What I'm cooking for dinner tonight!

Luscious · 04-24-2008, 10:06 PM

Hi Aussie Friends. I know there is a food and nutrition forum here, don't know about you but I get a bit flummoxed (is that a word?) by the food the americans eat not to mention all those pounds and ounces. I thought we could start a thread for good healthy aussie produce, with metric measurements to give us some inspiration on new band friendly things to eat. Don't know about you all, but I love to cook.

What I'm cooking for dinner tonight:

Chicken with Mushrooms: (Serves 2)

225 grams chicken thighs (i'm on mushies, will ask butcher to mince for me)
1.5 tablespoons shallots chopped
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup white wine (sub. extra chicken stock if preferred)
100 mls low sodium chicken stock
1/4 cup plain low fat yoghurt
2 tsp chopped tarragon
salt and pepper to taste

In non stick pan (with a little cooking spray) saute chicken and remove from pan. Add shallots and mushrooms to pan and cook for 2 minutes, add wine, increase heat to high and cook for further 2 mintues. Add chicken broth and reduce liquid by half (3-5 minutes). Reduce heat to low and stir in yoghurt and 1/4 packet sweetener if desired. Cook for about 2 minutes until slightly thickened. Stir in tarragon and salt & pepper to taste.

I'm on mushies, so will put my minced cooked chicken and 1/2 sauce through mini processor.
Approximately 200 calories per serve.

What I had for dinner last night:

Salmon with Wasabi Sauce (Serves 1)

Place 120 grams salmon fillet into a non stick pan, and brush with a mix of crushed garlic (1 tsp), light soy (1 tsp), wasabi (1/2 tsp), lemon juice (2 tsp). (I like mine very barely cooked in the centre).

Sauce: Wasabi (1 tsp), Light Soy Sauce (2 tsp), Light Sour Cream (1/8 cup), Light Mayo (1/8 cup), 1 Pkt artifical sweetener (optional, I leave it out). Mix togther and serve with the salmon fillet.
(I'm currently on mushies, so I put through my breville mini processor).

Approx. 250 calories, and very quick. (Yummy)

Jachut · 04-25-2008, 12:05 AM

Oh goodness, that salmon one sounds divine. I know what I'll be cooking this week.

Yes, I cant really engage in food discussions here very much, the style of eating (high protein low carb) isnt really what I was told to do, its not pushed here and I really feel quite horrified at the array of packaged products. Nobody seems to cook from scratch and even CHICKEN comes in a can! I dont like talking about protein shakes and protein bars. And to me, fish comes from the fish shop, not a box in the freezer section of Coles.

Fanny Adams · 04-25-2008, 08:29 AM

Hehe - know how you all feel!

I had what I'm calling my Lamb Roast Victory the other night. Cooking a lamb roast (or any roast) dinner has always been a really pleasurable day for me and usually only done when having the whole family over (i.e. parents and grown kids). I was kinda sad thinking that I'd never be able to do that again or if I did I'd revert to my old bad habits and just pig out, but my daughter talked me into it, so I went for it. Did the roast with fresh garlic and rosemary out of my garden, roasted veges, broccoli cheese - the whole nine yards. Then I took my little sandwich plate and had:

1 small slice of meat (used to have 3 and go back for at least 1 or 2 for seconds)
1 piece of roasted potato (used to take 4 on the first go and 2-3 for seconds)
1 piece of roasted sweet potato (much smaller piece)
1 piece of roasted carrot (again much smaller piece)
1 small roasted onion
1 small floweret of broccoli with cheese sauce (instead of 3 big ones)
1 tablespoon of peas & corn (instead of 3)
Homemade gravy with pan juices

At the end of that I was absolutely stuffed but I had tasted everything and didn't feel a bit deprived! Probably a little more than I should have had but it was a treat and MAN was it GOOD!!!

The victory part for me was that I didn't overeat, was absolutely satisfied, couldn't eat another bite, with less than 1/3rd of what I would previously have eaten in the first serving, let alone seconds, and had not one hint of getting stuck or PB'ing. I truly think I am at my sweetspot - loving it!! It's not something I'll do every night or even every week, but I feel so much better knowing that I CAN do it and enjoy doing it "bandster style".

Luscious · 04-25-2008, 08:45 AM

Ahhh, nothing like a good roast. Its encouraging to read your post, makes me realise I don't have to give them up - just cut the portion and don't do them every week. I might have to revisit some recipies for lamb shanks so I don't end up with a whole leg left over in the fridge.

Fanny Adams · 04-25-2008, 08:56 AM

That's how I'm approaching it. I was never one for lots of junk food, takeaways or sweets. I had them now and then of course, but those weren't the things that made me fat. What made me fat was eating a dinner that should have fed 3 people at most sittings and pushing it to the equivalent of 4 servings on special occasions (that seemed to occur quite often ;)).

I'm trying to just stick to good healthy cooking, fat free as much as I can, and I use my sandwich plate as my serving size judge - if I can get it on the sandwich plate (no piling it up allowed!!), then that's what I'm allowed. So far it has been working for me. The loss isn't as fast or dramatic as it has been for some, but it is steady and I don't have any problems with hunger - feel full all the time - and no PB problems from being too tight. That's what I call the sweetspot anyway ;)

peek · 04-27-2008, 10:43 PM

I have hit on a great recipe I found on the reverse side of a mountain bread packet:

Roast pumpkin and Ricotta Cheese Pie

Cubed pumpkin pre roasted in the oven until cooked (about 200gm)
3 spring onions chopped
spinach slightly steamed and drained of excess water
100ml cream (you can change this for ff variety if required)
200ml milk (light ok)
1/2 cup ricotta cheese crumbled (I use fetta - much tastier)
3 eggs

Layer 3 sheets of mountain bread in a quiche dish. Brush with water between sheets.
Put in pumkin, spring onions and spinach around the base.
Mix cream, milk and eggs and pour over the top.

Cook in 180 deg oven for 30-40 mins.

Yummo

I too look at the American recipes and get totally lost. What in the **** are pork grits?

Fanny Adams · 04-28-2008, 12:27 AM

That sounds great, except I don't know what mountain bread is. Is that some kind of lavash or pita bread?

Luscious · 04-28-2008, 05:17 AM

Sounds great. Mountain bread is a brand of flat bread - similar to lebanese, but not "Layered". You can buy it at most supermarkets near the pitas and lebanese breads.

She Smiles · 04-28-2008, 06:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peek

I too look at the American recipes and get totally lost. What in the **** are pork grits?

I have an American husband and even he doesn't know some of the foods I ask him about off this forum. I just asked him what grits were and he didn't know what they are made of, so we wikipedia'ed it. They are the corn equivalent of oats/porridge. Good for breakfast apparently. Not sure how pork comes into the picture though - maybe one of our American friends can shed some light on that!?

Next time we go back to the US to visit the inlaws, I'm going to hunt down some canned chicken just to see what it looks like, I'm not sure I'm brave enough to actually eat it

Jachut · 04-28-2008, 06:56 AM

Oh, give the canned multipurpose dough a try for me will you? You can use it for anything apparently - pizza, scones, bread, ick.

And whipped cream in a CAN? I know we have that here too but *shudder* When did it become so hard to take some real cream and a dash of vanilla and actually beat it?

Fanny Adams · 04-28-2008, 07:20 AM

I have a friend with an American wife who wanted to cook her hubby a pumpkin pie. She spent half an hour searching the shelves at the supermarket for canned pumpkin! Finally, she asked one of the shop assistants who, after looking at her like she had suddenly sprouted an extra head (I mean CANNED pumpkin???), pointed her to the fresh produce section.

Catherine had never cooked fresh pumpkin before, so she bought an ENTIRE Queensland Blue! She took it home and rang her mother in the States for instructions on how to cook it. Her mother told her it was easy - just boil it for about 15 mins and it will get really soft, then you can mash it up for the pie. Unfortunately, the mother neglected to tell her about that all-important step of cutting it up first! Yep, Catherine found the biggest pot she had and stuck the whole pumpkin in there to boil. Apparently, she rang her mother back in tears about 2 hrs later, wanting to know why the pumpkin was still hard as a rock! Hahaha! I was kinda hoping the story would end with it exploding pumpkin guts all over the kitchen but sadly, it didn't :(

Still.. canned pumpkin?????

She Smiles · 04-28-2008, 07:33 AM

Ewww canned dough....

Thats a hilarious story about the pumpkin!

My mother in law sent us canned pumpkin so we could make pumpkin pie for halloween a few years back (in fact we still have 2 cans in the cupboard!). It is REVOLTING. Pumpkin shouldn't be eaten sweet and it shouldn't be pre prepared. Its just not right. Pumpkin like we have it is just hard to find over there, its just not eaten as a veggie like we do, savoury. There are a few varieties of "squash" (which is more like a butternut) that are eaten as veggie where my hubby is from.

Luscious · 04-28-2008, 07:42 AM

During one of my recent business trips I was forced to try a "fluff" sandwich *blah*. Its a marshmallow spread. Yikes - who says vegemite is wierd.

Luscious · 04-28-2008, 08:08 AM

Ok, so this isn't a dinner or lunch meal - but I used to love this for breakfast/brunch. I hope I will still be able to eat this when I'm back on "real" food. No doubt I'll have to seriously reduce my previous portion size.

This keeps for 1 month stored in an airtight container in the fridge.
Combine 4 cups of rolled oats, 1 cup wheat germ, 1/4 cup linseeds, 1/4 cup sunflower seeds, 1 cup sultanas (or chopped dried apricots) and 1 cup chopped roasted or slivered almonds.

To make the muesli, soak 1/2 cup of muesli with 1/2 cup low fat milk overnight. In the morning Add grated apple and 2 tbsp low fat natural or vanilla yoghurt then fold through.

Fanny Adams · 04-28-2008, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luscious

Ok, so this isn't a dinner or lunch meal - but I used to love this for breakfast/brunch. I hope I will still be able to eat this when I'm back on "real" food. No doubt I'll have to seriously reduce my previous portion size.

This keeps for 1 month stored in an airtight container in the fridge.
Combine 4 cups of rolled oats, 1 cup wheat germ, 1/4 cup linseeds, 1/4 cup sunflower seeds, 1 cup sultanas (or chopped dried apricots) and 1 cup chopped roasted or slivered almonds.

To make the muesli, soak 1/2 cup of muesli with 1/2 cup low fat milk overnight. In the morning Add grated apple and 2 tbsp low fat natural or vanilla yoghurt then fold through.

OOH! That sounds delish!! I'm going to try that when I get home from the mine site! Do you think it would freeze? I'm away from home for 8 days at a time and only home for 6 and there's no way I'd eat all that in 6 days! Even cutting the ingredients down to 1/2 or 1/4 would probably make more than I would go through in a week.

*edits*
Actually, it's probably pretty dry, isn't it, until you soak it overnight? So should be fine to keep in the fridge. Mmmm...definitely gonna give it a whirl - bet it is really filling too!