Chive flower salad and vinegar

Posted on May 19, 2014 by lindaharley

The chives in my herb planter have been flowering glorious bright puple balls, and I remembered last year discvoering that they were edible.
I’d been doing my first 5:2 fast day in ages, and so I reckoned they would make a pretty addition to a salad.

 

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I rinsed them thoroughly, and drained.

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I kept aside 3-4 heads for my salad, and packed the rest into a jar and covered with some warmed-through white balsamic. I will put that away for a few weeks to make a faintly onion-scented dressing.

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I diced a granny smith apple and half a cucumber, and let them soak in the remaining balsamic for an hour.
On a plate I arranged:

  • some salad leaves (10)
  • apple (60)
  • cucumber (15)
  • hard boiled egg (75)
  • slice of parma ham (30)
  • A blob of Greek yoghurt (40)

and sprinkle with the individual segments from the chive flowers.  Total calories 230.

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I’m interested in what else they can be used for – have you ever seen them in a recipe?

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Chicken pesto burgers

Posted on March 5, 2014 by lindaharley

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I don’t like fasting on my day off, as there’s far too much temptation in the fridge and kitchen cupboards! But my husband was away at a work meeting today, and I had lots of activities to keep me busy (and out of the house). These included a photo-shoot with Mini for a run-with-your-dog event coming up soon!

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When we got back from the shoot in lovely Lady Dixon Park, I set about making my main meal of the day. There was some leftover roast chicken (100g – 140 cals), and the dregs of a jar of pesto (1/8th jar – 80 cals). I chopped these finely together, but thought it looked a bit bland. So to add some colour, sweetness, and mositure, I chopped in a roast red pepper at 10 cals. (note to self – get another jar of those, absolute store cupboard essentials!)

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I formed the mixture into 2 burger shapes, and baked in a 170 degree overn for 15-20 minutes until hot through.

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I served them with a mound of caulifower (was going to mash it, but couldn’t be bothered) 15 cals, and a spicy tomato salsa made from chopped cherry toamtoes, a splash of balsamic and a teeny bit of chillis from a jar (25 cals).

The whole lot looked huge on the plate, and came in at under 300 calories in total.

The burgers were very good – a great way to use up leftover chicken. On a non fast day I’d add some cheese, and maybe dredge them in panko breadcrumbs.

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Creamy salmon pasta

Posted on February 4, 2014 by lindaharley

The original recipe for this dish comes in at about 400 calories, so I tweaked it by swapping half the pasta for courgette ribbons. Still, 40g spaghetti is a pitifully small amount for 130 calories, and wasn’t really worth it. Next time I’ll use all courgette, or the slim pasta.

I made a sauce by stirring 2 generous tablespoons of Tesco’s healthy living creme fraiche (80 cals) into a scraping of leftover light Philadelphia with cucumber (20 cals). I added the zest and juice of half a lemon, and plenty of black pepper.

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I made courgette ribbons by running a cheese slicer down the length, and then slicing the resulting strips down the middle. One courgette at 150g is 30 cals. I put them to boil with 40g spaghetti.

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Once the pasta was soft enough, I drained it, and stirred in 60g smoked salmon trimmings (130 cals), and then my cream sauce.  I topped the lot with a blob of caviar/ lumpfish roe (10 cals)

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The end result was rather decadent.  I’d definitely do the sauce again! 400 cals, 25g protein, 40g carbs.

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Take one tray of prawns…

Posted on February 1, 2014 by lindaharley

I don’t usually like fasting when I’m at home – far too many temptations around.  But circumstances this week made it unavoidable, and in retrospect it was much easier than I’d imagined.  Largely down to a reduced 300g pack of cooked prawns I found for 75p in the supermarket, which I proceeded to turn into lunch and dinner.

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Prawns are a faster’s friend – at only 65 calories per 100g it is possible to have a very satisfying meal within the 500 daily allowance.

For lunch, I took a good handful of rocket leaves, some chopped cherry tomatoes, 100g of the prawns, and a tub of grapefruit segments in juice (there are 40 cals per pot, and another of my fast day saviours). I garnished the lot with some slivers of sushi ginger, and the whole plateful comes in about 150 calories.  The taste combinations are superb – prawn and tomato are a tried and tested marriage, but the addition of the peppery rocket and the juicy bittersweet grapefruit, with a zing from the ginger, was a very refreshing and flavourful meal.

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I noticed that my tomatoes were past their best, so for dinner I simmered them with a chopped stick of celery in a splash of red wine, and added a squeeze each of sun dried tomato puree, basil paste and umami. And a blob of minced garlic.

Image I sieved the resulting pulp to make a good flavoured sauce, although it was on the runny side.  I added the rest of my prawns to this, and served with zero-noodles, for a total meal of about 200 cals.  Next time I’d add some veg – sliced mushrooms, or diced courgette maybe.

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5and2: Celeriac Mash

Posted on January 27, 2014 by lindaharley

With the weather being so cold outside, I really fancied some comfort food in a sausage-and-mash style. Quorn based bangers are lower in calorie and pack a good protein punch, so I picked up a pack of Cauldron Cumberland Sausages from Sainsburys (75 cals apiece).

To go with them, I wanted to use up the half a celeriac that’s been lurking in the fridge ever since I tried emulating the sweet potato and celeriac soup we enjoyed on New Years Eve.

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For one person, I peeld and chopped a quarter of the celeriac – about 160g and 70 cals. I simmered it for about 25 minutes till soft, having added a squirt of marmite to the water for extra flavour. I drained and then mashed with a tablespoonful of light creme fraiche (25 cals), and a few chopped spring onions.

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I made a gravy by cooking some shitake mushrooms in some water that I’d soaked a sprinkle of porcini in. 1-2 mins in the microwave, for 25 cals.

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It looked very appetising on the plate, was a very substantial meal for under 300 cals.

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Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Posted on January 19, 2014 by lindaharley

I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to try this – I’ve certainly heard it discussed on MyFitnessPal and 5:2 groups before now. I guess I’m not that big a fan of pizza – it’s OK, I’ll eat it, but I wouldn’t be distraught if I lived in a world without pizza.

But the rest of the household fancied making pizza from scratch at the weekend, and I reckoned it would be a good opportunity to try this base, since we’d be preparing the same toppings.

2014-01-18 15.45.06 I nearly fell at the first hurdle – no fresh cauliflower in the supermarket!  But undaunted I got some frozen stuff instead.  I cooked 200g in the microwave until soft. I then blitzed that with an egg, some half-fat mozarella, some grated parmesan, a handful of basil leaves, and seasoned with spicy Sicilian salt, black pepper, and garlic granules.

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Formed that into a round shape, and baked in the oven for 10 minutes until firm.2014-01-18 18.30.10

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Topped with pizza sauce, sliced mushrooms, green pepper, artichoke hearts, olives and anchovies and some more half-fat mozarella.

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The result was absolutely delicous, and I’ll definitely be trying this again.  There’s obviously endless variations of toppings which could be used – cheese and salami will push the calorie count up, but the base is around 200-250 calories.

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5and2: courgettes and chorizo

Posted on January 10, 2014 by lindaharley

Well, I’ve been 5and2ing for a whole year now, and it’s become a fairly easy habitual way of eating. But I’ve got lazy about sharing my recipes, so as there are lots of new adherents out there in Tinternetland (Hi mom!), my new year’s resolution is to share more fast day ideas.

Newpapers and magazines are full of January diet zeal, and amonsgt the unrealistic promises and hype, there are some good recipe ideas.  Here’s one I adapted from such a source.

Ingredients:

Approx calories in brackets.

1 medium courgette (20), 20g chorizo (100), 6-10 cherry tomatoes (30), 1 tbsp tomato puree (10), garlic, flat leaf parsley. Total about 160 cals.

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Method:

Using a vegetable peeler, take a long strip off the courgette, and discard that bit.  Turn it over so that it now sits on a flat base, and peel a strip off the other side – discard.  Peel the rest of the courgette into thin ribbons.  I used a cheese parer, but a potato peeler would do, or else just use a sharp knife.

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Cut the chorizo into thin discs. Put them in a heated frying pan with no extra oil, and let them crisp.

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Remove the choirzo and set aside. To the oil it has released, add garlic (one crushed clove, I used a tsp of ready minced stuff from a jar), and a  tablespon of tomato puree – I used some fancy sun-dried tomato puree, but any would do.

Add the courgette and stir them over a medium heat until soft.

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Add the cherry tomatoes, halved.  At this point I remembered I don’t like tomato skins, but the end result wasn’t too annoying.  Life is too short to skin cherry toms, but if I were doing this with larger ones I might take the skins off.  A couple of tinned tomatoes would work also.

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Pile into a bowl, top with the chorizo crisps, and a spinkle of flat leaf parsley.  I always add parsley to garlicky dishes.  This one turned out very garlicky, so I might leave it out altogether next time.

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Gok Tales

Posted on November 17, 2013 by lindaharley

I recently had the pleasure of meeting the adorable Gok Wan, and this week I’ve been trying some recipes out of his new book.

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For my 5:2 fast day dinner, I made Vietnamese salad.  This is finely shaved fennel, carrot and cucumber, in a dressing made from sesame oil, fish sauce, palm sugar  and lime juice, with mint and corainder to garnish.  The dressing was lovely, but the raw veg were very crunchy.  I might try grating them next time.  But about 80 calories per portion, so its a good low-cal option.

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I’m always intrigued by new combinations, and I was looking forward to trying sweet potato and brazil nut curry.  Peel, dice and boil 500g (that’s about one large) sweet potato.  Dice one red onion and one red pepper, and saute in a wok.  I used coconut oil, but the recipe suggests rice bran.  Add half a tablespoon each of cinnamon, Chinese 5 spice, turmeric, and chilli powder.  When the veg have softened, add half a tin of light coconut milk.  Stir in the cooked sweet potato, and 50g chopped brazil nuts, and 3 tablespoons dessicated coconut.  Serve on flatbread or rice with a few blobs of yoghurt, and granish with coriander leaves.

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This was an interesting combination of textures, with the soft potato and the crunchy nuts.  And if I was avoiding carbs I would just have it alone rather than adding any bread or rice.  Around 450 cals per portion.

I like the book, but it doesn’t have a picture for every recipe, which is a shame.  It also could do with a bookmark ribbon.

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5:2 Green Eggs And Ham

Posted on October 20, 2013 by lindaharley

Eggs are a key part of my 5:2 meals.  At only 70 calories each, with egg white even less, their versatility and ease of cooking make them a must-have staple in my kitchen.

I made this scramble on a non-fast day, but it would work well on fast days too.  The cheese and avocado can be omitted for even fewer calories.

egg scramble with ham and brocolli

Ingredients:

1 cup Leftover cooked broccoli – 30

1 egg – 70

2 egg whites – 30

2 slices ham- 60

1/4 avocado – 40

20g hard cheese – 70

Total: Approx 300 calories and 30g protein.  Low carb.

Chop the brocoli into bite-sized pieces and place in a microwave bowl.  Blast for 30 seconds to warm it through.  In the same bowl add in the chopped avocado, and the ham, torn or cut into small pieces.  Break an egg and 2 egg whites into the bowl, and mix well.  Add some black pepper to taste.  Cook in the microwave for 1 minute, keeping an eye on it and stirring if needed.  Check that it’s solidifying nicely, but not too much.  Dot the cheese in thin slivers over the top, and microwave for a further 30 seconds to melt the cheese.

Spinach would work well in this too, and keep the “green eggs” theme.

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Scallop brochettes

Posted on September 19, 2013 by lindaharley

Scallop brochettes

Little queen scallops wrapped in prosciutto, served over wilted spinach. Skewers seasoned with lemon pepper, some Sicilian salt and lemon juice on the spinach. Total calories 155.

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