A Couple Of Simple Start Recipes

I am on day 5 of the new Simple Start plan and I am surprised to say that I am absolutely loving it and wondering why I have been so anti Filling & Healthy all these years. I feel great, am full all the time and I am not being tempted by junk food. It takes a little more prep time and you do need to think about things a little bit more but it is definitely worth it. I think going forward I am going to do filling and healthy Monday to Friday and then switch to Propoints at the weekends for a little bit more flexibility. 

I've a few recipes that I have tried this week that fit on Simple Start/Filling & Healthy and are delicious. 

               

For lunches I always batch prepare. Get the stuff ready on a sunday and you are good to go. It does mean lunch time can be repetitive during the week but as long as you vary your dinners and don't have the same lunch 2 weeks running its generally ok. The main part of my lunches was the mixed bean salad and I paired that with some baby leaves, cherry tomatoes, cottage cheese  and either chicken or tuna. So yummy, fresh and very satisfying.  Make up the mixed mean salad on a Sunday night and it will last the whole week. 

Ingredients:

1 can Tesco 3 Bean Salad(Cannellini Beans ,Flageolet Beans ,Adzuki Beans)

1 can Chickpeas

1/2 cucumber

1 small red onion

small bunch of parsley

juice of half of lemon

Drain and rinse both cans of beans and mix together in a bowl. Chop your cucumber into small cubes and finely chop the onion and parsley. Add this and the lemon juice into a bowl and mix well. Season to taste. 

               

Pork Fillet with Hungarian Sauce 

I got Jamie Olivers 15 minute meals for Christmas and couldn't help but be surprised by the amount of calories he was quoting per portion. They would be fine for most people for a dinner, but not when trying to lose weight.  When I looked at the recipes I could see these could easily be adapted to suit weight watchers by adding a little portion control and cutting back on the levels of oil used. I looked through it again last week and there were a lot of recipes that could be adapted slightly for Simple Start. Jamies recipe for this included fennel, but I couldn't get that so I am going to leave it out and print the recipe as I made it. The recipe serves 4 and we had it for dinner on Monday and then the leftovers on Wednesday. 

Servings 4

Ingredients:

2 peppers (different colours)

1 red onion

1 carrot

1 eating apple

2 tsp paprika

4-5 bay leaves

4 cloves garlic

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

700g passata

500g lean pork fillet (i cut off any visible fat)

1 tsp ground coriander

Brown rice (about 250g)

70g rocket

1 lemon

fat free natural yoghurt

4 tsp olive oil

Cook the rice according to pack instructions.

Deseed the peppers, peel and half the onion, peel and trim the carrot and core the apple. At this point Jamie suggests using a food processor with the thick slice blade, but I didn't have one so I just sliced the veg. Add 2 tsp of oil to a large pot or casserole dish and add the sliced veg, paprika, bay leaves and crushed garlic. Season well and fry stirring occasionally. 

Slice the pork into 8 medallions and flatten them slightly with your fist. Rub in salt, pepper, coriander and 1tsp olive oil. Put in a hot griddle plan until cooked through, turning when they are nicely charred. 

While this is cooking add the passata and balsamic vinegar to the fried veg mixture and season to taste. Dress the rocket with lemon juice and fold most of this through the sauce. Serve with the rice, chargrilled pork, the remaining rocket and a few dollops of yoghurt.

            

Pasta with Tuna Sauce:

Serves 2

150g Wholewheat spaghetti (I ate less than half of this, cook as much or as little pasta as you like. the sauce will probably cover as much as 250g)

500g passata

1 tbsp tomato puree

1 tin tuna in brine/spring water

1 onion

4 cloves garlic

half red pepper

2 tsp dried oregano

2tsp olive oil  (from your daily allowance)

salt & pepper

Cook your spaghetti according the to instructions on the packet. 

While this is cooking put the onion, garlic and pepper in a food processor and blend until it is a coarse paste. You can just chop the veg but I like blending it like this. Fry this paste gently in the olive oil for 4-5 minutes before adding the passata, tomato puree and oregano and bring to a gentle simmer. Leave simmering for 5 minutes and then add the tuna and stir well. Season to taste and then mix through the drained spaghetti and serve. If you are on simple start you can grate over 15g parmesan cheese and take this out of your treats for the day or take this from your weekly propoints if on Filling & Healthy.