Yes. it is Wednesday today, not Monday, but remember that I promote flexibility! Unfortunately I'm getting far more acquainted with my office than I'd like and the whole working for a living thing is getting in the way of blogging at times.
So what are we eating this week?
On Monday, we had spaghetti and meatballs. This is really a cheat's meal and I love it. My local butcher (or his mother) makes lovely italian style herbed meatballs and sells a whole tray fresh for about $3.50.
It's a matter of browning some onion and garlic, sealing the tiny meatballs and then simmering them in a rich tomatoey sauce (try crushed tomatoes plus passata or bottled pasta sauce, with a generous amount of salt and pepper, plus oregano, thyme, parsley or whatever herbs you have lying around) until you can stand it no more, and serving over al dente spaghetti.
On Tuesday we went out for dinner. It is wonderful to take the opportunity to relax over someone else's cooking and talk about the few things we each do at work that isn't classified. Luckily we always have plenty of other things to talk about - a conversation about what was done in 10 hours of work is over within about 30 seconds.
I have the day off on Wednesday so I get to visit the friendly butcher, baker and candlestick maker. Well not really. I don't know a candlestick maker. I am toddling off to the fishmonger to get some freshly cooked crab - to make Angelhair pasta with crab and lemon. This recipe was on last week's menu but was rudely rescheduled due to that silly work thing I do from time to time.
Check back later on for the recipe and run down on this one.
We'll be graced with the presence of my sister and her boyfriend on Thursday night and I'll be making the risotto with tomato, prosciutto and basil that I planned to cook for them last week. My clever last-minute-cooking sister is going to bring something lovely for dessert.
On Friday we'll throw together some homemade pizzas - I'm thinking rocket (aragula), smoked salmon, red (spanish) onion, fetta, capers. We cook the bases brushed with olive oil and spices and then add the other ingredients cold, once the base is cooked.
On Saturday we'll be having some lamb cutlets in a spicy crumb, served with steamed greens, saffron basmati rice, eggplant kasundi and natural yoghurt.
As usual we'll be doing the family thing on Sunday.
Photo: Knife and Fork by nickwheeleroz
So how's your week shaping up? Leave a comment and let me know and then pop over to Chive Talkin' and I'm an Organizing Junkie to see what other people are eating this week.
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Vietnamese Prawn Salad
I made it for dinner last night, with a few changes to reduce the calorie content.
Firstly, I used snow peas instead of snake beans, because the snow peas looked great at the local greengrocer whereas the beans looked a bit tired.
To cut down the fat I didn't fry the prawns - I bought extra-large boiled prawns to go with the cold salad. I just peeled and de-veined them (leaving the tails on). I used more prawns than the recipe specified - prawns are low-cal and low-fat and 4 per person just didn't seem enough.
Coles now stocks palm sugar in my local supermarket (in the asian foods aisle, right on the top shelf) but you can use brown sugar instead.
If you like the look of this, you can click through to get the recipe for Vietnamese Prawn Salad.
Leftovers magic:
While I was fiddling about with the vermicelli and prawns I also peeled some prawns completely and wrapped them into some rice paper rolls with finely sliced cucumber, cooked and rinced vermicelli, coriander, vietnamese mint and thai basil. They were delicious eaten immediately, dipped into hoisin sauce.
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photo credit: Bucket of Lemons
This cake is made from very basic fridge/pantry items so you won't be trekking all over for exotic ingredients.
It also has the advantage of being light and indulgent without being high in fat. If you make it to serve 8 people, one slice is less than 4.5g fat, which means you could safely enjoy seconds.
The taste is reminiscent of a baked cheesecake and it is very popular in our house!
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs, separated
- 100g caster sugar
- 3 TB plain flour
- 400g strained Greek yoghurt
- Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
Method
Preheat oven to 180C.
Beat egg yolks with sugar to a thick, pale cream.
Beat in flour, then yoghurt, lemon zest and juice, until thoroughly combined.
Whisk egg whites until stiff and fold into yoghurt mixture.
Pour into a round, non-stick 23cm baking tin greased with butter.
Bake 50-55 minutes until the top is brown. The cake will puff up like a souffle and then subside.
We tend to serve this with fresh berries but you could certainly eat it plain or drizzle with a little citrus/sugar syrup.
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]]>The dangerous combination of gluttony, complacency and marriage has resulted in a recent expansion of my hips and thighs. While I'm not quite contending with the likes of back fat and a muffin top, I'm on a buttery slippery slope.
If you're a fellow food lover with a bit more jiggle than you'd like, here are some tips to help you get back into shape without resorting to diet foods or meal replacement shakes.
1. Lose the guilt: If you come home from work exhausted and you have no energy to cook, don't feel sorry for yourself and pick up tasteless takeaway. Take the opportunity to go out for dinner or pick up something that you will enjoy instead.
A fabulous seafood risotto may be calorie laden, but you're more likely to be satisfied and thus less likely to snack in the evening after a proper meal as opposed to a burger and chips.
2. Learn a new cuisine: Start attending cooking classes or hit the library for some books and teach yourself how to cook different foods.
If you get out of the food rut and learn something new, you can shake up your metabolism and enjoy lower fat alternatives. You might want to try the delicate balance of Vietnamese or get yourself a tagine for moist but no-fat-added Moroccan style cooking.
3. Eat better but less: Trade in the supermarket milk chocolate for a few squares of Belgium's finest. There is something ultra-luxurious about fine dark chocolate and a tightly pulled ristretto.
4. Make it worth it: Cut out the easy calories first. If you're going to go high-calorie, make it worth your while. Substitute the stuff that doesn't matter to you (mineral water instead of soft drink, for example) and enjoy the things you love. Low fat cheese makes me cry.
5. Track your progress and celebrate success: It is hard to be motivated unless you monitor your weight loss. Keep a diary and weigh yourself weekly, at the same time of day.
6. Bonus! Check out 17 Arse-kicking strategies to stick to your diet and get fit over at Zen Habits for more sustainable weight loss tips.
You're welcome to follow my progress as I attempt to follow my own rules. Tomorrow's post will be my first weigh in. Please keep me accountable and subscribe to my feed!
Your comments, tips and suggestions are appreciated.
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]]>In the good old days, life was better. Men worked and women stayed home, kept the house, looked after the kids and wore frilly aprons over pretty dresses.
Everyone knew their place and life was simple and modern issues of career vs career and whose turn it is to race from work early to pick the kids up from day care were non-existent. Something like that anyway.
Oh no! Here comes feminism!
Along came feminism and we fought to get away from the sink and into the classroom and boardroom. We did such an awesome job at proving women can and should do anything (more like everything) you could say the choice has almost disappeared in the opposite direction.
If we accept the reality that for many modern relationships, two incomes are required and desired, life becomes a bit tricky. Particularly when you consider there is often little or no functional difference between partners in income and the level of commitment to career (and education).
- So who picks up the kids from day-care when you're both slaving in the office at 7pm in the pursuit for a corner office with a view?
- Who takes the bin out before going to the gym before work?
- Who washes the floor while muttering into a dictaphone on a Sunday afternoon?
The division of labour is all messed up - and with that comes serious risk of conflict of a relationship-killing kind.
People have been harping on about equality for quite a while now. If large corporates and the government can't get it right in the boardroom, what chance have we got in the home, where relationships are under even more pressure?
The Seesaw theory
Now this may well be unpopular, but my view of equality in the home does not involve an equal division of labour.
You can waste a lot of time thinking (often out loud, usually brought up at a completely unrelated moment) that cooking dinner is harder than putting the dishes away. It doesn't matter. It may well be. Arguing about equality achieves absolutely stuff all.
The reality is that in a successful partnership, sometimes one partner will do more. Sometimes the other partner does more. It balances out.
photo credit: bug138
Think of it like a seesaw, if you each push up and down, you're both on the seesaw and sometimes you're up and sometimes you're down. It takes a damn lot of effort to hold the seesaw at even height without one or both falling off.
Could it work?
The way it works in my relationship, and, I suggest might work in yours. Start by working out expectations:
- What does clean mean to each of you?
- What constitutes a weeknight dinner?
Sort out a friendly middle ground. Then each do what you're good at/don't hate too much and outsource whatever is left over.
If you approach it with an open mind it is not that hard to manage. I promise. Be flexible and pick up the slack when the other person has a crazy deadline or is sick or is just sick of it.
If you've got a good partner they'll do the same for you and keep you both on the seesaw.
For more tips for a great relationship, take a look at The Secret Ingredient for a Better Marriage at Zen Habits. It is written by Corey Allen of Simple Marriage.
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