Friday Pie-Day: Egg Pied Rice

A while back, I randomly thought up this recipe name and since then, wondered what this might consist of. Then one day, AHA, it came to me: a scrambled egg (and friends) filling encased in rice!

Do you think it works?

It wasn't too hard to make actually. Looking back, it might have been better to make this with basmati rice, rather than plain rice, as it has a bit more flavour when baked.

The rice in this dish goes nice and crusty which is not to everyone's taste but I've always loved the crusty bits at the bottom of the rice cooker :-)

But I warn you now, it's very tricky trying to cut this into neat pie slices! I eventually managed to get a decent-looking slice that looked like a real pie (I thought so anyway...) You'll need to cut through the crusty base a few times so you don't end up with the filling toppling out everywhere when you try to lift a slice out and find that it's still stuck to the rest of the pie at the base. (I didn't make this mistake at all...)

Egg Pied Rice

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For an 8" pie dish (serves 3-4):

300g rice
3 large eggs, beaten with a bit of soy sauce
3 unsmoked bacon rashers, chopped
large handful of frozen peas
large handful of sweetcorn
small red onion, chopped
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp oyster sauce

1) Put the rice in a pan with water up to about half a centimetre above the rice. Bring to the boil, then turn right down and cover. Leave for 20 minutes.
2) Preheat oven to 240 degrees C. Pour the eggs into a hot wok and remove when cooked through.
4) Fry the bacon and onion, followed by the peas and sweetcorn. Return the egg back in to mix together, adding the oyster sauce.
5) Lightly butter a pie dish. Sprinkle the paprika evenly across the base and sides.
6) Spoon a layer of rice evenly onto the base, pushing outwards to cover the sides as well.
7) Tip the egg filling into the middle, and cover over with the rest of the rice.
8) Dot a little butter over the top, cover with foil and bake on the bottom shelf for about 45 minutes.

And there you have it - Egg Pied Rice!

Pie out.

Read my other Friday Pie-Day adventures. Continue reading this post..

Hungry Jenny Faux Pas: A Healthy Apple Cake Fit For...

...er, no-one.

Damn, I thought I was doing ok. I haven't had a major Hungry Jenny Faux-Pas for quite a while.

After a few weeks of baking different cakes (and testing them out on hungry aikido guys after our training sessions), I decided to branch out into a seemingly healthy recipe which calls for no sugar and no butter. Yes, I thought, I can bake my healthy cake and eat it too.

Well, now I realise that perhaps I'm just not ready to take that next step yet:

Would you eat this?

Well?

If you said yes - well, I applaud you because to me this does not look very appealing! If you said no, then well done, that's the right answer. There was a split-second of hesistation about whether I should actually serve this up to people. This was quickly shot when I tasted a whole piece properly.

And promptly spat it out.

Now, there was nothing wrong with the flavour, so I want to take a half point for that at least. It's got apples, cinnamon and nutmeg. Can't go wrong there. But the texture. There was something VERY wrong with the texture. It was kind of chewy. And not in a nice flapjack way. Sort of harder than that. "What, like caramel?" asked my housemate Grace.

"No, like...a texture I've never tasted before" I muttered, thinking hard about what made it taste so wrong. Is this what butter-free, sugar-free cakes are meant to taste like? I know some healthy foods just can't shake off that label of tasting bland or like rabbit food but I'm quite certain that this disaster was purely caused by my baking ability.

For one, I was meant to use an apple puree, rather than being lazy and throwing in bits of diced apple instead. So maybe that's why nothing really mixed in together properly. This resulted in the lack of flour incorporation, which if you hadn't noticed already, can spot from the bits of dry flour on the finished cake.

"It does tastes nice" Grace commented, as she chewed a small piece.

My heart lifted a little. "Oh, did you want me to save you a couple of pieces then?" as I hovered over the bin with the sorry mess.

"Erm, nah...you're ok"

Sums it up really, doesn't it?

Fancy a laugh at my other Hungry-Jenny-Faux-Pas? Continue reading this post..

When Jenny Meets Harry

I'm not a fan of The Junk Food. Well, I love KFC of course, but who can resist fried chicken? (Yeah, yeah, vegetarians and chicken allergy people of course but that's not my point). And I usually gag at the thought of getting greasy takeways and wish more people would try cooking their own versions. But sometimes, just sometimes, if you know you're going to do something wrong, you should do it right. And in this case, that means running to good old Harry.

No, the fish isn't called Harry. It's the name of the best fish and chip shop in town. Apparently, people travel from afar to come to Harry's and although that may sound rather ludicrious, it wouldn't surprise me if they do. Once you try it, you'll know what I mean! Now take note of these pictures because it'll be one of the few instances that you'll see something so naughty on my blog.

And the chips are crinkle-cut. Now there's just something a bit special about that, don't you agree?
Continue reading this post..

How to Read a Menu

So you're sitting in a restaurant with your loved one, your family, your friends or whoever. Everyone gets chatting away, time is a-ticking, your belly's a-rumbling, and someone keeps asking for 'a few more minutes' each time the waiter comes to take the table's order.

In many cases, I am the annoying person who takes ages to decide what to get. There are just too many things to consider. Will it be photogenic? Is it likely to provoke an interesting food experience? And most obvious of all, will it be satisfyingly delicious? So if you need to nudge yourself or your fellow diners to make that all-important menu decision (before you end up eating them out of starvation), bear the following points in mind...

1) Eliminate your options by section first - do you want pizza, pasta or risotto? Meat, seafood or vegetarian? This will stop your eye darting about the menu and help you make a decision without angering your hungry stomach!

2) If you are not immediately grabbed by at least three options, deeply consider trying somewhere else. It's a horrible moment to sit down and realise you'll just have to 'settle' for a dish you don't really fancy.

3) If it aint meat heavy, don't go for a steak. It will probably be ok but it's probably not the chef's specialty. Likewise, vegetarians should speak out if taken to a restaurant with only one or two 'courtesy' veggie dishes.

4) Take your chances with chicken breast, risotto and ravioli. The portion will almost always be too small.

5) Beware of fancy names masquerading as not-so-fancy items. Chipped potatoes are just fat chips. A delicate fork-crushed bean medley is mashed beans.

6) Good descriptions will list actual ingredients. See past the overuse of adjectives and savoury words to find the real substance of the dish. Granted - elaborate descriptions are enticing and I love reading menus for this reason but just make sure you know exactly what you're getting.

7) Watch out for items with no prices. I made that mistake once when I ordered from a priceless cocktail menu earlier this year.

8) Prices slipped in at the end of each dish description, rather than aligned in a single column down the menu must not be overlooked. They are placed there to divert your attention away from the price.

9) Always, ALWAYS have a second option. There's nothing worse than a last-minute choice when told your dish is not available and having to pick an alternative with the waiter hovering over you.

10) And the rule that everyone knows. Close your menu when you've made your choice. One, to stop you changing your mind (and disgruntling your fellow diners). And two, to indicate to those ever-eager waiters that you are indeed Ready To Order.

Oh, and this is just what I've found useful based on past dining experiences of course. This isn't meant as a black book of rules you know!
Continue reading this post..

Friday Pie-Day: A 50 minute pie NOT worth waiting for

It saddens me to write this: I have a bad pie experience to share with you this week. Now I've mentioned many a time that whenever I go to a restaurant, I always get that little flutter of fear before my food arrives that it will not be as good as I hope. On the rare occasions that this has happened, I get over it pretty quickly. (Well, subject to a rant about it, er, much like now.)

But this time?

Well, THIS just took the pie...

A fellow workmate had been reading my blog (yesss, reader confirmed!) and was warmly reminded by this post back in January of the old times when we had Friday Pie-Day in the cheap bar next door to work. We decided to make an effort to reinstate this for our little workmate group and headed off to Wests in Chichester for a Friday Pie-Day lunch.

Wests is a lounge bar type place in an old converted church. I've eaten there once and it wasn't very nice. Since then though, it has been refurbished (which was at least a couple of years ago now) and has lots of draping flowery decor everywhere so I thought hey, it should be alright now.

Got there at ten past one with three other hungry work colleagues. We ordered quickly, at the demand of our rumbling bellies and waited eagerly.

And waited.

At first, we were chatting away so much that we didn't realise. Then, "What time is it?" someone asked casually. Quick glance at watch. Gulp. Ten to two!

Due back at the office in ten minutes, this was not good. In normal circumstances, a wait over half an hour is rather annoying. When it's during a lunch break for work however, it's a different story. No-one enjoys rushing their food!

When we went to complain, the waiter asked what we had ordered, disappeared, then came back to say our food would be served in ten minutes time. We mentioned how long we'd been waiting and that we had to get back to work in ten minutes. "Er, let me see what I can do" he mumbled nervously, and scurried off.

He popped back, and said a little too cheerfully, "Ok, it won't be ten minutes, they're plating your meals right now." I had to bite my tongue to stop myself asking if the food would actually still be nice, given we had now 'rushed' them.

Alas, the food still arrived 10 minutes later. Given it was a Friday and that it's uncommon for us to take a full lunch hour every day during the week anyway (sad, I know), we decided to just eat as fast as possible, without rushing.

It was probably a good thing that we ate fast, because this certainly wasn't a pie that I wanted to savour every bite of. The pastry was all floppy, and not because there was too much gravy poured over it. The beef inside was cheap and coated in a thick gloopy sauce reminiscent of lumpy school dinner gravy not mixed in properly.

Not good.

Needless to say, I won't be going back there to eat again. Sometimes, despite a bad food experience, I would go back again maybe one more time to give it another go.

But a bad pie is just unforgivable.

Pie out.

Read my other Friday Pie-Day adventures.
Continue reading this post..

3 Things to Do With Pork Strips

Now I don't know about you but I just never know what to do with those random pork strips lying around the place. There's only so many stir-fries you can do before you start to feel a bit wokked out.

So here are a few suggestions for what you can try out the next time you have a miscellaneous pack of pork strips to use up...

These can of course be adapted to use other meatly strips instead. Make sure you fry the pork strips over a low heat to stop them drying out, or marinade in a mixture of soy sauce, honey and oil to keep them moist whilst frying them.

Pork and Apple Bulgar Wheat Salad (above)

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For 2:

2 pork steaks, cut into thin strips
1 apple, chopped into chunks
small handful of broccoli florets
1 small red pepper, chopped
100g bulgar wheat
550ml hot veggie stock
Fresh coriander

1) Boil the bulgar wheat in the stock, then leave to simmer with a lid on for about 15 minutes.
2) Meanwhile, fry the pork strips and the broccoli. After a few minutes, add in the apple chunks.
3) Once the bulgar wheat has absorbed the stock, mix in the pork, broccoli and red pepper.


Pineapple Pork and Egg with Basmati Rice

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For 2:

2 small pork chops, in strips
2 eggs
2 pineapple rings, chopped
Half a small red onion, chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
100g basmati rice
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp honey
Olive oil

1) Gently boil the rice for about 20 minutes. Drain, rinse with cold water and add a little oil.
2) Meanwhile, boil the eggs and leave to simmer for 5-10 minutes, depending on how hard-boiled you like them.
3) Fry the pork strips in the soy sauce and honey.
4) Mix the pork, pineapple, celery and red onion into the rice.
5) Quarter the eggs and nestle on top of the dish.


Teriyaki Pork Strips on Grilled Aubergines

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For 2:

Half an aubergine, cut into 6 slices
2 small pork steaks, sliced into thin strips
3 mushrooms, sliced
A quarter courgette, sliced
1 tbsp sake
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sugar
Groundnut oil
Fresh coriander

1) Sit the pork strips in the sake, soy sauce and sugar with a bit of oil for 15 minutes.
2) Brush a little oil over the aubergine slices and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3) Grill the aubergine and courgettes for a few minutes on each side.
4) Meanwhile, fry the pork over a low heat, adding the mushrooms after a couple of minutes.
5) Divide the aubergines equally onto two plates. Stack the courgettes on top, followed by the pork and mushroom mixture. Garnish with fresh coriander.

More porky recipes here Continue reading this post..

Restaurant to try: George and Dragon Inn, Chichester

What's better than going to a restaurant that meets your expectations? Finding one that pleasantly exceeds those expectations, like the George and Dragon Inn in Chichester.

This would be a good place to come if you were visiting Chichester and wanted to eat somewhere that wasn't a chain restaurant. There are far too many Italian places here for my liking - not that I don't like Italian food, but just that they all seem to have the same dishes as each other!

I'm no stranger to this gastropub, as it's is a popular place for co-workers to kick back and relax. There is a real hearty atmosphere inside and although the bar area is quite small, it never feels too crowded. There is a separate dining area in a big conservatory at the back, though this was roped off for some reason when we went.

Now I'd never eaten here before and as much as I love Chichester, I don't get my hopes up too much when trying somewhere new in the local area. With a gastropub though, you do get that certain expectation and hope that you will get a real homecooked, comforting meal.

For me, the sign of a good menu is when there are at least 3 or 4 things that really appeal to you. Sometimes when I read a menu, I get that knot of disppointment in my stomach when nothing in particular jumps out saying 'Eat me!' It's good to um and ah over the options. Yes, probably annoying for the people you're dining with but hey, it's always an important decision to make, right?

Unsurprisingly, I was choosing between four different varieties of meat - pan fried duck, rump steak, crispy pork belly and glazed rump of lamb. If only I could have had a bit of it all...

*snaps out of daydream*

In the end, as you'll see from above, I went for the pan fried duck. It was served pink and tasted very lean and gamey, not greasy at all, even with the skin. I even made the effort to chew slowly and enjoy it properly! You can't help but appreciate the taste so much more because the food is sourced locally.

The only thing I can fault was that I had a blunt knife which was a bit annoying. Oh, and I made the silly mistake of choosing to 'share' this mango and orange cheesecake with my boyfriend.

It would have tasted alot nicer if I had the sense to order one ALL for myself :-)

Definitely coming back here - I need to try everything else on the menu!

Other restaurants I've tried that you might like to read about.
Continue reading this post..

Friday Pie-Day: Baked-Bean-Bacon Pie

I was a bit lazy this week and made something that's more of a hot pot than a pie. But I've called it a pie anyway because it was meant to have a nice mashed potato crusty top. Well I didn't really fancy doing that. And I only had new potatoes as well and I feel it's just wrong to brutalise those little ones for the sake of a fluffy topping.

So what's inside?

Well, if you couldn't tell from the title, this pie has a warming mush of baked beans and bacon. And er, some celery, just to add a bit of extra texture. Living life right on the edge I am.

Tastes alot nicer than it looks by the way. It can a bit tricky to make baked beans look pretty. Get some good quality bacon for this and keep the pieces large to have extra mass for the tomato sauce to sink in.

Baked-Bean-Bacon Pie

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For 2:

6 new potatoes, sliced
400g baked beans
2 rashers of good quality bacon, chopped into large pieces
200g chickpeas
1 celery stick, chopped
Half a small onion, chopped
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp vinegar
parsley

1) Bring the potatoes to boil in salted water. Leave to simmer for about 15 minutes, then drain.
2) Preheat oven to 190 degrees C. Fry the bacon gently in a pan. Add the celery, onion and chickpeas, followed by the beans. Stir in the tomato puree and vinegar.
3) Pour into two ramekin dishes or one bigger oven dish and add some fresh parsley.
4) Arrange the potato slices on the top, then stick in the oven for about an hour (or less like me if you're too impatient).

Pie out.

Read my other Friday Pie-Day adventures. Continue reading this post..

Fried Egg Pot of Delight

It's almost getting to that time of year now when it's dark when you wake up and dark when you finish work. That's just too dreary a thought to be had. My housemate and I just tested our heating in our new house last night and am glad to say that it seems to be working ok...so far. We are due our first winter here so all we can do is sit and wait...

In the meantime, it's time to start digging up some warming recipes and here is a mini one to start with:

Yes, quite literally a fried egg pot of delight!

This has got mashed potato, surely one of the loveliest comfort foods you can whip up quickly. But what makes this even more lovely is that it is also baked for all long as you can bear to wait, to make it an even toastier treat for your stomach. Even better with some grated cheese in it too...Anyone salivating yet? (Well, each to their own, if you're not)

Oh, and it's got a fried egg in it too. Get the yolk just right and you can jab it like a mad person and let it ooze lovingly into that soft cheesy potato.

Now this is a single-serving pot that I just made in a ramekin dish so it's more of a cosy evening snack, but you can easily turn it into a main meal by using more potato and mashing something else into the mix too, like butterbeans and some diced veg (I put broccoli in my one above), then serve with a fresh salad. Just remember to put it into bigger dish when you do that. Me? Well, I made too much as usual so I had the above with a side of, er, the leftovers. Greedy? Just Hungry Jenny.

Fried Egg in Cheesy Potato Pots

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For 2 single-serving pots:

2 potatoes, chopped
2 eggs
spring onion or half a small onion, chopped finely
small handful of diced veg like broccoli, carrots, peas, sweetcorn (optional)
small handful of grated cheese
bit of milk and butter
fresh parsley

1) Boil the potatoes til they are soft. Mash with some milk and butter.
2) Mix in the onion, cheese, parsley and all of the veg if you are using any.
3) Spoon the mixture into two ramekin dishes, spreading up the sides and leaving a nice dip in the middle.
4) Place under a hot grill for 10 minutes, then break an egg into the dip of each dish, then pop back under the grill until the eggs are done to your liking.

Feel the warmth and forget that it's a dark winter night! Continue reading this post..

Say NO to Chinese Takeway: Try this Easy Sweet and Sour Pork

This is a shockingly simple recipe that takes away the stodginess of the sauce in takeway sweet and sour dishes. (That was an unintentional tongue twisting sentence by the way...) This extra light version will be liked by those who don't like their foods swimming in sauce. And for those who do like a bit of sauciness, don't worry, because the sweet and sour flavours will hit you so spendidly that you'll forget there's no sauce poured over the dish.

And it only takes half an hour to make!

Ready to give it a go?

Easy Sweet and Sour Pork

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For 2:

2 pork steaks, cubed
200g pineapple chunks in juice
1 red pepper, chopped
1 celery stick, chopped
1 small carrot, chopped
Half a small onion
Some grated ginger
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp cornflour
1 tsp Chinese five-spice
Fresh coriander

1) Marinade the pork cubes in the soy sauce of five-spice for at least 15 minutes.
2) Fry the pork cubes in some oil until almost cooked through. Remove from pan.
3) Add all of the vegetables and ginger into the pan, followed by the cornflour and a bit more soy sauce.
4) Return the pork to the pan and pour in the pineapple chunks including the juice, along with the vinegar.
5) Leave to simmer until everything is nice and hot, adding more cornflour if you want the sauce to be a bit thicker.
6) Stir in some fresh coriander and serve with steamed rice.

See, you could so easily make that in the time it would take to sit around waiting for a takeaway to be delivered - you might as well cook instead!

If you liked this, you might want to try making these Fresh Veggie Ho Fun Noodles too. Continue reading this post..

Friday Pie Day Faux Pas: Sausage Woahs

Here's another example of trying to be clever with a deceptively simple recipe...

...and getting it a little bit wrong...

At first glance, I guess they look okay - I'm glad I decided to do a set of 'normal' sized ones too, there in the middle. But the large mutant ones really weren't meant to look like that at all. I wanted to make sausage-shaped sausage rolls, instead of the normal little bundle of sausage joy you expect, you see.

It was all going so well - I even got the puff pastry right for once! But when I came to roll it out, I started to feel a little confused. Which way...should...the...sausage mix...go? (This is what happens when my mind slows down to try and get to grips with something a bit trivial.)

What I had in mind was to have cigar-like sausage rolls, with the sausage meat poking out of both ends. I just couldn't figure out which way I had to cut and fold the pastry in order to do this though. So, as you can see, I ended up getting this concept a bit backwards and ended up with the sausagemeat being exposed through the length of the roll instead. Ooer!

Better luck next time, eh?

Pie out.

Read my other Friday Pie-Day adventures. Continue reading this post..

4 Quick and Easy One Pot Dishes to try

Now people. Who's to deny the offer of a hassle-free meal with limited washing up? No, I'm not about to suggest that you pass the washing up clothes to someone else (although it would be nice if they offered sometimes, eh?). There are lots of yummy dishes to be had that can be cooked in just one pot. In many cases, you can just dump in the ingredients (well, nicely) and leave it to cook in the background as you dance around the living room freely. Others do require a bit of standing over the hob whilst cooking but the convenience of cooking out of only one pan remains the same.

You've no excuse now to say that you can't be bothered to cook, because these kinds of dishes really don't take much effort at all. Yet you can still be in wonder of the fact that you'll end up with a rather nice meal that even your mum would be proud of.

So what are you waiting for? Get that pan out now and make one of these immediately...!

Sausage and Baked Bean Potato One Pot (above)

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For 2:

2 sausages, chopped
200g baked beans
2 small carrots, chopped
6 new potatoes, cubed
handful of frozen sweetcorn
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp thyme

1) Fry the sausages until cooked through.
2) Take them out the pan and add the potatoes, carrots and herbs. Turn the heat down low, cover with a lid and leave to cook for 10-15 minutes.
3) Add the tomatoes, puree, sweetcorn and sausages.
4) Stir and bring to the boil. Turn the heat back down, cover and leave again to simmer for about 20 minutes until all piping hot.


One Pot Lightly Spiced Chicken with Basmati Rice

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For 2:

2 chicken fillets, sliced into thin strips
Half a yellow pepper, chopped
Half a red pepper, chopped
Half an onion, chopped
150g basmati rice
500ml chicken stock
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp brown sugar
Pinch turmeric
Pinch cinnamon
Pinch nutmeg
Pinch cumin
Pinch cardonom

1) Marinade the chicken in the soy sauce, honey and sugar.
2) Fry the onion in a deep pan. Add all of the spices and the rice, tossing for a few minutes to coat it all.
3) Add the chicken stock and bring to the boil.
4) Turn the heat right down and sit the chicken pieces on top. Cover with a lid and leave to simmer for about 20-25 minutes until the chicken is cooked and the stock absorbed.
5) In the last 5-10 minutes, add the pepper to heat through before serving.


Veggie Pasta One Pot

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For 2:

200g wholewheat pasta
handful of broccoli florets
handful of sweetcorn
1 carrot, chopped
half a small onion
200g baked beans
2 tbsp tomato puree
600ml hot veggie stock
fresh coriander

1) Fry the onion and veg in a pan for a few minutes.
2) Pour in the stock and add the pasta. Cover and leave to simmer for 15-20 minutes.
3) Add the baked beans and puree, stir and leave for a few minutes to heat through. Toss in some coriander to serve.


One Pot Harissa Pork with Butterbean Cous Cous

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For 2:

4 thin pork steaks
2 tsp harissa paste
1 tbsp lemon juice
100g couscous
150ml hot chicken stock
1 small red pepper, chopped
200g butterbeans
fresh mint

1) Mix the harissa paste and lemon juice. Sit the chicken in the mixture for at least 15 minutes.
2) Fry the pork in a pan until cooked through. Take out of the pan and leave on a plate in foil to keep warm.
3) Add the couscous and stock into the pan. Top with the butterbeans and pepper. Cover and leave for 5 minutes.
4) Once the couscous has absorbed the stock, add in some mint, fluff it all up and serve with the pork.

Easy isn't it? And you only have one pan to wash up! Continue reading this post..

How to REALLY lose weight

What? A permanently skinny girl (until metabolism slows otherwise) suggesting ways how to lose weight? That's preposterous. Yes, I have high metabolism and blah, blah, blah. It doesn't mean I don't watch my weight though. Most of all though, it's maddening to see so many people go wrong when they try to lose weight and I've come up with Ten Fail-Safe rules to follow if you really want to make it work this time...

1) Instead of starting The Big Diet on Monday, or tomorrow, or next year, start it RIGHT NOW.
2) On second thoughts, don't think of it as a 'diet' at all, but simply a healthier lifestyle.
3) Each day, replace one item of junk food you'd normally eat, with a piece of fruit.
4) Plan one weekly shop, buying as many fresh ingredients as possible. Use my recipes as a starting point for easy, healthy lunch and dinner ideas (perhaps not too many of the pies I do though!). Trust me, I only make dishes that are simple because I'm a novice cook!
5) Constantly say to yourself 'I want to be fit and healthy', rather than 'I don't want to be fat'.
6) Cut back on your time with people who encourage you to eat junk food. They want you to order takeaway with them to make themselves feel better about it you know.
7) Get the person you hang out with the most to join you in your new healthier regime.
8) Every evening before bed, roll out a gym mat, lay out your workout clothes and trainers, and/or stick an exercise DVD in the player. It'll motivate you that little bit more to do some exercise when you get up. Or at least make you feel more guilty if you simply step over it all to avoid it.
9) Put your scales or measuring tape away - become the size you want by the way you feel, and don't be dicated by the numbers.
10) Throw all the above out the window until you can learn to trust yourself that you CAN do this.

So I'm not claiming to be the Holy Biscuit of weight-loss at all by stating a few rules. This is really just a bunch of stuff you've kinda heard all before.

You just need to decide to make the effort because you're the only one responsible for your life.

Other Hungry Jenny healthy food thoughts you might be interested in

You might also be interested to know how to avoid the munchies at work...
Continue reading this post..

The Flapjack Conundrum

This week I fed the aikido guys with banana flapjacks (and some broken fruit and nut ones because they went a bit wrong). I've always been quite confused about whether they are actually healthy or not.

What do you make of this flapjack conundrum?

Of course, it depends on what you put in it etc, but the core ingredients of butter and sugar surely outweigh the oaty goodness don't they? This is what puzzles me. I used honey instead of syrup, and fruit instead of something chocolate so these ones can't be that bad. I used some margarine instead of having all butter too, in an extra attempt to make them a little bit healthier. Whether that actually makes a difference or not, I don't know, but they still taste good!

You see those protein sports flapjacks everywhere and I've never been too sure about them. Carbs are good after training of course, plus lots of protein, but I don't quite understand what exactly is in them, do you? Much better to make your own so that you can put what you like in them! They only take about 20 minutes to make as well.

Easy Oaty Flapjacks

Print-friendly recipe

Makes 9 decent-sized slices:

250g oats
30g butter
70g margarine
80g brown sugar
3 tbsp honey
1 banana, mushed up

1) Heat oven to 220 degrees C. Over a very low heat, melt the butter and marge in a pan. Mix in the sugar and honey.
2) Pour in the oats, stirring to coat it with the mixture, then mix in the banana mush.
3) Spread the mixture over a baking tray, using a knife to smooth it over.
4) Bake for 15-20 mins.
5) Leave them to cool slightly, then cut into slices. Restrain yourself to let them cool completely before removing them from the tray!

I struggle to find any definitive information about the flapjack so the conundrum continues. If anyone knows anything to solve this mystery, please let me know!

Other Hungry Jenny healthy food thoughts you might be interested in Continue reading this post..

Friday Pie-Day: Crunchy Lime Pie

I keep having pastry problems lately (resulting in alot of buttered gloop in the bin), so I wanted to make a pie this week with a trouble-free base.

Yeah, biscuit crumbs! It took me a stupid amount of time to crush the buggers into crumbs because I don't have a blender (you should step back as I use a rolling pin instead) but the resulting pie is most definitely worth it...

Depending on your biscuit crunching time, it doesn't take that long to make at all...

And that's biscuit crunching as in crushing them into bits, not accidentally eating the packet and having to run out and buy another! (I bought two packets in anticipation of my biscuit munching whilst baking.)

Crunchy Lime Pie

Print-friendly recipe

For 6 decent slices:

200g ginger nut biscuits, crushed into crumbs
70g butter, softened
zest and juice of 3 limes
zest and juice of 1 lemon
30g golden caster sugar
2 egg yolks
260g condensed milk

1) Heat oven to 170 degrees C.
2) Mix the biscuit crumbs and butter. Spread evenly into a round tin, including the sides. Bake for 15 mins.
3) Whisk the zest, sugar and yolks. Then mix in the milk and juices.
4) Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 20 minutes.

Leave it to cool and set completely before you slice it up. But I warn you, it'll be a tough one to cut into! If you have the patience, you could carefully cut some thin lime slices to top each piece when you serve them. Most delightful with a cup of tea.

Pie out.

Read my other Friday Pie-Day adventures. Continue reading this post..