Canned Tuna

A quick note about tuna. Tuna makes a quick and easy snack, but you need to be careful when choosing canned tuna. I suppose it is the Dukan principles, avoid processed food, oils and buy basic ingredients and jazz it up yourself using Dukan-compliant ingredients.

Tuna canned in springwater is a better choice than tuna in brine as it minimises your salt consumption (which can lead to fluid retention). In general, I prefer the taste and appearance of Sirena branded tuna, and their springwater tuna is no exception.

Lately, for lunch, I have been draining a 185 g can, splitting it bewteen two screw top containers and adding natural no fat yoghurt (Tamar no fat is my favourite, but not available this week, so a small pack of Black swan was a substitute), lemon juice and pepper, and stirring it up. Works well. I have been taking one for lunch and storing the other for the next day. 

Sweetening without sugar

I love sweet things. I need more sweetner than most people, having 3 tablets in my coffee. My theory is that the reason why some people need more sweetness than others has to do with the amount of 'sweet' taste buds they have inherited. My guess is that I don't have many, so I need lots of sweetness to get the message to my brain that something is sweet. It is only a theory.

So when Dukaning, it is important to know the ins and outs of how to sweeten your food without using sugar.

First, I do try to avoid those foods that have sweeteners that say 'excess consumption may have a laxative effect'. They never actually say what excess is, do they? I may have some sugar free gum or lollies in the late afternoon, which generally have phenylanaline.

Here are some of my favourites: Extra Lemon and lime gum, Jila spearmint (Australian made) and Licorette (packaged in Australia).

When cooking, you have some other options. I know started with Splenda, which contain sucralose, which works well as tablets, but the granulated form has maltodetrin which really ups the Calories in this so called 'low calorie' sweetener. 

100g Splenda granulated has 373 Calories (1560 kJ)!

My absolute favourite is Natvia. Like sugar it is made from a plant, the Reb A fraction of Stevia. No laxative effect, great sweetness and it really is low calorie (Australian product). It comes in satchets, (Coles)  and even in tablets (IGA). Unfortunately, Natvia is expensive, but I figure, I am worth it.

100g Natvia granulated has 20 Calories (85 kJ).

When making liquid Drinks or desserts I sometimes add a few drops of Sweet As, which is a saccharin sweetener (Australian). You need to be very careful as a drop too much and sweet becomes bitter. This is not very expensive and lasts a long time.

100 ml Sweet As has 0 Calories (0 kJ)

Hot and spicy seafood soup (mock laksa)

Time to warm up with this ultra quick soup - sort of like a laksa with lots of chilli to get your metabolism racing!

Put seafood (cooked frozen prawns and sliced squid) into a saucepan.

Add spicy paste, look for a low fat one, I am using Nonya Laksa Paste whick is 8.5% fat.

Add 1/2 of a packet of drained and rinsed slim pasta

Add water to suit, about 2 cups for a hungry girl

Then a squirt of fish sauce

Bring to the boil for a few seconds, 

Decant to a bowl

Stir in a dollop of low fat yoghurt.

Yummy. I suppose you could add some coconut essence to have a more laksa taste, but I thought it was great at this stage and ate it all up!

Half eaten....A PP day cold day treat.

This is a variation of the Goji berry cookies the Elena shared last year.
http://dukaninadelaide.blogspot.com/2011/09/goji-berry-cookies.html

with the berries replaced with strawberry essence and red food colouring.

Warm oven to 180C
Prepare a 12 muffin tray ( I spray my 2x6 silicon muffin trays with oil and then wipe with a kitchen paper)

Mix in a bowl
6 heaped dessertspoons oatbran
2 heaped dessertspoons natvia
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
3 heaped dessertspoons forme yoghurt
(base recipe)
Add a cap if strawberry essence and a few drops of red food colouring.

Spoon a dessertspoon-full into a muffin tray, just covering the bottom. Adjust levels with remaining mixture until roughly even.

Cook about 20-30 mins and allow to cool on wire rack.

The 'cream filling' was made by sweetening some phildelphia extra light with natvia to taste. You can thin with a little yoghurt or quark.

Allow cookies to cool, slice with a knife, smear cream on and replace top.

A pretty pink oatbran treat!



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Location:Strawberry oatbran cookies

New Product review: Slim pasta

Have you missed noodles on Dukan? Now you don't have to - with a newly available product on Adelaide shelves called Slim Pasta. (Update: it has had a name change Slendier Slim).


These gelatinous noodles are made from the root of a plant called Konjac, grown in Asian countries. Being a plant, I suppose it would sit best for inclusion on a PV day. (Update: Dukan has approved these for all stages of the Dukan Diet). 

Slim pasta make two products, http://www.slimpasta.com.au/ an Angel hair and a spaghetti version (with added wheat flour). I have only ever found the Angel hair product - not sure the other is Dukan compliant. 

(Update: the lines have been extended to wok noodles, rice and lasagne).  

I have found the Angel hair product in two places, my health food shop and my local Fruit and Vegetable specialist shop, but if you are keen you can by online (30 packs for $99)! 

(Update: the product is available in most supermarkets now).  

The noodles are delicate and arrive suspended in fluid. You have to drain, wash and warm. I tipped mine into a seive, ran tap water over it and then transferred to a pyrex bowl and poured on boiling water from the kettle to cover. I left this for a minute and then drained again before including in my dishes. I have served them in various ways with some success. My favourite so far was a laksa-style dish with a spicy clear soup with prawns, greens and slim pasta as the noodles. I also served it alongside some rather hot currys and as a rice substitute. I plan to try modifying some of my other Thai recipes next.

Basically it has little taste - it is a carrier food, just like regular noodles. It feels like a firm jelly to eat. It was somewhat filling - but then so is meat. My family are happy to eat it too - but then they were surprised to see noodles again. Definitely worth a go. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Adelaide, South,Australia

Product review: Queen Maple Flavoured syrup

I thought I would try a new product with my Dukan pancakes. It is Queen Maple Flavoured Syrup. It is an Australian made product that I was able to buy from Coles.


It is sugar free (sweetened with Sorbitol and Sucralose), but has some carbs (5g/35 g serve) and does provide 77kJ of energy which you will need to work off some how. It certainly looked and smelt similar to Maple syrup and with my pancakes and yoghurt it made a nice change for a weekend treat.

Orange yoghurt cake

Page 149 of Recipe book

In a mixing bowl I placed 3 eggs, 150g Forme Vanilla yoghurt, 1 cap orange essence, 1 sachet
(8g) dried yeast, 4 sachets native and 4 tablespoons white wings cornflour.













I mixed with my hand electric beater for about a minute then poured into a loaf tin that had been lightly sprayed with oil.


After 45 min at 180c it looked like this: about a 50% increase in volume and browned all over.











I allowed it to cool and then sliced it in half







I then mixed 1/2 tub Philadelphia 1/2 cap orange essence, 2 teaspoons Forme vanilla yogurt and 2 sachets natvia and used this to fill the cake.The cake was a nice change, but I hadn't let it cool enough before filling.

Small pancakes

Oatbran pancakes are delicious but fiddly. The recipe is simple (see below), but they tend to fall apart when you try to flip them. You can push them together and they do re-fuse, but it is a disappointmnet in the morning that is avoidable.

Solution- try dividing the mix into 3, making the flipping manageable. Also remember to keep the heat to medium so the oatbran has time to cook and set, helping it hold together.




Then serve with yoghurt- yum!





Quark recipe
150 g BD farm Paris creek German style Quark (no fat), which is a third of the 450g tub
1 egg
Oatbran (1 1/2 for attack, 2 tablespoons for cruise)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons natvia



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Lemon chilli prawns

I found some special sprinkle for seafood, but it was full of sugar, so here is my take on the sprinkle's ingredient list, reinvented for Dukan and my herb garden!

A sprig of lemon verbena (~15 leaves; this was originally lemon myrtle)
a handful of coriander leaves,
three sprigs of parsley

Chopped together

Then mix with:
4 sachets of natvia
a teaspoon of dried chilli,
a 1/2 teaspoon of crushed garlic,
a teaspoon of horseradish
a sprinkle of lite salt
a teaspoon of maize cornflour
The juice of one lemon

Allow this to steep with defrosting cooked prawns before plating up for serving.




A nicely zesty combination!

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Cooking meat while at work

Okay, this is a tip for all those who are trying PP days while at work. It also assumes that you have access to a sandwich press at work.

I think we all agree that freshly cooked meat tastes the best, and reheated offerings are often disappointing. Well these last few weeks I have been exploring the use of the sandwich press as a device to freshly cook meat in my work's kitchen.

The meat I have been cooking is lean chicken thighs. This is the way it works....

At home, I prepare the thigh meat. If the thigh is not well trimmed of fat, take the time to trim (so that you don't have to wear the fat yourself). While you have a knife there, try to make the thigh even in thickness, adding a few extra slits in the thick sections to fully open out the thigh.










Lay an individual thigh out on Glad bake (or alfoil).

Season the meat lightly with Masterfoods Morrocan seasoning (I tried another variety recently and it was not even close in flavour).









Wrap it up - I tend to use the 'fish and chipper' wrapping technique where you start at one corner, fold in the edges and then roll. Imagine the size of your work's sandwich press and try to get a parcel of that size.

I then put the parcel in a plastic luchbox or baggy for the trip to work. Chicken left at room temperature, particularly after it has been handled, can be a microbial mine field, so keep the chicken cool during the trip and at work and cook it that day.










To cook the parcel, first warm up the press and put on any exhaust fans. Place the parcel in the press and put on a timer for 5 minutes (I use a timer on my iPad) but if the parcel is thick, I go up to 7 minutes.

When the timer goes off, turn off the press and transfer the parcel to a plate. You can leave the meat for a few minutes at this stage or eat straight away. Check that the sandwich press is still clean.

The meat will be swimming in its juices when cooked and although this juice is tasty, this will be high in fat, so keep consumption of these juices to a minimum. I tend to eat the meat while still on the paper and in its juice and then wrap the whole lot up when I am finished and pop the excess in the bin.









A cooked lunch at work in under 10 minutes with very little mess. Very nice.

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Eggs Ham and Silverbeet for a PV breakfast

I grow silvetbeet in my garden and enjoy cutting 8-10 fresh leaves for a weekend breakfast for myself (not everyone likes greens.... but I do).

I de-stem and wash the leaves in my sink. Then, in a frypan whith a fitted lid, I add 3 pieces of Hans 97% frat free bacon or ham and partially cook and turn.



Then I add the silvertbeet leaves, roughly tearing them as you go.




Crack in two eggs, sprinkle with Lo Salt and then cover and reduce heat to medium.




Check the progress of the eggs each minute so whites are set and yolks runny.




Use a fork to push in the outer edges. Then use a spatula to plate up - the ham helps make this transfer easier. Cracked pepper to finish.




All done, delicious and so good for you too!


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Goji berry cookies

Do I have a treat for you ..... It is cookies!

I had never used Goji berries before yesterday, but Elena gave me a recipe for Goji berry cookies that I just had to try. Apparently Goji Berries are the only berries allowed during dieting (but not on PP days).

GOJI BERRY COOKIES RECIPE
(modified recipe Goji berry muffins from http://mydukandiet.com/recipes/cinnamon-goji-berry-muffins.html)

6 tablespoons of oat bran
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon of baking powder (? optional)
2 tablespoons of goji berry
3 tablespoons of no fat no sugar vanilla yoghurt
2 eggs
2 tablespoons of Splenda or Natvia

Heat oven to 180C. Lightly spray the 12 piece muffin tray with oil and wipe. Beat eggs with sweetener until smooth texture. Mix in all other ingredients. Divide the mixture equally - only 10 mm from the bottom of each cup. Bake for 35 minutes or until brown. Allow to cool in tray.

Thankfully Elena sent a picture, as the batch I made last night were consumed by my family in next to no time.

Mousse!

Elena had a great mousse recipe that I must share. Very simple. Aeroplane lite jelly crystals are dissolved, cooled and then whisked with low fat vanilla vanilla yoghurt and chilled. I had a mango mousse tonight and it was quite delicious!

Elena makes special layer variety with jelly on the bottom and the mouse on the top. Here are her instructions.

Stage (1) Jelly.
Take 1 pack of the Airplane low calories jelly and follow instructions. It makes 500 ml of jelly. Pour into containers. Add Gogi berries (not for PP days). Make sure jelly sets in 4 hours in the fridge).

Stage (2) Mousse. Dissolve 1 pack of the Airplane low calories jelly powder in 250 ml boiling water. Let it cool down till room temperature. Add 250 ml of no fat low sugar vanilla yogurt and mix with the hand mixer until the mixture is fluffed and ~ 650-700 ml. Add on the top of your jelly.

The containers can be glass – for after dinner treats - or in plastic Glad 175 ml containers – for taking to work.


Ready for dessert...




Or to go on the road!

Simple porridge

Another one from Elena

Spoon oat bran into bowl, sprinkle sweetener, pour on boiling water. Allow it to swell for a few minutes. Top with yoghurt layer. Quick and easy.

Another variation is to cook with skim milk. Use a big bowl and about about a cup of skim milk. It takes about 5 minutes in the microwave and can boil over (disappointing start to the morning).











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Fish for one

I need to thank my friend Elena for this idea of how to prepare fish for one in a quick and easy way. The trick here is to use your sandwich press or jaffle maker to quickly cook the fish in lemon.

Use alfoil or Glad bake as your lining. Slice a lemon into about 8 thin slices. Put a thin layer of lemon down, Add a fish fillet of your choice, season, and then put the next layer of lemon on. Wrap carefully and place in the preheated sandwich press.

Cook for 5-7 minutes depending on the thickness of the fish fillet. Then rest in the parcel for the same amount of time. Next unwrap and enjoy a fishy treat for one. This is really worth a try.

Wrapped




and then unwrapped - don't eat the lemon.




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Salmon roll

A lovely lunch for work.



Spread out smoked salmon in a single layer. Then spoon on a line of philadelphia extra light and roll.



Once rolled, I slice into bite size pieces and pop Into a lunchbox with a cool lid.

You can add lemon zest to the cheese too, but I don't often get time.

9/10.

Location:Park Ave,Semaphore South,Australia

Miracle soup

The Miracle soup Recipe in the Dukan diet book.

It has large pieces of vegetables and you can eat as much as you like of it on any PV day.

In this batch I mixed 2 onions, each cut into 8 big pieces, four sticks of celery, cut into 2-3 cm pieces, a green capsicum cut into 8-12 pieces, 2 carrots and a large parsnip cut into large chunks, a quarter of a cabbage, cut in big pieces, a 400g jar of Barilla Arrabbiate pasta sauce, a whole red chilli, 3 low salt Massel vegetable stock cubes, a teaspoon of minced garlic and then water until the vegetables are almost covered.

This was then heated to boiling and simmered until the vegetables are soft (about 30-40 minutes). Remove chilli and serve.






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Peter's pancakes

Oat bran is the cornerstone of the Dukan diet. There are many ways to have your daily dose but the tricky oat bran galette is a recipe that any serious Dukan dieter needs to master.

Peter likes a thinner oat bran pancake requiring a little modification to the recipe. He also gets up early so I make a weeks worth and store in the fridge. He heats a pancake each morning in a plate for 45 seconds and then serves with yoghurt.

To make a batch, I mixed 6 eggs, 12 heaped dessertspoons of oat bran, 6 teaspoons of cornfour (maize, not wheat), 2 heaped teaspoons cinnamon, 3-4 tablespoons natvia, 300g Paris creek German style quark and up to a litre of Vanilla no-sugar yoghurt (Nestle diet in this batch) to make it a thinner pancake mix. If you leave this for anytime, the oat bran absorbs the fluids and the mix will continue to thicken, so the amount of yoghurt varies depending on the delay between mixing and cooking. The addition of cornflour gives more structure and cohesion to the mix and minimises ripping of the pancake

I have three non-stick frypans going at once on a medium heat on my gas stove. I then spray with oil and wipe with kitchen paper. I then add the mixure spreaing out with a spoon to be about 0.5cm thick.

They usually take about 5 minutes per side. I don't flip until I can shake the frypan and have the pancake shift in the pan, that is it is largely set.

From this I made 8 pancakes, 5 for the fridge to allow Peter to have a daily pancake and three for our breakfast on Sunday morning.

I stored the remaining pancakes in a sealed plastic container for on a sheet of kitchen paper. Sometimes I make more and freeze a box for a later time.

Lisaline Dessert

Page 146 page of Recipe Book

More a souffle than anything.

I preheated the oven to 180C.

To make 2 desserts, I separated two eggs and whipped the whites until stiff. To the yolks I added 5 sachets of Natvia, one tub of Philadelphia Extra Light (440 g) and 1 teaspoon lemon juice. The whites were then folded through and transferred to serving dishes.

I then baked for 25 mins and allowed it to cool and settle a little. I then sprinkled one sachet of Natvia over each dessert and popped this under the grill. It only took a few seconds for the natvia to melt and set.




It was okay, but too soufle for me, 6/10. I think that the Natvia on the top was a nice addition and I might try it on other dishes in the future.

Blancmange

Page 139 of Recipe Book

An almond flavoured dessert.

To make 4 desserts, I separated 2 eggs, stored the yolks and whipped the whites until stiff. I put 1/2 tub of Philadelphia Extra Light in the microwave and heated for a minute. I then added one rounded spoon of granular gelatine and started beating with my electric mixer. I then added a further one and half tubs of Philadelphia Extra Light, 3 tablespoons Natvia (or 10 sachets) and 1 cap Almond extract and continued beating until smooth. I then folded through the whites and poured into the serving dishes and chilled.




It is a fine rich dessert, 8/10.

Baked egg custard

I made this recipe often when I was in my Cruising stage last year. It is a tricky one as the proteins in the egg need to be treated gently and allowed to set the milk slowly otherwise they denature and the custard separates. I think I have the variables right now.

First I heat my oven to 150C and place 4 x 300 ml custard bowls in a deep tray and then fill around the dishes with warm tap water.

To make 4 x 1 cup serves of baked Egg custard, I first put 1 litre UHT skim milk into a 2 L pyrex jug and then heat for 4 minutes in the microwave on high. Stirring, I then add 12 sachets of Natvia (yes I am a sweet tooth) and 4 caps of vanilla essence. Then USING ONLY A FORK, I gently mix in 4 eggs only until the yolk was incorporated (too much mixing or too aggressive mixing and your custard will separate).

I then poured the custard into the 4 dishes that are sitting in water in the oven. I then sprinkle with a pinch of nutmeg and bake the custard for 1 hour at 150C. At higher temperatures the custard will again separate.

Here they are. Peter and I like them 6.5/10 as a winter dessert, but Dan will not eat them anymore (perhaps because I had so many separated ones while I was working out the recipe).

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Prawns for lunch

I had some left over raw prawns from a dinner party last night so gently cooked them in my non-stick frypan with a 1/2 teaspoon Massell low salt chicken stock powder and a rounded dessertspoon of Philadelphia extra light cream cheese. Twist of pepper on the top and lunch is ready. You could add garlic, ginger, chilli, coriander, etc, but I chose not to this time.

Quite nice and simple and ready in 5 minutes. 7/10.

Last night I had the prawns skewered and seasoned with a hot Cajun spice (Masterfoods)  then BBQed and served with a dollop of Farmers Union Lite Greek Yoghurt alongside natural oysters, with salt and lemon, as an entrée. That was good 9/10.