Simply the best...

19^th October 2011

It’s a very funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it. William Somerset Maugham

Sidney the Saboteur!  Yes yesterday one of my members bought mom ½ of a home made fruit cake, guess who else likes fruit cake!  No ProPoints on it anywhere either, so I am guilty of indulging in a slice, it was delicious too, and I was quite product of the fact I only had a small slice.  Then Charlie one of my evening members bought me a slice of Banana Loaf, at least she’d ProPointed it, mmm tasty, 4pp a slice and the recipe is on page 14 of the seriously satisfying cook book, really, really good. 

I made a tasty Chicken Casserole using Colman’s chicken casserole sachet (3pp) well worth it, took me ten minutes to chop the onions, carrots, skin the chicken legs and get it in the oven before I went to work, it was ready to eat when I got back at lunchtime.   Alfie liked it too, so I had a chicken casserole for lunch and a vegetable one for tea as he’d eaten the other chicken leg, must say though, I might cook it again without the chicken and use other veggies, I reckon diced butternut squash would go well, or even roast that separately.

One of my members posted on our fb group page yesterday that she wasn’t coming to Weight Watchers anymore because she wasn’t strong enough, I think whether it’s about weight or another aspect of our life we all have moments where we feel we’re not strong enough or not good enough, including me.  I had a mini wobble yesterday, thinking I wasn’t good enough at my job, luckily I have amazing friends and family who are always there to support me and either put me right or help me find my way.   Nobody’s perfect are they and with weight loss, it’s something you have to be on top of constantly, it’s always there, I even had the thought yesterday - shall I have a week without ProPointing, give myself a break and see how I survive on the scales just eating healthy.  Then I realised it’s not that difficult, it doesn’t take up that much time and long term it’s worth the effort so I got my food diary out and carried on from the day before. 

It’s really important to acknowledge that to lose weight permanently, you have to change your attitude to food and your approach to it all.  There is no quick fix, it’s never going to be easy because eating and food is such a large part of our lives, it’s something we do at least 3 times a day so we don’t want it to be difficult, we don’t want to dread it. 

The changes that we need to make don’t have to be huge dramatic ones, for example just removing the skin from my chicken in my casserole  yesterday and having legs instead of thighs saved me over 20pp by removing the skin, and one chicken leg was approx 7 whereas 2 thighs are about 8.  It’s all about substitutions and alternatives.  Don’t compromise on quality or taste, re-educate yourself in the kitchen.  For ideas check out my website www.happyowls.co.uk

I will try and get the latest two Cheap Eat recipe sheets uploaded to that website asap, but in the meantime, anyone who thinks you can’t have the most amazing food cooked easily for low ProPoints needs to try this and feed it to the entire family because trust me – it’s delicious.

Cheese & Bacon Lasagne,

Serves 6 - 9pp each, 8pp if using gammon
Prep: 35m, cook: 40m.

This freezable, family-friendly recipe is economical and has a wonderful comfort-food feel about it and recipe can easily be doubled.

3 large onions, halved and thinly sliced

1 ½ tbsp olive oil (6pp)
1 tsp dried oregano (optional I didn’t have any & it was still delicious)
300g pack lean smoked back bacon, chopped (17pp) or 300g lean gammon (11pp)
2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes in rich juice
20 basil leaves, roughly torn, plus extra to serve if you like (optional I forgot to use it & it was delicious)
250g pack fresh egg lasagne (check pack for cooking instructions) (10pp)

For sauce

600ml skimmed milk (6pp)
50g each butter (5pp) and plain flour (5pp)
Generous grating fresh nutmeg
50g grated Parmesan (6pp)

Fry the onions in the oil for about 15 mins until golden. Add the oregano and bacon and fry for 5 mins more, stirring frequently. Tip in the tomatoes, season and bubble uncovered for 5 mins. Remove from the heat and stir in the basil.  Meanwhile, make the white sauce. Pour the milk into a pan and tip in the butter and flour. Whisk continuously over a moderate heat to incorporate the flour, then simmer, stirring until thickened. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Spoon a third of the tomato sauce on the base of a lasagne dish. Top with a third of the lasagne sheets. Then top with a third sauce, a third lasagne, and the last of the tomato sauce and finally the last sheets of lasagne. Pour over the white sauce and scatter with the cheese and an extra grating of nutmeg. Chill. If eating straight away, bake at 190C/170C fan/gas 5 for 40 mins until golden and bubbling. Scatter with basil, if you like, and serve with a salad and garlic bread.

To freeze, cool completely, then wrap in cling film, then foil. Will store for 3 months. To serve, thaw for 6 hrs in a cool place. Unwrap and bake at 190C/170C fan/gas 5 for 50-60 mins until thoroughly heated through

Wednesday midweek already, and I’m raring to go, I had another early night last night, just before 9pm, it’s making me feel better, because watching rubbish evening tv is extremely draining!

Have a day knowing you’re ‘simply the best’. xx