SQUASH & BACON SQUEAK WITH POACHED EGGS

For my birthday my best friend Amanda bought me a subscription to Olive Magazine which is basically the equivalent of a porn mag for me - restaurant reviews, pictures of food and recipes galore. One of the best things about the recipes is that they give them a difficulty rating and also let you know at the beginning how long it takes.

Wednesdays are always a "rush" day for me - I like to do both body attack and body pump at the gym which takes up all morning and consequently after that I feel I am about to die from exhaustion. Arabella has gym after school and then ballet and we are always running late and then as soon as I arrive home I have to cook something for supper and quickly!

Tonight I decided to try this Squash and Bacon Squeak with Poached Eggs from Olive - it started badly as I don't have a poacher and I don't know how to poach an egg without one (I have only recently started cooking in the past couple of years)! Duh - anyway I figured a soft boiled egg is pretty much the same thing. Olive states this recipe as Easy - it wasn't that easy for Pascal & I but it was worth it in the end.

Ingredients for 2 people:

250g butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks (I was lazy and bought this preprepared)
1 large potato about 250g, peeled and cut into chunks (Pascal was lazy this time and didn't bother to peel)!
25g butter
1 bunch of spring onions, chopped including the green bits
200g lardons
2 poached / soft boiled eggs
chilli sauce to serve (obviously optional - we opted out and certainly didn't miss it)

(We did it for 3 so slightly increased the ingredients).

First things first steam the squash and potato until tender. I don't have a steamer (there is not much storage space in my kitchen) and so boiled them. It took about 25 minutes in total for the potato and about 15 minutes for the squash (Pascal kindly did this while we were at ballet). 

Once it is soft, tip it into a bowl and mash it together.

Heat the butter in a small frying pan and cook the spring onions and lardons until golden and then mix in the bowl with the squash and potato. I made the error of using too big a frying pan - smaller is definitely better for the next stage

Add some more butter to the frying pan and add the mix of squash, potato, lardons etc, patting it down into a cake and frying until golden on the bottom. This is where Pascal and I went wrong - we couldn't work out when it was cooked on the bottom without messing the cake shape as our frying pan was far too big! Plus it took a lot longer than we thought. At this point I put the eggs on to boil for 5 minutes which was far to early.

Pascal took control. After cooking the squeak / cake for about 8 minutes (when it had started to go golden on the bottom), he then slipped it on to a plate and flipped it over so he could fry the other side. This took a similar amount of time and voila it was ready and served with the egg (not so soft boiled anymore) on top!

I have to admit, as I am not a huge fan of potatoes, I did not expect to like this as much as I did but it really really was good. A hassle to make but I think it would be much easier second time round and I would definitely buy a poacher - anyone know where I can buy a pink one?!

Pascal had got his knickers in a twist when cooking this (he had advised me to use a smaller frying pan and I ignored him which didn't go down well) and he had said he would never cook this again however after eating it he agreed it was delicious as did Arabella - another successful recipe I would recommend!

According to fitness pal, this recipe is about 500 calories.

PRAWN SAGANAKI

It is that time of the week again when I am cooking fish - Arabella wanted the Greek Sea Bass Fillets from last week but I was keen to try something new. I found this recipe in a magazine and I have no idea what saganaki is but it looks good and is simple to make. One of my favourite meals at Cote Brasserie (Menu) is the Prawn Gratinee which is prawns in a tomato, garlic and white wine sauce - similar to this but this recipe includes cheese!

Ingredients for 2 people:

2 tbsp of olive oil
1 red onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
400g chopped tomatoes
1 red chilli sliced (this is optional - we don't like spice so didn't add it)
2 tbsp thyme leaves plus a few extra to garnish
60g Greek Feta (I actually used over double this - about 140g because I am a cheese addict)!
250g raw king prawns
Crusty white bread

Start off by preheating the oven to 200C / 180C fan / gas mark 6.

While this is warming up, heat the oil in a small casserole dish or ovenproof pan over a medium-high heat and then saute the onion and garlic for a few minutes (2-3) until they start to soften. Then add the tomatoes, thyme and chilli (optional) and simmer for five minutes.

The recipe says to crumble the feta over the top - I just chopped the feta and spooned it over for ease factor. Bake it in the oven for 10 minutes until the sauce thickens and the cheese begins to melt. 

Stir in the prawns and then cook in the oven for a further 5 minutes until the prawns are pink and cooked through and that is it - easy!

Scatter with a few extra thyme leaves and serve with crusty white bread (and butter if you are like us)! 

I absolutely loved this - as did Arabella. I adore prawns, they are low in fat and calories yet full of protein and taste delicious and go so well with the tomato and feta sauce. Pascal was not so keen on this recipe as he doesn't particularly like fish and he prefers more simple meals without sauce (the complete opposite to me)! He managed to eat his bowl with the help of lots of bread and butter (no longer the healthy meal I envisaged).

Without the bread and butter this meal is around 380 calories per serving so could also work well as a lunch or if you didn't want bread and butter but wanted to bulk it up, you could add rice or pasta.

I promised Arabella that I will definitely cook this for her again and I have promised Pascal I will never cook this for him again!!

THE GYM - BODY ATTACK

I've had one of those mornings yesterday - it was so grey neither my daughter or I wanted to get out of bed. Consequently we were then rushing around and very nearly late to school. To give myself some energy I drunk two enormous coffees and then went to my exercise class, couldn't park for about 15 minutes and forgot my water bottle - duh.

Every Monday I try and do the class Body Attack, as every Monday without a doubt I am suffering from overdoing the food and wine at the weekend (I think 99% of the class are in the same boat judging by the lack of enthusiasm on their faces). 

I don't know if you know Body Attack - I describe it is jumping around like a lunatic for an hour. It is a great all over body workout and you seriously sweat (even my eyes seem to sweat which is most unpleasant) so it is a great way to get rid of the weekend's toxins. The first time I did it I thought I was going to die and said never again - however I now try to do it twice a week as you can burn off around 700 calories per class which is not to be sniffed at!

Body Attack is a sports-inspired cardio workout for building strength and stamina. It is a high-energy interval training class combining athletic aerobic movements with strength and stabilisation exercises. There are 12 tracks per class (an hour long) and here is the current list of music and exercise.

You work the whole body combining moves such as squats, high kicks, press ups, lunges, shuffles, tuck jumps, jumping jacks, running, burpees, sit ups and even a new one where you jump into a snowboarding / surfing position and I picture myself as Michael J Fox in Teen Wolf surfing on that van! There is a lot of variety to keen you interested.

A new Body Attack class is released every three months with new music and choreography. We have just received a new release and it is taking me a while to get used to - coordination is not a strong point! Every exercise has a different level so if you can't do a move anymore, you can do a low intensity version - I had to do this yesterday as jumping around after two large coffees could have ended in an extremely embarrassing situation!!

As with pump you are working in a group and that really helps with motivation - nobody finds it easy (even the instructor is sweating buckets) and you can spur each other on plus it makes it much less boring!! Everybody is a different shape or size and whilst it is mainly women in my classes, men do come along too and find it a great way to boost their fitness as it is totally different to just running & doing weights - my brother runs a lot and fast but recently did an exercise challenge which included burpees, jumping jacks, press ups etc and he could not walk for a week!!

A combination of this and body pump will definitely keep those spare tyres at bay and increase your fitness - I will be practising what I preach and doing an hour of body attack tomorrow and while I dread the thought of it now, I know it is a fantastic work out so have a try!

NUTELLA BISCUIT SANDWICHES

I love to bake although it unfortunately means I gain about 7lbs in a week as I cannot stop myself eating my cakes, biscuits, brownies etc. The last time I baked a cake I ended up eating it for breakfast, lunch and supper til it was finished - hence I have not baked one for a year!!

Like pretty much every child, Arabella loves to bake and I think it is a really nice thing to do with your kids although it takes a lot of patience as the mess factor can be out of control (especially for me - an uptight Virgo)!

We are going to visit a pregnant friend for lunch today and as I can't take the usual gift of wine, I decided to use the opportunity to bake some biscuits with my daughter. These are once again from one of the best cook books ever - Fay Ripley's What's For Dinner (although I haven't followed the recipe exactly) and are absolutely divine and extremely simple to make.

Ingredients for about 10 biscuits (although this depends on size, obviously the smaller the biscuit, the more you will make):

100g toasted chopped almonds
100g ground hazelnuts
150g plain flour
60g caster sugar
150g butter, softened
1/2 a 400g jar of Nutella

As always start by preheating the oven to 200C / 180C fan / gas mark 6 and then line two baking trays with baking paper.

Mix the almonds, hazelnuts, flour, sugar and butter together in a food processor and whizz until it all comes together. I always melt the butter a little first so it mixes more easily. Arabella starts her "tasting process" here!

Roll little teaspoon sized amounts of the mixture in your hands to make balls of dough the size of large marbles (mine are very large marbles) and then flatten. I generally make the balls and Arabella flattens them - it helps to have slightly damp hands. Put them on a baking tray and bake for about 15-20 minutes (I did 17 today)!

After you take them out, let them cool and then spoon a big dollop of Nutella on one and cover with another - a Nutella biscuit sandwich! (Arabella is a HUGE help here licking the Nutella spoon)!

Finally put them in the fridge until you want to eat them...and once you start you won't stop (like Pringles)!! I will be taking them all to Vicky's shortly as I need to get them out the house asap (I have already eaten one) and can feel those pounds creeping on - it is worth it though, they are incredible!!

ROAST LAMB STUFFED WITH FETA & MINT

Following the success of yesterday's roast pork and because I am a creature of habit I wanted to try and cook another "roast".  I just love the idea of putting something in the oven for an hour or two & roasting! Not only does it make the house smell so homely but it also gives you a free hour to do, I don't know, pop to the pub?! I am starting to understand why most Brits like a roast on a Sunday, well as long as you aren't like my family...

I decided to cook a shoulder of lamb with feta and mint which I found in Fay Ripley's What's for Dinner cook book although I made a few alterations to the recipe. I am a hug fan of anything with feta - in fact for a few years Pascal & I holidayed in Greece - I LOVED all the food. However Pascal grew sick of it very quickly so there was no trip there this summer!! Thankfully he has had a year without feta so was happy with this recipe....it never bodes well to cook/eat something the Frenchman is not happy with. I learnt this pretty quickly at the start of our relationship when I suggested we go to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park and have a bratwurst in a bun and some mulled wine - wow that was a mistake. Pascal does not like to eat standing up surrounded by crowds or drinking very hot beverages - it ended up with him storming down Park Lane flipping me the birdie!! I learnt my lesson - he likes to eat well & properly!!!

Thankfully this recipe went down a treat - phew! 

Ingredients for 4 people:
30g fresh mint leaves
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon (thankfully one of my greatest friends sent me a lemon zester from oz - thanks Sal)!
5 garlic cloves peeled
200g feta cheese
2 tbsp olive oil
About a kilo of boneless shoulder of lamb

Firstly preheat the oven to 240C / 220C fan / gas mark 9. While that is heating up make the stuffing by mixing the mint leaves, lemon zest and 2 crushed garlic cloves together. Then cut up the feta into little chunks and crumble it in to the mix with a tablespoon of oil - work it all together in to a rough paste.

Cut a large opening through the middle of the lamb and push in all of the feta mix - I am not even go into what I think about while doing this!!! To keep as much as possible in the lamb while it is cooking, tie up with string like a parcel.

Finely slice the other 3 garlic cloves and jab a sharp knife into the top of the meat and push in these garlic slivers (there should be about 15 incisions). To finish off rub some oil on to the lamb and season.

Put the lamb in the oven for 20 minutes and then turn the temperature down 20 degrees to 200C / 180C fan / gas mark 6 and cook for 45 minutes (medium). If you prefer it more cooked through just leave it in for longer or shorter if you want it more pink. (I use this 45 minutes to pop to the pub)!

Finally take it out of the oven, cover it in some foil and rest for 10 minutes. Carve it and serve it with the juices poured over - I chose to have a green salad with it but it would also go well with potatoes and roasted veg.

This tastes INCREDIBLE - I think it is my favourite thing to cook. It is not hard to prepare but it is so delicious you would think it would take forever to make. I would highly recommend it for a family supper, lunch with friends or for a dinner party - summer or winter - I think I will be cooking this again next week!!

PS if you have any leftovers - it is yummy cold too - I ate these in secret so I didn't have to share!

ROAST RACK OF PORK WITH THYME & SHALLOTS

I went for a run this morning for the first time in over a month. The last time I had tried to run was after I returned from Menorca and the whole experience was so unpleasant I vowed never to run again (it even reduced me to tears). However I decided to give it another go and what an error!! I was a quarter of the way round and my ipod broke, it starts pouring with rain and then on the way home the wind was blowing me backwards. I think that is nature's well of telling me to stay inside, all cosy and warm.

So Pascal & I decided the best thing to do on an autumnal day is to cook a roast. Now this is not your normal roast with roast potatoes and gravy, in fact my brother will berate me for even calling my meal a roast. I refuse to eat an actual English roast - we used to have them every Sunday growing up and they were the most painful experiences ever - Mum would spend all day preparing the vegetables, dad would spend all day in the pub, he would come home, they would have a row, he would then do the meat for about one minute before he went on strike, there would then be further rows, when it was finally ready dad would eat one mouthful and then say he was full, mum would inform him he was anorexic and would get scurvy and us kids would be desperate to be anywhere but there! Hence roasts don't hold good memories for me - one year at Christmas I rebelled and refused to eat it and ate super noodles instead which obviously caused more rows!! 

Anyway thankfully Pascal & I are nothing like my parents (yet) and so I really enjoyed cooking this roast pork. Here is the recipe - it is actually quite simple.

Ingredients for 4 people:

Rack of pork 1 x 8 bone, French-trimmed (this means the bones are scraped clean & skin scored)
Olive oil
Sea salt flakes
24 small shallots (blanched for 3 minutes and then peeled)
1 glass of white wine
A few sprigs of thyme

Pascal and I hit the first hurdle almost immediately - we could not find a rack of pork so instead used boneless pork - it didn't seem to be a problem and in fact was probably easier as we didn't have to deal with the bones. Scoring it wasn't the easiest though - you need a very sharp knife and muscles!!

Anyway to start with take the pork out of the fridge an hour before cooking and really pat the skin dry with kitchen paper. Leave it uncovered so the skin gets a chance to dry out further.

Once the hour is nearly up heat the oven to 230C / fan 210 / gas 8. Rub the pork with a bit of olive oil, then with PLENTY of sea salt, rubbing the salt into the cuts. This is what makes the crackling (my favourite part). According to my brother (a roast professional - he used to cook a roast beef with roast pork on the side) you can never rub enough salt on the pork - I would say I used about 4 tablespoons at least and that probably wasn't enough as I didn't cover the sides very well (and you could tell). Really go to town and don't think about your heart - just cook fish tomorrow.

Season the rest of the pork all over and then put the joint in a shallow roasting tin, fat side up and cook for half an hour. The second hurdle we hit was that we did not have a roasting tin so decided to use a china Bridgewater dish (it survived but only just)!

After half an hour turn the oven down to 190C / fan 170 / gas 5. Add the shallots, wine and thyme and cook for another 50 minutes. (Our pork was slightly smaller than the recipe recommended so we cooked for 40 minutes, also I did not read the recipe correctly and blanched the shallots after they were peeled - it didn't seem to make a difference though - phew)! 

We also cut up some mushrooms, peppers and red onion, sprinkled this with herbes de Provence and mixed with a glug of olive oil and then put this in the oven for 30 minutes.

Once ready rest the pork for ten minutes before carving it and serve with the shallots, pan juices and veg.

I have to say it was phenomenal - I used to think of pork as a dry, bland meat but this was tender, moist and full of flavour and the crackling was incredible. The shallots were also absolutely delicious - I don't know why I don't cook with them more often. This was a perfect roast but not a roast if you get my drift and we will definitely be cooking it again once I have purchased the all important roasting tin. 

THE HOW TO LOSE A STONE IN ONE WEEK DIET

Like the exercise tab, the diet one has remained empty for a few months now, despite the fact that I am constantly thinking about weight and how to lose it....the problem is I never really do anything about it other than exercise like a mad woman. I just love my food too much.

According to one of my gym instructors the perfect body is 70% food and only 30% exercise - I know that you should eat three healthy meals a day and everything in moderation but that doesn't work with me because I love to gorge, booze and eat naughty things - sometimes many times throughout the day!

However it does get to the point sometimes (more often than I would like) when I have overdone it and need to shed a few pounds/kilos/stones. I am uncertain whether I should recommend this diet and it should probably come with a health warning as you are able to lose a lot of weight very quickly! 

Pascal did a full week and lost 14 pounds in 7 days, one of my bff's has done it this week and lost 7 pounds in three days and I did a few days once and lost 5 pounds in 3 days. Crash dieting at it's best!!! 

It is obviously not a long term answer and you are more than likely to gain some of the weight back but it is the perfect solution if you want to lose weight fast - I like to do it if I have a special event or holiday coming up and I want to look as thin as possible or if I am trying to shrink my appetite.

The best thing is it is not particularly difficult...as far as diets go...and I have done quite a few in my time - the south beach diet, the juice diet, the Dukan, Atkins, starvation, .....the list is endless. My best friend and I have been talking about our weight everyday for 20 years and we still aren't bored of the subject (although our other halves definitely are)! In fact writing this is actually making me hungry and want to eat kettle chips but NO!

Anyway James Duncan's diet was designed to help people crash lose a stone for operations in a week:

Day	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
1	1 slice dry toast with 1 grilled tomato OR tinned tomatoes	Fresh fruit - any amount	2 hard boiled eggs Salad & grapefruit
2	Grapefruit 1 boiled egg	Grilled chicken with tomatoes Toast	Grilled steak Salad
3	Grapefruit 1 boiled egg	Fresh fruit - any amount	2 grilled lamb chops Salad & grapefruit
4	1 slice dry toast	Fresh fruit - any amount	2 hard boiled eggs Salad & grapefruit
5	1 slice dry toast	Fresh fruit - any amount	Fresh fish Salad
6	1 glass grapefruit juice	Fresh fruit - any amount	Grilled chicken Carrots & grapefruit
7	Scrambled eggs Grilled or tinned tomatoes	2 poached eggs Spinach	Grilled steak Salad

Their Rules

1. No alcoholic drinks.
2. Permitted drinks: Black coffee, tea, lemon/grapefruit juice without sugar.
3. No milk, butter or fats.
4. NO EATING BETWEEN MEALS.
5. Abstain from all not included in diet. Eat what is shown or go without.
6. ONLY DIET FOR ONE WEEK IN THREE - TWO WEEKS OFF.
7. No substitutes allowed. The basis of the diet is chemical, not the quantities.
8. Lunch and dinner may be swapped but only on the same day.
9. GUARANTEED TO LOSE ONE STONE IN ONE WEEK.
10. No salt as it makes you retain water, pepper is ok.

James's Tips

1. The grapefruit sourness is a lot more bearable with pink grapefruit. Also, if you have a sweet tooth normally, bear in mind that grapefruit sweetens a lot in the last stages of ripening.
2. I am used to eating like a pig, and thus had a lot of “empty stomach - must fill” type feelings. Drinking lots of water filled me up temporarily.
3. If you are desperate for flavour on some of the blander dishes, add a little lemon juice. On the list of allowed drinks and can pep up things nicely.

NB: This is not my diet, I merely transcribe; do not sue me if you die - James. I second this!!

http://www.jaduncan.com/2006/04/how-i-lost-stone-in-week.html

Here are some pictures of my meals from the diet:

I have to say it starts off well with a breakfast of toast and tomatoes which is actually quite tasty & the diet is good in that you are eating proper meals each day which you need to cook & prepare (albeit they are a bit bland). I really went to town on the fresh fruit and had mango, melon, apple, cherries, grapes and berries. I was not so keen on the grapefruit but you get used to it and it is better than a slim fast shake!! You cannot cheat as it will ruin it - the whole diet is chemical as it says so you need to stick to it exactly.

Of course it is not a walk in the park but it is not impossible and you do get results fast. I sometimes just do the first two days as a little detox but in all honesty sticking to a diet for just 7 days isn't too horrendous. I didn't exercise like normal when doing this as I did not have the energy!!

Let me know how you get on if you do this - as I mentioned I love to chat weight - that and food are really my favourite topics of conversation & I can wax lyrical for hours!!

Right now - where are those kettle chips?!!!

NB. Since I posted this nearly six months ago I have had many questions regarding making changes to the diet and substitutions…..the answer is no! If you don't eat fish or lamb chops or something, the diet rules that you should leave the item out. However if you want to make a substitution, you obviously can (it is your choice after all) but the diet won't be as effective (you may not lose the full 14lbs). You are also not allowed fizzy drinks or sweeteners even if they are calorie free. If you are vegetarian, I would replace the meat for high protein items like quorn or eggs, I unfortunately don't know the average weight loss with this as I am not a vegetarian. I hope that helps!!!