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I find it impossible to walk past a second hand book shop or stall and some of my most treasured booked were obtained in this way. A few weeks ago TrickyRicky and I set off for a Saturday morning visit to the Essenwood Craft Market. With a spicy, crunchy and soul warming Falafel clutched in my paws I sauntered over to the book stall! I bought a copy of The Australian Women’s Weekly Easy Vietnamese Style Cookery book. I must just add here that I find the Australian cook books to be very good.

Max, who is single again, by the way, walked through the door a few weeks ago and pounced on me. The request this time was for ‘huge pots’ of my vegetable minestrone and whatever other soups I desired to make. ‘Just keep them coming Mum!”, has been his Monday morning mantra with weight loss his ultimate aim. He shed 3kgs within two weeks eating soup! Ah the benefits of youth! I am still gymming myself into oblivion every morning – the weight loss has slowed but I am feeling and LOVING the changes to my shape. I even have a set of ‘guns’ to show off!

There is only so much minestrone that one can bear so variety became the name of the game. This Vietnamese cookbook has two really delicious soup recipes and today I am posting my favourite of the two. This Chilli Meatball Soup is a corker and even had TrickyRicky asking for second helpings.

Chilli Meatball Soup

Canh Thit Bo Bam Vien

Ingredients

2L water

2Tbs fish sauce

1tsp sesame oil

1Tbs Sambal Oelek (which is just bottled crushed red chillies with some flavouring) I used 2Tbs as we like it hot

1 clove crushed garlic

4 green spring onions sliced

1- 2 red chilli sliced

The Meatballs

Ingredients

1kg minced beef – you could easily replace the beef with either chicken, lamb or pork mince

1 medium onion roughly chopped

1Tbs finely chopped fresh lemongrass – I use the inner softer parts of the lemongrass

2 small red chillies chopped

4 cloves of garlic chopped

1/2cup chopped fresh coriander

2tsp beef stock powder

2tsp sugar (I substituted with xylitol)

1Tbs corn flour

2tsp sesame oil

3Tbs fish sauce

3Tbs Hoisin sauce

Method

To make the meatballs process all of the meatball ingredients together in a food processor until smooth.

: My 20 year old food processor doing it’s best .. I processed the meatball ingredients batch by batch and then mixed them all together evenly in a bit bowl ….

I found it easier to do this in batches as my dear old food processor is 20 years old and on its last legs! I am waiting for the moment that she explodes!

Wet your hands (this will prevent the mixture from sticking to your fingers) and roll the mixture into balls small enough to eat in one mouthful. I always make them just big enough to fit onto a soup spoon as a rule.

Bring the 2L of water to the boil in a large pot and add the fish sauce

Add half of the meatballs and simmer, uncovered for about 5 minutes or until they are cooked through, remove them from the pan and set aside while you poach the second batch.

: Poach half of the meatballs at a time.

: Use a soup ladel to skim any skum off the top of the broth. This will ensure that you have a nice clear broth.

Once the second batch is cooked add the first batch of meatballs back, the Sambal Oelek, sesame oil and garlic and cook for a further 5 minutes.

: This is the Sambal Oelek – a paste of chillies, sesame oil, black bean, rice wine vinegar, garlic salt and sugar.

Check for seasoning – I added a little more fish sauce and a stock cube.

Serve topped with the chopped spring onions and a little chopped fresh red chilli and spring onion!

: Serve topped with sliced chilli and spring onion.

I must say that this soup is beautifully perfumed with the chopped lemongrass and sesame oil,

it’s nice and light and the fact that the meatballs are not fried means that you save on calories.

Top Tip

I have read that you can plant the end of celery and it will grow!

Well it works!

I plonked the stubby little bottom of a celery bunch and it’s sprouted in just 3 days!

: Hey Presto! It’s growing nicely.

I will never throw the end of my celery away ever again!

As always

Buon Appetito

Xxx

jan

by janicetripepi

Cannoli Siciliani, with Love on Mother’s Day

May 9, 2013 in Baking, Biscuit recipes, Christmas Recipes, Cooking with Fruit, Desserts, Gifts From Your Kitchen, Italian Classics, Janice Tripepi, Meatfree Mondays, Pasta Recipes, Valentined Day Food for Love

16 Comments »

Tags: cannoli, Cannoli Recipe, Cannoli Siciliani, Ideas for Mothers Day, italian cannoli recipe, Janice Tripepi, Mother's Day recipes

Cannoli Siciliani made with lots and lots of love for Mother’s Day xx

This is a time that makes me reflect on the many ‘mothers’ I have known. And I use the word ‘mother’ in a very broad sense. One does not have to give birth to be a mother. I have been ‘mothered’ by so many incredible women over the years. I think of the many ‘nannies’ who have cleaned my scraped knees, whoshared a bowl of porridge on the back step and shown me how to embroider on a Sunday afternoon.

I think of my friends mothers who have enveloped me with big mamma hugs, offered me tissues and helped me through the heartache of loves lost. I think of my dearest mum whose lap I long for so often. Even as an adult and a mother myself I would sometimes phone my mum to come over so I could lay with my head in her warm lap. She could take a headache away with a single caress and she really did understand me.

I think of my dear mother in law whose generosity of spirit and very special thirst for life never ceased to inspire me. She spent hours in her tiny little kitchen with me teaching me to cook. How I must have frustrated her with my never ending questions. As we cooked she taught me to speak Italian and we laughed a lot at my clumsy ways.

I remember taking my Mum, Granny Annie and Mum-in-law, Nonna Lily to dinner at the Roma Revolving and then on to watch the Bolshoi Ballet dance Swan lake at the Playhouse. My mum was a ballet dancer in her youth and as a consequence of spending half of her life in point shoes she could hardly even walk; Nonna with her two bionic hips needed the aid of a walking stick; Mum could not speak a word of Italian and Nonna, no English. I had to enlist the aid of my friend Karmie to manage them both. Traffic had to be stopped outside the Playhouse, for these two Diva’s were not going to walk all the way from the Parkade. They sat through the performance chatting away, Nonna in Italian and my mum, in English and for some reason seemed to understand each other perfectly! Oh, what a special night we had.

At this time of the year I remember those days when Max and Daniele were little dudes and would arrive in my bedroom, faces beaming with pride, clutching a tray of ‘Scambled Eggs Mum!” and hand made cards with precious words of love and affection scribbled in multi coloured crayon. I miss that beautiful smell of freshly shampooed hair and their flannel jamies as they huddled with me in my bed and proudly ate the ‘scambled’ eggs with me. I can honestly say that my children are my greatest achievement of my life and I am deeply grateful for the honour of being their mum.

Both my mum and Nonna Lilly have passed on but if they were here today I would get into my kitchen and with lots of love in my heart I would make them a beautiful tray of these Cannoli to celebrate Mother’s Day.

These crunchy tubes of fried sweet pasta filled with a ricotta cream that oozes with the flavours and aromas of Christmas make me sigh with satisfaction. Cannoli are most definitely Italy’s answer to the mighty macaroon of France and can be filled with both sweet and savoury fillings. The Cannolo is native to Sicily and must surely be closely related to the arrival of the Arabs in the South of Italy. Whereas daily food in Sicily reflects the ‘cucina povera’ fashion, Cannoli put on their high heels, red lipstick and parade down the promenade. No expense is spared when it come to pastries in Italy and every pasticceria sells its own special Cannoli filled with their signature filling.

I like this particular recipe as it has no lard in the pastry, which means its a bit lighter and easier on the hips. I get 20 cannoli out of this quantity but this can vary dependant on the size of your cannoli. In Italy you can buy metal tubes to roll your cannoli around for the frying stage. Seeing as I don’t have any of these tubes I went the ‘really ancient’ route of using wood. I purchased an unpainted wooden broom stick from our local hardware store and cut it up into 10cm lengths. They work just fine and can be used again and again! You can also use cannoli pasta shells as moulds.

: My cannoli moulds – a broomstick cut into 10 x 12 cm sections.

I make all 20 cannoli shells but have only ever filled 12 at a time. The shells keep perfectly well in a air tight container for use up to 2 weeks later. Once the cannoli are filled with the Ricotta – you need to eat them as the pastry will go soft after about 10 hours. So I only use 500g of ricotta to fill 12 but keep the rest of the filling ingredients as per the recipe.

Ingredients

DSC_0274 (640x425)

For the Pastry

3 cups SASKO flour

3 egg yolks

1 egg

1tsp grated lemon rind

3Tbs Marsala – this can be substituted with port

1 egg white

sunflower or oil for deep frying

: I always use Sasko Self Raising Flour for extra light and crunchy pastry.

For the Cannoli Filling

1kg ricotta cheese

1 1/2 cups icing sugar

6 x 5cm cm cinnamon sticks/ quills

2 vanilla pods – split open and the seeds removed with the back of a knife

1tsp grated lemon rind – I used the rind of a whole small lemon

1/4 cup mixed peel

1/4 cup chopped glacee cherries

1 ring of glacee pineapple

icing sugar for coating

60g grated dark hazel nut chocolate – or just plain dark chocolate grated, you could even use crushed nuts instead if you don’t fancy chocolate

Method

Sieve 1 cup of Sasko’s always soft and fluffy flour into your mixer bowl, add the egg yolks and mix for 30 seconds to achieve a crumb like texture

cover the bowl with plastic wrap and regrigerate this mixture for 2 hours

: Mix the dough to a crumb like texture, cover and place in your refrigerator for 2 hours to rest.

Remove from the fridge and add the ramaining sifted flour, lightly beaten egg, lemon rind and marsala.

: The recipe calls for 1tsp of grated lemon zest – I added the zest of a whole small lemon … 1 just love the flavour it adds!

Mix well

Turn the mixture out onto a floured surface, bring it together and knead it for 10 to 15 minutes

Cover in cling wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

(I refrigerated my dough over night …. and it was fine, in fact it was beautifully relaxed)

Cut the dough into 4 pieces , roll out the dough into paper thin sheets. It is really important to roll the dough very thinly as you want thin crunchy cannoli. If the dough is too thick it doesn’t crisp up nicely.

I roll each piece through the machine on the largest setting three times, folding it it on itself twice and repeating three times

then I continue to roll each piece through to setting No 7 which is paper thin

: Roll the dough through your pasta machine on the largest setting 3 times, in between each roll fold the dough in on itself twice like above and dust with a little extra flour to prevent it from sticking in the machine.

Using a cookie cutter, or a cup cut circles of the dough and wrap each circle around a wooden mould overlapping the ends and glue it closed with a little egg white.

: Overlap the ends and glue the cannoli closed by brushing a little egg white between them. Be careful not to get egg white on the stick or mould.

Make sure not to get the egg white on your mould otherwise it will stick and be difficult to remove.

Heat a pot of sunflower oil to boiling point, and fry four cannoli at a time.

Turn the cannoli in the oil so that they cook evenly all round.

: The cannoli start to puff up and bubble – this is EXACTLY what you want, light and fluffy!

Fry until they are golden brown then remove onto kitchen paper to drain off the oil.

While the cannoli are still hot gently pull them off the wooden mould and place onto kitchen paper to cool.

: Ready and waiting for their filling.

Once you have cooked all of the cannoli – return them to the oil and fry them again for 1 minute – this ensures that the pastry has the required crunch when you bit into it.

For the Filling

Place the ricotta cheese into your mixer bowl, add the sifted icing sugar and beat on high for at least 5 minutes. It’s quite amazing as the curdy cheese turn silken and smooth.

Using either a grinder or a blender – place the cinammon sticks in your blender and crush them to a powder. This will take no longer than two minutes.

Add the ground cinammon, lemon zest, vanilla beans, chopped cherries, chopped glacee pineapple and mixed fruit to the ricotta cheese and mix again, at high speed for 4 minutes.

Spoon the filling into a piping bag and pipe into each cannolo.

Roll each cannolo in sifted icing sugar and dip each end into the grated dark chocolate.

Place each cannolo in a cupcake cup.

Serve with an ice cold glass of Asti Spumante or maybe even a nice Viognier

or an espresso caffe.

: A plate of heaven … made with lots of love xxx

And lots of love!

: Cannoli making is a labour of love, but so worth the effort, especially for someone you really love.

Happy Mother’s Day to you all.

May your day be filled with lots of love

….. and Cannoli Siciliani!

xxx

As always

Buon Appetito

xxx

jan

by janicetripepi

Kwa Cheetah Mfino Gnudi … Baked Ricotta Dumplings … Africa on a Plate!

April 30, 2013 in Antipasti, Cheese Recipes, Italian Classics, Janice Tripepi, Light and Lean Recipes ... Hip Friendly!, Meatfree Mondays, Vegetarian Meals

3 Comments »

Tags: african recipes, chocolate chip walnut biscuits, cooking with mfino, gnudi, Janice Tripepi, mfino and ricotta dumplings, mfino quiche, mfino recipes, naked dumplings, ricotta dumplings

Once upon a time there was a beautiful ballet dancer called Rosemary who lived in England. She fell in love with a very handsome life saver who came from a land far away! He came from a place called Durban in South Africa where the sun shone every single day. Rosemary and Shorty got married and left the cold and gloomy shores of England and moved back to the warm waters and golden beaches of KwaZulu Natal. And thank heavens they did because Rosemary’s sister, Anne, moved her whole family to this warm and sunny land too! This is how I got here!

I have said this before and I shall say it again; I thank my lucky stars that I live in South Africa daily. Yes, we face some rather extraordinary challenges; but the rewards for this sacrifice are humbling they are so great. I am an avid ‘bush baby’ and like NOTHING more than to sit out in the Nambiti Plains in Ladysmith, KZN and drink it all in. The view, the animals, the plant life and the people of this landscape bring tears of joy to my eyes and quicken the beat of my heart.

I am an enthusiastic fan of Kwa Cheetah, a breeding programme nestled in the Nambiti Reserve in KwaZulu Natal. Des and Elizke work tirelessly as part of the global effort to coax the Cheetah away from the devastating clutches of extinction. These magnificent cats once roamed the savannah of Africa and Asia by the hundreds of thousands. Unfortunately they can only be found in Iran and south-western, eastern and central Africa in much depleted numbers these days. There are currently as few as 9 – 12 000 living in Africa and it is estimated that this number drops by 2000 every four years. This situation is critical. Mankind is their greatest threat; we are encroaching on the land available for them to roam together with a critically diminished gene pool resulting in interbreeding, physical deformities and high levels of sterility are just some of the challenges the Cheetah face.

Shadow is one of the female Cheetahs in the Kwa Cheetah breeding programme. It is with great joy I can announce that last Friday she gave birth to four beautiful healthy cubs. Each new cub represents hope and renewal for the Cheetah population. So in honour of Shadow and her beautiful cubs and the vital work that Kwa Cheetah do I give you ……. drum roll please ….. Kwa Cheetah Mfino Gnudi.

My inspiration for the dish was Shadows beautiful Cheetah fur! The sauce is red and rich and the colour of an African sunset; dotted in the sauce you will find sweet orange Rosa tomatoes and black baby brinjals – the colours of Shadow; and her little babies are the fluffy white Gnudi flavoured with the African herb Mfino because it’s bursting with vitamins and goodness and it is my wish that these four cubs grown up fit, healthy and bursting with goodness!

I recently read a beautiful quotation by Chief Seattle, a Native American Indian whose wise words read, “We don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. “ I urge you most emphatically to be mindful of our earth and all of the creatures who live in it. We owe it to our children to cherish each and every species and to see to it that they get to experience the privilege and honour of seeing them living free and wild in their natural habitats.

Support your local conservation groups and if you are ever in Ladysmith you should take the opportunity to visit Kwa Cheetah. Go and see Shadow and her beautiful fur ball cubs. Des gives a very interesting talk that tracks the development of Cheetah, their very habitat and lifestyle specific physiology and incredible instinctive behaviours. You get to meet the animals up close and very personal; and can you imagine seeing those four little cubs bouncing around!

Kwa Cheetah Mfino Gnudi

: Fluffy Ricotta & Mfino Gnudi in a Tomato and Brinjal sauce

Makes 4 delicious portions

The Tomato & Brinjal Sauce

: Mfino, brinjals and Rosa tomatoes

Ingredients

4 cloves of garlic finely chopped

2 chillies chopped

400g baby brinjals, washed and quartered

1 cup of dry white wine

400g orange Rosa tomatoes halved – or red, or cherry tomatoes

1 tin of peeled cherry tomatoes liquidised

1Tbs of brown sugar

2 chicken or vegetable stock cubes

Black pepper to taste

Method

In a large heavy based pot brown the garlic and chili in a little olive oil.

Wash and cut the brinjals into quarters, add them to the pot and brown. The brinjals are quite a bit bigger than the tomatoes which is why I added them first to give them a little time to start softening before adding the tomatoes. If you can find the cocktail brinjals, the very little ones then by all means use them whole!

Add the wine and put the lid on to soften the brinjals in the wine

After 5 minutes remove the lid and allow all of the alcohol to cook out

Add the fresh tomatoes and stir

Add the liquidised tin of tomatoes, 1Tbs of brown sugar and the stock cube.

Season with pepper to taste and bring the pot to the boil

Reduce after 4 minutes and simmer for 20 minutes until the sauce has thickened.

Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning to your liking.

: Reduce the sauce to a thick consistency.

The Mfino Gnudi

: Mfino is like spinach on steroids it’s so jam packed with vitamins.

: SASKO flour always soft and fluffy.

Ingredients

Olive oil

4 cloves of garlic finely chopped

1 onion finely chopped

4 spring onions sliced thinly

2 red or green chillies finely chopped

½tsp salt or a vegetable stock cube

Black pepper

2 bunches of Mfino or 400g spinach

400g ricotta cheese

5Tbs of SASKO flour

and allow to steam at a medium to high heat for approximately 5 min

2Tbs Parmesan Cheese or any strong hard cheese such as Pecorino or Mature Cheddar

1/2tsp grated nutmeg

Salt & Pepper

Method

Wash the Mfino or Spinach well making sure to get rid of any grit

Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy based pot. Add the onion,spring onion, garlic and chilli and brown.

Add the washed Mfino or Spinach and give the pot a good stir, place the lid on the pot utes.

Once the Mfino has wilted right down, leave the lid off, reduce the heat slightly and cook until all the water has evaporated.

Turn out onto a board and chop it up to cut the stalks small, then put it into a shallow dish and set aside to cool.

Place the ricotta, cooled Mfino, 5Tbs of soft and fluffy SASKO flour, 2Tbs Parmesan cheese,

grated nutmeg, salt and pepper into a mixing bowl.

DSC_0099 (425x640)

This is where I like to get my hands involved! Remove any rings you may be wearing and use your hands to mix everything well.

DSC_0116 (425x640)

Top Tip: Wash your hands but don’t dry them. Using your wet hands roll the mixture into dumplings a little larger than a golf ball. Whenever you are rolling any kind of ball, be it dumplings or meat balls always do so with wet hand. Your wet hands will prevent the mixture from sticking to them.

Arrange them in an oven-proof bowl leaving space between each one to add sauce.

Spoon the sauce in between and over the Gnudi

DSC_0138 (640x425)

Top with a generous sprinkling of Parmesan or your favourite cheese.

Dot the top with sprigs of fresh basil and thyme

DSC_0165 (425x640)

Bake in a pre-heated oven 180d for 20 minutes.

And there you have it, the colours of Shadow, an African sunset and four very special little Cheetah cubs on a plate!

My sincere thanks to ALL at Kwa Cheetah for their tireless efforts in saving this national treasure!

We are truly blessed to live in South Africa!

And here are Shadows beautiful Cubs – they were born last Friday 19th April.

More about Nambiti and Membry’s Bush Biscuit Recipe

click on the picture to get her Walnut & Choc Chip Biscuit Recipe

Here is another recipe that features the wonder herb Mfino

Mfino & Ricotta Quiche

click on the picture to go to the recipe

I found this dude hiding under my saucer this morning!

I found this little dude peeping out from underneath my capuccino this morning! Spying on me!

As always

Buon Appetito

Jan

by janicetripepi

The Kings Breakfast … Scrambled Eggs with Parma Ham & Parmesan Cheese

April 19, 2013 in Breakfasts, Cheese Recipes, Cooking with Pork, Italian Classics, Janice Tripepi, Sapori chapter 2 - The Breakfast Club

4 Comments »

Tags: breakfast recipes, Janice Tripepi, scrambled eggs with parma ham and parmesan cheese, special scrambled eggs

The Kings Breakfast … creamy eggs scrambled with Parma Ham and Parmesan Cheese.

Last week, I was sitting in my garden on the bench, staring blankly into my pond. This is my sacred place, where I go to sit quietly, to ponder and just ‘be’. I see the fish in my pond as fish; they are not my pets, well, all save one whose name is Spud! He has never grown much beyond about 25cm whereas his brothers and sisters are rollicking elegant great big sashaying massive Koi. Poor old Spud wiggles his way through life and spends quite a lot of time on the bottom of the pond. Perhaps he too is pondering?

TrickyRicky telephoned Dr Doolittle (our fish Doctor) to come and examine another fish that seemed to be a bit poorly. Dr D is a wonderful man, but doesn’t care too much for humans. He arrives at our house, day or night, clad in a pair of old faded safari style shorts; bare to the waste. He seems to have no use for shoes and always brings his big serious looking microscope to check out tissue samples from sick fish.

TrickyRicky suspected that the big yellow Koi was infected with a parasite called ‘Fluke’ which could cause it to go blind and could irritate it to the point where it jumps out of the pool and dies, so in light of this I guess that this was a bit of a fish emergency.

Dr D arrived like a bull in a china shop, his bakkie screeched to a halt in our driveway, he leapt out leaving his door wide open and ran straight to the pond and jumped in. Pool old Spud got such a fright that he bolted and swam straight into the pond wall, at double warp speed! He knocked himself clean out and sort of rolled onto his side and went belly up! All we could do was stare at the pond in disbelief! TrickyRicky was rooted to the spot and all he could do was point his finger at the pond!

Dr D managed to revive little Spud but the poor thing had developed a 45 degree kink in his tail. Poor Dr D looked like he was about to drown himself as his act of contrition and first broke the bad news which was that the fish’s back was broken but followed this very quickly with the good news which was that he could live out his days, pain free, but with his growth stunted and with a permanent kink in his tail. My altruistic self is a complete sucker for any disadvantaged person or animal that has to climb hills to meet life’s daily challenges! Ergo, Spud was born!

I feed the fish in a manner that ensures that Spud gets plenty to eat. I first throw a large handful of food to the opposite site of the pond to where Spud is, this attracts the big boys to that end of the pond, my second handful get scattered directly above Spud. Upon hearing the food hitting the water, he’s off, wiggling his poor old self much like little Tiny Tim in Great Expectation. With nothing less than a Herculean effort he wiggles his way up to the surface and usually manages to get a pellet. Poor Spud! He is quite a cute pie, wiggling his way through life.

Spud wiggling his way through life! See the 45 degree kink in his little tail!

Little Spud wiggling his way through life!

Talking about fish, Daniele was visiting us for a weekend in January when he received a call from his agent confirming his acquisition of a role in a movie that he had auditioned for. He plays the part of a Prussian count in this film which is set in America in the 1800’s. He had to learn to drive a wagon of horses for the role which he has savoured every minute of and he gets to run around the countryside in costume with muskets and all sorts!

Daniele received the call from his agent on a Saturday evening so Sunday morning’s breakfast had to be special and appropriately celebratory. As luck would have it I had been gifted a tray of enormous beautiful organic, free range eggs that day too! I served my very special ‘Kings Breakfast’ which is reserved for celebrations and is inspired by the poem of the same name, written by AA Milne.

I learnt this poem off by heart for an eisteddfod as an 8year old. I remember thinking that a King would never just eat buttered toast for breakfast. I had not yet developed a palate for marmalade at the tender young age of 8 and was horrified at the thought of toast, NO BUTTER and MARMELADE. Isn’t it wonderful how the literature of my childhood has found its’ way onto my dinner plates today. I would probably have fainted at the mere notion of eating ‘fish eggs’ as a child but have served up several variations of this breakfast which I feel is most definitely fit for a King.

A Kings Breakfast

Ingredients

2 Eggs

2 slices Ham chopped into bite sized pieces

2 slices of Parma ham chopped into bite sized pieces*

2Tbs of Fresh cream

1Tbs grated Parmesan cheese

A knob of Butter

Freshly cracked black pepper to taste

3Tbs black capelin caviar*

a sprig of fresh thyme and a few flowers to garnish with

of fresh thyme and a few flowers to garnish with

: These eggs are enormous and each have double yolks!

: The brown egg is a jumbo egg … the white eggs are enormous!

Top Tips:

*you could substitute the ham with smoked salmon, haddock or any smoked fish

*salmon caviar is also very good with this breakfast but I just can’t find it in Durban. I can tell you that Giovanni’s in Green Point in Cape Town almost always have stock of these orange jewels!

Method

Break your eggs into a bowl and whisk very lightly.

Add the chopped ham, parmesan cheese, cream and black pepper.

Don’t add any salt to this mixture as the ham, parmesan cheese and caviar are all quite salty.

Melt a knob of butter in a non-stick frying pan on a medium heat

: When I look at this picture I can smell that beautiful aroma that butter releases when you melt it! Heavenly!

Pour in the egg mixture and gently scramble on a medium heat.

I like my scrambled eggs to be soft and quivering so I don’t cook them for more than two minutes; but the choice is yours.

: How is this for an action shot!

Tip the eggs onto a plate and top with 3 quenelles of caviar.

I garnished the plate with some violas for a little extra ‘shizzle’ and served hot, buttered toast with it.

Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day!

Breakfast is never just one course here, so breakfast was finished off with some toasted panetone and cappucino’s!

Here is the poem that has inspired me to cook fabulous breakfasts fit for a King!

The King’s Breakfast

By A. A. Milne 1882–1956

The King asked

The Queen, and

The Queen asked

The Dairymaid:

“Could we have some butter for

The Royal slice of bread?”

The Queen asked

The Dairymaid,

The Dairymaid

Said, “Certainly,

I’ll go and tell

The cow

Now

Before she goes to bed.”

The Dairymaid

She curtsied,

And went and told

The Alderney:

“Don’t forget the butter for

The Royal slice of bread.”

The Alderney

Said sleepily:

“You’d better tell

His Majesty

That many people nowadays

Like marmalade

Instead.”

The Dairymaid

Said, “Fancy!”

And went to

Her Majesty.

She curtsied to the Queen, and

She turned a little red:

“Excuse me,

Your Majesty,

For taking of

The liberty,

But marmalade is tasty, if

It’s very

Thickly

Spread.”

The Queen said

“Oh!”

And went to

His Majesty:

“Talking of the butter for

The Royal slice of bread,

Many people

Think that

Marmalade

Is nicer.

Would you like to try a little

Marmalade

Instead?”

The King said,

“Bother!”

And then he said,

“Oh, dear me!”

The King sobbed, “Oh, deary me!”

And went back to bed.

“Nobody,”

He whimpered,

“Could call me

A fussy man;

I only want

A little bit

Of butter for

My bread!”

The Queen said,

“There, there!”

And went to

The Dairymaid.

The Dairymaid

Said, “There, there!”

And went to the shed.

The cow said,

“There, there!

I didn’t really

Mean it;

Here’s milk for his porringer

And butter for his bread.”

The Queen took

The butter

And brought it to

His Majesty;

The King said,

“Butter, eh?”

And bounced out of bed.

“Nobody,” he said,

As he kissed her

Tenderly,

“Nobody,” he said,

As he slid down

The banisters,

“Nobody,

My darling,

Could call me

A fussy man—

BUT

I do like a little bit of butter to my bread!”

More Breakfast Ideas

Fresh Strawberry & Peppered Chevin French Fried Brioche …. Ooh la laaaaa!

click on the recipe title to be whisked off to the recipe!

Eggs Fiorentina – Poached Eggs nestled on a bed of Bacon and garlic infused Spinach, topped with a tangy Hollandaise Sauce, and served on a toasted English muffin.

click on the recipe title to be whisked off to the recipe!

Tattie Scones topped with poached duck eggs and Parmesan Butter.

As always

Buon Appetito

Xxx

jan

by janicetripepi

Steaming Chinese Chicken Noodle Pots.

April 12, 2013 in Chicken Dishes, Chinese Food, Cooking with Pork, Dinner Divas, Janice Tripepi

13 Comments »

Tags: chinese chicken recipe, Janice Tripepi, making fresh chinese noodles, steaming chicken noodle pot recipe

Steaming hot spicy Chinese Chicken and Fresh Noodle Pots

My goodness but 2013 had taken off with a huge bang. Our Project Management and Engineering baby, Titan Projects has been blessed with oodles of projects and contracts. TrickyRicky, Max and I have been operating at warp speed. This combined with my joining the gym and embarking on a pretty strict calorie restricted diet has seen la casa Tripepi eating a really healthy and well balanced diet. I have shed close to 12kgs and I am loving life and my new found waste line!

TrickyRicky has been travelling abroad to Sri Lanka on business so it’s all systems go for the Tripepi’s so far this year. I could not be any more grateful for this abundance and I am determined to stay focused and keep our diet light and healthy. We are going to Mauritius on a family holiday in September; so I still need to shed another 6kgs in order to feel gorgeous in my cozzie!

It is really important to eat ALL of the food groups when dieting; especially if you are working out at the same time. If you cut out the white carbohydrates such as pasta, rice and potato you will eventually pay the price. I did this, and found that despite sticking to my workout plan, which is at least one hour every day except Sundays, and not exceeding my daily 1728 calories food allowance, I stopped losing weight! Horror of horrors, the display on my scale read exactly the same for two weeks in a row. I chatted with the personal trainers at the gym and was advised to include some carbs into my diet at lunch time. I did this and WAMMO BAMMO …. I shed 1,6kgs in a week! Hallelujah! Carbs rock!

It’s like everything in life – moderation is the key to success! Fresh pasta has fewer calories than dried pasta for some reason, so I have been churning out fresh noodles and pasta for la famiglia Tripepi. Max is in noodle heaven! This Chinese inspired steaming noodle bowl is a real winter warmer; it is jam packed with a delicious balance of textures and flavours AND doesn’t break the calorie bank!

Whether the Chinese or the Italian or whomever else invented the noodle, they are always a hit. This type of fresh pasta is just so easy and very economical to make. Include your kiddies in this activity if you have the time and energy, they get a real kick out of creating their own noodles!

During the shooting of Dinner Divas I got to spend time with the sponsors of the show. SASKO were quick to recognise my love for their product. As you know, I churn out loads of pasta and noodles. Flour is the cornerstone ingredient in any Italian kitchen and they have very kindly given me the pleasure of developing some interesting recipes using their best soft and fluffy flour. I am very proud of this acknowledgement and look forward to sharing these new recipes with you.

Chinese Steaming Chicken Noodle Pot

Makes 8 portions

: A warming winter Chinese Steaming Chicken & Fresh Noodle Pot

Ingredients for the broth

1 free range chicken

2 cups of Chinese Shao Hsing rice wine (you can replace this with dry sherry if you don’t have any Chinese rice wine)

8 cloves of garlic – roughly chopped

1 large thumb – about 6cm of ginger, sliced (no need to peel this)

200ml honey*

5 star anise

2 cups of light soy sauce

2 spring onions washed and cut into 3

Cold Water – enough to just cover the chicken

*Top Tip: You can replace the honey with 200ml of Xylitol to reduce the calorie content

Method

Joint the chicken. Place the rice wine, garlic, honey, star anise, ginger, jointed chicken and spring onions to a heavy based pot.

: Star Anise adds a rich spicy flavour

Bring to the boil and reduce to a gentle simmer for 15 minutes.

: This poaching liquid forms the base of your dish.

Remove the poached chicken pieces to a dish, cover to keep the meat nice and juicy and set aside.

: Remove the chicken from the poaching liquid, cover and set aside.

Bring the poaching liquid back up to the boil and reduce by half to condense all of the flavours. Use a colander in a bowl to drain out all of the aromatics and set the broth aside.

Ingredients for the Noodles

: Soft and fluffy Sasko flour

200g light and fluffy SASKO Flour

2 eggs

5ml olive oil

5ml water

Method

Place your flour into your mixer or food processor

Add the eggs, water and olive oil and mix until it forms into dough

Now, any dough behaves differently depending on the weather. When I made this dough it was a really hot and humid day in Durban and I had to add a little extra flour to get the dough to the right consistency– if it’s very dry add a little (5ml) water and if it’s too wet add a teaspoon at a time of flour until you see that it’s starting to come together in a mass.

Turn the dough out onto a clean, floured surface and bring it together into a ball.

: Bring the dough together by kneading for about 5 minutes. You are looking for a ball of smooth dough that feels like a ball of playdough.

Now, you get to work out any frustrations you have. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes by which time it will form a nice smooth ball.

Cover with cling film and refrigerate for about 20 minutes.

: Wrap the dough up in a piece of cling wrap and rest in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Once the dough has rested, take it out of the fridge and cut it into 3 pieces

Flatten each piece and dust with a little soft and fluffy flour

Run each piece through the pasta machine on the largest setting, folding the dough in on itself two times between each rolling

: Fold the dough in on itself twice and put through the pasta machine on the largest setting at least 3 times.

Now roll it through each setting, reducing the size each time.

My pasta machine starts on number, being the largest setting and reduces to number 7. I rolled the dough to number 6.

Dust each piece again and put through the side that has the cutter.

: Beautiful soft and fresh noodles ready for the pot!

Set aside to add to the broth at the last minute just before serving.

Now to put the whole delish dish together

The beauty of this dish is you can add pretty much any vegetables that you and your family enjoy the most.

Ingredients

5cm thumb of peeled ginger cut into batons

3 red chillies finely chopped

6 cloves of garlic finely chopped

100ml oil – your choice, either olive oil, peanut oil or sunflower oil is fine

200g cherry tomatoes

4tbs bean sprouts

200g shiitake mushrooms sliced – any mushroom will do so feel free to substitute

4 broccoli stalks sliced

200g bok choy washed and sliced

2 chicken stock cubes

Black pepper

2 cups of boiling water

Coriander – I just love to add coriander, but my family are not too keen on it so I left it out and just added it to my bowl.

2 spring onions sliced for garnishing and to add a little crunch

Method

Gently fry the garlic, ginger and chili in your choice of oil.

Add the tomatoes, bean sprouts, mushrooms, bok choy and broccoli to the pot and stir well.

Add the drained broth, two cups of boiling water and check for seasoning. I added two chicken stock cubes to deepen the chicken flavour and a good grinding of black pepper.

Bring the broth to the boil and add your fresh noodles.

They will only take two minutes to cook so don’t leave your pot and polish the silver!

To assemble your dish

Slice the chicken pieces up using a sharp knife.

Into each bowl

Place some sliced chicken

Some Noodles

Some broth with all the veggies and

Garnish with some fresh spring onion.

: And Walla! Steaming Chicken and Noodles in a Spiced Chinese Broth.

And enjoy!

This really is a meal in one dish – meat, veggies, broth and noodle heaven!

More Noodle Recipes

How about making some German Spaetzle with the kiddies

Click on this picture of Jade with her Spaetzle to go to the recipe

Spatzle served with crumbed chicken!

or some Asian Style Sweet and Sticky Pork Belly with Noodles

A Little Fun

This character popped onto my chopping board!

: I often see little kitchen critters in my veggies!

As always

Buon Appetito

Xxx

jan

by janicetripepi

My 144 Calorie Beetroot Falafel Burger Wonder!

February 27, 2013 in Janice Tripepi, Light and Lean Recipes ... Hip Friendly!, Lunchtime Recipes, Meatfree Mondays, Middle Eastern Magic, Vegetarian Meals

8 Comments »

Tags: beetroot falafel burger recipe, burger recipes, falafel burger recipe, Janice Tripepi, low carb burger recipe, meat free burger recipe

I just LOVE Saturdays! TrickyRicky stops off at Essenwood Market in Musgrave Road and brings me a falafel and salad wrap home for lunch. It feels like such an indulgence when I sink my teeth into those spicy little balls! Last weekend Karmie and I decided to go and do a really long and intense workout in the gym, followed by a leisurely shower and then off to the beach for breakfast.

Winter is flirting with us early in Durban. Our mornings are fresh and getting up early is such a pleasure. We were greeted with the most spectacular day and the beach was simply magical. The sea was wearing her favourite diamond necklace that sparkled with such lustre as to take ones breath away. All in all, it was a perfect day. The only problem was that TrickyRicky had meetings and was unable to make it to the market! NO falafel!

You know what they say about when the going gets tough? By Sunday I could think of absolutely NOTHING but falafels and came up with these!

Beetroot Falafel Burgers

: Falafel Beetroot Burgers served with Tomato & Brinjal Relish and Rocket in a Pita

Makes 4 patties

I made a batch of light beef burgers for TrickyRicky at the same time and served both up in pita breads with a roasted tomatoe and brinjal relish. The carnivore inside TrickyRicky simply couldn’t get his head around a meatfree Sunday, so needs must. I will post the light and lean burger recipes as well as the relish recipe next.

Ingredients

1 tin – 218g chick peas (264 calories)

2T flour (64 calories)

1 red onion finely chopped (57 calories)

139g cooked beetroot cut into a small dice (111 calories)

50ml coriander (5 calories)

2tsp ground coriander (10 calories)

1tsp ground cumin (8 calories)

1-2tsp ground chilli (8 calories)

2tsp finely chopped chili (8 calories)

5ml olive oil (40calories)

Salt & pepper

Total = 575 calories which is only 144 calories per patty

Method

Gently fry the chopped garlic and red onion in the olive oil until they are translucent.

Add the ground chili, cumin and coriander to the pan and roast the spices for about 1 minute.

This helps to bring out all of the flavour of the spices.

Drain the chick peas and place into your food processor together with the flour, fresh coriander, ground cumin and coriander, chopped chili, salt and pepper

: Check out the action shot!

Pulse about 4 times – so that the mixture is not quite a paste. I prefer a little texture in my patty so by all means blitz to a smooth paste if you prefer.

Check for seasoning and fold in the diced beetroot.

: This is the texture that I like …. not too smooth.

: Fold in the garnet cubes of beetroot!

Divide the mixture into 4 equal parts. Roll each quarter into a ball and flatten with your hand to form a nicely shaped patty.

You could dry fry these patties in a non-stick pan if you wish but I added a spray of olive oil a pan and fried them.

: Using a spray bottle of olive oil is a great way to save on carbs … any make will do! I just happen to have this one! I am not sponsored by them!

These puffy little sweet and spicy patties are really quite filling. You won’t be able to manage two but my goodness did they hit my spot ……

So what is the total calorie count of a Falafel Beetroot Burger served in a pita with rocket and my brinjal and tomato relish

Falafel Burger 144 calories

Pita Bread 77 calories

Brinjal & Tomato Relish 42 calories

rocket leaves 10 calories

Total 273 calories! I have 1728 calories a day which I divide up into 500 calories per meal and a snack – so you can see 273 calories is wonderfully low!

: My 273 calorie wonder!

Click here to Try these Spicy Falafel Wraps

I lost 1,2kg’s last week!

As always

Buon appetito

Jan

by janicetripepi

Light & Lean: Fat Free Mango and Vanilla Smoothie … only 57calories!

February 21, 2013 in Breakfasts, Desserts, Healing Foods, Janice Tripepi, Light and Lean Recipes ... Hip Friendly!, Lunchtime Recipes, Meatfree Mondays, Summer Sizzlers!

9 Comments »

Tags: A breakfast smoothie, fat free Mango and Vanilla smoothie, fat free yoghurt, ice, Janice Tripepi, lemon, Light and lean breakfast recipes, low carb recipes, mango, mango recipes, vanilla pod

: A glass of African Sunshine … Mango and Vanilla Smoothie!

I am having a bit of a day here! There are so many awesome dessert posts going up on Food24 at the moment that the little sugar dependent demon that lives on my left shoulder is having a field day. She keeps poking her demon finger into my ear telling me to eat chocolate! On the whole I am not really craving any particular food, but I must be ovulating or something as the ‘sweet stuff’ is starting to haunt my dreams!

I am still in the ‘very strict’ phase of my diet and am staying well away from bread, potato, pasta & rice! There are plenty of carbs in fruit and veggies. I refer to the above as the ‘wit gevaar’ and they are totally ‘carbo-no-grata!’ So snacks are pretty much off limits too.

All I could do to satisfy my severe case of ‘dessert envy’ was to make a delicious smoothie. Adding the contents of one vanilla pod to my smoothie felt very luxurious and kind of did the trick by giving the smoothie more of an ‘ice cream’ flavour note!

It has occurred to me that I am quite good at fooling myself ………..

Fat free Mango and Vanilla Smoothie

The way I see smoothies is this; you need to use ripe fruit that is in season. The sugars will have fully developed in the fruit which means that you won’t need to add any honey or sugar to sweeten it. Ripe and seasonal fruits are going to achieve the best results in this fat free treat.

Mango is very low in unsaturated fat, sodium and cholesterol. It’s a great source of dietary fibre, Vitamin B6, Vitamin A and Vitamin C.

Ingredients

200g ripe mango cut into cubes (130 calories)

250ml Fat Free Plain Yoghurt (71 calories)

3 – 5 ice cubes

1 vanilla pod (9 calories)

The juice of half a lemon approx. 15 – 20ml (4 calories)

16 blueberries (12 calories)

Method

Add the yoghurt, mango, lemon juice, ice blocks and the seeds from one vanilla pod to you blender and blitz.

I am not very keen on thick drinks so I add the ice blocks to thin it down a bit but keep it nice and cold.

: I like to add ice blocks to thin the smoothie slightly.

This recipe makes 4 glasses of smoothie.

Serve garnished with a few blueberries and a sprig of mint!

As you can see this is ready and prepared in a matter of minutes which makes it ideal for when a sweetie craving hits!

This kept very well for two days in the fridge, covered.

I know that I promised to post the Slow Roast Lamb Wraps today … sorry but I just had to share this Mango smoothie. I needed a bit of a treat!

I will post the Lamb Wrap recipe next!

Today I am experimenting at Quinoa.

As always

Buon Appetito

Xxx

jan

by janicetripepi

Light & Lean: Low calorie Steak Stacks …. Happy Hip Food!

February 19, 2013 in Cooking with Beef, Janice Tripepi, Light and Lean Recipes ... Hip Friendly!, Lunchtime Recipes

6 Comments »

Tags: Calorie counting, Food24, Janice Tripepi, light and lean recipes, low calorie food, low calorie recipes

: Light & Lean Steak Stacks only 356 calories …

I am posting from a very beautiful and sunny Cape Town today! You Capetonians are just so very lucky as your evenings are lovely and cool offering one a welcome respite from hot days! So far, my days have been spent sorting out Daniele’s flat. My goodness, six black bags of old clothes and counting! We have been working out in the gym EVERY morning and feeling rather proud of ourselves. Meals have been light and lean and I have only exceeded my daily Calorie allowance once, by a tiny margin. Mexican food is lethal, and I paid for my indulgence with buckets of sweat ………..

Today’s post is a steak stack. It’s really important to vary your diet when trying to lose kilo’s as it prevents your body from getting into a routine. Our bodies are really clever; cut out carbs completely and eventually your body will munch away on your muscle in order to feed itself, so variety and a balanced diet, not excluding any food group (except chocolate) is vital.

I haven’t weighed myself in Cape Town and I don’t intend doing so! I can’t take the chance that the scale at Virgin Active here is not the same as my scale at home in Durban! What if it tells me I have put on weight! Na-ahhhhhh ………. Not taking any chances!

I am really beginning to enjoy going to the gym and have started to up the resistance levels on all three machines. I cycle, row and walk on the treadmill. I am currently doing 20 minutes on the treadmill and bicycle and 10 minutes on that infernal rowing machine. Apart from the obvious fitness that this is giving me, I get extra calories for each activity! There is method to my madness! I get 287 calories for the treadmill, 223 calories for the bicycle and 111 calories for the rowing; add this to my 1738 calories for the day and BINGO I have a total of 2259 calories a day. I am sticking to the 1738 so I hope to reach my target earlier!

We were invited to lunch last Sunday at the iconic Brass Bell in Vis Hoek! This gave me an opportunity to have a look around the book shops in Kalk Bay and I struck gold! As I entered the shop, ding a little bell on the door peeled a little happy ‘welcome jingle’ and my mind flushed with excitement and anticipation. The promise of all that information standing to attention in each and every book just waiting to be read never fails to quicken my pulse. A deep breath to drink in the smell of a thousand years and I was off.

The shop keeper or perhaps one should call him a ‘librarian’ could have jumped straight off the pages of a Dickensian novel. Kind eyes with gold frames, kind face sitting on a bow tie plinth; he led me to the cookery book section with an apology that most of their cookery books were at a market in Kirstenbosch that day. Such information never deters me as I always believe that fate will provide; and provide she did.

I will go for most antique cookery books if they pique my interest, but one that has a South African reference I simply cannot resist. To find two of Hildagonda Duckitt’s books in one fell swoop rivals Napoleon’s victory at Waterloo in my world. I am not going to expand on the life and times of one of South Africa’s first kitchen doyenne today. This lady is worthy of an entire week of blog posts if not more and at the very least a visit to Groote Poste, the beloved homestead where she spent her formative years in South Africa.

Ok – so I am not in Cape Town anymore so I am actually posting this from my study in Durban. I flew back to Durban early as I couldn’t get accommodation in any timeshare spots for the week during which our flat was to be decorated. So I ran back home to be with TrickyRicky on Valentines Day, who drove all the way home to Durban from a business trip to Mozambique, walked through the door and collapsed in an exhausted heap! Oh well! Poor Daniele will have to live in the flat during the renovations, moving into the lounge for a week while they sort his bedroom out and then moving into his bedroom while they sort the loung out!

C’est la vie!

BUT – drum roll please! I lost 2kg’s during my stay in Cape Town …. I think I left them at Virgin Active in Sea Point!

Yeeeeeeeeeeee-haaaaaaaaaa!!!!

Light & Lean Steak Stacks

I found one of these stacks with a cup of steamed broccoli and butternut enough for me for a dinner. TrickyRicky had two and was happy.

: The tomato stack is only 325 calories!

Ingredients

1 x 150g fillet medallions (251 calories)

Large mushrooms approx. 60g each (15 calories)

Large red onions halved (50 calories per half)

Large beef tomatoes (17 calories per half)

30ml olive oil (240 calories)

2tsp finely chopped garlic (8 calories)

Salt & Freshly Ground Black Pepper

10ml dried oregano

1 sprig of fresh rosemary

Method

Preheat your oven to 180degrees.

Peel the onions and cut in half; wash the tomatoes and cut in half. Place the onion and tomato halves on a baking tray. Spray with a little olive oil, season with salt and pepper and top with garlic and a sprinkle of oregano on the tomatoes and a few leaves of rosemary on top of the onion. Roast for 30 – 40 minutes at 180d.

Dust off the mushrooms and remove the woody stalk from the centre of each mushroom, place on a baking tray and season well with salt and pepper. Sprinkle each mushroom with some chopped garlic and a tiny little drizzle of olive oil or a spritz of olive oil. I have an olive oil in a spray bottle – which is totally fantastic as it allows you to just spritz the mushrooms with olive oil which saves on carbs!

Place into the oven and bake for 10 – 15 minutes. Don’t cook the living bijeevers out of your mushrooms. Ten minutes is enough time to cook the garlic but still have juicy mushrooms. Remove from the oven and set aside.

Pat your pieces of beef fillet dry with some paper towel, rub or spray a little olive oil on both sides of each piece.

Heat your griller pan to smoking hot and place your steaks in the pan. Fillet should only be turned once in the pan, as soon as the meat lets go of the pan turn it over. I like my steak rare so once the other side has sealed and let go of the pan I remove it and let it rest, TrickyRicky likes his steak medium rare, so I let his cook for another 2 – 3 minutes. ALWAYS allow your meat to rest before eating it. Resting meat allows the juices to even out in the steak and the fibres relax resulting in a nice tender piece of meat.

I served these stacks with 150g of steamed broccoli dressed with a squeeze of lemon juice and seasoned with salt and freshly cracked black pepper. (44 calories)

: A squeeze of lemon, salt & pepper over the steamed brocolli which is only 44 calories for a whole cup!

My dinner – one mushroom & tomato Stack 325 calories + 1 cup brocolli 44 calories = 369 calories

TrickyRicky’s dinner – one mushroom & tomato stack 325 calories + one mushroom & onion stack 356 calories + 1 cup brocolli = 769 calories

Slow Roasted Lamb Shoulder Seeded Wraps … Light and Lean again!

As always

Buon Appetito

xxx

jan

by janicetripepi

Light and Lean Herbed and Spicy Avocado and Cream Cheese Wrap! Only 247 Calories!

February 7, 2013 in Cheese Recipes, Light and Lean Recipes ... Hip Friendly!, Lunchtime Recipes, Meatfree Mondays, Vegetarian Meals

12 Comments »

Tags: avocado and cream cheese spicy herbed wrap, Food24, Janice Tripepi, low calorie recipes, lunchtime ideas

I have so many blog posts on the go that I am starting to confuse myself! I KNOW I am harping on about being on Die-T but it rather does determine the nature of the food that we are eating at the moment. TrickyRicky and I have both got a maximum of calories that we may eat in a day. We are both giving it horns in the gym and encourage each other all day long. I am convinced that I look like Twiggy already and he is constantly asking me if I can see his muscles!

We laugh at each other a lot – probably not to cry! Our first goal for the year is the first of two family weddings coming up. Melisa, my niece is marrying her David in April and I am designing a very Audrey Hepburn style dress and coat! My design does not allow for flubber … so we diet!

I had pretty much decided to declare a Blogging Blackout for myself during this period of sensible eating, but have subsequently changed my mind! I am prone to such behaviour. I can’t be the only person in the world dieting, and have decided to share some of the marginally more interesting meals together with a breakdown of the calories etc. Perhaps there is someone else out there in the same boat as me!

I have a budget of 1738 calories a day, which if the truth be told, is ample. Add to this the 534 calories that I burn during my gym session and I could eat far more than I am. I am by no means starving myself, heavens forbid, but am keen to reach my goal of losing 10kg’s by mid-April. Hope springs eternal!

To our utter amazement, this whole diet thing as actually not quite as difficult as we thought that it would be. Making simple adjustments to our eating habits has resulted in quite significant calorie savings. We have both downloaded a simple cell phone App called MyNetDiary which makes life incredibly simple. You enter your height, weight, activity levels and gender; then set a goal and Ping! It tells you exactly how many calories a day that you may eat. You enter each meal and the App tracks your progress daily. Easy as ….

Avocado, tomatoe, basil & coriander wrap … this will have you smiling all the way to the scale!

Avocado, Cream Cheese and Herb Wrap

247 calories = 1033kj

by janicetripepi

Today is World Nutella Day …

February 5, 2013 in Desserts, Janice Tripepi

4 Comments »

Tags: Janice Tripepi, World Nutella Day

I just HAD to pop in and say Happy World Nutella Day! I am on Die-t and am fantasising day and night about bathing in beautiful Roman Bathes filled with oozing warm nutty ‘Killer-litres’ of runny, orgasmic, dopamine producing, chocolaty Nutella! I am going to try and hypnotise myself into BELIEVING that I have actually done this! Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…..

Sigh*****

Buon Appetito

Jan

xxx

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