Cheesy Sweet Potato Rosti!

Thursday nights I tend to cook something quick. This is because I want to finish eating as early as possible, so that I can break my fast as early as possible the next day!

Every week I fast from around 7.30/8pm on Thursday, to around the same time the next day. Most people who use intermittent fasting do a daily 16 hour fast with a 8 hour eating window, but I find that a weekly 24 hour fast suits my lifestyle a lot better.

Last night I got back from the gym at 7pm, giving me about 20 minutes to rustle something up. I had leftover roast chicken breast from Sunday's roast, so this helped me speed-wise.

This meal is very quick, very healthy, and really tasty. Here is the "recipe" - I put this in inverted commas because it's all kind of thrown together really.

Ingredients
Sweet potato
Cheddar cheese
Kerrygold Butter
Cabbage
Sprouts
Broccoli
Chicken breast (with skin on)

Explaining the food choices
Sweet potato is there for the carbs - I do need some when getting back from the gym

Cheese is there for fat, I'm about to embark on a fast (which at time of writing I am over halfway through) so will help me get through that. Plus it's yummy!

KerryGold Butter -  You may be forgiven for thinking they paid me to include their name, this is not true. Butter is the king of fats in my book, and as KerryGold butter is from grass-fed cows, it's a real superfood. I am a huge advocate for it.

Cabbage, sprouts, broccoli - Veg is a big part of my diet, it just makes me feel good as well as providing essential nutrients.

Chicken breast - Protein of course, for every fitness freak this is one of the most important macro-nutrients. It's recommended that you ingest 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight, so for me that's around 180 grams of protein each day. This means I eat a lot of meat, eggs and supplement the rest with protein shakes.

Method
Put some water in a large saucepan and heat on the hob.
While this is heating up, prepare the green veg as you would like it.
Grate half a sweet potato, and pat down excess moisture with a kitchen towel
Grate some cheddar cheese. How much is up to you, it depends how cheesy you want your rosti!
Mix the cheddar in with your grated sweet potato.

By the time the above is done, your water should be boiling. Throw your green veg into a steamer, or cullinder if you don't have one, and pop the lid over the top.

Now for the fun bit - Add a knob of KerryGold Butter to a frying pan, once it melts and before it goes brown, add your grated potato and cheese mix.

Use a spatula to keep the potato moving, and press down on it so it gets all of the heat. You can flip this a few times to make sure it's evenly cooked and crispy on the outside.

You may want to leave it on the heat for a bit, so while this is cooking I grab my chicken breast out of the fridge and serve it on a plate. The skin is left on for flavour, and to add some fat to the meal.

Once your rosti is ready, your veg should be too - depending on how crunchy you like it.

Serve all on a plate and voila, here is the end result:

 

 

Tonight's post will be on breaking the fast! It's one of my favourite meals of the week because I plan it all day and it feels like I have earned it. Stay tuned.

Meatzza

A pizza night has been arranged between friends, and I have been dreading the thought of the carby, unhealthy dough that is a pizza base.

No one can doubt that the base is the essence of the pizza, and is irresistably tasty. However, after doing some reading on low carb options for pizza, I stumbled across my saviour!

I was browsing the MyProtein forum when I came across this thread - Meat feast pizza.

The fantastic thing about this is you can use whatever you like, and it's all based around minced meat - arguably my favourite protein source!

I'm going to use beef mince blended with 1 or maybe 2 eggs for the base. This mixture will then be spread into a baking dish and mashed down. I will then put this in the oven for 10-15 minutes until it starts to brown.

Meanwhile, I will fry off my toppings (yet to be decided) and simmer 1 can of chopped tomatoes.

When the base is ready I will spread some tomato puree onto it, followed by a large helping of cheese, my fried off topping, chopped tomatoes and then for good measure, some more cheese.

This will then go back in the oven for the cheese to melt and brown.

If I'm feeling fruity, I may even record a video to show the whole process! I can however guarantee there will be a few pictures to put up on here and on the MyProtein forum.

Thanks for reading!

Tom

Mini Chicken Roast

Tonight I made a mini roast using chicken thighs. I peeled potatoes and chopped them to sautée size and par boiled them ready to roast with the chicken. I let it roast until the potatoes became crispy, and steamed some vegetables.
I then made up some gravy in the tin I used to roast the chicken and potatoes, and served it up on a plate. Delicious.

Lasagne

Prepared last night, here is the finished article. I thought I would eat half of it so that you can see the layers, rather than just a topping of cheese.

Meals galore!

Tonight I made 3 meals at once. Penne bolognese, lasagne, and a griddled steak on a bed of stir fried cabbage and smoked bacon lard ons.

You can see the steps I made making the bolognese, and images of the finished lasagne (which I will bake off tomorrow night) and the steak which I made for my girlfriend.

Sautéed Potatoes with Leftover Roast Pork

This is something I knocked up quickly for lunch using Sunday's pork. I sautéed the potatoes by boiling them for 2 minutes and then frying them off in a pan with olive oil and pork crackling. I added some steamed vegetables to complete the dish.

Introduction

Hello!

This is my new blog, where I'll be sharing photos, videos, and recipes of the meals I make at home. Please feel free to comment on any posts if you have any questions, or whether you would do anything differently in your kitchen.