To the omelette I added spinach which is a power food enriched with vitamins and minerals. Mushrooms which will help to fill you up satiate you and have few calories. Chilli and Black Pepper which will boost your metabolism and fat burning, both of these are found in many fat burners. Why pay for them when you can get them in your diet. Unless you don'tlike chillis of course.

I reckon about 10-20 cardamoms would be enough and 1/2 a teaspoon of allspice and sprinkle that over the butternut squash with some oil

I’ve just stopped peeling the skin off the squash and eating it, it saves a heap of time. I had some left over broccoli and cauli that I warmed up in the oven with some oil and a sprinkle of the herb mix zaatar and some roast chicken.

i’m loving Brussel sprouts at the moment and this is definately the way to cook them cut in half and pan fried. Ottolenghi takes it to another level by dressing them wiht caramelised garlic, cook garlic in a few teaspoons of sugar.

I was a little bit concerned about this but you don’t serve the syrup you take the garlic out so it’s not too bad and the lemo peel and parmesan take it up a noitch too.

Yummo going to try this out over xmas

We then moved into some pasture land to try a different habitat and we were met with immeadiate success as we found the huge edible Parasol fungus

I think John was praying to the mushroom God’s for sending this mushroom as it nearly filled our basket just about by itself. . Here’s a close up of the edible basket at the end of the afternoon, I think that is a Yellow wax Cap I am holding. . The next session after lunch was fantastic as we found loads more edible mushrooms including, Puff Balls, Yellow Wax Cap (delicious), Jelly Ear and even some Magic Mushrooms!, I steered clear of those . And here’s the display when we got back to Home Farm all labeled up, we found 41 different species in total. . When we got back to Home Farm we had tea and coffee in the Yurt and dried our socks and boots by the open fire and prepared ourselves for the cookery demonstration, which I’ll talk about in another post.
Here’s my arty shot of some of the edible mushrooms we found ]]> http://www.fatlosschef.com/mushroom-foraging-with-the-river-cottage/feed/ 0 http://www.fatlosschef.com/brussels-sprouts-recipes-and-fat-loss-they-are-back-in-seaso/ http://www.fatlosschef.com/brussels-sprouts-recipes-and-fat-loss-they-are-back-in-seaso/#comments Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:21:53 +0000 Fat Loss Chef http://fatlosschef.com/?p=265

Brussels are back, well they’ve never been away I suppose you can always get your hands on them these days  There was a really big display in my local Waitrose today.

Brussels or ‘mini cabbages’as we used to call them when we were kids are a great vegetable to eat if you are on a weight loss regime.  Like cabbage they are high in fibre and low in carbohydrates and I think they are absolutely delicious.

Some people in the UK tend to have a negative association with sprouts, usually being a bit bitter and cooked to death at school dinner time.

All I do to cook them is remove the outer leaves if they are discoloured and then pop them into a saucepan with a small amount of water, once they are cooked I drain them and put a glug of olive oil and some salt and pepper  on them and give them a stir back in the pan.

I’ll bring you a few more brussel sprout recipes as we move through autumn and winter

This is an excellent substitute for rice if you are having a Curry, or as a side dish with any main meal. You can use the real spices if you wish or just add some curry paste it’s up to you here’s how I do it.

Get my spices ready

1. Cumin ,bay leaf, turmeric and chilli. You can also add garlic and fresh ginger too if you wish
2. In this recipe I am using peas if you are strict fat loss you may want to miss these out as they are a bit higher in carbs. . Just take them out of the freezer no need to cook them
3. Shred the Cabbage any cabbage will do, this is Savoy cabbage
4. Add some coconut oil to my Chef’s pan
5. Put in any whole spices and garlic and ginger and lightly fry off a minute or so then add the cabbage
6. Add dry spices turmeric and chilli
7. A splash of water we are talking about 50 mls here that’s all
8. Add peas and stir it round. Cover with tight fitting lid don’t cook on too high of a heat otherwise the water will evaporate too quickly and it will burn slightly.
9. Ready to serve

. 1. Grind up some coriander and cumin seeds a couple of teaspoons of each. I used to use a pestel and mortar but now use my coffee grinder more often . 2. Roughly chop a few cloves of garlic . 3.Grind with some slat and olive oil and it turns into a paste . 4.Then mix the cumin coriander and garlic paste over the broccoli and cauliflower and roast in the oven for about 15 minutes. This is excellent as a side dish with any meal. ]]> http://www.fatlosschef.com/roasted-cauliflower-and-broccoli/feed/ 0 http://www.fatlosschef.com/califlower-soup/ http://www.fatlosschef.com/califlower-soup/#comments Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:00:37 +0000 Fat Loss Chef http://fatlosschef.com/?p=33

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This is adapted from a Delia Smith recipe, I’ve ditched the butter replaced with some coconut oil and just eliminated the potatoes you won’t really miss them. If you’re tight on ingredients you could even make this without either of the celery, leek or onion.

What you need

1. medium, good-sized cauliflower (about 1lb 4 oz/570 g)
2. 2 bay leaves
3. 1 teaspoon VirginOrganic Coconut Oil
4. 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
5. 2 sticks celery, chopped
6. 1 large leek, trimmed, washed and chopped
7. 2 tablespoons half-fat crème fraîche, plus a little extra to serve (optional)
8. salt and freshly milled black pepper
9. To serve: 1 level tablespoon snipped fresh chives

Options this soup is very versatile you can add
pretty much anything you want to liven it up. One option is to add
2 oz (50 g) Roquefort, crumbled into small pieces
or
You can add a similar amount of coconut milk ( 1/2 a can or so or grate in some creamed Coconut)

Method

The stock for this is very simply made with all the cauliflower trimmings.

1. All you do is trim the cauliflower into small florets keep some of the stalk attached to the floret.
2. Then take whats left including the green stems, and place these trimmings in a medium-sized saucepan I chop them up so they release more flavour.. Then add 2½ pints (1.5 litres) of water, the bay leaves and some salt, bring it up to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes with a lid. This is likely to smell a bit so do it when you can open the kitchen doors.
3. Meanwhile, take another large saucepan with a well-fitting lid, melt the coconut oil in it over a gentle heat, then add the onion, celery, leek and cover and let the vegetables gently sweat for 15 minutes. Keep the heat very low, then, when the stock is ready, strain it into the pan to join the vegetables, adding the bay leaves as well but throwing out the rest.
4. Now add the cauliflower florets, bring it all back up to simmering point and simmer very gently for 20-25 minutes, until the cauliflower is completely tender, this time without a lid.
   After that, remove the bay leaves, then place the contents of the saucepan in a food processor or liquidiser and process until the soup is smooth and creamy
5. Next return it to the saucepan, stir in the crème fraîche and cheese or creamed coconut and keep stirring until the cheese has melted and the soup is hot but not boiling. Check the seasoning, then serve in hot bowls, garnished with a little more crème fraîche, if you like, and the chives.

Ingredients

1. 1 tbsp olive oil
2. 1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped
3. 250ml/8¾fl oz chicken or vegetable stock (more if necessary)
4. 200g/7oz broccoli (chop it up stalks as well)
   salt and freshly ground black pepper ( optional blue cheese and toasted walnuts)

Method

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan and sauté the garlic for 1-2 minutes.
2. Pour the chicken or vegetable stock into the pan and add the broccoli florets.
3. Bring to the boil and reduce the heat and simmer gently for 10-12 minutes, until the broccoli is tender.
4. Season to taste, then use your hand blender or liquidizer. Blend until smooth.
5. If you wnat your soup to be thinner you can add more stock or water
6. As an optional extra add some Blue cheese like stilton and maybe a few toasted walnuts as well