Nah – not even a little bit

Hello and welcome to my cookery show…

My flatmate Erin think’s I’m a really good cook. Pretty cool huh? It makes me laugh when she says it. I think in comparison to anyone microwaving their dinner I might be a really good cook. Oh and FYI — I microwaved my sweet potato last night. I have discovered that in the time it takes to empty a bag of salad leaves, chop up a cooked chicken breast, slice a packet of tomatoes in half and scoop out the flesh of a whole avocado I can cook my potato to perfection. How’s that for multitasking?

So after yesterdays confession and heart warming story I got looooooads of messages. Hurrah! My boss hates you all. It is very difficult to ignore the little green messages flashing up on my screen. Fortunately, as we discovered with the dinner prep, I am very good at multitasking. *polishing my solid platinum halo*

One of the messages went like this….

Oh did it now Ms Watkins?! Well consider your wish granted. Gosh I’d make a great genie. Except I’m claustrophobic so I’d need a proper MASSIVE lamp. Sorry – that was a bit random.

Moving on! So, recipes…. Well actually, I hate to break it to you, but generally speaking I don’t use them. The reason being, I generally don’t have all the ingredients I need and when I’m hungry I am eating right bloody now. So instead I tend to go with whatever is in the house. Or I will be talking to Erin during the day and we will think about what we fancy for dinner – “I think I need carbs tonight” or “oh my god I really really want Mexican food”. Then I will think about what we already have in the house and generally speaking, because of the shopping list I dictated in a previous post (SEE! This is why you should sign up to receive these via email – the little liney box at the top right of this screen! Go and chuck your deets in there) I can generally come up with something to satisfy the cravings without making us look like Jabba the Hut doppelgangers. So, a few recipes that I always turn to on a Sunday or midweek.

Sunday Prep

We have already discussed at length the important of this (can be Saturday if you’re feeling really mental and want to push the boat RIGHT out). So I spoke about the Greek salad already and we have looked at “Man Chilli” too…. How about some chicken?! I know, dead boring, BUT a firm staple.

See these packets of spices and herbs loitering in the back of your cupboard? Well these are the key to tasty snacks/meals. This could not be simpler. For a weeks worth of chicken:

• Buy 1kg of chicken (I like the strips of chicken breast 3 for £10 in Waitrose)
• Put frying pan on heat
• Open packets of chicken and selected herbs/spices (italian herb mix/smoked paprika/dried garlic/curry powders e.g. madras etc all work well oh and so do those funny little seasoning packets for fajitas!)
• Tip a good amount of the powder onto the raw chicken and rub it in with your hands – ewwwwww
• Throw seasoned chicken into frying pan – no need for oil but a little teaspoon of coconut oil is sometimes nice
• Cook chicken until 90% cooked and then throw into waiting tupperware box (leave lid off until cooled then refrigerate)

Now then – congratulations – you have the basis for salads, wraps, snacks on it’s own, omelettes, soups, stir fries, curries – WHATEVER. You have the cooked chicken, the world is now your oyster.

Let’s get a bit more technical…

Midweek meals

So many options I don’t even know where to start. I am so inspired/overly enthusiastic that I just dropped half my forkful of lunch on the desk – oh no you don’t Mr cucumber and feta, get back on that fork. So let’s say you have food in the fridge. But dear god – what if you don’t?! Ben at work says he only ever buys his food on the way home. I obviously told him that was dumb but lets go with it for now… My top ten – no wait, ten is too many, top FIVE, recipes that are dead easy and involve little cooking know how or effort.

1. Eggs – in any way shape or form. Poached/scrambled/omelette-ed. For perfect eggs you need to stop overthinking and stressing, it’s DEAD easy:
   1. Poached = simmering pan of water, crack egg into mug, tip gently into water, leave it alone until white is cooked – around 2 minutes normally. Have on top of salad with crispy bacon for low carb mouth happiness
   2. Scrambled = I use a frying pan and NO oil or butter. Crack at least 3 eggs into the frying pan and keep it on a low to medium heat. Stir until the eggs are catching/cooking on the bottom of the pan. Keep stirring until sloppy consistency. Season with salt and pepper. Serve on a slice on lovely seedy bread with smoked salmon and a big salad for a mega fast mega, easy breakfast/lunch/dinner
   3. Omelette = Jack Braniff is the king of omelettes. Go and see his post about it on Instagram (urbanenergie) or Facebook. Basically you want 2-3 eggs and then a good selection of strong flavoured additions. Spring onion, feta cheese, tomato, red onion, chicken, real ham, some smoked fish…. You get the idea. My favourite is this one: – http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/eggs-recipes/mexican-filled-omelette/
2. Chicken/Avocado/Sweet potato – If I have been training this is literally my staple dinner. It tastes unreal and it’s so easy to make a blind rat could make it (no idea where that came from… brain you are being WEIRD today). You can jazz salads up with dressings. Erin loves the tablespoon of low fat plain yoghurt, teaspoon of pesto, big squeeze of lemon juice and salt and pepper. Dead easy and makes the most boring lettuce taste rad (RAD – yes really).
3. Prawns – for my friend Kate who sent me the above message. My response? “Get your frying pan or wok on the heat, add a teaspoon of coconut oil, a crushed garlic clove, a smushed up piece of fresh ginger and some red chilli. Throw in your brocolli (chop it teeny tiny), your spinach, your peppers, your onions, your mushrooms, your pok choy (faaancy), your baby corn, your asparagus – whatever. Cook until wilting. Add a tablespoon of soy sauce and a big squeeze of lime and a tiny squeeze of honey. Throw in your packet of prawns and stir through. Serve with crushed peanuts and some coriander. DEAD easy. You can mix and match with whatever veg you have and OBVIOUSLY use your cooked chicken in place of prawns if you want.
4. Steak with poached egg and salad. This is a bit of a treat to be honest. The poached egg yolk makes a banging sauce though! Cook your steak (I did a blog about this previously). THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF COOKING STEAK IS LETTING IT REST. Rest the steak for half the amount of time you cooked it. If you are having carbs then it’s great with roasted buttnernut squash. I leave the skin on my squash. Chop it up and put it in a roasting tray with a whole clove of garlic chopped in half straight through the middle. Little drizzle of oil, sea salt, dried chilli flakes and 190 degrees for 30 minutes. Yummy and way lower in carbs and calories than potatoes.
5. Curry/Laksa. Another one the girls love. Especially Thai curries. Really really not scary and dead easy. Go to the shops and buy a red or green thai curry paste (PASTE not sauce). I can teach you how to make it from scratch but we ain’t got time for the shit right now. Put your frying pan or wok on the hob and get it smoking hot. Put in most of the paste if you want this to provide leftovers. Dry fry the paste until you are choking on the spicy fumes. Add a can of light coconut milk. Fill the empty can with water and throw that in. If you want to make curry with rice then reduce (make less liquid in the pan) the sauce by letting it bubble away. If you want laksa (broth style soupy concoction) then now get all your veg. Loads of it. Throw that in. If you are having carbs then rice noodles are awesome. Throw them in a bowl and cover with boiling water and leave them alone till soft. For curry just add your chicken or fish or prawns at the end. For laksa put the noodles in the soupy sauce and serve in giant bowls with chopsticks (I do not steal them from Itsu – ever) and spoons. Yummy! If you want to up your flavour game then you can get some fish sauce or soy sauce in there. Be conservative though as this stuff is saaaaaalty.

Ok – this is getting waaaaaaaay too long but hopefully it has given you some ideas to break out of your normal routine?

If you want me to help with ideas or anything to do with cooking then shoot me a message. I ain’t no Delia but I can throw some stuff in a pan and generally make it taste better than plain boiled carrots.

Muchos cooking lovos, C xx

P.S. We may have to discuss food and stress and training. I woke myself up last night shouting “WAIT!” at 1:34am. I was dreaming that I was trying to get ready for a party and someone kept trying to open the bathroom door. I tell you… a few days of stress at work and I can’t even sleep…  #pathetic

P.P.S. If you want to get real fancy and have a good old carb session (post mega workout only #obvs) then come to my house and me and Maggie will show you how to make THIS… #skillzzzzzzzzzzz