chicken Archives - Journeys Are My Diary

DW Fitness Festive Challenge – Third Update

November 9, 2015 by Bel

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!

Old El Paso – for the family

November 3, 2015 by Bel

I was recently offered some goodies from Old El Paso but I have to admit, I’m a firm fan of Old El Paso anyway. My girls are both quite fussy eaters and more annoyingly, they both like opposite foods – so where one likes curry, the other hates it, and where the other likes chili, the other hates it. However chicken fajitas have long been a favourite in this household and we always have Old El Paso, probably every 2-4 weeks.

In the care package we were sent to review, there was of course fajitas and these were a great hit – alongside sour cream, refried beans and salsa. However something we hadn’t tried before was Stand ”N’ Stuff Tacos, so this was great to give a go.

The things you need for Tacos are super easy. Mince, lettuce, tomatoes and cheese (plus the packet of course). However since only I like lettuce and tomatoes, we skipped out on that part and just fried some onions alongside.

Inside the packet you get 8 soft tortilla tacos, some seasoning mix and some sauce. Making the tacos are easy – just fry the mince, add the seasoning and then serve alongside the sauce, cheese and whatever else you’re wanting (suggested lettuce and tomato, though we had fried onions and sour cream).

Once its all cooked up – add one happy family and enjoy a lovely dinner.

Though we’re yet to eat the fajitas (the girls like the mild version so I need to pick up a packet), I’m sure we will do before long. We’ve also tried the Taco Shells, Enchiladas and One Pan Rice Meals. We’ve enjoyed them all. I highly recommend Old El Paso for good value and great taste.

Recipe – Spicy Chicken Pasta

January 28, 2013 by Bel

This is my third and final recipe for today and you’ll be pleased to know I’m going out for dinner tonight, so there won’t be another for a while, lol. I cooked this one last night, again for 4 people, but since 3 of them were guys, I made plenty of pasta just to bulk it out. The last picture mind you, is of my dinner and my portion size, the guys had a bit more.

Spicy Chicken Pasta
Serves 4
Per Serving: 398 Calories, 3.3g Fat
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Since I still wasn’t feeling too well yesterday, everyone offered to help cook dinner. I didn’t really need it but since I’m not a big fan of raw chicken, I did let my brother slice that up for me. Other people grabbed or passed the odd thing here or there, but for the most part I cooked this solo.

Ingredients:
225g (uncooked weight) tagliatelle
1 vegetable stock cube
1 red onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 red pepper, seeded and diced
4 x 100g skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
1 red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
8-10 basil leaves, shredded
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Parmesan cheese, to serve

Begin by placing the pasta in a large saucepan, with boiling water and the vegetable stock cube. Fingers crossed it should be ready about the same time as sauce, but if you really don’t like overcooked pasta, hold off on the pasta for a while, making sure you’re well on your way with the rest first. Next get a large non-stick frying pan and dry-fry the onions for 2-3 minutes until soft. Add the garlic and red pepper, and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.

Add the chicken strips and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the chicken is firm and changes colour. Turn during cooking so that the chicken strips cook on all sides. Add the tomatoes and chilli, bring to a gentle simmer.

Drain off the pasta and pour into a serving dish. Spoon the sauce over and sprinkle with shredded basil leaves (this I forgot, but don’t actually feel is necessary) and a little Parmesan. I personally served the pasta up into 4 bowls, then spooned out the sauce equally over the 4 portions.

I think this has probably been my least favourite out of all the dishes I’ve cooked these last three days, but as with the other ones, everyone polished them off fairly fast, as did I. Some of my issue with this is its tomato sauce base (as I’m not great with chopped tomatoes, though I like them once I’m eating them) and some of it is probably the cooked peppers (not a huge fan of those). However that said, it really did taste good and I will definitely cook it again.

Next time… Paprika Mince