Spiced Red Cabbage, Low Fat Version

Mmmm I love the smell of spices & my favourite spices are ginger, cinnamon & allspice so this is almost a perfect vegetable dish for me. Problem is the onion but I am gradually adding a little into my diet & taking tablets so I can enjoy the occasional treat such as this!
A warming side dish you can add to your table & let people dig in & be surprised.
This dish takes a lot of cooking time but can be reheated so cook ahead of time.
Especially enjoy this durig the winter months but actually any time of year. Serve cold at summer garden parties.

1 Head Red cabbage, sliced
2-4 Red onions, sliced
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tbsp Ginger
1 tsp Allspice
1/2 tsp liquid sweetener
6 tbsp Red wine vinegar
spray cooking oil, frylight or other

In an oven proof casserole dish, layer the shredded cabbage with the onion, ending with a layer of cabbage. In a jug mix the spices with the liquids & pour over the cabbage. Spray the cabbage with the cooking spray & place the lid on. Cook in the middle of a preheated oven 150c for 3 hours (told you it was a lot of cooking!). Stir the mix occasionally
Enjoy

Zingy Beef Pot Roast, (Low fat) & Not A Tomato In Sight!

I love, love, love a good pot roast & have cooked beef, pork & goat (in Bulgaria) in this way for years, but it usually involves lots of red wine & rakia or brandy!
Now I am on a diet & I want to lose a lot of weight, without compromising delicious food or taste.
We don't need to eat boring foder, or have bland tasteless meals, just because we want to shift the pounds. We just need to watch how we cook, what we cook & what we add to our cooking.
There are lots of compromises out there & the biggest change, for loss of calories in food, comes from cutting off all visible fat & draining off all fat from mince, & not adding fat when cooking. It's the FAT!!!
Add taste with herbs, spices & fat free sauces like soy sauce etc.
This recipe is full of aroma & flavour. A very tasty pot roast, very easy &  very adaptable.
Serve with potato, either boiled with skin, dry roasted or mashed with no milk or fat, mash it with an egg & load up with lots of vegetables.

Beef, all visible fat removed
1 pint of beef stock, made with 2 stock cubes
4 Garlic cloves, crushed You can also add onions if you wish cut in half
Marrow, chopped in cubes. or any other root vegetable of your choice
3 Carrots, julienne style
Roasted green & red Peppers, chopped (you can use non roasted)
1 tsp Paprika
1 tbsp Worcester sauce
1tbsp Soy sauce
2 sml Bay leaves
Fresh ground Salt & blk pepper
Chili flakes to your taste
1 tsp Mixed herbs

First trim off all visible fat, if this means you end up with more than one lump so be it.
In a casserole pot add the beef, crushed garlic & sprinkle over the paprika.  Poke the  marrow, around the side of the pork & add salt, pepper, chopped roasted peppers, chili flakes, stock with Worcester &soy sauce's, bay leaves, carrots & mixed herbs.
Place in the centre of a hot oven 220c for 15mins then turn oven down to 150c & slow cook for 4 - 6 hours untill  the meat is so tender it melts. Keep an eye on the fluid level, don't let it get too low.
See, east peasy ;-D

Sad Thai Noodle Dish

Hopes were dashed, sadly, as I bit into this promising-looking Thai Peanut Noodle dish with sugar snap peas and shrimp. 
Turns out the noodles were dry, dry, dry as there was no peanut sauce in this recipe, only peanutty, soy sauce-y water that you cooked the noodles in.
Sigh.  I have to give this one a fail.
Anyone have a good peanut sauce recipe to share?

Slimming Pork Goulash

Pork in Bulgaria is probably the main meat we eat. Its cheap & very, very tasty. Pork is reared by many people in the villages. I would love to raise Pigs for food but I am unable to kill & eat something I have cared for, wimp I know!
People think if you are on a diet you can't eat pork & other meats that it has to be poultry. This is rubbish, a complete fallacy. The only thing you have to do is cut off all visible fat, as you have to remove the skin from poultry. Why would you want to make your life miserable by denying yourself good food??????
So here is a very tasty dish & you can dish this up to everyone its that good!
I have adapted this from a Slimming World recipe. 
Enjoy with rice or mashed potato & green beans. Do not add milk & fat to the potato but fork it, to break the potato, crack in an egg  & mash it well.

2 Leeks, trimmed & outer layer removed
4 Cloves of garlic, crushed
2 Cloves of garlic chopped
1 - 2 lb Pork (2lb will make enough for friends or to freeze)
2 Red peppers, chopped
Fry light (if you cannot get this, wipe a small amount of oil over a non stick frypan) If you are in Bulgaria get family to send it over it will be a massive help.
2 bay leaves
2 tsp Paprika
1/2 pint of beef stock
Jar/tin Tomatoes in sauce
Seasoning
Chop the pork into bite size pieces, remove all visible fat.
In a pan, lightly brown to seal the pork, add leeks & stirring occasionally cook for 3 mins. Add bay & garlic & cook a couple of mins. Add the peppers & sprinkle over the paprika stirin & cook for 5- 7 mins.
Pour in tomatoes & the beef stock combine, grind in black pepper & sea or rock salt.
Bring to the boil, cover pan & cook for 60 - 90 mins or till pork is nice & tender.
Enjoy, gorgeous & filling

Five-Minute Orange Marmalade

Oh how I heart five-minute recipes.
Even if they actually take ten.
Close enough, in my book.

This orange marmalade recipe, made in minutes in the microwave with just one orange and some sugar, is about as simple as they come.  And we can just keep that our little secret, 'kay?

MICROWAVE ORANGE MARMALADE
Cut one orange into segments, peel and all.  Place segments in food processor and whirl away until peel is nice and chopped up.  If any peel escapes the blades' notice, you can fish it out with a spoon and dice it up on the cutting board.

Measure orange pulp/peel.  Pour it into a medium-size glass bowl; add the same amount of sugar as pulp mixture and stir.  Cover with glass top or paper towel.  Microwave at 50 percent power for 6 or 7 minutes, stopping every minute or two to stir.  You should notice mixture gradually thickening up a bit.  (It will never be completely thick until you refrigerate it, so don't keep microwaving past 7 minutes.)  Pour into jar, cool, then refrigerate until ready to use.

If you happen to have any of this around

slather on liberally.

Makes one small jar.

Big Beefy Burgers

Mmmmmm I love juicy fat, full of meat burgers. We don't just have to have them as a treat though.
Here in Bulgaria its not like shopping in the UK, we can't buy extra lean mince beef, but what we can do is mince our own. Back to basics here in lots of things, well it keeps us busy ;-)
I enjoy making these burgers, they are so easy & I look forward to them all day when they are on the menu.
I can even have these on my diet with egg & bacon in a bun or with pasta n sauce, potato etc, which is always good!

1 red onion, chopped small (can use white)
4 or more cloves of Garlic, crushed & chopped small.
250g Minced beef (lean or very lean for a healthier burger)
2 tsp Worcester or Soy sauce
1 tsp Parsley
Salt & pepper
Oil or Fry Light (for frying)
Add onion & garlic to the mince meat & mix in. Add parsley, Worcester sauce & season, mix it all together.
Divide into 4 portions, shape into balls & then flatten into burger patties.

Cook gently in a fry pan for 10 - 15 mins depending on your taste & thickness of burgers.
Enjoy.......