Wednesday 23 May 2012

Spag Bol 'lite'



Dinner tonight was a resounding success and a fun, summer appropriate take on a staple dish in our house.  I don't know about you but I have suddenly had an 'oh. bollocks' realisation that yes, it will soon be summer {WAHOO} and yes, that does mean I will be wearing a bikini {less wahoo, more waaaaaaah?!}. With that in mind, tonight's dinner was a lite take on spag bol {a serious favourite}.

Pasta is up there as one of my true loves. Sadly, this love is completely unrequited. I could eat platefuls of the stuff {seriously, it leaves me with no will power to speak of} and yet all my affection brings me nothing more than a sore, bloated tummy and a sluggish feeling that once again I've eaten more than agrees with me.

Le sigh. So what is a girl to do? Swap the pasta for fried cauliflower! I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this technique before, no? Granted, it's not quite the same as a big bowl of pasta but it does the job as a delicious replacement for the carby component on the dish.

I simply blitzed two or three large chunks in my blender before spritzing a pan with some oil {I spray mine though you could use normal oil or a low fat cooking spray} and lightly frying for a couple minutes. That is literally all it needs or you risk losing the crunch and the peppery flavour - don't want that to happen! I sometimes chuck some red onion in too, definitely enhances the hashbrown esque taste.

I had made the sauce a couple of days early {and made a huge batch to use in some other dishes that I need to share!} using 4 or 5 tins of chopped tomatoes, fresh basil, thyme, rosemary, oregano, paprika, garlic salt, pepper and some chilli sauce. Really simple and low fat. Add a glug of oil, give the whole thing a good stir then leave to cook on a low heat until it bubbles away to the consistency you're after. It's freezeable in batches and is handy to have tucked away when you're trying to be healthy and yet the easiest thing to do is reach for a jar of pasta sauce.


For the mince itself I used turkey mince {in place of red meat} and packed it out with veggies - mushrooms and onions mainly, though I'd normally chuck in finely chopped celery because you barely notice it and it's another way to sneak something good into your diet!! As per usual this is less recipe, more tip {perhaps? or am I kidding myself?} but it really was easy and delicious and right now, anyway of sneaking veggies into my diet and carbs out can only be a good thing. Especially judging by today's beautiful weather, dare I say it, is Summer finally on its way?!

Oh and I need to point out, see that giant plate of food up there?! The one that dwarves its buddy in the background. Well that giant plate of food belonged to my less that giant boyfriend. Am I the only one who finds this grossly unfair?!


Love B
x

ps. I GOT INSTAGRAM BACK!!!!!! My phone miraculously healed itself. Don't ask me how, suddenly it is working all by itself! I'm telling myself it's a Christmas miracle after the speaker at school had us sing a Christmas hymn in the middle of May. Maybe it was the angels amongst us that I think he was jabbering on about....

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