Slimming World Lemon Meringue Pie

Lemon meringue pie is delicious but normally quite high in sugar. Anyone wanting a low-sugar version of a lemon meringue pie should take a look at this Slimming World recipe. It uses ready-made shortcrust pastry, so it isn’t entirely diet-friendly, but uses sweetener in place of sugar and doesn’t use any butter in the filling – it uses gelatine instead, which is much lower in calorie.

 

I already had some pastry in the freezer I needed to use up and my husband likes lemon meringue pie (he usually doesn’t like any of the desserts I want to make!) so when I came across this recipe in an old copy of Slimming World magazine it seemed like a great idea. Unfortunately I never get on with using my grill – it’s above eye-level and really hard to keep an eye on it – and I burned the top a bit!

 

Other than that it was fairly easy to make, especially if you are using ready-made pastry, though you do have to allow the filling to set overnight in the fridge. I couldn’t find my baking beans so the bottom did rise up a bit when I blind baked the pastry case but I didn’t mind.

 

 

To make the filling, you boil water with the sweetener until it turns syrupy, then remove from the heat and whisk in the lemon zest and juice and egg yolks. You then cook it in the microwave to set.

 

Stir in the gelatine, allow to dissolve and if you like you can sieve it to remove the zest though I left that in. Allow to cool and pour into the pastry case and leave in the fridge overnight to set.

 

To make the meringue topping, whisk egg whites and sweetener and spoon over the base. Place under a hot grill just for a minute or two until lightly browned on top – be careful not to burn it! I forgot to take any photos after I took it out of the tin, but wanted to share this recipe anyway - this tasted really good, not really any different to a full-sugar lemon meringue pie in my opinion.

 

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Review: Dartmoor Zoo, Plymouth

If you're ever in Devon I highly recommend a trip to Dartmoor Zoo. It's world famous as the subject of the book and movie We Bought a Zoo - you're unlikely to see Matt Damon or Scarlett Johansson wandering around, but the movie was actually filmed here (even though they changed the story to set it in America). The book, which I haven't read, is the true story of how Benjamin Mee bought the zoo - and what I like about the film is that Mee and his children appear as zoo visitors at the end.

I went to Dartmoor Zoo over the August bank holiday as I was visiting a friend who lived nearby. I went with my friend, her husband and their fantastic two-year-old daughter and another friend, and had a great time watching falconry displays, singing happy birthday to a lion and watching her unwrap a present, petting goats and enjoying seeing all the other animals.

Living in Greater London I'm used to zoos being expensive - London Zoo costs £24.25 for an adult entry, whereas Dartmoor Zoo costs just £8.95, while children under five are free. The gift shop was also very good value - I couldn't resist buying a cuddly toy for my husband as something of an in-joke. So I was a bit surprised that the café - actually called the Jaguar Restaurant - wasn't particularly cheap.

We could have taken a picnic with us but didn't and decided to eat in the restaurant. There isn't a lot on the menu - it's mainly panini with a few main meals like chicken tagine and roasted squash and goat's cheese risotto, and also a children's section of smaller meals. They had run out of the cheese and ham panini my friend wanted already so she had a pizza style panini with a side of cheesy chips. I had a falafel, roast onion, baby spinach, carrot and aioli panini (£5.95) - and some of the chips. I would normally go for ham and cheese but fancied trying something different and this was really good.

We also spotted the guy doing the falconry display in the restaurant - I wonder if he was feeding the owl?

The zoo isn't huge but there is plenty to see and we had a really fun day out; I took lots of photos as usual!

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Blue Buttons Card for Dad

Looking through my craft stash I found some large foam flowers and stems which I don't use very often; they are quite difficult to get a professional finish with as they do seem more suited to children's crafts. But I remembered I had a bag of buttons and decided to make a flower shape using buttons. The topper says 'to a special dad' and was from a pack I bought on Ebay, while the background to the card is a piece of backing paper from a male themed set that has various words ranging from 'football' to 'couch potato' - luckily quite small so you can't really see them!

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Chocolate Chunk Cookie Dough Tray Bake

This recipe, from Xante Milton (aka Cookie Girl)'s Eat Me, is called Chocolate Chunk Tray Bake - but to me it was more like a cookie dough so I have added that in to the title of the blog post. I made this during the summer when we were going out for the day and wanted to take a picnic lunch; I wanted to quickly make something sweet that would travel well and thought of a tray bake or cookies, and when I came across this recipe, realised it covered both. What I didn't realise, as the recipe in the book is fairly sparsely written with no pictures or photos, is just how good this is! It was like eating thick squares of cookie that were still slightly gooey in the middle - absolutely delicious!

I also discovered they make a really good cookie ice cream sandwich, if you sandwich ice cream into the middle!

To make 16, you need:
320g plain flour
1 tsp bicarb of soda
1 tsp salt
110g unsalted butter, at room temperature
170g granulated sugar
125g soft brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
340g chocolate, chopped into 1cm squares
110g chopped hazelnuts

Preheat oven to 190C. Grease a large baking tin that is around 15 inches long by 10 inches wide, and around an inch or two deep.

 

Cream together the butter, both sugars and vanilla and add the eggs one at a time until well mixed.

 

Fold in the flour, bicarb of soda and salt, then stir in the chocolate and the nuts.

Spoon into the tin and spread out until the mixture is level and bake for 20 minutes.

Turn onto a wire rack to cool when it is still a bit squidgy in the middle - it will harden as it cools. When cool, cut into 16 pieces.

I'm sharing this with We Should Cocoa, hosted by Choclette and Tin and Thyme.

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Meal Planning Monday 2016 - Week 40

I have to say, I'm glad that Sugar Free September is over. I did really well to start with and cut out sugar entirely - even hidden sugars in things like bread, and I stopped eating potatoes as the gluten turns to sugar in your body. But it took a lot of forward planning, a lot of organisation, a lot of meals where I ate spiralized vegetables and watched my husband tucking into a plate of chips or even a pizza and also a lot of guilt when I did fall off the wagon. Towards the end of the month I ate a lot of things I shouldn't; I wasn't that bad (I didn't go and buy a Mars bar from the vending machine at work, if that's what you're thinking) but I did start eating white bread, and potatoes, and a couple of homemade chocolate brownies I made for a friend when we went to visit. Well, we can't all be perfect!

My weight loss has been up and down - I had lost almost 6 pounds, two thirds of the way through the month, but a health professional friend told me I wasn't eating enough and for sustainable weight loss, I needed to fuel my body multiple times a day. So I started eating more, and the weight crept back on. I also realised how much I struggle to drink two litres of water a day - I don't know how people do it! So I'm going to stick with eating as healthily as I can, with the occasional treat - such as enjoying the same meal as my husband. There's nothing wrong with chips once a week!

I will continue to eat salads rather than sandwiches for lunch and as the weather gets colder I will try some more wintery salad recipes or make some soups. I'm also going to avoid carbs in the evenings as much as possible, and definitely think twice before I have a sugary snack. I nearly bought some of my favourite Haribo in the supermarket today and actually got as far as the checkout when I dumped them to the side of the conveyor belt (sorry - I know customers aren't meant to do that)!

Monday
salmon and vegetables for me, gammon and mashed potato for him
NB marinade chicken for tomorrow

Tuesday
chicken curry to use up coconut milk from this recipe

Wednesday
my husband will probably be at his mum's so I'll have the two pork kebabs that are left in the freezer from barbecue season, with either any leftover rice from yesterday or couscous

Thursday
bubble and squeak tatties with veg for me, chicken chargrills for him

Friday
NB out of the office on a training course all day where lunch is provided
Dinner - for a Friday treat, something like chicken kievs and chips

Saturday
Lunch: tuna melt bagel for me, bacon and scrambled egg bagel for him
Dinner: spicy steaks again in the freezer that we never got round to barbecueing, with potato wedges

Sunday
Lunch: jacket potatoes
Dinner: Slimming World diet coke chicken

 

This is a blop hop, join in!

An InLinkz Link-up

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Restaurant review: The Ham Farm Harvester, Eastleigh, Hampshire

Have you ever been to  a Harvester?

 

I remember that slogan from the TV adverts years ago – I think their USP even then was the fact that you got a free unlimited salad with your meal, which they explained to you if you didn’t already know – hence asking if you had been there before.

 

I recently went to visit my family near my sister’s house in Eastleigh and we went for a meal at the Ham Farm Harvester. My sister actually used to work in that exact restaurant, behind the bar, when she was at university; she said it had changed a lot since then - it did look very modern.

 

 

We were seated just in front of the main entrance so it was a bit cold every time someone opened the door to come in – not the best place for a table, to be honest – but it did mean we were near the salad bar and drinks machine. You get free refills on soft drinks and fill up your own cup with whatever you like; similarly, you take a plate and help yourself to whatever you want from the salad bar. It reminded me of the Pizza Hut salad bar from my teenage years, even down to having what seemed to be exactly the same potato salad!

 

 

There were a lot of things I'd happily eat on the main menu which had a lot of choice. Sometimes with this much choice you wonder if there are too many dishes to do well - or if they are bought in bulk from a catering supplier, which may well be the case, but everything was really good. There's too much on the menu for me to list here but if you can think of a way to cook chicken, they have probably got it; then there are 8 types of burgers, a slow-cooked section, ribs and grills, fish - though for such a big menu the vegetarian section is pretty small with only halloumi and chips, cauliflower cheese and tomato tart or pasta in a tomato sauce. I'd describe this as 'family food with imagination' - nothing that would cause you to puzzle over the menu to wonder what it is, nothing to think 'I like that but not the other things it comes with' (you are encouraged to switch the side orders if you want, from a list) - but it's more interesting than just fish and chips or pie and mash.

 

I was keen to try the 'beer-can style chicken without the can'. I've made beer-can chicken myself which was really good. I wasn't sure if the Harvester meant that it was cooked in this way but you weren't served the beer can (for obvious reasons) or if it was cooked in a similar way but using something else, which they don't elaborate on, other than to say it's a rotisserie chicken.

 

 I had the half chicken which was plenty and very well priced at only £8.99 for the chicken with a piece of thick-cut bacon, a large flat mushroom, fries, gravy and a pot of smokey ketchup.

 

We'd all eaten a lot but had already caught a glimpse of the dessert menu which looked too good to resist! So the six of us ended up sharing two desserts - huge ice cream sundaes which were less than £4.50 each. One came with vanilla ice cream, pieces of honeycomb and toffee and a chocolate sauce, and the other had chocolate icecream (if I recall), pieces of Oreo biscuit and chocolate sauce. They were really good but very indulgent!

 

 

I was pleasantly surprised by the Harvester and pleased to find everyone in our group was able to have something completely different but that they really enjoyed, so I would definitely go back.

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Beer-Braised Beef Brisket with Branston

 I made a version of this recipe when I had a lesson at the London Barbecue School courtesy of Branston; we used thin steaks rather than beef brisket as they were quicker to cook, and they had been pre-marinaded.

 

I liked it so much I decided to make the full version of this recipe at home, which you can find on the Branston website here.

 

To serve 4, you need:

 

500g beef brisket

Bottle of dark beer – I actually used Liefmans Fruit Beer for a lovely fruity taste

1 tbsp honey

1 head of garlic, cut in half

100g Danish blue cheese, crumbled

150ml buttermilk

1 tbsp cider vinegar (I used white wine vinegar)

1 tsp garlic powder (available in the spice section of supermarkets)

Pinch of pepper

½ head of Savoy cabbage, core removed, and thinly sliced – I don’t like cabbage generally so used mooli instead

½ red onion, thinly sliced

1 carrot, peeled and grated

4 large flour tortillas (I actually served mine on the little gem leaves as I was avoiding carbs)

Branston Smoky Tomato & Chipotle Relish

2 sliced medium Jalapenos or green chillis (I left these out)

 

Marinade the beef overnight in the beer, honey and garlic.

 

 

When you are ready to cook, pre-heat oven to 120C – a pretty cool temperature. You are going to braise the beef, in the marinade, for 3-4 hours until cooked through and tender.

 

 

When it’s ready, carefully transfer the beef to a plate or chopping board and cover with foil. Strain the cooking liquid into a pan and reduce to a glaze.

 

Use two forks to shred the beef, and add to the pan with the glaze and fold in.

 

Meanwhile mix the cheese, buttermilk, vinegar, garlic powder and pepper in a large bowl until smooth. Add the cabbage, carrot and onion and stir until all combined.

 

 

 

To serve, place a tortilla (warmed in a skillet if you like) onto a plate, top with little gem, the slaw and pulled beef brisket. Add a dash of the Smoky Tomato and Chipotle Relish and sprinkle with chillis if desired.

 

 

I often make chicken fajitas but this was the first time I had served my husband pulled beef in a tortilla wrap and he really liked it. I don’t normally buy beer or have 4 hours to cook something in the oven so this isn’t something I’d probably make again, but I did really enjoy it – and it showed me once again how versatile Branston is.

 

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