Erm's Photo Diary

[craftylucyloo]

Mmmmmm that one pot looks gooooood hun. xx

 

[NikkiP]

Erm you look like a fabulous cook. Please can I come round for tea??! Xx

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins

 

[Honeyoc]

Me too! I wanna come for tea too

Here's the recipe for tostones Peel and cut into thick rings, roast at 200C for 20 minutes, take out and press down with the bottom of a heavy pot and put back in the oven to roast again for 15 minutes. They're almost like crisps and taste absolutely GORGEOUS with a steaming bowl of chilli con carne to scoop! http://latinfood.about.com/od/preptechniqueshowtos/ss/howtotostones.htm

 

[HelsAngel]

I'd like to come to tea too. I bring wine! Erm's or Honey's. You guys eat and make things I've never even heard of.

P.s. What is harissa paste and what does it taste of?

 

[ermintrude]

Me too! I wanna come for tea too

Here's the recipe for tostones Peel and cut into thick rings, roast at 200C for 20 minutes, take out and press down with the bottom of a heavy pot and put back in the oven to roast again for 15 minutes. They're almost like crisps and taste absolutely GORGEOUS with a steaming bowl of chilli con carne to scoop! How to Make Tostones Photographic How-to Guide How to Make Twice Fried Green Plantains

Yay, thanks might make that tonight How long does plantain stay OK for? I got an already-pretty-ripe one but didn't have time to make it before I went away and its decidedly squishy now. Should I get another one or will it be OK?

 

[ermintrude]

I'd like to come to tea too. I bring wine! Erm's or Honey's. You guys eat and make things I've never even heard of.

P.s. What is harissa paste and what does it taste of?

It' a spicy paste, a bit like a cross between a chilli sauce and curry paste. I think it originates from North Africa. But it goes with all sorts, you can spread it over your chicken before you bake/grill it, or use it to spice up soups and stews, or spread it on crispbreads/toast, in your sandwich or salad or whatever you fancy, its really versatile. Just adds a bit of zing.

Sainsbury's own brand is on offer at the mo, so I bought 8 jars (they're only small, about 3-4 tbsp each, you'd prob put 1 tbsp on a chicken breast or two in a stew) But it was a bit mad as I was thinking of just making a big jar of my own

 

[Honeyoc]

Yay, thanks might make that tonight How long does plantain stay OK for? I got an already-pretty-ripe one but didn't have time to make it before I went away and its decidedly squishy now. Should I get another one or will it be OK?

Hi Erm, welcome back! Tostones are best made with green unripe plantains so if yours are squishy I wouldn't make them as it'll turn into a squishy mess! You can just roast them instead. Slice into 4 pieces (half lengthways and then across) and roast at 200 for 30 - 40 minutes (or 5 mins in your supersonic oven! LOL!)

Did you have a nice time at the wedding?

 

[BritMumInCanada]

Yummy foods going on Ermintrude and well done on your weight loss so far - brilliant!!

 

[tabu]

love ur photo diary....

however i'm a bit confused now...I am doing sw from home. I thought you cant carry your daily hxb & hxa forward to the next day..So if i ever cook food that includes my daily hx's in it...I dont have the left over’s the next day cus I thought u can’t carry the hx's forward?

Seemed very wasteful....have i got it totally wrong?

 

[ermintrude]

Hi Erm, welcome back! Tostones are best made with green unripe plantains so if yours are squishy I wouldn't make them as it'll turn into a squishy mess! You can just roast them instead. Slice into 4 pieces (half lengthways and then across) and roast at 200 for 30 - 40 minutes (or 5 mins in your supersonic oven! LOL!)

Did you have a nice time at the wedding?

Oooh right, roasted then, maybe Ill have them for dessert tonight instead! Morroccan soup for tea so yeah, plantain for dessert could be good

Yay wedding was lovely! Ive not seen him in four years and never met his now-wife and she's so so nice and funny Awww they are soooo in love it's lovely, h is such a kind sweet guy, it is so happy to see them so happy

I was not too bad on the food on the wedding day itself, I skipped the starter as it was fish which I dont eat anyway, then the main was meat & veg with a mini-Yorkshire and a smidgen of gravy (about a tbsp) so I ate all that as it was pretty good syn-wise, then I also ate dessert which was a weeny cheesecake. I didn't eat the wedding cake and I didn't have anything at the buffet as we got a bit winkled and went to beddy-byes

But then the next day I had the Full English - 3 sausages, 2 slices bacon, plus beans and mushrooms. Presumably fried, although they didn't taste oily so hopefully weren't *dripping* in syns... but still prett-y baaaaad didn't touch any of the cakes/pastries etc though so it could have been worse... I was too hungover to face fruit for brekky Might have put a bit on, we'll see. I was about 2lb up when I got back but hopefully some of it will go by Weds. It's next week I'm worried about as we're on holiday-yay-yay! So Im superfreeing this week!

 

[ermintrude]

love ur photo diary....

however i'm a bit confused now...I am doing sw from home. I thought you cant carry your daily hxb & hxa forward to the next day..So if i ever cook food that includes my daily hx's in it...I dont have the left over’s the next day cus I thought u can’t carry the hx's forward?

Seemed very wasteful....have i got it totally wrong?

I dont carry HEXes over but I dont really cook things precisely arranged around my HEXes/syns either, I just cook healthily eg by omitting or substituting sugar/flour/oil etc, and calculate the syns for the whole amount I've cooked and then calculate what portion of that I ate.

So if I made a chicken curry it might have, say:
1 tsp oil (2 syns)
2 tbsp tomato puree (1 syn)
2 tbsp pickle (4 syns) and
500g chicken (27 syns)
Total: 34 syns

So if it serves 3 portions that's 11.5 syns per portion, 9 syns of which is chicken, so can be counted as 1HEXB plus 3 syns.

If I didn't eat all of my portion I just roughly guess how much was left - eg 1/4 of a portion leftover - so with the curry that would be a quarter of 11.5 = 2.875, so call it 3 syns. It's not worth using as a HEX on the next day as it's a miniscule amount. If there are 9 syns worth of chicken in a portion and only a quarter of the portion is leftovers next day that's only 2.25 syns - not worth HEXing, I just use my whole HEX for something else and syn the whole leftovers including chicken etc.

Occasionally if I have a HEX left over I'd just count whatever syns are applicable to the oil & chicken and call them my HEX.

Having said that I do mostly green days and my meat is usually a portion on its own which I'll eat all of, it's not usually in a stew or whatever, so I dont need to calculate like that, most of my leftovers are either free or only contain stuff that will just be syns anyway, such as oil, pickle, puree etc.

I dont really do SW as a list of HEXes and syns that I must cook my food around. I just cook healthily - if you cook healthily your HEXes and syns should be able to fit around your recipes, not vice versa.

 

[Honeyoc]

Sounds like you had a great time at the wedding and at breakfast the morning after! And it looks like you have a plan to tackle the weekend's indulgences which, as you say, could have been MUCH worse! Well done staying in control, looking forward to some yummy food pics. I'm making a chickpea stew tonight with loads of harissa yum! You might like it!

 

[ermintrude]

OMG, I just made a chickpea stew for tea with harrissa in! This is too scary! What recipe was yours?

Oh well might as well post my diary for today now :

Monday 22nd - Green
Breakfast: Coffee and toast (1 HEXA, 1 HEXB, 2 syns)
Lunch: Spicy Persimmon and Feta Salad with mixed veg 1 HEXA for Feta
Tea: Morroccan chickpea stew 1 syn for 1/2 tsp sugar and 1tbsp harrissa
Snacks: Apples, satsumas, greengages, pear, cabbage, snap peas, Shape Apple Crumble (0.5 syns)

Gone superfree crazy today to make up for the w/e and prepare for the holiday next week! Might go and have a Muller cheesecake in a mo as I've only had 3.5 syns!

This doesn't look very appetising but was actually quite yum:

And here's *my* chickpea and harrissa stew:

 

[Honeyoc]

OMG that is freaky! I remember me and Britmum were cooking perfectly synchronised dinners at one point lol!

The process started yesterday when I soaked my chickpeas overnight. So at lunchtime I boiled it with a bay leaf for 1.5 hours, drained and put in the fridge until tonight.

First thing I did was chop half a large butternut squash into cubes and roasted at 200C for an hour. Meanwhile I browned some onions, garlic and chillies in olive oil (HEB) and added a heaped tablespoon of harissa and 3 chopped plum tomatoes. Seasoned with salt, pepper and a chicken stock cube then added the chickpeas to the sauce and a cup of water. I let it simmer for an hour. After the hour the butternut squash was cooked so I added it to the chickpeas, defrosted and drained some frozen spinach and stirred that in and simmered for another 5 minutes. Served it with couscous and roasted veggies.

 

[ermintrude]

Oh yours sounds much yummier than mine! I basically nicked this recipe and added a few bits and bobs to give it a kick as it seemed a bit bland on its own I forgot to turn the oven on though so *still* no plantain

 

[Honeyoc]

LOL!! Maybe tomorrow then. The poor plantains would be begging to be eaten by then!

 

[Honeyoc]

P.S. Forgot to say I also added a pinch of saffron to the chickpeas but it's not absolutely necessary.

 

[ermintrude]

LOL!! Maybe tomorrow then. The poor plantains would be begging to be eaten by then!

Tbh I think they're probably past it They have snuffed it. They are ex-plantain.

Good job my oven normally cremates things anyway

 

[Honeyoc]

LOL!!! Poor snuffed ex-plantains... Shall we have a moment of silence?
They had good, albeit uneventful, lives. *head down*

 

[ermintrude]

*giggle* y'know, I think I'm gonna stuff em in anyway, as the oven is already on! I will see what becomes of frail, elderly retired plantain...