Kickin' Sticky Chicken & Mango Noodle Salad

So my plan to do a blog post every two to three days has been waylaid by a cute little bundle of non-sleeping fury, but I do have about 4 recipes on the back-burner, so stay tuned! 
PS sorry about the formatting, something's a little haywire in the system and it won't do what I ask it to! :(

Serves: 5.5 | Serving size: 90g chicken, 300g noodle salad | Points: 9 | Cooking time: 30 mins  

Adapted from Jamie's 15 Minute Meals.

Sorry, Jamie Oliver, but I don't believe you.  Maybe if I was a professional chef in fantasy land, who could chop a carrot in 10 seconds flat, this would take 15 minutes.  But for a cook like me in the real world, who likes to faff about in the kitchen, this took about 30 minutes... with a crunchy, chewy, sweet, salty and altogether scrumptious result!

Ingredients:

Salad

• 200g thin rice noodles
• 1 tbs sesame oil
• Fruit of 2 mangoes
• Packet of mixed lettuce
• 1/2 bunch of coriander

Chicken

• 1kg skinless chicken thigh fillets
• Salt & pepper
• 1 tbsp Chinese five-spice 
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 tbs sweet chilli sauce (I use Trident)
• 2 tbs sesame seeds

Dressing

• 2 tbs light soy sauce 
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 fresh red chilli, seeds removed
• ½ a thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled (OR 2 tsp of minced ginger from a jar)
• 2 shallots
• Juice of 2 limes
• 1 small clove of garlic

Preparation:  Get all your ingredients out • Kitchen scales • Measuring spoons • Kettle boiled • Large bowl • Baking paper • Rolling pin • Large frying pan • Tongs • Colander • Knife • Blender • Juicer • Serving platter.

Instructions:

• In a large bowl, pour boiling water over noodles until fully submerged.
• Put the pan on high heat.
• On a large sheet of baking paper, toss the chicken with salt, pepper and the five spice.
• Fold the paper over the chicken, then bash and flatten the to about 1.5 cm thick with a rolling pin.
• Heat 2 teaspoons of olive oil in the pan, then add the chicken, continuously turning every 5 minutes, until slightly charred and cooked through.
• Drain the noodles and return to the bowl.
• To chop the mangoes, cut each side off either side of the seed. Take each half and make  incisions lengthways then across, being careful not to pierce the skin. Turn each piece inside out, and spoon out the cubes onto the noodles. Slice off the remaining mango from the seed and add to bowl.
• Chop the top leafy half of the coriander, and add to bowl, leaving some for the garnish later
• Chop off some coriander stalks and add to the blender with the soy and fish sauces, chilli, ginger, trimmed spring onions, 1 tablespoon of water, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil, peeled and roughly chopped garlic and the lime juice, then whiz until smooth.
• TIP: to get more juice out of your limes, halve then put in the microwave for 10 seconds before juicing.
• When chicken is done, drain off any excess fat from the pan, put back on the heat, drizzle with the sweet chilli sauce, stir and turn chicken until sauce has is bubbling and chicken coated.
• Sprinkle with the sesame seeds, toss to coat, turning every minute or so to lightly toast the seeds.
• Pour the dressing over the salad and toss gently until well coated.
• Transfer the chicken to a board and slice diagonally.
• To serve, Cover a serving platter with the salad leaves, add the noodles, sliced chicken on top, and garnish with some coriander leaves.

Getting started on Weight Watchers - The Cheat's Way

I originally Googled the words "tight ass" for an image... Excuse me while I go wash my eyes out with soap...

Let's be honest, Weight Watchers is expensive.

And not an expense that I could justify while raising a baby on only my husband's income.  So being the thrifty (...stingy)  person that I am, I found a way around all those unnecessary costs to bring you the cheapest way to do weight watchers!

1.  Find someone to start your journey with.

This is the main thing you will miss out on by not purchasing an official Weight Watchers subscription, and some people may feel that they would not be able to do it without having a meeting to go to every week, which is fine.

However I have been lucky enough to start with my cousin, who has been successful on Weight Watchers before.  Not only is she a wealth of knowledge, but she keeps me accountable and gives me encouragement when my diet goes off the rails!

We have devised a little incentive system where the first person to lose 5 kilos gets a $10 gift from the other, the first to 10 gets $20, and the first to get to their goal weight has to take a plane to visit the other (Although we haven't quite figured out yet which is the better prize: having the other visit you, or getting a week off from the kids?).

2.  Start bidding

Do a search on ebay for "Weight Watchers" and you will find pages and pages of people reselling their starter packs (just ignore what this might say about the success rate).  Be prepared to do a lot of searching, bidding, and waiting, before you get what you are looking for for a decent price.  I lost several bids which ended up selling for over $90, before I got what I wanted for half that price. 

The essential items you will need are the 'Shopping Guide' and the 'Eating Out Guide'.  Other items you may want are the Weight Watchers folder (including the 'Pocket Guide', 'Getting Started', and 'Love your food'), the points calculator and the points tracker (but some of these you won't need if you follow my next point).  The Weight Watchers cookbooks are also a good investment.

Also try to make sure the materials you are getting are from this year (or at the least 2011), as Weight Watchers changed their points system in 2010, so you want the most up-to-date information.

3.  Get a tracker app

The essential part of this diet for me is making a note of everything I eat.   I heard someone say "if you bite it, write it."  This has really helped me stop the habit of mindlessly eating that I'd fallen into. 

I found a fantastic app for both Androids & iPhones called the "Ultimate Food Value Diary Plus".  It lets you calculate and track everything you eat by either scanning the item, or searching for it in the database (with plenty of Aussie products!).  Unlike other tracker apps this one offers you a choice of Weight Watchers Australia, US or UK, and no more converting from ounces to grams!  The app also includes a points calculator, and a meal function for those family dinners.

A bonus for breastfeeding mothers: when setting up your points allowance you can choose the option of breastfeeding full-time, or supplementing, which gives you 7-10 extra daily points, so no need to worry about milk reduction!

4.  Get some accurate scales

Another main part of the Weight Watchers program are the weekly weigh-ins.  Choose a day and time and weigh yourself at that exact same time and day every week.  This enables you to track your weight loss more reliably.  My weigh-in is every Monday morning in my bra and undies after I have breast-fed Oscar and been to the loo.  I then take a photo of myself in the hopes that I'll notice my body changing, as that's usually more incentive than just some decreasing numbers.

Make sure you own an accurate set of scales.  I went out and got a new-fandangled set of digital scales for about $50 that also measure your muscle and fat percentages, but they were so inaccurate! One morning I got 4 different readings in 5 minutes, so I took them back the next day and got some good-old analogue scales for $8... Bargain...

And that's about it!  Has anyone else tried to do it the stingy way? Got any tips or tricks for us?

Roast Pumpkin Soup - 2 points+

Serves: 6 | Serving size: 2 ladles | Points: 2 | Prep: 20 mins | Cooking: 1 hour   

This recipe makes me wonder why I bothered using cream in the first place.  The carrots and red onion give it a sweet note, perfect for cosy nights in front of the telly (I would say fire, but who really does that these days?). I usually make a double batch and keep it in the freezer for those days I splurge a bit too much and only have a couple of points left for dinner!  Omit the bacon and you can have 0 points soup!

The great thing about puréed soups is that everything can be roughly prepared and thrown together... It won't matter in the end!  Don't forget to get those leftover bits out of the garlic crusher too, don't waste any of that garlicky goodness!


Ingredients:

• 1 whole butternut pumpkin, chopped 
• 4 carrots, chopped
• 150g bacon (all fat trimmed - I used rindless shortcut 97% fat free bacon)
• 2 red onions, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 litre of chicken stock (I use Massel powder or cubes)
• 3 tsp rosemary
• 1 tsp ground sage
• 1 tsp turmeric

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 200ºC.  Peel and chop pumpkin and carrots into roughly equal bits.  Place on oven tray lined with baking paper. Bake for 20-30 mins.
• When veggies are almost done, heat olive oil in large non-stick pot. Add red onion, sautéing for about 3 minutes or until soft. Add garlic, rosemary, sage and turmeric and sauté for 1 minute.
• Add roasted veggies and chicken stock to the pot, bring to the boil then simmer, covered, for 10 mins.
• Blend until soup is smooth (I use a hand whizzer).
• Serve with toast or my cheesy garlic bread (recipe to come)!

Welcome!

Nom Nom Nom...

Hey there Aussie ladies! Welcome to my new blog!

After an unsuccessful search for Australian blogs with Weight Watchers points recipes (plenty of American ones though, eggs in a carton anyone? *shudder*), I thought - because obviously I'm not busy enough - why not create my own?

Aussie Nom Noms is an Australian diet and food blog featuring delicious, healthy, low-fat food, with easy to cook, easy to source, recipes and ingredients (and their weight watchers points!).  I will also be including tips/anecdotes from my weight watchers journey, as well as the occasional food review.

You will see no boring, bland diet food here! I refuse to sacrifice my love for eating!

XO Beck