I'm working hard this week. I have an assignment for my MA course due in on Friday ... I've been suffering from writers block and it's been a bit of a struggle to write to be honest. So, after working all day and with another long night of study in front of me there was no way I was cooking anything labour intensive.
I checked the bible (aka The Slimming World Food Directory) for ideas, and decide that fresh filled pasta is the way to go. Popping into my local morrisons I pick up a packet of Spinach and Ricotta Tortellini (the single portion 150g pack) at 5 syns thinking i've done pretty well. After all, I avoided any temptation to buy the full sized pack and eat the lot (which has been known). But, oh ... sauce. You can't have pasta without sauce. Sauce means cooking, which I have already ruled out. Luckily the lovely people at Morrisions have thought of that and above the tortellini lives the "Eat Smart" ready made sauce varieties. I quickly dismissed the carbonara. Shame, as it's my favourite but I'm not hungry enough to forget that creamy sauces are bad news. Spicy Tomato and Pepper sauce, on the other hand, looks like a smart move. Bag it, and after getting the cat her felix, navigating around the wine aisle without stopping and swiping a packet of Skinny Cow less-than-three-percent-fat ice cream lollies we're good to go.
So let's just examine the evidence. Spicy tomato and pepper sauce. Tomatoes ... Free. Peppers ... Free. Spicy, must be a bit of chilli in it ... Free. That can't be many syns can it surely? Think a-ruddy-gain Sherlock. 6.5 syns per pot!?!?! For vegetables!?!?! You have got to be KIDDING!!! They were not kidding. I ate half the pot, disgruntled. Looking at the ingredients it's clear to see where the calories come from. Red wine, Olive Oil, Cornflour, Sugar! To add insult to injury it wasn't even tasty. It was too sweet, not enough garlic (italians would be appauled) and without the merest hint of spicyness. Very, very poor. Perhaps I wouldn't have noticed if I didn't usually make my own? And I make a great spicy tomato sauce ... I just couldn't be bothered. And there's the rub. Perhaps that's why the nation has an obesity problem? Because we can't be bothered? And while we're not bothered the food lords at Morrisions and Tescos and Sainsburys and wherever else have been slipping sugar into our bloomin' tomato sauce while we weren't looking, to cover up the fact that they are using rubbishy flavourless tomatoes that were grown in a lab and flown half way around the world before they got mushed up with a load of unneccary ingredients (that wouldn't have been needed if they just used some decent tomatoes in the first place) and stuffed them in a jar!
... and breath. So there you go. Cooking from scratch is the way to go. I suppose that's a good thing about this Slimming World diet? You have to think about food, and ingredients, and cooking them into something healthy, tasty and satifying. I have certainly eaten a lot less rubbish since I've been (trying) to follow it. Good for the body, good for the mind, not so good for the assignment I should be writing while I'm moaning about pre-prepared sauces.
And don't even get me started on the "Skinny" Cow lollies! ;)
Gem x
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2 comments:
Cooking from scratch isn't always the answer... Cooking too much each time and putting it into portion- sized pots in the freezer for those can't-be-arsed moments can be part of it. As can being very very fuzzy when you shop and reading *all* the labels on everything you buy. The first time you do this will probably take 2-3 hours, the next maybe 1.5, but you'll quickly get a good sense of who puts sugar, fat and additives in what (and the 'what' and 'who' can be horrifying) and just have to double-check the backs of cans etc as you put them into the trolley. And if you love bread, pasta, pizza etc, check out the alternative flours (rice flour etc) and grains at the health food shop: it's possible to make quite acceptable bread etc with them. Although you'll probably not manage to knead dough without grinning. Especially if you're making French sticks. Just do it: you'll find out what I mean...
I meant "fussy". I'm fuzzy when I'm shopping; you should be *fussy*. Ok?
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