The Food I Eat

The problem of trying to lose weight is that it involves a distressing and somewhat depressing list of prioritisation.

Obviously, I’d be several stone lighter if I gave up booze. But then the luxury of the odd glass of wine is high up on my list of priorities. I suppose that going for a run in the mornings would also be a good way of shifting the pounds…but when the alarm goes off an hour earlier than usual, that extra time in bed scoots up to the top of my list of priorities too. Perhaps I should jog to work…but spending the day in sweat-free clothes is quite a high priority – and anyway, my bad toe (mentioned in previous post) still hurts (and is still lingering in Tier 2), so it looks like I’ll be getting the tube tomorrow.

Rather than a brutal and over-ambitious culling of a high-priority activity such as wine or sleep, I’ve decided the best tactic is to start small. Obviously apple crumble and ice cream is a glorious start to the day. But, in the grand scheme of things, a pudding-based breakfast is fairly low-priority. And guess I can just about cope with trading morning pavlova for a sensible bit of porridge.

So, in the name of trying to chip away at bad habits in the most pain-free way possible, you can only imagine my delight when my great friend Andrew Tongue introduced me to The Hairy Bikers’ Skinny Beef Lasagne.

Now, I know that lasagne is famed for its crowd-pleasing abilities…but I’m going to put it out there – I’m not a huge fan. Sure, I’ll always have a plateful, but it does make me feel snoozy afterwards. Just bolognese and pasta, or just pasta and cheese sauce is a great partnership – but when all three are piled on top of each other in a baking tray, it’s an uncomfortable ménage a trois.

The Hairy Bikers are really onto something though. They’ve swapped lasagne sheets with lovely leeks, sliced flat. And the cheese sauce is switched for a béchamel sauce – not as much of a loss as you might imagine, as the white sauce still tastes rich and creamy. And The Hairy Bikers do allow a “sprinkle” of cheese on top to satisfy any cravings…and it still comes in at a meager 354 calories.

So I thought I’d recommend this recipe to anybody also struggling with getting-thin-prioritisation. So far I’ve ditched puddings for breakfast, and am from now onwards am only eating pasta-and-cheese-free lasagne. Practically shedding the pounds already!

Go to BBC Food site for the Hairy Biker’s Skinny Beef Lasagne recipe

Cooking Note We found that the leeks were hard to cut through. The way round this is to decide how you’re going to portion-up the lasagne as you’re making it, and lay out the leeks accordingly eg. If you’re going to serve horizontal slices in the tray, then make sure that all the leeks are lying in that direction.