Week 1 - Day 4. CRUISE Diet

Now for my first PV day on the CRUISE diet. That is alternating PV and PP until the target weight is reached.

Weigh in first, there is another sign of weight loss, down another 0.5 kg. so that is 3 kg of the 10, or 30% of the way. From previous experience, on cruise, I can loose 1 kilo a week, so I will now move to weekly weighs. So probably another 2 months cruising to drop the weight (early June), then another 2 months to consolidate.

Measure out 1.25 litres of water to drink in the morning, and 1.25 l for the afternoon.
Take vitamin capsule.
Black coffee no sugar.

Breakfast - 6.30 am
Apple cider vinegar - 2 teaspoons (dilute in water)
Mushroom omelette - made with Pureegg whites and steamed mushrooms.

When next hungry 9.00 am
Listerine breath strip
Black coffee

When next hungry 11.00 am
3 oatbran muffins

Finish first bottle of water by noon.

When next hungry have lunch 1.15 pm
Fresh vegetable noodle soup.
(Rinse half packet slendier spaghetti noodles, one half of a massell reduced salt stock cube, 1 teaspoon onion flakes, 1/8 teaspoon curry powder, 1/2 sachet natvia, 1/2 cup grated zucchuni, 4 cherry tomatoes quartered is added to a plastic Multix screw top container. At lunchtime add boiling water and microwave for 2 minutes. Stir well and serve).

When next hungry 2.30 pm
Jelly and vanilla forme yoghurt.

When next hungry 4.30 pm
150 ml Yoghurt

Dinner 6.30 pm
Apple cider vinegar - 2 teaspoons in water
Fresh vegetable noodle soup
Steak and broccoli

Supper
Baked custard
http://dukaninadelaide.blogspot.com/search?q=Baked+custard
with stewed rhubarb (cut into 2-3 cm lengths into a straight sided bowl. Cover with natvia to taste. Microwave, about a minute a stick).

Week 1 - Day 3, PP day, ATTACK Diet

Now for the last of three ATTACK days.

Weigh in first, there is another sign of weight loss, down another 1.5 kg. so that is 2.5 kg gone, or 25% of the 10kgs I wanted to loose. I know that only some of this is fat, most is fluid and the changing over of my intestinal biotica, from that which supported the high fibre of the CSIRO wellness diet (which does not work for me) to the high protein of the ATTACK stage. Need to keep drinking water to help the transition.

Measure out 1.25 litres of water to drink in the morning, and 1.25 l for the afternoon.
Take vitamin capsule.
Black coffee no sugar.

When feeling next hungry - 9.30 am
Apple cider vinegar - 2 teaspoons (dilute in water)
1 serve if Chicken noodle soup with slendier slim noodles.

When next hungry 10.30 am
2 oatbran muffins
Instant coffee with no fat milk and Natvia

Finish first bottle of water by noon.

When next hungry have lunch 12.30 pm
2 teaspoons Apple cider in water
Chicken thighs
Pot herbal tea sweetened with natvia.

When next hungry 2.30 pm
Jelly and vanilla forme yoghurt.

When next hungry 4.30 pm
150 ml Yoghurt

Dinner 6.30 pm
Apple cider vinegar - 2 teaspoons in water
Roast beef

Exercise, 30 minute stationary cycle, upper body exercises.

Supper
Baked custard
http://dukaninadelaide.blogspot.com/search?q=Baked+custard

Cooking for tomorrow
More meatballs

Fruity Dukan Cookies

Okay, fruity cookies may be a stretch, but they are fruit flavoured and they are small as a cookie...but probably closer to a short muffin.

This is an original recipe, but as far as I can see, it complies with the Dukan principles.All Dukanites need oatbran each and every day of every stage of the Dukan diet. This is how I have been having mine.

I make four dozen of these at a time (limit of my kitchen) and freeze them in four packs for enjoying with either a morning or afternoon tea. If you were attacking, the packs would only have 3 cookies.


First I preheat the oven and arrange the trays to cook as many batches at once as possible.

Then get the muffin trays out. To avoid sticking, I use spray oil, and then wipe with kitchen paper, so there is nothing visible left. This feels more like 'cleaning' the tray, rather than 'greasing' the tray.
Here are the ingredients:



For one batch I mix with a spoon
250g yoplait forme vanilla yoghurt
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
100g oatbran
1 sachet of Aeroplane light jelly crystals (provides sweetening and flavour). I like to mix it up, but try port wine, strawberry, lime, vanilla berry, mango & passionfruit ....
Once mixed, transfer, a desert spoon at a time, evenly between the cups on a 12 cup muffin tray. I then set the batch aside and then start mixing another batch in the bowl (with out washing). I have an idea that the longer these sit, the better, as the oatbran swells and takes on more of the flavour.
Here they are ready to go in the oven - mango and passion fruit, strawberry, lime and port wine flavours.




I then bake all trays at 180-200 C for 22 minutes. They spring back when touched and have a light brown appearing on some of them. I often let them cool in the trays (as I am off doing other things) and then, when cold, gently run a dinner knife around the edge to loosen before packing for storage.

Here they are ready to put into the freezer.




They freeze and defrost well, and a minute zap in the microwave will bring them from frozen to ready to eat.

Enjoy!


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Salmon omelette Dukan style

The new year brings renewed efforts, and I have been asked to refresh the blog for the latest Dukanites.

I did try a Dukan omelette this morning.





First, I whisked 2 eggs (yolk limit for a day) with 2 egg whites and a splash of skim milk with a fork for about 15 seconds. Then I poured it into a warmed nonstick frypan on medium heat. I use my fork to move the mix around and let the unset mix fill the gaps. When about 50% set I added some Huon smoked salmon and a few teaspoons of Philadelphia extra light to the top of one half of the omelette and ground some black pepper. When about 95% set it was time to fold in half and transfer to a plate.

Quite delicious!

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. 

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

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.

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!

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

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.

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.

Nana Cake

Page 151 of Recipe book

Now I tried this once before without much luck, but I had another go today and it looks a better result. I think there is a step missing from the instructions which threw me last time - but this is what I did this time....

Warmed the oven to 180C
Then I separated three eggs and beat the whites until stiff.
To the yolks I added 2 heaped tablespoons cornflour (make sure it is maize, not wheat), 3 rounded dessertspoons natvia, the zest of one lemon, the juice of half a lemon, 1/2 tub philadelphia extra light and a heaped tablespoon of quark and used my mixer to beat until smooth. I then folded in the egg whites and put into a lightly greased and wiped loaf tin.
This was put in the oven for 35 mins.

The dish rises like a souffle and then settles. Last time I did it in a larger tin and it was not very impressive, in the loaf tin it looks and has a texture more like a Maderia cake. I do feel naughty eating it as it has cornflour .... which means carbs and kilojoules, but it could be nice for those days when you are really hungry.

I give it a 6.5/10. Dan gave it 6/10, saying it lacked flavour, and I suppose he is right.





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Mouzette dessert

Page 146

This is a light lemon mousse.

I separated 2 eggs and whipped the whites to stiff peaks. I heated 2 tablespoons of chilled lemon juice in a cup for 45 seconds in the microwave. I then added 2 level teaspoons of Davis granulated gelatine and stirred to dissolve. To the yolks I added 8 sachets of natvia, the lemon/jelly slurry and then whipped with the electric beater. Then I added 1 1/2 tubs (300g) of philadelphia extra light cream cheese. When blended, I then tipped in the beaten egg whites and folded it together and then transferred it to a serving dish. Into the fridge for an hour and ready to eat.

I really liked it 8/10 it was light, yet filling. Peter said it was a real dessert, better than spice cream, 10/10 but Dan said it was good, but only gave it a 6.4/10.





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Vietnamese shaking beef

P 78 of Recipe Book

This is an easy to make beef stir fry dish.

I mixed 800 g of sirloin steak (presliced) with 4 tablespoons of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce, 2 tablespoons of crushed ginger, 4 sachets natvia and several grinds of black pepper in a mixing bowl and allowed it to rest for 30 minutes. I then squashed 3 cloves of garlic and sliced it into thin strips. I put a large pan on the stove and cooked the garlic, adding an addition heaped teaspoon from my jar of crushed garlic I keep in the fridge. I browned this first then added the beef and cooked for only a minute or two, stirring constantly.








I quite like this although it is a bit salty.
Scores from the boys, Dan gives it a 8.5/10, Peter a 7.5/10 and me, a 7.5/10.

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