Lasagne

I love pasta, especially lasagne. The problem is it’s always fatty, and you end up having way to much starch. Of course it was challenge accepted! I set out to make a low fat guilt free lasagne. It’s high in protein, low in fat, and the starch is just enough to make it your favourite pasta dish.

   

All my recipes can be adapted, if you want to add more layers, feel free. :) This recipe makes about 6 servings.

Lasagne with salad = LOVE!

Lasagne

Ingredients:

400g of mince

½ cup of rinsed lentils

1 one big onion roughly chopped

1 small green pepper roughly chopped

150g mushrooms thinly sliced

500g can chopped tomatoes

100g tomato puree

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon Chutney

Some lasagne sheets

Some Cheddar to top it off

Cheese sauce:

300ml milk

2 tablespoons corn-starch

40g Mozzarella grated

Method:

1. Start by frying your mince in a pan, add the onion, green pepper and mushroom.
2. Add the canned tomatoes and lentils, let it cook for 5 minutes.
3. Lastly add the tomato puree, sugar and chutney.
4. Cook it for another 10 minutes.
5. Next make your cheese sauce. Add the corn-starch to your milk whisk well and microwave on high for a few minutes. Take it out regularly to whisk. It will start to thicken. Now add the mozzarella and mix well.
6. You can now layer your lasagne, start with your mince. Add one layer of lasagne sheets. Add one layer of the cheese sauce and top it off with some grated cheddar. (If you would like to add more layers, you can add half the mince, then one layer of lasagne sheets, followed by the rest of the mince and then another layer of lasagne. Top off with the cheese sauce and grated cheddar.)
7. Bake your lasagne in a 180 degree Celsius oven for 25 minutes, or until the cheddar is golden brown.
8. Leave to cool slightly before serving.

Let me know what you think!

Pork Chop Suey

I love Chinese takeaway. It is one of my weaknesses. The problem is always the portion size, and I don’t know what goes into making my food. This means that sometimes I will have more starch, salt and fat than what I would usually have.

So the other day I googled some recipe’s for one of my favourites, Beef chop suey. I tweaked it to suit my lifestyle, and I must say it didn’t go that bad. Well it tasted good, and it feels great to know exactly what I'm putting in my body.

Pork Chop Suey

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chicken stock
• 3 tablespoons lite soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 4 teaspoons corn-starch
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 pieces of pork tenderloin, trimmed and cubed
• 1 medium onion, slivered
• 1 medium red bell pepper, thinly sliced (next time I'll add some greenpepper for colour)
• 2 medium carrots thinly sliced
• 2 cups bean sprouts
• 20 grams of Plain Cashew nuts
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

Method:

1. Let the pork marinade in 1 tablespoon molasses + 1 tablespoon soy sauce for a few hours.
2. Combine the corn starch with a small amount of broth, mix well until there’s no more lumps in the corn starch. Now add the rest of the broth, soy sauce, molasses and pepper.
3. Next fry off the pork in a large pan over a medium heat, for about 2-3 minutes. Take it out of the pan and set aside.
4. Add olive oil to the pan and fry off the onion, bell pepper, ginger, sprouts and carrots for 3 – 5 minutes on a medium to high heat.
5.  Now reduce the heat to medium again and add the starch/broth mixture and pork. Make sure to get all the pork juices. Cook for about a minute until the sauces slightly thicken.

Serve this dish with rice. I used brown rice, just because I can.

What is your favourite take away? Maybe I can find a healthier alternative :)

Lemony Pasta

I used to order a dish similar to this when I still worked at Century City. I don’t have a clue what was in the original recipe, I just remembered it had a tangy, addictive taste to it. So of course I had to try and make this.

Lemony Pasta

Lemony Pasta - It looks good, doesn't it :)

Ingredients:

200g Spaghetti

½ Green pepper (thinly sliced)

½ Red pepper (thinly sliced)

2 Chicken Breasts

Cajun spice

Vinaigrette:

1 medium sized lemon

1 teaspoon of castor sugar

2 tablespoons Olive oil

Salt en pepper

Instruction:

Cook the spaghetti until soft. While it is cooking create the vinaigrette by dissolving the castor sugar in the juice of one lemon. (You can add lemon zest for a more lemony taste.) Add the Olive oil and whisk, salt and pepper to taste. Add the vinaigrette to the cooked pasta, make sure all the pasta is covered with it and set aside to cool.

Next spice the chicken breasts and cook it for about 7 minutes on a side. The chicken must be cooked through but still moist.

Add the sliced peppers to the pasta and mix well. Slice the chicken to be placed on top of the spaghetti. This dish is to be served cold.

I can’t begin to explain the flavours to you; it’s such a simple fresh dish. I love the flavours of this dish, and I hope you love it too.

Happy Cooking!