I've lost a suitcase!

It's school holidays, we're in Dubai with the kids, and I just had to share a serious AHA moment. I jumped on the scales with the suitcase we'd packed for Dubai to check it's weight - you know the drill, weigh the suitcase and you, then just you and work out the difference....well the AHA moment came when me and the suitcase weighed about the same as I did 18 months ago - I HAVE LOST THE SUITCASE! how awesome is that?! I picked it up several times and can't even imagine carrying that horrible heavy thing around with me all the time. Thank you to my fabulous fat fighters (a bunch of lovely ladies I met two years ago with a mission to lose weight), I couldn't have done it without you (and that bloody treadmill). For those that haven't seen me in a while, here's the before headshot

and my current one

I've also discovered through Nicole from Art of Abundant Living (check her website out, http://www.artofabundantliving.com/ - she's fab!) that it's not all about counting calories or fat grams - it's about the quality and nutritional benefits that food delivers, so I'm going organic, where I can with ingredients in Doha, and eating lots of wholegrains, nuts and pulses - the kids aren't impressed, but small steps with them.

I know, I know - enough of the tree hugging hippy stuff, I'll be eating mungbeans next and smelling up the house with patchouli oil. So here's a couple of fabulous healthy, low fat recipes. The first is steamed chicken dumplings, I freeze these and then reheat in a steamer for a few minutes for a quick appetiser for dinner. The second is an easy recipe for tabouleh - it's quick to make and keeps for a few days in the fridge, so I mix it with all sorts of chopped vegetables, olives, chickpeas and cooked pasta for a delicious salad at lunchtime.

Happy Cooking

Gill

Chicken Dumplings

• 1 packet of gyoza wrappers
• 250 grams minced chicken or prawns (or pork if you've got it, you lucky thing)
• 2 cm piece of ginger grated
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1 tablespoon cornflour
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 green onions, chopped finely
• 1/4 cup cabbage, chopped finely
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

Method

1. Mix all of the ingredients except gyoza wrappers together
2. Place a teaspoon of the mixture onto a gyoza wrapper.
3. Dip your finger in water and wet the edges of the gyoza wrapper
4. Fold in half (so it looks like a semi circle) and bring the edges all of the edges together and give the top a little twist
5. Place on baking paper in a bamboo steamer and steam for 6 -7 minutes until cooked

6. Make a dipping sauce with 100mls soy sauce, 50 mls malt vinegar, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 chile deseeded and chopped and one clove of garlic minced

Tabouleh

• 3/4 cup fine grain bulgar wheat
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped
• 1 medium onion, finely mince
• 2 big bunches parsley
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

Method

1. Soak the bulgar in a large bowl of warm water for about an hour
2. Deseed and peel the tomatoes and chop finely
3. Drain the bulgar into a colander lined with a clean teatowel, squeeze as much water out of it as you can.
4. Drain any water from the tomatoes

1. Mix all of the ingredients together, add more lemon juice and/or olive oil if needed