Connie's Recipes - an experiment in culinary science

[ConnieK..]

Ingredients:

Calamari hoods (allowance)
Olive oil spray
1 clove garlic (crushed)
1/8 tsp chilli flakes
1/8 tsp black pepper (ground)
1 tablesppon Balsamic vinegar (black)
1/2 Tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
1 sweetener

Baby spinach (allowance)
Tomato (allowance)
Mixed lettuce (allowance)

Mix vinegars and sweetener, set aside.

Cut calamari hoods open, cut shallow diagonal slashes in criss cross pattern on inside surface, cut into 6cm pieces.

Heat oil spray in pan, cook calamari, garlic, chilli and pepper until browned all over and just tender. Add vinegar and sweetener mix and stir until hot.

Serve calamari on bed of lettuce and tomato .

Quick and easy to prepare, absolutely delicious lunch!

[Trips]

Oooooooooooo does sound good.

Will have to try this one!

[Wendy9]

Thanks Connie - my mouth is watering reading this recipe - will have to get me some calamari!

[ConnieK..]

Thanks Wendy,

I had it for lunch today as well, am kinda in love with it at the moment, but then I am a chilli fan.

Connie

[Cheral]

Have just made this to take for my lunch tomorrow. Thanks Connie, cut a little bit off and its delicious.

Cheral

[ConnieK..]

Creamy Italian chicken with mustard and 'Fettucinni'

Ingredients:

Chicken breast, chopped into small strips - (allowance)
Zucchini - (90% of allowance)
Onion, chopped - (10% of allowance)
1 cup water

Dried basil
Dried garlic
Dried parsley
Salt
Mustard powder

Mayonnaise allowance

**Note: may use fresh herbs as part of allowance if desired

Method:

Set a pot with water and a small amount of salt on the stove to boil.

Cut Zucchini into strips with vege peeler, slice into ribbons (thanks Babytime). Set Aside.

In a non stick pan with a light OO spray - cook chicken and onion with garlic and salt until brown and tender.
Add 100ml of water, mustard powder, basil and parsley and allow to simmer, adding water as needed to keep the chicken very moist while cooking zucchini.

Drop zucchini strips into boiling water, cook until almost clear, remove and place in the centre of the plate, add mayo to chicken and stir in until sauce looks creamy,
remove from heat and pour over zucchini strips.

[ConnieK..]

Chilli Garlic Prawns with Rocket and balsamic vinagrette

For the dressing you need:
1tbsp balsamic vinegar
chilli flakes
garlic
parsley
coriander
1 sweetener tablet

Mix, heat in microwave for 30 seconds and set aside in fridge until cool.

For the prawns you will need:

raw green prawns
ground chilli
crushed garlic
oil spray.

I slice the prawns down the centre of the spine so the edges will curl in, but you can just cook them without cutting.

Spray the pan with a little oil spray and heat it up, then add the chilli and garlic and sear a little, add the prawns and cook them over medium heat until they go pink and the edges curl, and the prawns are a little brown. Serve them hot over a rocket, tomato and red onion salad with the balsamic dressing.

Enjoy!

Connie

[ConnieK..]

Ok so last night I was bagging up the Scotch fillet my lovely hubby bought me yesterday, trimming all the fat etc. and I ended up with 3 nice steaks and a pile of leftover 'bits' which co-incedently weighed my lunchtime allowance...... hmmmm thought I .... so I made the following recipe and just had it for lunch ... it was absolutely awesome! .. and so filling ....... it felt like I was deviating..... I am sure it's been done before ... but it was pretty yummo!

Into a pot I threw:

1 clove crushed garlic ( from allowance)
onion ( from allowance)
scotch fillet steak ( allowance)
cauliflower ( from allowance)
Zucchini - peeled, and chopped ( from allowance)
mushroom ( from allowance)
Curry powder to taste (allowance)
500 ml water

I let this cook for about 30 mins - until the cauliflower was transparent and so was the zucchini. Then I let it sit until cool, then I blitzed it in the blender until it was a thick stew like goulash LOL .... I put into a container and nuked it, had it with cracked pepper vitawheats for lunch today and it was soooooo good.

may have been the high quality steak , but it was much better than other attempts I had made. think I better check my kitchen scales though ... feel like I had much more than usual for lunch LOL

[ConnieK..]

Chicken Korma

Ingredients:

Chicken breast (allowance)
finely grated fresh ginger (allowance)
fresh garlic, minced
1/4 cup green tea (cooled)
dried red chilli, crushed
finely chopped onion
oil spray
ground coriander
Pinch of ground black pepper
turmeric
garam masala (see below)
water
salt, to taste
finely chopped Coriander Leaves, to garnish
juice of 1/2 lemon ( allowance )
Mayo (allowance)

Instructions:

1. Cut the chicken breasts into bite sized chunks
2. Mix the chicken with the ginger and garlic, and green tea. Cover and marinade for 12 hours or in the fridge overnight.
3. Liquidise the chopped onion and red chillies, add a little water if you need to. blend til smooth.
4. Heat the oil spray in a pan.
5. Add the ground coriander, ground black pepper, turmeric and garam masala and stir fry for about 1-minute over a low heat.
6. Turn up the heat, add the onion and chilli paste and stir fry for 10-minutes.
7. Add the chicken and the marinade and continue to stir fry for another 10-minutes.
8. Add enough water to *just* cover the chicken and bring to the boil, stirring.
9. Reduce heat to low, cover the pan and simmer until the chicken is tender.
10. Remove from heat, add lemon juice and salt to taste, mix in mayo allowance to create a creamy consistency. Mix well.

Garnish with coriander and sprinkle of cinnamon. Serve with babytimes no-taters or a nice diced zucchini salsa.

Garam Masala

Black pepper 20 grams
Cloves 10 grams
Cinnamon 20 grams
Brown cardamom 15 grams
Cumin seeds 10 grams
Bay leaves 10 grams
Coriander seeds

Mix and cook in a skillet over a dry heat until they emit a smokey aroma ( not burnt) and turn a darker shade of brown, then crush with a mortar and pestle, store in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

[ConnieK..]

Tacos

Iceberg lettuce leaf still whole with some of the heavy core removed ( allowance )
1/2 tomato, finely chopped (allowance)
onion finely chopped (allowance)
minced beef (allowance)
2 tbsp sprite zero
oil spray
1 cracker
Taco seasoning (see below)

Taco seasoning
paprika
coriander seeds(ground)
cumin
pepper
salt
chillies (ground)

Mix all spices together and set aside, brown meat and onion in a pan with a little spray. add 1/4 tomato finely chopped, sprite and spice mix, cook while stirring until liquid reduces.

Place iceberg leaf on a plate as your tortilla shell, chopping off the edges where available. Shred these edges and add back into the shell with the other 1/4 tomato. Spoon the taco mix into the shell and top with roughly broken cracker, wrap lettuce around taco and eat.

[Trips]

Ooooooooooooo I'm getting excited by the Taco recipe!!!

Can't wait to try this one now!

Your recipes ROCK Connie!!

Much love,

Trips xxxxx

[thenewvee]

These look and sound awesome Connie, can't wait to try them out!!

Thanks!

Vee

[lucee]

Just tried the creamy chicken one Connie - it was good!!!

Lucee

[ConnieK..]

Apple tarts

I like to stew my apple with some sweetener and a little bit of sprite , then I soak my salada squares in sprite until they are soft and push them into the hollows in a lightly sprayed non-stick tart pan, then a bake that in the oven until they crisp up again , add the apple and some cinnamon and bake again til the top looks like apple pie and take them to work for afternoon tea when I feel a cake break coming on LOL I make 12 at a time (uses only about 1 and a half stewed apples) and freeze them in little containers, I then eat them warm from the microwave with a cup of tea. Because they don't use a full fruit for 4 tarts I can have other fruit with them or at another time in that day.

Connie

[sundaymorningstaple]

That's a brilliant yet so simple an idea. I might have to have a play around with that myself.

[ConnieK..]

Apricot Chicken


Ingredients

Chicken Allowance
Onion ( cut into strips )
apricot halves (2)
250ml diet sprite
1 Cracker
Cracked pepper
Garlic (dried)
Onion (dried)
Salt

Cauliflower

Cut the chicken into strips, set aside. Put the apricot halves and sprite into a container and microwave on high for 2 mins, remove and mash with a fork, making a soupy sauce.

In a ziplock bag put the cracker, pepper, salt, garlic and onion, roll with a rolling pin until as crumbs. Add chicken to bag and shake well coating chicken throughly. Fry strips in some oil spray in a pan until golden brown. Add remaining crumbs to a small casserole dish and slowly add sprite mix, mixing well. Add chopped onion and chicken pieces and simmer in over for 30 mins until chicken is thick and sauce has absorbed.

Serve with steamed cauli.

Beautiful!

[shrinking_moi]

Connie, I love the taco recipe. Will make that one soon and the apricot chicken. Can you still get apricot's where you are?
X
Ez

[ConnieK..]

Hi Ez,

I had frozen some before. I know that you can buy 100% apricots in the store, I haven't asked about them at the clinic. I have seen them in woolies, pie apricots, contains 100% Apricots. My mum uses them a lot.

Connie

[shrinking_moi]

I bet we can't if we can't have the frozen mango cheeks.

[ConnieK..]

They are not frozen,

100% Apricots in a can

Connie