Thursday, 28 October 2010

28th October 2010 facebook email

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. Albert Camus


It’s new, it’s breakthrough, it’s coming soon.

The biggest innovation from Weight Watchers in 15 years!

Oh have I said that already! Never mind just a reminder so you don’t forget!

I’m not saying I’m in the zone, but I was making strawberry and mango smoothie this morning at 5am! Feeling much healthier including plenty of fruit and vegetables and eating meals I enjoy, it’s so important to enjoy your food especially when you’re trying to lose weight. My helpers are in the zone too, Chris and Sandra each losing 5.5lb this week we’re all helping each other and staying in touch and it’s making a real difference.

Our poppy appeal in the meetings is going fab too, they have these gorgeous hessian bags with poppies on and they’re just the perfect size for the new programme material when you receive it and a couple of boxes of bars off the shop, she has orders for quite a few, I’m hoping to have an army of members carrying their bags with pride ;)

It’s Halloween this week and you may be buying a pumpkin to do those lanterns, here’s what sounds like a delicious recipe to use the middle with;
Pumpkin, Sage and Mushroom Lasagne
POINTS® Value: 2.5, Servings: 6,
Preparation Time: 30 min, Cooking Time: 70 min, Level of Difficulty: Moderate

Now that the weather is starting to cool off, it's nice to cosy up with some satisfying food like a lasagne.

1500 g pumpkin
5 spray low-fat cooking spray
4 clove garlic, crushed
750 g mushrooms, (button and Shitake) thinly sliced
375 ml skimmed milk
3 portion shallots, ends trimmed, thinly sliced
2 teaspoon dried sage, or fresh, chopped
250 g lasagne sheet
1 pinch salt, and freshly ground black pepper (or to taste)

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 6/200°C/400°F. Peel and seed half of the pumpkin and cut into 2cm cubes. Remove the seeds from the remaining pumpkin.

Spray a non-stick baking tray with low fat cooking spray. Place the unpeeled pumpkin on the baking tray, cut side down. Roast in oven for 35-40 minutes or until very soft. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, spray a large non-stick frying pan with low fat cooking spray and place over medium-high heat. Add half of the garlic. Cook, stirring for 10 seconds or until fragrant. Add cubed pumpkin and mushrooms and cook for 8-10 minutes or until tender. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Combine milk, shallots, remaining garlic and sage in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to the boil. Cover and remove from heat.

Scrape flesh from roasted pumpkin. Place in a large bowl. Mash with a potato masher. Add milk mixture and mash to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Spray a 24cm x 24cm square casserole dish with oil. Spoon 1/3 mashed pumpkin into base of casserole and spread. Top with 3 uncooked lasagna sheets. Spoon over 1/3 of mushroom and pumpkin mixture. Top with 1/3 mashed pumpkin. Repeat with two more layers, ending with remaining mashed pumpkin.
Cover with foil and bake in oven for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for a further 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to stand for 10 minutes. Divide into 6 pieces and serve immediately.

Notes
This lasagne is little different to the standard. We've used roasted pumpkin, sage and mushrooms. By using skimmed milk and mashing pumpkin, we haven't had to use a heavy béchamel sauce. Plus it's cheese free too, so this really is guilt free! This lasagne will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days in an airtight container. It is also suitable to freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

Remember life starts now?

Are you living yet?

You’re not alive unless you’re living!

No comments:

Post a Comment