Showing posts with label Pasta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pasta. Show all posts

Wednesday, 26 August 2015

Faux Fun

So I had big plans for cooking and was going to teach the hubby how to make Bread and we were going to paint the front of the house be busy productive members of society...

The little man had other plans. He was a bit ill and when I say a bit ill if you've ever seen the "Exocist" you'll know what I mean.

Wasn't so bad when we were at home lots of cleaning up lots of hugs as you always worry so much when they are not well,. but his temperature was fine so obviously something just upset his stomach.

Or major error came when we thought he was doing better and took him out to the local hardware store "B&Q" to look at getting supplies for the house painting, and was subsequently very ill down one of the isles and all over his dad. To be fair the staff were wonderful and really helpful and didn't get upset even when I showed them the mess.

Just think that great for a store as there are times when you are a bit mortified but they handled it like it wasn't any trouble at all and I did even offer to do the mopping myself but they said to take care of the little one and they would take care of it.

So as for cooking, this week to make thing easier I stuck with quick simple dishes in between handing out a shed load of TLC.

I made a Faux Carbonara .

cooked up some leeks and Mangetout while frying some bacon..



After the leeks and Mangetout were cooked I thew them into the frying pan too for a couple of minutes.


Before mixing them all with some pasta and low fat fromage frais for very quick very easy and if you've cut the fat of the bacon low in fat healthy scrummy meal.



I even made another Lasange (See previous week's post for recipe) but instead of pasta sheets on top I used potatoes which gave it an added kick.


Don't worry the little one did get better and even managed to have some fun on the swings.



I am  a big kid at heart and the swing are one of my absolute favorite things to do and I am  so glad my son is like me and loves them.  I know when he upgrades to the big kid swings we'll be on them together from morning to night  :) 


As he was doing so well went out for a lovely brunch  at The Fancy Goat. I had a Bucks Fizz (mimosa) to celebrate his recovery


And enjoyed a wonderful Tortilla De Patatas.



Oh and when the waitress said the pan was hot I should have paid more attention as I burnt a finger on it ouchie, ouch.. Although being so yummy made up for the pain.

The little one got some tasty scramble egg very rich and creamy.




Another highlight of the week was another trip to Thomas Cookie Co to get some more of there fab cookies can see them become a staple in my life (but shh don't tell the diet)...




Right this weekend I am having no excuse (well a sick infant isn't really an excuse it a all encompassing situation) I will be making bread and will post it up step by step...

And as it's a Bank Holiday over here I've also got a few other interesting things planned so will be a far more exciting post, well they can't all be mad weekend in Amsterdam (even though I wish they were lol) :)

Thursday, 20 August 2015

Lasagne, Lasagna "I've Heard it both ways"

Sorry about the title but I do love "Psych" the TV Show.

So cooking again yay, well my blog is call dyslexic cooking so after a few weeks of doing none, well apart from the bog standard family meal that rule my life. But hey I do work full time have a toddler and a husband and trying to have a life so whipping up culinary masterpiece everyday is not feasible, when I win the lottery and have my dream kitchen I promise to cook every day lol.

This week I have been busy I cooked up another Prawn Pasta (see the 9th June blog for full recipe details)



Love this dish as it quick and easy and you can make loads so it last a few night.

Much the same with my next recipe as you know I'm trying, and not very successfully I might add (see the buns and the bacon sarnies post for proof) to do Slimming World. I have lost 10lb which I suppose is better than putting it on,  but considering I being doing since January not great. Although one of my New Year resolution was to loose weight (Luckily I didn't put how much) so if I can just not put it all back on by Dec 31st for the first times I would have achieved a resolution lol.

Any who I made a Slimming World Lasagne as we say here in the UK.

Ingredients for this:

500g of 5% fat lean mince
1 chopped onion (I was lasy and bought pre-chopped)
500g of veg for roasting (this can be anything you fancy I like bell peppers and courgettes/Zucchini)
100g of Mushrooms
Carton of Passata
Can or Carton of chopped tomatos
300g of Fat free Greek Yogurt (For the white Sauce)
Lasagne Sheets (Dried)
and not featured in the pic but any herbs and spices you might want to add.




Firstly I put on the oven and cooked the roasted vegetable, I used 1% spray oil to keep it nice and healthy.



they go on at 200c oven for 25 minutes.



Then when they were firmly underway cooking, I started to brown the meat and the onions.



I then added in the mushrooms


cooked them off for a minute or two before adding the Passata and the chopped tomatoes.


Then once the vegetables were nice and roasted I added them too.



Which made a lovely pasta bolognese sauce, but we are making Lasagne so on-wards.

After grabbing a deep dish



I added a layer of the meat to the bottom.



Then layered on some pasta sheets.



Then covered the sheet in a layer of the Greek yogurt.



I then repeated this process and just for me (if you don't want the calories and what it to be syn free don't add it) a bit of low fat mature cheddar on top (40g)



baking in a 200+ degree oven for 35 minutes




You then end up with was a delicious, filling, tasty and very very low in fat dinner for two nights.






Add it with a bit of salad and you got a meal that will leave you full but without the guilt.




So I hope you give it a go :)


My one last thing before signing off this week is how exciting was the news about the Disney World expansion at Disney Hollywood Studios?? if you haven't heard about it, what have you been living in a little box? you can read about it here




As you know I am a huge Disney fan and a bit of a Star Wars geek so to be able to geek out with the Star Wars in the same place I can geek out with the mouse I think I'm going to have some sort of fit lol.

Although am a bit bummed that they are not starting work till 2017 and with how long it took them to do the Fantasy Land expansion I can see it being another 3 years on top. The only thing that is a plus side is my little one will be around 8/9 when it is completed so I would say Optimum age for Star War Madness yay.

So with Disney being so prevalent in the news I have decided to start a holiday fun to fund a trip for me and the family (think I mention that I wanted to start one a while back,but hey I'm dyslexic so we have idea and then another one takes over that why if it not on my to do list is ain't happening lol) but this time I have started it.

I have costed up a total for my trip and it's not going to be cheap and currently as it stands the fund is just getting to about the 1% mark of the total amount. So a long way to go (Think Star Wars land will be open before I hit the total lol)

I have decided I will achieve the total by getting some stuff that has been sitting around on ebay, cutting back on excessive spending, more batch cooking and going to use the train problems I have to my advantage and every time I get a delay repay compensation I will stick it in the fun so come on delays and cancellation lol

My Disney Dream is currently 99% away from target, but hey at least it's not a 100%




Thursday, 9 July 2015

A Quick Pasta Recipe

Before all the fun of the fair well The Kent County Show tomorrow.  I'm so excited!! 

Thought I'd post a quick and easy pasta recipe 

I roasted some courgettes and mushrooms 


20 minutes in a 200 degree oven. I used spray oil to keep it nice and healthy.

I think boiled some corn on the cob 


I cooked them for around 8-10 mins then used the water too cook some pasta in.

I added red onions and prawns to a pan 


Along with the roasted vegetables, I chopped of the kernels of the corn added those.

Stirred in the cooked pasta and added some Philadelphia lightest cream cheese.


All in all it took less than half an hour and it is very low in fat. If you're on Slimming World like me I used my Healthy A and it was Syn Free :) 




Which is great as I think I might be slightly naughty at the show tomorrow as there be too many good Produced in Kent suppliers I won't be able to resist.