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Showing posts with label Seafood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seafood. Show all posts

21 January 2014

Fast Diet Recipe O'Kelly Fish

I purchased some gorgeous Wild Alaskan Salmon fillets on the weekend and wanted to find a low calorie way of preparing it for a Fast Diet Recipe. I saw a recipe from Mimi Spencer on Get The Gloss for a baked salmon with veggies and it was love at first sight.

meg-made Fast Diet recipe: O'Kelly Fish
meg-made Fast Diet recipe: O'Kelly Fish
For a Fast Diet meal this one is such a hit! It's low calories but high in flavour and volume. Quite often I really enjoy a Fast Diet dinner, but usually finish dinner and want more, but I found this dinner to be completing filling. 

I incorporated this recipe into Week 13 on the Fast Diet. 


Ingredients (serves 2)

200g trimmed green beans
100g broccoli florets
100g asparagus spears
Juice of one lemon (and keep the husks)
1 teaspoon olive oil
15g black olives (I only had green)
2 vines of cherry tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes
Salt and pepper
2 salmon fillets (approx 100g each)

meg-made Fast Diet recipe: O'Kelly Fish
meg-made Fast Diet recipe: O'Kelly Fish
Method:

1. Blanch all of your greens for 2 minutes in boiling water, and then place in a bowl of water with ice to stop them cooking further. This pre-cooks the greens and also helps to keep them green when you put them in the oven.

2. Place all of the greens in an oven-proof dish and add the tomatoes, olive oil, lemon juice, lemon husks and olives.

3. Place the salmon on top, season with salt & pepper and chilli flakes and oven roast at 200C/390F for 20 minutes or until fish is just cooked.

meg-made Fast Diet recipe: O'Kelly Fish
meg-made Fast Diet recipe: O'Kelly Fish
I would love to learn how to prevent the salmon from seeping its fat and turning that unsightly shade of white, so if you are the salmon expert, help help help?!? I think its from cooking the salmon too quickly, but would love to know if anyone else can advise the best way!

Fast Diet or no Fast Diet, this is such a lovely way to enjoy salmon, and have put this dinner firmly in the "to make again" category!

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Fast Diet - Week 13 - #LoseDayTuesday

I can't believe its week 13 of the 5:2 Fast Diet!! To find out more about it, read my original post here

Thirteen weeks, and whilst I've had some good weight loss, I'd like to see more! My original end point was my 30th birthday, but as that goalpost comes hurtling towards me next month, it seems I need to reevaluate my goals. In general I am happy that I am back to the weight I was at 3 years ago when we first got to the UK, but I want to get back to "wedding weight" now! Its funny, I caught up with a friend last week that I hadn't seen since July and I realised that I had lost 8kg since then (18lbs). So whilst I get myself down about these last few kilos that are taking their sweet time to vacate the premises, when I reflect on the bigger picture, its's really good and I need to focus on that more!!

I've had a bit of a flip-floppy week again with some migraines and emotional eating situations that I wish didn't happen. As much as I generally don't emotionally indulge as much these days, there are some situations that only a hot caramel creama will soothe! But Fast Diet days looked pretty tasted this week too, I got a little more creative with my calories!

Lunch - Roasted Rosemary Veggies

I was craving something warm and decided to break out of my soup addiction, so went with roast veggies instead! This was such a satisfying afternoon lunch and surprisingly, kept me full for quite a while.

meg-made: Fast Diet recipes Roast Vegetables
The Fast Diet meg-made
Ingredients and Method

135g pumpkin (butternut squash) 
65g zucchini (courgette)
95g red capsicum (red pepper)
Garlic
Rosemary
Sea salt

Combine all ingredients and bake in a moderately hot oven (200C/400F) for 45 minutes until crisp on the outside and soft and comforting on the inside!

Dinner - O'Kelly Salmon

It was hard not to want to cook this one as soon as I saw a photo, it just looks so pretty! I still haven't mastered salmon and seem to cook it too quickly and get the little white bits appear (any tips??) but aesthetics aside, this was delicious and a massive dinner!

meg-made: Fast Diet recipes  O'Kelly Salmon
The Fast Diet meg-mad
Recipe from Mimi Spencer HERE.
Snacks - Gingerbread Cottage

Sounds too good to be true...yeah it kind of is! This was a bit of creative name for cottage cheese sprinkled with ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon, but hey, if it makes you more excited about a low calorie snack on a Fast Day, then creativity be mine!

meg-made: Fast Diet recipes Gingerbread Cottage
The Fast Diet meg-made
Simply combine 1/2 cup of cottage cheese sprinkled with a dash of each of the spices, to your liking!

Drinks - Just water, of different temperatures

I had a stonking big headache all day long, so just kept drinking and drinking and drinking! I feel so very lame for saying so, but I really "Shook things up a little" by altering the temperature of my water today. Boring? Yes definitely. Effective? Actually yes! At its most basic, ice cold water tastes different to room temperature water, but it is also suggested to slow your rate of digestion down too, so its not entirely crazy to reach for a few glasses of warmer water throughout the day (particularly at meal time).


Total calories for the day = 490

Exercise

I love my Reformer Pilates class. Even when I go to my class with very heavy feet and a heavy heart, I always bound out of the class filled with energy and a clear and settled mind. And then for the next three days, I have gloriously aching muscles, in places I never knew muscles existed! 

In addition to my Reformer Pilates class, I went for a few decent walks (with the pram) and continued my planks! 

My 30 to 30 Plank Challenge was gaining momentum, and then I had my form corrected, and so had to re-start the momentum with a new (and improved) form!! I'll be posting on my technique training session with one of the UK's (and the world's) most qualified coach, who just so happens to be my cousin, Joanne Elphinston. 

Weight loss?

Total loss to date = 3.4kg (7.5lbs)

Come on Meg, what's going on!?! Cue Snoop Dogg.... Drop it like it's hotttttttttt... I really want to drop another kilo before I wrap up my 20's, so for the coming week, I'll track each day and see how close I am hitting the 2,000 calorie suggestion. Surely that's where the other calories are hiding!! 

Goals for the coming week

My goals for this coming week are:
  • Continue Plank Challenge
  • Track calories each day, not just Fast Days
  • Get to the pool and do some laps again, I've missed it over the past few weeks
  • Research some more migraine-fighting foods to try 
So a few things to work on this coming week, but all in all, I am really proud of my progress. I don't think of myself as devastatingly unfit anymore, and I really enjoy that confidence. 

For a lot of new joiners to the Fast Diet, it's now most likely around week 3, I'd love to hear how it's going?? Any meal suggestions that are delicious and filling that you'd like to share? I am in a bit of an experimental cooking phase now so would love some new ideas!!!! 

And its my Mum's birthday today, so Happy Birthday Amma, we hope you feel better quickly! xx

Wishing you a wonderful week!

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06 January 2014

He's her Lobster... Gordon Ramsay's Grilled Lobster

"C'mon you guys. It's a known fact that lobsters fall in love and mate for life. You know what, you can actually see old lobster couples walkin' around their tank, ya know, holding claws like... "

meg-made: Grilled garlic/chilli/parsley butter lobster Gordon RamsayAnd if you don't know what on earth I am talking about, we can no longer be Friends (you see what I did there hehe). 

Lobster, the undisputed king of the ocean. 

And something I had never attempted to cook before. It's always been to scary, all that shell and not having a clue when it's actually cooked. But alas, your good old fishmonger will take the stress out of it for you, who knew!! 

meg-made: Grilled garlic/chilli/parsley butter lobster Gordon Ramsay

Fresh COOKED lobster!! Genius. So all you have to do is eat it, well I can do that part quite well!!!

I was watching another Gordon Ramsay episode which inspired another delicious dinner! All you need to do is decide on the flavouring of butter you want to pack into your already cooked Lobster and away you go! 

I even had my fishmonger slice my little guy in half for me (we still had our rubbish knives then, so I didn't stand a chance of cutting an orange let alone a lobster!).

meg-made: Grilled garlic/chilli/parsley butter lobster Gordon Ramsay

I went with garlic, chilli and parsley, which I just finely cut and mixed in with the butter.

All you need to do then is pack it into the Lobster, wherever there is meat.

meg-made: Grilled garlic/chilli/parsley butter lobster Gordon Ramsay

meg-made: Grilled garlic/chilli/parsley butter lobster Gordon Ramsay

And since the Lobster is already cooked, the next stage is really just to melt the butter and grill it all a little. I don't have one big pan, so separated the claws/legs from the body and cooked it for a few minutes in two separate pans. It only needs about 2-3minutes. 

meg-made: Grilled garlic/chilli/parsley butter lobster Gordon Ramsay

meg-made: Grilled garlic/chilli/parsley butter lobster Gordon Ramsay

We had an entree of steamed mussels (yum) and then had the grilled buttery lobster served with oven baked fries. It didn't need anything else because the lobster was happy to take centre stage, the chips were jus the back up dancers, not really adding anything to the musical spectacular but they make the production look prettier!

meg-made: Grilled garlic/chilli/parsley butter lobster Gordon Ramsay

meg-made: Grilled garlic/chilli/parsley butter lobster Gordon Ramsay

So easy, so delicious and so having that again! They aren't cheap of course (there has to be some reason we don't all eat lobster everyday) but as a special meal to celebrate a special friends' pregnancy, this more than did the job, and does well being accompanied by some darn good bubbles too! 

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03 December 2013

Fast Diet - Week 7 - #LoseDayTuesday

Starting week seven of the 5:2 Fast Diet!! To find out more about it, read my original post here.

Boy oh boy am I making the Fasting Days work hard at the moment!! Its as though I'm challenging this diet, to see just how much I can indulge on non-fast days and see if I can still lose weight. The answer - NOPE! I am not entirely surprised to see no weight loss this week, it hasn't been the best week. I have tried and tried to resort to my list of non-food cuddles and on fasting days I have been successful, but on feast days, I've feasted. And I regret it. Last week I was feeling confident and proud of myself. This week I feel doughy and self-conscious.

As I see it, there are two possible scenarios for the reason the scales didn't move this week. Scenario one is that I have gained some muscle this week, which is possible given that my Reformer Pilates class was heaps easier this week and I wasn't hurting for 4 days after!! Scenario two is that I drank my body weight in eggnog and started to resemble the rum balls that I inhaled all day Sunday. Me thinks it is scenario two! Shame.

So, where to go from here. Onwards. And downwards (on the scales only, will be trying for a more positive and happy week this week....no more food cuddles!). I think I need to remember that I am actually trying to lose weight, so a litre of eggnog is perhaps not the way to do that!! I think this week's result are the kick in the butt I need to reset and work harder this week. 

Lunch - Chorizo & Butterbean Soup

Yes, same soup as last week. I can't help it, I love it! I've had another fast-day of soup for lunch and soup for dinner, but figure those aren't the posts I should write about. But, I wanted to put this one back in the mix to encourage everyone, EVERYONE to try it, it really is so delicious. 

meg-made Fast Diet - chorizo and butter bean soup

This fab recipe from Lavender & Lovage

Snack - Cinnamon cottage cheese

I am losing a little bit of creativity I think! I am just going for the same old same old at the moment. I want to spend some time reading through recipes and come up with a few new snack ideas for next week!!

I had some cottage cheese, sprinkled with some cinnamon on top! 

meg-made Fast Diet - cinnamon cottage cheese

Dinner - Baked Cod with Balsamic Peppers & Sweet Potato Mash

A few weeks back we went to our friends downstairs for dinner and every time we eat with them I am inspired to try new foods. They are gluten intolerant, eat really well, and are darn good cooks. We had the most incredible dinner of baked cod, saffron & currant rice, with another side that I can't even remember but it was soooo good. Anyway, my point is that I've wanted to try baking and grilling my fish the same way to see if I could recreate it, and so that's what I did for my Fast Day dinner.

meg-made Fast Diet - baked cod with balsamic peppers and sweet potato mash

To cook the peppers, I used one squirt of oil spray (1 calorie) and let the finely cut peppers soften up for about ten minutes in the pan. I then added 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar and 1/4 teaspoon of brown sugar. I possibly didn't need the sugar, because they ended up tasting quite sweet, but they were delicious!

The mash sweet potato really is just that. I boiled the sweet potatoes and when I was mashing them, through in a tablespoon of cottage cheese and one teaspoon of paprika. I wouldn't necessarily do the cottage cheese next time, it didn't add anything to the taste and therefore was a bit of a waste of calories.

And for the fish, all you need to do is bake the fillets for about 8 minutes (depending on their size of course) and then finish them off under the grill for two minutes to crisp up the top. The fish just flaked away but had a great crunch on top.

meg-made Fast Diet - baked cod with balsamic peppers and sweet potato mash

Drinks

Gosh I was so incredibly dull this week!!! Same same, water and Creme Caramel herbal tea. (2 calories). 

Total calories for the day = 488

Exercise

Reformer Pilates and unfortunately that's about it. I had a few physical ailments this week, which made walking quite difficult, so unfortunately I didn't do as much planned or incidental exercise as I should have. 

This week my goal is to work out smarter, and so rather than trying to push through the pain, come up with ways of exercising that don't use my feet/hips/back in such painful ways. I hope to get to the pool to do some laps this weekend and I have a new Spotify soundtrack so no excuses for not doing a resistance workout in my living room!! 

Weight loss?

Total loss to date = 2.7kgs (5.95lbs)

Boo.

I hope you have a wonderful week. Here's to a more balanced and happy week!!

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26 November 2013

Fast Diet - Week 6 - #LoseDayTuesday

Week six of the 5:2 Fast Diet!! To find out more about it, read my original post here.

I'm really enjoying the Fast Diet community. Its been fun finding other Fast Dieters on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook etc and seeing other people's results, motivation and meal ideas has been really inspirational for me this week.

I am definitely still enjoying my non-fast days far too much, I really have to remember that I am actually trying to be healthier and lose weight, and shouldn't be putting 100% of the pressure on the two fasting days!! I have had a bit of shift in mindset though this week. Rather than waking up on a Fasting day with the first thought being "bugger, no breakfast", I now have managed to think about it as such an opportunity day. I always feel better about myself after I've done a workout (not the endorphin rush kind of better, just feel more empowered and proud of myself), and so this feeling I now get in the mornings is similar to that, and I try to carry that feeling and remember it when the hunger pangs hit around noon.

In reaching out and connecting more with the Fast Diet community, I have stumbled upon a few awesome recipes that I am keen to explore more over the coming weeks and tried out another awesome recipe from the Fast Diet Recipe Book

Again I am finding that in putting off eating my first meal as late as possible, I am not nearly as hungry for as long in the day now. Its as though my system forgets about food overnight, and it isn't until I remind it what its missing that it starts growling for more!

Lunch - Chorizo & Butterbean Soup

I made this soup once. And then twice more that week! On one of my Fast days I actually had it for lunch and dinner, it's THAT good! I added some extra chorizo in mine when I had the spare calories because, well you can never have too much chorizo. 


I love how simple and easy (and affordable) this soup is. I am not going to reinvent the wheel, so here is the fabulous recipe from Lavender & Lovage

Snack - Green olives

Yes, the same snacks as I've had before, but I got some flavoured ones this week, so have added a few extra calories to the total for the pesto and pimento olives! Instead of 60 calories, I have had to guestimate about 100 calories. 

Dinner - Masala Prawns (with chickpeas and spinach)

I really do love reading a recipe, wanting to cook it, and finding out you had mostly everything you need already! Very neat. I followed the recipe from the Fast Diet Recipe Book for Masala Prawns, and given that I had had a very low calorie day thus far, added in the chickpeas and spinach. My husband even had the same meal as me, no rice, no bread, nothing bulky at all, and he commented that he was full without all of that starch!


The recipe from the book is as follows:

Ingredients (serves 2)

2tsps cumin seeds (I used ground cumin)
1/2 cinnamon stick (I used 1/2 t ground)
3 cloves (I used 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves)
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
Salt and pepper
2 tsps chilli powder
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tbsp vegetable oil (I used sunflower oil)
2 tsps butter
150g raw prawns
coriander leaves

And my other changes were the addition of 120g of tinned chickpeas, 2 tablespoons of no-fat yoghurt and 2 handfuls of fresh spinach leaves.

Method:

1. Make the masale paste by heating a pan and adding the cumin, cinnamon and cloves, dry frying for a minute. The smell that this creates is amazing!

2. Remove from the heat and crush in a pestle and mortar (I don't have one, so I figured the ground spices made up for that).

3. Put this mix in a blender with garlic, salt and pepper chilli powder, turmeric and oil and whizz to a paste (again, I didn't do this step, but stirred it well into a paste in the pan instead).

4. Melt the butter in a heavy pan and add the paste and fry for two inures.

5. Add the prawns (and chickpeas) and stir gently until cooked through. Meanwhile cook the spinach.

6. To cook the spinach, turn a pan on and wait for it to be a little warm before tossing two handfuls of spinach leaves directly in the pan. Toss gently and the spinach will begin to wilt almost immediately. It will need to cook for no more than a minute in total.

7. To serve, I stirred through 1 teaspoon of yoghurt just before serving and dolloped one teaspoon on top before  sprinkling fresh coriander over the prawns.

The masala tasted like authentic Indian curry, without all the oil! It was filling and full of flavour.


Drinks

Lots of water as usual and some more of my new favourite Teapigs Rooibos Creme Caramel herbal tea. (2 calories). And what better vessel to brew it in that my brand new Fast Diet mug! Woohoo!!!


Total calories for the day = 477

Exercise

Reformer Pilates, lots of incidental walking and one Heath Hills walk! I had a bit more energy this week and so made sure I made the most of it! I still find designated exercise unlikely on a Fast day, but walking half an hour each way to take Maddie to her swimming lesson is still on the agenda!!

Weight loss?

Total loss to date = 2.7kgs (5.95lbs)

I was stoked to see the number on the scales this morning, I was sure there wouldn't be any change at all! I have two targets that I've set myself, and the first one is 4kg by Christmas (yay, only 1.3kgs to go), and then I want to be at my goal weight by my 30th Birthday in February (4.3kg to go). I am starting to believe it might just happen too!!!

On a very unrelated note, other than ticking off items on my Non-Food Cuddles list this week, here's a project I have been working on that has kept me busy and kept my mind away from food thoughts!!



I have put together all of my favourite items that are on my Etsy store in one easy to read e-catalogue. If you're looking for some Christmas gifts or decorations, you might just find a little sparkly piece of London that is perfect for your Christmas!

I hope you have a great week! One Fast Day down, one to go!

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12 November 2013

Fast Diet - Week 4 - #LoseDayTuesday

Week four of the 5:2 Fast Diet!! To find out more about it, read my original post here.

I can't believe I am in week four already. One definite change in the past week is my body's adjustment to fast days. No longer do I wake up desperate to eat first thing now. I can usually wait until around midday to have my first meal for the day now. I find it incredible how quickly that has changed for me, as I used to require breakfast within half an hour of being awake!!

Another change for me is how I feel about myself. This would most likely be due to getting stuck into pilates again and enjoying feeling my muscles again, the return of some old friends!!! Even though there still hasn't been much of a change on the scales yet, I just feel more confident, and that in itself is a huge change. 

Lunch - Sweet Potato Wedges

Not unlike the Sweet Potato Fries I posted about last week, but the wedges packed a little more punch!! I still had the same amount, cooked with low-cal oil spray, but added some chopped coriander along the way to change the taste somewhat!! They are a very high calorie snack though, I'm not sure I should be using up so much of my quota on a humble yam!!

meg-made: 5:2 Diet recipes - sweet potato wedges

Snack - Cinnamon Cottage Cheese

This is a slightly odd one, I admit. When I was living in a share house throughout University I lived with a Canadian girl Laura, who in her spare time, was a health nut! She would take me out for "park sessions" which sounded so enticing, but involved whipping my butt into shape through cruel and unusual measures. But she also ate some things that at the time seemed kind of loopy to me, but have stuck with me as sensible ways to snack without overloading in calories. This cottage cheese snack comes from her. It is SO simple - combine cottage cheese and cinnamon, mix and eat! 

meg-made: 5:2 Diet recipes - cinnamon cottage cheese

Dinner - Garlic & Chilli Prawn Salad

Discovering that seafood generally is low calorie was a very important discovery last week. I love seafood endlessly, so being able to eat it, even on a fasting day, makes for one very happy Meg.  I created this meal out of the basis of a Thai Beef Salad that I have made and loved for years and years.  I just searched for it on meg-made to link to it and realised somehow it has been overlooked for a post, so that will be remedied soon!!

I marinated the prawns in finely chopped chilli, garlic and coriander. Usually I would add oil to the marinate, but didn't for this recipe and the prawns were still well infused and tender. I made a simple green salad and really just grabbed whatever was in the fridge. I used mixed greens, red onion, red pepper and sliced cucumbers. All of these are low-calorie veggies too. I wanted a little sauce to toss over the whole salad, and so combined light soy, freshly squeezed lime juice and a drop of agave nectar. It just gives it a tang and ties all the flavours together.

meg-made: 5:2 Diet recipes - garlic and chilli prawn salad

This prawn salad is an explosion of flavours in an otherwise fairly bland day, a very welcomed meal to finish the day of fasting. 

meg-made: 5:2 Diet recipes - garlic and chilli prawn salad

Drinks

I noticed that I wasn't drinking enough water until it was too late in the day, so even though I didn't get a headache, I certainly noticed it the following day. I was dehydrated for sure. 

Total calories for the day = 415

Exercise

I did two classes of Reformer Pilates this past week, and one cardio session. I wanted to work out one night but it was miserable outside, so I ran up and down the stairwell for 30 minutes. I did lots of funny things out there in the privacy of darkness and with the accomplice of some funky music. I may have in done some dancercise!! 

Weight loss?

Total loss to date = 1.3kg (2.86lbs). Only a small loss this week, but still a loss so I'll take the win! I am so impatient, I just want to see the kilos drop off, but I guess I'm not doing enough on my non-fasting days for that to happen. I am toying with the idea of a 3rd fasting day, potentially doing a 1,000 calorie day in addition to the two regular 500'ers. Does anyone know if this would be a good idea?? 

Are you doing the Fast Diet?? Have you had a good experience or know any good tips to share? I would love to hear success stories or advice, there are definitely some easier days than others, so lets share how to achieve them!!!

meg xx

05 November 2013

Fast Diet - Week 3 - #LoseDayTuesday

Week three of the 5:2 Fast Diet!! To find out more about it, read my original post here.

Week three, and what a rubbish week it was!! I apologise for having virtual radio silence on meg-made last week. I try to keep my blog a positive little haven of mine, and so didn't want to compromise that with the woes of a sick mama. 

It was a difficult few days of fasting though (not complaining, just being open and honest). On the first day I got a fast and furious 24 hour cold, and on the second fasting day I had a migraine, and in between, two days of IBS. To say I felt like depriving myself of all kinds of comfort foods would be LYING, but that is why I chose to continue on with the fast that day. Migraines are just the most soul-destroying illnesses. I would gladly go through all the surgeries I have had twice over if I could trade in suffering migraines. Since stopping breastfeeding the occurrence of mine has dramatically decreased, but I still get utterly wiped out when I do get one. And throw in the mix a little one year who can't see that Mummy is sick and still wants the same amount of love and attention. And then, remove my usual go-to comfort source for the day, and its sure to be a rough old fast day!  But wait, I thought this was a positive blog.....okay, moving on, you get the point, migraines are the pits. 

Here is what I ate to get through one of my fast days last week.

Breakfast - One poached egg on grilled tomatoes

This week saw the purchase of some low-cal oil spray, and it has changed my world. Who knew! One spray equals one calorie, and so you can just spray a few misty oil sprays into a pan to help the cooking process out. I photographed all 3 of these tomatoes, but only ate two of them (and counted calories for two). 

Not sure how to poach an egg,  I did a little viewtorial on it here...


Lunch - homemade Courgette & Mint soup

Finding the correct calorie count was the most challenging component of having this soup for lunch!! Oh and sticking to the right portion size too!!

All this soup consists of is courgettes, fresh mint, water, cumin, garlic salt, cinnamon,; and a small teaspoon of no-fat yoghurt to serve. I didn't want to add stock as I knew the salts would up my calorie count too much, so just kept it really basic. The mint and cumin were the star flavours that enhanced the courgette, and I found that it was delicious without being heavy. 

When searching for calorie information prior to making my soup, I found a delicious Pea & Courgette soup from London Unattached. I followed this recipe for a guide on quantities and calories,  but obviously left out the peas! 


Snack - Sweet Potato Fries

The photo is terrible sorry!! But the fries were not. They are dead easy to make and were filling enough to see me through the afternoon before dinner. I needed some kind of comfort this particular fast day, and so when I spotted the sweet potatoes in the fridge, I practically hugged them!! 

Peel and chop one sweet potato and lay it on a baking tray. Sprinkle with paprika and bake for 20 minutes, tossing half way. The sweetness of a baked sweet potato combined with the heat of the paprika gives a lovely symbiosis of flavours, without costing too many calories. I know that a lot of people save up their daily amount of calories and just have one big meal, but for me, I need a little bit of sustenance a few times a day, I just do.


Dinner - Fluffy Crab & Courgette Omelette

Ever since we had breakfast at Customs House in Brisbane, I've been wanting to make some form of crab omelette. I was browsing through the Fast Diet Recipe Book and saw a prawn omelette that sounded incredible. I followed this recipe, however, substituted my crab meat for prawns and used less egg yolk to reduce my calorie count a little more.



Ingredients, serves 2
100g crab meat
1 courgette, grated and liquid removed
4 egg whites and 3 egg yolks
Chilli flakes
Salt & pepper
Oil spray
Parsley for serving

Method

1. Grate the courgette and squeeze all of the liquid out.

2. Combine the courgette, chilli flakes (or tabasco) and crab meat in a bowl.


3. Separate the eggs and keep the yolks to the side. Season.


4. Whisk the egg whites with an electric beater until fluffy.

5. Combine the egg white and yolk together and gently mix through with a metal spoon.


6. Spray some oil into a pan and gently cook the crab/courgette mix for a few minutes until it starts to brown a little.


7. Add the egg mixture and cook until the bottom of the omelette is brown.


8. Finish the top of the omelette under the grill (or flip if you are a whole lot more talented than me!)


9. Dish up and serve with a little sprig of parsley.


If you aren't following the Fast Diet, I would probably serve this with either a tomato relish or a chilli jam type sauce. It was great on its own, but a little extra sauce would really give it that last bit of zing!

Drinks

I had about 32904 litres of water over the day, real terms, probably 2.5L. I could only take medication to help my migraine when I had food in my belly, so relied mostly on water to get me through the lingering headache. 

Total calories for the day = 467

Exercise

I started back at Reformer Pilates this week. I was doing it quite consistently before summer travel interrupted my routine, and I loved how I felt doing it. I was actually getting stronger, a bit more toned, and enjoyed the time on my own to not think about anyone else's needs for a whole hour! So kicking it off again on Friday night was fun for me. 

In addition to this, I did two 30 minute walks, with the pram, up and down hills. 

Weight loss?

Total loss to date = 1kg (2.2lbs)

Overall I definitely found this week a tough one, but I was really proud of myself for sticking with each fast day, even though I wasn't really feeling my best. I am enjoying the challenge of what to eat all day, and maybe the dormant accountant in me is also enjoying the numbers game, don't judge me! I was happy that I was down another 1/2 kilo this week, it surprises me each week! I do love that it is just two days of modified behaviour. I am gradually figuring out which foods keep me fuller for longer and so I feel like by the end of this diet, I will probably eat the same thing each time!! 

Are you doing the Fast Diet too?? Do you have any tips or recipes to share? I would LOVE to hear them! I'd also love to know how much exercise other Fasters are doing, as I kind of think I should be doing more.... 

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