Aubergine Surprise (a meaty one)

This week I am startting my birthday celebrations and for me there is nothing better than a delicious dinner with the people you care about and the fact that I am dieting is not going to stop me from celebrating.

INGREDIENTS 

This recipe is enough for two people and a bit for your little poppy 

• 1 aubergine 
• 1 pepper 
• 2 shallots 
• 1 zucchini 
• 250gr of lean mince meat ( beef or turkey works too)
• can of chopped tomatos
• 1 egg
• salt, pepper and garlic powder 
• some cooking spray ( optional)

HOW TO

Gather your ingredients 

Start by slicing the aubergine in two

Remove the inside of the aubergine like so 

Boil some water and add the peel of the aubergine, boil till soften

Then start cutting the vegetables into smal pieces, including the aubergine insides

The last step before getting to the pan it is to prepare the meet, you should add some salt, pepper and garlic powder to the mix, when incorporate it make a volcano in the mix and add a raw egg that will help you to get consistency. Then mix it all, i normally do it with my hands.

Now it is the time for cooking, get a big pan, I am using a wok but a normal pan would do just fine. I normally start by adding some cooking spray, this is optional but I found that it keep the mixture from burn, if you decided not to do that you should be removing the vegetables all the time to prevent burning. I add it in order, first shallot, then peppers, zucchini and aubergine. Then add the meat, it would make it juicy and blend the rest of the vegetables together.

The final step is to add the canned tomatoes, I added pealed full tomatoes as I didn't have the chopped ones, so I had to smash it with my wooden spoon. 

The only thing left to do at this point it is to fill your cooked aubergine peels with the mixture and eat, and I can promise it is delicious

As always I added some fat free formage frais, but  it is fine on its own, if you are not as obsessed about as I am. Let me know if you liked it and feel free to leave a comment below as always 

ENJOY :)

Bits and Pieces Omelette

I've been really busy this week, so busy that I almost haven't got the time to go food shopping. So today for lunch I found myself only with some bit of ingredients and decided that I might as well use what my mother call the bits and pieces omelette.

An omelette is always really easy to do and you can almost add anything to it. My mother does pretty round one but I rather move the eggs around, as I am for once not patient (it is faster this way) and normally to hungry to wait.

INGREDIENTS

• Some mushrooms
• Red pepper
• zucchini
• Tuna in brine
• 3 eggs
• Sal and pepper  

HOW TO

Gather your ingredients. 

Star chopping the vegetables, not too big but not too small either remember we cook without oil and if they are to big could burn on the outside and not be cook on the inside which we want to avoid at all cost.

Next step heat up you pan, and add the onion, pepper and zucchini first and give it a couple of minutes for the mushroom as it becomes soft very fast.

While the vegetables are being cooked, beat the eggs I use 3 eggs but i like it very dry if you want it more juicy add more. I add the salt at this point to the eggs, you will see how the change color.

Check that your vegetables are done, how do you know that? Well basically for me it is when the mushroom is done should like something like this.

Now that are done, remove them from the fire and add it to the eggs so you make sure that the egg are evenly around all the vegetable mix and also add the tuna in brine, but without the bine :) I am not a particular fan of tuna in brine I like much better the oil one, but you have to make sacrifices for a healthy living.

Then is back in the pan. I clean it before, but you can go straight to it unless like my mum you want the perfectly stiff omelette in which case I also recommend cleaning and some low fat cooking spray. It will be ready in no time. Some times I also add some fromustard Sauce to it, but that depends on my mood.

Please leave a comment below if you did the omelette or if you want any other recipe I am always happy to oblige, in the mean time

ENJOY :)

Green Lovers Soup

Although Mach is supposed to bring warmth to this lands, here in Ireland still quite cold, at least for my taste and there is nothing better than a soup to warm you up and also to give you the extra vitamins your body needs to look as beautiful as you do. Let me present you the Green Lovers Soup:

The good thing about this soup is that you can eat it warm it you are freezing like me or cold if you are in a warmer weather ( I envy you for that)

INGREDIENTS

• Broccoli floret 
• half zucchini
• some mushrooms ( I add about 6)
• three leaves of celery
• sal and pepper to taste
• optional some fat free formage frais

  INSTRUCTIONS

As you know we are following the Dukan diet  so we only will used allow vegetables. First gather your vegetables

I start by cutting the Brocolli . I cut only the small florets and dimiss the rest, you can cook it if you want to but it would take a bit more to get tender so bear it in mind if you decide to add them.

Then cut the zucchini in half and proceed to cut it into small pieces, they do not need to be really small because we are going to smash it later but still it helps to go faster.

Next step, do the same with the celery. The celery help to give your soup a refreshing taste. To be honest I am not a fan of celery myself but I love the touch that gives soups. I use just three leave because otherwise it overcomes the taste of the broccoli. 

Then it is the turn of the mushrooms. I use quite a bit because it gives a nice consistency to the soup and you don't want it to be super watery.

Next step put some water to boil on the kettle and add all you ingredients together in a pot. Add enough water to cover the vegetable but not more we want it to be thick not watery and turn the heat to the maximum. This is the time to add some salt if you want, I normally add it at the end but that goes on taste.

Let it boil for over 20 minutes, we want most of the water to evaporate and the vegetables to be as tender as possible, then it is time for the blender. I have a hand one but you can use whatever you have.

You have to blend it until it is consistent and smooth. If your blender is awful as mine it can take some time if it is a good you will have it in minutes.

Finally it is the time of pepper and fat free formage frais, you can skip this step but a love the contract in textures, I do not want to think that I am on a diet, I want to think that I am eating great tasty food and those little details help me

And that is it, fool proof soup. Get a plate and prepare to have a fantastic tasting experience.

Let me know if you liked it and don't forget to subscribe to be notified about new recipes and news 

ENJOY ;)