Day 26 - New Month...New Start?

I had my second interview today and it seemed to go well, despite initial nerves. I walked back over the Thames and despite the rain I enjoyed the walk. I returned home and whipped myself up a quick ratatouille with bacon, served with a small jacket potato.  It was yum and made use of all the leftover vegetables which were almost on the turn in the bottom of the fridge.

Ratatouille:

1oz white onion, chopped
1/2 courgette, finely sliced
1 small can of chopped tomatoes
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/4 red pepper, diced
1tsp mixed herbs
1 rasher of lean bacon, diced

I softened up the onions with garlic before adding in the courgette and pepper to cook through. This took around 10mins. I added the chopped tomatoes and herbs and simmered for around 5mins. In a separate pan I fried up the bacon until crispy, obviously if you were a vegetarian omit this stage!  For speed alone I used the microwave for the jacket potato.  I popped this in when I was simmering the ratatouille for 5mins. Then it was all served up.  It was warming, moreish and very low in calories!

Ratatouille with Bacon

After lunch, I found out the interview *had* gone well and I was offered the job, which I accepted. It is a good thing, despite the fact it is still in TV. I always feel out of sorts being unemployed and it's working in nice offices and fingers crossed everyone will be friendly. Plus it will give me more money to check out the growing lists of restaurants I want to visit in London. I start on Monday.

I was home alone tonight so to have a mini celebration that I got the job I went to the gym with my sis - cool or what!  Then I came home, had a lovely glass of rose and rustled up a Malaysian beef curry. I followed a recipe over at a favourite site of mine, The Resourceful Cook and I have to say it turned out perfectly. I used rump steak instead though and sliced the beef slightly thinner to shorten cooking time. I also added some green beans and red pepper towards the end of cooking just to give it a little colour.  I steamed some jasmine rice to go with it.  Will definitely make again!

Malaysian Beef Curry with Jasmine Rice

Day 10 - Going Greek

Back at the parents today to dog sit my ever lovable border terrier Rufus while they are away. He is the Brad Pitt of the dog world, although he is quite old now, so perhaps he should be elevated to George Clooney status.  Anyway I digress, being at the folks means that I had to raid their fridge for sustenance. My older sis and gorgeous little nephew came over for lunch so I thought I should whip up something healthy but filling.  Having done a recce, the parents fridge lent itself quite nicely to a Greek salad and Marinated Chicken Breast.  Before they arrived I marinated an 225g chicken breast for around an hour in the following ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp oregano
• Salt and pepper

I also threw together a little dressing with the much of the same ingredients I used for the marinade.  I shook it all together and popped it in the fridge until they arrived.

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 2 crushed garlic cloves (crushed just with the back of a knife)
• 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
• salt and pepper

While my nephew napped, T and I caught up and I managed to smoke out the kitchen while shallow frying the chicken. I then rested the chicken for around 5mins while I prepared the salad:

• 2 tomatoes
• 4 oz cucumber
• 10 black olives
• 1 small gem lettuce sliced into strips 
• 1/2 red pepper
• 1 red onion
• 2oz light feta cheese

I assembled the whole dish together and the following was the result.  The chicken was actually delicious and although I would have liked to have marinaded it for longer it was lovely as it was.  A splash of the dressing with the red wine vinegar also gave it a little bit of a bite.  All for around 360 calories.

Chicken & Greek Salad

Dish & Dressing

I spent the rest of the afternoon working off lunch playing with my nephew.  Despite the fact I am a probably a little biased, he really is the most intelligent, funny and handsome little boy.  Just got to get him to say my name before all his other aunts and uncle!

Day 1 - That Friday Feeling

Well it's my very first post and because it's a Friday, I think the day deserves fish and chips.  However, although I love shop bought fish and chips, the aftermath of guilt is never appealing. Therefore I decided to make my own healthy version of this classic, using inspiration from one of my favourite sites, Delicious Magazine.  The quantities coming up created a good size meal for 2.

• I used the more environmentally-friendly option of pollack, each fillet around 175g, and covered them with a mixture of baby capers, lemon zest, parsley, olive oil and brown breadcrumbs and popped it into the oven for around 15 mins. 
• For the chips, I used two medium-sized baking potatoes cut into nice, straight, thick-cut batons, boiled for around 5mins until just tender, then rolled in olive oil, seasoning and then into the oven for around 40 mins.  Turning when necessary.  
• Finally, a healthy version of mushy peas. I flash-fried 1 spring onion with 1 tsp of olive oil, then adding 300g of defrosted frozen peas, 1tbsp of reduced fat creme fraiche and a few mint leaves.  After the mixture was heated through I whizzed it all together with a blender and plated up.  The result is as shown!

My partner Gerry, and one of my best critics, said it was one of the best fish and chips she'd had for a long time. Brilliant and good start to the project I feel!