Chilli Pistachio Chicken

For Sam



Chilli Pistachio Chicken
Makes 5 serves

Ingredients
spray oil
500g minced chicken
1/4 cup lime juice
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 teaspoons chilli sauce
6 spring onions, chopped
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander
125g pistachio nuts (you can adjust this to suit your macros)

Method
Heat spray oil in wok or pan, add mince, cook, stirring, until mince is changed in colour. Remove wok from heat, add juice and sauces; cool.

Combine mince mixture, spring onions, ginger and coriander; mix well.

Divide into five servings (these can be frozen at this stage and defrosted as needed). When you are ready to eat, fill bowl with salad*, top with one serve of mince mixture and sprinkle with 25g pistachios.

*My salad contained iceberg lettuce, spinach, bean sprouts, tomato, cucumber, celery, red pepper, red onion and carrot.

Recipe adapted from The Minced Meat Cookbook, 1997 reprint, produced by the Australian Women's Weekly Home Library

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Yesterday I picked some ripe figs off a tree near our house. I really enjoyed having a couple of these in my muesli this morning.

Today's food
M1a: protein shake
walk with Rob and TJ
M1b: eggs, muesli (with figs!)

M2: chicken, green beans, flax oil salsa
M3: chilli pistachio chicken, salad
M4: kangaroo patty, sweet potato, cauli
train, day 1 (workout drinks)
M5: prawn salad, sweet potato

I will lose 10kg by 31 December

Today's food in pictures

Meal 1a
protein shake


walk with Rob and TJ

Meal 1b
muesli


curried eggs


Meal 2
chicken, green beans, flax oil salsa


Meal 3
chilli pistachio chicken, salad


Meal 4
kangaroo patty, sweet potato, mashed cauliflower
(started eating the sweet potato before I remembered to take a photo!)


Meal 5
dory, sweet potato, salad


I will lose 10kg by 31 December

I QUIT!

Walking TJ on my own that is. He's too big and strong for me to handle (hence the reason I think I hurt my back a couple of weeks ago), and I no longer want to get into situations like this morning (he got into a fight with a doberman and I had to pull them apart). I've walked him since he was a puppy, mostly because I get up earlier, and I've often worked the walking into my comp prep. But no more! Rob is going to have to get up earlier and walk him. I will come along for a walk, but I will not be the one holding the lead.

Today's food
M1: protein shake, muesli, eggs
walk TJ
M2: chicken breast, green beans, flax oil salsa
M3: chilli pistachio chicken, salad
M4: kangaroo patty, sweet potato, cauliflower
train, day 2 (workout drinks)
M5: dory, sweet potato, salad

I will lose 10kg by 31 December

Sunday

Today's food
M1a: protein shake
walk TJ
M1b: muesli, eggs
M2: chicken, green beans, flax oil salsa
M3: chilli pistachio chicken, salad
M4: kangaroo patty, sweet potato, cauliflower
M5: turkey mince, sweet potato, salad

I will lose 10kg by 31 December

Shopping Day

This morning I did the rest of our grocery shopping, plus went to the butcher and fishmonger.

When I got home I continued our food prep for the next seven days (I cook for both Rob and I).
- I made up some flax oil salsa to toss with chicken and beans for morning teas
- I cooked 2kg chicken mince with some lime juice, fish sauce, chilli sauce, spring onions, ginger and coriander, allowed it to cool, then portioned it into sandwich bags. I put half in the fridge and half in the freezer. These will be used for lunches, tossed with salad and pistachio nuts.
- I'd normally make some kangaroo patties for afternoon teas, but I made up and froze a whole lot last weekend so that's already covered.

Tonight we had a nice night at a friend's place for a birthday barbecue. One of our friends made a great-looking birthday cake (and his cakes usually taste pretty good), so I decided to have that for my treat, since I hadn't really settled on what to have for a treat meal this weekend.

Today's food
M1: protein shake, muesli, eggs
M2: chicken, green beans, flax oil dressing
M3: chilli pistachio chicken, salad
M4: kangaroo patty, sweet potato, cauliflower
M5 (treat meal): chocolate cake

I will lose 10kg by 31 December

Vege Prep Day

Lately Fridays have been my vege prep day. My veges are delivered on Fridays and I like to prep everything straight out of the box, so I don't have to double handle stuff later in the week. Today's vege prep involved
- baking 2.5kg sweet potato
- topping and tailing 3kg green beans, then blanching them, refreshing them in ice water, draining them, and portioning them into sandwich bags (I'm considering skipping the first step next time - surely it's fine to eat the whole bean?)
- washing salad veges and making up a big salad to last the next few days - lettuce, baby spinach, bean sprouts, tomato, cucumber, celery, red pepper, red onion and carrot
- breaking up 6 cauliflowers and washing the florets (amazing how many little bugs there are hiding in organic cauliflower), then steaming and mashing them.

So that's all our veges prepped for the next seven days, apart from making up more salad as it's needed, and baking some more sweet potatoes.

It might look like I don't get a lot of variety but I swap veges around from week to week, depending on what's cheap/in season and what I feel like eating. I just prefer to buy a couple of items in bulk and eat them for the whole week so I don't have to think too much about what to buy and what to eat each day.

Tomorrow I'll do the groceries and meat.

Today's food
M1: protein shake, muesli, eggs
M2: chicken, green beans, pesto
M3: chicken salad, walnuts
M4: kangaroo patty, sweet potato, cauliflower
training, Day 1 (workout drinks)
M5: turkey mince with Morrocan seasoning, sweet potato, salad

I will lose 10kg by 31 December

Thursday

Had a few walks today: one to the park with TJ, one to my accountant (overdue accounts finally all sorted) and one to the supermarket. Not having a car certainly keeps me active!

Today's food
M1: eggs, muesli, protein shake
walk TJ
M2 chicken, green beans, pesto
M3: chicken salad, walnuts
M4: kangaroo patty, sweet potato, cauliflower
M5: prawn salad, sweet potato
M6: protein shake, yoghurt, walnuts, apple

I will lose 10kg by 31 December