Liking the Larb!

27th August 2016

You can't go back to yesterday because you were a different person then.

Ooo night ain't morning, every year I stay up to watch the Big Brother final and every year I wake up tired and wondering why!  Hey ho, I've got the weekend off once I've done my meeting and last cooking demo this morning.

So I've decided that this bank holiday weekend is going to be my staycation, no going away for us this year so I'm going to pretend I'm on my hollibobs and chill out and not track or point a damn thing! I'll then get back to it on my return! That doesn't mean I plan to gorge but I will choose my food depending on what I fancy, it just started yesterday with kebab and chips! Couldn't eat them all I'm glad to say, they were good though but not something I'd want to eat often as I can feel the effect they've had on my body already. 

I'm off out for lunch with my bestie today, will enjoy that too, we're going to check out Ego in Cannock so I'll let you know. 

Last night we cooked Beef Larb in the meeting, very tasty, will definitely be adding that to my cooking list, so simple too, it could be even easier if you used ready diced ginger, garlic and chilli, I really liked it and the lettuce does finish it off perfectly.  Again, another great fakeaway for the weekend, I use a whole pack of 5% beef from lidls, 2 stock cubes, 2 chillis, an inch chunk of ginger, 3 cloves of garlic and 2 tablespoons of hoisin so that everyone got a taste, it was delicious if I do say so myself.  Here's the recipe for 1 person.

Beef larb

Serves 1, 6sp, takes 20 minutes

oil spray
175g extra lean beef mince (4sp)
½ crumbled beef stock cube
1 small red chilli, de-seeded and diced
1 ½ tsp diced fresh ginger
1 garlic clove, diced
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce (2sp)
a handful of fresh coriander leaves
4 or 5 small lettuce leaves (I used spinach and threw it in just before end to wilt a little)
1 carrot, peeled and cut into thin sticks
2 spring onions, sliced
4 fresh mint leaves shredded (optional)

Spray a non stick frying pan with the cooking spray and heat until hot. Add the beef and stir fry over a high heat for 5 minutes until browned and cooked through. Add the stock cube with 2 tablespoons of water, chilli, ginger and garlic and cook for another minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the hoisin sauce and half the coriander leaves.

Arrange the lettuce leaves and carrot sticks on a plate, top with the mince and garnish with the spring onions, mint and remaining coriander. Serve immediately.

I've said I'm having the weekend off tracking but I've woken up wanting to eat healthy, how typical is that!  I'll enjoy my food this weekend for sure but I won't be opting for junk food at all.  The truth is I like good grub, my problem is I like it too much and eat too much of it.

Anyway, this morning won't get sorted with me sitting here , I've got ingredients to sort for my last demo of the week, it's been fun and my members seem to have enjoyed it, they've already started posting the meals they've cooked themselves which is why I did it.

Here's to a Happy Bank Holiday weekend, whatever the weather!