Dukan Friendly Moussaka

Recently I’d bought aubergines as they’re on the ‘allowed’ list of veg for the Dukan Diet, and was trying to think of something to use them for!  I must confess that I’d always considered them a bit of a waste of time in the past but faced with a limited list of vegetables that we can eat on the Dukan, now’s the time to embrace them.  In this recipe they’re charred first which imparts a nice flavour to the dish.  The usual high-fat sauce is replaced with a cottage cheese topping, making it a great dish for a protein+veg day.

As this got a good critique by Mr Missladydj (who ate 3/4 of it :)), I think next time I’ll double the cottage cheese topping to give a thicker layer.  If you try this recipe, let me know what you think!

This will feed 3-4 people, or two very hungry people 🙂

Ingredients:

• 600g lean (or extra lean) minced beef
• 2 medium aubergines
• 2 medium onions, diced
• 2 gloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 heaped tbsp chopped mint
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 rounded tbsp tomato puree
• 75ml stock (fresh chicken stock or 1/2 stock cube)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Cooking spray or a little oil

Topping:

• 300g tub low fat cottage cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/4 whole nutmeg, grated
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 300C

1. Cut the aubergines into 4cm chunks.  Spray/lightly oil a roasting tin and place chunks in it, toss and sprinkle with a little salt.
2. Put tin in the oven on a high shelf and roast aubergines until they are nicely charred.  This will take about 25-30 minutes.
3. In the meantime, fry the onion and garlic gently in a pan and when softened, up the heat and add the mince.  Cook until browned, stirring regularly.
4. While the mince is cooking, get a small bowl and mix together the mint, cinnamon, tomato puree and stock.
5. Pour over the mince, season with salt and pepper and cook gently for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. When the aubergines are cooked, remove them from the oven and reduce the heat to 180C.
7. Tip the cottage cheese into a bowl and add the egg.  Grate in the nutmeg, season, and give the whole lot a good mix until the egg and cheese is incorporated.
8. Add the aubergines to the mince mixture and stir well.  Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
9. Pour the meat mixture into a 24cm x 24cm oven-proof dish and pat down lightly.
10. Carefully add the cottage cheese topping and smooth over the top, trying not to mix it with the meat.
11. Place in the centre of the oven and cook for 50 minutes until the top is nicely browned (this adds taste to the topping)
12. Serve on it’s own or with a side salad.

Dukan Friendly BBQ Chicken

This recipe is adapted from my favourite BBQ Chicken recipe to make it Dukan Diet friendly – it’s quick and easy to do, creates minimal washing up and tastes great.  I’m on the hunt for a bottle of liquid smoke as I feel it needs a bit more smokiness.  Of course if you don’t mind the heat, you can add more smoked paprika!

Ingredients:

• 1 tray of boneless, skinless chicken thighs

For the BBQ sauce:

• 3 tbsp tomato puree
• 2 tbsp vinegar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
• 4 tbsp water
• 3-4 heaped tbsp sweetener (or to taste)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp mustard powder
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
• Dash of chili powder (optional)
• 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• Reserve for later – 1 tsp cornflower

Preheat the oven to 260C

1. Line a roasting tin with aluminium foil, taking it right over the lip of the tin
2. Combine all the sauce ingredients except the cornflower
3. Place the chicken portions in the tin, cover with sauce and toss carefully to avoid piercing the foil
4. Seal the tin tightly with another piece of foil
5. Place in oven for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 180C for 1 hour
6. When cooked, remove chicken from tin and if sauce isn’t thick enough, pour into a saucepan.  Blend the cornflower with a little water, add to the sauce and boil until the sauce has thickened.  Pour over chicken and serve

Dukan Friendly Sweet & Sour Chicken

Having been on the Dukan diet plan for the best part 6 weeks, trying to continually find things that are satisfying to eat is a constant challenge.  There’s only so many ways you can cook oat bran! 🙂

This dinner came about from Mr.Misslady expressing a lusting for sweet and sour chicken “from the Chinese”;  That luminous red gloop with the ability to scald tongues like only molten lava can.  This is an adaptation of a couple of recipes that I found online.  The resulting dish provided that ‘hit’ of sticky sweet and sour.

For the Sweet & Sour Chicken:

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into chunks, or chicken thighs
• 1 red pepper, de-seeded and cut into pieces
• 1 orange or green pepper, de-seeded and cut into pieces
• thumb-size piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 bunch spring onions, cut into pieces, other veg (mushrooms, water-chestnuts) if desired
• ground white pepper

For the sauce

• Approx 3 tbsp sweetener (or to taste)
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar
• 3 tbsp rice wine or dry sherry
• 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 175 ml/6fl oz chicken stock
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 2 tbsp cornflour mixed with 2 tbsp water

Preparation method

1. Prepare the sauce by combining all the sauce ingredients in a jug or small bowl, adding sweetener to taste
2. Heat a wok or large frying pan with a small amount of oil in. Add the chicken, peppers, ginger and garlic. Fry for 2-3 minutes, then add the spring onions and fry for about 30 seconds
3. Add all the sauce mixture and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 6 minutes. Season with white pepper

For the Cucumber Salad:

• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 2 spring onions
• 1/2 red chilli, finely chopped (or to taste)
• 1 cucumber

For the dressing

• 3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tsp sesame oil (not strictly Dukan but it’s a small amount and provides a lot of taste)
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp sweetener (or to taste)
• Pinch of salt

Preparation method

1. Prepare the spring onions by peeling and cutting at an angle into pieces.
2. Prepare the cucumber by peeling, cutting in half along the length, scooping out the seeds and slicing into angled chunks about 0.5cm thick.  Put in a bowl.
3. Combine all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl, adding salt and sweetener to taste
4. Toss the vegetables in the sauce, then leave to marinade for a few minutes

Christmas Wonderland

My inspiration for these Christmas goodies was to make a totally edible gift along the lines of something Willy Wonka would come up with!  As a child I would have loved something like this and my Mum was always making us birthday cakes in the shape of whatever we were into at the time, such as rollerboots, keyboard, drumkit, etc.

This little beauty was created for my work colleague who loves chocolate!  Stacked lebkuchen, coated with chocolate and  sandwiched together with icing, decorated with M&M’s and white chocolatedrops.  Finished off with a choccie Santa!

This festive dude below was a creation for another colleague.  This time iced and decorated with Jelly Tots and coconut snow!