I need meal inspiration for cooking on Saturday!

[Ipadmad]

I've got my sister and brother in law coming over Saturday. Obviously, they don't know about the swaying, and sister is on weightwatchers anyway. So I basically need to cook something that looks reasonable, but still (reasonably!) within pink sway guidelines!

Any ideas or thoughts?

I'm wondering whether to do some sort of mushroom risotto, although not sure kids will eat that!

Help!

[Dreamofpink]

How about butternut squash lasagne? Just use low-fat cheese for the very top, homemade white sauce and cook the squash slowly with some low-salt veg stock, can of tomatoes and whatever other veggies you fancy that'll go soft too, maybe cauliflower, sweet potato + some leeks. When it's all soft, roughly mash with a potato masher until thick and with some texture. Use lasagne sheets OR go the way of the Hairy Biker's diet cookbook and use leeks as the 'pasta sheets' (cut in half lengthways and roll out flat) Make up as a usual lasagne and serve with potato wedges cooked in oven with spray oil & salad, or possibly garlic bread. For pud you could do eton mess with meringues, low fat swirly cream and strawberries/raspberries/blueberries - whatever you can find in the shops at this time of year. Failing that, serve up some low-fat ice-cream if you can find it - I haven't had any luck yet but we do live out in the sticks. HTH! :bigsmile:

[atomic sagebrush]

I made a couple threads with fancy recipes for the holidays last year -

http://genderdreaming.com/forum/gender-swaying-discussion-ttc-boy-girl-home-swaying-info/6455-girl-friendly-thanksgiving-recipes-gender-dreaming.html

http://genderdreaming.com/forum/gender-swaying-discussion-ttc-boy-girl-home-swaying-info/6929-pink-holiday-recipes-more-recipes-added-12-11-a.html

Argh looking at these make me depressed, I never have any time to work on my cookbooks and at this rate they'll never get done. i'll have to make a short version

[Ipadmad]

Thank you so much Dreamofpink, brilliant, thank you.

Thank you also Atomic, I shall look those up.

[Dreamofpink]

No probs! Let us know how it goes and what you decide to make :bigsmile:

[Ipadmad]

Agh, I've suggested squash lasagne to DH (I think it sounds delicious!), but he wasn't keen, the fusspot.
I'm liking the lasagne idea though. Maybe with leeks, courgette and mushrooms in a tomato and white sauce?
I'm going to definitely get my arse into gear and sign up for the dream members section, after 6 weeks, I need some food inspiration generally (I don't use Paypal, so I need to get DH to sort it!).

[Dreamofpink]

Absolutely, veggie lasagne sounds great. I suggested butternut squash simply because I prefer it over mushrooms. I made it for my family and they actually ate a vegetarian meal without keeling over in shock from the lack of meat :giggle: My hubby's from good Northern Irish stock - meat & SPUDs, meat & SPUDS for his meals with the big emphasis on SPUDS!!!
Of course, you could always make a veggie gratin too with philli cheese (whichever flavour you like) or white sauce mixed in, topped with breadcrumbs and cheese - very filling and tasty too. I like this for Sunday lunch, when I have to watch my family tucking into roast beef & yorkshire puds.:rolleyes:

[Dreamofpink]

You've got me thinking now, you could always make a veggie curry and serve with rice and Weightwatcher's Naan bread. They're quite nice, can't tell the difference really. Curry would come in under the limits provided you made it with tomatoes and no onions/garlic - use leeks instead. You can get some good curry powders without salt in them, but in my experience not from any supermarkets. You could swirl some no-fat plain yoghurt on the top too.

[Ipadmad]

I prefer squash too, in fact I love squash, but DH thinks the texture might not be great. He is an avid meat eater too.
I'll look up veggie gratin too - thank you :)

[Ipadmad]

Oh Dream, you sound like you've totally got your head around this diet! I'm so fed up with plain rice or pasta with a big of mushroom / courgette / leek on the side. But I'm not a good enough cook to be that creative. I'm going to get DH to sign up tonight (he's spent weeks of being nagged!) and hopefully there might be some other ideas on there too.

[Dreamofpink]

It does take a while to get your head around it all and I only feel like I've go the knack of it now - 3 months in! Mind, I don't cook like that every night, I tend to rely on Weightwatchers food like pasta sauces and Tikka Masala sauce, Phillidelphia cheese & hummus because the nutritional info is there plain for me and I don't have to think about it. PLEASE don't be eating plain rice and pasta everyday, you'll go mad and be far more likely to cheat. This diet isn't at all torturous but you do have to be prepared to carefully read the label of every food item that you pick up in the shops!
Not sure if it's ideal, but I found a Mexican smokey chipotle chile sauce (Wahaca range) in Morrisons yesterday. I stirred 2 teaspoons into some veggie rice and it was lovely with cheese (low-fat Pilgrims choice) on top. For me this diet's about COUNTING and reading labels! I can't believe that some people go all their adult lives calorie counting, if it wasn't for a bloody good purpose it'd drive me mad!

[Dreamofpink]

Oh Dream, you sound like you've totally got your head around this diet! I'm so fed up with plain rice or pasta with a big of mushroom / courgette / leek on the side. But I'm not a good enough cook to be that creative. I'm going to get DH to sign up tonight (he's spent weeks of being nagged!) and hopefully there might be some other ideas on there too.

I hope he does sign you up soon as the member's diet section is invaluable. I used it a lot in the beginning, but obviously (I'm not complaining AS! :giggle:) there's a lot of American foods that we can't get here, so with some careful label-reading I've slowly built up a 'bank' of foods that I can buy in the UK. I love creating recipes for this diet (usually relevant for the UK with a lot of products) the challenge to make it interesting and varied is a good one - though not in a T-raising way :bigsmile:

[Dreamofpink]

I made a couple threads with fancy recipes for the holidays last year -

http://genderdreaming.com/forum/gender-swaying-discussion-ttc-boy-girl-home-swaying-info/6455-girl-friendly-thanksgiving-recipes-gender-dreaming.html

http://genderdreaming.com/forum/gender-swaying-discussion-ttc-boy-girl-home-swaying-info/6929-pink-holiday-recipes-more-recipes-added-12-11-a.html

Argh looking at these make me depressed, I never have any time to work on my cookbooks and at this rate they'll never get done. i'll have to make a short version

If you ever want a hand, give me a shout. I JUST love cooking and cook books, I'm so sad they're quite often my bedtime books! :rolleyes:

[atomic sagebrush]

That is totally my shortcoming because I should have SOMETHING in the way of recipe books. :/

[Ipadmad]

Thank you dreamofpink. I do need to be a bit more adventurous. I guess it's just sort of easier to stick to plainer foods, but I do need to experiment a bit. Thank you

[Tiggerian]

Aah Atomic.. have I told you recently that I love you!? I think you've just won my favourite person of the year award! :cheer::owl:

[atomic sagebrush]

If you ever want a hand, give me a shout. I JUST love cooking and cook books, I'm so sad they're quite often my bedtime books! :rolleyes:

don't tempt me LOL

[atomic sagebrush]

Thank you dreamofpink. I do need to be a bit more adventurous. I guess it's just sort of easier to stick to plainer foods, but I do need to experiment a bit. Thank you

what my goal is, is to have the LE Diet be more of a lifestyle and less of a torturous thing to struggle thru for 6 weeks before your sway. I'd like for people to be able to go onto an LE Diet with higher cals for months even before TTC and/or to stay on with ease for months while TTC. white rice and craisins is a recipe for cheating - we want something to live on, not suffer through white knuckled while on the verge of disaster every second! :)