The Hairy Dieters Review and a £40 Groupon Voucher Giveaway

Now, being the food obsessive that I am, I don’t suppose it’s much of a surprise that I spend some of my life trying to get myself slimmer after too much cake or chocolate! On a personal level I’ve been thin and didn’t really get any thrill getting into small clothes, so I chose food over being thin. Time moves on though, and like the hairies, I am of an age where if I want to live a good life for many years to come, I’m going to have to rethink and change how I eat, at least some of the time. I really do need to take the little of what you fancy does you good more literally.

The book I’m posting about here is The Hairy Dieters by Si King and Dave Myers 2012 Weidenfeld &Nicolson. The boys have cast aside their erstwhile big appetites to pursue 3 months of eating with the purpose of shifting a bit of weight and in turn tipping the health scales back into their favour. There was a TV series in the UK that accompanied the boys as they tried (and succeeded) to lose some weight. I thought it was well done, it wasn’t always easy, but they kept at it.

So, what do people who love food eat when counting their calories? Answer: the same kind of food they eat normally but with some tweaks to make them more in line with their calorie counts for the day. The recipe chapters are: Breakfast & Brunch, One-Pan Dishes, Grills & Roasts, Pies, Stews, Vegetables & Salads, Fakeaways, Pasta & Rice, Puddings & Cakes and Lunch Boxes & Snacks. There are a good number of pictures and they do make me want to cook them up (something that I’ve not always found in this kind of cookbook in the past). The layout is good, recipes are easy to follow, and the calorie count is given for each recipe per portion.

Many of the dishes have a comforting feel which I love, because if I’m eating less I want comforted more, I’m assuming that isn’t peculiar to me! Some are light and salad-y, and there are a number of fab sounding, gorgeous looking curries. Some of the dishes I have marked to try are: Salmon with chilli Ginger Sauce, Peppered Steak with Mushrooms, Lemon and Thyme Roast Chicken, Cajun Spiced Chicken with Potato Wedges and Chive Dip, Lean Lamb Hotpot, Lamb Tagine, Chilli Salad Bowl, Chilli Con Carne, Summer Fruit Meringues and Chewy Cranberry and Apricot Bites.

If you are looking for some recipe inspiration to reduce your calories a bit it’s a good book to add to your collection.

Chicken and Mushroom Risotto

We made the portions a bit bigger, so it served 3 instead of 4, but still came in at under 500 calories. Wasn’t as great as a full fat risotto, but it was good as a lower cal supper.

Chicken Paprika

A very nice balance of flavours, and a really lovely supper.

Gammon and Parsley Sauce

This one I didn’t like at all. The sauce was just too lacking to be ok. I’d rather have a pineapple ring!

Thai Chicken Curry

This didn’t taste diet at all. I’d halve the Thai spice paste next time, it was very spicy indeed.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Loved this one, worth making even if you were not counting your calories!

Giveaway!

Now to the giveaway (which is totally unrelated to the above book)! I was asked if I would like to either spend some vouchers and review what I’d experienced or host a giveaway of a voucher for Groupon. I chose the second. So I have one £40 voucher from Groupon to giveaway to a reader who leaves a comment saying you would like to be entered on this post before the 5th September 2012 at 12 noon. The winner will be chosen at random, and I will post who the lucky winner is the following day. With thanks to Groupon for the voucher. NOTE THIS IS NOW CLOSED!

The winner is the first commenter Miss C Flash, congratulations and hope you have fun with your voucher. Please get in touch with me and I'll get the voucher code to you :)

Next Up: Lorriane Pascale’s Fast, Fresh and Easy Food

And the Winner of Eat Me Is

Smartie Cookies, after baking

The winner of Eat Me! The Stupendous, Self-Rising World of Cupcakes and Bakes According to Cookie Girl by Xanthe Milton is Carla of Four Foodies. I’ll be in touch about sending it to you! Well done Carla, and thank you to everyone who entered.
Here is a couple more recipes I’ve made from this excellent book:

Snowdrift Shortbread
I take on Millionaires shortbread, just with white chocolate and coconut on top, very good, best on day made we thought.

Before baking
Smartie Cookies
I’ve tried a few Smartie cookies in the past, and this one is the clear winner. I suspect it’s the chopped white chocolate that is enclosed into the balls of uncooked cookie dough before being studded with the colourful smarties. I made this for my little one and a friend who came to play on Friday. The friend said she had tried (bought) smartie cookies before, and refused a taste! Isn’t it always the way? Best laid intentions and all that. Cookie Girl says these are just as loved by adults as children, and it’s true; the little friend must have been the exception to the rule - everyone else has loved them and my batch has all but disappeared!
Think I’ll do Easter cupcakes and Easter cookies next. Mmmm.

Eat Me Review and Cookbook Giveaway

I can hardly believe that it is the Third Anniversary of my blog. Time flies and all that… and of course my interest in food, cooking and cookbooks is as vibrant as it ever was.
To celebrate the Third Anniversary of Cooking the Books I’m giving away a new copy of a cookbook which I bought for myself months ago on pre-order and which arrived last week.
It’s by Xanthe Milton - Eat Me! The Stupendous, Self-Rising World of Cupcakes and Bakes According to Cookie Girl. How is that for a title? A fabulous book on baking cupcakes and cookies. I really like it, it’s just my kind of book- girl-y, a little whimsical and a whole lot tempting. Not to mention indulgent, and I love to indulge my family and friends with little sweet things, especially when it’s things that will give a lift to one’s heart and soul. There is something about baking for someone else, or having them bake for you that is special far beyond the sum of the time and ingredients involved. I want to make half the book, right now, this very minute!
Xanthe took a sabbatical from acting and started baking and delivering bakes to offices, this led to a stall at Portobello Market, cupcakes being sold by Selfridges amongst others and she also writes Cookie Girl columns for The Grove magazine regularly, her website is here. She has an obvious real love for cake, cookies and baking. With chapters including recipes for cupcakes and cookies charting the four seasons plus a party chapter too. A taster of some of the delicious recipes are: Easter Egg Cupcakes, Lemon Finger Cookies, Bounty Cupcakes, Blueberry Clouds, Orange Polenta Cookies, Snowdrift Shortbread, Jack Daniel’s Cupcakes, White Christmas Cupcakes and Banoffee Cupcakes.

White Chocolate and Raspberry Cupcakes

The picture above is of the one I’ve baked first, and I had a very hard time pinpointing the first one I can tell you; but pinpoint it I did and white chocolate and raspberry cupcakes were soon baking in my kitchen. Vanilla sponge with fresh raspberries, filled with white chocolate ganache and topped with a fresh raspberry buttercream icing. They are lovely, the ganache really works so well and takes a raspberry cupcake to another level.
To enter the competition please leave a comment saying you’d like to enter. It is open until 12.00 p.m. on the 20th of March 2010. The winner’s name will be drawn from a hat and I’ll post the winner on the 21st of March 2010. Good luck!

And The Winner Is

The winner of the double cookbook giveaway from Hachette for How To Roast a Lamb: New Greek Classic Cooking by Michael Psilakis and Chocolate: A Love Story: 65 Chocolate Dessert Recipes from Max Brenner's Private Collection by Max Brenner is Joyful of New Horizon Reviews.

Well done to you Joyful, I’ll email you for your details. Thank you to everyone who entered.
Many thanks to the lovely people at Hachette for donating the books for the giveaway.

Cookbook Giveaway!!!

The kind people at Hachette publishers contacted me about doing a competition to win one set of two of their newly released cookbooks. They are How To Roast a Lamb: New Greek Classic Cooking by Michael Psilakis and Chocolate: A Love Story: 65 Chocolate Dessert Recipes from Max Brenner's Private Collection by Max Brenner. They both look like great books. Click on the titles to read more.

If you would like to enter into the draw to win the set of two books please just leave a comment to this post saying why you’d like to win them. This giveaway is open to readers in the US and Canada only as per the publishers request, apologies to my other readers. Entries to be in by midday on 24th November 2009. The draw will take place out of a hat on 25th November, and I will post to say who the lucky winner is. Good Luck!!