December Cooking Challenge Update

So, how did we go this week? Well ... I kind of met the challenge! I said that last week too didn't I, but it's for different reasons this week!

Sunday night - I had Steak and pasta and vegies. Actually this was leftovers from Friday night. My son had noodles.

Monday night - Hungry Jacks - Uh-oh, it looks like a pattern forming! I had this last Monday night as well.

Tuesday night - Chicken marinaded in Red Wine and Garlic sauce, served with rice and vegies

Wednesday night - Veal schnitzel, chips and vegies

Thursday night - nothing. This is where I am saying I am not sure if I met the challenge, because for me the challenge is as much about not buying take away every night of the week as it is about finding new recipes! I didn't have anything because I was still full from our work Christmas lunch.

Friday night - McDonalds. We weren't eating until late because my son had his first school disco.

Saturday night - Chicken curry noodles.




The chicken curry noodles is a recipe that I cooked two or three times about 5 or 6 years ago, and I thought I would pull out the recipe and make again. Wouldn't you know it, I couldn't find the darn book, so I ended up just improvising but it tasted really good so I might make it again! I was a bit worried that it would be a little dry but as long as the chicken isn't overcooked it was fine!



I cut 500g of boneless chicken into strips, and marinaded it for an hour or so in 2 tablespoons of green curry paste (like you would use in Thai cooking).

Stir fry the chicken, and then add some snow peas.

Prepare a packet of fresh Hokkien Noodles as per the instructions and then toss with the chicken and snow peas and serve!


Simple but yummy, and I am thinking relatively healthy but you might not want to quote me on that!

December cooking challenge update

Saturday night - pork steaks with tangy tomato couscous and salad

Sunday night - wedding

Monday night - Hungry Jacks...whoops (our equivalent of Burger King)

Tuesday night - chicken in red wine and garlic marinade and salad.

Wednesday night - Red rooster (Roasted chicken and chips) - went swimming and was home far too late to cook

Thursday night - lamb chops with ratatouille, chips and vegies

Friday night - steak, packet pasta and vegies

Saturday night - out for dinner


So, my aim was to cook 5 nights a week, and I almost achieved that this week. I didn't exactly try a new recipe, but I hadn't had the tangy tomato couscous or pasta from Friday night before so I did try some new packet accompaniments!

I did spend some time this afternoon looking through a recipe magazine and there were a few things that caught my attention! I have to admit that looking through recipe magazines, and cook books is one of my great pleasures. Often times all I do is buy them and look through them and never cook anything out of them, but that's okay.

Holly's December cooking challenge...with a twist!

The ever fabulous Holly has announced that she is doing a December cooking challenge where she is aiming to cook 5 new things every week for the month of December, and she has asked her fellow bloggers if anyone wants to join her. Now, I have to say that five new things a week is a bit much for me, but as long as I can modify the challenge a little, then I am going to participate!

So, what are my rules going to be? Well, I am going to challenge myself to say that I need to cook at least five nights of the week, and that I will try one new recipe. That may not sound much for most people, but for the last few weeks my son and I have been living on take-away. Tonight is the first night I have cooked a meal (that wasn't a chuck in the microwave frozen meal) in nearly two weeks. Shocking I know! The main reason for that is that I have been completely disorganised, but also by the time I have commuted for 3 hours total in the day, as well as done a full day of work I am exhausted by the time I get home and just thinking about what to cook is just a step too far. I know that it isn't exactly a great state of affairs, and probably explains why I am the size I am, and keep on gaining more weight, but I really want to do something about that as well. One thing that I am doing is to try and ween myself off of normal Coke and onto Coke Zero if I have to have Coke, or otherwise water. I know a lot of people think they taste the same but to me they taste completely different. It would be a start at least.

You can probably also expect at least one cookbook post. A few weeks ago I was thinking about doing some, and then it just never happened.

I did have one pleasant surprise today. I hate clothes shopping at the best of times, but I am going to a wedding tomorrow and so I needed to get something to wear. I went to a shop and the lady was really good. She bought me top after top that I would never have chosen to try on and they all looked really, really good. Instead of it being the usual....that will do...I actually had to choose between four tops. Unheard of! Of course, if I lost some weight then it would be much easier every time I went to the shops.