that thin but check it after 15 by slicing into the middle and checking for any pink meat. Cooking time can vary...sometimes it takes 30 minutes to cook through if it's a bit thicker. (If you chicken isn't cooked through but your coating is blackening slightly just cover with tin foil.)

6. To prep the sushi rice wash it thouroughly in cold water. the water needs to run clear. It usually takes about 4 goes but so worth it. long grain rice just won't do this dish justice. I usually use the Yutaka brand sushi rice because it's always in stock in my local tesco.  It says on the box that 250g will serve 2 people but 100g per person is really more than enough.  for every 100g of rice  you will need 130ml of water so for 4 servings thats 520ml.

7.Add the washed rice and water to a pan and bring to the boil. once it reaches a rolling boil, reduce the heat, give it a good stir and simmer for 10 minutes. The instructions on the box say to leave the lid on but you will need to stir it occassionally to stop it sticking to the pan. I should think leaving the lid on for the last two minutes without stirring it is vital.

8. After 10 minutes turn off the heat and leave the lid on to let the rice steam. leave for 15 minutes.

9. reheat your sauce a little at this stage.

10. I find plain old lettuce leaves boring so I like to add a sprinkling of red wine vinegar and some salad seasoning (available in all supermarkets with the herbs) Stick it all on a plate and enjoy.  Try eating it with chop sticks to make it last longer.


I guarantee it will taste like a real Wagamams Katsu Curry, if not better!



  

Tasty Turkey Burgers That Won't Tip the Scales

BBQ season is upon us and between now and the end of September the average person eats their own body weight in meat!...well at least that's what it feels like. BBQs don't have to be the enemy of the weight conscious though and any BBQ we host this year will have some very tasty low fat options. I'm not just talking salad either. We've got low fat recipes for turkey, beef, chicken, fish and even bean burgers for our veggie friends. The secret (which isn't that big a secret really) is buying the leanest mince possible and adding some intensely flavoured ingredients. Most people's local supermarkets and even butchers don't stock the 5% fat versions. I get my 5% fat mince in Tesco in Clarehall in Dublin so if anyone of you know where to get it in your area let us know so we can make sure everyone can get it.

Today I decided to go with turkey burgers as that's what we tend to eat the most. It's a quick easy dinner that leaves you feeling satisfied and indulged. this recipe is adapted from the Alli Diet Cook Book.
Here's one I ate earlier:

The photo doesn't do it justice really. The meat patty is quite large. It's just hidden under all of the toppings.
As you can see I used a Weight Watchers Bagel again. You cna use a small sesame seed bun as well but a bagel is higher in fibre and lower in fat and I think it's a bit more substansial for the calories, leaving you feeling fuller. I always have a packet of these in the cupboard. They are so versatile.

Nutritional Information:

Serves: 4
Prep  time: 10 minutes
cook time 10 - 20 minutes depending on grill


Calories: 378
Fat 14g (unless you use the super lean turkey mince then it's 11g)
Carbs: 39.7g (if you're counting carbs change out  the bagel and go for your usual substitue but you will lose out on fibre)
Protein: 32.54g
Fibre: 9.6g
Sugar: 2.75g


Ingredients:

500g Turkey Mince
50g (5) Spring Onions finely chopped
4 cloves of Garlic (optional) finely chopped
15g (1 tbsp) Sun Dried Tomato Paste (Alca do one and it's with the pestos etc in the supermarket)
10g FRESH parsely (the dried stuff isn't gonna cut it in this recipe) finely chopped
Salt and Pepper
4 Weight Watchers Bagels
75g of salad leaves to serve
4 large tsp of tomato relish (Ballymaloe or Aldi do an excellent budget option)

Method:

1. Mix the turkey, spring onions, garlic, sun dried tomato paste and parsely together and season. Turkey always needs more seasoning than you think so give it a good bit. I use my food processor to do this as it's done in a minute. Divid the mixture into 4 and shape into burgers. I make them wide and about 2 cm thick to help them cook quicker.
2. Place under a grill for 10 minutes on each side or until cooked throughout. I use the George Foreman grill as it cooks it in less than half the time and you will see the oil from the sundried tomato paste dripping out so reducing the fat even further.These also taste great off the BBQ and take between 15 and 20 minutes to cook.
3.Toast the bagels and place burger on one half, spread relish over the top. Top with lettuce and other half of bagel and serve. 

If you can't do without cheese on your burger consider low fat options. I use a low fat cheese triangle spread on the top or broken up and mixed in with the burger meat before it's grilled to get a cheesy flavour throughout. You can add some onion, tomato or mushrooms to your topping without piling on the carbs, fats or calories as well.
If you like a bit of spice swap the sun dried tomato relish for some sweet chill sauce. It's even slightly lower in calories and fat. If you like a smokey flavour try some good quality BBQ sauce. The options are endless just make sure whatever sauce you are mixing in has an intense enough flavour within the 1 tbsp guideline.

Let the BBQs commence!