It’s inevitable and it’s happened again, my love of cooking and baking has meant that the pounds have once again piled on, despite my low fat, high fibre, low Gi, five plus a day of fruit and vegetables approach to health and cooking.

My love of great food has always meant that I was never a great fan of diets, which to meant being of being deprived of ingredients and foods that I enjoy. Yes, I would calculate the calories or points for food in my head and genuinely believe I knew exactly what I had eaten, it’s more likely I was eating twice the amount of calories. It’s been a bit like measuring time without a watch, nothing more than guesswork. Now on enforced rest following surgery and no exercise for 6 -8 weeks, it’s time for action, and it’s not only me that’s affected, the chunky Mr G badly needs to shed a few stones.

It’s a common problem I discovered when I listened to Dave Myers and Si King, the Hairy BIkers as their latest television series ‘The Hairy Dieters’ hit our screens last week accompanied by a new cook book, incidentally gifted to me as a post surgery present from my mother! These guys have been giving us great food for years and the new book like previous books is full of great recipes, each one includes the calorie content and all designed to ensure we eat the right amount of food to help with weight loss; it really doesn’t seem like a diet book.

Cooking healthy and filling dinners is something I’m passionate about; the 3 men in my life have huge appetites and love their food, especially meat, so dishes like hearty casseroles and curries are a regular part of my weekly cooking.The recipes in ‘the Hairy Dieters’ will fit well with my style of cooking and it’s easy to see how I can also adapt my own recipes to help us lose weight.

Apart from the recipes, there are some great tips in the book to help with weight loss. For instance, 1gram of fat has 9 calories, regardless of whether it’s a solid fat like butter or margarine, or healthy oils like olive or rapeseed, and it’s information like this that will help with making sensible choices about the type of food to eat and I’ve always been a great believer in ‘you are what you eat’

It is worth remembering that despite the calorie content of fat, our bodies do need a certain amount of fat and choosing oil over butter or lard is one of my choices. I would much rather a have small amount of good olive or rapeseed oil to dip a chunk of bread into than spread it with butter, although I’ll need to rethink the olives, Parma ham and Parmesan shavings I usually have along with it.

Having watched ‘The Hairy Dieters’ and read the book Its easy to see why I’ve gained weight and now with Dave and Si as my virtual diet partners and along with the other inspiring people who have joined them on the show, Mr G and I are giving it a go.

One of my favourites dishes is a Tagine and this recipe is one I make regularly and it’s my own take on a chicken tagine after trying various different recipe. All my recipes serve 5 …..I hope you enjoy….Bon Appetit.

Chicken Tagine
This can be cooked either in the traditional Morrocan Tagine or in a large casserole.

Heat oven to 190oC/fan170oC/Gas5
10 Chicken Thighs- Bone in and skin removed
2 tbsp Oil…Olive or rapeseed- Optional
1 Large onion – Finely chopped
Thumb size piece of ginger- finely chopped
4 large garlic cloves

Spices for roasting and grinding
1&1/2 tbsp Corriander Seed
1 tbsp Cumin seed
1 tbsp Black peppercorns

2 tsp Paprika
2 tsp Ras el Hanout
2 tsp turmeric
Jar of preserved lemons. Usually 4 -6 is enough although the sizes of the lemon can vary.
Handful of olives
500 -750 ml of chicken stock
Small bunch of Corriander and flat leaf parsley

Vegetables
My favourites for a Tagine are butternut squash, carrots, and sweet potato but use whatever you prefer. I usually use 4 medium sized carrots along with either a small butternut squash or a large sweet potato- cut into approximately 1 inch chunks.
Method
In a large non stick Brown the chicken on both sides and set aside.
Reduce the heat slightly, add the onion and cook for a few minutes and then add ginger and garlic. Cook gently for a minute, being careful not to burn the garlic.
Add then remaining spices and continue cooking gently for a minute before adding the preserved lemons and vegetables.

At this stage I transfer the ingredients to a large heat proof casserole, add the stock and the chicken thighs and bring to a gentle simmer before covering and transferring to the oven.

Cook for 1 hour, remove from the oven and add the olives and continue cooking for approximately 20 mins.I like the chicken to falling off the bone.

To serve.
Sprinkle with the parsley and corriander and serve either with a simple flavoured couscous, rice or even crusty bread and a green salad. Depending on the choice of vegetables for the dish, steamed carrots with lemon and coriander works well with the tagine.

Notes.
Although there is a good mix of spices in this recipe, I include Ras el Hanout which is a blend of spices used in Moroccan and North African cooking. Al’Fez is a nice blend as it includes rose petals and lavender flowers and enhances the flavour of the dish.

The recent development of the Nutritionally balanced Pizza by ‘Eat Balanced certainly caught the attention of the media and for some it will mean they can enjoy what was previously a high fat, salt and sugar food as a healthy meal option. It’s been the result of 2 years work for businessman Donnie MacLean and Professor Mike Lean of Glasgow University and I’m sure it will be a godsend for those who rely on convenience food or even myself who occasionally has to allow the boys that quick fix for tea.

Pizza, however is also one of those foods that is easy and great fun to make and whether or not my homemade effort is perfectly balanced nutritonally, it is still a healthier option than most shop bought or carry out versions. It’s also a great way to get the family, especially younger kids interested in cooking as they can choose their own favourite toppings or even make faces or designs on the pizza.

Pizza making is quite a sociable night in our house as once I ‘ve got the bases, sauce and toppings organised, it’s down to the boys to build their own pizza and within a short time we have a delicious and reasonably healthy dinner for four.

There’s nothing complicated and to be honest I’ve used the same simple base and sauce recipe for years, only changing the toppings which have became more adventurous as the boys have got older. From those early days of cheese and tomato we’ve gone on to include chilis, olives, red onion, sweet corn , charcuterie including venison , tiny meatballs..my food hell…the dreaded pepperoni, goats cheese, mozzarella, rocket and spinach.

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Part of the fun in cooking your own pizza is designing your own and my boys are always experimenting with new toppings and I just try to encourage them to keep it as healthy as possible and to eat along with a healthy salad.

This is one of our family favourites……Bon Appetite.

Tomato Sauce
250ml Passata
A good handful of fresh basil, torn
2 large garlic cloves, crushed
Black pepper.
Mix the ingredients together and if using immediately leave at room temperature.

I make the sauce earlier and leave to allow the flavours to infuse.

The base mix will make enough for four 9 – 12 inch pizzas depending on the thickness you like.

300g Strong White Bread Flour
150g Strong Wholemeal Bread Flour
1.5 teaspoons instant yeast
1.5 teaspoons salt
1.5 tablespoons olive oil.
Approx 300ml of warm water.

To mix the base ingredients I use the dough hook on my Kenwood mixer but is can easily be done by hand.

Put the flours into a large bowl and mix in the yeast and salt. Make a well and pour in the water and the olive oil and bring together until you have a soft, slightly wet dough.
If using the mixer this will only take a few minutes, otherwise turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and slightly springy.

Cover with a tea towel and leave the dough to rest for 10 minutes. If making a thick crust pizza, leave the dough to rise and give it a quick knead before dividing into four portions.

Roll out each portion of dough to the required thickness and place onto floured baking sheets.

Sauce andTopping
Using the back of a spoon spread the tomato sauce over the bases.

For the basic pizza add the cheese grated mozzarella, ball of mozzarella sliced, parmesan, grated or shaved or goats cheese all work well. Thereafter add the toppings of your choice and in our house no 2 pizzas are ever the same.Drizzle with olive or rapeseed oil, freshly ground black pepper and cook.

Cooking Instructions
Heat the oven to 240c/fan220/gas 8. Each pizza will take 8-10 mins to cook.
I use a pizza stone which I pre heat along with the oven and then slide the pizza onto the stone.

Once cooked, serve topped with basil, rocket or baby spinach leaves and drizzle with an oil of your choice. There is a great variety of oils available and my favourites are good quality olive oil or flavoured or plain rapeseed oil from Summer Harvest Oils, again it’s about choosing what tastes you prefer.

Doner Kebabs

As someone who enjoys cooking and who feels she can produce reasonably good food for the family, takeaways have never featured much in our house. However as the boys got older and started going to college, University, concerts and the various nights out in the city, the ‘Takeaway’ has earned its place with them.

 

Words like, ‘best ever, ‘greatest, can’t beat it’ started to emerge to describe the various kebabs, pizzas, curries, and burritos that they discovered outside of my kitchen. Not that I grudge them the odd fat, high calorie,sugar, additive laden meal, but when it’s suggested that I could never make it like that, I immediately rise to the challenge.

I’m sure there are some very good takeaway establishments around and admittedly I am partial to the occasional Chinese, or Indian takeaway. However,don’t ask me to eat a Doner Kebab. The very sight of that huge lump of greasy meat turning and cooking for hours, sometimes in a sunny window, maybe even reheated, is just my food hell. Not for my boys; they know where the best kebabs in Glasgow can be found and it was that announcement that led me to ‘Take on the Takeaway’…….a lamb kebab…all the trimmings and the first time I made it I even wrapped it in paper for them.

This version is much healthier and can be made with any meat although I usually use lamb leg steaks, and serve on a large round pitta with salad, red onion, tomatoes, raita and a chili sauce.
Do the boys enjoy the kebab? Yes and they even gave it top marks with the odd “delicious ” thrown in.

Lamb kebab.
Approx 6 lamb leg steak
4 tsp Harissa paste – I use Belazu Rose Harissa
2 Tbsp oil – I tend to use rapeseed although olive will be fine.

Place the lamb steaks in a plastic bag , mix the Harissa and oil together and add to the lamb, mix well and leave to marinade either overnight or for a few hours.
When ready to cook, heat a griddle or grill and cook steak for approx 4 minutes each side or to your liking. When cooked serve on pita bread with the accompaniments.

Accompaniments.

Pitta bread -the large round pitta bread from Warburtons are ideal as you can lay kebab on top and fold.
Chopped tomatoes
Sliced red onion
Shredded lettuce

Chili sauce
250ml Natural yogurt
100 ml tomato ketchup
1 tsp chili powder
1tsp mint sauce

Raita
250ml Natural yoghurt
Half a cucumber-chopped
1tbsp chopped fresh mint
Half Tsp ground roasted cumin seeds
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper

 

There’s nothing quite like a sunny day and an extra holiday to make me imagine myself sitting enjoying a lingering lunch on the seafront in the South of France….happy memories of wonderful food that’s really not difficult to recreate at home.

Greek salad is one of my favourite salads and eaten al fresco, next to my Lavender bushes, transports me quite happily to the Med and a table by the sea. Along with some crusty bread and a nice chilled glass of wine it really is a perfect summer treat.

During the Summer months there’s always a block of Feta cheese in the fridge and along with other simple ingredients you can very quickly make the most flavoursome salad. My recipe is simple, no strong dressing as the flavour of the Feta, tomatoes, olives,onion and herbs speak for themselves, although I do use good quality olive oil.

Greek Salad

4 large tomatoes
Half a cucumber
1 red onion
Black olives ..I use a small pack with about 20 olives.
Block of Feta Cheese
Herbs….fresh…Oregano is good but sometimes I use basil.

Dressing.
50 ml Olive oil,
15 ml Red wine vinegar
Freshly Ground black pepper and sea salt flakes.

Chop the tomatoes and cucumber into bite size chunks, slice the red onion thinly, add the olives and crumble over the Feta Cheese.
Combine the dressing ingredients and mix through the salad. Scatter the herbs on top, drizzle with some more olive oil and season to taste.

Accompanied by crusty bread and olive oil, the salad will serve four as a starter or 2 for a main.