Recipes and other yum yums!

Roxy's Mum

Roxy's Mum

New Member
Jul 21, 2009
4,330
2
0
Dorset
A thread for us to share our recipes and other ideas for delicious meals or snacks that don't cost a fortune in calories! :biggrin:

SPICED CARROT & LENTIL SOUP 1 medium ladle = approx 125 calories
1 tablespoon olive oil (or thereabouts)
1 onion
Pinch of ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon curry powder
370ml vegetable stock (or about 3/4 of a pint)
8 carrots (6 roughly chopped, 2 finely diced into small pieces)
55g red lentils
3 tablespoons coconut milk
1 tablespoon fresh chopped coriander
30ml single cream

1. Heat the oil & add the onion

2. Add the nutmeg and curry powder, cook for approx 5 mins however be aware this makes the onions VERY dry so you might need to add water otherwise it might dry quickly & stick to the pan. Be careful if adding the water as it'll evaporate almost immediately.

3. Add the roughly chopped carrots and stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 mins It'll look quite vile at this stage but it will improve! I often made a bit more stock as I found it not quite enough a bit later.

4. Blend until smooth I leave some lumps in but it’s personal preference

5. Return to the heat & add the lentils and diced carrots. Simmer for another 20 mins. No need to pre-soak the lentils. I found the soup often became a bit too thick at this stage & often added a big splash of water periodically, but again, it's personal preference.

6. Add the coconut milk (I don't bother) cream (I use milk) and coriander, and simmer for another 5 mins.

7. Season with salt/pepper if you want. Job done!

This serves about 4 'sensible' sized portions, however if having as a main meal it won't stretch much further.
 
Last edited:
Homemade burgers

1lb Turkey mince
1 onion
1 red pepper
Chilli powder
Worcester sauce
Spray oil

Empty the mince into a bowl, add the finely chopped onion & pepper. Add a teaspoon of chilli powder (prefer hot) and two table spoons of worcester sauce. Mix together with hands. Once mixed break of handful portions and shape them into patties. Spray them both sides with spray oil and cook at 200C in the oven until brown on both sides.

You can pan fry them if you prefer.
 
Snack Ideas -

Frozen Grapes (although better in the summertime)
Sliced Bell pepper(30 cals for about half a pepper), raw carrott (medium carrott - 30 cals) & apple and small pot of low fat hummous (approx 150/160 cals depending on which flavour you choose)- approx 210/220 calories

Snackajacks jumbo - around 40 cals per cake or the bags are around 100 cals

Pink n whites - 50 cals per biscuit?? (although technically not really biscuits)??

Jelly with real fruit in - no idea how many cals but prob not many as sugar free jelly is around 10 cals
 
Burger and Chips -
I cut a sweet potato into chips, shove them in a freezer bag, add a few sprays of that low cal oil spray and a couple of teaspoons of paprika. Shake it around and then chuck the chips on a foil lined baking tray and put in the oven until crispy (around half an hour).

I don't eat alot of bread so I buy those 'pain rustiques' from tesco - basically small part baked rolls with seeds ontop (love em.)
I have a quorn burger on the roll, chips and salad consisting of cottage cheese, sweetcorn, beetroot, cucumber and pepper.

Really fills me up but isn't too calorific.

Curry Soup
My soup's a bit less organised than yours Roxy - I'm not good with things like lentils and split peas.:redface:
Soften an onion in the pot
Soften the veg you want - sometimes I make it mainly carrot, sometimes parsnip, sometimes turnip, carrot, leek, and broccoli.
Add stock - I just use a veg stock cube (veggie!)
Leave to cook
Add some curry powder after 20 minutes
Leave to cool once all veg soft. Stick the hand held blender in to blast it - not totally smooth (depends how you like it - I like thick but lumpy soup!)
Add some evaporated milk (I know thats a guitly sin but it makes it creamy!) I think you can get away with half a tin (about 200g) you can get low calorie evaporated milk in tescos.

Mushroom Tortes
this is a weightwatchers recipe.
you need a muffin baking tray or ramekins.
Spray a couple of the muffin holes with low cal oil, sprinkle some grated parmesan around the holes to line them.
Fry off around 300g mushrooms ( I think it was 300g but then I'd use as many as you can!)
Put half of the mushrooms into a blender with 100g of low fat garlic and herb philadelphia. Blend
Beat one egg, add half a tablespoon of parmesan, 2 tablespoons parsley, the unblended mushrooms and then the blended mushroom phili mixture. Mix with a spoon and then spoon into the tray. (I got three out of this mixture).
Shove in the oven at 180 degrees for around 15 minutes until the tops are just golden.
I served with salad. They are quite potent so would only use one per person to accompany something else in your meal. But lovely!
 
Oooooooooooooh FM that sounds DELISH!!!! :biggrin: Will definitely try that!

Oh & re the lentils - I always think they sound very 'earth mother' but really I am not a pro in the kitchen. I add the lentils dry, no preparation or soaking required, straight into the soup & they cook in there.

You can add them to your recipe as well (if you did so wish - not saying you should, just that you can because it's so easy! Pour 'em in, job done!)
 
Stop making me hungry you lot! :mstickle:

One of my fave recipes is from the philly website, stuffed chicken breasts wrapped in bacon.

Take a chicken breast and cut along the side, stuff with extra low fat philly (or any other alternative flavour if you wish).

Wrap bacon around the chicken breasts, I always trim the fat off to make it a bit healthier. Stick under the grill until the chicken has cooked turning over once or twice.

Delish! I have mine with loads of steamed veggies, OH has with mash.
 
If we're talking healthy food, my absolute top favourite is Vietnamese Chicken Salad - the Vietnamese equivalent of Coleslaw.

For 2:

Dressing (make first) half an onion sliced into rings
A hot red Thai chili finely minced
A clove of garlic finely minced
1 Tbsp sugar
1.5 tsp rice vinegar
1.5 Tbsp lime juice
1.5 Tbsp fish sauce
1.5 Tbsp vegetable oil
Freshly ground black pepper

Mix all these ingredients together and leave for half an hour, which takes the sting out of the onion and garlic (though not the chili!). You can miss out the oil if you want to be really healthy.

Cook 200g of chicken breast (one fat breast). I poach it in hot water till it's white all the way through.

Shred 200g white cabbage (about half a small) and grate one fat carrot. Shred the chicken when it has cooled slightly.

Chop an ENORMOUS bunch of fresh mint, after removing as many stems as you can be bothered to.

Toss the shredded cabbage and chicken, grated carrot and chopped mint with the dressing. Take your time and combine it really thoroughly.

This never gets onto plates in my house, my DH and I eat it straight from the bowl!

The dressing is also brilliant with other Asian salad combinations - eg green soft leaves and strips of cooked beef, hard-boiled egg and peanuts, char siu pork and fresh red peppers, you name it. Just don't try it without mint, the mint is really important.
 
Quorn chilli & rice

Ingredients
250g Quorn mince
2 cartons of Sainsbury's chopped tomatoes (we used one ordinary & one premium, just because that's what we had in the cupboard)
Mushrooms
2 onions
Tomato puree (approx 2 tbl spoons)
Spoonful of lazy garlic
Generous sprinkling of dried chillies

Brown rice (50g of dry rice per person)

Boil water in a sauce pan & add the brown rice (ours takes approx 30-40 mins!)

While this is cooking...

> Add a touch of oil or spray oil to a frying pan & cook off onions.
> Add mushrooms
> Add Quorn mince and cook until defrosted
> Add chopped tomatoes & puree
> Stir in the garlic and dried chillies

I get out two containers and two plates for OH & myself to put a spoonful in/on to each until the pan is empty. We then have 4 equal portions with 203 calories in each. A 50g (dry) portion of brown rice (Sainsbury's wholegrain brown rice) is 173.

Therefore the whole thing comes to 376 calories :dance:

Delicious, filling (it's a generous portion - I was surprised) and low in calories! :biggrin:
 
Last edited:
Am currently researching low calorie/fat cake recipes. Have found some good potentials so once I've worked out what it would end up being per cake I shall pass them on!
 
Parsnip and Cashew Nut Roast
353 Cals per serving
serves 4

600g small parsnips peeled and chopped roughtly
25g low fat polyunsaturated margarine
1 onion chopped
100g cashew nuts
100g fresh breadcrumbs
1 medium egg beaten
1 tablespoon freshly chopped thyme (I used dried)
grated zest and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
seasoning

Preheat oven to 190C, fan 170C or GM 5
Lightly grease a 900g (2lb) loaf tin with low fat cooking spray and line with baking parchment.
Cook parsnips in pan of boiling water for 12 mns until tender. Drain and mash
Meanwhile melt margarine in a saucepan with 2 tablespoons water, Add the onion and cook, covered for 5 mins over a medium heat
Grind the cashew nuts in a food processor then mix with the breadcrumbs, egg, thyme, lemon zest and juice. Add the parsnips and onion and season.
Pack into the lined tin and press down well, Cover with foil lightly greased with the low fat cooking spray.
Bake in the oven for 45 mins then remove the foil and bake for a further 15mins until brown and crispy on top. Let it sit in the tin for 15 mins to firm up before turning out so that it will slice more easily.

I cooked this with low fat roast potatoes (normal roasties boiled for 10 - 15 mins sprinkle one tablespoon of flour over them, then shake them in the saucepan until they get to the point of where you think 'Oh No' over cooked!' tip them into a preheated oven tray with 2 table spoons of oil or just coat in low fat cooking spray, turn half way through cooking and you'll have LOVELY roast potatoes :)
 
I was suprised at how easy it was when I made it up ! Keeps quite well in the fridge too for a few days :)
 
I'm on the hunt for more simple, tasty recipes peeps if anybody has more to add?! I'm going to try a few of those mentioned above, mmmmMMMMMM!!!

Am after more inspriation!
 
Nutty Veggie Couscous

I have no recipe and just bung handfuls of ingredients in (this is a single portion as well so would need to adapt as necessary )

Handful of Mixed Nuts (i use cashews/salted peanuts & almonds)
5 dried apricots (roughly chopped)
Half a tin of chick peas
Frozen veggies
Pinch of salt & Pepper
Packet of cous cous (been using a Mediterranean one )

How to Make -

Cook the veggies
Make the cous cous, adding veggie stock as your water
Bung veggies/cous cous in a pan together (once veggies are cooked)
add the chick peas, nuts & apricots
Cook for a 3 or 4 mins, adding in salt/pepper last minute

Not sure how many calories in it but its v tasty and reasonably healthy/filling
 
newrider.com
Top Bottom
Back