Erm's Photo Diary

[blackwidow]

those sausages look lovely.. you were saying about picking at the pastry.. i'd be picking at the proscuitto, i eat it like ham out of the packet.. hardly ever makes it to where its intended for.. just love it!

Valentine meal sounds wonderful.. i am looking forward to hearing more about the starter x

 

[dirtydancing]

was wondering how your lovely valentine meal went. Hope you enjoyed it, especially the choc tart.

 

[blackwidow]

hope your valentines meal went well! x

 

[JezVonSavage]

Yes i'm waiting to see this cake Erms!

 

[ermintrude]

Tuesday 14th Feb Extra Easy

Breakfast: Coffee & fruit 1 HEXA
Lunch: None
Tea:
Starter: Parma ham Valentine's tart 1 HEXA & 19 syns
Main: Stilton-crusted fillet steak in port wine sauce 2 HEXBs & 21 syns with spring onion mash & green beans 13.5 syns
Dessert: Double chocolate tart with mint mascarpone 50 syns; champagne ??? syns :break_diet:
Snacks: Quorn slices

Ill get the chocolate cake outta the way cos I, uh, burnt it... :sigh: I did set the alarm to go off on my phone but unfortunately for the, uh, wrong day... So it got a bit burnt It was OK though, just pretty dry. Had it with a bit of minty mascarpone cheese. (OH didnt care, chocolate is chocolate is chocolate innit )

The starter was amazing! So delicate and crumbly and cheesey and ommmmmm!!!!! :drool:

Divine! You could actually make this fairly SW friendly. 2 slices Parma ham = 1 syn on red/EE, use a bit less sugar so only a coupla syns, you could omit the butter for frying and HEX the cheese, so its only the pastry you need to syn really, which was theoretically 12 syns but in fact you take about a third of the pastry away as the 'lid' (which we didnt eat) so probably about 8 syns really. Might do this again, it was gorgeous!

And the main course, OMG this was **THE BEST** steak I have ever had! Not so much the recipe (which I wasnt all that thrilled about tbh) but the steak was divine, cooked to perfection! (Which I was surprised about as I dont 'do' steak and have no idea how long its meant to have and usually burn anything meaty as I just dont eat it often ) But I totally ignored the cooking guidelines as they just sounded way, way off so I just gave it a minute each side in the pan, stuck the cheese mix on top and left it in the oven til that started to melt then left it to rest for about 5 min. Beautiful pink inside, soft as a soft thing in your mouth, ommmmmmm!!! Better than any restaurant steak I have ever had if I say so myself

The sauce and stuff I could take it or leave it though, not enamoured with the recipe itself. :sigh:
I was that stuffed I couldn't finish the mash and beans!

(So i put a pound on for WI this morning )

Now we are firmly back On Plan.

 

[ermintrude]

do you have the recipe please? for both if possible.

It's Jackie N's recipe, cant find where she's posted it now.

Basically I used:
- 500g lean lamb mince
- 1/2 red onion, finely chopped
- 1 chilli, deseeded & finely chopped
- 1.5 tbsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 3 tbsp chopped parsley
- 4 tbsp breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
- Plenty salt and pepper
- 12 slices prosciutto

Just thoroughly mix together everything except the prosciutto, shape it into 12 sausage shapes, then wrap 1 slice prosciutto round each sausage and bake them.

Next time Id probably double the chillies, add a bit of garlic, maybe add different spices? Bit of cinnamon maybe, make it a bit Morroccan? It didn't really need the breadcrumbs, as its wrapped in prosciutto to hold it together anyway.

 

[JezVonSavage]

Wow Erms, can I come for next years VDay??

It all looks fab, particularly that starter! I'm anoother who doesn't 'do' steak but you've just made me want one, haha. Nom xx

 

[Taniau]

The starter looks fantastic!

 

[dirtydancing]

that meal looks amazing as usual. thanks for the sausage receipe.

 

[ermintrude]

Wednesday 15th Feb Green

Breakfast: Coffee & toast 1.2 HEXA 1 HEXB
Lunch: Veggie chilli 0.5 syns for chocolate
Tea: Egyptian lentil thing with chips & dip 5.5 syns for tortilla
Snacks: Apple, Quorn slices, blueberries in yoghurt & honey 1.5 syns

 

[kingleds]

Yum!!!
Recipe for the Egyptian Lentil thingy pls!! Looking for new & interesting but cheap lunch ideas.....

 

[ermintrude]

Egyptian red lentil soup with chips & dip

Ingredients:
- 2 onions, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 or 2 inches ginger, peeled & finely grated
- 2 medium/large carrots, coarsely grated
- 5 tsp ground cumin
- 5 tsp turmeric
- 5 tsp paprika
- 150g red split lentils
- 1 litre chicken stock

For the dip:
- 150g Total 2%
- 12 large leaves fresh mint, finely chopped
- Juice of a lime

To serve:
- 1 tortilla/pitta each, cut into wedges

Method:
- Preheat oven to 180C
- Sweat onion and a pinch of salt in Fry Light for a few min
- Add garlic, ginger and carrot and cook for 2-3 min until softening
- Add cumin, turmeric and paprika for 1 min until aromatic
- Add lentils and stir for 1 min until thoroughly coated
- Add stock and simmer until lentils cooked (about 20 min)

Meanwhile prepare tortilla and dip:
- Cut tortilla/pitta into wedges, sprinkle with salt and a little cinnamon or cumin, spray with Fry Light and bake for a couple of min until browning round the edges and crispy. Turn over and repeat. Set aside
- Mix yogurt, mint and lime juice and set aside.

When lentils are done serve with tortilla and dip and garnish with a bit of coriander or mint. I do it with superfree chips as well to bulk it out.

tbh the lentil bit doest taste of all that much on its own, but its lovely mixed with the lime-y/minty yoghurt dip and scooped up with the tortilla/chips.
I wouldn't eat the lentil bit on its own without adding some chilli, lime, something "extra" to the mix.

 

[rach1987]

Hmm this is most very odd, I swear I had this diary up to date until Saturday but half of its disappeared... Did I put it in the wrong place? Well here it is again in brief.

Friday 23rd - Red

Breakfast: Coffee & Toast 1 HEXA, 1 HEXB, 2 syns
Lunch: Keeping it Superfree as I've had so much pie and Ive got the wedding coming up. Big salad with mixed veg, Quorn slices and a couple of Finn Crisp with Laughing Cow Blue Cheese (1 HEXA/B)
Tea: Leftover steak & kidney pie with mixed veg. About 3.5 syns for flour, Guinness and stock
Snacks: Peaches, plums, pears, carrots, Muller light.

Same as yesterday:

could you use the smash pastry like pete does on here, he uses it for sausage rolls , pizza and pies, and it hasnt affected his weightloss x

 

[ermintrude]

could you use the smash pastry like pete does on here, he uses it for sausage rolls , pizza and pies, and it hasnt affected his weightloss x

Crikey that's an old post you've dug up!

I could, but like I said in the original I was only making the 'pie' to use stuff up in the freezer and, tbh, fake-o Smash stuff is pretty grim IMO, especially the blaaaaaaddy faff it takes to make it No way is it worth it IMO. Each to their own and all that, but if I'm doing pastry I'm doing the real deal and synning it like I did on Valentine's Day I wont be using celeriac mash on top again either

 

[blackwidow]

that food looks amazing and i love your presentation on the starter - it looks like top standard restaurant food.

i agree on your opinion of pastry - its worth synning the real stuff! x

 

[Maximus]

Evening Ermster!

Hope you're well, I see your culinary skills certainly are

Steve

 

[ermintrude]

Thanks Maximus, great food, shame about the scales

 

[ermintrude]

Thursday 16th Feb Green

Breakfast: Coffee & fruit 1 HEXA
Lunch: Smoky black bean soup
Tea: Quorn mushy pea curry with wholegrain basmati
Snacks: Brussels sprouts, Quorn slices, Bovril

 

[beckyn22]

Tuesday 14th Feb Extra Easy

Breakfast: Coffee & fruit 1 HEXA
Lunch: None
Tea:
Starter: Parma ham Valentine's tart 1 HEXA & 19 syns
Main: Stilton-crusted fillet steak in port wine sauce 2 HEXBs & 21 syns with spring onion mash & green beans 13.5 syns
Dessert: Double chocolate tart with mint mascarpone 50 syns; champagne ??? syns :break_diet:
Snacks: Quorn slices

Ill get the chocolate cake outta the way cos I, uh, burnt it... :sigh: I did set the alarm to go off on my phone but unfortunately for the, uh, wrong day... So it got a bit burnt It was OK though, just pretty dry. Had it with a bit of minty mascarpone cheese. (OH didnt care, chocolate is chocolate is chocolate innit )

The starter was amazing! So delicate and crumbly and cheesey and ommmmmm!!!!! :drool:

Divine! You could actually make this fairly SW friendly. 2 slices Parma ham = 1 syn on red/EE, use a bit less sugar so only a coupla syns, you could omit the butter for frying and HEX the cheese, so its only the pastry you need to syn really, which was theoretically 12 syns but in fact you take about a third of the pastry away as the 'lid' (which we didnt eat) so probably about 8 syns really. Might do this again, it was gorgeous!

And the main course, OMG this was **THE BEST** steak I have ever had! Not so much the recipe (which I wasnt all that thrilled about tbh) but the steak was divine, cooked to perfection! (Which I was surprised about as I dont 'do' steak and have no idea how long its meant to have and usually burn anything meaty as I just dont eat it often ) But I totally ignored the cooking guidelines as they just sounded way, way off so I just gave it a minute each side in the pan, stuck the cheese mix on top and left it in the oven til that started to melt then left it to rest for about 5 min. Beautiful pink inside, soft as a soft thing in your mouth, ommmmmmm!!! Better than any restaurant steak I have ever had if I say so myself

The sauce and stuff I could take it or leave it though, not enamoured with the recipe itself. :sigh:
I was that stuffed I couldn't finish the mash and beans!

(So i put a pound on for WI this morning )

Now we are firmly back On Plan.

It all looks GORGEOUS especially the yummy cake - doesn't look burnt to me at all :drool:! xxx

 

[JackieN]

:wow: Erm love that meal you did for valentines. That starter looks absolutely amazing

I love the curry never thought of adding anything to mushy pea curry thats really interesting shall have a play with that one.

Meant to ask have you tried the curry sauce where you cook cauliflower (fresh or frozen) blitz it, add curry powder and then use that as the sauce? People are saying its lovely and creamy so might try that next week and see what its like.

Hope alls well in Erm's world xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx