In our house, steak and chips is an irresistible treat and the ultimate in “cheery-uppy” dinners after a hard day at work.  When Dave came home after a thoroughly rubbish day I immediately abandoned my plans for a virtuous (yet delicious!) stir-fry and pulled a couple of beautifully marbled rib-eye steaks out of the fridge.

This version of steak and chips is a bit non-traditional but it is so good and it also fits in beautifully with the South Beach lifestyle.  I think I love sweet potato wedges more than “real chips” at the moment, so I totally didn’t feel deprived by having these oven-baked beauties.  The chimichurri sauce was a real revelation to me as I’d never had it before; I was blown away by its zingy flavour and it felt so much better than having a creamy sauce smothering the flavour of the steak.  I’ll be trying it as a marinade and also as a salad dressing in the future.  Tres yummy!

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This week I have lost four pounds.  I’m really pleased with that, but that’ll be my last big loss for quite a while, I think.  You see, on Phase One of South Beach, you’re essentially doing a detox.  Most of the weight I’ve lost is water weight but I’m pretty sure I’ve lost a few pounds of fat, too.  (I’ve had to tighten my belt a few notches or suffer the indignity of my jeans falling straight off.)

Today I started Phase Two of the diet and there I’ll stay until I hit goal.  Reintroducing “good carbs” has gone well so far: I had my sweet potatoes today and they were just amazing.  Almost as good as the banana I had with my morning snack.  Yum!!  No cravings so far which is good news.

Since I started life on the beach back in August ‘09, I’ve lost 29 pounds or 2 stone 1 pound!  I’m really proud of that and my next mini-goal is to reach 3 stones of fat, gone for good!  I’m really hoping to achieve that before we go on holiday.

In foodie news, I bought some gourmet sugar-free syrups that I’m really looking forward to trying out.  I got some fake maple syrup that I’m going to drizzle over some porridge tomorrow morning and also some cookie dough syrup which we’ll use to flavour quark for desserts and maybe I’ll try making some tofu ice-cream with it, too!  All very exciting.

One thing I need to work on is to drink more water.  My water consumption seems to have tailed off this week and I’d like to get guzzling again.  I  always feel so much better when I’m hydrated!

First, the good.  I have lost 7 pounds this week, courtesy of Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet getting rid of lots of water retention and maybe a pound or two of fat.  Hooray!  So I’ve lost all my holiday gain in one fell swoop, which is awesome.

This week I have been eating Kaylan’s Egg Muffins, Red Thai Chicken Curry (with lentils simmered into the sauce rather than rice on the side), Steak with roasted artichoke hearts, vegetable moussaka and other delights.  Oh, and lots of lunch-time salads, despite the Arctic weather.  I haven’t felt at all deprived apart from one day when I was unwrapping Lucas’s Christmas chocolate money and the smell started to get to me.

The bad: You may have noticed a lack of posts during the week, and while I’m not a prolific poster these days, you may be worried about two diet updates in a row.  Worry not, I’ll get back to posting recipes (mostly South Beach friendly ones) soon, hopefully.  I had a couple of bad falls before Christmas which aggravated my prolapsed discs, and then this Thursday I managed to trap a major nerve in roughly the same area which has left me in agony and unable to stand for more than two minutes.  I am putting my faith in the chiropractor and I hope that I’ll be feeling a lot better in a few weeks.  I’m really gutted that I won’t be able to belly dance for a while, too.

And the recipe: Taco Bake (Phase 1, South Beach Diet, courtesy of 3 Fat Chicks website)

I had intended to cook this for Dave last night, but he ended up cooking it for me instead.  This isn’t my usual sort of meal, but twenty pages of rave reviews convinced me to give it a try.  We both loved it, and I think my portion tasted especially good because my lovely Dave had made it for me.

Serves 4:
1 can refried beans (no lard, please!)
1 lb extra lean beef mince
1 large onion, chopped
1 large bell pepper chopped
8 oz mushrooms, coarsely chopped
1 can green chilis
2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2-3 TB chili powder blend
1 TB ground cumin
2-3 TB tomato puree
2/3 C shredded f/f or l/f cheese, your choice, although I think cheddar is the best

Garnish – any, all work well:
chopped green onions
chopped black olives
l/f, f/f sour cream
chopped lettuce and tomatoes
chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)
chopped white or bermuda onion
salsa

Preheat oven 230C (210 fan). Take a flat casserole dish, spray with cooking spray and spread refried beans on the bottom. Season with salt and pepper and bake for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, sauté meat, onions, bell pepper, garlic (season with S&P) until onion begins to soften and meat beings to brown. Add mushrooms and cook until they’ve released their water and meat is thoroughly browned. Drain fat and add all spices, and cook for about 2-3 minutes until spices toast. Add green chilies and tomato puree, along with a little bit of water, if needed. The mixture should be moist but not runny.

Take the casserole dish with the beans, pour mixture on top and top with cheese (olives and green onions can be added at this stage). Bake in the oven for another 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and just starts to bubble. Serve with generous heaps of lettuce as a bed (romain, red leaf and iceberg work really well here), and garnish with garnishes of your choice.

Hellooooooo, 2010!  And hello, new diet!

This year I’m participating in RecipeGirl’s “10 in 10″ challenge—ten weeks of healthy living to start the year off right.  Last year I did really well on the South Beach Diet until I got derailed by a spate of birthdays and other celebrations, so I’m quite comfortable with doing that again.

I’m really looking forward to getting back to healthy eating; a big plate of veggies would be great right now after all the rich foods we’ve been eating.  Only one slight problem… I need to run down the fridge and freezer in preparation for the arrival of our beautiful new (bigger!!) fridge/freezer on Thursday.  I am NOT looking forward to defrosting the old freezer, but I can’t wait to fill my new baby with a rainbow of veggies!

I’m also aiming to exercise more.  I am not a sporty person and I don’t particularly want to be, either, but I do love to dance and can work up quite a sweat at my weekly belly dancing class.  So, I’m going to add in practice sessions at home and slowly build up to dancing every day.  So I should end up being a better dancer and also a bit fitter. Sorted!

I’m taking the weekend to re-read the South Beach diet book and get a menu sorted for the next few days.  The diet begins in earnest in Monday, 4th January!

You know how it is, I’m sure.  You resolve, hand on heart, to cut back on buying cookbooks.  (Not stop, because that would be utterly ridiculous.  Me, stop buying cookbooks?  Crazy talk!)  But yes… you resolve to cut back and then, along comes a review of a cookbook that sends you scurrying to Amazon faster than Usagni Bolt.

The review in question is Ivonne’s—of Cream Puffs In Venice fame—review of Giada’s Kitchen.  I resisted for a good 24 hours before placing the order.  I even checked the library catalogue in case they had it; I was all prepared to submit a request for the book, but I couldn’t see any option to do so (are you listening, South Glos libraries?)  So, I succumbed and ordered it.  And I’m really glad that I did.

In the UK, we’re slowly starting to get more North American food shows.  So far, no Rachel Ray or Paula Deene who I think we can live without, but we have been getting The Barefoot Contessa for a couple of years—is it me, or does almost every recipe begin with a stick of butter?—Ellie of A Healthy Appetite and last year we had the first season of Giada de Laurentis’s Everyday Italian which I really enjoyed.  Giada’s hallmark is light and fresh Italian cookery with big flavours. She doesn’t shy away from butter but this particular cookbook is her healthiest yet, something that always appeals to me.

When flicking through the book plenty of recipes caught my eye, but I absolutely had to try out her salmon recipe.  I am not a fan of fish soups or stews, but serving the salmon with a citrus broth looked absolutely perfect for the few days of summer we were experiencing.  With a little bit of tweaking—I used much less olive oil—this dish is perfect for Phase Two of the South Beach Diet, and it would be perfect for any time of the year when you need some freshness or a delicious taste of summer.

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Whoops, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?  All is fine, Chez Ang, I’ve just been lazing on the beach.  The South Beach Diet, that is.  Yup, after years of getting on (and falling off) the Weight Watchers wagon, I have defected to the sunny shores of the South Beach Diet.

It’s still early days, but I think this is the diet for me.  I think I need more ‘rules’ about eating and a definite absence of cakes and sugar as once I start eating cakes, I find it very hard to stop.  I’m still in Phase One of the plan (low-carbing) and  I must admit that I’m looking forward to a bowl of porridge as soon as Phase Two starts.  (I am also slightly fed up of eggs.  I fear I will be reincarnated as a chicken.)

Thankfully I can still eat some very familiar meals, and pre-SB, one of my new favourite easy dinners was from Bill Granger’s Every Day: seared steak with cannellini beans and tomatoes, all drizzled with some aged balsamic vinegar.  It’s an absolutely delicious meal and I’m so pleased that it fits in perfectly with the South Beach lifestyle. These days I do add extra tomatoes and some red pepper and also serve it with some steamed broccoli to up the veggies, but that just makes it even better. (Especially if the broccoli is stirfried with plenty of garlic.  Mmmm… garlic.)

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