Kug Pao Chicken anyone?

18^th January 2018

If you hit a brick wall, climb over it, crawl under it or dance on top of it!

Well I’ve got a lot to do before I go to work this morning so this is going to be a short one.  Can I just say being a domestic goddess is certainly hard work, no sooner have you cleaned up than you watch it mess up immediately around you A nice clean kitchen lasts less than a few hours because I like to cook and I have to say the Japanese style salmon stir fry from January’s mag (page 70) was delicious and well worth the washing up afterwards.

Last night’s meetings were great, over 170lb lost which is incredible, bringing the total for the year to 1,133lb for my members over 80 stone – just amazing, especially as not everyone is back on track after Christmas, a good few of us are maintaining because we don’t find it easy in January to lose weight, we’ve got used to over indulging at Christmas, it’s now dark and grim and we’re longing for spring, we don’t like the grey days much.

I’m finding getting outside and getting a bit of vitamin D is helping and as much as I don’t want to admit it, doing my housework is also helping, coming home to a tidy house last night was lovely, much better than walking into a room of cluttered mess and a sink full of washing up.  Then there’s making a bit of time for me, whether that be to listen to my audiobook, crochet a bit or cook, I do find cooking enjoyable which is why yesterday was good.  I was going to make the donor kebab fakeaway yesterday and cook it in the slow cooker to see if it would work (it will) because instead I did a very similar thing with different spices, I found a spice entice packet of seasoning, which I’d stuck to donor meat as I wasn’t impressed with the flavour which is why I had a crisp sarnie for tea.

 

Now I need to think about what to have today before I leave the house as I have a real busy day.  I’ve treated myself to a slice of sirloin steak as it’s on offer at Penn Road Butchers https://www.facebook.com/Penn-Road-Butchers-1570997599797501/ that could be tea, fancy chips if I’m honest, I think though we might have chicken breast stuffed with phili light for dinner on a bed of rice and some veggies, simple and quick.

I’ll lave you with this recipe, I fancy it, I even have most of the ingredients, so will add the others onto next week’s shopping list.

Kung pao chicken 
 

Serves 4 – 3 SmartPoints per serving
Prep time 20 minutes + marinating Cook time 20 minutes  

650g skinless chicken breast fillets, cut into chunks

3 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp rice wine vinegar

½ tsp Szechuan peppercorns

Calorie controlled cooking spray

2 garlic cloves, sliced

2cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated

2 tbsp hoisin sauce

1 tsp cornflour

½ tsp red chilli flakes

6 spring onions, trimmed and sliced

3 carrots, peeled into ribbons

2 courgettes, peeled into ribbons

1 tbsp sesame oil

Handful fresh coriander leaves

1 Put the chicken in a shallow dish. Mix together 2 tbsp of the soy sauce and 1 tbsp of the rice wine vinegar, and pour over the chicken. Cover with cling film and marinate in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

2 Toast the Szechuan peppercorns in a dry frying pan over a medium heat for 2 minutes, then transfer to a pestle and mortar and crush.

3 Mist a large wok or frying pan with cooking spray and fry the chicken over a medium-high heat for 8-10 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for 2 minutes.

4 Whisk together the remaining soy sauce, 1 tbsp of the rice wine vinegar, the hoisin sauce, cornflour, chilli flakes and Szechuan pepper, then pour into the wok. Cook for 1 minute then add the spring onion.

5 In a bowl, toss together the carrots and courgette. Whisk together the remaining rice wine vinegar and the sesame oil and drizzle over the veg. Add half of the coriander and toss to combine.

6 Garnish the chicken and salad with the remaining coriander and serve.

Have a great day, let’s make Thursday a good one, stay happy!