Festive Feasts

Firstly, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and are looking forward to a very happy new year!

Secondly, I have literally not stopped eating since about mid-December when it all started (so you might find my January recipes are verging on the healthy side to shed those festive pounds)! And I don't know about you, but this is the first time I've actually stopped since all the fun and celebrations... it just seems to keep going and as I'm back in Derbyshire I've been visiting all the family and cooking LOADS of food for everyone... Sunday Dinner for my Grandparents, meatloaf for my boyfriend's Nan, a huge Indian and Chinese feast for friends at New Year... and more! So I've got a ton of tasty Christmas food to share with you, but you'll probably have to come back to it next year now to cook it!

Pre-Christmas Dinner Party

Anyway, let's get going with the food! In the run up to Christmas I put on a little spread for some friends in my London flat.... not a Christmas Dinner but a buffet of all of our favourite Christmas flavours to get us in the mood!

As a kind of starter, I made some delicious Brie, Cranberry & Walnut Filo Parcels, loosely following this recipe. These were easy to prepare in advance and only took a short while in the oven to make some rich festive nibbles that mixed a gooey center with a crispy shell... yum!

Another pre-prepared finger nibble we had was Smoked Mackerel Pâté on Mini Toasts. The pâté was a recipe of my own, inspired by a friend at work who had it for lunch a few weeks ago on rye bread, topped with watercress. My recipe is simple - separate your smoked mackerel with a fork and put in a bowl. Add a dollop of cream cheese and mix together with a squeeze of lemon juice and a good twist of black pepper. You want a creamy consistency so use enough cheese to ensure all of the fish is mixed in (perhaps 1 heaped tablespoon of cream cheese to 1 fillet of smoked mackerel).

I also spent a bit of prep time with a friend in front of the TV, wrapping streaky bacon around some mini sausages ready to cook when people arrived. You just can't beat Pigs in Blankets at Christmas!

Next, I baked a couple of turkey breasts (rather than bothering with the whole bird!) with a few garlic cloves, onion, plenty of seasoning and some fresh rosemary for about half an hour (at about 180 degrees). Make sure to cover loosely with foil to keep the turkey moist and delicious! To go with it, I made some of my mum's sage & onion stuffing with added bacon and chestnuts to give it a Christmassy twist! I have absolutely no idea what quantities I used for this, but here is a lovely Jamie recipe that I (very loosely) followed!

I served with some bread cobs and homemade Cranberry & Raisin Chutney (recipe from a book at work that you can find here) for guests to help themselves... super easy Turkey, Stuffing & Cranberry Sarnies!

As we had boyfriends along for the feast, there was a need for a lot of meat!! So we also made an amazing Coke Gammon Joint following a recipe that has now been taken down from the internet - but if you search for gammon cooked in coke you will have a huge choice of recipes to choose from... and I promise you, this was truly delicious!

And to finish off the feast - a couple of veggies! I made Sweet Potato Wedges with a Sour Cream & Chive Dip and some Honey Roasted Parsnips (that I forgot about because we were drinking too much wine so they were VERY crunchy by the time I took them out of the oven!!).

For the wedges, chop your sweet potatoes into long thin shapes and arrange on a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and a generous sprinkling of paprika and season before shaking the tray to coat evenly. Pop in the oven for about 20-30minutes at about 180 degrees or until they start to crisp around the edges (you should still have a soft center). To make the dip just chop some fresh chives and mix into sour cream... then dip away!



For the parsnips, chop into strips and bake them for about 20mins in a bit of olive oil and some seasoning. Then add a dollop of clear honey and mix to coat all of the parsnips before putting back in the oven for another 10minutes (not another 20 like we did!) and they should just be turning deliciously crunchy and sweet!





Finally, to finish off I made Mary Berry's Yule Log after watching her Christmas TV programme with Paul Hollywood. The recipe should be available here, but the key is to roll your cake while it is still warm with some baking paper. Then leave to cool completely before unrolling, adding your cream and rolling back up again. This will ensure a smooth roll without cracks! I added some dessicated coconut for a snow effect and to add another flavour to the chocolatey pud!

 

Mum's Christmas Dinner

Here are just a couple of photos from Christmas Day to remind you of all of the delicious food we all consumed!

 

Decorating the Christmas Cake

I'm not going to dwell on this because a) I didn't make the cake (it was Mum's that she didn't decorate before going away) and b) it looks so pretty I just wanted to show you!!

Anyway, that's it from me for this Christmas!! I hope you all had a good one and enjoyed the pictures! If you fancy trying out some of these dishes then go for it - I apologize that the recipes don't have accurate measurements, but they're all fairly easy to make, so enjoy!

Happy New Year!!

Why I can't diet and the book that made me try

James Duigan Clean & Lean Flat Tummy Fast

The Book 

 

I recently bought this book because I'd heard about it at work - James Duigan has been Elle Marpherson's personal trainer and I definitely wouldn't mind looking like her! Published by Kyle Books and priced at only £12.99, this book is all about eating right and exercising right for a flat tummy. There are some healthy everyday recipes that I plan to try soon, and lots of fitness plans. He talks a lot about which foods to eat a lot of, and which ones to try and avoid, and this general health information is why I wanted it. Interestingly, stress, caffeine and spicy food can all be a cause of tummy bloating... maybe I should just cut down on those three things!!

Turkey and Cucumber Snack

In the book there is a 14day diet that looks quite manageable - low carbs but a range of different meats, fish and veg. There is also a 6day diet, which I have attempted this week, consisting mostly of lean white meat, white fish, and a (small) variety of green veg. It also suggests you take fibre, multivitamin and fish oil supplements each day, as your body isn't getting quite everything it needs. Only drinking water, and apart from the occasional squeeze of fresh lemon or lime, no added flavours, sauces, dressings or any sort of cooking oil.

Why would I want to?

 

Next week I am going interrailing around Eastern Europe, visiting a load of different cities and interesting places I've never been before... for a month!!! I'm so excited and will hopefully be able to share a load of the different food I have on here, so keep reading!

So the reason I wanted to do a 6day diet was to shed some of the Christmas weight that I've still not got round to shedding (yes, I know we're in June!) and tone up a bit for short shorts and bikini wearing on the Croatian beach!! I thought... 6days of boring food, how tough can it be?

 

 

Tough

Egg White Omelette with Spinach

Tough motivating with nothing flavoured food, tough trying to do more exercise than I've done for a while with a much lower calorie intake, tough turkey that I left in the oven because I wasn't interested in cooking it, tough to refrain from temptation when your sister decides to bake for the first time in years, just tough full stop.

Cobbler and Purple Sprouting Brocoli

Now that's not to say that James Duigan doesn't know what he's talking about. The lean white meat or fish with green veg that he recommends has definitely made me feel less bloated and I feel like I've lost a bit of the chubs around my belly. I do think it is a good meal plan and exercise regime, and probably one of the most healthy and nutritous 6day diets I've seen.

But it's so boring!!! I found that I wasn't craving chocolate or a pizza, instead just desperately craving some flavour!

Baked Chicken and Asparagus

I stuck to it properly for the first two days, then the third day I ate the right food but added a little black pepper and/or lemon to some of the fish and chicken. Then today (day 5) I've decided I'm going to cook dinner. Nothing particularly bad for me, or with too many carbs, but just something to get my mouth tingling!

Haddock with lime and ginger

So yes, I've failed the diet. But I figured if I just eat healthy between now and going on Wed then I won't put anything back on and it won't have been a total waste of time! Good book, good results (probably) but terrible on my part!!! Sorry James, I don't think a quick 6day fix is right for me!