Low Carb Lasagne

September 28, 2012 1 Comment

I would be lying to you if I said that I didn’t LOVE carbohydrates.  I’m not fussy when it comes to this food group:  delicious, warm crusty bread, an ice cold, crisp glass of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, a slab of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk (I can sometimes be a cheap date!), a crispy baked potato, oozing with butter and filled with baked beans and the strongest cheddar cheese I can lay my hands on, or some sort of pasta dish – I’ll take any of them; when it comes to this food group, I’m not at all discerning!  One of my favourite Saturday night suppers in London was the divine Marks & Spencer’s “Lasagne Al Forno”, which sadly cannot be bought in India.  Now, whilst I love carbohydrates, they DO NOT reciprocate their love.  Unwilling to give up my fix of lasagne, I needed to be creative and come up with a low carb version, which still satisfied my taste buds, but without the high carb content.  After a bit of playing around, this recipe definitely gave me the taste I was after, but without the 47g of carbs in one of serving of the M&S offering.  Serve with a large salad, and if you’re not a carb watcher, a large hunk of garlic bread.

Serves:  4, or 2 greedy people!

Ingredients

  • 2tbsp of olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 1 large carrot, finely chopped
  • 200g of button mushrooms, finely sliced
  • 3 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 500g of minced beef
  • 2tbsp of worcester sauce
  • 2tbsp of tomato puree
  • 1tbsp of Italian dried herbs
  • 100ml of red wine
  • 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
  • 75ml milk
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • 40g of butter
  • 40g of plain flour
  • 400ml of milk
  • 100g of strong cheddar cheese, grated
  • Pinch of grated nutmeg
  • 1 courgette (zucchini),
  • 50g of parmesan cheese, finely grated

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven 180C.
  2. Heat the olive oil in a heavy-based frying pan over a medium to high heat.
  3. Add in the onions and fry until the onion is just starting to brown.  Add in the garlic and continue frying for 2 to 3 minutes.
  4. Add the carrots and mushrooms in and fry for a further 3 minutes.
  5. Make a well in the middle of the pan and add in the beef, use your spoon/spatula to break it up.
  6. Once all broken-up, mix in with the contents of the rest of the pan.
  7. Pop in the tomato puree and Italian herbs and stir in thoroughly.
  8. Carry on stirring until all the beef is browned.
  9. Pour in the wine, mix it in and let it cook until all the alcohol has burned off.
  10. Next, add in the tinned tomatoes and combine with the other ingredients.  Simmer over a low heat for 8 to 10 minutes, whilst constantly stirring before adding in the milk and giving a good stir.  Season as necessary
  11. To make the cheese sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan.
  12. Add the flour and stir until it forms a paste.  Cook for 1 to 2 minutes over a medium heat.
  13. Take the saucepan off the heat and add in about half the milk, whisking as you pour it in to prevent any lumps forming.
  14. Add the rest of the milk and put it back on the heat and constantly whisk.  The sauce will thicken up quite a bit.
  15. Once the sauce is nice and thick, sprinkle in the ground nutmeg and cheddar cheese and continue to stir until all the cheese has melted.
  16. Take a vegetable peeler and peel the courgette.  Still using the vegetable peeler, create long ribbons of the courgette and place to one side.
  17. Take your dish that you’re going to use (I use this 20cm one from John Lewis) and cover the bottom of it with a good thick layer of the meat sauce.
  18. Next, put a layer of the courgettes.  Make sure that all the meat is covered.
  19. Now, pour on a layer of the cheese sauce.  Keep repeating until all the meat and cheese sauces have been used up.  You want the top layer to be a layer of the cheese sauce.  I normally get around 3 layers of each in.
  20. On top of the final layer of the cheese sauce, sprinkle the grated parmesan cheese and pop in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until it’s golden brown on top.

Domestic Princess tips

  1. If making this for fussy little ones, omit the mushrooms and grate the onion and carrot, so they become undetectable.
  2. If you want to make this a more luxurious dish, swap half the milk for double cream.
  3. Not a low-carber?  Then you’ll need approximately 6 lasagne sheets.  I recommend the ones that don’t need any preparation – you just pop them on dry and in the oven it all goes.
  4. The Domestic Prince is a massive cheese fan, so if I’m feeling particularly fond of him when I’m making this, I’ll sprinkle parmesan cheese on top of each layer of the cheese sauce, to make it extra cheesy!
  5. If not using the cheese sauce immediately, put some cling film directly on top of the sauce to prevent a skin forming.
  6. When making this dish, I always make a double quantity of the cheese sauce and freeze it to use at a later date.

Do you love carbs like me, or can you take them, or leave them?  Do you follow a low-carb eating plan?

With much love
The Domestic Princess
xoxo

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Roasted tomato soup

September 14, 2012 3 Comments

Homemade soup is hard to beat.  I think I’ve extolled the virtues of homemade soup in my Pumpkin Soup recipe.  Once you’ve made homemade soup, you’ll find it hard to go back to the tinned stuff.  One of my favourite soups, has to be tomato soup.  I love sprinkling some strong cheddar cheese on top and when not low-carbing, there is nothing nicer than dipping big hunks of french bread, slathered in salty butter in.  I’m salivating just typing about it!  There’s approximately 200 calories per serving, so is perfect if you’re watching your calorie intake, or like me following the intermittent fasting way of living.

Ingredients

  • 1.6kg of fresh tomatoes, I prefer plum ones for this recipe
  • 400g of tinned chopped tomatoes
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped
  • 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • 1 medium carrot, finely chopped
  • 1tbsp of tomato puree
  • 3tbsp of olive oil
  • 1 litre of chicken stock (or vegetable)
  • 1tbsp of white wine or balsamic vinegar

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
  2. Put the fresh tomatoes, whole, into a roasting tin and drizzle with 2 of the tablespoons of olive oil and a grind of salt and pepper.  Put in the oven for around 30 to 45 minutes.
  3. In a large pan, sauté the onion in the rest of the olive oil for around 5 minutes, or until they are no longer translucent.
  4. Next, add in the crushed garlic and chopped carrots and sauté for 8 to 10 minutes.
  5. Add the tablespoon of tomato puree and give the vegetables a good stir, ensuring that they’ve all got a coating of the tomato puree.
  6. Once cooked, remove the tomatoes (including the skins) from the oven and put in a large saucepan on a low-heat
  7. Add the sautéed vegetables and tinned tomatoes to the roasted tomatoes and pour in the chicken stock and vinegar.
  8. Bring the tomato mixture to the boil and simmer for around 10 minutes.
  9. Remove from the heat and whizz with a hand blender until smooth.
  10. Taste and season if necessary.

Domestic Princess tips:

  1. If you want to make this a cream of tomato soup, substitute 200ml of the stock for 200ml of cream.
  2. As well as being a tasty soup, this can be used as a quick sauce for pasta dishes.
  3. Add a handful of chopped basil, to make this either a tomato & basil soup, or a tomato & basil pasta sauce.
  4. If I’m looking to bump up our protein intake, I quite often add in the meat from a small roasted chicken at stage 7.
  5. If you’re in the UK, September is the perfect month for delicious, ripe tomatoes that are bursting with flavour, so get making!
  6. Instead of sautéing the garlic, I sometimes put them in the roasting tin with the tomatoes, as roasted garlic has a totally different taste; it takes on a creamy, mellow taste.  They typically only need around 15 to 20 minutes, so make sure you time it properly.
  7. For a smoother soup, sieve before serving.
  8. This soup freezes really well and can be frozen for up to 3 months.

Do you prefer homemade soup to shop bought?  What’s your favourite soup to make?

With much love
The Domestic Princess
xoxo

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Lemon Mousse

September 8, 2012 Leave a Comment

I love an indulgent chocolate pudding, but sometimes a light, fresh zingy is what is called for, and this mousse is just that!  This mousse is quick and easy to put together, so the perfect pudding.

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 250ml of double cream
  • 2 lemons, juice and zest (approximately 60ml)
  • 50g icing sugar or 5g of stevia
  • 2 egg whites

Method

  1. Put the double cream and sugar (or stevia) in a bowl and whip until it starts to thicken.
  2. Add the lemon juice and zest (keep some back to sprinkle on the mousse as garnish) and whisk until it has thickened to soft peaks
  3. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they’re have formed quite firm soft peaks.
  4. Using a metal spoon, slowly combine the egg whites into the lemon cream mixture.
  5. Once combined, pour into 4 dishes and pop in the fridge for a couple of hours to set.
  6. When ready to serve, sprinkle on a few strands of zest on each mousse and serve with some gingersnap biscuits.

Domestic Princess tips:

  1. Be careful that you don’t over whisk the cream, otherwise it’ll be hard to incorporate the egg whites.
  2. If you want a milder lemon flavour, just add 1 lemon.
  3. To make this a chocolate orange mousse, substitute the lemon for orange and add 30g of cocoa powder at stage 1.
  4. If you want to make this a more grown-up pudding, substitute one of the lemons for 30ml of limoncello.

If you make this, I would love to hear what you think!

With much love
The Domestic Princess
xoxo

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Mozzarella Chicken & Roasted Vegetables

August 31, 2012 12 Comments

This week the Domestic Prince and I did a two day fast after having watched the BBC Horizon programme, “Eat, Fast and Live Longer” a few weeks ago.  Research has shown that by fasting you can greatly reduce your IGF-1 levels, which is the hormone that encourages cell growth and detracts your body’s ability to repair itself.  The growth factor has strong links to the development of Alzheimers, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and various cancers.  There are other benefits associated with fasting such as weight loss, improved digestion and increased energy levels.  So, you’re probably wondering what on earth this has got to do with today’s recipe?  Well, on the two days of fasting, it’s suggested men consume no more than 500 to 600 calories a day and women 400 to 500.  You can split the calories up over the day, or eat them all in one meal.  The Domestic Prince chose to eat his in one meal, so on Sunday I set about finding a meal for his lunch that would be tasty, filling and nutritious and this is what I came up with!  One portion is around 550/600 calories.  I’ll be blogging more about our fasting experiment over the next few weeks, but so far it’s looking very positive.

Serves 2

Ingredients

  • 2 chicken breasts
  • 1l of chicken stock
  • 150g of mozzarella cheese
  • 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
  • Handful of torn basil leaves
  • 1g of stevia or 5g of caster sugar
  • 2 cloves of garlic, roasted and crushed
  • Olive oil
  • 2 onions, finely chopped
  • 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • 1 red pepper, chopped into cubes
  • 1 yellow pepper, chopped into cubes
  • 1 courgette (zucchini), chopped into cubes
  • 1 aubergine (egg plant), chopped into cubes
  • 4 plum tomatoes, chopped into cubes

Method

  1. Pop the chicken breast in a deep pan or dish and pour over the chicken stock.  On low to medium heat, poach the chicken breasts for around 15 minutes.
  2. In a saucepan, pour the tinned tomatoes, stevia (or sugar), two of the roasted, crushed cloves and the basil.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.  Leave to cool and then whizz until smooth.  Set aside.
  3. Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
  4. In a frying pour some olive oil, I use around 2tbps and brown the onions.  Once browned, add in the 4 cloves of crushed garlic.  Sauté for around 2 minutes.
  5. Remove the onions and garlic from the pan and put them in a roasting tin and put aside.
  6. Repeat the above process for all the vegetables, until they’ve all been sautéed.
  7. Put the vegetables in the pre-heated oven and roast for around 35 to 40 minutes.
  8. Take the chicken breasts that you poached and set aside earlier and slice into it.  Roughly slice the mozzarella and stuff it into the chicken breast.  Pop some slices on the top as well.
  9. After about 20 to 25 minutes into the vegetables roasting, put the stuffed chicken breasts on a baking tray and pop in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until the mozzarella is golden and bubbling on top.
  10. Whilst the chicken and vegetables are in the oven, warm-up the tomato and basil sauce.
  11. All that’s to be done now is serve and tuck in!!

Domestic Princess tips:

  1. Goats cheese can be swapped for the mozzarella.
  2. Don’t be tempted to sauté all the vegetables at once, as they’ll produce too much liquid and will not caramelise.

Please let me know if you make this dish.

Have a wonderful weekend lovely readers.  We’re having a quiet one – bliss!

With much love
The Domestic Princess
xoxo

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Frozen Raspberry Yoghurt

August 10, 2012 1 Comment

I love frozen yoghurt, it’s delicious and super easy to make.  I opted for raspberries for this recipe, as I had a packet of frozen raspberries (which I love!) in the freezer that needed to be used up and somehow a glut of yoghurt.  Wanting it to be as low in sugar as possible, I made it with stevia, instead of icing sugar.  But if you’re not worried about your sugar intake, then go ahead and make it with icing sugar.  The outcome will be the same.  A guilt free treat!

Serves:  Well, depends on how greedy you are!  This recipe makes around 900g

Ingredients

  • 500g full-fat yoghurt, preferably greek
  • 450g frozen raspberries
  • 7g stevia or 70g icing sugar
  • 2tsp vanilla extract

Method

  1. Whizz the raspberries, together with the stevia or icing sugar in a blender or food processor.  If you don’t have a blender or processor, skip straight to stage 2.
  2. Push the raspberry puree through a fine metal sieve to remove of all the pips.
  3. In a separate bowl whisk the yoghurt and vanilla extract.
  4. Pour the raspberry puree into the yoghurt mix and roughly combine.
  5. Pop the mixture into a container and put it in the fridge for an hour.
  6. Take the container out and if you’re using an ice cream maker freeze following the manufacturer’s instructions.  When you have a creamy and frozen mixture, transfer it to a freezerproof container and freeze for at least an hour.
  7. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, pour the mixure straight into a large freezerproof container and pop into the freezer for around an hour, or until the mixture is beginning to set around the edges.  Take it out and whisk the mixture until it’s smooth.  Return to the freezer for 30 minutes, then whisk again.  Keep repeating the freezing and whisking a few more times and then leave it to freeze for at least an hour before serving.

Domestic Princess tips:

  1. If you’re looking to lower the fat content of the frozen yoghurt, substitute the full-fat for the fat-free or low-fat options.  However, if you’re a low-carber, stick with the full-fat version, as lower-fat normally means extra added sugar!
  2. Most fruits will work well in this recipe, mango, peach, strawberries etc.  However, frozen fruits work better than fresh.
  3. If making this without an ice cream maker, please don’t be tempted to skip the whisking whilst freezing stages.  This is necessary to minimize the yoghurt splitting to prevent any ice crystals developing.  This will help ensure you have lovely, smooth & creamy frozen yoghurt.
  4. If making this for a pudding, consider adding in 2tbsp of crème de cassis at stage 3.
  5. If not serving the yoghurt immediately, take out 20 minutes before serving and keep in the fridge to allow it to soften slightly.
  6. I sometimes add a vanilla or plain flavour protein powder when pulverizing the raspberries.
  7. Bangloreans, you can buy stevia in Hypercity, Spar or the new supermarket in 1MG.  And frozen raspberries can be found at the shop in Palm Meadows.
  8. For those interested in learning more about stevia, here’s some information on stevia.

This is a perfect, healthy alternative to sugar and fat-laden ice cream!

Enjoy lovely readers and if you make it, please let me know and share any pics!

With much love
The Domestic Princess
xoxo

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Tuna Dip Dip

July 20, 2012 3 Comments

We really enjoy having people over for dinner, probably more so in India than in London.  However, entertaining in India can be somewhat of a challenge….endless and unexpected power cuts can scupper a perfectly planned and timed meal, leaving your guests starving!  So, to combat this problem, we tend to serve an array of nibbles with drinks when people arrive to help curb the growling tummies in case the “power isn’t there!”  One of my reliable favourites is this one – Tuna Dip Dip.  I’m pretty sure this is not the proper name for it, but as with most things, the Domestic Prince has decided this is his name for this dish, and it’s somehow stuck!  I first sampled this dish not long after arriving in India, as Alice had served it as part of a platter for her turn hosting a book club, and even though it has jalapenos in it (I’m quite sensitive to spicy food!), I really enjoyed and it has become a firm fixture in my repertoire.

Ingredients

  • 1 tin of tuna fish, drained
  • 2 heaped tbsp of mayonnaise
  • 2tbsp of natural yoghurt
  • 1 can artichoke hearts, drained and diced
  • 60g (¼ cup) diced jalapenos
  • 1 packet cream cheese at room temperature
  • 125g (½ cup) of grated Parmesan cheese

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
  2. Put the tuna, mayonnaise, yoghurt and cream cheese in a bowl and mix until it’s thoroughly combined.  You don’t want any large chunks of tuna.
  3. Fold in the artichokes and jalapenos.  Don’t over mix at this stage, you don’t want the artichokes to become mush.
  4. Put the mixture into an oven proof dish, sprinkle over the grated Parmesan cheese and place in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the cheese is lovely and golden brown.
  5. Serve warm with crusty chunks of French stick.

Domestic Princess tips:

  1. If you want to lower the fat content of this recipe, swap the mayonnaise and yoghurt for their low-fat cousins.  However, if you’re following a low-carb eating plan, stick with the full fat versions, as they are lower in carbs than the low fat options.
  2. I tend to serve this with crostinis, so people can dip them into the dip.
  3. Again, to make this a really low-carb dish, serve with delicious crunchy crudities such as strips of red and yellow pepper, celery sticks, carrot batons and my favourite…cucumber sticks!
  4. As an alternative, you could substitute the tin of tuna for a tin of crab meat.
  5. I pop about a tablespoon of the jalapeno brine into the mixture at step 1 to give the dip a bit more of a tang.
  6. This freezes really well.  Freeze it before sprinkling on the Parmesan cheese and when ready to use, defrost, give it a good stir and carry on from step 4.

An easy peasy, but delicious dip, which always goes down a storm!  Thank you for sharing this with me Alice!

With much love
The Domestic Princess
xoxo

Filed Under: Food&Drink, Recipes, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , ,
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