A piece-a-pizza

In response to the deluge of requests* for some of my tasty-but-not-too-lardy recipes, I offer a particular favourite of mine – Kumera & Blue Cheese Pizza.

(Deluge technically equates to none. But my understanding is that recipe sites are going gang busters and recipe searches drive a great deal of traffic to general lifestyle sites. So in my quest for World Wide Web Domination.....)

1 x store-bought pizza base You can make your own. Personally, I get scared of any recipe involving yeast. Try to compare nutritional labels as some can be calorie-tastic. For example the Bazaar single serve bases are muy deliciouso but have about 2,000kJ each. I use a fancy-looking Italian style one (the name of which escapes me) and it's just as filling, good on kJs and very gourMET.

1 x kumera (sweet potato) Thinly sliced, sprayed lightly with olive oil and grilled or roasted. I stick 'em straight in my sandwich press/grill as it's extra speedy, though the oven gives a nicer flavour I feel.

1 x onion, sliced and carmelised I heat a pan on a low heat, heat a touch of olive oil and cook the onion as slowly as time and hunger allow. At the last minute I add a splash of balsamic vinegar and a dash of brown sugar.

Pesto or sauce of some kind I usually mix a bit of pesto with a less-made-from-oil sauce, like tomato paste or pizza sauce.

Blue cheese Any brand you like/can afford

To assemble Coat the pizza base well with sauce and top with caramelised onion and roasted kumera. Sprinkle with reduced-fat grated cheddar or mozzarella. Crumble the blue cheese into small pieces and scatter atop the pizza. Use as much as you feel you're allowed but don't overdo it as the flavour is quite powerful.

Bake in a hot oven (240C) for about 10-15 minutes. Before serving top with black pepper and baby spinach or rocket. Serves 2.

You can pretty much add whatever you like to this pizza, variations of mine include pine nuts, walnuts, grilled chicken and whatever vegies I have in the fridge. Boyfriend who runs marathons at lunch drizzles his with olive oil and chilli flakes.

I also try to serve this with a green salad to a) break up the carb frenzy and b) lower the overall GI of the meal, which is further aided by an olive oil and vinegar dressing.

Round the world in 80 meals

Hi there. Remember me? I'm your fearless anti-diet campaigner. Sorry if you've been in a diet twilight zone, either hungry, or eating yourself to death while you wait for my next thrilling installment. I've been on a bit of a world tour and have these blog-worthy observations to make:

I've done a lot of eating since my last post. Pizza mostly. I've eaten Croatian pizza, ready-made Waitrose pizza from the UK and $10 pub pizza at my local.
Conclusion: Pizza is possibly the best food ever invented. There's really nothing you can't put on it and it can be healthy if you make it yourself. Seriously.

I also spent 4 days at a famous Thai health resort where I was offered more food than I'm likely to see in a month back here. Oh the perils of a buffet, even a healthy one. I surprised even myself with my discipline. (Confession: I also enthusiastically ordered the one allowable glass of wine with dinner each night and ate Burger King at the airport before flying home). Despite these small speed humps and the fact I eschewed the menu of physical activities in lieu of lying by the pool and watching Gilmore Girls DVDs in my suite, I left 2kg lighter and felt amazing, glowing and all that.
Conclusion: Eating chef-prepared health food and doing not much is a fabulous way to feel fabulous.

Five days in Dubai left me with a lot to say about incidental exercise. In the time I was there my physical activity consisted of walking from my mate's apartment, to the car, to a seat in a restaurant. Only a jaunt around a shopping mall did anything to raise my heart rate. I doubt I clocked 10,000 steps in total, let alone the recommended one day. Compared to Paris where I walked everywhere, charging up Metro steps and chased pigeons through the park while chanting ooh la la (OK, not really. Just trying to get you in le mood).
Conclusion: Parisian women don't get fat and people in Dubai seem to. Walk when you can.

I did much drinking to complement the eating I was doing. Especially in bonnie Glasgow where the summer light lingers until 11pm in July. I drank what seemed like litres and litres of booze – beer, cider, wine – everything in a glass bigger than my wee head, trying hard to keep up with the locals. I was also informed by my Scotland-dwelling friends that in some parts of Glasgow the male life expectancy is 55.
Conclusion: Drinking to excess will make you feel pretty shabby and is bad for your health.

There is also much to be said about airline food, and none of it relates to health properties. But my final observation is reserved for white bread. When travelling, you'll eat a lot of it.

I've gotta get a message to you

I used to make jokes at a former boyfriend's expense about his culinary skillz (before he was 'former. It's possible these two points are linked). You see he claimed he could cook. And he had five dishes in his repertoire to prove it. The joke? They were all essentially the same thing – mince with onions – but variously labeled as meatballs, tacos, kebabs, bolognese or rissoles. Yes, there were slight variations to each recipe but you can give a dwarf an identifying personality trait and a different-coloured outfit… and he's still just Snow White's man slave. Likewise, meatballs, tacos and rissoles are all mince beef with onions regardless of what you dress them in.

But now I've become a living, breathing Bee Gees song (and no, it's not Tragedy). Rather, I started a joke and now the joke is on me. It occurred to me that just like Mince Meat Man, my so called genius in the kitchen is really just the same dish wearing different outfits. But unlike his pan-fried cow with saturated fat on the side, my 'dish' is rooted in sound nutritional principles and has the potential to free us all from 'what to have for dinner' anxiety.

OK, so here it is – every dish I cook involves as many vegies as possible, together with a lean protein. Oh, and cheese. The variable? My choice of carb.

Take a skinless chicken breast, a selection of your favourite vegies and the all important cheese and you can…

• Top a bit of dough and you've got yourself a pizza
• Mix them with sauce and pasta – buon appettito!
• Slap 'em on a bun and call it a burger
• Stir fry with noodles and break out the chop sticks*
  
• Toss with couscous and pretend it's a salad
• Or roast together in the oven with potatoes and feel like it's 1954*

*Cheese optional

What's funner than pizza? What says 'I eat for pleasure' more than a burger does? Provided the bowl of pasta is not bigger than your head and the cheese doesn't form the bulk of the meal (again, not unheard of for me), all of these dishes are nothin' but healthy. They won't make you fat but they'll keep you stayin' alive. Message received?

(Consider too these other pre-approved options in the protein category: lamb fillet, rump steak, chickpeas, beans, tofu, vegie patties, turkey breast, fish, tuna, salmon.)

BONUS SECTION: Cheese porn
Goat's cheese, blue cheese, parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese, washed rind cheese, aged cheese, brie cheese, grated cheese, sheep's cheese, melted cheese… (sorry it was just emotion, taking me over.)