bacon Archives - Journeys Are My Diary

It’s now been six weeks of trying and I have to admit I’ve gotten a little lazy this last week. Chris and I were celebrating our anniversary over the weekend and we went for Chinese buffet before the theatre on Saturday, then Pizza Hut with the kids on Sunday. However I’m feeling motivated to try harder this week, so fingers crossed.

As I mentioned, I have put a smidge on this time. It’s only just over a pound though so I’m going to try not to worry.

This week our topics is eating healthy, which is ironic given that’s been my downfall this week. However I thought I would share this recipe with you that I find is pretty healthy, despite having a little cheese.

Chicken, Bacon and Halloumi Salad

This is my favourite throw together recipe – ideal for warm weather but because it contains chicken and bacon, can be great in the cold weather too.

Ingredients
– Salad, this can basically be anything you like. Lettuce, cucumber, tomato, spring onions, radish, peppers, bacon bits, etc. etc. It’s really all about what makes the best salad for you.
– Chicken
– Bacon
– Halloumi (low fat is available)

There are no specific amounts for this recipe as its all about what you want and how much of it you’d like. The recipe isn’t really even a recipe to be honest, as you just literally put it all together.

1. Make up the salad exactly how you want it. This is the base of your dish. I personally use lettuce (mixed leaf), cucumber, spring onion, peppers and bacon bits as these are the elements I most enjoy. I’m not a huge fan of tomatoes so I skip those for sure.

2. As an optional extra, add a dressing. Of course you should consider if the dressing will work nicely with chicken and bacon, but for the most part dressings do. I tend to actually have a dribble of soy sauce on my salad as I don’t like dressing. It can be a little dry without anything.

3. Prepare the rest of the ingredients (I forgot to photo the bacon). Slice the halloumi, if you’re using chicken breast and cut the fat from the bacon (if you want to!).

4. Fry the chicken first as this will take the longest to cook. If you have a griddle pan, this gives a nice look to the chicken but if not don’t worry. When the chicken is nearly ready, cook the bacon too (grill or fry).

5. Place the chicken and bacon on top of your salad and add the halloumi slices to the pan you’ve just used. Only cook for about a minute on each side, as the cheese doesn’t take long to cook. It only needs to take a hint of brown, it wont change in any other way. Halloumi is not to everyone’s taste, its a sort of chewy cheese but I love it!

6. Add the Halloumi to your salad and you’re done! If you like, add a little more dressing, a sprinkle of dried onions or bacon bits, croutons etc.

Keep an eye out for my next DW Fitness post as I’ll be trying much harder these next couple of weeks!

Saturday night was one of those evenings where comfort food was a must. It had been snowing, everyone in the house was under the weather, and to be honest, I didn’t even feel like cooking. But with a house full of people, including my partner, my brother, and a guest, I knew we needed something hearty to warm us up. I ended up making hotpot—just the main dish, without any salad or veggies to accompany it, as I often forget that part! As we all gathered around the table, it struck me how much easier it would be to enjoy this kind of meal if we could just go out to a franchise hot pot place. Having everything prepared and ready to enjoy would have been a real treat. But that night, our homemade hotpot did the trick, bringing warmth and comfort to an otherwise chilly evening.

Turkey and Bacon Hotpot
Serves 4
Per serving: 412 Calories, 6.4g Fat
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20-30 minutes

Ingredients:
2 red onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
450g lean diced turkey
225g thick-cut lean bacon, diced
1 tbsp plain flour
450ml semi-skimmed milk
1 chicken stock cube
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
450g potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tbsp reduced-salt soy sauce
freshly ground black pepper

When making this, I completely forgot to take pictures until the end. I’m clearly not capable of multi-tasking by cooking and photography at the same time, oops!

Begin by preheating the oven to 190 C (375 F, Gas Mark 5). Get a large non-stick frying pan, adding the onions and garlic and dry-frying till soft. Next add the turkey and bacon, continuing to cook, turning the meat to seal on all sides. Sprinkle the flour over and “cook out” for 1 minute, then gradually stir in the milk. Add the stock cube and allow to dissolve, stirring to distribute. Simmer gently for 15 minutes, to allow the sauce to thicken. Stir in the parsley (I used dried as I rarely have fresh in) and pour the mixture into an overproof dish. Top with sliced potatoes, drizzle with soy sauce and season with freshly ground black pepper. Finally bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked.

This is the only picture I remembered to take (and the kitchen lighting makes it look quite yellow, where it isn’t)! Both pictures show the portion size, this being a quarter of the full size dish. The only thing I would add to the recipe is to say that I season with salt and pepper even at frying stage, not just at the end. Also I have no idea what weight of potatoes I used, just enough to top about 2-3 layers deep. Having done more than this previously, I know the potato doesn’t always cook through well. That said, if you doing it with plenty of time to spare before dinner, you could cook at a lower heat and for longer, to ensure it was all cooked through, if you did want a deeper potato topping!

This recipe is another of my favourites, but ideally I definitely would have served it alongside some salad or vegetables.

Next time… Spicy Chicken Pasta

DW Fitness Festive Challenge – Third Update

Recipe – Turkey and Bacon Hotpot