Loving this cooking lark!

24th August 2016

Broken crayons still colour.

Well yesterdays cooking demos in my meetings went well, I've never done them where I prep all the ingredients in the meeting as well as cook them, so it turns out that can be done in half hour!  The morning one was okay once my lovely Sharon pointed out the induction hob needed to be turned on to actually boil the rice :) but I can really recommend the sweet and sour recipe below, a lot of the members were going to be making it for tea this week anyway.  A few said that they wouldn't normally eat sweet and sour but liked it, someone pointed out that it made you realise how much sugar must get put in the Chinese takeaway version and one little girl kept coming back for more, so her mom got the other sister to try too and turns out they have a new family recipes that they'll all eat = result!  And my helpers got to go home with their lunch, so everyone was happy.

Sweet and Sour Chicken 7 Points

• Prep time:10 min
• Cook time:17 min
• Serves:4
• Difficulty: Easy

A delicious and healthy version of this takeaway favourite.

5spray(s) Calorie controlled cooking spray

1 medium Onion(s), peeled and sliced

160g Brown Rice, dry, long grain (15sp)

500g Chicken breast, skinless, raw (4 x 125g breasts) (5sp)

2 medium Carrots, raw, peeled and thinly sliced in sticks

225g Pineapple, can, chunks in natural juice

2 tablespoons Tomato Purèe (1 sp)

3 tablespoons Vinegar, All Types, malt

1 tablespoons Muscovado Sugar (4sp)

2 tablespoons Soy Sauce, dark (1sp)

Instructions

Spray a frying pan with the low-fat cooking spray, add the onion and cook, stirring for 5 minutes over a medium heat, until softened.

Meanwhile cook the rice according to pack instructions, drain and rinse in hot water.

Cut the chicken into bite size chunks and add to the pan.

Cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes until golden on all sides.

Add the carrots, pineapple and juice, tomato puree, vinegar, sugar and soy sauce, bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes until the chicken is tender. Serve immediately with the rice.

The evening recipe was chicken jambalaya, now this like the morning one didn't look like it was going to cook in the time specified but it all came together at the end.  It had quite a kick for something that didn't seem like the chilli and paprika put in was going to be enough - it was, I'm not that good with chilli powder so it was a little warm for me, members and helpers were happy tucking into it and taking it home though.  I bought my spices in packets rather than jars, the packets were at least twice the size and 75p a pack rather than £1 a jar.

Chicken Jambalaya

Serves 4, 8sp per serving

250g long grain rice (26sp)

3 sprigs fresh thyme, plus extra to garnish

1 onion (sliced)

3 celery sticks (sliced)

1 red pepper (sliced)

175g closed cup mushrooms (sliced)

1 teaspoon vegetable oil (1sp)

2 teaspoons cajun seasoning or paprika

1/2 teaspoon chilli powder

400g cooked, skinless, boneless chicken (5sp)

4 tomatoes

Freshly ground black pepper

Put the rice into a saucepan and cover with plenty of boiling water from the kettle.  Add the sprigs of thyme; then cover and cook over a medium heat for 12 minutes, or according to the packet instructions, until tender. 

Heat the oil in the frying pan or wok and tip in the vegetables.  Stir fry them for 4-5 minutes.

Drain the rice in the colander; then add it to the frying pan and add the cajun seasoning or paprika and chilli powder.

Chop the chicken and tomatoes and add them to the pan.  Cook for 2-3 more minutes, stirring constantly until heated through.  Check the seasoning, adding some pepper and an extra pinch of cajun seasoning or chilli powder if needed. 

Spoon on to 4 warmed plates and serve at once, garnished with a few thyme sprigs. 

You can use 250g cooked, peeled prawns instead of cooked chicken for a change. 

I'm really looking forward to seeing how the other meals I'm going to cook turn out this week, need to go shopping for more ingredients again today, hopefully it's going to be another sunshine day, I even got to sit up the garden yesterday afternoon for an hour and enjoy it, did some of my paperwork out there and had my lunch - nice.

I had a good food day myself, toast for brekkie, this delicious pudding when I got back from meeting;

I made enough for two by toasting 13g of oats (1sp) I literally just put them in a try hot frying pan until they warmed through and browned a little.  Then in two bowls I put tinned apple and mango from a tub (drained the juice) topped with the oats, 50g of natural yogurt in each and 1/2tsp of choc shot on each.  It was really tasty and only 2sp or free on No Count because 1/2tsp shows as zero on the app :) Who said you can't have a treat and lose weight. 

Lunch was a simple ham sandwich and a roasted corn on the cob - one of my favourite veggies.  Tea was rump steak and bubble and squeak. 

Right let's get to today, I'm ready for it are you BeYOUtiful?