Had this delicious dinner tonight.
A chunky Yellow Fin Tuna Steak (Aldi, frozen) at just over 100 calories (107 cals), bubble and squeak made with left over mash, stir fried cabbage and leek fried in a little olive oil (286 cals) and 75g green beans (18 cals).
The marinade was a simple soy sauce, lemon juice and honey mix (48 cals).
Cheap, easy to cook and very delicious and healthy!
Thought I’d share what’s been keeping me busy today!
I’ve been making a film to share some of my stretching exercises with other disabled folk or indeed anyone who is unable to do weight bearing exercises.
It’s really crucial that I maintain my flexibility and address the pain I get in my neck, shoulders and back. Because of my arm length discrepancy, I spend a lot of time with my arms extended forward and my head bowed (reading, typing, cooking, eating, etc).
It’s vital for me to remain independent and continue my self care for as long as I am able to.
This is just a small part of the routine, but may hopefully inspire anyone who has problems standing or weight bearing for long periods. I also do some stretches using resistance bands – will film those another time!
Excuse the odd expressions and belly flab flashing… 🙂
Enjoy! Feedback and questions welcome.
Have you missed my food?? 
Tonights was delicious. Some of it was “ready made” (Gressingham duck breast in a Cantonese Style plum sauce = 334 calories).
Mashed swede and carrot = 43 calories
7g Butter in above = 1 calories
Brussels sprouts with onion, streaky dry cure bacon and onions = 125 calories
Recipe for the Brussels Sprouts: (Makes 3 portions)
Brussels Sprouts – 240g
Chestnuts, Whole, Roasted & Peeled, Vacuum Packed – 60g
Bacon, Streaky, Smoked, Drycure – 2 Rashers/30g
Onions, Brown – ½ Onion/50g
Oil, Olive – 1 Tsp/5ml
Method
Peel and chop the onions. Use a small paring knife to trim off the base of the Brussel sprouts and peel back any tatty outer leaves. Leave smaller Brussels whole and halve the larger ones through the core so they hold together.. Roughly chop the chestnuts.
Put a large pan on a high heat. Slice the bacon into chunky strips then put in the pan with the olive oil; turn the heat down to medium. Once lightly golden, crumble in the chestnuts.
When the chestnuts and bacon start to turn deep golden, add the onions and turn the heat right down. Let everything cook slowly for half an hour or so.
Once that’s done, put the Brussels in a large pan over heat and pout over plenty of (boiling) water.
Boil for about 5 minutes, till just tender but still holding their texture. Taste to check; they should be slightly undercooked. Drain, then add them to the chestnut/bacon mix.
Serve these right away, or store somewhere cool. Reheat in the same pan and serve once piping hot.
Nutrition Data Per Serving (for the Brussels only!)
Calories (kcal) 125.0
Carbohydrate (g) 11.2
Fat (g) 5.6
Fibre (g) 4.6
Fruit & Veg 1.3
Protein (g) 5.3
I have to say that yesterdays session on the Alter G treadmill felt…. easier?
I’ve been taking anti-inflammatories, so my pain was reduced. Usually I can’t wait for my 30 minutes to be over, but I honestly could have done another 10 minutes!
Walking 4 minutes at 4.5kph, running for 1 minute at 7kpm.
I’m quite proud of my progress – when I check back to January!
Tonights dinner was based around the need to use up the last of a batch of my versatile bulgar wheat and roasted vegetable “concoction”.
Bulgar wheat and roasted vegetable concoction (119 cals), warmed. Topped with 30g chopped apricots (62 cals) and 50g of cubed feta cheese (138 cals). Amazing flavours! Very filling too and just 319 calories in total.
I LOVE fajitas – but on my very low calorie allowance (1100 a day) I simply cannot afford to eat fajita wraps too often!
Tonights dinner was:
Half a chicken breast (100g) roasted with 5 squirts of spray olive oil and dusted with fajita seasoning
30ml of soured cream
30g of salsa (shop bought)
90g of cauliflower (steamed)
Around 70g of sweet heart cabbage, shredded and mixed with diced onion (40g) and cooked in a splash of olive oil (I actually made three portions, using 200g cabbage, 110g of onion and 6g of olive oil)
Just totalled it up and it was just 281 calories – but so very filling and delicious! I got my fajita “fix” but for far fewer calories!
I had to rush on here and let you know about this delicious and low calorie meal! It was absolutely scrummy!
All too often our chicken dishes are made with a tomato or cream sauce, but I wanted to try out something a little different. This on first glance seemed a little more fiddly, but it really didn’t take long to prepare. Adding the butter gives the sauce a lovely glossy shine as well as adding a richness.
Chicken Piccata (chicken with a mushroom, lemon, garlic, caper and butter sauce)
Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 40 mins
Serves: 2
Calories per serving: 276
Ingredients
Flour, Plain – 20g
Garlic, Raw – 1 Clove/3g
Wine, White – 70ml
Parsley, Fresh – 1 Tbsp/3.8g
Capers, in Brine (drained) – 10g
Stock Cubes, Chicken – ½ Cube/3g
Mushrooms, Chestnut – ½ Pack/125g
Chicken, Breast Fillet – 1 Serving/200g
Pepper, Black, Freshly Ground – ¼ Tsp/0.5g
Oil, Olive – 3 Tsps/15ml
Juice, Lemon, Fresh, Average – 1 Lemon/35.5ml
Butter – 10g
Preparation: Cube the chicken breast into 2cm chunks. Make up the chicken stock with 300ml of water. Cut the mushrooms into chunks. Squeeze the juice from a lemon. Chop up the capers.
Method:
1. Whisk 2 teaspoons flour and chicken stock in a small bowl until smooth. Place the remaining flour in a shallow dish.
Season chicken with the pepper and dredge both sides in the flour.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large non-stick pan over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook until browned and no longer pink in the middle, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate; cover and keep warm.
3. Heat the remaining 1 tsp oil in the pan over medium-high heat. Add sliced mushrooms and cook, stirring, until they release their juices and begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
4. Add a peeled and crushed garlic clove and wine to the pan and cook until reduced by half, 1 to 2 minutes, then stir in the reserved broth-flour mixture and lemon juice.
5. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring, until the sauce is thickened, about 5 minutes.
6. Stir in chopped parsley, capers and the butter. Add the browned chicken back into the pan with the mushrooms and stir until the chicken is cooked (around 10 minutes).
Nutrition Data Per Serving
Calories (kcal) 276
Carbohydrate (g) 10.6
Fat (g) 12.4
Fibre (g) 1.4
Fruit & Veg 1.1
Protein (g) 24.7
Alcohol 3.5
