When I first started the WeightWatchers plan, I think the thing that shocked me the most was the realisation that I had been serving portions of pasta and rice to myself and my family that were far too large!
I was always a 'chuck it in' kind of cook, never really weighed or measured my ingredients unless I was baking and I suppose I lost sight of what an average portion should look like.
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The WeightWatchers plan has taught me to weigh my portion sizes and calculate the propoints for them religiously for accurate tracking. This is the best habit I have acquired and adhered to in my daily food prep routine... and it's paid off, rewarding me with significant weight loss and the tools to enable me to maintain my goal weight for ever.
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However, sometimes, weighing everything can feel a little tedious, or may be inconvenient. So, when cooking rice I always use boil-in-the-bag so that I don't have to think about the portion size as it's done for me.
Maybe there is a technical reason why boil-in-the-bag pasta doesn't exist, I don't know, but I've found the next best thing in these vermicelli nests.
Vermicelli is widely available. I use the Sainsbury's one, so if you use a different brand, check the weight of the nests, but this is my fail-safe method for easy portioning.
USING UNCOOKED WEIGHTS;
1 nest weighs 20g, which is 2pp/73kcal
2 weigh 40g, which is 4pp/146kcal
3 weigh 60g which is 6pp/219kcal
4 weigh 80g which is 8pp/292kcal
and so on...
I find that 4 nests makes a perfect portion size if served with an interesting sauce, such as my Bloggynaise.
(Click HERE for link)
or any sauce of your choice.
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So, if you are time-short or fancy a little break from weighing, these are great. You just count out the number of nests you need, pop them into boiling water and in 3-5 minutes, they unravel and turn into a fine angel-hair type spaghetti. I find I have to help them separate a little with 2 forks once they have softened in the hot water.
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If you are cooking more than one portion, obviously you will have to weigh the cooked pasta before redistributing. Otherwise,if people want differing portion sizes, my quirky but effective method using cutlery drainers works really well with the vermicelli nests!
(Click HERE for link)
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Easy peasy portions.
2 comments:
Going to look for these nests here in the US♚
hope you find them Lady Bren! Please let me know if you do! x
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