Recipe No.10 – Potato Wedges with Tuna.

 

Sometimes on a Saturday all you want is a quick snack that you can eat on your lap in front of the television. When that Saturday includes a Test match that England are winning and a Formula One Grand prix then there is even more of a reason. Today was one of those days.

This meal as well as being quick, is easy to cook and draws on ingredients that you would normally have in the cupboard. It’s once again from “Good Food – 101 Low-Fat Feasts” and although under the section ‘Starters and Light Meals’ is perfectly adequate for a lunch time meal.

 

Ingredients

• 3 large Baking Potatoes.
• 3 Tablespoons Olive oil.
• 1 Leek – Sliced.
• 200g tin tuna[in brine] – drained
• 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes with chilli. [I actually used chopped tomatoes with peppers and chilli for that extra bite.]

 

 

1. Wash the potatoes and cut into wedges place in a baking tray and drizzle over two tablespoons of oil. Make sure that all the potatoes are covered with the oil and place in a pre-heated oven [Gas Mark 7/ 220C] for around 30 minutes.
2. Heat the remainder of the oil in a pan and fry the leek until soft.
3. Pour in the tuna and tomatoes and mix well, breaking up the tuna.
4. Cook until heated through and then add to the cooked potatoes gently stirring to mix all the components. Serve immediately.

 

 

For  such an easy recipe this dish was very tasty indeed and on this typical British Bank Holiday weekend was just what was required to WARM you up!!!

I shall have it again on Sunday while watching the Belgium Grand Prix.

Recipe No. 9 – Chicken with Apples and Cider.

 

We’re back home after a few days away, a little heavier after eating in hotels for the last week. It didn’t start too bad as Helena cooked a lovely Sunday lunch of Spanish Roast Chicken together with roast potatoes and steamed asparagus. This was a Jamie Oliver recipe that was quite similar to the Italian Chicken that I cooked a few weeks ago and it was delicious! The steamed asparagus was divine , I must try steaming as a cooking method. You can find the chicken recipe here.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chicken-recipes/super-tasty-spanish-roast-chicken

The rest of the week was spent in Cromer at the Sandcliff guest house and as the picture says we were treated to “home-cooked” food.

Lovely traditional English breakfasts and great three course evening meals with little consideration to cholesterol at all. Well you have to treat yourself sometimes!!!

Today’s recipe is again very simple using only five main ingredients, it comes from “Good Food 101 Low-Fat Feasts”.

 

 

Ingredients.

• 2 Tablespoons olive oil.
• 4 Boneless,skinless chicken beasts.
• 1 Onion, cut into wedges.
• 2 Eating apples, peeled cored and cut into segments.
• 1/2 pint [500ml] Dry Cider.
• 1/4 pint [150ml] Chicken stock

 

 

 

1. In a frying pan heat the oil and fry the chicken breasts until they are browned on each side,[about 3-4 mins. each side] set aside.
2. In the same oil fry the onions for around 2-3 minutes until turning brown, then add the apples and cook for about 5 minutes until golden.
3. Add the cider and boil under high heat for a couple of minutes, add the stock stir well and reduce the heat.
4. Return the chicken, cover the pan and simmer for about 5 minutes until the chicken is almost cooked .
5. Remove lid and continue simmering for around 5 minutes to thicken the sauce slightly.

The dish can be served with rice or mashed potatoes, I choose the rice.

This was a lovely dish to end the week with, even Poppy thought it had plenty of flavour and it therefore received the “thumbs up”. I must admit that she did require some tomato sauce, but then she generally does with most dishes [takes after her father].She likes to arrange her food in the plate that we bought back from Normandy and how appropriate that a Normandy plate should be used for an apple and cider dish.

Everyone else really enjoyed the dish and it’s one that I would cook again, it would probably work well with pork as well.

Recipe No. 8 – Spanish Rice & Prawn One-Pot.

 

Although shrimps and prawns contain a moderate amount of cholesterol [about 70 mg per 100g compared with a medium egg 185mg], recent research by the University of Surrey showed that eating 225g of prawns a day had no appreciable effect on blood cholesterol. They are also very low in fat and a good source of protein. The British Health Foundation suggests that seafood should play a part in a well-balanced diet and that it is much more important to cut down on saturated fats that this “dietary” cholesterol.

This dish is simple to prepare and easy & quick to cook, it’s quite similar to a Jambalaya but less spicy and without the chicken.

 

 

Ingredients.

• 1 Onion – sliced
• 1 Red Pepper – seeded and sliced
• 1 Green Pepper – seeded and sliced
• 50g chorizo – cut into small chunks
• 2 Garlic cloves – crushed
• 1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 250g Easy-Cook Basmati Rice
• 400g can Chopped Tomatoes
• 200g Peeled Prawns

 

 

1. Using a NON-STICK [see later] pan with a lid, fry the onion, peppers, garlic and chorizo in the oil for about 3 minutes over a high heat.
2. Stir in the rice and tomatoes and add 500ml of boiling water, mix well then cover. Cook over a high heat for 12 minutes.
3. Uncover and stir. Add the prawns with a little more water if the rice looks too dry.
4. Cook for another 2-3 minutes until the prawns are pink and the rice is tender. Serve from the pan.

 

Firstly a confession, I didn’t use a non-stick pan ! The rice consequently stuck to the bottom and was slightly burnt. This didn’t however deter my regular band of diners from tucking in and they all enjoyed it. Poppy thought that this dish “had Plenty of flavour” but couldn’t get enough of the prawns and kept on asking for more. Joey loved it although the chorizo proved a little difficult for him to chew so he spat it out and continued eating the rest. Victoria finished her first plateful and like everyone else had second helpings. A great easy to cook lunch dish!!

We are away now for a few days and it will be interesting to see if we can keep up the healthy eating when staying in hotels. I’ll try [internet access permitting] to keep you updated.

Recipe No. 7 – Sticky Lemon Chicken

 

Lemons have been used as a cooking ingredient since the 11th century, both for it’s properties as a flavour enhancer and for it’s nutritional benefits. Although most of the Vitamin C, that it is famed for containing, is destroyed in cooking, the acidic taste gives a lift to foods that might otherwise be bland. Lemons have been heralded by natural healers as a therapy for cramps, inflammations, gout and arthritic pain, and lemons do this without adding calories [A medium lemon containing about 17 calories and no fat.].

The British navy gave rations of lemons to all it’s sailors in the late 1800’s to combat scurvy. It was this ration that led to the nickname “LIMEYS”, in the belief that they were in fact over-ripe limes. Perhaps we should be more correctly referred to as “LEMONIES”?

There are many variations of this recipe around the internet including a Gordon Ramsey's one, the recipe I used came once again from “Eating for Lower Cholesterol”.

 

Ingredients.

• 8 Chicken Portions [I used leg joints but thighs or drumsticks would work]
• 3 Lemons
• 2 Tablespoons Runny Honey
• 3 Garlic Cloves – unpeeled
• 1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2-3 Sprigs of rosemary

 

 

 

1. To reduce the fat content remove the skin from the chicken. [I actually didn’t do this!!].
2. Squeeze the juice from the three lemons into a large roasting tin, add the honey,garlic and olive oil and mix well.
3. Add the chicken and put the empty lemon halves all around.
4. Add the rosemary to the top of the chicken and place in a pre-heated oven [180 C / Gas Mark 4] and cook for around an hour or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.

I served it with new potatoes and a small salad although it would go well with rice also. The lemons can be eaten as they come out sticky and caramelised.

The chicken was very moist and tender and was well cooked, if anything the overall flavour was a little too lemony, which I enjoyed. Sylvia wasn’t overly impressed as the promised “stickiness” just wasn’t there. This was certainly not one of her favourites!

Poppy, who ever since the couscous last week has been telling her mother that every meal “lacks flavour”, thought it was lovely and gave it a “thumbs-up”. However after squeezing a lemon on the chicken half way through her meal, no further chicken was eaten! Victoria [who had just popped by] loved the flavour but the extra Poppy lemon flavour was even too much for her.

Having seen some of the other recipes on the internet I think that next time I’ll try a slightly different variation to try to get more of the honey coming through. As there was some left over I will be trying the dish cold for my lunch tomorrow – I’ll let you know what that is like.

Recipe No. 6 – Mustardy Pork with Apples.

 

It’s often assumed that red meat shouldn’t be part of a low-cholesterol diet but while it’s true that some meat products are high in saturated fats lean red meat can be quite low in fat (4-8% with the visible fat trimmed). So the advice from all the experts is to eat red meat in moderate amounts and choose the lower fat options when you do. For instance a lean roast pork leg joint would have about a quarter of the fat content of a grilled pork belly joint. Red meat is a superb source of protein, Iron, Zinc, Magnesium and vitamins,especially the B group. Indeed it is the major source of Vitamin B12 which has a key role in the functioning of the brain and nervous system and in the formation of blood. So the advice from the British Nutritional Foundation is :

Choose lean meat. Generally, the more white you can see on raw meat, the more fat it contains. 

Cut off any visible fat and skin before cooking meat and try not to add extra fat or oil.

Try not to eat too many meat products such as sausages, salami, pâté and beef burgers, because these are generally high in fat including saturated fat. They are often high in salt too.

Try using smaller quantities of meat in dishes and more vegetables, pulses and starchy foods e.g. cut down on the meat in casseroles and stews but add extra pulses, pearl barley and vegetables.

Try to grill, roast or microwave meat  rather than frying. Roast meat on a metal rack above a roasting tin, so fat can run off.

So on with the cooking!!!

 

Ingredients

• 4 Pork steaks [trimmed of excess fat]
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 2 Apples – cored and cut into 8.
• 1 Onion, halved and sliced.
• Handful of sage leaves – torn into pieces.
• 200ml chicken stock.
• 2 Tablespoons wholegrain mustard.

 

1. Rub the steaks with a little of the oil and season.
2. In a large frying pan brown the steaks on both sides for about 2 minutes each. Set aside.
3. Add the remainder of the oil to the pan and fry the onion, apples and sage for around 5 minutes until the apples have softened.
4. Pour in the stock and spoon in the mustard, return the pork.
5. Simmer for around 10 minutes until the pork is cooked through and the sauce has reduced by around a third.

 

I served the pork with mashed potatoes and spring greens.

After Friday’s poor outcome this was a triumph, full of flavour with the mustard complementing the apples and pork. The pork itself was very tender and had a good flavour, I used ASDA Extra Special Pork steaks and they lived up to their name. An excellent weekend lunch.

Recipe No. 5 – Cod baked in couscous & tomato paste.

 

Traditionally Friday is the day for eating fish, I’m not sure of when this started, but according to the Food Standards Agency it should be on the menu at least twice each week. Fish is a good source of vitamins and low-fat protein, but were you aware of all it’s other benefits? A study in France of 2000 people showed that by eating fish at least once a week significantly lowered the risk of dementia. Another study, this time in Sweden, indicated that the risk of prostate cancer was doubled in a group that ate no fish when compared to a group that ate moderate amounts. But it’s not only health benefits as fish can apparently make you law-abiding citizens according to a study in Mauritius. This showed that children aged 3+ who had a diet featuring plenty of fish were far less likely to have a criminal record by the age of 23. With all these benefits how can you resist!!!

Ingredients

• 200g Couscous
• 1 Egg
• 4 skinless cod fillets [I used frozen ones that had been defrosted]
• 4 tablespoons tomato puree
• 1 lemon

 

 

1. Put the couscous in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Cover the bowl with a plate and leave for about 5 mins.
2. After this time fluff it up with a fork.
3. Whisk egg slightly in bowl and dip each cod fillet in .
4. Coat fillets on both sides with the couscous, pressing it down to make a crust.
5. Place on a baking tray and spread a tablespoon of tomato puree on top of each fillet.
6. Place in a pre-heated oven [gas mark 4 – 180 C] and cook for between 18-20 minutes.

I served the fish with new potatoes and peas but mash or a salad would be a good alternative.

The good news is that the frozen fish was superb, lovely and solid with the flakes of fish just coming away as you ate. I certainly would buy this again as it’s easy to keep in the freezer for when required. That unfortunately was all the good news: the couscous added nothing to the fish except bulk. Even Poppy remarked “Grancher, this couscous needs more flavour”, very astute for a four year old but also very correct! I’ve written on my thoughts on couscous previously and this dish once again confirmed them. Even Victoria [who was just passing by] had little to suggest except that perhaps a North African spice [the name escapes me at the moment] could be added to “spice” the dish up.

Not one of the best meals that I have cooked but if it keeps my grandchildren out of jail, what does flavour matter!

Eating out and staying healthy.

 

While you are at home and in control of what goes into your cooking, it is relatively easy to stay on top of what you are eating. When you eat out however it’s easy to have more calories, fat or salt than you’d like especially as portion sizes seem to get bigger and bigger. Most of the major restaurant chains offer lower fat alternatives to their main menus and it’s a good idea to look at their websites before you go to check. Most of the major chains have a breakdown of the nutritional value of their meals and some like MacDonald's have a nifty device to calculate just how much fat you have [or may] consume. -[http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/food/nutrition/nutrition-counter.mcd.]

The Food Standards Agency here in the UK offers advice on their website including the types of menu items you should choose over less healthy alternatives. It even goes through the main restaurant types found here such as Indian, Italian, Chinese etc. and suggests menu items that are good and those you should probably avoid.Their address is [http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/healthydiet/eatingouthealthily/healthierchoices/.]

It’s no good knowing how much fat there is in your burger if you don’t know how much you should eat. Here are the guideline daily amounts of the major nutrients as supplied by the British Heart Foundation.

Nutrient	Men	Women
Energy	2500kcal	2000kcal
Sugars	120g	90g
Fat	95g	70g
of which saturates	30g	20g
Fibre	24g	24g
Sodium	2.4g	2.4g
Salt	6g	6g

 

Today we went into Cardiff as Sylvia need a hair cut and likes the hairdresser in the new St. David’s Centre and as we were out at lunchtime we needed to make a decision on where we would eat. We choose Nando’s.

We both choose to have a 1/4 chicken, Sylvia added spicy rice and macho peas to hers while I just had sweet potato mash. Checking in on the Nando’s website  [http://www.nandos.co.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=model.default&cat=FEM6&description=Eating_Well ] on our return home revealed the following about the fat we had consumed.

	Sylvia	Ken
Peri-Peri 1/4 Chicken – Total Fat	15g	15g
Saturated Fat	4.5g	4.5g
Spicy Rice Total Fat	5.3g	-
Saturated Fat	0.9g	-
Macho Peas  - Total Fat	10.4g	-
Saturated Fat	3.8g	-
Sweet Potato Mash – Total Fat	-	4.8g
Saturated Fat	-	2.8g
Grand Total - FAT	30.7g[43.86%]	19.8g[20.84%]
Saturated Fat	9.2g[46%]	7.3g[24.33]

The figures in brackets indicating the percentage of the daily total.

In fairness Sylvia removed the skin from her chicken which probably contains a lot of the fat and I did eat about half her peas, but this does show how difficult it is to eat healthily when eating out.

Recipe No.4 – Mixed Bean Chilli.

 

Beans,beans are good for your heart,

The more you eat the more you f**t.

 

As every schoolboy knows from the rhyme above beans are good for you.Not only are they loaded with protein,vitamins and minerals but they are also a good source of cholesterol-lowering soluble fibre. In the past beans required soaking overnight and robust cooking but nowadays canned products combine the ease of use without losing any of the nutritional benefits. This recipe blends a mixture of beans together with onions, garlic and peppers to make a good vegetarian substitute for Chilli Con Carne.

 

 

Ingredients.

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil.
• 1 onion, finely chopped.
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed.
• 1 green pepper, deseeded and finely chopped.
• 1 red pepper, deseeded and finely chopped.
• 1 piece of ginger[about 1 inch square] grated.
• 1 chilli pepper, deseeded and finely chopped.
• 1x400g can chopped tomatoes
• 1x400g can kidney beans,drained & rinsed
• 1x400g can butter beans,drained & rinsed.
• 1x400g can chickpeas,drained & rinsed.

 

1. In a large pot, heat the oil and soften the onion, add the garlic and cook for a few minutes.
2. Add the peppers and cook for a further two minutes.
3. Add the ginger,tomato paste and tomatoes. Mix in well for around 1 minute before adding all the beans and chickpeas.
4. Simmer for a few minutes until thoroughly warmed through.

 

I served the meal without rice as I felt that this would be too much carbohydrate. Victoria [who just happened to be passing] suggested that as an alternative, wraps and a salad would make a good accompaniment.

The dish itself was very tasty and filling and made an excellent lunch dish. The original recipe didn’t use the chilli pepper but I felt that it needed this to give a little extra bite, but any more may have masked the wonderful flavour of the ginger. The texture was a magnificent blend of soft [butter-beans] crunchy [peppers] together with the slightly harder chick-peas  - a great mix and a great lunch.

The weather forecast in Wales tonight suggests that it might be a little windy!!!!

Recipe No. 3 – Italian Style Roast Chicken with Roast Potatoes with Sage.

 

As you may have gathered, I’m a little bit of a traditionalist when it comes to food and on a Sunday that means a roast dinner. This roast chicken recipe has no added fat and in theory the stock mixes with the meat juices when cooking to form a sauce. The roast potatoes are made with extra virgin olive oil, a monounsaturated fat , which reduces LDL [‘bad’ cholesterol] and increases HDL [‘good’ cholesterol].

 

Ingredients

• 1 large chicken[I prefer ‘corn-fed’]
• 4 low-salt stock cubes
• 4 cloves of garlic, cut into halves but not peeled
• 2 lemons cut into quarters
• 2 sprigs of rosemary.

 

 

1. Rinse the chicken and remove any surplus fat from the cavity.
2. Break each of the stock cubes into 4, and place 2 inside the cavity, followed by a few halves of the garlic. Then add a lemon quarter squeezing it as you place it in. Repeat until all the stock cubes, garlic and lemon are inside. Finally add the rosemary.
3. Place in a roasting tin and cover with foil and place in a pre-heated oven [gas mark 7/220 C].
4. Cook for about 2 hours, removing the foil for the last 20-25 minutes.

Roast Potatoes

1. Peel around 5-6 potatoes and quarter.
2. Add to a pan of boiling water and cook for around 5 minutes, drain and place in a baking tray.
3. Add 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and a handful of finely chopped sage leaves. Mix together well and season with a generous amount of black pepper.
4. Place in the oven with the chicken and cook for around 50 minutes, turning every 15 minutes or so.

 

We served the chicken and potatoes with some boiled sweetheart cabbage.

 

Although I said that the dish should produce it’s own sauce I was a little disappointed as this sauce seemed very fatty, I actually made up some chicken oxo as a substitute. In fairness if you drained the fat off and spooned a little of the sauce on the meat it tasted very good. The chicken itself was wonderfully moist with a lovely lemon flavour, although there was a hint of garlic this was not at all overwhelming. The roast potatoes were superb, crisp on the outside with the inside soft and fluffy and a gentle taste of sage.

This is certainly a dish that I would cook again , a good substitute for the traditional British Sunday roast.

Recipe No. 2 – Sticky Chicken with Mango Couscous.

Taken from 101 More Low-Fat Feasts – BBC Good Food Books.

 

 

Ingredients

• 1 Large Mango
• 4 spring onions – sliced.
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin.
• 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar.
• 259g couscous.
• 3 tablespoons thick-cut marmalade
• 4 teaspoons grainy mustard
• 4 chicken breasts – cut into 3-4 slices each.

 

1. While the grill is heating to high, peel and cut the mango into bite-size chunks. Mix with 3/4 of the spring onions, the cumin and vinegar, and leave to one side.
2. Place the couscous in a large bowl, add 400ml of boiling water , cover with cling film and leave to one side.
3. Mix together the marmalade and mustard, lay the chicken strips in a roasting dish and brush with around half of the mixture.
4. Grill for 3-4 minutes, then turn and glaze the other side with the remaining mixture. Grill for a further about another 5 minutes until the chicken is thoroughly cooked and the glaze is bubbly.
5. Stir the mango mixture into the couscous and serve with the hot chicken strips spooning some of the juices from the tin on top. Add the remaining spring onions as relish.

 

The chicken tasted succulent and flavoursome although the mustard didn’t come through as much as I thought it might. In my opinion the couscous was a little dry but Sylvia reckoned it was okay. I’m not really a fan of couscous preferring potatoes or pasta, but Victoria [yes dah-rah she did happen to be passing again] agreed with Sylvia that it wasn’t too dry, so I'm probably not the best person to give an opinion. Once again the children loved the meal although Poppy did require the addition of some tomato ketchup and Joey succeeded in putting a large amount of couscous up his nose. All in all I think another successful dish.

Thanks for all the suggestions regarding other websites, books and other such sources. It really is appreciated. We will be studying them over the weekend in order to sort out next week’s menu.

What about breakfast & tea?

Since I retired from work a few years ago we have got into a routine with our meals; breakfast when we get up [usually between 8.00 and 9.00], dinner [or as my Granddaughter corrects me - “Actually it’s lunch, Grancher”] between 12.00 and 1.00 and an afternoon tea around six-ish in the evening. We prefer to have our main meal at lunchtime these days and don’t like eating too late in the evening. There’s the dilemma. Our teas in the past were a mixture of cheese sandwiches, cheese on toast, cheese and ham sandwiches [notice a theme?]… need I go on. Whereas the recipe books will sort our mid-day meal, I need some ideas for tea time. We have over the last few days had sardines, banana sandwiches and beans on toast tonight. Any help would be appreciated.
And then there’s breakfast, normally this consists of cereal and there are some healthy options out there, but why as the cereal gets healthier does the taste more and more resemble cardboard? I prefer the sweet cereals that are less healthy so I’m probably going to have to “sex-up” the cereal with fruit or nuts to take away the cardboard taste.
I didn’t cook for lunch today as we had the leftover meatloaf from yesterday served with salad and new potatoes accompanied by a Thai dipping sauce[recipe below]. The meatloaf was excellent cold indeed Sylvia commented that it tasted better than yesterday, the dipping sauce certainly perked up the meal but it was VERY HOT!!! In future I would probably reduce the amount of chillies in it but the overall flavour was good, with the initial sweetness being overtaken by the sharpness of the vinegar and lime before being overwhelmed by the hotness of chilli.

Thai Hot Dipping Sauce.

     Ingredients

• 
  
  2 tablespoons caster sugar.
• 
  
  Juice of 1 Lime.
• 
  
  6 tablespoons of water.
• 
  
  2 tablespoons white wine vinegar.
• 
  
  3 Red bird’s eye chillies – thinly sliced [seeds & all]

Simply mix all the ingredients in a saucepan, bring to the boil and cook for around 2 minutes. [Adjust the amount of chilli according to taste, I’d probably start with 1 next time and build up].

Recipe Number 1 – Turkey,Thyme & Leek Meatloaf.

This recipe comes from 101 More Low-Fat Recipes  - BBC Good Food.

                    Ingredients

• 1 tbsp sunflower oil
• 4 large leeks – sliced
• 500g minced turkey
• 2 thyme sprigs – leaves only.
• 85g breadcrumbs
• 1 egg – beaten
• 2 rashers lean back bacon – fat trimmed – chopped.

Method

1. 
   
   While the oven is preheating to Gas Mark 7 [220C], soften the leeks in a frying pan for 5 minutes with the oil.
2. 
   
   Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. [The recipe suggests a 28x18cm tray but all I could find was a 23cm square tray, as the area was around the same I opted for this.]
3. 
   
   Mix the mince,thyme,leeks,egg and about two-thirds of the breadcrumbs together with a little seasoning. [Bearing in mind the blood pressure situation I just used a little black pepper and NO salt].
4. 
   
   Add this mixture to the baking tray and press down firmly and then use a fork to ruffle the surface. Mix the remaining breadcrumbs together with the chopped bacon and spread over the top.
5. 
   
   Cook for about 15 minutes, then finish under the grill until the surface is crisp and golden. [This is probably a good point to mention that the greaseproof paper really ought to be trimmed back or else when you place it under the grill it may catch fire – yes it did!]
6. 
   
   I served it simply with new potatoes and some [frozen!] mixed veg.  

Although I though that the meatloaf looked a little dry it wasn’t in the slightest. It  tasted very good with the flavour of the thyme and leeks coming through well. Sylvia loved it and so did Victoria who happened to be passing when I was cooking. Poppy gave it a thumbs-up although she did remove the leeks prior to eating and Joey said “Yea”!!
All-in-all a good recipe to start with, if this is eating the low-fat way, long may it continue.

The New Regime.

After returning from the doctor’s with the news that her cholesterol was still too high coupled with an elevated blood pressure Sylvia has decided that we should both go on a low cholesterol diet. In fairness I don’t know what my cholesterol reading is as I have never had it tested but the chances are that with my weight situation, it will not be low. The first stop was a visit to Waterstones bookshop in Cardiff to peruse the cookery section to get some inspiration to kick start the new regime. Unfortunately no books were ready to hand and at W H Smith the story was similar with the exception of two books – Healthy Eating for Lower Cholesterol by Daniel Green and 101 More Low-Fat recipes from the BBC Good Food Series.

Although slightly disappointed by the lack of literature covering such an important area, I decided to use these two books as a base for my cookery exploits over the coming months. This blog will be a diary of these attempts to lower our cholesterol levels and avoid statins. Any input would be welcomed including suggestions for recipes, web-sites, other books – in fact any thing that may be interesting to my readers. Two words of caution, one I am not a chef but an interested amateur, please excuse me if I get the basics wrong. Secondly I am certainly not a doctor and have no medical qualifications so please bear that in mind if you follow this blog. Hopefully I will be able to report that cholesterol levels have started to fall as the project progresses.