The Shrinking Challenge

Light chicken quiche for picnic days

2012-06-11T13:05:00.001+01:00

Although I live in the city of unpredictable weather, once in a blue moon we have picnic days. Those days as as rare as enjoyable and if you are so lucky to see them you will realized that even the hangover go out into the sun as soon as it shows up.

Those days trust me I am not gonna stick around the kitchen but for the minimal time required, but you gotta get feed and if you do it outside chances are that you are gonna get lots of temptations, so the best option bring your own food. I prepare this super simple quiche between coffee and shower and I promise you it is delicious warm or cold and it is easy to bring around in a container.

INGREDIENTS

2 cooked Chicken breast pieces ( I got mine form some grilled chicken I made, but you can buy cooked ones too)
1 onion
3 eggs
6 tablespoons of fat free formage frais
nutmeg, pepper and salt
reduce fat cooking spray ( this time it is not optional)
Add to your list in case you dont have baking paper and springform

HOW TO

Gather your ingredients and preheat the oven at 240C/ 475F

Chop the cooked chicken breast and the onion in chunky pieces so they will show in the mix, I rather my ingredients to be abundant and visible but if you prefer less and less visible feel free the taste doesn't change that much.

In medium bol add the three eggs. I suggest to crack them in a small cup and then add it ti the bol just in case the eggs are no good. Them mix them with a whisker if you have or a fork if you don't.

Then add the formage frais and and whisk again.

The mix will be complete when you add the nutmeg, which give it a really distint flavor, the salt and the pepper. I would use black pepper as it is my preference but any pepper would do.

Mix your eegs with the rest of the ingredients. It should look something like this.

Now get you baking paper and cut it to fit your mold. As I said before I recommend you use one of the springforms that you can remove the walls of the mold and keep the botton but if you dont have one as I didn't before you could use a silicon one and I works just fine.
Add the paper to the botton of your mold and spray it with the low fat cooking spray you don't need much.

Finally put the mix in the mold and put the mold on the oven, set your timer for 20 min, check at the end just to make sure it is as done as you like. Make sure that the sides are cooked that would be your indicator that the quiche is done.

And it is that simple, I hope you are having gorgeous weather and you can go out and enjoy a lovely summer, and till we see again,

ENJOY :)

Have a break, have a diet muffin

2012-05-07T14:28:00.001+01:00

There are some things I really hate, only a few, but the one that i hate the most is the daily, weekly task of cleaning, it never ends. However I found a way to make it more bearable ( it's that the right word?!) and it is give myself a treat after. So... at least I have something to look forward to. My treat this week ... muffins!!! who said girls on a diet don't have fun???

INGREDIENTS

Makes about 8 nice size muffins, and last up to 3-4 days if you can refrain yourself

4 large egg whites , 5 if medium
8 tablespoon of oat bran
4 tablespoon of fat free formage frais
3 tablespoon of powder sweetener
1/2 tablespoon of coffee powder
1/2 tablespoon of cinnamon

HOW TO

Gather your ingredients and preheat your oven at 180C (or 350 F)

I always start by beating the egg whites till stiff, and what do I mean by stiff? I mean that you can put the egg whites over you head and the wont fall out, that stiff we are talking about, so take your mixer and shake it baby.

Then in a deep plate mix all the dry ingredients, be careful they tend to try to leave your plate and make a mess all over the counter.

When mixed add the cheese and remove again until it gets a stronger consistency and it well incorporated

Then it is time to add it to the stiff egg whites, that is tricky, you should incorporate all mixture but carefully and mixing it slowly with the spatula so the mixture would keep the smoothness, do it slowly it doesn't take that long.

Now it is time to prepare your tin and muffin cases, I do spray them with cooking spray but that is totally optional. This muffins do not grow much do you can fill it up to 3/4 of the case or even a little bit more.

Let it bake for about 25 min depending on your oven, mine works out about 23 min and I let then cool down a bit inside the oven for about 7 min before I take them out. I find they are delicious with milk as they are a bit dry, but it work great as afternoon and breakfast treat.

Let me know how it goes for you and

ENJOY :)

5 min. asparagus and prawn's scramble

2012-04-26T12:11:00.000+01:00

I've always loved scrambles, probably because they are so easy to make and sooo tasty. On a rainy day like today when I get home I just want to chill and normally eat something that either comes from a man in a bike or it takes no time or effort to make. As the man on the bike should not be an option anymore as mostly he only brings unhealthy things, I have to go for the effortless option, 5 minutes tasty scramble.

INGREDIENTS

Enough for one hungry and tired person.

asparagus tips
a cup of prawns
2 medium eggs
salt and pepper to taste
low fat cooking spray (optional)

HOW TO

Gather your ingredients

Your prawns might be frozen and if you do not have time to unfreeze them, give it a quick microwave defrost or add it to the pan a bit early, luckily I did remember this morning to leave it to defrost.

Start by cooking the tips I add a bit of cooking spray

When they are a bit toasted add the prawns, they take almost no time to be ready so don't add it too early or they would get burn ( I know from experience)

Prepare the eggs, beat them obviously but in my case this is the time that I add the salt an pepper, it doesn't mean that I might not add a bit more lately but I got the feeling that the saltiness is nicer when I add it to the beaten egg.

last but not least ad the egg and shake it, baby shake it... move it and remove it so it spreads all over the other ingredients

Ehhh voila, there you have a quick tasty and healthy dinner in not time add some custard for dessert and you got yourself a marvelous and nurturing rainy day dinner

Let me know how you got on and in the meantime

ENJOY :)

Aubergine Surprise (a meaty one)

2012-04-02T13:57:00.000+01:00

This week I am startting my birthday celebrations and for me there is nothing better than a delicious dinner with the people you care about and the fact that I am dieting is not going to stop me from celebrating.

INGREDIENTS

This recipe is enough for two people and a bit for your little poppy

1 aubergine
1 pepper
2 shallots
1 zucchini
250gr of lean mince meat ( beef or turkey works too)
can of chopped tomatos
1 egg
salt, pepper and garlic powder
some cooking spray ( optional)

HOW TO

Gather your ingredients

Start by slicing the aubergine in two

Remove the inside of the aubergine like so

Boil some water and add the peel of the aubergine, boil till soften

Then start cutting the vegetables into smal pieces, including the aubergine insides

The last step before getting to the pan it is to prepare the meet, you should add some salt, pepper and garlic powder to the mix, when incorporate it make a volcano in the mix and add a raw egg that will help you to get consistency. Then mix it all, i normally do it with my hands.

Now it is the time for cooking, get a big pan, I am using a wok but a normal pan would do just fine. I normally start by adding some cooking spray, this is optional but I found that it keep the mixture from burn, if you decided not to do that you should be removing the vegetables all the time to prevent burning. I add it in order, first shallot, then peppers, zucchini and aubergine. Then add the meat, it would make it juicy and blend the rest of the vegetables together.

The final step is to add the canned tomatoes, I added pealed full tomatoes as I didn't have the chopped ones, so I had to smash it with my wooden spoon.

The only thing left to do at this point it is to fill your cooked aubergine peels with the mixture and eat, and I can promise it is delicious

As always I added some fat free formage frais, but it is fine on its own, if you are not as obsessed about as I am. Let me know if you liked it and feel free to leave a comment below as always

ENJOY :)

Home Made Custard Dukan Style

2012-03-22T10:00:00.000+00:00

I love sweet things and I don't think I could live without them. When I bought the Dukan diet I was so surprise that they had some dessert here and there, because when you go dieting is like you are punished without dessert; not in this diet and I am so grateful for it.

Last night I came home late craving something sweet so I made some custard, it has to chill for a while but no one could prevent me to eat the pot left overs. And this morning... well what did you think I did?

INGREDIENTS

Makes 4 small cups.

1 litre skimmed milk
5 egg yolks
45gr (3 tbs) cornflour
3 tbs sweetener
Cinnamon stick
Vanilla essence
Star anise ( totally optional but I love the taste)

HOW TO

Gather you ingredients

Get a pot and add all the milk but one cup. Add the cinnamon, the sweetener, the star anise and the vanilla essence. Let it cook at a medium heat for about 14 min taking care that it doesn't boil or it would ruin the other mixture. In the meantime get you other cup of milk and mix it with the cornflour.

I do this a cup because it is much more manageable. You should mix it up really well and then put the mixture in a bigger container. Then, and this is important, incorporate the egg yolks (the yellowish thing) one by one, do not incorporate another until the previous one is not perfectly mixed. I use a hand mixer for this, because I was tired and I am lazy to do it by hand, but both ways should work.

When you have mixed all the eggs add the warm milk. Be careful if the milk still warm, and do it in small bits, if the milk is to hot it will cook the eggs and the mixture will be ruined, so slowly. Add the mixture to a deep bottom pan.

You need about 7 min of low heat and remove, remove, remove. Be careful NEVER let it boil, that is the only thing that can ruin it. Remove creamy mixture from the heat and place it in your chosen container, let it chill for two hour or over night like a did and there you have home made custard.

Add powder cinnamon if you are an addict like me and

ENJOY :)

Bits and Pieces Omelette

2012-03-19T10:00:00.000+00:00

I've been really busy this week, so busy that I almost haven't got the time to go food shopping. So today for lunch I found myself only with some bit of ingredients and decided that I might as well use what my mother call the bits and pieces omelette.

An omelette is always really easy to do and you can almost add anything to it. My mother does pretty round one but I rather move the eggs around, as I am for once not patient (it is faster this way) and normally to hungry to wait.

INGREDIENTS

Some mushrooms
Red pepper
zucchini
Tuna in brine
3 eggs
Sal and pepper

HOW TO

Gather your ingredients.

Star chopping the vegetables, not too big but not too small either remember we cook without oil and if they are to big could burn on the outside and not be cook on the inside which we want to avoid at all cost.

Next step heat up you pan, and add the onion, pepper and zucchini first and give it a couple of minutes for the mushroom as it becomes soft very fast.

While the vegetables are being cooked, beat the eggs I use 3 eggs but i like it very dry if you want it more juicy add more. I add the salt at this point to the eggs, you will see how the change color.

Check that your vegetables are done, how do you know that? Well basically for me it is when the mushroom is done should like something like this.

Now that are done, remove them from the fire and add it to the eggs so you make sure that the egg are evenly around all the vegetable mix and also add the tuna in brine, but without the bine :) I am not a particular fan of tuna in brine I like much better the oil one, but you have to make sacrifices for a healthy living.

Then is back in the pan. I clean it before, but you can go straight to it unless like my mum you want the perfectly stiff omelette in which case I also recommend cleaning and some low fat cooking spray. It will be ready in no time. Some times I also add some fromustard Sauce to it, but that depends on my mood.

Please leave a comment below if you did the omelette or if you want any other recipe I am always happy to oblige, in the mean time

ENJOY :)

Fromustard: the simplest ever sauce

2012-03-15T12:48:00.000+00:00

I dont know you, but I eat looooots of boiled chicken since I am on the diet. It is because is simple. And you must think "simple, yes, but... it isn't the most tasty thing ever" and I agree. I have perfected the way to boil it many different ways to give it flavor, but the simplest still water and a bit of sal. But what I do is using this super simple sauce to give it some taste and it really works for me and takes no time whatsoever. Let me introduce you to the Fromustard Sauce:

INGREDIENTS

You get lots out of it... but I think would be enough for two people

0% Formage frais
Dijon Mustard
Whole-Grain Mustard

HOW TO

Gather your ingredients:

Add three table spoons of formage frais ( I love this ingredient works with everything). You can not really keep it for long so just keep it enough for your meal.

Then one tea spoon of Dijon mustard.

I add two tea spoons of whole-grain mustard because I like the texture so much but I guess one will be enough if you are not sold on the texture like me.

And then ... well... shake it baby, shake it... and you are done!

I know it is not a great pic (but what can I do with an almost ten years old digital camera) but the sauce it is fantastic so I hope you

ENJOY:)

Tip- If you don't have fromage frais you can always use 0% greek yogourt.

chicken "non-pasta, pasta like" Chinese style

2012-03-05T10:00:00.000+00:00

I don't know you, but me, when someone tells me "you can't it this" I want it the most. Pasta always reminds me of home meals and I must say in a diet like Dukan is the thing that I miss the most. So I came up with a solution, as we can not eat the real thing, let's eat something that looks similar. Dr. Dukan has specifically allow surimi on the diet and even though I was reticent at the beginning I must say that with it I have found a great ally. It is experimenting with it that so many of my "non-pasta, pasta like" dishes have come to be. Let me introduce you to my chicken "non-pasta, pasta like" Chinese style.

INGREDIENTES

Ingredient for one really hungry or two not som much, suitable for pure proteine day.

Chicken breast ( I use the full breast)
8 surimi sticks
soya sauce
garlic powder
cooking spray (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

Gather your ingredients as you can see there are not many to grab.

Get the chicken and cut it in cubes, I dont like the pieces two small but you can do it as you feel more confortable.

Get a small bol and add some soya sauce (make sure your is not too salty otherwise will be more salt than taste) and you chicken cubes and let then rest for a couple of minutes so the chicken gets all the flavor of the soya sauce.

While your chicken is soaking take your surimi sticks and unroll and break them into little long pieces so they look like small spaghettis. They are tiny, but... nothing is perfect.

Then it is pan time, I normally use a wok, just because it is confortable for me, but any pan would do. Put some cooking spray if you want (I do) and add the marinated chicken. This is the point that I add the garlic powder, but I must confess that I crazy about garlic you don't need to do it.

When they become pink you should add the surimi piece, be aware that at this time the pan can be a little bit dry and you might want to add either some more soya sauce or a bit of water.

Stir every once in a while to make your it doesn't burn at the bottom of you pan and let the surimi take all the juices.

And that is it, you have made yourself a "non-pasta, pasta like" dish in no time for proteine day that is tasty and fast.

Make sure to serve hot !!

ENJOY ;)

Green Lovers Soup

2012-03-02T18:00:00.000+00:00

Although Mach is supposed to bring warmth to this lands, here in Ireland still quite cold, at least for my taste and there is nothing better than a soup to warm you up and also to give you the extra vitamins your body needs to look as beautiful as you do. Let me present you the Green Lovers Soup:

The good thing about this soup is that you can eat it warm it you are freezing like me or cold if you are in a warmer weather ( I envy you for that)

INGREDIENTS

Broccoli floret
half zucchini
some mushrooms ( I add about 6)
three leaves of celery
sal and pepper to taste
optional some fat free formage frais

INSTRUCTIONS

As you know we are following the Dukan diet so we only will used allow vegetables. First gather your vegetables

I start by cutting the Brocolli . I cut only the small florets and dimiss the rest, you can cook it if you want to but it would take a bit more to get tender so bear it in mind if you decide to add them.

Then cut the zucchini in half and proceed to cut it into small pieces, they do not need to be really small because we are going to smash it later but still it helps to go faster.

Next step, do the same with the celery. The celery help to give your soup a refreshing taste. To be honest I am not a fan of celery myself but I love the touch that gives soups. I use just three leave because otherwise it overcomes the taste of the broccoli.

Then it is the turn of the mushrooms. I use quite a bit because it gives a nice consistency to the soup and you don't want it to be super watery.

Next step put some water to boil on the kettle and add all you ingredients together in a pot. Add enough water to cover the vegetable but not more we want it to be thick not watery and turn the heat to the maximum. This is the time to add some salt if you want, I normally add it at the end but that goes on taste.

Let it boil for over 20 minutes, we want most of the water to evaporate and the vegetables to be as tender as possible, then it is time for the blender. I have a hand one but you can use whatever you have.

You have to blend it until it is consistent and smooth. If your blender is awful as mine it can take some time if it is a good you will have it in minutes.

Finally it is the time of pepper and fat free formage frais, you can skip this step but a love the contract in textures, I do not want to think that I am on a diet, I want to think that I am eating great tasty food and those little details help me

And that is it, fool proof soup. Get a plate and prepare to have a fantastic tasting experience.

Let me know if you liked it and don't forget to subscribe to be notified about new recipes and news

ENJOY ;)

Cheesie chili con carne recipe

2012-02-29T10:00:00.000+00:00

Being on a diet doesn't mean you can not eat great meals. As you know I am following the Dukan diet and I love to eat allowed but tasty meals, among my favorite one is this delicious Cheesy chili con carne:

The recipe is so tasty and so simple, it severs one hungry one or two not so hungry people.

INGREDIENTS

250gr of lean beef mince
two shallots
two big mushrooms
two canned plum tomatos
garlic powder
sal
chili powder
fat free formage cheese
optional cooking spray

INSTRUCTIONS

Get you meat, make sure it is lean, less than 10% fat otherwise it would be too greasy

Chop your shallots in small pieces, not too small or it would disappear an you wanna taste them

Then the same thing with the mushrooms, remember not too small, I use two for the flavor but feel free to add more if you fancy

I normally I add some cooking spray, just two touches which the package claims is 2 cal., however you can skip this step if you wanna keep the rules strictly

Add the shallots first let them get toasted: just a BIT or they will get burn, remember we are not using oil, and even with the cooking spray they will be burn in no time. Then Add the meat. The meat goes plain into the pan do not add anything to it will have time to add stuff later. Cook the two things together until the meat gets pinkie.

Then add the mushrooms and keep cooking it till they are almost done. how do you how they are almost done? the white mushrooms change to beige color (which for guys it is light brown). It is at this point that you should add a bit of salt, the garlic powder and chili to taste. I normally add a lot of garlic powder, beware if you wanna kis someone and little chili, but that is just me.

The final step is to add the plum tomatos, I normally add two. You can use natural or canned ones I used the canned ones for confort but make sure if you do that they do not have anything added to them.

Smash the tomatos with the spatula, give a five minutes a medium heat and you are good to go. (Some times needs a bit of water if it is too dry.)

Finally, As I am not gonna eat any rice with it and on itself the chili con carne seem very ... how can I say this?... Alone. I set the plate with some fat free formage frais on the botton and the chili con carne on top of it. The contrast is absolutely fabulous and becomes a light gourmet dish.

Let me know if you liked it and please don't forget to subscribe to be notify of our news and recipes

ENJOY ;)

Welcome to the challenge

2012-02-28T22:25:00.000+00:00

Hello YOU!!!

I am Anaveltia and my entire life I have been dealing with my weight. I know everything that it is to know about loosing weight... even though I struggle to loose it; why? I love food and also I eat when ever I am stress which tends to be often.

My life used to gravitate around a scale; until one day I throw it away out of frustration. Now I am healthier and I work towards my desire body one step at the time and one delicious recipe after another. I am following the principles of the Dukan diet and I try to do my best. Sometimes my will is strong, sometimes I just can't make it, but I keep trying and so should you.

I am here to demonstrate that dieting following the rules can be a tasty pleasure, and to share with you what I learn along way. By the way, I dont know how much I weight but I can tell you this. I was in a sized 18 and now I can used the size 12, so I might be doing something right ;)

I hope you stay with me on this journey.

ENJOY ;)