meal planning

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Quinoa and Black bean Patties; Meal Plan Your Way to Weight Loss – Rebecca Burnicle and Wendy Van Staden

Meal-Plan Your Way to Weight Loss by Rebecca Burnicle and Wendy Van Staden, published by Macmillan Australia, RRP $39.99, photography by Jeremy Simons

“Packed with flavour and seriously satisfying, add these tasty, fibre-filled patties to your weekly rotation if you’re keen to include some meat-free meals.”p144

Makes 4 / Prep 10 minutes / Cook 15 minutes

Ingredients:
¼ cup (45 g) quinoa
400 g can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 egg, lightly beaten
½ cup (35 g) dried breadcrumbs ( I use Gluten Free)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1–4 Personal Points range per patty
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Method:
1 Combine quinoa and ½ cup (125 ml) water in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for about
15 minutes or until water has been absorbed.

2 Meanwhile, mash beans in a bowl with a fork. Add cooked quinoa and remaining ingredients. Mix until well combined. Divide mixture into 4 even portions. Shape into patties.

3 Lightly spray a large non-stick frying pan with oil (or line with a WW non-stick liner) and heat over medium heat. Cook patties for about 3 minutes each side or until evenly browned.

· TO REFRIGERATE: Prepare patties up to 2 days ahead. Store in
a reusable container and cook as required. Cooked patties will keep
in a reusable container for up to 5 days.
· TO FREEZE: Store cooked patties as above, with baking paper between each patty.



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Choc Nut Energy Bliss Bites; Meal Plan Your Way to Weight Loss – Rebecca Burnicle and Wendy Van Staden

Meal-Plan Your Way to Weight Loss by Rebecca Burnicle and Wendy Van Staden, published by Macmillan Australia, RRP $39.99, photography by Jeremy Simons

Ingredients, Serves 32 / Prep 15 minutes + soaking

½ cup (80 g) almonds
½ cup (50 g) walnuts
½ cup (75 g) unsalted cashews
¼ cup (25 g) cocoa powder
1 cup (230 g) medjool dates, pitted and chopped

1–2 Personal Points range per serve
I love the idea of bliss balls, but it’s the thought of rolling the mixture that I just can’t be bothered with. Instead, I make up the mixture and pop it into a tray to set, then simply cut it into bite-sized pieces. All the deliciousness of a bliss ball, without the fuss of rolling – winning! p172




1 Place nuts in a bowl and cover with cold water. Soak overnight. Drain.

2 Lightly spray a 16 cm x 26 cm slice tin with oil and line base
and sides with baking paper.

3 Transfer drained nuts to a food processor. Add cocoa and dates and process until well combined (add a little water if necessary to help the mixture come together). Spread mixture evenly into prepared tin. Cover and place in freezer for at least 2 hours, until firm.

4 Lift slice from tin using baking paper. Stand for about 10 minutes to soften slightly, then cut into 32 pieces. Transfer pieces to a reusable container and store in freezer. Thaw pieces for a few minutes to soften slightly before eating. ·

TO FREEZE: Store bliss bites in a reusable container for up to 4 months. Thaw at room temperature for 5 minutes before serving.


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Slow Cooker Red Lentil and Sweet Potato Curry; Meal Plan Your Way to Weight Loss – Rebecca Burnicle and Wendy Van Staden

Meal-Plan Your Way to Weight Loss by Rebecca Burnicle and Wendy Van Staden, published by Macmillan Australia, RRP $39.99, photography by Jeremy Simons.

“Meal-prepping is so easy when you put your slow cooker to work. This recipe
makes 8 portions, so stocking your freezer with ‘I can’t be bothered’ dinners
is a breeze. All it takes is 15 minutes of prep in the morning.
Serves 8 / Prep 15 minutes / Cook 3 hours 45 minutes – 7 hours 30 minutes” p154

Slow Cooker Red Lentil and Sweet Potato Curry

2 brown onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon vegetable stock powder ( I use a gluten free stock)
50 g coconut milk powder
2 cups (400 g) dried red lentils
250 g cauliflower, cut into 2 cm pieces
250 g orange sweet potato (kumara), cut into 2 cm pieces
1 zucchini, cut into 2 cm pieces
400 g can diced tomatoes
400 g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
150 g baby spinach leaves
1 cup fresh coriander sprigs
2–6 PersonalPoints range per serve


1 Place all ingredients, except for chickpeas, spinach and coriander sprigs in a 5.5 litre (22 cup) slow cooker. Add 1 litre (4 cups) water and stir to combine. Cook on high for 3.5 hours (or low for 7 hours).


2 Stir in chickpeas and spinach. Season with salt and pepper. Cook on high for a further 15 minutes (or low for 30 minutes). Top with coriander sprigs to serve.

Stove-top method:
1 Heat a large non-stick saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion, garlic and ginger, stirring, for 2–3 minutes, until softened slightly. Add spices and stock powder and cook,
stirring, for a further 1 minute.


2 Stir in coconut milk powder, lentils, cauliflower, sweet potato, zucchini and tomatoes. Add enough water to cover vegetables. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30–40 minutes, until vegetables and lentils are tender, stirring occasionally and adding extra water if mixture starts to catch
on base of pan.


3 Stir in chickpeas and spinach. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer for a further 5 minutes. Top with coriander sprigs.


· TO REFRIGERATE: Transfer curry to a large reusable container or divide individual portions into separate reusable containers. Store for up to 5 days. To reheat, simmer gently in a saucepan or microwave single
servings until hot, stirring in a little water if curry is too thick.


· TO FREEZE: Store curry as above. Thaw overnight in the fridge. Reheat
as above.

**This is one of my favourite vegetarian curries though I hadn’t thought of adding cauliflower – what a great idea. I will make this to take with me on my next visit to my vegetarian daughter.**

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Weight Watchers : Prep For Success : Meal Plan For Weight Loss.

Meal-Plan Your Way to Weight Loss by Rebecca Burnicle and Wendy Van Staden, published by Macmillan Australia, RRP $39.99, photography by Jeremy Simons.

My View:

Some great advice that I intend to start following. Once I did meal plan, it made shopping, cooking and my day easier. It’s time to focus on things that work to make our busy lives easier. I will share some quick and easy recipes from this book in the next few days.

“There are ways to get even more bang for your meal-planning buck, including this handful of ideas:
Make the effort to choose recipes and meals that include some of the same ingredients or components, so you can prep and cook once to enjoy several different meals across the week. This could be cooked lentils, roast vegetables or poached chicken breast.

You can use the ‘ingredient’ index at the back of this cookbook to easily find recipes that have foods in common.


Create a plan that’s a little bit flexible. Depending on your preferences (and your personality!), being
able to switch and swap a few meals across the week, to cater to what you genuinely feel like
eating on any given day rather than being too rigid about what you have to eat, when, can help
you stick with the plan.


Choose recipes that you want and like to eat. Sure, kale, fish and chickpeas are good for you,
but if you genuinely don’t like the taste of those ingredients, it’s best not to choose recipes for
your meal plan that rely too heavily on them. Incorporate recipes that feature your ZeroPoint
foods if you’re a WW member. You chose them for a reason – because you like them! So when you
do this, you not only tick the box outlined above, you’ll be making the most of your Personal Points
Budget, too.


Make sure at least one or two (or three!) of the recipes in your meal plan are quick-fire ones so
that when your day is busier than expected, you can still create something healthy and delicious,
regardless of how much prep you have or haven’t been able to do beforehand. Check out the prep
and cooking times included on every recipe in this book to guide you.


HOW TO PREP FOR SUCCESS
Once you’ve planned your meals, the next step is prepping ahead of time to make it as easy as
possible to cook those meals. Depending on the ingredients and what suits you best, you can
either set aside a specific time to do this prep or simply incorporate it into the cooking process for a
particular recipe. Either way, once you start thinking about it, your prepping options are endless, but for
some inspiration, you could:

Chop up ingredients ahead of time. Again, you can either set aside a time to do this or whenever
you’re preparing meat, plant-based proteins or veggies for one meal, simply chop and divide
up more so that you have them ready to go, for another meal.

Totally stretched for time? When it comes to vegetables, the frozen variety are great to have on hand. They’re nutritious, pre-chopped and you can cook them straight from frozen.


Cook up double – or triple – batches of those ingredients that the recipes you’ve chosen have in common. Depending on how many days it’ll be until you’ll use them again, you can either store
them in the fridge or pop them in the freezer (turn over the page for freezing tips). After cooking,
‘leftover’ ingredients last for two or three days in the fridge.

Make sure your fridge, freezer and pantry is well organised. The way it’s structured only has to
make sense to you, but being able to put your hands on the ingredients you need quickly is vital
to making the meal-prep and cooking process as easy and enjoyable as possible.” p.15