Chicken pesto burgers

Posted on March 5, 2014 by lindaharley

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I don’t like fasting on my day off, as there’s far too much temptation in the fridge and kitchen cupboards! But my husband was away at a work meeting today, and I had lots of activities to keep me busy (and out of the house). These included a photo-shoot with Mini for a run-with-your-dog event coming up soon!

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When we got back from the shoot in lovely Lady Dixon Park, I set about making my main meal of the day. There was some leftover roast chicken (100g – 140 cals), and the dregs of a jar of pesto (1/8th jar – 80 cals). I chopped these finely together, but thought it looked a bit bland. So to add some colour, sweetness, and mositure, I chopped in a roast red pepper at 10 cals. (note to self – get another jar of those, absolute store cupboard essentials!)

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I formed the mixture into 2 burger shapes, and baked in a 170 degree overn for 15-20 minutes until hot through.

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I served them with a mound of caulifower (was going to mash it, but couldn’t be bothered) 15 cals, and a spicy tomato salsa made from chopped cherry toamtoes, a splash of balsamic and a teeny bit of chillis from a jar (25 cals).

The whole lot looked huge on the plate, and came in at under 300 calories in total.

The burgers were very good – a great way to use up leftover chicken. On a non fast day I’d add some cheese, and maybe dredge them in panko breadcrumbs.

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Creamy salmon pasta

Posted on February 4, 2014 by lindaharley

The original recipe for this dish comes in at about 400 calories, so I tweaked it by swapping half the pasta for courgette ribbons. Still, 40g spaghetti is a pitifully small amount for 130 calories, and wasn’t really worth it. Next time I’ll use all courgette, or the slim pasta.

I made a sauce by stirring 2 generous tablespoons of Tesco’s healthy living creme fraiche (80 cals) into a scraping of leftover light Philadelphia with cucumber (20 cals). I added the zest and juice of half a lemon, and plenty of black pepper.

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I made courgette ribbons by running a cheese slicer down the length, and then slicing the resulting strips down the middle. One courgette at 150g is 30 cals. I put them to boil with 40g spaghetti.

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Once the pasta was soft enough, I drained it, and stirred in 60g smoked salmon trimmings (130 cals), and then my cream sauce.  I topped the lot with a blob of caviar/ lumpfish roe (10 cals)

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The end result was rather decadent.  I’d definitely do the sauce again! 400 cals, 25g protein, 40g carbs.

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Take one tray of prawns…

Posted on February 1, 2014 by lindaharley

I don’t usually like fasting when I’m at home – far too many temptations around.  But circumstances this week made it unavoidable, and in retrospect it was much easier than I’d imagined.  Largely down to a reduced 300g pack of cooked prawns I found for 75p in the supermarket, which I proceeded to turn into lunch and dinner.

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Prawns are a faster’s friend – at only 65 calories per 100g it is possible to have a very satisfying meal within the 500 daily allowance.

For lunch, I took a good handful of rocket leaves, some chopped cherry tomatoes, 100g of the prawns, and a tub of grapefruit segments in juice (there are 40 cals per pot, and another of my fast day saviours). I garnished the lot with some slivers of sushi ginger, and the whole plateful comes in about 150 calories.  The taste combinations are superb – prawn and tomato are a tried and tested marriage, but the addition of the peppery rocket and the juicy bittersweet grapefruit, with a zing from the ginger, was a very refreshing and flavourful meal.

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I noticed that my tomatoes were past their best, so for dinner I simmered them with a chopped stick of celery in a splash of red wine, and added a squeeze each of sun dried tomato puree, basil paste and umami. And a blob of minced garlic.

Image I sieved the resulting pulp to make a good flavoured sauce, although it was on the runny side.  I added the rest of my prawns to this, and served with zero-noodles, for a total meal of about 200 cals.  Next time I’d add some veg – sliced mushrooms, or diced courgette maybe.

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#ThouShaltNotLaugh

Posted on January 30, 2014 by lindaharley

In the beginning was the play.

The play in question was “The Bible: The complete word of God (abridged)” done by the Reduced Shakespeare Company. Both the troupe and the play have been around for over 20 years, so it wasn’t some new avant garde cutting edge piece of drama. It was a mildly amusing comedy.

The venue in question was the Theatre at The Mill, a beautifully realised piece of architecture combining an original mill building in Newtownabbey with new state of the art gallery and performance spaces. It is run by the local council.

My husband is jealous of the number of evenings I spend runninganddancing, and so we have an agreed date night at least once a month. This seemed like the perfect idea for January’s date night, and so we booked tickets.

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And then, a week before opening night, the show was cancelled. A DUP member of the council had felt that play was offensive and blasphemous. Why it had taken him till so close to the performance to raise these concerns isn’t clear – the play had been approved by the council’s artistic committee months ago, had been advertised on billboards, flyers, and in the theatre’s brochure.

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Why it couldn’t have just had a warning, like the parental advisory sticker on CDs with rude words in them, isn’t clear either. Nor why theatre goers couldn’t just have been made aware of the content and left to make up their own minds.

No. Councillors, without having seen the show themselves, decided that no-one should get the opportunity.

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What happened next was perhaps predictable, but most satisfying nonetheless.  The theatre going public were outraged.  The Nolan Show took up the case.  The twitterati picked it up and gave it the #ThouShaltNotLaugh hashtag.  The Arts Minister and local comedians expressed their concern about censorship.  A Christian who HAD seen the show penned a thoughtful and measured letter, which was widely shared on Facebook.  A petition was signed.

Momentum grew – the show, which had precious few advance sales, began to sell out in its later venues.  Followers of @reduced on Twitter zoomed over the 10,000 mark.

If ever there was a case of no such thing as bad publicity, here it was.

And in a miraculous volte-face, the council reversed their decision, 2 days before curtain up.  The theatre’s website crashed under the demand for tickets, the cameras were out in force to vox-pop people entering and leaving the show, a mahoosive round of applause greeted the first appearance on stage of a cast member, and a warm standing ovation followed the closing lines.

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There are some lessons to be learned here.  The PUL (Protestant Unionist Loyalist) community in Norn Irn have a long history of not understanding the importance of PR.  The world’s cameras have seen them stoning primary school children on their way to school, fleg protestors disrupting Christmas shopping, and stern-faced men in bowler hats valuing intransigence.  Could no-one have advised the councillors that this was the almost inevitable outcome?

I was not surprised but a little disappointed that the opportunity wasn’t taken to have a “proper” discussion about what is and isn’t blasphemous or offensive.  There are a lot of grey areas, and a debate should have been instructive.  How about nudity for instance – is Page 3 offensive? Breast-feeding mothers? Topless beaches?  What constitutes blasphemy – is Douglas Adams’ “God disappearing in a puff of logic” blasphemous?  Taking the Lords name in vain on television? The internet meme of God reaching out to the spaghetti monster’s noodly appendage – is that offensive to Pastafarians?

Sadly we had The Nolan Show, a pointing and shouting match with a fair dose of “whataboutery”, but no real depth or substance.

The real winners, though, in the silveriest of linings to this murky cloud, is the Theatre at the Mill.  The staff there handled the cancelling-uncancelling efficiently and pleasantly (though the bar staff seemed overwhelmed with the packed opening night crowd of punters at the delightfully named “Yarns” bar).  Its fabulous facilites have been seen by the world’s media, and those who made the 5 mile trip to the outskirts of Belfast will undoubtedly visit again.

I think art is the ulitmate winner.

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5and2: Celeriac Mash

Posted on January 27, 2014 by lindaharley

With the weather being so cold outside, I really fancied some comfort food in a sausage-and-mash style. Quorn based bangers are lower in calorie and pack a good protein punch, so I picked up a pack of Cauldron Cumberland Sausages from Sainsburys (75 cals apiece).

To go with them, I wanted to use up the half a celeriac that’s been lurking in the fridge ever since I tried emulating the sweet potato and celeriac soup we enjoyed on New Years Eve.

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For one person, I peeld and chopped a quarter of the celeriac – about 160g and 70 cals. I simmered it for about 25 minutes till soft, having added a squirt of marmite to the water for extra flavour. I drained and then mashed with a tablespoonful of light creme fraiche (25 cals), and a few chopped spring onions.

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I made a gravy by cooking some shitake mushrooms in some water that I’d soaked a sprinkle of porcini in. 1-2 mins in the microwave, for 25 cals.

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It looked very appetising on the plate, was a very substantial meal for under 300 cals.

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Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Posted on January 19, 2014 by lindaharley

I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to try this – I’ve certainly heard it discussed on MyFitnessPal and 5:2 groups before now. I guess I’m not that big a fan of pizza – it’s OK, I’ll eat it, but I wouldn’t be distraught if I lived in a world without pizza.

But the rest of the household fancied making pizza from scratch at the weekend, and I reckoned it would be a good opportunity to try this base, since we’d be preparing the same toppings.

2014-01-18 15.45.06 I nearly fell at the first hurdle – no fresh cauliflower in the supermarket!  But undaunted I got some frozen stuff instead.  I cooked 200g in the microwave until soft. I then blitzed that with an egg, some half-fat mozarella, some grated parmesan, a handful of basil leaves, and seasoned with spicy Sicilian salt, black pepper, and garlic granules.

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Formed that into a round shape, and baked in the oven for 10 minutes until firm.2014-01-18 18.30.10

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Topped with pizza sauce, sliced mushrooms, green pepper, artichoke hearts, olives and anchovies and some more half-fat mozarella.

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The result was absolutely delicous, and I’ll definitely be trying this again.  There’s obviously endless variations of toppings which could be used – cheese and salami will push the calorie count up, but the base is around 200-250 calories.

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5and2: courgettes and chorizo

Posted on January 10, 2014 by lindaharley

Well, I’ve been 5and2ing for a whole year now, and it’s become a fairly easy habitual way of eating. But I’ve got lazy about sharing my recipes, so as there are lots of new adherents out there in Tinternetland (Hi mom!), my new year’s resolution is to share more fast day ideas.

Newpapers and magazines are full of January diet zeal, and amonsgt the unrealistic promises and hype, there are some good recipe ideas.  Here’s one I adapted from such a source.

Ingredients:

Approx calories in brackets.

1 medium courgette (20), 20g chorizo (100), 6-10 cherry tomatoes (30), 1 tbsp tomato puree (10), garlic, flat leaf parsley. Total about 160 cals.

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Method:

Using a vegetable peeler, take a long strip off the courgette, and discard that bit.  Turn it over so that it now sits on a flat base, and peel a strip off the other side – discard.  Peel the rest of the courgette into thin ribbons.  I used a cheese parer, but a potato peeler would do, or else just use a sharp knife.

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Cut the chorizo into thin discs. Put them in a heated frying pan with no extra oil, and let them crisp.

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Remove the choirzo and set aside. To the oil it has released, add garlic (one crushed clove, I used a tsp of ready minced stuff from a jar), and a  tablespon of tomato puree – I used some fancy sun-dried tomato puree, but any would do.

Add the courgette and stir them over a medium heat until soft.

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Add the cherry tomatoes, halved.  At this point I remembered I don’t like tomato skins, but the end result wasn’t too annoying.  Life is too short to skin cherry toms, but if I were doing this with larger ones I might take the skins off.  A couple of tinned tomatoes would work also.

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Pile into a bowl, top with the chorizo crisps, and a spinkle of flat leaf parsley.  I always add parsley to garlicky dishes.  This one turned out very garlicky, so I might leave it out altogether next time.

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Gok Tales

Posted on November 17, 2013 by lindaharley

I recently had the pleasure of meeting the adorable Gok Wan, and this week I’ve been trying some recipes out of his new book.

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For my 5:2 fast day dinner, I made Vietnamese salad.  This is finely shaved fennel, carrot and cucumber, in a dressing made from sesame oil, fish sauce, palm sugar  and lime juice, with mint and corainder to garnish.  The dressing was lovely, but the raw veg were very crunchy.  I might try grating them next time.  But about 80 calories per portion, so its a good low-cal option.

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I’m always intrigued by new combinations, and I was looking forward to trying sweet potato and brazil nut curry.  Peel, dice and boil 500g (that’s about one large) sweet potato.  Dice one red onion and one red pepper, and saute in a wok.  I used coconut oil, but the recipe suggests rice bran.  Add half a tablespoon each of cinnamon, Chinese 5 spice, turmeric, and chilli powder.  When the veg have softened, add half a tin of light coconut milk.  Stir in the cooked sweet potato, and 50g chopped brazil nuts, and 3 tablespoons dessicated coconut.  Serve on flatbread or rice with a few blobs of yoghurt, and granish with coriander leaves.

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This was an interesting combination of textures, with the soft potato and the crunchy nuts.  And if I was avoiding carbs I would just have it alone rather than adding any bread or rice.  Around 450 cals per portion.

I like the book, but it doesn’t have a picture for every recipe, which is a shame.  It also could do with a bookmark ribbon.

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Leaving Las Vegas

Posted on October 29, 2013 by lindaharley
The castle like towers of the Hotel Excalibur
Sunday was our last day. We finished packing, and left our suitcases in the very efficient left luggage facility at the hotel check-in area. We booked a shuttle bus to the airport ($7 each). And caught the SDX back to the mall where R treated himself to a watch he’d fancied for some time.The shuttle bus took about 25 mins to get to the airport, as it was picking up passengers at a number of hotels, and also dropping off at some of the other terminals. Terminal 3 seemed to be quite a distance away from 1 and 2, but when we arrived Virgin were doing curbside check-ins, which was a novelty for us (though the check-in girl said she’d rather be inside the air-conditioned terminal building.)  Our bags were just under the 25kg limit, and they’d go straight through to Dublin. That was a great relief! I usually have to keep toiletry bags of sun cream, lotions, toothpaste etc near the top of my case ready to ditch if my bag is overweight.IMG_2933The airport terminal was quite small, though it did have a gambling room. We found a bar, selling very overpriced drinks. A man beside me asked the price of a beer, and on hearing the price asked how much a small one would be. Even that was outside his budget, and when he enquired if there was ANYTHING that he could get for his $8, the answer was no. I did offer him my last cash dollar, but he refused. I stocked up on US sweets and peanut butter crackers in the shop, and salt water taffy for my office colleagues.We boarded on time, but then sat on the runway for well over an hour – apparently the baggage checking computer system had gone down, and the numbers of bags and passengers didn’t match. Our seats weren’t great. We were right beside the galley, and as this was a night time flight we’d be trying to get some sleep, but the noise and lights emanating from there made this more difficult. Worse, when the food trolley emerged it went to the back of the plane first, and by the time it reached us not all choices were available, and those that were tasted very overdone.

We dozed on and off throughout the very short night, and landed about lunchtime in Gatwick. As we had a long time before our next flight, I’d booked a room in the Yotel, situated in the terminal building and renting small cubicles by the hour. These contain a bed, a shower and loo, and a TV, and are perfect for chilling out and getting some much needed sleep before the next leg. There are plenty of food options nearby including Marks and Spencers Simply Food, and we emerged 4 hours later feeling rested and refreshed. The final leg to Dublin, picking up the car, and driving home, all went according to plan, though we were shattered by the time we stumbled over the accumulated post behind the front door.

Final thoughts?

The journey is long. If I was going to the States again I’d pay extra to fly direct from an Irish airport, where you can do the immigration process before you depart.

I’d love to see more of Route 66, and take it at a slower pace.

Vegas is flashy, trashy, brashy, cashy.

There is no such thing as bad taste, or too much bling.

Are the ersatz Venetian canals et al even better than the real thing?

Anything goes. No really, I do mean ANYTHING.

It’s a full-on top-speed no-holds-barred sensory overload.

What happens in Vegas, stays on facebook …..

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Saving seconds, 5:36

Posted on October 26, 2013 by lindaharley

I’ve been ParkRunning for most of this year now – did my 24th today, in fact! My Personal Best time (PB) had been 28:16, which I’d recorded back in June, when I was in serious training for the Lisburn half-marathon. But ever since then my times had got worse.

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So in an attempt to stem this downward tide, I joined Jog Lisburn. These fabulous folk were following the Couch to 5K programme, as the vast majority of them were getting ready for their first ever 5k run. Training was 2 nights a week, rain or shine, and even on dark nights we found routes in Wallace Park which still had some illumination. That, coupled with ensuring I didn’t overdo the booze on a Friday night, brought about some improvement. And I knew I was fast last week, but it wasn’t until the official results were published that I discovered I’d only been ONE second off my PB. One miserable second!!!

This annoyed me. I started trying to work out how I could monitor my speed and pace while I was actually running.  Could I create a playlist that lasted 7 minutes per lap, maybe? I wasn’t keen on a watch type device – I already run with a dog which occupies one hand. So I explored what functionality there might be on MapMyRun. And I found Voice Feedback.

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I set it to report every 0.25km, and tell me total time, average pace, average speed, and current pace. I tried it out walking the dogs, and again at Wednesday night’s training.  I was really keen to do well this week, as I’ll miss the next two Saturdays, and the one after that is scheduled to be the mass Jog Lisburn event.

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I got a good night’s sleep (though I still get a real adrenalin rush of nerves before an important run), and had a superfood breakfast of Berry Bircher.  That’s overnight oats with flaxseed, goji berries, raspberries, strawberries, pomegranate seeds, cinnamon and manuka honey. Yummy carbohydrates!

The weather forecast had been ominous, with yellow warnings of rain and strong winds, but it turned out to be dry, cold, and just a bit breezy.  I had no excuses.

I did my warm-up lap, and my stretches, peeled off my outer jacket, wrapped my headband under the iPhone holder so it wouldn’t be slipping down my arm, selected my jogging playlist, waited for the whistle…..and pressed START.

I’d worried that the frequency of the voice-in-my-ear I’d chosen would be too much, but actually it was just about right.  It’s obviously relying on a GPS fix for distance and hence speed, so these aren’t error-free, but the elapsed time is bang on, and I knew I was aiming for a 6 minute first (short) lap, and 7 minutes for the 3 longer laps.  To acheive a new PB, I’d need an average pace of under 5:36.

I flung myself down the hills, remembered to keep my knees up, stretched my stride, glided in between each footfall, and didn’t fight the hills.  The marshalls, many of whom are fellow Jog Lisburners, cheered me on at every corner.  About half way through the last lap, I knew I was going to do it, and do it well.  Knowledge is power.  I sprinted up to the finish line and crossed it in 27:25.

One of the great things about ParkRun is all the statistics that it holds.  This brilliant PB moved me from #499 to #465 in the Best 500 Times table, and from 245 to 202 on the age graded table.  Best of all, I’m number one on the female points table!

You want to see the mile-wide smile on my face……..

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