coconut prawn curry

Get some prawns



Open some coconut milk







marinate.



Total cost? about $10AUD for the prawns and about $0.75c for the coconuts.

Fat Bottomed Girls

you're all sick to death of me harping on about my weigh gain due to giving up the fags, aren't you?

Well, here's the thing. I don't even know what "healthy weight" is any more. I've always been succulent. As an adult, my weight hovers between a AUS size 12 to a 16.. ish. It depends on the time of the day, month, year. Most of my clothes are a size 14-16. And at that range I was pretty happy. I've never subscribed to the "you can't be too thin" school of thought, and I am lucky that Furry like women with a little meat on the bone. After me, his pin-up girl is Kate Fischer.

So, what is "healthy"? How is a "normal" woman meant to find and maintain a healthy weight for her age?

I haven't even bothered looking online, as I am sure Google will provide me with 11 basquillion different answers and am equal number of online Shysters willing to sell me a product for INSTANT WEIGHT LOSS!!

Since we gave up the coffin nails, Furry and I have been extremely conscious of what we eat. In particular, I KNEW that I was going to put on some lard.. last time I gave up, I put on 17 kgs in 3 months.. got depressed at my weight gain.. took up the fags.. and discovered I was a fat smoker.

So we really REALLY have been watching what we eat. And of course, it's Summer here in OZ, so living on BBQ and salad is uber easy.

Even so, I have managed to pack on 15 kgs of pork in nearly 4 months.

Pretty frickin' impressive, eh wot?

Clothes I bought on Boxing Day are now snug.

And I freakin' HATE it. Not enough to fall back into smoking self-loathing. but nearly.

So, we're upping the exercise and cutting back on carbs, thanks to the advice of my uber luscious cousin, The Princess. And repeating our mantra "I can get rid of fat, I can't get rid of lung cancer".

So here's our latest fairly healthy recipe in our Battle of the Bulge. The key to us losing weight is taste. Both Furry and I refuse to live on a lettuce leaf and a bottle of water. When we eat, we like FLAVOUR, and this healthy salad delivers it in spades, yet has less than 16gms of fat per serve.

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground coriander
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium red onion (150g), chopped coarsely
1 clove garlic, crushed
24 uncooked medium king prawns (1kg)
1 teaspoon vegetable oil, extra
1 tablespoon lime juice (about 2 limes)
1 lime, cut into wedges

BEAN AND CORIANDER SALAD
400g green beans, halved crossways
1 cup loosely packed fresh coriander leaves
4 small vine-ripened tomatoes (120g), quartered
1 medium red onion (150g), sliced thinly
1 teaspoon coarsely grated lime rind
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon sugar

METHOD

Blend or process spices, oil, onion and garlic until mixture forms a paste. Shell and de-vein prawns, leaving tails intact.

Make bean and coriander salad.

Heat extra oil in wok or large frying pan; stir-fry prawns, in batches, until just changed in colour.

Cook paste, stirring, in same wok about 2 minutes or until fragrant. Return prawns to wok with juice; stir-fry until prawns are heated through. Serve prawns with salad and lime wedges.

BEAN AND CORIANDER SALAD
Boil, steam or microwave beans until just tender; drain. Rinse under cold water; drain. Combine beans in medium bowl with coriander, tomato and onion. Whisk rind, juice, garlic and sugar in small jug to combine.

Pour dressing over salad; toss gently to combine.

adapted from The Womans' Weekly Lean Food Cookbook

So:

plus

equals

Noodle-y goodness

It's weird, the weather in Melbourne, at this time of year. Last Friday started out with torrential thunderstorms... poor Stella Bella Bottom Smeller and Mrs Peaches did their best jelly-dog routine. There's nothing like being woken by a clap of thunder AND a quivering dog's snout in your ear, both within milliseconds of each other, to REALLY start the day with a smile.

By the end of the day, we'd cycled through having the heater running, to nearly passing out with humidity, all the way across the spectrum into having the cooler on.

I mean, just what do you cook in weather like that??

I opted for noodles. Quick, easy... not too much time at the stove, easy to eat.. not to heavy in the stomach. Perfect on all counts.

I had a packet of rice sticks left over from last night's Yakatori Beef Salad, and a random bag of cooked and peeled prawns, so here's what I did.:

400g lean chicken mince
400g cooked and peeled prawns
2 green onions, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2cm piece fresh ginger (10g), grated
¼ teaspoon five-spice powder (or a mix of ground Szechuan pepper and star anise)
1 tablespoon Hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh coriander
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh Thai basil
1 tablespoon sesame oil


Heat the sesame oil till smoking, add the onions, garlic and ginger. Cook until softened, Add the mince and spices, and cook off until the mince is cooked thru. Add yourHoisin and fish sauces, and the prawns . Cook for 2 mins or until the prawns are heated through and add your herbs.

Cook rice sticks as per the instructions (takes about 4 mins). Drain thoroughly and add to pan. Toss a few times to combine, adding a slurp of soy if it starts to stick. (This is not a slurpy noodle dish, the end result should be quite dry)


Plate up and top with crushed peanuts or sesame seeds, and some spring onion greenery.

Seafood feast!!

prawn and scallop skewers, served with wasabi mayo.

salt and pepper calamari served on rocket

Don't you just love summer in Aus???