I tried a new meal out tonight - as during the Monday group weigh-in sessions I was working alongside Moreless, and she mentioned Moussaka - and so tonight I've made some - and really enjoyed it. I'm hoping to eat the remainder of it for lunch (smaller portion) alongside some salad, as it will be easy to heat up in the microwave and will make an easy lunch.
If you are interested in the calories, I was a bit lazy and just put 'Homemade Moussaka' into Myfitnesspal and it came up with 440 calories, but I also put on some cheese, so added that and it ended up totalling 530 calories. I am not sure how accurate that would be as my version only had tomatoes in it, and no bechamel sauce. It is made with Turkey mince, and I also added in some spinach, mixed peppers, tomatoes, white onion, mushrooms, baked aubergines, olive oil, and some extra mature cheddar cheese crumbled on top. It was really tasty! I now add some mixed fresh herbs which are designed to go with 'tomato' and it really adds some amazing flavour.
Please do share what you ate this evening, or another meal that you particularly enjoyed today, if you want to. I love hearing people's meal choices - it can be very inspiring for new/different things to try out.
Hope you are all having a great week.
Lowcal
p.s. If you're wondering what the 'Monday group weigh-in sessions' are like, then please look at the 'Events' section (right-hand-side of the homepage) to see the latest session, and if you like the look of it, then please do join us next Monday for a group weigh-in. Everyone is welcome.
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Tonight I had pasta with onion, mushrooms and peas with green pesto. Delicious.Thank you to my lovely other half for cooking (and making enough for me to freeze in portions)
I forgot to weigh in this week but was 10 st 5.75 lbs. Hope it's not too late. Also, I can't remember my previous weight but think I have gained a little due to not being able to move so much as normal.
Looking forward to moving better with the physio's exercises 😊
I like the sound of your delicious pasta meal - I would love something like that. Great that you're going to freeze some portions, that will save you time later in the week, and lovely of your other half to cook it.
I'll give you the link to the latest weigh-in session, and would ask if you could just copy and paste your weigh-in result and just post it there. I could copy and paste for you, but it would help me time-wise if you could do that:
Your results will still be counted, as Ruth will be doing the stats later in the week. Don't worry about the previous week's weight, as once you post, I will respond to you there, and I'll try to locate your previous weight, so you will know your change in weight over the week.
I don't think beans on toast are boring at all - I sometimes have those, and I've also tried some of the new varieties of beans - like fahita, chilli and another type that I can't remember the name of, but they're quite spicy and really good.
That sounds like a great idea! Also, there is a recipe for homemade baked beans in Lucca10's Pinned Post regarding Healthy Snacks and Recipes. I still haven't tried it yet, but I might batch cook some in the near future.
I had 8 ozs chicken fillet 5 small new potatoes with skins on cauliflower and broccoli florets, I wish I'd taken a pic and I will have a bit chocolate with a cup of green tea later on. Your moussaka looks delicious I used myfitnesspal as well to check cals and more importantly the nutrients. I have learned so much from it I have had to drop a lot of what I call my goodies lol but not chocolate although I have had to change amount and types of chocolate because I like all the wrong ones bounty turkish delight and white chocolate to name a few. 😊
Lovely, your chicken fillet with new potatoes and cauliflower and broccoli florets sounds brilliant. You should take a picture next time, as it's really nice to see people's meal pictures - great to share ideas.
I do have a piece of chocolate after my evening meal too - I like the Pistachio dark chocolate or Hazelnut dark chocolate - just one piece, and I also have it with a drink - usually a cup of coffee. I really enjoy finishing a meal like that, as it is a bit like a lovely ritual and I enjoy the taste and savour it. I hope you enjoy your chocolate with your cup of green tea later on.
Thanks for your kind remarks re: my Moussaka. I did look up the word Moussaka on Wikipaedia, and noticed that my version seems to be similar to those made in Turkey or Greece - i.e not layered. I did put the aubergines through the mixture, but I didn't do a bechamel sauce or any special potato topping, I just sprinkled the cheese on top.
Great that Myfitnesspal has helped you to make some changes in your food preferences, as it is a good resource and has so many items in the database. I had stopped using it for a while, but decided to go back to it, as I'm trying to lose my final half stone.
Wishing you a great remainder of the week, and thanks so much for sharing your meal and commenting in this post.
Great to see you! I love baked salmon and roasted veg - that's one of my favourite meals, and oatcakes sound like a delicious accompanyment. I love oatcakes too.
I agree, my meal is very Mediterranean, and I am a fan of that healthy diet, and you've given me a good idea for a great accompanyment to that meal tomorrow, as I'll get have a slice of tasty wholemeal bread alongside. That will be really good. I'm looking forward to it already.
I'm surprised you've not had any whipped double cream for a while, as I know how much you enjoy that. Do you just have it by itself, or with something else. I think I'd enjoy that with some blueberries or strawberries, but I don't usually have a dessert except for on weekends. Maybe that will be my dessert this weekend.
Your moussaka looks lovely Lowcal, I would make one with quorn mince, and I'm interested that you didn't need the bechamel sauce because I've always had trouble making a good one! ☀️
Thanks for your kind comment, and your idea to do one with quorn mince sounds great. I'm hoping Ruth_Canal_Runner will pop by at some point with her version, as she had a good recipe that she mentioned to me. We were chatting aubergines - maybe Moreless might also pop by and share her own experience with aubergines today - as she had them for lunch.
I didn't really fancy the merging of bechamel sauce with the tomato, and so I just decided to see how it turned out without one, and I'm definitely going to repeat that version. I really liked it.
I'm sorry to hear you're being made redundant, obviously I don't know the circumstances, but I hope that you cope ok with that transition. It's a potentially big change.
Tonight I am stuffed I had a whole small cauliflower, and poached applewood smoked haddock fillets. Total calories, just worked it out, not difficult, the info was on the haddock, 2 fillets =160 cal and 128 in the cauli, about 10 for the bit of skimmed milk in the poaching juice. 298 cal. Simple but the haddock was very tasty and I love cauliflower in any form
I love the sound of your Applewood smoked Haddock fillets, and having them with the small cauliflower sounds a great combination. Thanks for sharing the calorie content too. I enjoy haddock for weekend breakfasts quite often, they are sooooo tasty! I also love cauliflower in any form.
Thank you! Sounds like you've eaten your fill with those leftover roast potatoes, chickpeas and lots of vegetables, sounds like a lovely combination, and I always think that using up leftovers can be very creative and delicious.
Hope you enjoy your evening and that you're having a great week.
8.15pm Going to do a few bits and pieces now, but I'll look forward to reading any further comments or ideas posted either later or when I get a chance tomorrow.
Wishing everyone a great evening, and thanks to all of you who have commented and shared your ideas. They all sound delicious, and are 'food for thought'.
Lowcal
p.s. Please do feel free to chat to each other within this post, if you want to, as I'd encourage that, but I would say please be respectful of other people's meal choices and ideas, as this is a friendly and supportive community. I know you have all been lovely, but I just wanted to say that it can be daunting to put your meal ideas 'out there' and 'share them', so do be mindful of that.
for Lunch I had a vegetable omelette made with two egg whites and one whole egg, together with a mixed green salad leaves (152 calories) and a muller light yogurt (99 calories) for desert.
For Tea I tried the oat pancakes with banana and almond milk and added 6 chopped dried apricots ... washed down with a cuppa !! delicious !!
Both meals are very filling so I haven't been tempted to snack
I just spotted your reply before I was about to go to do a few things, so I wanted to reply before I went. Your lunch sounds really good - eggs are definitely a really tasty option and an omelette can have so many different flavours. Yummy!
Your tea sounds like Pancake Tuesday to me - except that I didn't actually get to try out the oat pancakes recipe, and I'm really glad you had that, as it's reminded me to seek out the recipe and give it a try. It does sound really good. I didn't remember to have pancakes on Pancake Tuesday in the end.
Great that you feel full and satisfied, and I hope you enjoy your evening.
Thanks for commenting and I hope you've been enjoying your recent holiday! I'm not sure about cooking aubergines properly - I just put them on a baking tray (sliced) and drizzled with olive oil and baked for about 15 minutes before then adding them to the other ingredients, and baking in the oven for about 25 minutes more.
Your meal of herring with turnip and carrot and 40g barley sounds really delicious. I have recently been using pot barley in a soup, which worked out well. Oranges are tasty fruit.
Oooh, I love paella. Did you have chicken and prawns/fish in it? That's such a tasty dish.
Lowcal
p.s. 10.45pm Just going to bed, as I am sooo tired, but if you do respond to tell us more about your paella, I'll read it tomorrow sometime. But no worries if you don't - as I was just curious.
Hubby cooked and cheated!. Tesco do a frozen paella ( chicken, seafood and chorizo) hubby adds another salmon fillet and more veggies (today carrots peas and broccoli )then we split it between us with him getting the lions share.
I think half inc the additions comes in at about 450 calories but I don't have half more like 2/5th. It is high in salt but as an occasional meal not too bad. It is a tasty, quick mid week standby when pushed for time.
Hi! I just caught your reply before heading off to bed. That sounds like an ingenious way to create a tasty paella. Really good! Thanks for expanding on it, as it's an interesting idea to improve upon an existing meal - creative hubby of yours!
I didn't have much in and didn't manage shopping but found remains of last weeks salad/veggies - peppers onions and cherry tomatoes and a couple of potatoes. I softened the veggies is a little olive oil then layered them up with thinly sliced potato and S&P in a lasagne dish, covered with foil, and baked in oven for about 3 hours on low 😊. At the end I removed the foil and made a couple of indents and cracked a couple of eggs in, returned to oven for ten minutes. A new invented dish! Very tasty, used up lots of leftovers, and healthy
I will definitely be copying and pasting your new invented dish into my recipe file, as it is such a great idea! What a great thing to do with left-over salad and veggies and potatoes. Adding the eggs towards the end is really good, I am looking forward to trying it next time I have some stuff like that to use up. I'm wondering what would happen if it was cooked for a shorter time on a higher temperature, but maybe part of the intensity of flavour would be lost? I know that things cooked long and slow can be incredible for flavour.
Thanks so much for your idea and comments Anna. Ingenuity there, definitely!
Thanks lowcal 😊 If the potatoes were cooked it wouldn't take as long 😊 I love moussaka too, but as I love cheese I do a vegetarian version (to keep calories down) and use low fat cheese 😊 Ps you have the same Denby plates as me!
I understand now re: the potatoes, I think I would probably pre-cook them and then bake it in the oven, unless I was doing a larger batch cook, in which case I might do the slower version. Interesting that you choose a vegetarian cheese to keep the calories down, I also try to minimise the calories, but by using a more mature flavoured cheese. There are some gorgeous cheeses out there!
Wow, great choice of plates!
Lowcal
What I've started doing recently is having a bigger lunch and a smaller dinner
How are you finding that? I do that occasionally - maybe twice a week, depending on my schedule, and I do find it works well - I hope you're enjoying your meals, and I hope you have a great week. Thanks for commenting.
It was a bit difficult to get used to it at first, because I used to get a bit sleepy after having my lunch. But now it's fine. Also, if I have a big lunch, I find that having a nice salad for dinner is enough. OR lots of fruit! It also helps me get my five a day in
At last I've made it to reply to your post Lowcal!
Your moussaka looks delicious and as you know, it's a family favourite of ours I also make aubergine gratin, which is an indulgent side dish, for when you have calories to spare, but my spicy aubergine soup, is tasty and not as calorie laden
I have posted the recipe on another thread, but will post it again here, as I can't now remember which thread I put it on!
INGREDIENTS
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tbsp medium curry powder
1 aubergine, diced
200g carrots, diced
850ml vegetable stock
400g can chopped tomatoes
salt and freshly ground black pepper
fresh coriander to garnish
METHOD
1) Place all the ingredients (except the garnish) into a large saucepan. Stir to mix, then bring to the boil.
2) Reduce the heat and simmer for approximately 25 minutes, until the aubergine is soft and pulpy.
3) Using a food processor, blend the soup in batches for just a few seconds, retaining some of the aubergines’ consistency. You don’t want it to be completely smooth.
4) When ready to serve, reheat until warm, transfer the soup to a bowl and garnish with the fresh coriander leaves.
Glad you finally made it here, as I hoped you'd pop in, as you really inspired my trying that Moussaka, and I am so glad I did, as it was really delicious, and I will definitely have it again - probably soon, as we enjoyed it so much. I forgot to mention that it also contains mushrooms, so I'll adapt the original post to mention them - mushrooms are so tasty.
Thank you so much for sharing your recipe for Spicy Aubergine Soup - I will definitely put that in my recipe file, and look forward to trying it out. It sounds particularly good!
I hope you are having a great day, and that the weekend will be a relaxing one for us all.
I'm not expecting a relaxing weekend, I have my grandson staying with me and together we have a lot of K's to kick! I hope your weekend is relaxing though
Hi Lowcal. Moussaka looks yummy. I tried something new tonight. It was 'boodles' from Sainsburys. (other stores sell them I am sure). They are butternut squash noodles. I had them with bolognese sauce. Not quite the same as spaghetti but for zero points (old weight watchers system) they were a great substitute. I had looked at buying a spiralizer but they were quite cheap prepacked so may not bother. Hoping I can be good over the weekend as have been very good all week!
I always smile when I see your icon - thank you so much for your lovely comment on my Moussaka.
It's great that you tried something new, and that you enjoyed those 'boodles'. There has been a previous thread about spiralisers, so you could maybe put that in the search window (top right) to find it. I did a recipe using butternut squash noodles too, and here's the thread if you want to see my version:
Your version sounds really tasty - and it's great that you enjoyed them.
Hope you have a lovely weekend, and that it is better than your week. Maybe do some pre-planning so that next week can be a better one? I'm not sure what happened for you, as you mentioned it wasn't a very good week, but I really hope you can turn things around to make next week much better. Good luck!
Thanks for reply. Will check out link you sent re boodles. Not sure if my post doesn't read quite right but I wanted to say that as I have been good all week I am hoping I am going to be good all weekend as I do not want to undo all the hard work I have done. Sorry for any confusion. Thanks so much for your support. I always turn on the computer and read posts on here when I am thinking of reaching for that dreaded biscuit box!
Good luck re: the weekend. I just replied earlier to your post that you put - hope what I said made sense, as I realised I ended up waffling on a bit (sorry, just realised I've made a pun about food again!) - see- it easily happens! (You'll have to read my response to you in the other thread to understand why I'm going on about food puns).
Put that dreaded biscuit box out of reach - maybe have one very choice biscuit with a cup of tea later, so you don't end up feeling deprived. Just do what works best for you personally - we're all different.
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I hope your weekend is relaxing though 
Daily Diary Monday 27th November 
