Bikini blitz day 2

Here we go for day 2…

breakfast
1 weetabix with 2 tbps low fat Greek yoghurt, half a punnet of strawberries and a drizzle of honey – yum (even if I did get weetabix in my hair).

morning snack
This was supposed to be 2 celery sticks with cottage cheese..can you see the but coming? I work in events and today had a lunch time reception, it was at a venue we don’t usually use so to check quality I tried one each of the 6 canapés – it’s my job, right?

lunch

Baked sweet potato with 25g crumbled feta cheese.

afternoon snack
The 2 celery sticks I should’ve eaten earlier – no cottage cheese.

dinner
Pork and vegetable stir fry with plenty of chilli, ginger and garlic with whole meal rice – this does not feel like diet food.

exercise
Went to gym and did 25 minutes of interval running – 3 mins sprinting and 1 min light jog and 2 sets of 12 of weighted lunges, squat jumps, triceps extensions, scissors, weighted arm rows and side plank twists.

The verdict? Let myself down with the canapés but a bit better than day 1.

Can I get bikini beautiful in 2 weeks?

I do a reasonable amount of exercise – 3 times a week on average – but still have quite a flabby belly, I think because I just eat a lot. So, for the next 2 weeks I’m going to do Women’s Fitness bikini body blitz.

On today’s menu…

breakfast
2 Scrambled eggs on 1 slice of brown toast for breakfast – although I didn’t have time to sort that out this morning so I had a bowl of maple and pecan crisp cereal with skimmed milk.

mid morning snack
An apple and 6 almonds

lunch
Salmon fillet with mixed leaves salad (I just had rocket) with a little olive oil and a whole meal roll (no butter)

afternoon snack
The menu said low fat plain yoghurt with a handful of blueberries. I substituted my blueberries for raspberries and didn’t really fancy the yoghurt so basically just had some raspberries.

dinner
Chicken tikka – marinated since this morning in (low fat) yoghurt, grated garlic (3 cloves), grated fresh ginger (about 2cm), a chopped fresh chilli and a little chilli powder, ground cumin and coriander (1 tbsp), fresh chopped coriander, paprika (1 tsp), a little ground cinnamon (1/4 tsp) and a pinch of saffron.

Women’s Fitness said I should have had this with brown rice but instead I had a handful of lettuce and some cucumber raita.

Exercise
The magazine also has a few pages of exercises and I was meant to do some today, although I ran a half marathon yesterday so had a rest day today.

So, off to a mediocre start, let’s see how it goes tomorrow.

Grilled South Indian-style Lamb

This week I made Peri’s Spice Ladel South Indian Lamb. I marinated my lamb in advance with Peri’s simple marinade and fried my mix of lamb chops and rack in coconut oil.

The lamb was really tender and tasty. If I were making them again, which I undoubtedly will, is that I’d add a little more chilli powder.

I served the lamb with naan bread, some salad, cucumber raita and an Indian carrot salad from Jamie Oliver’s 30 minute meals:

Made with grated carrot, grated fresh ginger, toasted flaked almonds, ground cumin, fresh coriander and a splash of olive Poland seasoning.

Macaroons

While I’m swanning off for a couple of days in Sussex here’s my friend Lottie with her amazing macaroons – these will keep you busy over the bank holiday weekend.

“Hello, my name is Lottie and I am a macaroon fanatic. I walk past Laudrée twice a day, I seek out beautiful displays of them in patisserie shop windows when I travel and finally I have learnt to make them myself.

It’s not as daunting as you think it is although I was frightened enough by the prospect to sign myself up for a 2 hour master class (the time out offer cinched the deal).  My basic recipe below is adapted from what I learnt in the class and I think is pretty fail safe so long as you do as you’re told!

Don’t expect each one to look perfect, trust me they will still taste amazing and really, who’s judging? Macaroons are a luxury, make when you have time to spare and enjoy leisurely (preferably accompanied by a nice cup of tea).

To make 20 small sandwiched citrus macaroons (40 shells)

For the shells:
80g ground almonds
100g icing sugar
2 large egg whites (weight approx 40g each egg)
Pinch of salt
A few drops of food colouring of your choice

For the filling:
125g unsalted butter (softened)
250g icing sugar
A few drops of orange flavouring (to taste)
Lemon curd

Method

1.       Preheat the oven to approx 150 degrees centigrade
2.       Put all the dry ingredients (icing sugar, nuts and salt but NOT the caster sugar) into a food processor/blender and grind until a fine powder
3.       Sift dry ingredients into a bowl
4.       Starting on a slow speed whisk the egg whites into soft peaks. Gentle add the caster sugar and continue to whisk until you have very stiff peaks and the mixture still looks glossy (you can turn up to a higher speed setting nearer the end)
5.       With a metal spoon or spatula fold about one quarter of the sifted ingredients into the egg whites until combined. Add the remaining dry ingredients. Continue to fold  the ingredients until you have a soft thick shiny lava (the mixture should run off the spoon rather than plopping off! – look for this change in texture then stop!)
6.       Pipe small rounds onto a silicone baking mat or siliconised baking paper (try and get them similar sizes)
7.       Pick up the tray about 6 inches above your table/work surface and drop it flat two or three times. This brings the big air bubbles to the surface.
8.       Leave the macaroons to sit for 30-45 minutes to form a ‘skin’ on top then place in the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes
9.       Remove from the oven and slide the baking paper/silicone mat off the baking tray and onto a rack to cool. One cool carefully remove.
10.   Make a buttercream filing by beating together the butter, icing sugar and orange flavouring and pipe around the edge of every other shell. Put a little bit of lemon curd in the centre and sandwich the two shells together.
11.   Leave for a couple of hours so the filing can set.
12.   EAT! They do actually improve with age (as they mature) so will taste different 24 hours after baking, another 24 hours after that etc. (insert sciencey text about the filing gradually softening the shell blah blah – osmosis? Who knows…) although I would recommend you eat within a few days. They can be frozen too – just bring up to room temperature before you take that first delicious bite…!)

TOP TIPS
–          Used aged egg whites (i.e. crack and separate your eggs at least 24 hours before you start baking. Alternatively use egg whites from a carton (sold in the milk aisle of some supermarkets). Bring up to room temperate for both before you start baking.
–          I use a silicone baking mat on a heavy baking tray and this seems to get good results as it evens out the temperature and protects against cracking as there is a slight vacuum created between the layers.
–          Go mad with the food dye (just because you can)”

ITV food glorious food

Wow! I really want to enter this but what would I cook??

Any ideas would be very much appreciated x

Blueberry and lemon muffins

I decided to try a spot of baking this week with the Hairy Bikers’ blueberry and lemon muffins.

The lemon zest in the muffins and the teaspoon of lemon curd you put on top before baking give them a really tasty zing! Both myself and Rich took them to work to share with colleagues and I think the overall verdict was good.

Summer fruits pudding

Now that the weather is perking up and being told that it’s very easy, I gave summer fruit puddings a go.

I lined 2 ramekins with sliced white bread (1 slice each) and mixed berries and strawberries in a bowl with 2 tbsp if golden caster sugar. I then filled the ramekins with the fruit and left for 24 hours in the fridge for the juices to flow.

The verdict- after 24 hours they tasted lovely and although not all the bread turned the purple juice colour it took on sweet flavours.

They need a bit of planning as you have to make them the day before you want them but these delightful deserts (and not too unhealthy, I think?) are super easy to make.

Fancy focaccia

I had this at Ferretti in Burzebbugia when I was in Malta a couple of weeks ago (I can only recommend the restaurant – lovely food in a gorgeous setting) and enjoyed it so much I tried to recreate it this weekend.

I cheated a little by buying a ready made pizza base with garlic butter, once it was cooked sliced it into 8 then added toppings – halved plum tomatoes, mozzarella, prosciutto, chorizo and rocket, with plenty of the oil from the chorizo.

The result was lovely – crispy base, creamy mozzarella, salty prosciutto, a little kick from the chorizo and freshness from the tomatoes and rocket, will deffo be making it again- either for lunch for the 2 of us, or could be a nice starter if we have people over.

Greedy Italians’ braised beef in red wine

Has anyone else been enjoying watching Antonio Carluccio and Gennaro Contaldo’s Two Greedy Italians on BBC? We watch it just getting hungrier by the minute, and when they made this braised beef last Thursday I thought I had to try it.

Here’s the recipe.

I’ve got a couple of learning points from my dinner. First is that your beef should be a bit fatty, mine had barely any fat running through it so was a little dry without the sauce. My sauce was also quite thin, so what I would do next time is take out the beef and reduce it on the hob before serving. Finally, we both thought this dish would taste lovely with some mushrooms added.

If you’re making the greedy Italians’ beef, let me know how it turns out!

Sweet ricotta Mille Foglie

Looking in my fridge for some inspiration for a desert I came up with this mille foglie (or mille-feuille if you’re feeling French).

I baked a rectangle of ready rolled puff pastry (I’ve made my own from scratch once and don’t think there’s ever any need to do that again, but if you’ve got a free day here’s a recipe for puff pastry) with a sprinkling of sugar and flaked almonds on top until golden, then cut into 3 equal slices.

In a bowl I mixed ricotta with half a teaspoon of vanilla essence and a lot of caster sugar until lovely and sweet – I don’t know quantities, I just kept adding sugar and tasting until it was sweet enough.

Then I layered pastry, chopped strawberries and ricotta, grating chocolate on top. The result wasn’t the perfect stack I had in mind, but doesn’t look to bad I think, and tasted lovely.