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Venison Chilli

Posted by Carrot on Feb 1, 2012 in Recipes | 0 comments

What’s in your chilli?  I like to make mine with venison mince which has all the benefits of red meat but with much less saturated fat.  The next question is, what spices do you like to use?  I have put my chilli mix in the recipe below.  Ideally I would buy whole spices, toast them in a dry frying pan and then grind them; this gives the best flavour.  However, most of us use powdered spices for convenience which is fine.  Just make sure they are fresh (they lose their pungency very quickly) and dry fry them in your method.

My recipe below is a great balance of protein, vegetables and a little starchy carbohydrate and makes a great ‘one pot’ meal.  If you are training hard, you might want to have this with a little rice (preferably brown) post workout – great for recovery.  It’s ideal for a family meal, or great in a flask to take to work for lunch.

Heat a little oil in the pan, add the onion, celery and carrot and fry until soft (this will take about 20 to 30 minutes).  Add the garlic and spices and mix well.  Fry over a gentle heat for a couple of minutes until the aromas from the spices are released, then add the venison.  Mix everything well and turn the heat up to brown the mince.  This gives colour and flavour.  When the meat is brown, add the peppers and mix well.  Finally add the kidney beans and tomatoes.  Place a lid on the pan and either simmer gently on the hob or cook in a low oven until done.  I usually allow about 45 minutes for the flavours to develop, but you can leave it a little longer if you wish.

You will find there will be quite a bit of water in the pan, which comes mostly from the vegetables.  Remove the lid from the pan and turn the heat up so that the water will evaporate and the sauce will become thicker.  Once you have reduced the sauce to the desired consistency, taste the dish.  If you find the spices are a little tame, make sure you season the chilli with salt and pepper before adding more spice.  If you still think it needs more chilli then go ahead.  Chillis vary considerably in strength, as do our tastes.  When cool, this will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of days, or will freeze well.

Snacks and Dips

Posted by Carrot on Jan 28, 2012 in Recipes | 0 comments

Looking for some variety in your food intake? Here are some ideas for snacks you might like to try – great for those looking to increase vegetables and good fats in their diet.

Beetroot houmous on potato slices, chicken saté on Little Gem lettuce, smoked mackerel sushi and Romano pepper rolls (the recipe for the rolls in on another entry in the blog).

Remove the stone and skin from the avocado.  Place all of the ingredients into a food processor, except the chives, and blend to a paste. Add the chives and season to taste.  Use in a seaweed wrap or as a dip with sticks of vegetables.

Beetroot Hummous

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4 and roast the beetroot until tender usually about 45 minutes.  Remove from the oven and leave to cool, then place in a blender with the houmous and blitz.  Remove from the blender and stir in the walnuts.  Houmous is a lovely snack on its own, but adding the beetroot will increase the vegetable intake, add some fantastic anti oxidants, and lower the carbohydrate and fat ratios.  Serve as a dip with vegetable sticks or on endive leaves.

Smoked Mackerel Sushi

Flake the mackerel into a bowl and mix with the remaining ingredients.  Lay out the seaweed on a board and place a line of the mixture along the bottom of each sheet.  Roll up and place in the refrigerator to firm up for an hour then cut into bit sized pieces.

Chicken Saté

Heat some oil in a pan and fry the shallots until tender.  Add the ginger and garlic and cook for a further minute then add the chicken. Cook over a medium heat until the chicken is just cooked then add the remaining ingredients (except the salad onion) and stir well. Allow the mixture to reduce slightly then remove from the heat and leave to cool.  Add the chopped salad onion and season to taste. Serve, wrapped in lettuce or blanched cabbage leaves.

Have Your Cake & Eat It!

Posted by Carrot on Jan 27, 2012 in Recipes | 0 comments

If you are following the fat loss lifestyle it may be difficult to find a sweet treat that doesn’t derail your progress. Here is a tasty dessert made from an alternative orange and almond cake, with some natural yoghurt and fruit.

Cake:

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4.  Line an 8″ cake tin with baking parchment on the bottom and lightly grease the sides.  Whisk the eggs and Xylitol together until doubled in volume.  The traditional version of this cake is made with caster sugar and this could be whisked to the ribbon stage, but this is not possible with the Xytlitol and egg combination.  Meantime, melt the butter and mix with the orange zest and juice, and allow to cool a little before using.  Mix the ground almonds, coconut flour, salt and bicarb together in a separate bowl.  When the eggs and Xylitol are whisked add the butter and dry ingredients to it and fold in with a metal spoon until just incorporated. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake in the oven for approximately 30 minutes.  The cake will shrink from the sides of the tin when ready.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.  When cool, cut circles from the cake and sandwich with natural yoghurt and fruit of your choice.  A little grated orange or lemon zest mixed with the yoghurt works well, or some seeds from a passion fruit.

Brussel Sprout Soup

Posted by Carrot on Jan 26, 2012 in Recipes | 0 comments

I know not everyone loves sprouts (me included), but in a soup they are delicious!  Full of vitamins and minerals; just one hearty portion will give you your vitamin C for the day. I have added mushrooms and chestnuts to it, giving a good protein content for those following a vegetarian or vegan diet, and the sweetness from the chestnuts will help to balance the taste of the sprouts.  It freezes well, so make a big batch.

Heat a little oil in a large pan and cook the onions on a low heat until they are really soft.  Most recipes will suggest you soften onions for about 5 to 10 minutes.  This really isn’t long enough!  You should be able to squash a piece easily between your fingers, and this will take about 30 minutes.  This helps to remove the strong onion flavour and bring out their natural sweetness.  When the onions are really soft, add the prepared sprouts and stock and bring to s simmer.  Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the sprouts are just tender, then place the contents in a food processor or blender and blitz.  You will probably need to do this in batches, taking care as the liquid is hot.

In a separate pan, heat a little more oil and fry the mushrooms until just tender then season with a little salt. Remove the chestnuts from the pack and chop.  I like to have some really small pieces and some a little larger, which will give a good texture to the soup. Add these to the soup with the mushrooms.  Initially, the soup may taste a little bitter, but leave if for a few hours and the chestnuts will infuse some sweetness to it.  At this point, taste and season with a little salt and pepper.

The soup will keep for a couple of days in the refrigerator, or can be frozen.

12 Days of Christmas Workout

Posted by markjdolan on Jan 6, 2012 in Workouts | 0 comments

Today is the 12th day of Christmas, and to celebrate I have a great workout based on the song with 12 exercises done in the same format as the song. You perform exercise 1, then perform exercise 2 and exercise 1. Next perform exercise 3 then 2 then 1 and so on. You get the picture, don’t you?  After a quick warm-up, this should take approximately 30 minutes, depending upon how much rest you take.  Remember, push yourself hard and force yourself to rest, rest completely then continue with the workout.  You’ll need some water (of course) and a set of dumbbells. Don’t forget to cool down and stretch afterwards.  Enjoy!

Accelerated Fat Loss – End of Week 3

Posted by markjdolan on Dec 15, 2011 in Food Facts, Workouts | 0 comments

Week three is over with one more left to go, on my first experiment to accelerate my fat loss. The workouts have been going to plan, although I have had to lower my weights for the upper body work as I have a shoulder problem. It’s a niggling issue I have had for several years and flares up if I push a bit too hard. Apart from that, I’m really enjoying my early morning workouts. My food choices don’t really vary too much, but I spent a few hours making a large batch of beef stew and an enormous pot of braised red cabbage for the freezer.

Although I haven’t weighed myself this week, I did go shopping for some new jeans and was delighted to find that I am now a size smaller! Here is my food diary for last week:

Accelerated Fat Loss – End of Week 2

Posted by markjdolan on Dec 6, 2011 in Food Facts, Workouts | 0 comments

At the end of week two and I’m feeling full of energy.  In the past, I have usually done three workouts per week but have now increased my workouts to six.  As you know from my previous posts the workouts are a mix of HIIT, Metabolic Effect and Kettlebells, and I walk for an hour on a daily basis.  I do enjoy running but have some injuries that prevent me doing that at the moment, and so far, I haven’t missed it (apart from on those glorious sunny, cold mornings). The only thing that hasn’t gone well on the exercise front is trying to do my day 4 morning session and then kettlebells in the evening. Both last week and the week before I really struggled with the kettlebell session – totally lacking in energy, so this week I will stick to my morning workout only.

So, I’m at the mid point of the four weeks and stepped onto the scales this morning.  My body fat has dropped by just over 2% which equates to a loss of 5lbs, and I’m really pleased with my progress.

Here is my food diary for last week.  You will see that on day 6 I had some chocolate in the afternoon.  I had breakfast quite late and didn’t feel like eating at lunchtime, then got hungry and had the kitkat.  This had a knock-on effect later in the day when hunger and cravings took over, hence the late omelette.  I also think this was a response to the extra training session on Thursday evening and not having sufficient carbohydrate to compensate – all part of the process of learning what works best for me.

3 Ways with Celeriac

Posted by markjdolan on Nov 30, 2011 in Recipes | 0 comments

OK, so it’s not the most beautiful looking root vegetable, but it tastes amazing and can be used in many ways. Celeriac is a good source of Vitamins B6, C and K, and minerals magnesium, manganese, phosphorous and potassium. It’s also a great source of dietary fibre and has a low glycemic load, so makes an ideal replacement for potatoes if you are trying to reduce the starchy carbohydrates in your diet.

To use celeriac in any recipe, first wash off any excess mud then cut off the woody root and peel off the outside layer to reveal the smooth vegetable underneath.

1 medium sized celeriac
a knob of butter for frying
1 medium onion, finely sliced
110g mushrooms, sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons walnuts, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 small glass of Madeira/Marsala/sherry
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 5. Peel and trim the root from the celeriac, cut it in half and cut a small slice from each half so that the celeriac with sit firmly, cut side up. Hollow out the centre of each half of the celeriac, leaving a thickness of about 2cm. Chop the pieces taken out and reserve.

Heat a little oil in a pan, season the celeriac halves with a little salt and pepper, and brown on all side. Remove from the pan and place on a baking sheet cut side up. Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 40 to 50 minutes, or until tender (the length of time will depend on the thickness of the celeriac).

Next, melt a little butter in the pan, add the onion and chopped celeriac and cook over a gentle heat until very soft and starting to brown. This will take about 20 minutes. Add the garlic and mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms are starting to soften, then add the Dijon mustard and mix well. Turn the heat up and add the Madeira, mix well and allow to reduce a little. Finally add the walnuts and season to taste.

Remove the celeriac halves from the oven and add the filling, sprinkle over the chopped parsley and serve.  This can be made in advance and reheated when needed.

The celeriac makes a great alternative to mashed potato, particularly if you are trying to cut down on your starchy carbohydrates. This recipe is for a puree, but you can make it a little more chunky by adding some roughly mashed butter beans.  When looking at glycemic load, butter beans have a better profile as they have less carbohydrate, more fibre and more protein than potatoes.

Peel the celeriac root and chop into even sized pieces.  Place the chopped celeriac into a pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer until tender – about 5 minutes.  Meantime, heat the oil in a pan and soften the chopped shallot over a low heat. This will take about 10 minutes.  When the celeriac is cooked, drain the water from the pan and return to a very low heat.  Celeriac has a very high water content so returning the pan to some heat will allow the excess moisture to evaporate.  Keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn.  When the celeriac has dried out a little and the shallots are soft but not brown, combine the two ingredients and mash together. To obtain a smooth puree this can be done in a food processor or using a stick blender.  Season to taste with salt, black pepper and lemon juice.

This puree/mash can be made in advance and re-heated when needed, however, it doesn’t freeze very well.

Celeriac and Beetroot Dip

The first part of the method for this recipe is the same as for the puree.  Peel the celeriac root and chop into even sized pieces.  Place the chopped celeriac into a pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer until tender – about 5 minutes.  Meantime, heat the oil in a pan and soften the chopped shallot over a low heat. This will take about 10 minutes.  When the celeriac is cooked, drain the water from the pan and return to a very low heat.  Celeriac has a very high water content so returning the pan to some heat will allow the excess moisture to evaporate.  Keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn.  When the celeriac has dried out a little and the shallots are soft but not brown, combine the two ingredients and mash together. To obtain a smooth puree this can be done in a food processor or using a stick blender.

When the puree is smooth, stir in the whole grain mustard, sesame seeds and grated beetroot.  Season to taste. This is a lovely vegetarian dip, so perfect to serve with vegetable crudites.  However, it also makes a great accompaniment  as a dip for cocktail sausages baked with a little honey and sesame seeds.

Accelerated Fat Loss – End of Week 1

Posted by markjdolan on Nov 28, 2011 in Food Facts, Workouts | 0 comments

So far, so good!  I have been doing my workouts first thing in the morning apart from the addition of an evening kettlebell session on day 1 and 4.  I enjoy working out in the morning, and find it gives me plenty of energy for the day ahead, but also enjoy the motivation of working out with other people, so do two of my kettlebell workouts later in the day with the gang at fitMK.

My food intake for the week has been similar to most weeks but I have just been very careful about my starchy carbohydrate consumption, restricting it to no more than 30g per day.  Overall, I haven’t found this to be a problem, although initially I found I was experiencing an energy slump in the afternoons.  In order to prevent this, I have changed the timing of my starch intake to lunchtimes. If you have read any of my other pages here on my web site you will know that I am a trained chef, so preparing and cooking food is something that I enjoy, but I do tend to keep my meals quite simple.  However, I do have a reward meal once a week where I eat whatever I want, and this may be something I cook myself or a meal out. I drink plenty of water during the day as well as green tea. Here is my food diary for last week:

Root Vegetables – Roasted En Papillote

Posted by markjdolan on Nov 23, 2011 in Recipes | 0 comments

Beetroot & New Potatoes

A Great Way of Cooking Root Vegetables

There’s lots of lovely root vegetables around at the moment, and a simple and tasty way of cooking them is en papillote – in parchment.   This is a great way of cooking many different foods, and cooking root vegetables this way means that you don’t have to be exact about the cooking time, so if you leave them in the oven a little longer than planned they won’t spoil.

Cut your chosen vegetables into equal sized pieces so that they cook evenly.  The new potatoes in this photograph are cut into roughly 1 inch pieces.  If you make them too large, then they will take longer to cook. Cut out a large piece of baking parchment and place your vegetables on it with a  little oil, sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and herb or spice of your choice.

Fold over the parchment and crimp the edges by making little creases and folds all the way round, forming a sealed parcel, and bake in a preheated oven 180C/gas 5. The vegetables will cook in their own steam, which really enhances their flavour. Take care not to burn yourself when you open the parcel as the steam escapes. Different vegetables take differing amounts of time to cook, so you might need to make separate parcels.