Low Calorie Lamb Tagine

At the weekend, my culinary goddess of a friend hosted her annual (albeit a few weeks late) Christmas party. There was enough food there to feed the Olympic swimming team for days; cheesy nachos, an array of desserts and a substantial cheese board to contend with… Tensions were high.

This year she decided to hold an ‘around the world party’, where each guest had to.... bring a dish from around the world (funny that). Nice idea. Luckily, our OMG range takes you through France, Spain, Japan, the Middle East, Morocco and Thailand (a cheap version of a round the world flight, some might say). So, it was merely a matter of picking something from the range that would appeal to everyone else, whilst remaining lower in calorie to satisfy my dietary needs.

For me it was a no brainer. The Moroccan Spiced Lamb Tagine has been a firm favourite since my first week at COOK - leg of lamb, slow-cooked to perfection with chick peas and an authentic blend of Moroccan spices, garnished with almond flakes. What's not to like? Combined with our Minted Couscous, (a skinny portion for me, naturally), it went down a storm and sat beautifully alongside jerk chicken, crazy South African sausage (first boiled and then fried in a long curl and unbelievably tasty) and a variety of curries.

Attending these sorts of events on a diet can be difficult but having an OMG meal there that I knew I could trust really helped. I made the executive decision to have a smaller portion of tagine than usual in order to sample some of the other delicacies on offer, (just to be polite of course) but I was conscious of what was acceptable and what was definitely not, i.e a giant pot of fondue.

In general I think the OMG diet is going really well so far. I feel better in myself, not necessarily for being 'skinnier', but mainly from feeling less full and bloated all the time and a sense of having my portions and nutrition under control without really having to think about it too much. There have been a couple of days where I've been unorganised and working away from the office so I've had to compromise and fend for myself (shock horror!). Before now I might have opted for a carb-fuelled convenience meal with next to no nutritional value (sounds so appealing when you say it out loud…) but the diet plan has made me more aware of what sort of things (and exactly how much of them) I should be eating per meal.

Times like these, I feel, are helping to prepare me for a more long term state of mind regarding healthy eating and weight control. Who knows, this could be a new year's resolution I keep beyond January for once… here's hoping.