Mmm salad - REALLY!

9^th May 2014

You’re never too old, never too late, and never too sick to start from scratch once again.  Bikham Chodury

Sleeping in is wonderful but then you realise you have to be somewhere at 10am and you get all rushed!  Yep that’s me this morning, so this is going to be a quickie because I have paperwork to do, hey ho, I’ll finish it all off this afternoon, and I did enjoy lying in bed this morning. 

We talked salads this week in the meetings however yesterday was not a salad day, it rained here relentlessly, so what about warm salads, they’re more like to get my interest on a rainy day.  One member told us how she makes an Hawaiian salad, ham and pineapple warmed in the pineapple juice then serve it over a salad, that sounds delicious and apparently pineapples are only 69p at the moment in Aldi and Morrisons – bargain.

I mentioned this recipe which uses lettuce in a cooked dish, really tasty it is too, that might go on my ‘to eat’ list, haven’t had it in a very long time.

Pan Fried Chicken, bacon, peas & mash

Serves 2, F&H or 6pp per serving

2 x medium 165g chicken breasts (8pp)

3 bacon medallions, chopped (3pp)

1tsp oil or low fat cooking spray

4 chopped spring onions

1 diced carrot

150ml stock

100g frozen peas (2pp)

1 little gem lettuce

Boil & mash 300g potatoes (3pts) or I used Smash cheddar and onion flavour, 1½pts per portion, to serve with the following;

Season chicken breasts, spray a non stick frying pan with spray and brown the chicken for 1 minute. Turn chicken and add bacon to the pan – fry for 1½ mins. 

Stir in carrot and spring onions & cook for 30 seconds until bright green, then pour in the chicken stock and bring to a simmer.  Cover the pan, reduce heat & simmer for 10 minutes.  Stir in frozen peas and lettuce, re-cover the pan and cook for 3-4 mins until peas are tender & lettuce has wilted.

This warm pasta salad sounds good, I’d use black olives though as not a fan of green

Warm pasta salad with olive dressing (serves 2, 11pp a serving or 6pp on F&H, much less if you use your daily oil allowance and use less oil)

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

For the olive dressing

·         1 garlic clove, finely chopped

·         1 spring onion, finely chopped

·         8-10 green olives, stones removed, finely chopped (1pp)

·         2 lemons, juice only

·         handful fresh basil, chopped

·         ¼ ball mozzarella, cut into cubes (use light – 2pp)

·         1 tbsp olive oil (4pp)

·         1 tsp balsamic vinegar

·         salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the pasta

·         110g/4oz wholemeal spaghetti, cooked according to packet instructions, drained and kept warm (10pp)

·         1 tbsp olive oil (4pp) (I would probably not use this or use a lot less.)

1. For the olive dressing, place all the ingredients into a bowl, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and mix well.
2. For the pasta, place the cooked spaghetti into a bowl and stir in the olive oil. Pour the dressing over the pasta and stir well.
3. To serve, place the pasta salad into a serving bowl.

Right I’m off, running out of time, have a great day, go into the weekend knowing you’re going to stay on track and you won’t have to get up Monday thinking, oh maan I’ve got to draw a line AGAIN!

Eat Gorgeous, BeYOUtiful and take care of you. xx