Chinese Prawns and Broccoli

This recipe is from the Weight Watchers Cooking for One recipe book that Gem, Sarah and I were lucky enough to receive in our latest hamper. I've made this a couple of times already - its really quick and easy and perfect for the nights when the rest of the family are doing their own thing and I'm left to fend for myself. I tweaked the recipe the second time I made it and it was just as nice.

You will need:

• 1 teaspoon cornflour
• a pinch of cayenne pepper (I added quite a bit more, but then I like spicy food)
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 100g raw peeled tiger or king prawns
• low fat cooking spray
• 25g unsalted cashews (I didn't use these the second time I made it as they account for half the total ProPoints value of the total recipe...they're yummy, but they're not that yummy)
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh root ginger
• 100g broccoli, trimmed
• 50g mushrooms (the recipe calls for shiitake but I couldn't get them so I used chestnut)
• 2 tablespoons rice wine or dry sherry
• 1 spring onion, sliced finely at an angle

• Mix together the cornflour, cayenne pepper and soy sauce. Add the prawns and mix well. Set aside in the fridge for half an hour.

• Heat a non stick frying pan or wok until hot and spray with cooking spray. Add the cashews and stir fry for about 30 seconds, or until they start to colour, then remove and set aside. If you're not using cashews then skip this step. Obviously.
• Spray the pan again and add the garlic and ginger. Cook for a few seconds and then add the broccoli and mushrooms. Stir fry over a high heat for 2-3 minutes.

• Add the rice wine or sherry, the prawns and 5 tablespoons of water. Bring to the boil and simmer for a couple of minutes until the prawns turn pink. Add the cashews (if thats you're thing) and half the spring onion and cook for another minute or so.
• Sprinkle over the remaining spring onion. The ProPoints value for this recipe is 8, but without the cashew nuts its 4. Serve with 150g cooked white rice or fresh egg noodles for an additional 6 ProPoints. (I was low on points, so I had stir fried peppers, onion and baby corn instead for an extra ProPoints value of 0)

Enjoy!

Sunday Summary 74

Rosie - Another week of hard work for me - sticking to no junk food and lots of meat and veggies and I also started running in the mornings again.  I'm really chuffed to say that I'm another 1.5 lbs down this week, meaning I am only 7lbs away from my 10lb in 10 weeks goal! Just got to keep up the good work now!

Lauren - I've been really good for most of this week. I've gone back to basics with tracking and pointing everything and I managed to get in a couple of good gym sessions wearing my snazzy new HotPants as well. I was unsure whether last weekends boozy/foody couple of days and Tuesday's accidental trip to TGI's (!!) were going to derail my efforts but I'm pleased to say I lost 3.5lbs this week! This puts me over a week ahead of schedule for the Ten Week Pledge so I'm absolutely thrilled. I've got a quiet week coming up so I'm planning to get my head down in the gym and be really good food-wise and hopefully I'll see another decent loss this week.

Gemma - I lost 1lb at weigh in this week which I was happy with, back on track and 1lb down into my 10lbs in 10 weekend challenge. I had a very good week, planned all my lunches in work and tried hard to cut out snacks and eat larger and more filling meals. I've probably gone over my points in alcohol this weekend but I'm hoping all my good work in the week won't go to waste. I've got a lot of parties and events coming up in the next few weeks which I'm worried about. Hopefully I can say no to nibbles and champers.

Sunday Summary 73

Another week gone by already! All of Team WAMK are hugely excited to get started with our 10 Week Pledges - if you haven't pledged already then check out our post and let us know what you want to achieve by Christmas Eve - you could even win some Zaggora 2.0 HotPants in the process!


Rosie - This was my first week of really getting stuck into what I would call 'clean eating' - lots of healthy foods, protein and veggies and no junk food! I planned out my meals at the beginning of the week and only allowed myself sugar free jellies and Nakd bars when I felt like I needed a snack.  Even though I only managed a couple of dog walks as exercise I'm chuffed to say I've lost a lb and a half so I'm making good headway towards my 10 week pledge! I also got up this morning and took the dog out for a 3.5 mile walk/jog today so feeling really good about that!

Gemma - I had a really good week and got back on track with Weight Watchers. I went to London yesterday and had cake for breakfast and huge burger and courgette fries... no good. I'm hoping that my good behaviour before London and a bit of exercise and eating well for the next two days before weigh in will mean I don't gain at weigh in this week. I'm feeling positive about next week and starting my 10 week challenge. 10 lbs is a lot to lose but I'm determined to do it!

Chris - this week I declared war on my stomach. I lost a lot of weight very quickly last year so I have some toning up to do in that respect - so this week I managed three Body Pump sessions as well as three half hours in the gym, doing a mix of running and rowing - and hello 3lbs loss! On the downside, my favourite jeans are now a little bit big for me - so if anyone wants to buy me an early Christmas present, I'll have a new pair of Vans V66s, please.

Sarah - I am going back on plan tomorrow and in preparation for this I have been eating one slice of cake a day instead of two and am pleased to say I have lost a pound this week! I won't be cutting out the cake, that would make for one miserable Sarah, but I will be mostly eating weightwatchers blueberry slices. Tiny bits of heaven!  I am going to be as good as possible this coming week but it will be really hard as I have a blogger night out, afternoon tea and a burger with some babes planned and to be honest that is way more satisfying for me than an extra pound off the scale :)

Lauren - I was up 1.5lbs at weigh-in on Thursday after a week of curry, chinese food, pizza and various other goodies, not to mention that delightful monthly treat that only us ladies have the joy of experiencing! I was expecting a slightly bigger gain so 1.5lbs is ok. That puts me back up to 13st 13lbs and I am so ready to attack our upcoming 10-week challenge and get rid of these last few pesky lbs! I've just got back from a lovely weekend in Canterbury visiting uni friends and while we did enjoy a few glasses of vino and a delicious meal out (if anyone ever goes to Canterbury I literally cannot recommend Cafe Du Soleils paella enough) we didn't go completely crazy so I'm hoping the scales will be kind come Thursday. I already have four gym sessions planned this week and there is some 0pt soup simmering away in the kitchen for my lunch tomorrow . 10 Week Pledge, lets be having you!

How did you guys get on this week?

The ten week pledge

This coming Monday (15th) marks ten weeks until Christmas Eve.  If you're anything like me, the calendar really fills up around Christmas with various social events - work Christmas parties, Christmas Eve outings with old friends and of course New Year's' Eve.  Personally, this means at least a couple of new outfits and wanting to look your best; especially if you're the sort of person where Christmas brings together your whole friendship group and often means seeing people you might not have seen since last Christmas.

One of the challenges this brings is that Autumn and Winter do not lend themselves to preparing yourself to slip into glitzy outfits.  For me at least, Autumn and Winter lend themselves to mugs of hot chocolate, lolling on the sofa and wearing down the snooze button on your alarm clock when you look out at yet another dark, rainy morning.

But take a second to think of how amazing it would feel to feel confident about putting on your gladrags and getting out there this Christmas.  Imagine how proud of yourself you'd feel if you worked hard until then, and it paid off with some 'You look great' comments from friends, or just looking in the mirror and knowing that you've earned those roast potatoes on Christmas Day.

Here at Where Are My Knees we've come up with a fun idea to get you inspired and motivated over the next 10 weeks.  From Monday we'll all be getting started on a 10 week pledge, and we want you to join in too.  The good news is that not only is there feelings of personal pride and achievement in the pipeline for you, there's also two pairs of the new Zaggora Hotpants (2.0) up for grabs too.

Here are the pledges we've all signed up to that we'll be updating you on over the next 10 weeks.

Rosie - Lose 10lbs before Christmas Eve. (Currently 139lbs - would love to be 129 and fit into a size 10 dress on Christmas Eve! 129 lbs is also bang in the middle of healthy weight for my height.)

Gemma - Lose 10lbs before Christmas Eve. Currently 13 stone 11.5. If I can lose 12lbs and break under that 13 stone barrier that would be great but there are going to be lots of parties and trips away before Christmas so I'm going to be realistic.

Sarah - I would just like to get back on track and actually have time to follow a plan.  I have so much coming up before Christmas that if I stop and think about it my head hurts but I don't want this to get in the way of achieving my weight loss goals.  I would love to lose a stone before Christmas but being realistic I am going to set a target of 7lbs.

Lauren - Lose 15lbs before Christmas Eve. This is a big ask what with parties and all the yummy food that has already started appearing at home and in the office, but I'm hoping this pledge will keep me motivated at the gym and make me think about what - and how much - I'm putting in my mouth. As of this week's weigh-in I am 13st 13lbs - I was 12st 12lbs at my dad's 50th birthday party in April (which you can see here) and it'd be amazing to get back to that in time for Christmas. I definitely think 1.5lbs per week is do-able, even if it is a tall order!

Chris - I'd like to be able to run 5k in less than 25 minutes. This probably doesn't sound like much, but I'm not a very good runner - in fact, my first pledge should probably be to actually go and buy some running shoes! At the moment I'm hitting 4.5k in about 30 mins, so I've got some distance to go.

What would your 10 week pledge be? Remember it doesn't have to be a weight loss, it could be 20 trips to the gym, be able to run 5k by Christmas, giving up chocolate for 10 weeks, walking 10,000 steps a day or  making sure you have healthy breakfasts.  It has to be personal and achievable to you, or it won't work.

Leave us your 10 week pledges in the comments and we'll pick two at random on the 26th October to win the hotpants.  But we really want you all to get stuck into this - you can tweet about it using #wamkpledge, comment and tell us the links if you've blogged about it, and we'll keep you updated on our own progress in the Sunday summaries and other posts.  Remember, your journey to a confident Christmas starts on Monday! We've even made you a little badge you can use to show you're getting involved.

<a href="http://wherearemyknees.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/the-ten-week-pledge.html"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYVUhamtMMUQegRlvzSR0Hfync7_EAIAsALQRMQszlV_89Sp22mfNqzs3gROAfESjjSuSW_U7F6kF_0cDddaqpcClbUZixuZaTIzxyLWxcn4MPY33xfcRivZaPjT0n2ZMv57kTEkeFOByg/s1600/wherepledge+copy.jpg"/></a>

You are of course welcome to get involved in the ten week pledge without entering the giveaway, but if you'd like to enter you can do so below.


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