Alright folks!

I've been mega busy in the kitchen this week (insert considerably unoriginal sexist joke here) and I've got some bits and pieces to show you.

Anyone tried any of the first 5 tips yet? I'll post another 5 next week - probably Tuesday. So keep popping back :)

This post is all about looking at healthier alternatives to the meals we all cook on a regular basis. And by alternative, I don't mean the whole meal itself - not like switching a curry for a salad. Even I'm not into that.

What I mean is cooking meals from scratch so that you know exactly what's in them.

If you can cook, great. You'll find this easy.
If not... give it a bash and hope that it's edible. ;)

Nah, in all seriousness, all the meals and recipes I'm about to show you I have made this week. The photos were all taken by me, meals made by me, and polished off by me. Mmm.
I'm an ok cook but I'm not brilliant. I have days where I make masterpieces and other days where I could burn cornflakes.

So have a bash at these and see which ones you fancy - leave us a comment if you do, ae?

There's so many positives to being able to cook this way:

It's cheaper - I used to pay £££ for hundreds of jars of pasta sauces. Now I look back and think, what a tool. Same with junk food. If you don't buy it, you can't eat it. I can't believe the money I've saved this month just from not buying crisps, chocolate, cakes, ready meals etc. More pennies for the pub. :)

It's healthier - you'll be cutting out things like sugar, salt and oil, which tend to base a lot of premade foods and ready meals.

You can have it exactly the way you like it. More spice? Less spice? I won't buy that because it has mushrooms in it and I don't like them.... so make it without.

Simples. *meerkat noise*

Ok, recipe numbero uno.... homemade chicken curry :)

Not only does it taste amaaaaaazing (trust me, I made loads and it was all gone by the next day) it's almost completely fat free. Which means you can literally eat as much of it as you like. Honestly. Go daft.

The recipe is as follows:

Mix together 4tbsp FAT-FREE natural yoghurt, 4 heaped tbsp tikka spice mix (or whatever spice you like, you can get normal curry powder, or tandoori is good as well), 2tbsp lemon juice and a pinch of paprika.

Cut around 400g of chicken breast (skinless and boneless) into cubes and coat well with the yoghurt-spice mix. Leave it for at least a couple of hours, overnight preferably, in the fridge, covered.

Preheat the grill to a moderate heat and grill the chicken until cooked through. Stir occasionally.

Once the chicken is cooked, transfer it to a pan and stir in 400g of FAT-FREE fromage frais. Heat on a VERY LOW heat (to avoid it curdling).

Once heated through, serve with boiled rice. Nom nom.

Out of the fat-free recipes that I have tried through http://www.slimmingworld.com/ , this has got to be my favourite so far. I can see myself making it once a week because, as I'm about to show you, it's quite adaptable...

Ohhh yeah. I had some leftovers the next day so I gently heated it up on the hob and mixed in some pasta for a filling lunch. And again, because the curry is fat-free and you can have as much pasta as you like, go nuts. It was maybe even better with pasta.. :)

I'll give one more recipe this week, and it's a belter... honest. Nom nom indeed.

Ahem. What a chef. :)
It looks like there's loads to this dish but there's really not. Depending what kind of mince you use, again it's almost completely fat free. So if you wanted an even bigger portion than this, go ahead. Although I can eat for scotland and didn't manage this.

To make the burgers:

Mix extra-lean beef mince (I used lean because it's cheaper, it's obviously a bit more fatty but it's good to save pennies sometimes) with plenty seasoning and whatever other ingredients you fancy. I crushed up garlic and sliced some chillies and added that along to the mixture - yum. You could also try cracked black pepper, basil and lemon juice - I've never tried this personally but have been told it's nice. You can also add up to one onion (depending how many burgers you're planning to make will determine how much to use). If you're like me and don't like onions, i added about 1/2 a tsp of onion granules just for the flavour.

Mould them into patties and grill, turning over halfway through. Make sure they're cooked right through, but don't overcooked them or they'll be really dry.

To make the wedges:

Cut baking potatoes into wedges and spread on a baking tray. The less they overlap the better, as they'll stick together and cook unevenly.

Spray with low-fat cooking spray (I use Fry Light, mega low calories compared to oil) and sprinkle some sort of seasoning on them. I recommend the Season All range, and used the Cajun variety for these particular wedges. To be perfectly honest, I made more of these wedges tonight as a late-night snack. Can't get enough of them.

Bake for around 40 minutes, turning over halfway through. Feel free to give the other sides of the wedges a 'spray and sprinkle' when you've turned them over, just so they're crisp and flavoured on both sides.

The salad was just fresh shredded lettuce and some cucumber (remember from tips last time, try to make 1/3 of your plate fruit or veg), and the red pepper was simply quartered, washed and grilled. I sprinkled a tiny bit of sweetner on each bit before grilling, just to sweeten them up a bit. Gorgeous.

The dip was just a little light mayonnaise (although I've now discovered extra-light so I'm going to switch to that) with some crushed garlic mixed through. To be honest, I didn't even touch the dip because the wedges were so tasty. Success. :)

My next blog will most likely be Tuesday. Here's what to expect:

Find out how I did at my 3rd weigh in at Slimming World - 6 and a half pounds lost so far!

The next 5 tips for weight-loss success - these ones are so easy to do that they'll require no effort. You'll wish you'd always done things that way.

AT LEAST one new recipe.

In the meantime, don't know who's reading, but if you are, cheers :)
Hope you're getting something from it.
Comment, subscribe, even just share on facebook.

Ciao x

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