Last night we were having steak fajitas so I got some rump steak, bashed the life out of it, cut it into strips and made the MOST amazing marinade. Seriously, you have to try it.

In a pestle and mortar I crushed a large clove of garlic with 2 cubes of brown sugar (perruche natch :wink: ) and a tablespoonful of cumin seeds, I then added a tablespoonful of smoked paprika, a teaspoonful of smoked chillies, a tablespoonful of dijon mustard, a couple of tblsps of dark soy and about 3 tblspns of really good Kentucky bourbon. And I lightened the whole thing up with the juice of half a seville orange.

OMG it tasted amazing and that was before it had worked its magic on the steak. It was really delicious and one of my internet friends sugessted using it on ribs and I agree that would be amazing.

Chickpeas are fabulous

I am getting married in July and needed to try out the vegetarian main course so I made it last night.

There will be about 10-15 vegetarians at the wedding so I wanted it to be lovely and not just goats cheese tart. So I made spiced chickpea cakes with roasted vegetables and a herbed yoghurt dressing. It was delicious and had the added benefit of being very low fat. This is what I did:

I drained and rinsed 3 cans of chickpeas.
I finely chopped two onions, 3 cloves of garlic, one red chilli and sauteed them in olive oil with about a tablespoon of cumin seeds, a table spoon of ground coriander, a tablespoon of smoked paprika and lots of salt and pepper.

I then took half of the chickpeas and pureed them with a stick blender until they were like a dry houmous consistency.

I then mixed the whole chickpeas in with the mashed chickpeas and the sauteed vegetables. I mixed in chopped fresh coriander, parsley and basil and thyme and a good squeeze of lemon juice. I then shaped the mixture into patty shapes about the size of the palm of my hand. I then put them in the fridge to rest for 20 mins.

Meanwhile I chopped leeks, red peppers and butternut squash into similar sized lumps and roasted them in olive oil.

And I made a dressing by mixing fat free yoghurt with lemon juice and salt and herbs.

I fried the chickpea cakes in a little olive oil on both sides and finished them in the oven.

I served them by placing a little watercress and spinach salad on the plate, three cakes on top and the veg piled on top of the cakes and then drizzled the dressing over the lot of it.

Do try it.

Tentitively back on track

So I had a bit of a relapse. Unfortunately we had a death in the family so Alanna and I went back to Dublin and there was quite a bit of superfluous wine drinking and then when we returned I had to organise Alannas sixth birthday party. This featured chocolate rice crispy cakes and, even if I say so myself, a rather spectacular white chocolate mud cake with white chocolate butter cream icing and edible pink glitter.

So when I returned to the WKSC I had gained a pound.

And so I have been running. TWICE this week. I do not look pretty afterwards.

Onwards and upwards.

Whilst in Ireland I did have a very lovely low fat pasta dish made by my brother who, if he was feeling benevolent, might upload the recipe here.....

Those Pizza Express Legera Pizzas are pretty good actually

Ok so it is a bit odd ordering a pizza with the centre taken out but they do it well, it is presented nicely on a big black slate like thing and has a load of salad in the middle and you do not feel deprived or that you are eating something specifically weirdy for fatsos. 500 cals, can't remember how many WKSC points or grammes of sat fat but essentially it allows you to go out and eat something tasty without pigging out. Result.

Oh and by the way

I lost two pounds this week Yay! And my faithful friend who has valiantly agreed to endure the weekly risk of humiliation with me also dropped a considerable amount too!

Ok this is brilliant

So I saw a recipe today for celeriac rosti, mm I said to myself, I love rosti and it being celeriac, it would be (WKSC) point free. But then I remembered that Peter, my beloved, most hated thing is celeriac and so it was not a perfect option for dinner. But he loves butternut squash, and I do too so I thought I would try that instead. Reader it was FABULOUS and really, really easy.

Peel and grate half a medium sized butternut squash into a bowl, add three or four finely sliced spring onions, a finely diced red chili, lots of salt and pepper and two egg whites. I added half a packet of low fat feta cheese too but that is optional.

Then I sprayed a muffin tin with a little olive oil and put a large spoon of the mixture into each and pressed it down and baked them in the oven for about 25 minutes.

I served it with a piece of roasted cod and a mixed green salad so the whole point value was about 5 per portion.

Ugh, an uninspiring day

I did manage a long walk and even broke into a run occasionally so that was good and I didn't over eat at all which is good as I am to be weighed tomorrow.

Oh and top tip for a chocolate fix is that Options stuff with a spoon of Bournville cocoa stirred in. x