Erm's Photo Diary

[chun-ky]

Could you sprinkle with sweetener instead of salt to make them more like a biscuit? Do they taste like banans? Also can you get plantain in the supermarket? Sorry for the 100 questions

 

[ermintrude]

Could you sprinkle with sweetener instead of salt to make them more like a biscuit? Do they taste like banans? Also can you get plantain in the supermarket? Sorry for the 100 questions

It didn't taste like banana at all. I didnt put any salt on them, I just ate them straight out of the oven and they were that really kind of oaty 'sweet' that could be used either sweet *or* savoury. Oaty is the best word I can think to describe it really. Oaty without the sugar added yet so Im sure with sweetener would be yummy, that's why I was thinking yoghurt and honey! mmmm! Or with goat's cheese... and walnuts, or chutney... Im probably totally totally destroying the tostones idea here

They definitely do plantain in the Tesco near us but I've never seen it in Sainsburys or Waitrose. If youre in a pretty white middle class are or your Tesco isnt big you probably wont see it in there. Are there no small grocers/corner shops near you that sell that kinda thing? I dont remember the last time I saw a grocer without plantain outside!

 

[chun-ky]

Ooohhh lovely Cannot wait to try them Honey and yog to dip them in sounds wonderful! The tesco we have is huge, but its def a white community unfortunatly so no exciting products Will have to search and check tesco online and have a look in the grocers down the road. I am on a mission x

 

[ermintrude]

Tuesday 20th - Green

Breakfast: Coffee & Toast 1 HEXA, 1 HEXB, 2 syns
Lunch: Leftover Quorn curry, mooli salad & rice from last night, about 1.5 syns
Tea: Spicy roasted eddoes with Gujarati coleslaw 4 syns for dessicated coconut, 1 HEXB for extra virgin olive oil
Snacks: Pear, plums, nectarine, mixed baby veggies.

I had a go at a new way of healthy roasting that I found on this lady's site. Apparently eddoes are a variety of taro root or Colocasia, but as Ive never heard of any of them Im sticking with eddoes for now

Steamed the eddoes for 10-15min and left to cool:

Then slid the skins off:

and poured the spices and 2tsp extra virgin olive oil in some cling film and rolled the potatoes around in it to give them a good covering:

And roasted them for 20-30 min:

They came out looking great!:

Then just put a few other spices and stuff in a tsp extra virgin olive oil and chukced the eddoes in, came out lovely!

Served it with some salad and Gujarati coleslaw:

Yum yum yumeeee!!!! This is a great method for roasting, Ill do this again!!!

The original recipe can be seen here like I said. Hers look better than mine, I need practise!

 

[Honeyoc]

OMG Ermie those look amazing! We call them Cocoyam in Nigeria, very silky and nutty tasting. Deelish! I think I'm going to take a long walk to my ethnic green grocers to get some, and plantains! Will do some experimenting on the tostones and see if there's a way around the dryness. It may very well be that the plantains were too green. If you cut through it and it sounds crunchy then it's not ripe enough.

I'm off to check out that link!

 

[Mrs E-H]

We have a couple of brilliant ethnic supermarkets locally I would love someone who knows about all of the veg to come with me and tell me what everything is.
Erm how did you make your plantain thingys? is it just plantain cooked?

xxx

 

[JackieN]

Erm as always your food looks delicious. So with the plantain did you just chop it put it on a baking tray and cook? I am definately going to try one of those xxx

 

[Mrs E-H]

Erm as always your food looks delicious. So with the plantain did you just chop it put it on a baking tray and cook? I am definately going to try one of those xxx

Hi Jackie the recipe is on Erms diary I think on page 14 I just found it.

xxx


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/prepte...totostones.htm

 

[ermintrude]

It's a recipe Honey posted ages ago, here's the link to her post: Honey's Plantain recipe

 

[ermintrude]

AND!!! I forgot to say when I posted my diary - it was my WI day yesterday and...

I've lost 5 stone 2 lb!!!!

I lost 4lb this week (which is not as great as it sounds as I put 2 on last week ) but I got my 5 stone, woo hoo!!! :bliss: I've now lost 72lb! Im also gonna have to change my lil tracker thing cos Ive nearly reached the end of it yay!

So, my next targets are:

5 1/2 stone - 22 st 2lb
Club 20 (yeah I made that up but it's a Goal) - 22 st 1lb
Lose 6 stone by Xmas - 21 st 9lb
Lose 100lb - 20st 7lb
Get below 20st - 19st 13 1/2lb
Get to where I was last time - 19st 6lb

And then..... who knows

 

[ermintrude]

OMG Ermie those look amazing! We call them Cocoyam in Nigeria, very silky and nutty tasting. Deelish! I think I'm going to take a long walk to my ethnic green grocers to get some, and plantains! Will do some experimenting on the tostones and see if there's a way around the dryness. It may very well be that the plantains were too green. If you cut through it and it sounds crunchy then it's not ripe enough.

I'm off to check out that link!

I reckon if I do the first roast in tin foil they wont dry out? Then after they're squashed I can take the foil off and crisp them up. They were so yumsome, thanks for introducing me to plantain!

 

[Mrs.S.]

AND!!! I forgot to say when I posted my diary - it was my WI day yesterday and...

I've lost 5 stone lb!!!!

I lost 4lb this week (which is not as great as it sounds as I put 2 on last week ) but I got my 5 stone, woo hoo!!! :bliss: I've now lost 72lb! Im also gonna have to change my lil racker thing cos Ive nearly reached the end of it yay!

So, my next targets are:

5 1/2 stone - 22 st 2lb
Club 20 (yeah I made that up but it's a Goal) - 22 st 1lb
Lose 6 stone by Xmas - 21 st 9lb
Lose 100lb - 20st 7lb
Get below 20st - 19st 13 1/2lb
Get to where I was last time - 19st 6lb

And then..... who knows

Well done erm!!

I'm sure you'll hit all your targets before you know it xxx

 

[ermintrude]

Soooo how I've finished catch-up (how did I forget to mention my 5 stoner ?! ) here's yesterday's diary:

Wednesday 21st - Extra Easy

(Well it wasnt really *intended* to be EE and theres deffo not 1/3 SF in my tea - but the rest of the day I was *bursting at the seams* with fruit & veggies so sod it )

Breakfast: No proper brekky as I had to have a scan so was nil by mouth until I got home about 12, so just had a bowl of Muller coconut with some blackberries in while I was waiting for lunchtime
Lunch: Leftover Gujurati coleslaw with salad, mixed veggies, Quorn slices. About 3.5 syns for coconut & oil.
Tea: Did the Middle Eastern chicken & apricot stew again, with bulgur wheat <1 HEXB for apricots - this is gonna be one of my favourites I think it's luuuuuuurrrvely
Snacks: Coffees (1 HEXA for milk) pear, plums, nectarine, Muller light.

Been using the Alpro Unsweetened Soya Light as you get 500ml for a HEXA. It's not bad, but I WAY prefer the Kara and Im not getting through 500ml in a day anyhow so I think Ill stick to Kara.

And here's me dinner:

 

[craftylucyloo]

Hi Erms - some more good ideas to try. I might try a plantain. My Nigerian friends used to fry it for me when I lived in London. Never used myself though. I have just made your Devine Lentil Salad and it was srumptious!! The only thing is is that I ate the whole lot!!! Hope I don't explode. xx

 

[chillihot]

Hi like everyone else I have found your pics and posts fantastic and very insperational. I mainly do green days with some EE days when I eat fish (my OH and I are pescetarians).
Could i ask for your Gujurati coleslaw recipe please? I looked through your diary but couldnt find it and it looks delicious! I already plan to have your lentil shep. pie next week, good warming food, for the nasty cold weather.
Also I didn't realise that Soya lite milk by apro gave me 500mls as a healthy extra, I have only been measuring 350mls, so thanks for that!!
I will be following your diary here on in :0)

 

[JackieN]

It's a recipe Honey posted ages ago, here's the link to her post: Honey's Plantain recipe

thanks sweetie. I shall have a look as they looked yummy and I am so enjoying trying new foods thanks to you


whoooooo whooooooo on the weight loss, well done you! thats fantastic..l 5 stone :bliss: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

[ermintrude]

Hi like everyone else I have found your pics and posts fantastic and very insperational. I mainly do green days with some EE days when I eat fish (my OH and I are pescetarians).
Could i ask for your Gujurati coleslaw recipe please? I looked through your diary but couldnt find it and it looks delicious! I already plan to have your lentil shep. pie next week, good warming food, for the nasty cold weather.
Also I didn't realise that Soya lite milk by apro gave me 500mls as a healthy extra, I have only been measuring 350mls, so thanks for that!!
I will be following your diary here on in :0)

I did this recipe, didn't edit it except omitting oil. It made a really big bowl so served 2 of us for tea and then another portion for me for lunch next day but you could eke it out further depending what you serve it with.

Coconut works out about 9 syns for the whole dish so 3 syns per portion. (Or you could use fresh coconut which counts as a HEX on Green for 28g I think)

Gujurati coleslaw
500g new potatoes, unpeeled and halved
1/4 tsp asafoetida
1tsp black mustard seeds
1tsp cumin seeds
2 dried red chillies
1 fresh chilli, deseeded and thinly sliced
1 pointed (sweetheart) cabbage, finely shredded (I used about 500g)
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 tbsp desiccated coconut, toasted 9 syns
Bunch of coriander, roughly chopped

- Cook potatoes for 10 min until tender, drain, return to pan and crush lightly with a fork - just enough to break them up, not mash
- Heat pan with Fry Light and fry spices and dried chillies for a min or two until mustard seeds pop
- Add fresh chilli, cabbage and some salt and stir-fry for 3-4 min
- Add cooked potatoes to pan for 2-3 min until cabbage is tender but still has some crunch
- Stir in lemon juice, coconut and coriander and serve

Source: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1128649/gujarati-cabbage-with-coconut-and-potato

 

[ermintrude]

Thursday 22nd - Extra Easy

Breakfast: Coffee & Toast 1 HEXA, 1 HEXB, 2 syns
Lunch: Leftover Morroccan stew with mixed veggies on the side. 2 syns for apricots.
Tea: Riiiiiight, defrosted the freezer t'other day and found all sorts of shizzle in there that should have been gone long ago so made a steak & kidney "pie" with it to make some space, so tea was pretty calorie-laden, (although surprisingly I dont seem to have gone over my syns). Good job I aint doing a VLCD as MFP almost had a fit looking at it I was gonna just serve all of it between two of us in one night but after seeing the c*l*r*es I decided to pad it out with a LOTLOTLOT of veg!

Worked out about 1 syn for Guinness, 2 syns for some proper beef stock that's been hanging around for years and 1 syn for a bit of flour. Not sure the meat was very lean so probably a few syns to add to that, but hey, it's outta my freezer now...
Snacks: Nectarine, plums, pears, peaches

Figured I'd do a fake "pie" and top it with potato as it was mainly to get rid of stuff in the freezer so I wasn't doing a p*$try-pie - then I thought I could try it with celeriac to make it healthier. Bit of a #Fail to be honest Followed a recipe vaguely but it was pretty watery and also didn't fit in my casserole dish and the celeriac was a bit rubbish on the top. I put a bit of Total 2% in it, but nah. :sigh: Would have been better serving it like a stew with celeriac on the side tbh.

The meat was yumsome though, sooooo tender and I stuffed bacon, mushrooms, kidneys, thyme, Guinness in the pie mix. but it SOOOOOO needed p*$try!!!!

This is NOT a steak & kidney pie:

Kept thinking of 'one song to the tune of another' doing this:

Shiny happy kidneys :

:8855:

 

[Honeyoc]

Well done on your fab loss Ermie!!!!! Amazing how much you've lost, wow!

It's worth trying roasting the plantain in tin foil first, maybe even roasting it whole on a low temp and then slice and squash. Hmmm... Will have to experiment. We've got friends for the weekend so I'll go down to get some more plantain on Monday

 

[shrinki]

Well done on losing five stone x