9th May 2016
Plunge boldly into the thick of life,
and seize it where you wil, it is always interesting. Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
What a glorious day it was yesterday, I
spent a few hours at the computer getting ready for my new meeting on Friday
(Essington Community Centre 5.30pm),
then another hour or so putting up banners and making up packs, at least I got
to do that sitting in the sunshine. That's the first time this year I've sat in
the garden and chilled, looking forward to doing it more I hope, I even had a
read of a book, can't remember the last time I picked up a book! The rest of the day was relaxed, I cooked the
jacket potato burger from the Eat book we get as part of our Weight Watcher
programme material, not only is it No Count (or 8sp) it's also damn
delicious! Really good and definitely
one to cook again.
I'd had a chicken and salad toastie for
breakfast and the two meals filled me up enough that I didn't want any tea, we
had another early night and I feel good today, ready to take Alfie to the vets
and mom to the dentist, and whatever in-between, might cook something scrumptious
again. I have a huge breast of chicken that needs
using, I do want to try the pork and apricot burgers from the Eat book too, the
look so good!
Pork and apricot burgers with sweet
potato chips
Serves 2 ~ 14 Smart Points per serving
1 sweet potato
(300g), cut into wedges
calorie controlled
cooking spray
sea salt
125g extra lean
pork mince
35g ready-to-eat
dried apricots, chopped finely (3sp)
2 tsp chopped
fresh thyme
15g toasted pine
nuts, chopped roughly (3sp)
salt and freshly
ground black pepper
TO SERVE
2 medium soft
brown rolls
(50g each),
toasted lightly 1 tbsp 0% fat natural greek yogurt
fresh salad leaves
and slices of tomato
Preheat the oven
to Gas Mark 6/200°C/fan oven 180°C. Lay the sweet potato wedges on a large
baking tray lined with non-stick baking parchment. Mist with the cooking spray,
sprinkle with sea salt and roast for 30 mins, turning once, until soft and
golden.
Meanwhile, put the
mince in a large bowl and combine with the apricots, thyme and pine nuts.
Season well, then shape into 2 patties. Mist a non-stick frying or griddle pan
with cooking spray and heat until hot. Cook
the burgers for 8–10 mins, turning once, until cooked through and golden. Place a burger in each of the soft rolls
along with a dollop of yogurt, some salad leaves and tomato slices.
Serve with the
sweet potato chips on the side.
If you're following No Count change the
brown rolls for brown Warburton thins and use 3sp per serving from your
weeklies to cover the apricots and pine nuts.
I'm definitely doing these this week,
fancied them for ages, just need to get the ingredients.
But first to use this chicken, I've got
leftover cooked chicken, which I think I'll have a BLT with chicken for
breakfast, just got that idea from the new No Count cook book. There's a couple of ideas in there for the
fresh chicken, chicken and quinoa curry, I'm veering towards the chicken &
pineapple stir fry on page 46, yeah that's the one. So today is sorted, I can have me some time
in the garden reading. I'm a bit of a
lazy gardener this year, my hanging baskets from autumn which were just a few
pansies are still going without much care, I shoved some little daffodil bulbs
in there too and they look pretty. So
I'm toying with not having the hard work baskets this year as they take so much
watering, but that could change in the next few days, I'm fickle and out of
sorts with the weather, so need a little more sunshine before I totally
decide. First garden job is to paint my
big bench, mmm what colour this time....
Right I'm off, stuff to do, vets at
9! Here's to a Magic Monday, still
focusing on the good stuff, I love that at the moment there's a bird out the
back that sounds like an alarm clock, makes me smile. The blossom on the trees is always a magical
sight at this time of year and although they're the bane of the gardeners life,
I do love to see dandelions, the beautiful yellow flowers which turn into those
pretty seed heads that you used to blow to tell the time or make a wish (that's
why they spread so well as a weed :) ), in the Victorian times they were a
delicacy eaten by the gentry! They may
be annoying in a pretty flower bed but the bees love them and you can make wine
with the flowers!
I'm waffling again, have a great day,
make your own magic xx
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