Recipe: Stewed Rhubarb

Super easy recipe devised to help me wean myself off the desire for sugary fruit Yoghurts

Suitable for

• PP (100g tolerated on a PP day)
• PV (unlimited on a PV day!)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of raw diced rhubarb
• 1/4 cup water
• (UPDATED:) a pinch of salt, which helps to deepen the flavour and counteracts the “empty sweetness” that comes with using sweetener instead of sugar.
• Sweetener to taste

Method:

1. chuck water and rhubarb in pot

2. put pot over stove
3. turn heat up to Ludicrous Speed
4. stir occasionally, until it goes gloopy:

5. Add sweetener to taste. I had to put in a fair whack – it was pretty TART! But bear in mind what I said about sweeteners – the spoon for spoon ones are not really very good, as they bulk the artificial sweetener out with maltodextrin or dextrose – both of which are easily digestible carbs. Bad bad BAD spoon for spoon. No cookie.

6. Serve with fat-free natural yoghurt. NOM! 🙂

Recipe: Oatbran Flaxmeal Foccacia style bread

Suitable for Cruise, Consolidation, Stabilization

Divided 6 ways, this recipe provides 2 tbsp oatbran and 2 tbsp flaxseed per serve.  Just right on Oatbran but perhaps needs refining for less flaxseed, which is currently above the daily allowed Dukan amount.  I’m considering swapping out half the flaxseed for wheatbran.

Ingredients

• 1 cup flaxseed meal (you can get this from healthfood stores or the wholefoods section at the supermarket, or make your own by grinding up whole linseeds/flaxseeds (they’re the same thing)
• 1 cup oatbran
• 1tsp salt
• 1 tbsp heat-stable artificial sweetener (like Splenda)
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup water
• 5 eggs, well beaten

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175C or 350F
2. Mix all the dry ingredients
3. Add the eggs and water, stir thoroughly.
4. Allow the mix to stand for 5 mins or so, to allow it to thicken
5. Pour the thickened mix onto a baking tray (I use an oven sheet underneath it to stop it from sticking – you can use parchment sheet)
6. Spread out the mix until you’ve got a nice rectangular looking shape, at least 1/2 inch thick.
7. Cook in oven for about 20 mins
8. Remove, leave to stand for another 20 mins, then cut into six portions, allow to cool further then store in an airtight container.

I love this bread! I cut it in half, toast the halves, and spread with extra light philly and vegemite – YUM!

Stolen & adapted from this video recipe (which turned out way too oily – this recipe doesn’t need any extra added oil) which gives you an idea of how your bread should turn out.  I’d show you a picture of mine from this morning, but I ate it already. Om nom nom nom!

Flaxseed meal is totally good for you. It’s high in B vitamins, magnesium, manganese, Omega-3, soluble fiber, antioxidants, and has antiviral, antibacterial and cellular repairing properties.  It’s very low in carbs, very high in protein, and keeps you regular (but one needs to drink plenty of water with it, due to its soluble fibrous properties.)

So, one serving of this bread has about 1.3tbsp of flaxseed (when you turn it into meal, it bulks up.)  Dukan recommends 1tsp, so this is about four-times too much.  Like I said, it needs refining, but it’s PRETTY TASTY!!

UPDATE

So I tried out this recipe, replacing half of the above cup of flaxseed meal with wheatbran – so the new ingredient mix becomes:

• 1/2 cup flaxseed meal
• 1/2 cup wheatbran
• 1 cup oatbran
• 1tsp salt
• 1 tbsp heat-stable artificial sweetener (like Splenda)
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup water
• 5 eggs, well beaten

For some reason, with the extra wheatbran, the mix was a bit dry with only a 1/4 cup of water, so I upped it to about a half cup, and it seems to have worked fine.

This recipe still has almost twice as much flaxseed as Dukan recommends – nearly 2 teaspoons.  Personally I think it’s worth it for that lovely, seedy taste, and all the health benefits that flaxseed brings.  It’s funny, since I started having it, I’m finding cycling up a particularly challenging hill on my way back from work, MUCH easier.

Skinny dip recipe

OMG I tried this dip last night and it was delish! I made it as a variation on this recipe.

Skinny Dip

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup “Really light” mayonnaise  – the very lowest fat stuff you can find
• 1/2 cup fat-free Normandy fromage frais
• Juice of one lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon celery salt or herb salt (Aromat or Herbamare work great)
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• Salt to taste

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients together except the salt – add this in at the end if needed for taste.
2. Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with extra paprika and dill weed, if desired. Chill before serving.

Recipe: chocolate custard pudding

Chocolate custard pudding
(makes two servings)
Suitable for Cruise, Consolidation & Attack
ONE serving counts as TWO tolerated food servings

Ingredients

• 35g Birds Custard Powder (NOT the instant custard with added sugar)
• 2 teaspoons low-fat cocoa powder (with no added sugar)
• 500ml skimmed milk
• ½ teaspoon instant coffee granules

Equipment

• Medium saucepan
• Fine wire sieve
• Two jugs/bowls (one broad one for mixing the custard powder in cold milk, one narrower one for mixing the cocoa powder in hot milk)
• Tupperware containers at the ready for swift packaging, if you’re not eating it immediately

Method

1. Measure out 500ml of milk in a jug.  Pour most of it in the saucepan, but leave about 50ml in the jug, and put 50 ml in the other jug
2. Put saucepan of milk on to heat up (don’t let it boil!)
3. Stir the birds custard powder into the milk in the broad jug, and set aside
4. Heat the remaining milk in small jug in the microwave, until hot enough to easily dissolve the cocoa.  Add cocoa, stir like a mad thing, breaking up lumps with the back of a spoon against the edge of the jug.  Once the cocoa has mostly dissolved, add it to the saucepan of milk, and stir constantly.
5. Once the saucepan of milk looks like it’s about to start boiling, take it off the heat, and slowly pour it into the broad jug with the custard powder, stirring the mix constantly.
6. Return mix to the saucepan on a very gentle heat, and keep stirring until it thickens.  Never let it stand too long or you’ll get a nasty skin on top.
7. Once it’s all thickened, add sweetener to taste, and the tiny bit of instant coffee.
8. Stir it all in, then pour mix through the strainer back into the broad jug – this catches any nasty teensy lumps which threaten to ruin your custard experience.
9. Serve immediately, or package into Tupperware containers  and seal lids straight away.  Leave to cool, and then allow to set in the fridge overnight.

Tips

• If your mix is too runny, try adding a little extra custard powder next time, or repeat steps 2 and 5 – DON’T PUT THE CUSTARD POWDER DIRECTLY INTO THE MIX!! Always pour the mix onto the custard powder that’s been mixed with a tiny bit of milk.
• And be careful not to add too much custard powder, I’ve had it go rock solid in the past!! It will thicken a little more as it sets.

 

Recipe: Thai Salmon Fishcakes

My boss at work gave me this recipe – she’s low-carbing too, but can’t do Dukan cause she’s diabetic – we’re having a great time exchanging experiences and recipes!  I am so addicted to these things, it’s not funny.

Thai salmon fishcakes

Serves one hungry person or two as a starter

Suitable for PP and PV days

Ingredients
180g supermarket cooked salmon with skin removed (tescos do a pre-cooked sweet chilli one that totally works)
1 red chilli, sliced (optional – I use a small teaspoon of pre-chopped chilli)
3 spring onions, chopped
Handful fresh coriander, chopped
1 egg
2 teaspoons finely chopped lemongrass
Salt and pepper

Squeeze of lime
Olive oil

Method

1. Put everything but salmon in the blender until finely chopped
2. add salmon, salt and pepper to taste, and blend again until similar to mince (it will be quite sloppy)
3. spray some oil in hot frying pan
4. Spoon tablespoons of the mixture into pan.  If it starts to spit, turn the heat down
5. Let one side really seal before trying to turn over (like an omelette)
6. When firm and golden brown, they are ready
7. serve with squeeze of lime, & black pepper

Recipe: Chicken Fajita Seasoning

Blatantly swiped from Toasted Special’s fabulous recipe

Ingredients

• 2 tsp sea salt (smoked if possible)
• 2-3 tsp granulated sweetener sugar
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp oregano (preferably the Mexican variety)
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp paprika (smoked if possible)
• 1 tsp dried onion powder
• 1 tsp dried garlic powder
• 1 tsp chipotle chilli powder

Mix together the ingredients (I used a mortar and pestle to make me feel more like an Olde Timey Apothecary) and store in an airtight jar.

Method one:

1. Brown chicken, onion and capsicum in a pan
2. Add 1-2 tbsp of fajita mix (to taste, basically)
3. Enjoy with salsa and zero fat craime fraiche

Method two (my fave):

1. chop chicken breast into small nugget sized pieces, toss into mixing bowl
2. toss with the fajita mix and 1/2 tbsp of oatbran until all the pieces are coated
3. Cook under a hot grill, until a lovely dark golden brown, and enjoy as chicken nuggets

Many thanks to Toasted Special for the brilliant recipe – I’ve been enjoying it tremendously.

Cruise day 95 – PV

Morning weigh-in: 93.3kgs

• Daily LOSS 0.8kgs / 1.76lbs
• Total lost 19kg/41.8lbs

Watercheck – 1.6l

Breakfast

• oatbran porridge
• 2x microwaved eggs
• Cup of tea

Lunch

• 1/2 Nando’s chicken, with the skin taken off

Dinner

• Fajita sans wrap, with:
• 2 chicken breasts made with HOME MADE FROM SCRATCH Fajita seasoning, adapted from this recipe over at ToastedSpecial – a blog which is increasingly catching my eye.  I used granulated sweetener instead of caster sugar, and three teaspoons to this mix rather than 2.
• 1/2 capsicum, a few cherry tomatoes, 2 teaspoons of creme fraiche, and tiny bit of grated cheddar (I’d been cooking all evening and couldn’t be bothered grating babybel) and two teaspoons of salsa.

After dinner snack

• Some of those incredible ham-crisps, as recommended by Lauren and Claire from the recipe at My Dukan Diet (I totally love that site). Wow.  Pretty good.  My friends all tucked in too.

Exercise

• 4 hours walking in town shopping, probably 45 minutes of that at a brisk pace

Oooh, yeah, and we’re nearly back on track! It was a good day, as well as being a busy one – I feel like I walked all over town, doing essential shopping bits.

The home made fajita mix went down a treat with J and the two friends who came round to visit.  The only things I thought it would be hard to get hold of were the chipotle powder and the Mexican oregano – but it turns out there’s a Spanish/Mexican goods store on the other side of my block, not 3 minutes walk away – Lupe Pinto’s, for the Glaswegians and Edinburghers.  Glasgow has a Lupe Pinto’s too.  Easy as.

In order to get as smokey a taste as possible, in addition to the smoked chipotle powder, I also used smoked sea salt and smoked paprika.  It definitely worked.  However, in order to more perfectly replicate the Old El Paso Carb-Laden Fajita Mix, I think the recipe might need a little ginger, and perhaps something to give it a little “zing.”  The ingredients on the packet mix have “acidity regulators (citric acid, acetic acid)” – does anyone know how this would affect the mix?

I think I’m going to have to ask my tame Biochemist/person-who-knows-everything-about-how-science-works-in-the-home, Dr My Mum – but if anyone else with a science/industrial culinary background knows, feel free to chip in.  Should I use citric acid in my Fajita mix? Will it affect the taste enough to be useful? I think I can get it at my local wholefoods store.

Recipe – Beef Stirfry

So I made this tonight, inspired by the DuLac stirfry recommended by Miss Vodka Tonic out of the Dukan book.

Beef Stirfry
Serves 2
Suitable for Cruise

Ingredients

• 400g rump steak or other tender cut
• 1tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1tsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 head of pak choi
• 3-4 florets of brocolli, cut into longways pieces along the stalk
• optional – 1/2 pack of pre-prepared stir-fry vege from the supermarket – the lazy person’s choice
• 1tsp sesame oil
• 1tbsp cornflour
• 1 beef stock cube
• 100ml cold water
• 50ml boiling water

Method

1. Cut rump steak into long strips, as fine as possible
2. in plastic bag or bowl, combine beef, worchestershire sauce, soy sauce, salt & pepper.  Stir thoroughly, leave covered in fridge to marinate for at least 30 mins – overnight is better though
3. once beef is marinated, heat sesame oil in wok to very high temp (it’s hot enough when a tiny drop of water sizzles and pops when put with the oil)
4. flash fry the beef as quickly as possible – once all the sides are seared and brown, transfer to a bowl temporarily
5. heat the wok up to sizzling again, add the pak choi, brocolli and stirfry vege. Toss in wok for 1 minute, then
6. mix the beef stock cube with the boiling water, add to the vege & stir for 30 seconds
7. Mix the cornflour with the COLD water, stir thoroughly, add to the vege & stir for 30 seconds
8. Once the vege is looking wilty and the sauce has thickened, add the beef back, stir vigorously for another 30 seconds – 1 minute
9. Serve! 🙂

Cruise day 46 – PP

Morning weigh-in: 101.2

• Daily LOSS 0.1kg/0.22lbs
• Total lost 11.1kg/24.42lb

Watercheck – 1.4l by 20.30

Breakfast

• 2x scrambled egg
• Cup of coffee with milk
• 3x lean beef sausage

Lunch

• 1x lean beef sausage

Dinner

• Rump steak
• fat free yoghurt with oatbran & 1/2 tsp cocoa
• mini babybel light
• 2x oatbran muffins

Exercise

• 50 minutes cycling around running errands (including cycling up the length of the Royal Mile
• 35 mins walk around the Meadows

My sneaky scales played tricks on me this morning – I couldn’t get a constant reading from them – the first reading they gave me was 100.9 – jubilation! But I always do more than one morning weigh-in and it settles.  The second reading was 101.7 – no jubilating. A few more reading later, I finally got the scales to settle down on 101.2, but I have no real idea which reading was correct.  Especially as, once I came back from my cycle, I once again weighed 100.9 (yes, some obsessive weighing.  Better than compulsive eating, right?)

Energy levels, despite the long cycle and walk, were quite low today.  I did no running for my after-dinner walk, and hardly had to backtrack and criss-cross the Meadows at all to make sure I walked for teh full 30 mins – in fact, it took five mins longer than usual because I wasn’t able to walk at a quick enough pace for my fave walking tracks.  I’ve been thinking about what Gentlemonkey said about red meat – I’ve not been getting much iron recently.  So, my meat intake today was entirely red meat – I’ll be interested to note my energy levels tomorrow!

Hips are also a bit sore from my 8 minute (sore from 8 minutes?!) run yesterday.  J says that when he started running again, his hip joints were sore too, but I’m not convinced about the wisdom of running when I’m carrying around my kinda pounds.  The fitness level is there to run, but maybe I should take it easy.  Advice gratefully received if there are any Dukan runners out there…

One last comment: I didn’t have my oatbran porridge for brekkie today, so in order to get my oatbran intake, I had a tablespoon with Yoghurt at dinner, and some chocolate oatbran muffins at the same time.  My god do I ever feel bloated now! The last time I remember having the same feeling of bloat was actually the last time I had oatbran, muffins and yoghurt together.  I won’t be trying that combo again… Ugh.

Lean Spicy Pork Burgers

Seriously tasty.  J approved, as did my tastebuds last night when I made them, and this morning when I had leftovers for lunch.

Ingredients:

• 500g low fat pork mince
• 1tsp ground Maldon’s Smoked Sea Salt (normal salt will do)
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 tspn ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder (more if you like it hot!)
• 1 tbsp wholegrain dijon mustard
• 1tbsp oatbran
• 1 large egg
• 1 large clove of crushed garlic

Method:

1. Set the George a-heatin’ to “eleven” (a grill will do just as well if George does not grace your establishment):

2. Combine ingredients in a bowl, get in there with clean hands and mix everything thoroughly:

3. Form the meat into patties, whilst avoiding tripping over the kitten who’s begging for scraps. Don’t feed the kitten after midnight or he’ll turn into a monster, if he’s not one already:

4. Cook until the burgers are browned and seriously tasty lookin’.  If you’re not on the Dukan diet, go ahead and cram these burgers into a bun with all the trimmings. Dukaneers, I had a pattie with chive cottage cheese – lovely!

** If you’ve got a George and he’s squeezable – go ahead and give him a squeeze at regular intervals to drain off excess fat.

The nutmeg is an unexpected ingredient – I have a memory at the back of my mind of someone making pork sausages with nutmeg, so I decided to give it a go.  It worked beautifully – very subtle.