Michelle Bridges

Note : reviewing over time as I try out the recipes.

I picked up The No Excuse Cookbook because, in addition to the recipes which have calorie counts and are quick to prepare and make, there is a 4 week menu plan. This attracted me, because I don't have to work out balanced meals or count calories. There are also shopping lists for each week, but as they don't have the amounts, I'm doing my own. There are a lot of vegetables; the vegetable drawer in the fridge has overflowed!

Recipes:
Week 1:
Pepper Kangaroo stir fry (Monday dinner) There was quite a bit of it, but it did fill me up though there are no carbs in the dinner recipes,

Turkey and Cranberry sandwich (Tuesday lunch). Tasty.

Char-grilled Tuna Steak with Citrus salad (Tuesday dinner). Again, quantity is large, but it's filling so you don't miss the carbs.

Potato and egg salad with green beans and celery (Thursday lunch) -a low calorie version of salade niçoise. It's a very tasty meal but ,again, the quantity was rather more than I needed.

Pumpkin, onion and cinnamon pot pies (Thursday dinner / Friday lunch). It took me longer than the stated 15 minutes to prepare it (I couldn't skin and slice the pumpkin in that time safely, let alone the rest of it), but there isn't much more work than that. It's tasty, but not exciting. The feta and pine nuts (I love pine nuts) liven it up, but there isn't much of them. Recipe serves 2, but it made enough for 4 portions for me.

Steak with mixed vegetables (Friday dinner). Very nice, although I set off the smoke alarm. The mixed veg came to quite a bit. I must say, the cooking and the preparation were quite easy, but there was a lot of washing up (what can I say; it's an issue for me)

Week 2:
Egg tarragon sandwich (Monday lunch) There is a delicious-looking photo in the book, and I was quite looking forward to it. Unfortunately, I couldn't get tarragon, so I substituted chives, and omitted the optional chilli. My egg mix came out more liquid than I was expecting and tasted a bit bland. Perhaps the tarragon and chilli would have made a difference. Not bad, overall.

Comments:
In general, the quantities are a bit more than I would normally serve myself; I'd be happy with 2/3 the amount.

One thing I did notice, once I started using the book, is that most of the recipes (not the ones scheduled for weekends) serve 2 people, where most books cater for 4 people. But you have to be able to buy the ingredients in small portions, which is proving a bit of a hiccough.

Another problem I'm running up against is finding some of the ingredients. I found kangaroo quite easily, but I happened to be shopping in a different area; I'm not sure if I could get it at the local supermarket (HIlls district). And tuna steak is hard to find. Even the fishmonger doesn't carry it, though my sister, who lives closer to the CBD says her supermarket has it.

Maybe it's seasonal, or maybe it's because I'm out in the 'burbs, but I'm having trouble finding some of the ingredients. That means I have to substitute; but one of the reasons I bought this book was because everything, including daily calorie count, is all planned out for me, so it rather counteracts the benefits.

I'm beginning to think that the photos do not necessarily faithfully represent the recipes. (My potato & egg salad had rather more celery than the photo, in spite of the fact that - not being overfond of the stuff- I cut back on it and my egg sandwich mix was a bit more liquid than the accompanying photo.)… (más)