Takeaways don't have to mean a bad weekend!

26th April 2016

One may walk over the highest mountain one step at a time. John Wanamaker

Made it through another day of No Count, it's helped me this week as it's been one less thing to think about too much, I bought a few No Count ingredients and made a couple of recipes and I've been sorted.  I enjoyed my overnight oats yesterday but they didn't keep me satisfied for as long as my usual breakfast of eggs does, so I'll be going to back to them today.  I had beef hotpot for lunch and slow cooker curry for tea, I did have a crumpet just before going to bed too, just fancied it.  The scales will tell on Friday, I've still had my usual consumption of alcohol, so it will be interesting to see the scale results.

I am ready to have a couple of Smart Point meals though as I have those Simply cook meals to cook, although I have one that's all No Count ingredients so I might have a go at that today.

I've just seen a post in my group about going off track at the weekend, takeaways etc, so how can you have a takeaway and still stay on track?  If you're anything like me, takeaway can go hand in hand with over ordering and overeating, so the secret is not to get carried away by the menu, we turn into eating monsters, get all excited by the choice and forget that it's just one meal not an all you can eat buffet!  Remind yourself that if you were cooking a meal it would be one plateful of food and the same should go for a takeaway!  What are the better choices?  Don't be afraid to throw some away if the portions are massive or maybe ask to share the tray of rice etc.  Do you need a starter from the takeaway or can you go straight for a main, would you have a starter at dinner time any other night?  From a Chinese, opt for something like Chicken chop suey, prawns in black bean sauce, beef with brocoli, or prawns with Chinese vegetables, not forgetting the Chow mein, a favourite with my members.  Opt for boiled rice over fried rice, maybe try something new like Chinese Greens in oyster sauce.  It's one meal and one meal does not have to undo all your good work.  You could offer to cook a fakeaway and save a fortune as well as losing pounds, it doesn't have to take a long time, my chicken chow mein recipe on my website www.happyowls.co.uk takes ten minutes tops and you can use all precooked ingredients.

Indian takeaway, well you're looking for tandoori chicken or tikka pieces, maybe a sashlick, they're all the equivalent of chicken breast with a couple of extra points for any seasoning or oil.  For a guide on other stuff, Wetherspoons do a curry club which you could use as a starting point.  You don't really need a Onion Bhaji for 6sp do you?  Or do you?  That's your choice!  They do a chicken Jalfrezi for 29sp, I'm guessing that comes with rice, I can't get on their website for some reason this morning.

So you can eat a plate of takeaway niceness and still lose weight, Chippy has been covered in a previous blog.

http://wwbevsworld.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/maybe-you-fancy-smart-point-chippy.html

I also did another blog on Chinese http://wwbevsworld.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/yes-you-can-still-smart-point-your.html

So come on let's take back control, don't see the weekend as a washout when you enjoy a takeaway on a Friday or Saturday night, look at how you can balance it out, could you walk off some calories and earn a few Fit Points, can you have a salad the next day or a No Count day.  I have lots of members successfully eating takeaways and eating out, the difference is they don't then carry on eating for the hell of it afterwards.  Remind yourself why you joined.

Right I'm off to get ready for work, let's focus on our reasons, we can do this BeYOUtiful. 

Here's a No Count Paella recipe.

Paella NO Count (9sp per serving on a counting day) serves 6

1teaspoon saffron threads

2cubes Vegetable or chicken stock cubes, dissolved in 1.2 litres boiling water

Calorie controlled cooking spray

1 cloves garlic, crushed

1 large onions, chopped

1 medium red peppers, deseeded and chopped

350g Brown Rice, dry, brown or wild

225g squid, raw, rings

350g king prawns, Raw, in shells

350g roast chicken (breast)

2 tablespoons parsley, fresh, chopped

1 tablespoons lemon juice

50g petit pois, boiled, or garden peas

1 pinch salt, and freshly ground pepper

Add saffron strands to hot stock. Infuse for 10 - 15 minutes.

Heat a very large frying pan or wok. Spray with low fat cooking spray. Add garlic, onion and pepper. Cook, stirring, for 3-4 minutes, until softened.

Add rice to frying pan or wok and stir-fry for 1 minute. Pour in stock, bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add all remaining ingredients, stirring well. Cook gently, without a lid, for about 20 minutes until the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is tender, stirring occasionally. Add a little extra liquid if needed.

Check seasoning, then serve.