Chicken Jalfrezi

For tonight's dinner I made Chicken Jalfrezi from The Hairy Dieters book page 131.
The recipe was a little more intense than some of the recipes that I have tried so far.
It does not take that much cooking but it was getting everything ready at the same time. The chicken, chillies and garlic with the spices are cooked in one pan while the onion, pepper and tomatoes are cooked in another pan to then have all the ingredients put together and simmered for a while.
The ease of cooking was ok so I will give it 6 out of 10.
For taste I will give it 9 out of 10 as the heat and flavour was great.
For this meal we added 2 of the chillies with the seeds included and 2 of the chillies with out seeds and the heat was just right.
The chicken Jalfrezi worked out to be 8 ProPoints so not that bad for you.
I had 60 grams of rice with this, one Poppadum and half a naan bread.
All in all a very tasty meal and well worth the time to cook and make.

Italian Meatballs with Chunky Tomato Sauce

I made this dish for the first time last night and was very impressed with the flavour of the meatballs.
The recipe was from The Hairy Dieters book page 148.
The recipe serves 4 and was a very easy process to follow.
My daughter ate this meal and after she had finished she said the meatballs taste like the meatballs you get aboard on holiday.
I made double the mixture so that I could box up and freeze the amount left. This way I have meals in the freezer for when I get home from work late.
The meatballs take about 20 minutes to prepare and then they take about 45 minutes to cook.
We had spaghetti with them.
The meatballs work out to be 9 points per serving. to get them this low I used lean mince beef.
Ease of making 8 out of 10
For taste I will give them 8 out of ten

Slow cooked Paprika Chicken

I am cooking the Paprika Chicken in the slow cooker.
I will be putting the recipe here and how I prepared it.

Ingredients:
2 onions finely sliced
600 grams of chicken breast diced
2 garlic cloves peeled and crushed
1 tbsp. smoked paprika (or plain if you prefer)
400 gram can of chopped tomatoes
400 ml of chicken stock
2 bay leaves
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
3 large peppers red, yellow, and orange
1 tbsp. cornflour
1 tbsp. cold water
6 tbsp. half fat crème fraiche To serve
freshly ground black pepper

Method:
Place everything in the slow cooker except for the cornflour and cold water you will need to add these at a later stage. Give the whole mixture a stir and put the slow cooker on low heat and leave to cook for 8 hours. After 8 hours mix the cornflour and cold water together and add to the slow cooker mix and stir leave for another hour.

This was an easy  way to cook this meal but the next time I do it I will reduce the chicken stock down to 100 mls as there was to much liquid in the dish.

Ease of cooking and preparing 9 out of 10
Taste I will give this 7 out of 10 as the sauce was weak due to the amount of fluid.
In the hob method a lot of the fluid reduces down so the sauce is much thicker and has more flavour, in this method I need to learn the correct amounts of fluid to add.

Old El Paso Enchiladas

For todays dinner we are going to have Old El Paso Enchiladas. I am going to make these using the Old El Paso kit. We have decided to use half fat cheese so the ProPoints value will be different if you use full fat cheese.
I have gone the whole hog today by having Old El Paso Nachos as a starter. The kit works out to 7 points per serving before cheese. The cheese that I used was 50% reduced fat British mature white cheese. This added another 3 points to the starter so the total ProPoints for the starter is 10 points.
For the Enchiladas I used 500 grams of chicken breast, I also added one large onion to the mix. I followed the recipe on the reverse of the packet and changed the cheese for 50% reduced fat cheese.
The Old El Paso Enchiladas kit worked out to be 8 ProPoints per serving with out the cheese and chicken. By using 50% reduced fat cheese you need to add and extra 3 points to the meal. The chicken worked out to be an extra 3 points so the total meal per serving works out to 14 ProPoints.
For taste I will give this meal 7 out of 10
For ease of preparing I will give this meal 9 out of 10

Chicken korma left over for dinner

Today I am using one of the packs of korma sauce that I froze when I made the last chicken korma. I had three portions of sauce left so I divided them into three equal parts and froze them for a quick meal.
I have added 266 grams of chicken to the sauce and 80 grams of peas. With this I have steamed 60 grams of basmati rice.
I steamed the rice in the bowl that I am going to use to serve the meal in. I lined the sides of the bowl with the rice and then poured the chicken korma into the well made in the rice.
The korma sauce works out to be 4 ProPoints.
The chicken worked out to be 7 ProPoints
The basmati rice worked out to be 4 ProPoints
The peas work out to be 2 ProPoints
Ease of preparing 9 out of 10
Ease of cooking as it was one pan for steaming and one pan to cook the chicken korma in. I cut the chicken up into chunks and then added it raw to the sauce and cooked the whole lot in one pan. For this I give it 9 out of 10
Taste for the meal is 9 out of 10.
Total points for the meal is 19 ProPoints
This korma recipe is from the hairy dieters so here is a link to help you make this: http://www.hairybikers.com/recipes/chicken-korma/1615 to make the sauce to the value of 4 ProPoints I left out the yoghurt and chicken.
I will be cooking more elaborated meals again its just when I am at work I do not have the time to cook all the nice food. As I am off for the next two days more delights will be coming.
I hope you are all enjoying the food that I put up here.

Left overs for dinner today

For todays I meal I used up the left overs from the potato gratin and braised vegetables.
This whole meal was very tasty and easy to make. I should of added some pepper to the steak so next time I make this I will add the ground black pepper.
The potato gratin and veg was heated up in the microwave with an addition of peas.
The potato gratin worked out to be 7 ProPoints in value.
The peas added a further 2 ProPoints to this.
In the oven I cooked a 249 gram pork lion steak @ 200 degrees C for 30 minutes with out the addition of any fat or oil. The pork worked out to be 10 ProPoints in value.
The whole meal was easy to cook as it was more left overs than cooking from scratch.
Ease of preparing 9 out of 10.
Ease of cooking 9 out of 10 as most of the meal was re-heating.
Taste of the meal 8 out of 10.
Total weight watchers ProPoints for the meal 19 points.

Chicken parcel with braised greens & potato gratin

This is a cross between two meals so I will be adding the recipe with this meal.

The chicken parcel is made from a chicken Kiev style meal that I tried a while back. For that attempt I put the chicken in pastry but this time I am trying it in a tin foil parcel.

Ingredients:

Onion 4
Streaky Smokey bacon 3 rashers
Stuffing mix 170 gram box
Garlic clove 4
Butter 2 ½ teaspoons
Chicken breast 600 grams
Olive oil 1 tablespoon
Chicken stock cube 1
Dried sage 1 teaspoon
Parmesan cheese 30 grams grated
Potato’s 1 kilo
Baby leeks 250 grams
Peas 250 grams
Single cream 150 ml
Spinach 200 grams
Carrots 4

Method:

Cut the bacon in to small pieces and fry until crispy.
Take a piece of tin foil about double the size of the chicken breast and in the middle put a layer of fine chopped onion.
Take a chicken breast about 120 grams in size and cut it in half.
Place half the chicken breast on top of the onion mix.
Use half a teaspoon of butter and spread this on the chicken breast.
Next add a small amount of crushed garlic to the butter.
Then spread 50 grams of made up sage and onion stuffing on the chicken breast.
Take a fifth of the bacon and spread over the stuffing.
Now put the other half of the chicken breast on top of the other and add another layer of onion.
Pull the tinfoil up and scrunch it together to seal it and place the parcel on a baking tray.
Repeat the above to the rest of the chicken breasts.
Cook in the oven for 30 minutes and 200 degrees C.

To make the gratin you will need to peel the potatoes and then cut them into thin slices using a food processor or a mandolin and then put the slices into a saucepan.
Pour the kettle of boiling water over the potatoes and then put the lid on them. Leave to stand for 10 minutes.
Peel 3 onions and finely slice them in the food processor then tip the onions into a roasting tin with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, crumble in the chicken stock cube and season with salt and pepper.
Add the sage to the onions and stir. Heat the onions on the hob and stir every few minutes. If the onions start to catch add a little water. Drain the potatoes well and then add to the onions and stir all ingredients to mix. Level out the mixture and pour the cream over the potatoes and onion mix, then add 30 gram of grated cheese over the top and put under the grill until the cheese has melted.

The vegetables I steamed the carrots for ten minutes while I prepared the leeks by cutting them in half-length ways and then washing them under the tap. I then sliced them up and put them in the pan the potatoes were cooked in with a tablespoon of olive oil. Stir them often and then I added the peas, and carrots to this and cooked for a couple of minutes stirring frequently. Then I added the spinach and when it was wilted I poured the whole lot into a serving bowl.

The meal took a while to prepare so I will give it 7 out of 10

Taste was superb so I will give it 8 out of 10

The whole meal worked out to be 15 ProPoints.

Homemade Chicken Chow Mein

For tonight's dinner we made a chicken chow mein.

Ingredients

1 tsp. of oil.
1 onion finely chopped.
3 carrots cut into batons.
1 tin of bean sprouts. Or a pack of fresh bean sprouts.
2 cloves of garlic.
550 grams of chicken breast.
4 tbsp. of soy sauce.
2 tbsp. of sherry.
2 tbsp. of Worcester sauce.
212 grams of egg noodles.

Method

Put the wok on a medium heat and add the oil. Add the finely chopped onion and cook until soft. Add the chicken, carrots and garlic. Cook on a medium heat for 10 minutes. While this is cooking heat a pan of water to boiling point, and when boiling add the noodles to the water. Bring the pan back to the boil and cook for 4 minutes. Drain the noodles and add them to the wok with the chicken, onion, garlic and carrots. Add the Worcester sauce, sherry and soy sauce. Add the bean sprouts and heat all the way through.

This version serves 3 people.

The meal takes about 30 minutes to prepare and cook.

The ProPoints value of this meal is 14 points per serving.

I think this tastes very nice then I would as we have made it this way for years.

Ease of preparing and cooking 9 out of 10.

Taste 9 out of 10.

Cheese, Leek and Onion Pasties

Today the 29/05/2013 I tried The Hairy Dieters Cheese, Leek & Onion Pasties.
These are on page 180 of The Hairy Dieters book.
Was not sure how these would turn out as they use bread mix for the pastry.
The whole recipe was very easy to follow. I started to cook this in the morning as you have to let the filling cool down before you add the cheese.
I weighed the pastry out so that each pasty was the same. I also weighed the filling so that again each pasty was the same.
The pastry worked out to be 109 grams per pasty.
The filling worked out to be 129 grams per pasty.
Total ProPoints per pasty is 6.

The pasty tasted very good and the pastry was a welcome change as it was very light.

I made these pasties as a snack as they were so low in points.

For ease of recipe I will give it 7 out of ten as it takes a while to make.

For the taste of the pasty I will give it 8 out of 10 as I fill it needs a little more seasoning.

Weight loss so far

Today the 29/05/2013 I weighed myself to see how much weight I have lost so far.
On the 15/052013 I weighed 18st 4lb which converts to 256lbs or 116.12 kilograms.
On the 22/05/2013 I weighed 17st 12lb which converts to 250lbs or113.39 kilograms.
In the first week I lost 6lb or in metric 2.73 kilograms. not bad for the first week and I was eating the recipes on my blog and I increased the pace at which I walk my dog.
On the 29/05/2013 I now weigh 17st 8lb which converts to 246lbs or 111.58 kilograms. So I have now lost a further 4lb or in metric 1.81 kilograms.
I am pleased with the amount of weight I have lost in the first three weeks.
To say that I have lost 10lb or 4.54 kilograms is a big achievement in three weeks with out having to resort to the bland type diet food that a lot of diets get you to eat.
I will keep updating my weight on a weekly basis so that you can see that the recipes do work and weight loss can be achieved.
In the coming weeks I will also post my blood pressure on here as that has now started a down would turn for the better so all in all eating correct meals and a little bit of exercise do work at improving your health.
I am not a sporty person so the most exercise I get is taking my dog for a walk twice a day.
On the 05/06 2013 I weighed my self again as it is my weigh in day and I weighed 17st 4lb so I am very happy with the amount of weight lost so far. This means I have lost another 4lb or in metric 1.81 kilograms.
This now means that I have lost 14lb or 6.35 kilograms in a month.

Chicken Korma

For todays delight I made the Hairy Dieters Chicken Korma the recipe is on page 124 of there book.
It does not give an exact amount of chicken to use so I will be giving this recipe three pro points values to help you.
I had 50 grams of uncooked rice with this korma.
The whole recipe is easy to follow and at the end of this post I will paste a link to the recipe.
The first time I made this meal I put to much sugar in it as I miss read the spoon size.
This time I made it to the letter and it was much better.
Ease of making and cooking 9 out of 10
Taste and bulkiness of meal 8 out of 10
I worked out the sauce to be 4 pro points per serving.
I used 600 grams of raw chicken and worked out the pro points to be 8 per serving.
If you use 50 grams of rice per person then the whole meal works out to be 12 pro points per serving.

http://www.hairybikers.com/recipes/chicken-korma/1615

Paprika Chicken Soup

I used the left over portions of Paprika Chicken recipe in The Hairy Dieters book page 91. I had blitzed this in a food processor to turn it into a soup. I the added 50 grams of Fusilli Pasta that I had cooked for 12 minutes before adding it. This was then my lunch with a total ProPoints value of 15. The reason it is so high is I had two portions of the Paprika Chicken left, so I had both to make a bowl full.
Ease of cooking 8/10
Taste value 9/10
Overall this was a very tasty meal and was very filling.

Home Made Lasagne

This is a recipe that I have used for years it was given to me by a good friend. I have halved the amount of beef mince and added half the amount of mince with Quorn mince. I have also used half fat cheddar cheese to reduce the amount of points for this meal.

Lasagne serves 6,

250 grams lean mince beef,
250 grams quorn mince,
141 grams half fat cheddar cheese grated,
2 large onions,
2 tin’s chopped tomato,
3 beef Oxo,
2 Table spoons tomato puree,
Salt and pepper,
340 grams of dry lasagne sheets,

For the white sauce,

56 grams plain flour,
56 grams butter or margarine,
1 Pint of milk, Salt and pepper,

White sauce method,

Melt the butter or margarine and then add the flour, should look like soft dough. Keep on heat, add a little milk at a time, and bring to the boil mixing all the time. Continue to do this until all milk is used. Add salt and pepper to taste. Take off heat finished.

Lasagne Method,

Finely chop the onion and then add the mince and onion to a pan and cook them add salt and pepper, Oxo, tin of toms and tomato puree. You made to add a little water but keep the mix fairly dry. Prepare a suitable dish to cook in. Line the dish with some of the white sauce and grated cheese, cover this with sheets of lasagne and then cover with some of the mince and add a ladle of white sauce and a little of the cheese. Repeat this until all of the mince has been used. And then cover the top layer of lasagne with the remainder of the white sauce and cheese. Cover with a lid and put in the oven at 200 degrees c or gas mark six for 30 minutes and then remove the lid and continue for the next 15 minutes to brown the top.

Weight Watchers Pro Point value = 10 points per serving,

This is the first time of trying this meal with half meat and half Quorn. I would give this meal 7 out of 10 as the normal recipe has a lot more flavour.
As a meal on a diet it was very flavoursome and was very filling.

Moist Carrot & Sultana Cake

I had my dinner last night the 25/05/2013 but wanted something sweet to eat so I had a go at the moist carrot & sultana cake recipe in The Hairy Dieters cook book page 156. This cake was easy and quick to make and the end result can be seen from the photo attached to this post. The amount of Weight Watchers ProPoints is 6 points per serving as the cake mix makes a cake for 10 servings. Taste 8 out of 10 I am going to cut this cake into the correct number of servings and freeze them so I have a ready supply if the sweet demon attacks again in the near future.

Paprika Chicken

Today the 25/05/2013 we had Paprika Chicken from The Hairy Dieters book page 91. I was not sure how I would enjoy this meal as I am not a pepper lover. This meal uses 3 whole peppers and tasted lovely. I substituted the chicken thighs for 780 grams of chicken breast as my wife is not a great lover of chicken thighs. The meal was easy to prepare and took just over an hour to cook. We had 180 grams of mashed potato with milk and butter added. The whole meal including the mash worked out at 8 points per person. There is still two severing's of the Paprika Chicken left and we have just whizzed this down in a food processor to make into a soup. I would give this 9 out of 10 for ease and cooking. I would also give it 8 out of 10 for taste.

Golden Chicken with braised greens & potato gratin

The first recipe that I tried was from Jamie's 15 minute meals.
The recipe can be found on page 48 for Golden Chicken with braised greens and potato gratin.
I followed the recipe to the letter and added all the ingredients into pro points and the point value per portion was 15 points.
This meal servers 4.
When I made the gratin I did not have a food processor or a mandolin to cut the potato's into thin slices so I did this bit by hand and cut them all to about the same thickness.
In the recipe Jamie says to pour boiling water over the potato's which I did, and then I put them on a medium heat for  15 minutes so that they were almost cooked.
Everything else worked to the letter of the recipe.
I would give this meal 7 out of 10 for taste and 8 out of 10 for ease of cooking.
As diet food is normally bland or taste less it is nice to find recipes that can be cooked that are low in fat and high in taste.
I have found this link which will take you to the recipe so that you can have a go yourself.
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chicken-recipes/golden-chicken-braised-greens-potato-gratin

Diet Time

My name is Leigh Bowles I weighed 18 stone and 4 pounds on the 15/05/2013.
I am a lorry driver and in April 2014 I have to take a medical, to be able to renew my licence, so I needed to do something about my health and fitness so I started a diet on the 15/05/2013 and joined weight watchers online to help me on my way.
I have been trying the recipes from the Hairy Dieters book, and also from Jamie's 15 minute meals book.
I have added each of the recipes that I have tried to the weight watchers pro points system to work out the points value of each meal tested.
So far each meal tried has had a lot of flavour and the points have not been to high.
If I tried the meal with a different ingredient I will put that information in the post with the review of the meal.
When I review one of the meals tried I will put which book it came from and the page number of the recipe used.
Some of the Hairy Dieters recipes can be found on the BBC food channel.
I have looked to see if any Jamie's 15 minute meals are on the web and have found some of them.
I will add a link to the recipe on the web to each meal that I find. I will do this for both books.