Budgets, binges and butternut squash

If there's one thing I've learnt over the last 16 months of my 'Weight Watchers journey' it's the concept of balancing a food budget.

So yes - today is Friday and I fully intend to eat my fluffy homemade challah with mayonnaise later, along with the requisite gefilte fish, chicken soup and kneidlach, roast chicken with 'all the trimmings' (and those chocolate madeleines to finish!). But if I don't want to end up going overboard, I have to compensate elsewhere - at lunchtime to be precise.

Today's blog offering can't really be called a 'recipe' as such, but rather an indication of how it's possible to eat light at lunchtime, while still starting off with an EXTREMELY full bowl of appetising and very filling food.

To give credit where it's due, the salad dressing below was created by my friend Gina and it has literally reinvented my lunchtime menu - no longer do I need to scrounge around for a propoint to cover a mayonnaise dressing, Gina's dressing is 0pp and it is the perfect complement to practically every salad in existence!

Chef's Salad with Sesame Dressing and Butternut Squash Chips

Ingredients: mixed salad leaves, red onion, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, pickled cucumber spears, pickled beetroot slices, sliced baby carrots and 2 pieces Tivall 'roast chicken' style deli slices.

Dressing: Good squeeze of lemon juice, tablespoon of soy sauce, 3 drops of sesame oil, shake of garlic powder. Optional: up to 5g of honey.

Butternut squash chips: Arrange cubed butternut squash on a baking tray and spray with frylight. Sprinkle with hot paprika if you like your chips spicy. Bake for 40 minutes on 200'c and serve with Heinz reduced salt and sugar ketchup

As you can see from the pictures, this meal is enormous - but in WW terms it only 'eats' 2 of your propoints allowance and will keep you full till Shabbos!

And then there was chocolate...

Last week as a Shabbos dessert I baked the madeleine recipe posted by a fellow Weight Watcher on her amazing food blog - www.lulabellaskitchen.com. I didn't have a special madeleine tin at the time, and I didn't have almond essence, but I ploughed ahead anyway and made them in mini muffin cases and they were delicious.

So off I toddled to Lakeland to purchase my very own madeleine tin (£4.99 for their silicone mini madeleine tray if you're interested!) and this week decided to do some experimenting, and created chocolate mini madeleines for Shabbos! I made 24 little madeleines and with the leftovers, made 4 in my muffin cases. The mini ones are 1pp each, and the muffin-sized ones are 2pp. Well worth every tiny crumb! And extremely easy to make as well.

Next time I make these I will replace the vanilla essence with either a teaspoon of orange oil or a teaspoon of peppermint essence for a full 'aero' experience...

Preheat oven to 180' (160' fan assisted). Place silicone tray on a metal baking tray to prevent spillages.

INGREDIENTS:
3oz low fat spread (I used Smartbalance - in the fridge at Kosher Kingdom, half the points of Rakusens!)
100g plain flour
50g cocoa powder
2 medium eggs
Pinch of salt
100g caster sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla essence
Icing sugar for dusting

1. Melt the spread in the microwave and set aside to cool
2. Add salt to the eggs and whisk with an electric beater until frothy
3. Add the sugar and whisk until the eggs take on the consistency of pouring cream
4. Add the lemon juice and vanilla
5. Mix the flour and cocoa powder in a bowl and add by the tablespoon to the egg mixture until fully incorporated
6. Add the melted spread tablespoon by tablespoon until a thick but runny batter is created.
7. Drop by the teaspoon into the silicone tray 
8. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes until the madeleines pass the 'skewer' test. The muffin case ones will need a little longer - 9 to 12 minutes.
9. Cool on a wire rack and dust with icing sugar while still slightly warm.
10. Keeps several days in a tupperware container or can be frozen (although this will probably melt the icing sugar dusting)

Happy, sweet (and virtually fat free) New Year!

Well if I'm launching a healthy food blog in the run-up to Rosh Hashanah, what better place to start than with honey cake?

I found this recipe online, tweaked it a little and baked it this morning before the sun came up! The household woke up to the delicious aroma of rich honey cake, but I got the whole lot in the freezer before they could insist on devouring it for breakfast...

This cake is virtually fat-free but if you want to avoid fat entirely, you could replace the oil with a teaspoon of sugar free applesauce (baby food is great for this). I've switched the sugar for splenda, but if you prefer to avoid artificial sweeteners, you can go for 75g of granulated sugar instead.

The propoints value per slice is 3, for those following WW!

VIRTUALLY FAT FREE 'PALE' LEKACH
Makes 8 chunky slices

Preheat oven to 180'c (160'c fan-assisted) and grease a loaf tin with frylight or any other spray oil.

INGREDIENTS:

3 medium eggs
8g splenda
60g runny honey
90g plain white flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 tsp sunflower oil

1. Separate the eggs
2. Add the splenda and honey to the egg yolks and beat
3. Mix the flour and baking powder and add to the egg mixture by the tablespoon
4. Add the teaspoon of oil or applesauce to loosen the mixture
5. Add the salt to the egg whites and whisk until stiff
6. Mix the egg whites into the yolk mixture bit by bit - this may be difficult at first but will become easier after the first few spoonfuls
7. Turn the mixture into the greased loaf tin
8. Bake for 22 to 26 minutes until a skewer placed into the centre of the cake comes out clean
9. Cool on a wire rack before slicing
10. To freeze, wrap in clingfilm and then silver foil.