Energy!

Oh my God, what is happening to me? I have so much energy that I can't get to sleep till nearly midnight and I am up by 7 am. The mid-afternoon nap has become redundant. Of course having extra stores of energy means you must find something to do with yourself, but why oh why has it got to be dishwashing?!!! I think I should try ironing next.

My daughter's dad has been here for a few days and I got to cook some nice calorie-controlled meals with my soutzoukakia taking first place.

Here is the recipe:

500 g. Healthy Living Beef Mince from Tesco (it has less than 5% fat)
Salt and pepper to taste
Garlic powder (a generous sprinkling)
Cumin powder (2-3 heaped tsp)
Dried mint (2-3 pinches)
200-150 g. passata (also from Tesco, it is so velvety)
2 tsp sugar
Knorr cube, chicken flavour
1 tbs quality olive oil

Mix mince with spices and mint and make into 10 even sized sausages.
Pour the passata into a saucepan, add the Knorr cube, some pepper (no salt! the cube contains enough salt) and some garlic as well as the sugar and bring to the boil.
Add the sausage shaped mince and a little bit of boiling water so that they are nicely covered.
Cover the saucepan, reduce the heat and leave to cook for 20-30 minutes until the sauce has thickened.
Add the olive oil at the end of the cooking to preserve its goodness.

Whist the soutzoukakia are cooking, you can boil a sweet potato with two small white potatoes (peel and cut into cubes, don't forget to salt them) and when soft (takes about 20 minutes) mash them with a fork or other method you normally use.

Serve 2.5 soutzoukakia per person with a quarter of the mash and a bit of the sauce along with any fresh salad or steam vegetables of your choice.

Total points value of the recipe: 19 => less than 5 points per portion!

The mince itself is worth 11.5 points for the entire recipe so if you avoid the potatoes, you can enjoy a larger portion with some steamed vegetables (the sauce will make them taste soooo good!)