Recipes Cooking Food & Weight

I mentioned in one of my previous posts that sometimes the missus complains about some of the stuff that I put into my cooking as she doesn't want to put on weigh tfrom recipes that can be fattening. Now I completely respect that cos at the end of the day as much as I enjoy cooking and messing around with different types of food and recipes I dont want to end out being a big ol boy myself.
Now my wife goes to one of these slimming clubs which works on a points system and basically you are allocated so many points a day and she has recipe books to cook from that has some wonderful recipes in to help you keep within these points.
Now don't get me wrong these arent bland and tastless recipes in this book and my wife has cooked some of these meals for me and they have been really tasty but we have only had about 2 or 3 meals from this recipe book (There is a point to all this so please stick with me)
Now on the other hand I dont measure points but I do like to cook from tasty recipe's using good quality fresh food and as you know by now I like my Indian and Italian cooking Over the past month I have done most of the cooking and guess what Both Him & Her have lost about the same amount of weight even though Him wasn't really trying
Why is this you may ask
Well from my wifes point of view she has done really well on following through with her plan and getting to the gym once a week
From my point of view I have replaced crisps (or chips as they are in the US) with fresh fruit
Now I know this isnt earth shatterin and even more so it is just plain common sense but here is my point
Being relaxed about what you eat and being sensible between your meals means that come meal time you can cook good food for yourself from some of the wonderful recipes that are available and not worry too much about your weight.
Again that isnt anything you probably havent heard before but it seems to me that when it comes to food cooking and recipes people think that they have to be on some kind of wierd shakes an pills and strict regime when in fact if that is what you do you cant sustain it whislt enjoying your cooking and enjoying your eating and being creative with your recipes leads to a lifetime of healthy diet but more importantly keeps your food fun and after all eatin should be pleasurable - shouldn't it?
Til next time
Gordon

Cooking Recipes Galore

OK so a litle while ago I mentioned that my favourite recipes to cook are Indian and Italian
I just love food with lots of Herbs and spices, and I know my last recipe for you to cook was an Indian recipe - well today Im going to give you wait for it YES another Indian recipe.
This recipe Im going to give for you to cook is a cracker and so versatile and then on my next post I am going to give you an awesome Italian recipe to cook which will be worth the wait and I bet you love it when you try it.
But back to todays recipe for you to try cooking and it is

Shrimps in A Hot Sauce (By the way the secret to this is the sauce you can replace the shrimps with anything you like chicken lamb beef etc)

Ingredients (Serves 4)
2 Onions roughly chopped
2tbsp tomato puree
1tsp ground coriander
quarter tsp tumeric
1 tsp chilli powder
3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
2 fresh green chillies
2tbsp lemon juice
1tsp salt
3tbsp corn oil
16 cooked King Prawns

Method
Put the onions, tomato puree, ground coriander,tumeric,chilli powder,chillies, 2tbsp of the fresh coriander, lemon juice and salt into a food processor and blitz for about a minute. If the mixture seems to thick then add a little water to loosen it
Heat the oil in a deep round bottom pan and add the spice mixture and fry for 3-5 minutes
Add the shrimps (prawns) and stir fry on a medium heat
As soon as it is cooked through transfer to a serving dish and garnish with the rest of the coriander and serve immediatley

There you go thats it a simple recipe that is dead easy to cook and so very versatile
Til next time
G

Free Cooking Recipe and its an Indian Recipe 4 U

Blimey - I've been so busy lately I havent had a chance to get on and write about what I love the most which is of course cooking and supplying you with lots of free recipes. But never mind I'm here tonight to tell you about a meal that I cooked over the weekend and even better give you the recipe for it
As you'll know by now Im a big fan of Indian cooking I just love the recipes with all the spices and herbs and finishing it off with some nice presentation and here's a little recipe that has all of that but is tasty, not too hot and simple to cook.

Chicken and Tomato Balti

Ingredients (Serves 4 )

4 tbsp Corn Oil
6 Curry leaves
Half tsp mustard seeds
Half an onion very very finely chopped
8 Tomatoes sliced
1tsp of each of the following - ground coriander/chilli powder/salt/ground cumin/garlic pulp
2-3 good sized chicken breasts cubed
150ml/quater pint of water
Roasted Sesame Seeds and fresh Coriander to garnish

Method

Heat the oil in a deep frying pan or karahi if you have one then add the curry leaves and mustard seeds. As the seeds start to pop put your onion in and fry but dont let it go brown you just want to cook it til its translucent
Next from the recipe put the tomatoes in and cook them on a slightly lower heat.
Mix together the ground coriander, chilli powcder, salt, ground cumin and garlic then add this to the tomatoes and give it all a good stir
Add your chicken pieces and now you want cook this by stir frying everything for about 5 minutes
Now add your water from the recipe list and allow to cook until the sauce thickens and the chicken is cooked through
Then sprinkle the sesame seeds and fresh coriander over the top and serve with either rice or nan bread or both if your anything like me.
Job done

Wasnt that a simple recipe to follow and it really is easy to cook as well just as long as you have everything prepared before you start cooking
Til next time
Gordon

Simple Recipe Tasty Recipe

I dont know what things are like around the rest of the world but here in the UK it is starting to feel more wintery now and for me that means cooking up some comfort food
Not only that but my wife has now started to take a sharp interest in cooking and developing recipes that are not only tasty and comforting but also belly friendly by that I mean she wants to eat well but without putting on excess pounds that she would if I was cooking it as I like to add a bit of double cream here and a bit o butter there :)
So she cooked up this fantastic soup recipe here and hats off to her because by her own admission cooking isn't her greatest strength but she made this yesterday and it was fantastic - so heres the recipe for you
Butternut Squash Soup

1 Butternut Squash
1 chopped onion
600ml(1pint) vegetable stock
Seasoning

Method
Put the squash and onion into a saucepan and add the stock
Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 mins
Pour into a liquidiser and blend til smooth
Return to pan season to taste whilst gently reheating
SERVE

What a quick and simple soup recipe and it tastes fantastic and to keep it even simpler use stock cubes if you want rather than boiling veg for hours
You can also cook this as an indian type recipe by adding a pinch of ground coriander and cumin to the recipe and then garnish with chopped coriander or parsley
Til next time
Happy cooking
Gordon

My 1st Free Recipe for you

The thing I love about the weekends is not only do I get to have a beer or 10 without worrying about work but it also means I have time to go through all my books and magazines and decide whether I am going to be cooking from an Italian recipe or an Indian recipe (these two are my favourite types of cooking) or if I am going to do something totally different BUT the big thing for me is because it s the weekend I can take my time try something different and be adventurous with my cooking recipes.
However this weekend I wasn't adventurous as I cooked one of my favourite recipes and because I've done this a few times now I have to admit it was absolutley fantastic if I may say so myself in my own humble way.
So what did you cook? I hear you cry
Well it was that old timeless classic Chilli Con Carne but with a twist.
You see I liked this recipe before I really got stuck into cooking but like a lot of people I simply bought some mince fried it with the other bits and bobs and then poured in a mixture for flavour
BUT NOT ANY MORE
I tell you if you try this you will never make a chilli con carne any other way.
So 1st off the ingredients then the formula with my own personal slant on the recipe.

INGREDIENTS (Serves Four)
2 Medium Onions - 1 clove garlic - 2 teaspoons chilli powder - 1 red Chilli ( I leave the seeds in but you can take them out if you dont want it too hot) - 1 teaspoon ground cumin - seasoning - 455g/1lb chuck steak or braising steak ( or whatever steak you want really ) - 200g sun dried tomatoes in oil - 2x 400g/14oz tin tomatoes - half stick cinnamon - 2x400g/14oz kidney beans

METHOD
The way I like to cook this is wit a big casserole dish with a lid
1st I finely chop the onions and garlic and fry them in some olive oil til soft
Then I add my chilli powder my fresh chilli (seeds and all for me please) cumin and a little seasoning and just stir til its brown. Dont use too high a heat or you'll burn your garlic and it wont taste as good
Get your steak and chuck it in the food processor and blitz this til it looks like mince (or if you have a mincer mince it or if you have neither ask your butcher to mince it) I remember being at a seminar on nutrition once where the y mention that if a food company has to mince their food what are they hiding in it And belive it or not I once had few beers with someon that had worked in an abbotoir and the stories he told us turned my wife vegetarian for a wee while she was that shocked - so really if you can buy it whole then mince it yourself and you will know exactly what you are eating
The reason for the sun dried toms is to put these in a food processor with a little bit of the oil and blitz them til its a paste You then add this to the mix and it cuts out using tomatoe puree which is just really bland and has nowhere near the flavour that these toms have
Finally add your tinned toms a winegalss of water chuck in the cinammon stick and bring to the boil
Once its boiling either turn the heat down or what I prefer to do is put it in an oven pre heated to 150c/300f and set it away for an hour
After the hour is up drain and add your kidney beans to the recipe and cook for another half hour
When its cooked serve it with salad instead of rice and you will be blown away And dont forget to mop up your juices with some lovely crusty bread.
And dont forget if you can make this a wee while before you eat it and then reheat it all the flavours will infuse even more and it will be even tastier
Well thats it my first cooking recipe for you Hope you enjoy it
Gordon

Whats for dinner?

For me one of the most important things about cooking is to be creative with whatever is in the cupboard.
Also I think the creativity has to be within you when you are cooking from a recipe as well because you aren't always going to be able to get your hands on all the ingredients in the recipe to be able to cook it exactly the same - and I think this is more and more the case with some of the exotic recipes like Indian Cooking or Chinese Cooking because some of the ingredients in these recipes are only available for specialist shops which may not be in your area or may be out of your budget.
Also when cooking, recipes should only be there as a guideline and you should feel free to express yourself with your recipe and cook an exciting dish that although within the guidelines is exclusively your own little creation.
And you know what?
When you cook like this and it comes off then it always tastes evenmore fantastic than if you just followed the recipe.
Til next time

Cooking and FREE Recipe's

Hi and welcome to my new blog on cooking and free recipes.
This blog is going to be all about cooking (as if you couldn't guess) but also I want to chuck in tons of recipes for free that I have tried for you to copy
There will be recipes on everything from indian cooking to free chinese cooking recipes some of my favorite Italian recipes which Im sure you wont have come across before and as we get closer how about some christmas recipes
And if you are good I will even give you my favorite English Sunday Roast Dinner Recipe and I'll even try to upload some pics for that one.
Til then