Yes, you can have pie

Today I picked up a recipe book written specifically to give you tasty, filling recipes that are low-fat and low-carb. Their chicken and ham pie is good, coming in at about 430 calories per serve but I felt it could be improved upon.

 

The Filo pastry is tremendous. It gives the feeling that you're having pastry without the extra calories and simple carbohydrates that puff or shortcrust pastry gives. Although it doesn't qualify as frugal cooking as breast meat is quite expensive, at the moment, it is more important for me to lose weight.

 

Ingredients:

500g chicken breasts chopped into bite-sized pieces

300g wafer-thin cooked ham cut into 1cm squares

1-2 onions, chopped finely

1-2 leeks, sliced

2-4 carrots, sliced into circles

300g mushrooms roughly chopped

250ml water

5ml soy sauce

200g low-fat creme fraiche

100g low-fat natural yoghurt

2-4 garlic cloves crushed

1 chicken stock cube

2 tsp plain flour

Olive oil in a pump spray

 

For the pastry:

4 sheets filo pastry

12.5-15ml sunflower oil

 

Method:

Spray a non-stick frying pan with the olive oil and put the onions in to fry, stirring until they're translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken, keep stirring until all the pieces of chicken are cooked on the outside. Add the leeks and carrots and turn the heat up.

 

Add about 200mls of the water and crumble the stock cube and stir to dissolve. Add soy sauce and continue to cook on the high heat until the liquid has reduced by about two thirds. Transfer to a large casserole and sprinkle the flour and disperse the ham evenly over the mixture. Stir in the creme fraiche and yoghurt and season with lots of black pepper. Push the mixture down until it is evenly spread across the dish.

 

Pre-heat the oven to 200°c/Fan 180°c/Gas 6.

 

Stack the sheets of filo pastry on top of each other and cut into nine pieces. Using just the tip of a pastry brush, dip into the sunflower oil and brush both sides of the pasty. Scrunch each piece up until you've done all 36 pieces.

 

Arrange the scrunched pieces of pastry on the top of the mixture. Place the pie in the oven and cook for 30-35 minutes until the filo is golden on top.

 

Serve with green vegetable. The original recipe said to not add potatoes, but I think you need a few new potatoes to keep you fuller for longer - about 100-120g, roasted with just one spray of olive oil.

 

This should serve four at 331 calories per serving (without potatoes or green veg).

 

And just in case you're wondering, I've lost 10.1kg (22.3lbs) in 7.5 weeks.

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Arty blogs

Just to let you know that from now onwards I'm going to post art-related stuff over on my other blog Inkingly Mine and save this blog for the other stuff.

 

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More recipes to share

I'm back on the whole "losing weight" thing again. I refuse to call it a diet because a diet sounds temporary. This is a permanent change. I'm not following any particular plan but I'm going to a low-fat, low-simple-carbohydrates food regime. Previously, I used to allow myself larger quantities of carbohydrate but only if it were complex - wholemeal flour, wholemeal pasta etc. Now, I'm not limiting it, just applying portion control on everything I eat. I've mentioned some of the things I've been cooking to friends and they expressed interest in having the recipes.

 

These three recipes rely on cauliflower. It sounds strange, but trust me, the cauliflower is essential for moistness and to reduce the total carbohydrate significantly.

 

To prepare the cauliflower for these recipes, cut the stem out of the cauliflower and cut into florets. Place a quarter at a time into a food processor and blitz with the blade until about the consistency of short-grain rice. Put into an airtight container and freeze. When you need to use it, take it out of the freezer and place back in the food processor with the blade and blitz until crumbly again.

 

Pizza muffins

 

Ingredients:

80g finely chopped onion

80g finely chopped peppers

80g wholemeal self-raising flour

10g baking powder

80g cauliflower rice as prepared above

10g chopped fresh oregano or 5g dried

5g sugar (I use Truvia to reduce the calories further)

40ml skimmed milk

40g crumbled low-fat feta

30g tomato paste

1 large egg, beaten

30g chopped black olives

2.5g garlic granules

Olive oil in a pump spray

 

Method:

Spray a non-stick frying pan with a little oil and fry off the onions until tender. Add the peppers. When cooked transfer to a small bowl to cool.

Heat the oven to 200°C and spray a muffin pan with oil.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, cauliflower rice, baking powder, oregano, sugar and garlic granules together.

Stir milk, feta, egg, tomato paste and olives into the onion mixture.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, add the wet ingredients and combined until just mixed.

Split the mixture between the 12 muffin cups and bake until golden for about 15-18 minutes. Leave in the pan to cool for 5 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack.

 

60 calories for muffin. These make very shallow muffins. You can push the boat out and double the recipe for more of a meal rather than a snack. Or, use the standard quantity and use a 24-piece muffin pan for a party muffin.

 

Banana bread

 

The banana and sugar (sweetener) mask all taste of the cauliflower. But, with the addition of cauliflower the cooking time is extended and varies from oven to oven and depends heavily on the shape of the tin.

 

Ingredients:

120g lightest spreadable butter (my preference is Lurpak).

65g Truvia or other stevia-based sweetener.

120g wholemeal self-raising flour.

120g cauliflower rice as prepared above.

10g baking soda.

2 eggs.

Between 2-4 bananas (depends on the size and ripeness of the bananas, better to have a little more than you think).

 

Method:

Put the butter and sweetener into the mixer and mix using the plastic blade. Lift the lid and scrape the sides until the butter and sweetener are creamed.

Peel the bananas and rip into chunks and add to the mix while blending.

Stop the mixer and add the flour half at a time until everything is thoroughly mixed.

Pour the batter into a non-stick 2lb loaf tin and place in a pre-heated oven at 180°c (170°c for fan) for 40 minutes. Reduce temperature to 150°c (140°c) and cook for a further 40 minutes.

 

124 calories per slice.

 

Pizza base:

 

All the cauliflower does in this is reduce the carbohydrate by about half and makes a wholemeal pizza base a little lighter.

 

Ingredients:

250g wholemeal self-raising flour.

375g cups of cauliflower rice

80ml cup skimmed milk

65ml sunflower oil

Pump spray filled with oil

 

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 190° c.

Put all ingredients into a bowl and mix until mixture leaves the side of the bowl. Gather the dough into a ball and knead 10 times to make smooth. Divide the ball into two.

On a lightly-floured board roll each half into a 30cm circle.

Turn up the edges 1cm and pinch.

Spray surface with oil.

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

Cover with chosen toppings and bake for a further 10-12 minutes.

 

Makes 2 pizzas. Half a pizza per serving is 367 calories. Load the toppings with lots of vegetables, lean meat and a very sharp cheese.

 

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