24th October 2010

That they may have a little peace, even the best dogs are compelled to snarl occasionally. William Feather

Do you ever really think you want something to eat or drink then when you get it, it’s not as good as you expected it to be? Do you finish it anyway, or do you leave it?

Yesterday I sat there for a good hour pondering the glass of wine left in the bottle from the day before, my dilemma wasn’t that it was going to take me over my points for the days but that it was going to take most of what I had left. Decisions, decisions, on one hand I’ve been trying to cut down on my intake of red wine and have a few wine free days a week, on the other hand I’m trying to eat/drink what I fancy when I fancy it so I don’t feel deprived whilst losing my weight! You can feel my pain I’m sure! So in the end I went and poured the glass took it in the living room sat down and took a sip, aarrhh. But no I didn’t get that ‘aarrhh’ feeling, I just thought that’s not very nice today, is it because it’s a day old, or is it too cold for red wine. Either way I wasn’t sure and it didn’t taste nice, so I took it back in the kitchen poured it back in the bottle and decided that I’ll cook with it instead, I’ve got a nice recipe for a steak fusion stew that requires red wine! Although I’m doing beef goulash today out of this months WW magazine, yesterday I cooked a delicious creamy bacon and mushroom pasta dish with onions and red pepper. For the creamy sauce I used 75ml chicken stock and 75g sweet chilli Philadelphia light, it was delicious.

We managed to dodge the rain yesterday too and get a couple of walks in, nothing too far just enough to keep mom active and by doing little and often I soon build up the activity points on my pedometer.

If you fancy the Steak Fusion stew, here’s the recipe;

Serves 4, prep time 25 mins, cook time: 2hrs, 15mins (total 25.5pts, per serving 6.5pts)

1 tbsp olive oil (2.5pts)
800g braising steak cut into large pieces (20.5pts)
3 medium onions, peeled and roughly chopped
500g carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
30g ginger; peeled and finely sliced.
3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely sliced
4 star anise (get from the herbs and spices counter)
1½ red chillies, deseeded and roughly chopped
50ml soy sauce
250ml red wine (2.5pts)
500ml beef stock (0pts if made with oxo cubes)

4 sprigs coriander, to serve.
Heat the oil in a pan, then brown the steak pieces and set aside.
In the same pan, fry the onion and carrots over a gentle heat for 10 minutes, until slightly tender.
Stir in the ginger, garlic, star anise and 1 chilli, and cook for 1 minute, then pour in the liquids and add the beef back to the pan, make sure the liquid covers the meat – if it doesn’t, top up with hot water.
Cook gently for 1½ hours, then increase the heat and cook for a further 30 minutes, until the liquid is thick and reduced by a third. Serve garnished with coriander and the remaining chilli.

Serve with rice for extra points value or roasted butternut squash for zero points.

Mmm, I could eat that now ;-)
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