Attack Phase: Day 2

Monday 11th March:

Day 2

Another day arrives and I wake up feeling peckish but not ravenous, which is brilliant. Since I have planned an eggs-ellent lunch I choose to have another bash at an Oat Bran brekkie, but this time as porridge!

Breakfast: Cinnamon Oat Bran Porridge

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of Oat Bran

1/2 teaspoon of Cinnamon

Splash of Skimmed Milk (up to you how much you want)

I placed the Oat Bran Porridge in the microwave and warmed for 1 minute, stirred well, then popped back in for another minute. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of it, buuut I can safely say, it looked exactly like porridge, just a tad bit more smooth. It was edible, a lot more edible than the galette but I couldn't really taste my half teaspoon of cinnamon, so I'm putting the blandness down to lack of that. Next time I will use at least a full teaspoon of cinnamon and then I think we are on to a winning oat bran breakfast. Something simple but substantial. I finish it off with a cup of English Breakfast tea!

Since I'm just chilling in the house today before my call at the theatre tonight, I have more time to spend on creating a yummy lunch. This one I feel will be the best so far.

Lunch

Starter: Salmon parcels filled with King Prawns, Creme Fraiche and Chives

And here is the result:

Best Starter So Far!

And, my, what a result! Just beautiful. So refreshing and moreish. This is the winning starter dish so far. Highly recommended.

Main: Spicy Omelette with Fresh Mint

This is a Dukan Recipe I have been dying to try since I was given my Dukan Bible.

Ingredients (2 servings):

4 eggs

50g fat-free fromage frais

1 generous pinch of curry powder

A few fresh mint leaves

Salt and black pepper

Beat together the eggs and fromage frais in a bowl. Add salt, black pepper and curry powder.

Chop up the mint leaves and add them to the mixture. Stir them in well.

In a non-stick frying pan (still haven't got mine so instead I add a few sprays using extra virgin olive oil spray - only 1 calorie per spray!!) pour in half the mixture and cook on both sides of the omelette over a gentle heat until cooked. Serve the first one then cook the second one.

The First Omelette

Now, this one looks pretty darn good if I may say so myself. However, I hadn't poured out half for this one so the next one had more mixture to cook. I left this first one, which led to it cooling really quickly. And by the time I realised the second one was going to take much longer it was too late. I was eating a cold omelette which although tasted refreshing with the mint, would have been much nicer had I ate it straight off the pan. So I would recommend that if you are going to try this, eat the first one straight away while you wait for the other one to cook and make sure you evenly pour out the mixture to make two even omelettes.

Here's what happens when you have two much mixture....

The Second Omelette

Not a pretty sight is it? And it didn't taste better - yes I ate it, I'm on a diet I need all I can get! So, it seems that day two is another day of trial and error! At least I have some snacks to keep me going until dinner:

Day 2 Snack: Lemon Green Tea and Seafood Sticks

Now dinner, is a much better outcome. I left it slightly to the last minute so I found myself 'hoying' some ingredients together but wow what an amazing result. It's true that you should sometimes throw away the recipe book and mix it up! So my concoction is as follows:

Dinner: Strips of Fillet Beef in Soy Sauce, Garlic and Chilli with Onion 'Crackers'

And here it is:

Day 2 Dinner: The Best Main Meal So Far

Now it may not look that special, but believe you me, it was the tastiest main meal I have had all week! I marinated the extremely lean and succulent beef strips in the soy sauce and added the garlic, onion 'crackers' and chilli before frying them in a pan with a couple of sprays of extra virgin olive oil. Now the chilli dilemma I had yesterday (with the prawn starter): I realise now one more reason why it was so hot. The first, was obviously because yesterday I didn't dee-seed them, but the second was when I decided to actually use my eyes and read the label: "Bird-eye chilli's" - nowhere near as close as the heat of a scotch bonnet but my god my nostrils were burning just from chopping them up! I also made the worst mistake by rubbing my nose with what I thought was my washed hands, but nooo, the chilli lingers on for dear life on the pores of your skin, and my whole face was on fire! Fortunately the heat died down before I ate the main and I was able to enjoy it. And boy did I enjoy it! Would highly recommend a dish similar to this dish of not this exact dish. And the spice of chilli's without the seeds, was the perfect spice! Glad I've sorted that out!

I finished off the meal with a fat free greek style yoghurt, coconut flavoured with a hint of vanilla. I had to go to the shop for this, as the yoghurts I ate yesterday weren't the correct one's for this phase, so I ate this at the theatre during my final dress rehearsal so I do not have a photo, however they are the Muller Light one's and are extremely tasty so I would highly recommend them!

So although today has been yet another day of trial and error I have found two meals that tantalise my taste buds so much, it doesn't even feel like I'm on a diet. Diet? What's one of those? ;)

And as I lie here in bed, with a cup of English breakfast tea, ready for my rest, I realise that another day has passed and I am another step closer to achieving my goal. I am not even the slightest bit peckish and I look forward to another day of creative thinking...and cooking! 

Bring on tomorrow! :)