Day 3 and disheartened - I'm a cr*p cook

Mooky

Member
I really really want SW to work for me, but I'm an awful cook. tried a chicken curry from the slimming eats website yesterday and had to bin it (it currdled when I added the natural yogurt to it at the end). today i made a vegetable ratatouille and its so bland :cry:
i was never a great cook really but had a handful of recipes that were alright and my DH liked - but they dont suit the SW diet. i've a toddler and an 8 month old baby, so I'd love to stick with it and get good at some healthy family recipes.
any encouragement? any fool-proof tasty recipes i could try?:thankyou:
 
Mooky said:
I really really want SW to work for me, but I'm an awful cook. tried a chicken curry from the slimming eats website yesterday and had to bin it (it currdled when I added the natural yogurt to it at the end). today i made a vegetable ratatouille and its so bland :cry:
i was never a great cook really but had a handful of recipes that were alright and my DH liked - but they dont suit the SW diet. i've a toddler and an 8 month old baby, so I'd love to stick with it and get good at some healthy family recipes.
any encouragement? any fool-proof tasty recipes i could try?:thankyou:

Don't give up-can't you adapt the recipes you can make, to make them fit the plan possibly? I'm not a great cook-but I get by, and have lost just over 2 stone so far :)

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Sorry you are feeling disheartened, why don't you post the meals that you can cook and we can look and see if we can make them SW friendly for you ??
 
Im not exactly the greatest cook in the world, but i manage to get by and as my confidence has grown, ive tried more things. Tbh i probably cook most of my stuff from sratch now.

Dont feel you have to do over complicated meals. Try things like-
home made potato wedges you can have with anything like fish, steak, chicken etc
Burgers made with extra lean mince
Home made chilli
Roast dinner
spag bol or meat balls in tomato sauce
Lasagne
Pasta with tomato sauce or hea cheese spread stirred in to make a sauce
Jacket potato cheese and beans

If you find the tomato sauces bland use plenty stock, garlic, onion and a little bit of chilli powder.

Have a look on peoples diaries for loads of ideas of stuff to make thats quick and easy. Also have a look in the syns section as there is stuff you can chuck in the over or microwave that is low syns like microwave rices, meat in sauces etc. It doesnt always have to be dead complicated stuff.
 
Don't give up remember you can just cook basic stuff to start with while you get to grips with what you are comfortable with. Bacon egg and beans is a slimming world meal if you cook it right. I`d also suggest that you get the magazine and try some of the recepies in there, they usually tell you which are the easy ones. I can recommend the pork and apple casserole on the SW web site. From experience I`d also say some of the recepies do need more seasoning than I`d usually use so taste as you go along.

I`ve lost 3st 12lbs so far so it does work, but I`ve also had some recepie disasters along the way (I can`t cook aubergine at all!) Keep trying and you will get there and ask for help in class that's what it is there for. Hope you can make it work for you.
 
I can't recommend getting the sw magazine highly enough. There are some fantastic recipes in there this month. Especially the leek and pea pasta.

I'm a fairly proficient cook, but I like something easy after work and there are lots in there. Also check out the sw website for recipes.
 
You didn't have to bin a perfectly good dish just because the yogurt curdled. It would still be OK to eat. It's just that low-fat yogurt splits at high heat.
 
Dont stress about it and keep going!!! U will go there. Spag bol is q.easy. Chop onions, peppers, mushrooms etc cook at same time as lean mince and then add chopped toms andsome oxo bolognase cubes! It's fool proof! and tastes good! Serve with spaghetti or pasta shapes, rice, jacket potato...whatever you like really!
Keep it up!!!
 
I am a VERY pants cook! So my advice may not be great, but it works for me being such a bad cook... basically I cannot cope with any 'recipe', unless it comes out of a box with cooking instructions I can't cope! So heres a few meals I've had this week (mostly red days though)

Grilled Gammon Steak, poached egg (which was hard as I left it too long) and a huge heap of salad

Roast Chicken (I tend to cheat and buy a cooked one on the way home from work) and serve with veg and colmans cheese sauce (off the top of my head it's 8 syns shared between us all, but I normally get it wrong and it has lumps in - but still nice!)

Low syn sausages, scrambled eggs, mushrooms (just bung them in the microwave as they are for two minutes) and a tin of tomatoes

Quorn sweet and sour ready made microwave meal - gotta be honest didnt like this - but it filled a hole!

Good old jacket spud covered in baked beans

Hope this helps!!!!
 
I really really want SW to work for me, but I'm an awful cook. tried a chicken curry from the slimming eats website yesterday and had to bin it (it currdled when I added the natural yogurt to it at the end). today i made a vegetable ratatouille and its so bland :cry:
i was never a great cook really but had a handful of recipes that were alright and my DH liked - but they dont suit the SW diet. i've a toddler and an 8 month old baby, so I'd love to stick with it and get good at some healthy family recipes.
any encouragement? any fool-proof tasty recipes i could try?:thankyou:


Low fat yogurt does this, I have a very easy tikka masala recipe

This is a fairly mild curry add some chilli's or chilli powder if you want it hotter

1 large (500m?) low fat nat yog
2 onion
4 cloves garlic
heaped tablespoon tikka masala or tandoori curry powder
heaped teaspoon turmeric
box of passata
chicken/quorn/veggies

mix the curry powder with the yog and the chicken leave in fridge for at least 4 hrs but overnight if poss

soften the onions & garlic
add the passata & turmeric let is simmer gently for 10 mins
take the chicken out of the yog and cook the chicken in the oven
add the yog to the pan (yes it splits and looks vile)
simmer for 10 mins while chicken is cooking
use a stick blender in the curry until its smooth (now it no longer looks vile)

pour the sauce over the chicken pop back in the oven for 5-10 mins while you sort out the rice :)

Do plenty of chicken dont add it to the sauce pop it in the fridge its great cold the next day with salad and SW chips and for packed lunches picnics etc
 
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List your fave foods and maybe we can help you out with foolproof recipes. Keep things simple make sure you season well. Cooking with very little fat means food can taste bland when not seasoned. So use lots of pepper, herbs, spices etc. Don't go too crazy on the salt though lol.
 
Not sure if you said but are you following EE? If so what about good old SW chips, egg, beans? One of my favourites. I have this as a treat and do the odd EE or green day just so that I can have this :D I do mainly red days now.

As Honey says why not tell us the foods you loved to eat prior to SW and we can help out with hopefully some nice recipes. We all have to start somewhere, despite what my OH often thinks we are not born being able to cook its something we learn from someone :D xxxxx
 
JackieN said:
Not sure if you said but are you following EE? If so what about good old SW chips, egg, beans? One of my favourites. I have this as a treat and do the odd EE or green day just so that I can have this :D I do mainly red days now.


That wouldn't suit EE as there is no superfree food, this would be a green day or you would have to add 1/3 superfree, I'd add 'fried' mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, peppers to that meal to make it EE
 
I think I know the recipe you mean from the curry heaven book - its bonkers that it requires you to add natural yoghurt then continue to cook - that's the recipes fault - not yours.

Its really unfortunate that you picked that recipe to start with as thats doomed to fail - I've half a mind to write to Slimming World and complain about that recipe as it will never work!

Don't let it put you off - if you can read and follow instructions then you can cook - anyone can.

Just don't ever try and cook fat free yoghurt on a high heat or for more than a few minutes or so - you can stir it in to the end of cooking quite safely, but much more and it will split and curdle as you have found.
 
i couldnt cook at all when i first moved in with my BF. so everything was pre-packed stuff. needless to say i put on some weight.

i would defo recomend buying the slimming world mag or one of the books and trying some of the easier recipes from that, thats how i learned to cook, and now i make 99% of our food from scratch! (and im a lot slimmer :D)
 
thank for the confidence boost - so it wasnt my fault after all!! damn that low fat yogurt ;)
well, i cooked a delicious frittata just now which boosted my confidence even more cos OH loved it.
i think my main problem is i have 2 babies under 2, so i'm not getting time to experiment with dishes... just need to practice and experiment. would you believe I'm always watching cooking problems - love watching chefs cook, but I'm SOOO clueless in the kitchen. I have a cupboard full of herbs and spices and i dont have a clue what to put in each dish. what herbs compliment eachother etc.
definitely going to try the sw chips soon and the bolognese.. and thanks for that curry recipe Welshcake!
thanks again for the encourgement!!
 
What are your staple dishes I am sure we can help to adapt them.

It is difficult to know what to suggest if we dont know what you like to eat and what you can cook now.

That is great news about the frittata well done and they are some many variations you can try with different vegetables.
 
the tip for adding yoghurt to recipes, is not to add it straight from the fridge. You have to let it get to room temperature, and dont mix it in till right at the end.

If you add it straight from the fridge it will be too cold and as soon as it hits the heat it will split.
 
i actually think i am good cook but some of the slimming world recipes taste horrid and i think its the recipe rather than the cook. sometimes low fat options just dont work as you would expect.

I posted this recipe earlier today and would recommend this and adapting for slimming world (dont use the oil / butter and dont use the flour). I did use the wine though and synned it)!

jools’s favourite beef stew | Jamie Oliver Recipes (UK)

Actually casseroles are my favourite recipes as you can add flavour without fat very easily.
Other things I recommend are:
stir fry veg with either beef / chicken or prawns (served with egg noodles or rice). and i use a blue dragon sachet synning 20 cals for 1 syn so the black bean sauce is 3 syns when shared with 2.

Or I make slimming world chips and serve with veg and then any of the following:
gammon
steak
chicken (wrap in tinfoil in a parcel on some lemon)
Salmon - as above
 
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